Raiders at Steelers: Game Notes
Nnamdi Asomugha returning an INT for a score versus Pittsburgh in 2006
Pittsburgh native Bruce Gradkowski starred at Seton-La Salle Catholic High School from 1997-to-2000 in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL); the same league that produced Dan Marino, Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas. On Sunday, he goes back home as the starting quarterback of the Oakland Raiders. “It’s always exciting getting back to Pittsburgh,” Gradkowski commented. “My whole family’s from Pittsburgh and grew up watching the Steelers.”
Gradkowski hopes to have a better showing this weekend than his first two starts as a member of the Buccaneers and Browns. He has a 50% completion percentage no touchdowns, five interceptions and a rating of 20.3 against the Steelers.
Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin said today that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expected to start against the Raiders. “We’re not anticipating him having headaches this week,” Tomlin said. “But if he does, of course, we’ll act quickly.”
Second year back-up Dennis Dixon started last weekend against the Baltimore Ravens after Roethlisberger suffered post-concussion symptoms. “I think the entire week Ben was prepared to and expecting to play,” Tomlin said. ”He realized he was experiencing some discomfort, he realized that was a part of the process. He had been through that before. But based on [the doctor's] suggestion, we did what we felt was appropriate. Whether he agreed with it or not was really irrelevant at that point. We had a game to play.”
Safety Troy Polamalu will be out and is not expected to play for at least a week or two.
Defensive end Greg Ellis (knee swelling) will be questionable, as well as running back Justin Fargas (stinger).
Darrius Heyward-Bey finally recorded his first touchdown of his career. Tom Cable hopes that his young receiver hitting paydirt will lead to better things as the season unwinds. “Every time those young guys do something like that, score a touchdown, hit a couple of big plays, go through a game without a drop, those are breakthroughs,” Cable stated. “You just want to keep piling them up, and pretty soon that confidence factor will kick in, and you got what you wanted.”
The rookie commented “Going into these last five games, we hope we just hit those big plays and go into the off-season with a good feeling.”
At 6-5, the Steelers are starting to feel the pressure of trying to get on a roll in order to defend their title in January. Tomlin stated, “We will unleash hell here in December because we have to. We won’t go in a shell. We’ll go into attack mode, because that’s what’s required.”
Pittsburgh will point to their maddening losses to Kansas City, Chicago and two at the hands of the Bengals as vital performances that could cost them a chance at a playoff spot. “We have to win out,” defensive end Brett Keisel stated. “There’s no other ifs, ands or buts. We have to win out in order for us to be playing in January.”
FOX Sports reported that Al Davis is selling a chunk of ownership of the Oakland Raiders. “The Raiders are trying to sell 10 percent of the franchise in an effort to raise capital,” detailed Jay Glazer. “The team has been seeking potential buyers recently and it’s unclear whether anyone is close to becoming a new partner.”
Forbes valued the Silver & Black at nearly $797 million, the lowest net worth of any franchise in the league.
Tommy Kelly getting his hands on Ben Roethlisberger
On October 29, 2006, the Raiders defeated the Steelers 20-13 in front of the ‘Black Hole.’
The Raiders got a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Chris Carr to seal the victory, after the Silver & Black opened the game with Nnamdi Asomugha’s 23-yard interception return for a score.
At that point, the Steelers were 2-5 – like the Raiders – and the reining Super Bowl MVP stated: “Two wins for the year — that’s not the way you imagined the Super Bowl champs would start the year off,” Hines Ward said. “When you turn the ball over as much as we did, it’s hard to beat anybody.”
Similarly, Roethlisberger went into that contest in 2006 suffering from concussion symptoms after being knocked around by the Falcons a week earlier.
Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist
