Let's get to it:
RAYMOND GONZALES FROM PITTSBURGH, PA: Who scored the first points for the Steelers in the team's first Super Bowl?
ANSWER: That was Super Bowl IX against the Minnesota Vikings, and the game was played in Tulane Stadium at the end of the 1974 season. The first points in the game came on a safety when Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton was touched down in the end zone by Dwight White. And so, White got credit for those 2 points, which were the first in Super Bowl history for the Steelers franchise.
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ED MONK FROM PITTSBURGH, PA: Could you please do me a favor and compare the respective records of Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick since Ben Roethlisberger retired and Tom Brady left New England for Tampa Bay?
ANSWER: Tom Brady's final season in New England was 2019, and since then Coach Bill Belichick's record is 29-38, plus 0-1 in the playoffs. Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, and since then Coach Mike Tomlin's record is 19-15, with the team's first game in the playoffs without Roethlisberger coming at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Buffalo vs. the Bills.
PHIL JACOBY FROM BUTLER TWP, PA: My son asked me if the Steelers have ever played the same team two weeks in a row. The only scenario where I could imagine that happening would be the last week of the regular season followed by a Wild Card Round game. Has that ever happened?
ANSWER: The Steelers have played the same opponent back-to-back five times in franchise history – three times during the regular season and twice in "an end of the regular season/first game of the postseason" scenario. In 1933, the Steelers tied Brooklyn, 3-3, on Nov. 5, and then they lost to Brooklyn, 32-0, on Nov. 12. In 1935, it was the same two teams doing the same back-to-back thing, with Pittsburgh losing to Brooklyn, 13-7, on Nov. 3, and then defeating Brooklyn, 16-7, on Nov. 10. In 1940, it was the Steelers and the Eagles going back-to-back during the regular season. On Nov. 10, the Steelers won, 7-3, in Philadelphia; and then on Nov. 17, the Eagles won, 7-0, in Pittsburgh. The first of the playoff-situation back-to-backs came in 1978, when the Steelers closed the regular season with a 21-17 win in Denver on Dec. 16, and then on Dec. 30 the Steelers defeated the Broncos, 33-10, in the Divisional Round at Three Rivers Stadium. During the COVID-19 season of 2020, the Steelers completed their regular season with a 24-22 loss to the Browns in Cleveland, and then in the Wild Card Round the Browns won, 48-37, in Pittsburgh.
BOB SMITHE FROM BETHLEHEM, PA: How many times have Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott had their NFL teams play against each other?
ANSWER: Sean McDermott became the Bills coach in 2017, and Buffalo has a 3-1 edge in the series with the Steelers since then. Buffalo won in 2019, 2020, and 2022. The Steelers' win came in 2021.
JESSE HYDE FROM SHINGLEHOUSE, PA: In the final regular season game, against the Ravens in Baltimore, Jadeveon Clowney was given credit for a sack that allowed him to reach an incentive in his contract that paid him an additional $750,000. I'm not sure how that unusual play should have been ruled, but in no way could I see how a sack was given. Do you believe NFL officials, at the end of the regular season, are aware of players' needs to reach incentives in their contracts?
ANSWER: On-site game officials have nothing to do with how a play is scored during a game. That's the job of the on-site stats crew, in this case the stats crew at M&T Bank Stadium. It's not surprising that the home team stats crew would credit Jadeveon Clowney with a sack on that play, but Elias Sports Bureau has the option/authority to review the play and possibly change how it originally was scored.
MICHAUD ALAIN FROM ROBERVAL, QUEBEC, CANADA: Inevitably, and unfortunately for him since he is one of the main reasons why the Steelers are still playing, Mason Rudolph's performance during the playoffs will be compared to Ben Roethlisberger's playoff performances as soon as the Steelers lose. Yet, Roethlisberger was the starting quarterback the last three times the Steelers were in the playoffs – in 2017, 2020, and 2021 – and the Steelers lost each time. What were Roethlisberger's stats in those three games, including the number of times that he ran with the football?
ANSWER: In the 2017 Divisional Round Game, which the Steelers lost, 45-42, to Jacksonville, Ben Roethlisberger completed 37-of-58 (63.8 percent) for 469 yards, with 5 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a rating of 110.5. Roethlisberger also had 2 carries for 16 yards. The interception came on the Steelers' second possession of the game with the Jaguars already holding a 7-0 lead. Myles Jack intercepted a pass intended for Vance McDonald, and on the next play Leonard Fournette ran 18 yards for a touchdown that made the deficit 14-0. Then in the second quarter, Yannick Ngakoue's strip-sack of Roethlisberger was scooped by linebacker Telvin Smith and returned 50 yards for a touchdown that made Jacksonville's lead 28-7 with 2:20 left in the first half.
In the 2020 Wild Card Round Game, which the Steelers lost, 48-37, to Cleveland, Roethlisberger completed 47-of-68 (69.1 percent) for 501 yards, with 4 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and a rating of 85.5. Roethlisberger also had 1 carry for 0 yards. The Browns scored 17 points off the 4 interceptions, and needed only a combined 10 plays on those possessions to accomplish that. Cleveland also got a gift touchdown on the first play of the game when Maurkice Pouncey's shotgun snap sailed over Roethlisberger's head and was recovered in the end zone by Karl Joseph. Because of 4 first-half turnovers, the Steelers trailed, 35-10, at halftime.
In the 2021 Wild Card Round Game, which the Steelers lost, 42-21, to Kansas City, Roethlisberger completed 25-of-44 (65.9 percent) for 215 yards, with 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and a rating of 92.5. He also had 2 carries for minus-1 yard. The Steelers only turnover in that game was a lost fumble by Najee Harris.
KEN WILSON FROM MILTON, FL: Damontae Kazee was suspended without pay for three games. What has become of his expected pay?
ANSWER: When a player is suspended by the NFL without pay, that money is not paid to the player and it does not count on the team's salary cap for the duration of the suspension.
GINO CALDERONE FROM HOUSTON, TX: Mason Rudolph's current story is as feel-good as it gets. Credit Coach Mike Tomlin for being smart about holding onto experience. Pressley Harvin III seems to be another matter. Is Tomlin seeing something deeper than his performance on the field?
ANSWER: There is no argument that Pressley Harvin III has been inconsistent in 2023, and in fact Coach Mike Tomlin twice mentioned publicly that the Steelers were not getting what they needed from their punter. But I cannot imagine a realistic scenario in which the Steelers would make Chris Boswell adapt to a new holder with the playoffs set to start in just a few days. In that constant deluge in Baltimore last Saturday, Harvin's holds for Boswell were flawless, and in one instance it appeared he made a nice save of an errant snap. Maybe there's a change at punter in 2024, but now is definitely not the time to be doing that, in my opinion.
LOU GELORMINI FROM READING, PA: I believe Brian St. Pierre started at quarterback for the Steelers in the final game of the 2004 season. Who's correct?
ANSWER: Since you put it that way, not you. Tommy Maddox started the 2004 regular season finale, which was played on Jan. 2, 2005, in Buffalo vs. the Bills. In that game, Maddox completed 12-of-24 for 120 yards, with 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions, and a rating of 43.8. With 1:49 left in the third quarter and the Bills holding a 17-16 lead, Maddox was replaced by Brian St. Pierre, the No. 3 quarterback at the time but the backup on that day because rookie Ben Roethlisberger was inactive due to the game being meaningless to the Steelers, who entered the final week at 14-1 and as the top seed in the AFC. Mostly handing the ball off to rookie Willie Parker, who finished with 102 yards on 19 carries (5.4 average), St. Pierre quarterbacked the Steelers to a pair of field goal drives, and the team's other points came on an 18-yard fumble return for a touchdown by James Harrison following a strip-sack of Drew Bledsoe by cornerback Ricardo Colclough. St. Pierre finished the game 0-for-1 passing, and with 4 rushes for minus-3 yards (all in victory formation) in a game the Steelers won, 29-24, to finish with a 15-1 record.
