The opinions found in Asked and Answered do not reflect the views of the Steelers organization.
Let's get to it:
DON SEGRETI FROM NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX: With injuries seeming to happen at a rapid pace around the league, and with rule changes to protect players, bigger stronger athletes etc., any chance of extending the active roster to include more front line players who are ready to play on game day? There seems to be so much adding and cutting of players that a roster increase seems logical.
ANSWER: There already are 53 players on an active roster, plus teams can have an additional 16 players on their practice squads, which means there are 69 guys available to a team weekly during an NFL season to practice and prepare for each game. There are mechanisms in place that allow a team to elevate players from the practice squad for a game and then have them revert back to the practice squad without having to clear waivers. Using the Steelers as an example, The list of "front line" players who were unavailable for Sunday's game in Cleveland were OLB T.J. Watt, WR Calvin Austin, CB James Pierre, CB Brandin Echols, and G Isaac Seumalo. LT Broderick Jones, SS DeShon Elliott, and special teams captain Miles Killebrew all were on injured reserve. They are all top of the depth chart players, and expanding rosters doesn't help a team replace them because there is not an infinite number of top notch players out there available even if rosters were expanded. How would expanded rosters help a team such as Kansas City after Patrick Mahomes tore an Achilles? Professional football is a brutal sport, with injuries being a 100 percent certainty. And when it happens to front line players, expanded rosters are not going to be able to replace the injured with guys who have a similar skill-set and pedigree.
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DONNIE BROWN FROM VAN BUREN, ME: Is it me or did the Steelers offense try harder to not let Myles Garrett get a record-breaking sack instead of playing to win the game?
ANSWER: What the recent history of the Steelers-Browns series told anyone who was paying attention was that Myles Garrett's individual success is tied closely to his team's success. Here is a snippet from what I wrote for Steelers.com after the 13-6 loss on Sunday to the Browns:
"But when it comes to the Browns, home or on the road, what the Steelers had experienced in the last 5 installments of this series is that if Myles Garrett is allowed to wreck the game, he wrecks it. In 2023, when Garrett had 2 sacks vs. the Steelers, the Browns won; when he had 0, they lost. Same thing in 2024. When he had 3 sacks, the Browns won; when he had 1, they lost. In the first meeting of 2025, back on Oct. 12 in Pittsburgh, Garrett had 0 sacks, and the Browns lost.
"Granted, there was added spice to Sunday's game because Garrett was looking for 1 sack to break the all-time NFL single-season record in that category, but the attention paid to preventing Garrett from getting to Aaron Rodgers was primarily about beating the Browns and clinching the division title. Preventing him from breaking the record came along with that."
FRITZ SCHERZ FROM VERONA, NY: Like all in Steelers Nation, I was disappointed in the result vs. the Browns. My question: Is there a stat for dropped interceptions? I'm asking because it seems like this year the Steelers had more dropped interceptions than previous years.
ANSWER: There is no official NFL statistic kept for dropped interceptions, but there are some analytics sites that take a shot at that. But like all analytics sites, in my opinion, there is a lot of guessing and speculation involved.
DOUGLAS PIPER FROM STATE COLLEGE, PA: I'm sure many will ask this question, but do you have any thoughts on why the offense had trouble moving the ball all day in Cleveland, but was able to quickly drive from their 20-yard line to the Browns 7-yard line at the end of the game?
ANSWER: I have to admit, your question made me chuckle, because usually I get the other version of this question. As in, why did the Steelers defense stop the opponent for three quarters of the game and then allow the opponent to move it up and down the field in the fourth quarter? I suspect the answer to your question is that the Browns knew that the Steelers had to score a touchdown to tie the game and had no timeouts left, and so they made the decision to force the offense to complete passes in the middle of the field to keep the clock running and count on their No. 1 pass defense to make a play.
TOM HENSON FROM MARTINSVILLE, IN: It's well documented that the Steelers never seem to take the easy road. The disparity between the two possible scenarios leading into Week 17 was enormous. They've gone from the possibility of their last two games being meaningless to potentially being eliminated by a Ravens team that looked unstoppable in Green Bay. Can you recall a time when the Steelers (or any team) has had their playoff scenario change this drastically in literally one weekend?
ANSWER: First of all, in order for the Week 17 game vs. the Browns to be meaningless for the Steelers, the Packers had to beat the Ravens. That was totally out of the Steelers' hands. As to that outcome, were the Ravens really unstoppable, or was the Green Bay defense simply not ready to do what was necessary to minimize Derrick Henry in a game where Baltimore's quarterback was going to be Tyler Huntley instead of Lamar Jackson? Anyway, the facts are that the Steelers entered last weekend's games with two different ways to clinch the AFC North Division – a Ravens loss on Saturday, or a Pittsburgh win on Sunday. Neither of those happened, and so the Steelers now have another chance to clinch the division and the home playoff game that comes with that by defeating the Ravens on Sunday night. Everything else is speculative drama.
MIKE PALOMBO FROM McMURRAY, PA: I've read varying reports about the Steelers decision not to void the guaranteed money remaining in DJ Metcalf's contract. What is actually correct? Has the team already decided not to void this money? If the decision hasn't yet been made, what is the deadline for doing so?
ANSWER: My sense is that the "varying reports" you read were speculation, because what you're asking about is not something the Steelers typically make public, and I would doubt they are going to change that policy of revealing detailed matters involving contracts in this instance.
JACK G. FOSTER FROM ROUNDUP, MT: Is it just me or does the rest of the fan base think that the game announcers (Tony Romo in particular) hate the Steelers? Romo never says anything positive about us but always says positive things about the other team. Is there anything fans can do to request certain announcers NOT BE on Steelers games?
ANSWER: No. There is nothing fans can do to impact which announcers are assigned to which games. That's the sole purview of the network broadcasting the game.
JOE LaMOLINARE FROM DALLAS, GA. I see quite a few players wearing face shields on their helmets. Are QBs allowed to wear shaded face shields to prevent the defense from reading the QB's eyes?
ANSWER: The way I believe it works for a defense is that when an attempt is being made to "read the quarterback's eyes" to determine where he's going with the football it will look at the quarterback's helmet and judge where he's looking by using the stripe on the top of his helmet as something of a pointer.
