The opinions found in Asked and Answered do not reflect the views of the Steelers organization.
Let's get to it:
MATTHEW MILLER FROM BRISTOL, VA: Having watched the Steelers play the Saints in Paris, and previously the Vikings in Dublin, my question is this: Who actually goes to these International Games? Is it Americans who are traveling and/or living in these countries? Or is it the natives? If it is more the former and less of the latter, then what's the point? I can see reaching out to our neighbors to the South, but Europe and Japan?
ANSWER: When you say you saw the Steelers play the Saints in Paris and before that the Vikings in Dublin, you don't specify whether you were in attendance for the games or watched them on television. Some portion of the audience in-stadium is from that country, some of it is made up of fans from the United States or other countries who use it as a vacation opportunity. Visit another country and have an NFL game as part of that vacation. The NFL's stated goal is it's trying to grow the game of American football into a global sport/attraction. When the Steelers played the Vikings in London in 2013, one of the things I noticed was that the fans in Wembley Stadium were wearing jerseys that represented just about every team in the NFL, not just the teams participating that day. A representative portion of the attendance that day was made up of NFL fans in general, rather than just fans of those two teams. They are people who want to watch American Football in person. There are rabid Steelers fans in Europe, Germany for example, and they get excited about an appearance of their favorite team in Paris and are willing to plan a trip to go to the game, because France is closer to Germany than Pittsburgh is. There are a lot of smart people working on this global expansion of the NFL, and I have a sense that when it's all said and done, there are more cities interested in hosting than there are available games, and so it's more of a pick-and-choose situation for the league.
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MICHAEL COOPER FROM CHAGRIN FALLS, OH: I agree with your take on NFL officiating being impossible to understand. After watching our Paris game, my question is this: how bad is it going to need to get before the league addresses it with meaningful change?
ANSWER: I have no answer to that question, because I don't know what would even be meaningful change. I long have believed that the root of the whole problem was the decision way back when to utilize instant replay as an officiating tool, but there is no way to stuff that toothpaste back into the tube. When instant replay first was used, the standard for changing the call on the field was "clear and obvious," but that has devolved into a super slow motion, frame-by-frame analysis that can just about prove or disprove anything they want. I did find it interesting to hear some snippets of criticism by Tom Brady, who was in the booth doing the Detroit-Green Bay game for FOX on Sunday. It was somewhat humorous to hear Brady criticizing the officials for a ticky-tacky roughing the passer call that he claimed should not have been a penalty. Brady was one of the biggest whiners every time an opponent so much breathed on him when he was a player.
CURTIS CONNERS FROM CARLISLE, PA: I was wondering why Aaron Rodgers didn't line up and spike the ball at the end of the first half. It was only third down, and he rushed off the field to get the field goal unit on and they just barely made it. But spiking the ball would have given more time. Did he think it was fourth down?
ANSWER: That's not Aaron Rodgers' decision to make in that situation. All NFL teams practice what sometimes is known as the fire drill field goal, and that play is called from the sideline in advance so everybody knows what to do. The Steelers undoubtedly knew in that situation that fire drill field goal was called, and so as soon as the play ended all of the offensive players on the field got off the field while the field goal unit hustled onto the field; the guys who needed to report to the referee as eligible get that taken care of, then it's just line up and execute like they practice it. Because it's planned and practiced, that was the right way to handle the situation.
Here is the way Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman described it:
Q. Can you talk us through getting the group on, kicking that field goal, and just all that went right, how many times you repped that thing?
DANNY CROSSMAN: It's something that we, especially early in training camp, that's a multiple times a week situation. We spend a lot of time working situations. We have periods designed just for specific situations, and obviously that's a big one that comes up. There's a lot of things that go into that -- the time on the clock, where it ends up, how far down the field people are.
Offensively they did a great job hustling off. The guys from the sideline did a great job getting on, and really had a lot of time available, so to speak, there at the end of that thing. There's 22 seconds when the offense snapped the ball. Obviously we understand without any timeouts we're in that alert. Obviously with the sack -- it eliminated the possibility of how close is it? Do you have to make any kind of decision (to go for it instead). It was clear. It was evident. Then the guys did a great job getting in and the execution was well done.
Q. Is there a certain time that you get them ready on the sideline, if there's a minute left?
DANNY CROSSMAN: Any time we take over possession, the conversation with all the guys on the field goal team ties into here's how many timeouts we have left. Once we get to 1 timeout remaining, I'm going to come back and find you and make sure you understand with one left, as soon as that thing disappears, we're automatically into that alert. In that situation, we started with the one timeout. It came on the Germie play down the field. We had to use that timeout. Immediately when we took over on first-and-10, we knew we were out of timeouts. Right from jump street, the offense could control it up to third down. If not, we were going to be in Thunder.
JOHN FARR FROM YUMA, AZ: At an away game such as Paris, France, the Saints were the home team. Do the Saints' announcers travel also? If so, are there announcements in French also? What staff members travel to International Games other than the on-field staff? You know the behind the scenes guys who get no recognition.
ANSWER: When you ask, "do the Saints' announcers travel also?" I'm assuming you're not talking about the radio announcers but the public address announcers at the stadium. When it comes to that, the NFL is in charge of the operation of the stadium and the actual flow of every International Game, so that would be a decision made at the league level. When a team has a regular season International Game, it will bring staff from just about every department within the organization. Public Relations, Community Relations; Football Operations; Equipment, Video, IT, Digital Content. That's just off the top of my head. There are so many staffers that teams need multiple flights to ferry all of the people over and back. As a result, there's also a lot of travel and logistics to coordinate, and those people have to be on site when the planes take off and also when they land.
JEFF WILLIAMS FROM BEDFORD, IN: Who decides the uniform color combination and are they predetermined in advance? Is it the team captains, the coaching staff, Mr. Rooney? The color rush pants seemed to come out of left field. Classic look.
ANSWER: That's an ownership decision made within the parameters set by the NFL. In other words, the team can pick but it's the NFL that decides.
JOSEPH OBRAY FROM NESCONSET, NY: How do you feel about the QBR rating ESPN created to rate a quarterback's performance? Seems to me it is ridiculous and not accurate.
ANSWER: I don't pay any attention to what some outside entity creates as a statistic to evaluate NFL players. The league has a system that it uses, it has an official statistician in Elias Sports Bureau, and I really can't envision a situation where the Pro Football Hall of Fame will switch from using NFL Passer Rating to ESPN's QBR. I don't know how to compute QBR or what specific things it measures, and I have no interest in learning. If I'm ever writing about a perfect passer rating, I'll continue to use 158.3.
SCOTT RANDALL FROM CONWAY, SC: With DeShon Elliott back, and yes it will take him some time to get back into game shape, so do you expect any other moves for the safety/cornerback room?
ANSWER: I believe Coach Mike McCarthy views the players on the practice squad as part of the team, and in situations where a replacement if needed his preference is to look first at the guys on the practice squad who have been with the team and working. Also, I just don't think you're going to have a lot of teams "selling" quality defensive backs at the trading deadline, because there's no such thing as extra quality defensive backs where a team could trade one without creating a corresponding hole on its own roster. Things can be talked about, but getting an actual deal done just doesn't happen that often.
RAY NEWMASTER FROM SINKING SPRING, PA: The Steelers replaced the Acrisure Stadium turf this year with Tahoma 31 for better wear and player experience. In the past, I remember them replacing the turf several times during the season. I haven't heard anything about the turf this year. Is the new turf working out better, and the way the team expected?
ANSWER: I would say the change to Tahoma 31 Bermuda grass has been a success. It certainly has passed the eye test each time I have been at Acrisure Stadium for a Steelers home game this year. And remember: it's a football field, not a golf course.
