Let's get to it:
THOMAS WARD FROM LADSON, SC: I heard the CBS announcers on the game Sunday mention Mike Tomlin had never won Coach of the Year. Does my 68-year-old memory serve me well? Chuck Noll never won it either, and he won 4 Super Bowls. What's the big deal? Isn't the goal to win Super Bowls and not Coach of the Year awards? I know Tomlin doesn't care, and so why should anyone else?
ANSWER: Actually, Chuck Noll did win a version of the Coach of the Year Award in 1989. It was called the Earle "Greasy" Neale Award, was established in 1989 and presented by the Maxwell Football Club to the top head coach in the NFL. That aside, I always believed the presentation of the Associated Press Coach of the Year Award should take place on the podium following each Super Bowl. At some point after the NFL Commissioner presents the Lombardi Trophy to the winning team's owner, the Coach of the Year Award should be presented to the coach of the winning team. As you mentioned, the ultimate goal in the NFL is to win the Super Bowl, and so the coach of the team that does win it did a better job that year than anyone else. Simple. Direct. No voting necessary.
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GREG WIDDOWSON FROM NEWNAN, GA: Does Cam Heyward's performance this year remove any doubt about his Hall of Fame credentials?
ANSWER: You're preaching to the choir here, my friend, but what I've learned over the years is that having the necessary credentials sometimes isn't enough to get a Steelers defensive lineman elected. L.C. Greenwood is proof of that.
KEITH CLARK FROM BROOKLYN, NY: When a player is suspended for one or multiple games, is he allowed to attend the game as a fan with his family (if he has any family members)?
ANSWER: There is nothing to prevent a suspended NFL player from purchasing tickets to a game and watching that game from the stands just like any fan.
ITHAN ZIMMER FROM EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ: Chuck Noll famously said, "Losing has nothing to do with geography." The Steelers now have a 21-game home regular season win streak against the Browns. More importantly for this week, the Steelers have a 10-game losing streak in Philadelphia dating back to 1965. While that sample size is relatively small and I was only 1 year old at the time, do you have any insight or idea as to why the Steelers haven't won there since the Lyndon Johnson administration?
ANSWER: Insight? I got nothing, but it is a historical fact that the Steelers franchise never has had much success against the Eagles in Philadelphia. Since both teams joined the NFL for the 1933 NFL season, Pittsburgh is 8-28-2 in Philadelphia. The inaugural game in the series came in 1933 in Philadelphia, and the Eagles won hat one, 25-6. On two different occasions Steelers teams that went on to win the Super Bowl visited Philadelphia during that regular season and lost. In 1979, the Super Bowl XIV Steelers lost in Philadelphia, 17-14, in a game where they turned the ball over 4 times and Terry Bradshaw, the eventual MVP in that Super Bowl, completed 46.2 percent of his passes. In 2008, the Super Bowl XLIII Steelers lost in Philadelphia in a game where Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 9 times.
MIKE ROBEY FROM TILTONSVILLE, OH: I don't think I missed any word on Roman Wilson that is definitive. Can you please enlighten Steelers Nation as to why he doesn't suit up? Is he still hurt or in Mike Tomlin's doghouse perhaps? I think we all expected exciting play from him but after he was injured early nary a word.
ANSWER: Roman Wilson was put on injured reserve on Oct. 28, and he remains on that list. Wilson was injured on the sixth snap of the first practice in pads at Saint Vincent College, and didn't practice again through the entire training camp and didn't play in any preseason games. As a rookie who missed so much practice time, Wilson didn't know what he was doing, and Coach Mike Tomlin was not about to put him on the field with what amounted to no professional experience, even in practice. At this stage of the process, I imagine the next time Steelers fans will hear about Wilson is when the 2025 offseason program begins.
DAN WEYAND-GEISE FROM CINCINNATI, OH: I always love being able to attend the home games a few times a year. As well as special teams has played this year, any chance that they would be introduced to begin the game? That would be most deserving I believe. I'm sure crowd would go wild if Chris Boswell were introduced.
ANSWER: I don't know whether special teams will be introduced before any of the remaining home games this season, but Coach Mike Tomlin has done that in the past.
