Connect with us

Steelers Daily Links

Steelers Daily News & Links: Panthers Are Stoked About Diontae Johnson; Mike Tomlin Praises Chuks Okorafor

Published

on

Pittsburgh Steelers WR Diontae Johnson

Steelers Daily News & Links: Your daily stop for all of the news and links from the Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL and around the Sports Now Group

๐Ÿˆ Panthers head coach Dave Canales is stoked to have Diontae Johnson in Carolina. He’s a player that he’s been watching and studying for a long time.

โ€œThe word I like to say is, I want to compete against our roster every year so there isnโ€™t complacency,โ€ Canales said, via Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. โ€œI want it so there isnโ€™t anyone who can say Iโ€™m safe here. No, letโ€™s challenge our roster. The goal for the receiver room was letโ€™s challenge the explosiveness, letโ€™s challenge the one-on-one matchup, and Diontae is a guy Iโ€™ve been watching for a long time.โ€

Canalesโ€™ first NFL job was the receivers coach for the Seattle Seahawks. He spent eight seasons in that role before getting his first head coaching job this year. He previously was in Tampa Bay.

โ€œDiontae can release against the best corners in the league and get open and be available for the quarterback,โ€ Canales said. โ€œHe really has a dynamic style of play that I thought we were missing. I wanted to look at more ways we could add that explosiveness to our pass game. He was a big piece of it.โ€

๐Ÿˆ Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin praised New England Patriots offensive tackle Chuks Okorafor at the NFL owner’s meetings. Okorafor was allegedly benched by Tomlin for complaining about the offense running the same group of run plays in a Week 8 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. After that, he barely saw the field again as Broderick Jones took over at right tackle.

โ€œTheyโ€™re getting a very versatile, capable guy. A guy thatโ€™s starter-capable at both left and right tackle. A guy thatโ€™s accountable and professional,” Tomlin said, via Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

๐Ÿˆ Quarterback Anthony Wright was the last Steelers player to wear No. 1. He donned No. 1 during the 1999 preseason.

๐Ÿˆ The Steelers win total for 2024 is 7.5, according to BetMGM. The over juice is -165 and the under is +140.

John Breech of CBS Sports thinks the Steelers are the best bet to go over their win total.

“Mike Tomlin has been the Steelers coach since 2007 and in the 17 seasons since then, he has a NEVER had a losing record, so I’m not going to bet against him now. Tomlin managed to get the Steelers to 10 wins last season, which was a minor miracle considering the team’s quarterback situation. Russell Wilson might not be the Russell Wilson of old anymore, but he still feels like an upgrade over anything Pittsburgh had at QB last year,” Breech wrote.

๐ŸŽฅ Steel City Star shared a clip of when Ben Roethlisberger tried the Roethlis-Burger for the first time at Peppi’s.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORTS NOW NETWORK

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Letโ€™s get Physical: These two Penguins defensemen like to hit.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Pirates take advantage of Pukโ€™s wildness while bullpen shines again in 7-2 win over Marlins.

Pittsburgh Sports Now: Pitt reaches out to former WPIAL star, Kentucky transfer Adou Thiero.

West Virginia Sports Now: Watch: West Virginia football coaches Tyler Allen, Victor Cabral on roles, expectations.

Nittany Sports Now: Penn State receives in-state walk-on commitment.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now: Takeaways and Player Grades: Dawdling, hunted Riverhounds off to worst start since 2008.