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linchao  
#1 Posted : Friday, October 12, 2018 8:17:55 AM(UTC)
linchao

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Location: http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com

Todd Haley’s contract as the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers is up.

And coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t sound as if he’s in a rush to decide whether Haley will be back next season.

Tomlin sidestepped several attempts to endorse Haley’s return on Tuesday as the AFC North champions continued to dissect what went wrong in an upset home playoff loss to Jacksonville . Asked if he anticipated any changes to his staff Kerry Hyder Jersey , Tomlin demurred.

”I don’t know where these roads are going to lead,” Tomlin said. ”Some contracts are up. Some aren’t. I’m not ready to discuss that.”

Haley just finished his sixth season with the Steelers and has helped design one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses.

Led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell and All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh (13-3) has finished in the top three in total yards in three of the past four years.

Though Haley and Roethlisberger have found a level of detente following a somewhat bumpy start to their relationship, Haley’s occasionally fiery approach has made him a touchstone when things don’t go well.

While the Steelers piled up more than 500 yards against the NFL’s top-ranked defense on Sunday, they also made a couple of curious play calls on fourth down that halted their momentum.

Bell was stuffed for a loss on a toss play when Pittsburgh needed just 1 yard in the first quarter and Roethlisberger threw incomplete to rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster on fourth down in the fourth quarter when advancing the ball a matter of inches would have extended the drive.

The Steelers, however, have gone away from using the quarterback sneak in recent years to help Roethlisberger avoid the contact.

Tomlin brushed off the notion that the sneak is no longer a part of the playbook, saying ”to suggest there’s a resistance to it in concept, I’m not ready to say that.”

Tomlin also isn’t ready to say much about his staff.

Offensive line coach Mike Munchak has interviewed for the open head coaching job in Arizona and wide receivers coach Richard Mann is retiring.

Hines Ward, a two-time Super Bowl winner who is also the leading receiver in franchise history, spent time with the team during the season as a volunteer assistant, though Tomlin declined to get into any specifics about any sort of future role for Ward or anybody else for that matter.

”I’m not going to have a lot of definitive answers (right now),” Tomlin said. ”I don’t want to provide you misinformation.”

Tomlin called his 11th season a ”wild and challenging and fun ride.”

One with more than its fair share of bumps created from within.

From the ”botched” decision to stay out of sight during the national anthem in Chicago in September to wide receiver Martavis Bryant’s trade demand to Tomlin openly talking about having to face New England twice – hinting he expected the Steelers to face the Patriots in the AFC championship game more than a month before it would become a reality – hardly a week passed with the attention focused somewhere other than the field.

”We realize oftentimes it may create a storm around us, but that’s not us,” Tomlin said. ”We don’t care. We can’t care. We can’t control it anyway.”

Not exactly.

Outside of linebacker Ryan Shazier’s life-altering spinal injury Brent Seabrook Jersey Kids , the Steelers created most of the noise that surrounded them.

While Tomlin said it’s on him to help his players learn to use the attention directed at them and their own social media agendas ”for good” he’s also aware that none of it matters so long as his team wins.

For a franchise where success is only measured in Lombardi Trophies, 2017 ended in disappointment, one the Steelers will have a longer than expected offseason to process.

”It ended the way it ended and looking back at it, there’s nothing we can do about that other than learn from the experience,” Tomlin said. ”Hopefully that strengthens us for our next journey.”

One the Steelers are starting earlier than expected.




Forget the anomaly that was Friday’s low-scoring game.

In May, the Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 2.9 runs per game, fewest in the major leagues. So far in June, however, they are averaging 6.5 runs, including 37 in five games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Diamondbacks (42-33) and Pirates (36-39) play the third game of a four-game series Saturday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh after Arizona’s 2-1, 13-inning win Friday.

The Diamondbacks this month have 178 hits, nine triples, 81 walks and 32 homers.

A couple of players — leadoff batter Jon Jay and Paul Goldschmidt — seem to have sparked Arizona’s offense.

Jay has multiple hits in seven of his 14 games since he was acquired by trade June 6 from Kansas City. He has reached base in all but one game and reached base twice in eight games. He has scored 16 runs with eight RBIs.

“He’s come in and he’s been unbelievable for us at the top of the lineup,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic. “Almost every day he’s getting on base a couple of times and he’s just sparking us in so many different ways. He’s giving us professional at-bats. That’s something that we weren’t putting together consistently during that rut in May, which we’ve come around to doing now. It’s all sort of adding back up together again.”

Don’t look for Jay to cough up any secrets.

“I’m just trying to go out there and be myself,” he told MLB.com. “I just try to keep it simple. We’ve got a great core group of guys here. I’m just trying to be a complement to the group we have already.”

Goldschmidt is batting .475 with six doubles Patrick Kane Jersey , a triple, eight home runs and 20 RBIs in his past 16 games.

The Diamondbacks got caught in a pitchers’ duel Friday but won their second straight game and third in their past four. They have won six of seven on the road.

Pittsburgh has lost three straight and four of five.

On Saturday, Pittsburgh right-hander Joe Musgrove (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke (6-5, 3.90).

Musgrove will be making is sixth start since beginning the season on the disabled list. He was dynamic out of the gate but was flat in his most recent outing, an 8-6 loss Sunday against Cincinnati when he gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.

“I felt OK. That’s my first day game in a while. Just trying to get my body alert,” Musgrove said. “It was hot out there. I felt drained. But that’s something I’m aware of now, and that’s something I’ll try to prepare for.”

Saturday’s game also is a day game, although with a late-afternoon start.

“I don’t feel like I’m lost right now. I still feel really good,” Musgrove said.”

Musgrove is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career appearances, including one start, against Arizona. That start was June 11 when the first five of his six-plus innings were scoreless in what became a no-decision. He ended up allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings.

Greinke has won three of his past four starts. He is 7-4 with a 4.91 ERA in 12 career starts against Pittsburgh. In his one start against the Pirates this season, Greinke gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss in that June 13 game, which ended with a 5-4 Pirates victory.

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