ICYMI: Coaching Legend Chuck Noll Passes Away

For those of us of a certain age, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll arguably may have been the best football coach who ever lived.

And if you are very young and don't know who we are talking about, you should take a few minutes and do a Google search to learn more about the man.

Noll, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, passed away Friday night of natural causes at his Pittsburgh area home. He was 82-years old.

Under his guidance, the Steel Curtain defense was born and the Steelers won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years in the mid and late 70's. Including back-to-back titles in 1974 and 1975.

Guys like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene, all Hall of Famers, all were developed under Noll's leadership.

Noll coached the team for 23-years and hung up the clipboard in 1991. Two years later he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

We here at OSG Sports, who are of a certain age, and who are well read in football history, bow are heads and salute Chuck Noll. An extraordinary man who did a extraordinary job and one of the few people in Sports who will always have the word "Legend" attached and in front of any mention of his name.

WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh brings us a look back at the Life and Times of a Football legend:

Tomlin Fined $100K For Stepping Out

This was, somewhat, inevitable...

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 for interfering in the field of play during the Jacoby Jones punt return incident against the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL is also considering a "modification or forfeiture" of draft choices.

Here's the video...
((HT: KDKA-TV))


“My descriptions of my actions on that play are a lot of things – embarrassing, inexcusable, illegal, a blunder would be a myriad of things I use to describe it.

I take full responsibility for my actions on that play,” said Tomlin. “I acknowledge that my actions unfortunately became part of the play. I also embrace that as head coach, we’re held to the highest standards of conduct and I realize that that blunder fell woefully short of that expectation; and in that vein, I embrace the responsibilities that come with my position and understand there are repercussions from a blunder of that nature, and I embrace it."

But the NFL looked at the incident and wasn't all that punitive about it...

Mike Tomlin makes $5.75-million per year. Average that out: it's about $115,000 per week.

Do the math... Tomlin misses almost an entire week's pay...

Think about what they did to Sean Payton... this isn't even close...

Steelers Release Chris Rainey After Arrest

Good for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The team announced Thursday afternoon, they were releasing RB Chris Rainey after he was arrested on a count of misdemeanor simple battery against his girlfriend overnight in Gainesville, Florida.

He allegedly tried to pull her out of a car after arguing over his cellphone, which was in her purse after an argument.

Rainey was the primary kick returner this year for the Steelers, playing in all 16 games.

You'll recall he got in trouble while at the University of Florida back in 2010 after sending a "Threatening" text to another girlfriend. That incident ended up as a felony stalking charge, something he received 6 months probation for.

This sends an interesting, and a strong message, at least by the Steelers. Behave yourself in the offseason. You get in trouble, we have the right to make you go away.

Interesting thought.

London Fletcher Trying To Keep MeAngelo In One Piece

((HT: CSNWashington))

MeAngelo DeAngelo Hall is this/close to getting a suspension and a fine for jaw-jacking with an official last Sunday.

Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan thought out loud that if Emmanuel Sanders hadn't DDT'ed Hall it never would have happened...

Evidence below...
((HT: NFL on Fox))


But he is already trying to spin it his way to lay off any kind of damages...he went on the "LaVar and Dukes" Show on 106.7 The Fan in DC to talk about it. He actually wants an audience with the Commish...

Which is good, aggressive marketing on his part...

"From that particular camera angle you can't see what that ref's saying to me. So it looks like I'm just out there giving him a piece of my mind and he's smiling and walks away. And that's not the case at all. He's dishing it out just as much as I'm dishing it out."

"But me and the ref was equally at fault on that particular play," he said.

Fellow defensive Skin London Fletcher is defending his D-Back...

MeAngelo Is At It Again

((HT: NFL on FOX))

Or, at least, "was" at it again yesterday...

DeAngelo Hall got into an episode of SmackDown with Emmanuel Sanders of the Steelers yesterday in the Redskins-Steelers game...

The HQ thinks that if he won the bout, he wouldn't have gotten into the finger-pointing fest with an official that he did... but since he lost on points to Sanders, he felt compelled to jaw-jack with someone you shouldn't...

A zebra...


The HQ is also waiting for the amount of money that the league will extract from Hall's paycheck and whether or not he'll be taking a week or so off...

Thinking that'll happen...

The One Where Tebow Wins in O.T: Broncos over Steelers

It certainly wasn't the game that anybody expected to see. And really, we stayed away from posting about the NFL Wildcard games this weekend because they are always so mass reported.

But we can't help ourselves on chiming in about the Denver Tebow's and their head scratching, amazing win Sunday night against the vaunted--but injured, Pittsburgh Steelers.

You had to know this wasn't going to be the game you expected on the opening kickoff. You know, the one where Matt Prater hits the crossbar for a touchback...and the ball bounces off the crossbar...and lands perfectly on the 20-yard-line.



What followed was pretty simple quite honestly. The Steelers went "All-in". They committed to 8 in the box, stopping the run and letting the Tebow beat them.

He did.

10 Completions for 316 yards including a game winning 80-yard strike to reciever Demaryius "Be-be" Thomas. 50-yards and a TD rushing. 'Nuff said.

Yes, the Steelers were banged up. And more importantly, they were exposed as an "Old" football team. Ben Rothlisberger was still recovering from a severe ankle sprain, but played "O.K". Isaac Redman did an admirable job filling in for the injured Rashard Mendenhall.

But it wasn't enough.

The Steelers recovered from a 10-point deficit in the second half. They tied the game late. And you can't really even say much about overtime.

On the first play, they went 8-up, with no deep safety. And they bought the play action. All Thomas had to do was break his route towards the middle of the field. Which he did. Tebow hit him in stride at about the 40 and Thomas did the rest.

We aren't going to say here that the Tebow's will run the table. They won't. But they'll have a punchers chance in New England Saturday night against the Tom Brady's. Oddly, we are betting that a lot of people will be tuning in to see if it happens..

CBSSports.com gives us Jim Nantz and an uncomfortable Phil Simms for the recap:

DEVELOPING: On, Off, On, Off... And We're Talking Football...

((HT: ESPN/NFL))

There were the early thoughts that it was 1989 on Candlestick Point all over again...

But it seems like it was just a transformer that sent the Niners-Steelers game into a 20 minute pre-kickoff delay...

The lights were turned back on in time to get the game to a 6-0 Niners lead early in the second quarter...

Here was some of the early coverage from power outage one...
It's Stu, the Game Manager, and Steve Young...


And here's how KGO-TV looked at it...


Then, it happened again... and the HQ is sure that Big Ben's ankle is more annoyed than anything else on the field...

More when we know more...

Hines Ward arrested for DWI in Atlanta

Hines Ward (courtesy DCSO)

((ht: AP))

Pittsburgh Steeler star wide receiver Hines Ward was arrested early Saturday morning for driving while impaired.

I think all Steelers should stay out of Georgia...right, Ben Roethlisberger?

Information is sketchy as far as where Ward was partying last night, but he was booked in the DeKalb County Jail at 3:41am. He was released a short time later after posting a $1,300 bond.

When contacted this morning, DeKalb County Sheriff's Office would not release any more information about Ward's arrest, saying all the paperwork had been turned over to the courthouse.

All this on the heels of being the second football player to win "Dancing with the Stars," following in Emmitt Smith's footsteps.

More later...