A Steelers Depot daily segment. A quick hit of some Pittsburgh Steelers-related stories that may not require a complete and dedicated article but nuggets worth mentioning and passing on to you guys.
Your Depot After Dark for Dec. 30.
Tomlin’s Keys
In a preview of tonight’s Mike Tomlin Show, Tomlin and host Bob Pompeani went over keys to the game for the Steelers to come out on top in tomorrow’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. While important every week, taking care of the ball is critical in this game.
“Ball security is going to be huge…knowing Pete as long as I’ve known Peter, fundamentally I know ball searching is something that they value,” Tomlin told Pompeani.
Tomlin went on to tell Pompeani that the Steelers “better take care of the football.” They did a great job of that in last Saturday’s win over Cincinnati, winning the turnover battle 3-0.
Watch the whole clip here. And catch the entire Mike Tomlin Show tonight at midnight on the team’s YouTube channel.
JuJu On Injured Reserve
Former Pittsburgh Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster’s season is over. Due to an ankle injury, the New England Patriots placed him on IR today and with two games to go and eliminated from the playoffs, he won’t see the field until next year.
Appearing in 11 games, he caught just 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown. His best game came against Pittsburgh in Week 15, finishing with four grabs for 90 yards. It was one of just two games on the year in which he went over 50 yards receiving. Though still just 27, his body has broken down and he’s become a possession-receiver with limited upside. He signed a three-year deal worth up to $33 million with the Patriots in March, a contract that doesn’t look good right now.
Support For Heyward
As Steelers’ players boarded their plane to Seattle, several held signs in support of Cam Heyward to move up the leaderboards of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Challenge where top vote getters via social media will receive extra money for a charity of their choosing.
As tweeted out by the team, WR George Pickens, TE Pat Freiermuth, and S Miles Killebrew held up “Vote Cam” signs before getting on board.
This year’s winner will be named during NFL Honors in February.
Porter on Peterson
A funny mic’d up moment from the Bengals’ game. Patrick Peterson got the turnover party started with his end zone pick of QB Jake Browning in the first half of Saturday’s big win. While in jest, rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. joked with Peterson afterwards about “Moss’ing” him to take away Porter’s potential interception.
Peterson is the active leader in interceptions with 36, two more than Minnesota’s Harrison Smith. That pick of Browning was his second of the year.
