Wednesday’s “First Call” has a tremendous video of Ben Roethlisberger watching the end of the nail-biting Sunday night game that sealed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff berth.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid talks about the upcoming rematch with the Black and Gold. He also signed a former Steeler.
NFL television numbers are getting even bigger. And Antonio Brown has a new celebrity pal.
Big Ben’s big celebration
If only this had audio.
A video of Ben Roethlisberger’s reaction to the Las Vegas Raiders’ game-winning field goal Sunday night is making the rounds on social media.
The Steelers quarterback was on FaceTime with music artists Bart Millard and TobyMac as the Raiders game against the Los Angeles Chargers was winding down in overtime.
If the game ended in a tie, the Steelers would have been eliminated. It looked like things were heading in that direction when the game was tied 32-32 in the waning seconds of overtime.
Whatever feed TobyMac was watching apparently was 15 seconds ahead of Big Ben’s. So he was giving Roethlisberger an advanced look and/or play-by-play of the Raiders deciding to eschew the tie and go for what would be a game-winning field goal.
And as we all know by now, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson came through, and the Raiders won. Thus eliminating the chargers from the AFC playoff bracket. Thus allowing the Steelers to squeak into the final slot.
Roethlisberger’s reaction was priceless. Pure joy, knowing that his career wasn’t going to end watching two teams play to a tie.
When you decide to watch the end of the Sunday night game on Facetime with Bart & your homie…..a game that determines whether or not he gets in the playoffs and you don’t realize you’re 15 seconds ahead of him on the outcome. ????????????@_BigBen7 @BartMillard pic.twitter.com/TOsiOFazaA
— TobyMac (@tobymac) January 11, 2022
Sadly, there was no audio track to the post. But this is a case where the pictures really do tell a thousand words.
This makes sense
Now that Antonio Brown is no longer an NFL player, the former Steeler has some time on his hands.
So he’s doing what anybody would do when they are in between jobs. He’s chillin’ with Kanye West.
Kanye spotted with Antonio Brown ‼️???? pic.twitter.com/UyIequ8cOs
— RapTV (@raptvcom) January 11, 2022
Monday night, the two were seen together while West was out at dinner with his new girlfriend, “Uncut Gems” actress Julia Fox, in West Hollywood.
Brown took a video of West getting a shave — in the back of the restaurant. Because … well, why not?
A.B. and “Ye” for a night on the town? Oh, to have been a fly on the wall.
Nice numbers
Sunday night’s showdown between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers wasn’t the only ratings win for the NFL.
Far from it.
According to CBS Sports, the network averaged 18.034 million viewers per game this season. That’s the most-watched regular season in six years. It’s a 9% increase over last year’s figure (16.539 million viewers).
“The NFL on CBS” averaged 21.588 million viewers for its 10 national Sunday game windows. Network executives boast that number to be more than any primetime television sports, entertainment or news series on any network this season.
On the streaming end, Paramount+ is said to have delivered its most-streamed NFL regular season ever with double-digit growth across total streams, streaming minutes and unique viewers.
Buttering up the Black and Gold
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid is no dummy.
No reason to give an overmatched opponent any extra motivation. That goes for the Steelers this Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in the playoffs.
Reid’s Chiefs dismantled the Steelers 36-10 the day after Christmas. And they did so without All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce. All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill only had two catches.
That is not stopping Reid from building up the opponent to the media — and his players — in advance of the postseason rematch.
“I think they’re playing well together,” Reid said via ChiefsWire.com. “I think they’re doing a nice job with that. Ben (Roethlisberger) is playing well. The runner’s running well. The offensive line’s doing a nice job, and Pittsburgh’s always good on that defensive side. They fly around. They’ve got some all-star players on that side of the ball that do really well. Their wide receivers are very good too on the offensive side. They’re a good football team. They’re well-coached, and the organization with the Rooney family is strong. It’s been strong for so many years.”
The offensive line is good? The defense? The wide receivers?
He knows Ray-Ray McCloud has become their No. 2 receiver, right? Did Reid see these guys try to tackle Latavius Murray last week in Baltimore? Or the offensive line try to block, you know, all year?
Either Reid is a bad liar or bad at advanced scouting. Given his Super Bowl ring and 17 postseason victories, I’ll go with the former.
Stealing a Steeler
ChiefsWire.com reports that the franchise is planning to sign former Steelers return specialist Mathew Sexton to a reserve/future deal. An undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL draft, Sexton signed with the Steelers in March 2021 and stayed in Pittsburgh through the preseason, but he was among the team’s final roster cuts.
Reserve/future deals allow teams to sign players for next season before the end of the current league year. Players on those deals won’t count against the Chiefs roster until the new league year begins.
And maybe the Chiefs get a little special teams intel from the other team before the playoff game?
Kansas City is also set to sign Darius Stills to a reserve/future deal. The West Virginia defensive lineman is the son of former Chiefs linebacker Gary Stills, who was drafted out of WVU and played seven seasons with Kansas City from 1999-2005.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
