Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 4 began with Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and coach Mike McCarthy exchanging unpleasantries for all the world to see, and hear.

Rodgers looked to McCarthy while waiting for a play call. A Prime Video microphone captured Rodgers angrily yelling, “What the fuck? Call it!”

McCarthy was then seen mouthing his response: “Fucking asshole.”

After the game, McCarthy was asked about the interaction; Rodgers was not. On Monday, the situation came up multiple times again during a McCarthy press conference in advance of the Week 5 game against the Colts.

“I wouldn’t classify it as normal,” McCarthy said of the interaction, “but I think the reality of it is, you know, it’s a 20-year relationship. I think the fact that we were able to sit and talk numerous times, you know, over the weekend, about that and a number of things.

“As I stated, I’m — hopefully, not to put any pressure on my daughter — I’m getting to grandfather age. You know, I don’t want to be saying those type of words. But it’s an emotional, competitive environment. I think it’s something that we can definitely learn from.”

McCarthy also was asked whether the game broadcasts have become too intrusive.

“Your question’s about 15 years too late,” McCarthy said.

Earlier in the press conference, McCarthy said he had told the team on Thursday morning that it would be important to play the Browns with “more emotion.”

He wanted it, and he got it.

“With that comes the discipline of it,” McCarthy said. “So I think those are opportunities for growth. But I’d much rather have too much energy than not enough.”

Amen to that. It’s always easier to try to control enthusiasm than to create it when it’s not there. On Thursday night, however, it became a little too unbridled.

Come Wednesday, Rodgers will have a chance to respond. Unless he decides to call McAfee’s show on Tuesday and air any grievances he may have about the incident, how it was covered by the media, and anything else he chooses to publicly gripe about.

The Steelers will be without defensive lineman Derrick Harmon for at least four games.

Harmon had to be carted off the field after he suffered a foot injury in last Thursday’s loss to the Browns and word over the weekend was that he would miss multiple games. Head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that on Monday when he said at his press conference that Harmon will be placed on injured reserve.

Harmon has 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble in four games this season.

The Steelers also have Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Yahya Black, Gabriel Rubio, and Kevin Jobity on the roster at defensive line.

After the Steelers traded Joey Porter Jr. to the Cowboys, help is on the way for Pittsburgh’s secondary.

Per Tom Pelissero of Netflix, the Steelers are signing cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting off of the Buccaneers’ practice squad.

Murphy-Bunting, 29, missed the 2025 season with a torn ACL. He had returned to the Buccaneers after he was released by the Cardinals at roster cuts in August.

A second-round pick in 2019, Murphy-Bunting has appeared in 82 career games with 65 starts. In 2024, he registered 52 total tackles with three interceptions, five passes defensed, and two forced fumbles in 15 games for the Cardinals.

He has 34 career passes defensed with 11 career interceptions.

When the workers find real power, management can’t take it.

Under the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the workers have found real power. In one very specific way.

The 2020 CBA made it much more difficult for players to hold out. Enter the hold-in.

In many cases, the team allows a player who wants a new contract to not practice while talks continue. The player is in the building (once a player reports it’s difficult under the CBA to leave), he’s working out, he’s attending meetings. It’s just a matter of time before a deal is done.

Unless a deal isn’t done. And if the player is willing to cite an injury, embellished or flat-out fabricated, to refuse to provide services until the player gets what he wants, the team is stuck.

Last year, the Cowboys cried “uncle” after they realized that their apparent plan to kick the can on the Micah Parsons contract through the 2025 season wasn’t going to work, because Parsons wasn’t going to play, due to a back injury. This year, former Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. cited a back injury (which has suddenly healed, to no surprise) to sit out all of training camp, all of the preseason, and the first three games of the regular season. On Wednesday, the Steelers threw in the towel and traded Porter to, coincidentally, the Cowboys.

The powers-that-be won’t like this trend, because the players have found a way to crack the code on the CBA. After years of playing football, any player could point to one or more body parts that create chronic pain and/or present a risk of more significant injury.

If a player is committed to the approach, what can the team do? Tell him they don’t believe him? Fine him? Suspend him?

It would spark a legal mess under the CBA, a P.R. debacle for the team, and a potential morale issue in the locker room.

Enter the looming talks on a new labor deal. Surely, the Management Council is already brainstorming strategies to end the hold-in.

One fairly simple possibility would entail arranging for a neutral, third-party doctor to examine the player and to determine whether he has an injury and, if so, whether he shouldn’t be practicing or playing because of it. If the doctor says the player is fine, and if the player persists in refusing to practice or play, the player becomes susceptible to an immediate fine, or a suspension.

Still, that’s far easier said than done. Most competent doctors will tell patients that they know their bodies better than anyone. Most competent doctors aren’t in the habit of telling patients they’re faking a condition.

Really, who wants to be potentially responsible for informing a player he doesn’t have a real injury and essentially forcing him to play when he doesn’t want to?

The better approach could be to financially incentivize the player to practice and play. Over the past 20 years or so, offseason workout bonuses and per-game active roster bonuses have become an effective tool to tie pay to actual performance. A significant training-camp (and/or regular-season) practice participation bonus would raise the stakes for players who can’t (or won’t) suit up. Per-game active roster bonuses, which currently aren’t part of the standard rookie deals, could be added to the formula for paying draft picks.

Obviously, this would punish players who are legitimately injured, and it would tempt some players to risk further injury in the name of earning their pay. But the teams already employ that approach with active-roster bonuses in veteran contracts. For young players, it becomes an important device to avoid a hold-in after their third seasons, when they become eligible for second contracts.

The problem is that the goalposts will potentially move. A player who wants a new contract and who previously would have cited an injury to avoid playing could just half-ass it through practices or games. But it’s one thing to refuse to play; it’s another to put on the uniform, step into the arena, and constantly make business decisions. That would open the player up to fair criticism from media and fans, and to resentment from his teammates.

Still, management has to be miffed that players have found a way to stage what is essentially a one-man wildcat strike until he gets what he wants. And it would be foolish to think the league isn’t already trying to come up with a way to end it.

That said, some owners may not mind it. In 2025, the Cowboys’ loss was Green Bay’s gain, after the Packers traded for Parsons. In 2026, the Cowboys benefited from the tactic that was used against them last year, with the trade that brought Porter to Dallas.

Given that all owners could have their contractual rights to a player short-circuited by a conscious refusal to practice or play based on a non-existent injury, the overall balance likely tips in favor of trying to find a way to claw back the power the players have created by claiming, in an industry rife with injuries, that they aren’t healthy enough to work — even if they are.

Steelers defensive lineman Derrick Harmon had to be carted off during Thursday night’s loss to the Browns and it looks like it will be a little while before he’s back on the field.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Harmon is expected to miss a few weeks with a foot injury. Injured reserve is a consideration for Harmon and he’d miss at least four games if the team goes that route.

The Steelers will play the Colts, Buccaneers, Saints and Browns before a bye in Week 9.

Harmon had 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble in the first four weeks of the season. The 2025 first-rounder had 27 tackles, three sacks and a fumble recovery during his rookie season.

The NFL’s announcement of fines for Week 3 featured six infractions for player safety fouls that qualify toward possible suspensions.

Two of those fouls were hip-drop tackles. 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and Rams safety Kam Curl were each fined $17,911. Warner was also fined $23,882 for illegal use of his helmet in a tackle.

Texans linebacker Jamal Hill, Giants tight end Isaiah Likely, and Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb were each fined for blindside blocks. Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined for a hit on a defenseless player.

Any player with three fines for any one of those infractions will be suspended for one game. The same potential penalty applies to fouls for launching or horse-collar tackles. No player has been fined more than once for any of the qualifying infractions yet this season.

The Steelers decided to move on from cornerback Joey Porter Jr. The Cowboys were ready to pounce.

“It’s important to think big,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, “and this is over in that big thought area about what we can do to help our defense.”

As to whether other moves will be made this year, Jones said “it’s always fluid” and “you can’t sit still.”

“If you look at the overall picture, I frankly decided a couple of years ago to get in the business of reworking what we are defensively,” Jones said.

The Porter trade is about winning now. The question is whether one player will make a big difference. The Cowboys have seen their cornerback play dip since trading linebacker Micah Parsons, and it’s not a coincidence. It’s easier to cover receivers if the quarterback is rushing to throw — or not throwing at all.

Porter isn’t Deion Sanders. (Then again, no one is.) The issue in Pittsburgh was that the two sides had a dramatically different viewpoint as to his value. And the eventual price that Cowboys paid (a sixih-round pick in 2027 and a second-round pick in 2028, with the possibility of a third-round compensatory pick in 2028 if he leave in free agency after this season) reflects the Steelers’ assessment of Porter as a player.

Porter’s value to the Cowboys remains to be seen. But all signs are pointing to Porter getting his first chance to show what he can do for his new team on Sunday.

Cowboys Executive V.P. Stephen Jones says the team spent significant time negotiating a trade with the Steelers for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. that made sense for the Cowboys — and made the trade only after the Steelers’ price came down.

Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that what the Steelers were initially asking for was more than the Cowboys were willing to give up, but they eventually got the Steelers to lower the price to a 2027 sixth-round pick and 2028 second-round pick.

“Early on the price was a little hefty for us, then it got to a point where we could deal with it,” Jones said.

Jones said the Cowboys know there’s a chance Porter will leave in free agency after this season, but they think if he does, they’ll get a 2028 compensatory pick that largely makes up for losing the 2028 second-round pick.

“We had to have that trade make sense if Joey left after this year,” Jones said. “That’s why the 2 in ’28 matches up with a compensatory pick. If he did leave we’d probably get a 3 or a 4 for him and get that back for Joey in ’28 when that 2 is in place. So it made a lot of sense. It protected us.”

Even if Porter proves to be only a rental for the rest of this season before going elsewhere, Jones thinks the price was right, once the Steelers lowered it.

Prior to Wednesday’s trade sending cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from the Steelers to the Cowboys, there were reports of interest in Porter from other teams as well.

The Lions were one of the teams mentioned in those reports and head coach Dan Campbell confirmed them during a Friday press conference.

Campbell said, via multiple reporters, that the Lions were “very much in on” Porter prior to Pittsburgh’s deal with Dallas. He said everything has to “align” for a deal to reach the finish line, however, and the Cowboys were able to get there first by sending a pair of draft picks to the Steelers.

The Lions’ interest in cornerback help is easy to understand. The release of Terrion Arnold left them without an expected starter in the defensive backfield and it stands to reason that they’ll continue looking at possible ways to bolster the group ahead of the trade deadline.

On Sunday, the Ravens and the Cowboys provided stark examples on how to handle, and how not to handle, the final seconds of a close game in light of the current kickoff rules.

The Steelers and the Browns apparently learned nothing from it.

After the Browns failed to work the clock down to the final few seconds before what became the game-winning field goal, 10 seconds remained.

Like the Cowboys in Rio, the Browns kicked into the end zone, giving the Steelers the ball at the 35. (A cutaway to Browns coach Todd Monken seemed to reveal his dismay.) It opened the door for the Steelers, who had a timeout in hand, to try to gain just enough yardage to allow for a field goal that would have forced overtime.

From the TV copy, it appeared that the Browns were playing the same kind of outside leverage that the Cowboys deployed when the Ravens, who had only seven seconds to work with, gained 27 yards and kicked the walk-off field goal. That gave the Steelers a shot at completing a pass in the middle of the field.

But the Steelers didn’t call a play that would have entailed a quick throw for a moderate gain and a shot at a field goal.

Instead, quarterback Aaron Rodgers rolled to his right, looking to uncork a long throw. The pass, which came back to earth just inside the Cleveland 20, was intercepted. Game over.

Why not try for a 20- to 30-yard gain? Quick decision, quick throw. If it works, take the time out and try the field goal. If it doesn’t, let Rodgers try to connect on another Thursday night miracle.

Coach Mike McCarthy (or Rodgers himself) inexplicably opted for a middle ground, with a long throw that, if it had connected, possibly would have allowed for a time out and a short field goal.

The decision made no sense. The Steelers could have had two shots — a shorter attempt to put them in field goal range for overtime and, if that failed (without an interception), a Hail Mary to win it.

The 2025 shift of the touchback point from the 30 to the 35 has significantly altered the available strategies for the final 10-15 seconds of a game. The Browns repeated the Cowboys’ mistake by conceding the 35, and the Steelers failed to try to seize upon the very real possibility of using the final 10 seconds to gain enough ground to send it into overtime.