The opinions found in Asked and Answered do not reflect the views of the Steelers organization.
Let's get to it:
DON MORRISON FROM PITTSBURGH, PA: Thank you for your recent enumeration of all the Steelers who have won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Apart from Cam Heyward, who's still playing, do you know how many WMPOY winners across the league made it into the HOF?
ANSWER: According to ProFootbalLHOF.com, there are 28 former winners of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award who have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Here is that list, with the year each was voted the WPMOY in parenthesis. And remember, it wasn't named for Walter Payton until 1999.
• Johnny Unitas (1970), Willie Lanier (1972), Len Dawson (1973), George Blanda (1974), Franco Harris (1976), Walter Payton (1977), Roger Staubach (1978), Joe Greene (1979), Lynn Swann (1981), Dwight Stephenson (1985), Steve Largent (1988), Warren Moon (1989), Mike Singletary (1990), Anthony Muñoz (1991), John Elway (1992), Derrick Thomas (1993), Junior Seau (1994), Darrell Green (1996), Troy Aikman (1997), Dan Marino (1998), Cris Carter (1999), Derrick Brooks (2000), Jerome Bettis (2001), Will Shields (2003), Peyton Manning (2005), LaDainian Tomlinson (2006), Jason Taylor (2007), and Kurt Warner (2008).
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MATTHEW JOHNSON FROM CASHIERS, NC: The Isiah Likely non-TD was as bad as the Jesse James non-TD minus the fact that the Jesse James play was in the AFC Championship Game. Football move, survive the ground … both of these instances per the rules are correct but both instances seem to be the wrong outcome. Agree or disagree?
ANSWER: First off, the Jesse James play happened in a regular season game on Dec. 17, 2017. More than a month before the 2017 AFC Championship Game, where New England defeated Jacksonville. Anyway, I don't care how the rule reads, because whatever those words are the only thing that matters is how those words are interpreted in a specific situation. I have to believe there are hundreds of instances to cite where the interpretations of securing the catch, or completing the catch, or surviving the ground, or making a football move are different. Every team in the league can sing a sad song about a review gone bad. My opinion is that NFL officiating is inconsistent and arbitrary, but never sinister.
LYDIA WEXELL FROM IRWIN, PA: Can you explain what determines the Player of the Week? In Sunday's game vs. the Ravens, Patrick Queen was a big part of the team's win and I do appreciate him returning after the injury, but I thought Alex Highsmith deserved it.
ANSWER: I pick the Steelers Digest Player of the Week and have done so in every game since the inaugural issue of the publication in 1988 – the prehistoric times when it was a tabloid newspaper. In a lot of instances I'm picking from among several performances that were impressive on a variety of levels, and in this one I wanted to highlight an individual who fought through not being 100 percent physically to do what was necessary for the team and his teammates in the key part of a critical game.
CHRISTOPHER GIBSON FROM MANALAPAN, NJ: To my way of thinking, you aren't a true quarterback for the Steelers until you beat the Ravens. I welcome Aaron Rodgers to the club! My question is which Steelers starting QBs never notched that win?
ANSWER: Not including short-term injury replacement situations, the guys who rightfully can be referred to as Steelers starting QBs since the Ravens were born for the 1996 NFL season are Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox, Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett, and Russell Wilson. Each one of them has at least 1 win over the Ravens.
THOMAS MILNER FROM SOUTH PARK, PA: How many penalty yards has Joey Porter cost us this year?
ANSWER: I don't care. I'll take the play he made in the end zone against Isaiah Likely on Sunday and call it even. Agree with the call, disagree with the call, whine about it or laugh about it, Joey Porter Jr. made that happen by continuing to work to dislodge the ball and finishing. After that, it was up to the on-site officials and the folks in New York to come to a final judgment. Holding, illegal contact, pass interference happen on every play. It comes down to what gets called and when it gets called.
ZACHARY FRANKLIN FROM URBANDALE, IA: Outside of the NFL "pool reporter" questions allowed of referees, have you ever had the opportunity to do a sit down with an NFL referee (maybe during the offseason), or does the NFL strictly prohibit that?
ANSWER: I never have interviewed an NFL official and never made any attempt to do so.
LARRY LASH FROM TARENTUM, PA: Can you please explain active/inactive for me? I understand players with such designations revert back to the practice squad after the game, but do they receive any sort of different compensation for that game or are they still under a practice squad type contract?
ANSWER: A team can only utilize the "practice squad all-up" designation on a player three times during a season and then it must either add him to the 53-man roster or expose him to being claimed by another team. Because of that, once that decision is made on a guy he usually is in uniform for the game, or the call-up designation was wasted. As for compensation, all 53 players on the active roster receive a regular season game check for each game, whether they are active or inactive, whether they play or not. In the cases of practice squad call-ups, the guy is paid a regular season game check when he's called up, and when he's relegated back to the practice squad his pay drops back to practice squad pay.
