What are the Pittsburgh Steelers planning to do with Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday?
We find out in Friday’s “First Call.”
We also get some Penguins news, a little rumble surrounding the Baltimore Ravens, and some good news for a Penn State/WPIAL alum.
Here’s the plan
According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, the Steelers have a plan in place to get Ben Roethlisberger some work if he is cleared to play Sunday against the Bengals.
The quarterback was considered a high-risk exposure candidate after being close to “a certain Steeler” who tested positive for covid-19 after the organization’s win in Dallas last weekend.
If Roethlisberger’s Thursday and Friday tests come back negative, he can be part of the team’s Saturday walkthrough in advance of the Cincinnati game.
But according to Glazer, the team may use that “Saturday walkthrough” as more of a practice.
Should we expect Big Ben to play this Sunday? @JayGlazer has the latest: pic.twitter.com/jP7zniMu2B
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 13, 2020
You gotta love Terry Bradshaw at the end of that clip there, don’t ya? “Oh! He’ll beat it.”
Like Big Ben can “out grit” the virus using pure determination, right?
Banged up Bengals
Bengals running back Joe Mixon didn’t practice on Thursday. He’s the team’s leading rusher (428 yards).
The franchise was hoping to get him back this weekend following a bye. But, apparently, a nagging foot injury hasn’t healed. Mixon has missed the previous two games as well.
Via ProFootballTalk, if Mixon can’t play, veteran Giovani Bernard will start. He rushed for 62 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans two weeks ago. He also had a touchdown reception.
The Bengals also missed Geno Atkins (personal reasons) at practice Thursday. Tackle Bobby Hart (knee) and cornerback Darius Phillips (groin) were out, too. Receiver John Ross (foot), cornerback LeShaun Sims (concussion), and tackle Jonah Williams (stinger) were limited.
Baltimore blowback
This week, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson told “The Rich Eisen Show” that opposing defenders were calling out the plays of his offense before the snap.
“They’re calling out our plays, stuff like that,” Jackson said. “They know what we’re doing. Sometimes stuff won’t go our way if they’re beating us to the punch.
“Like, ‘run’ and stuff like that. ‘Watch out for this, watch out for that.’ Sometimes that’s what’s going on.”
On Thursday, offensive coordinator Greg Roman defended his offense against concerns that the Ravens had become too predictable.
“Calling out plays on a defense is nothing new. I can talk about Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, every play they’re trying to guess what play you’re going to run based on what they’re seeing. That’s a chess match,” Roman said.
Many are seizing on Alex Highsmith’s comments after the Steelers beat Baltimore two weeks ago as an example.
The rookie linebacker had an interception in the second half. He claims he knew the play was coming because he remembered it from a similar look in the first half.
“When that play started, I knew they would come back to that,” Highsmith said after that game. “I learned from that play. I just dropped deeper. And the ball fell right into my hands.”
To be fair to Roman, the Steelers could’ve been yelling “run” at the top of their lungs as loud as they wanted (like Jackson said) and it didn’t seem to matter. Baltimore still rattled off a stunning 265 yards on the ground.
But if the Indianapolis Colts did it last week, that’s a different story. Baltimore only totaled 110 yards rushing against them, to the tune of 2.9 yards per carry.
Let’s see how things go with the defense knowing plays ahead of time Sunday night when the Ravens face Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
Make way for Miles
Former Penn State running back Miles Sanders could play for the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
The Woodland Hills product practiced fully on Thursday in advance of the team’s game versus the New York Giants this weekend.
A knee injury forced Sanders to the sideline for Philadelphia’s two games prior to the team’s bye week.
Sanders is averaging 6.1 yards per carry. That’s the best among running backs in the NFL. Only Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray has a better mark at 7.1 yards per carry.
It’s official
When the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired winger Kasperi Kapanen from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the assumption was that he’d play on a line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.
Well, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has confirmed that belief.
He told Penguins radio host Josh Getzoff on the Penguins’ “The Scoop” podcast that Kapanen would be deployed on the Pens top line.
“He brings a speed dimension I think is complementary to Sid and Jake’s game,” Sullivan said. “He’s shown the ability to finish. He’s scored 20 goals in this league. He has elite speed. He has good size (6-foot-1, 194 pounds). So when we play in games that tend to be heavy in nature, I think (Kapanen is) a guy who can help us in that capacity. We think his skillset could potentially be very complementary to Sid and Jake.”
So, as predicted here when Jason Zucker was first acquired from Minnesota, he is going to be on Evgeni Malkin’s wing long-term after all, along with Bryan Rust.
Then the Penguins will have some sort of hodgepodge for their bottom six that … well … couldn’t possibly be worse than what we saw in the playoff series versus Montreal in the Toronto bubble this spring.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Categories:
Penguins/NHL | Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz
