The Pittsburgh Steelers will not be going undefeated this season, having lost their first game of the year this past Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts. They’ll look to rebound this Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys.
Jim Wexell writes for 247sports.com and has covered the Steelers since 1995. He joined 90.5 WESA "All Things Considered" host Jeremy Scott to talk Steelers.
Jeremy Scott: Jim, I do want to talk about the loss and the upcoming game. But first, some big news on the Jim Wexell front. Your bibliography has expanded. It's a new book called "Pittsburgh Steelers: An Illustrated Timeline." Most people know the Steelers became part of the National Football League in 1933. But this thing is so comprehensive, it goes all the way back to the 1920s. Is that right?
Jim Wexell: Well, not exactly. I refer to the '20s. I like to talk about the '20s when I'm at events, like I will be at Barnes and Noble of Cranberry on Saturday from 12 to 2, and bringing a guest Tuesday night to Riverstone Books in Squirrel Hill. And I'm going to talk about the '20s because I couldn't find photos from the '20s, Jeremy. So I had to just touch on that in 1933 when they started. In the '20s, just to just to sum it up briefly, Art Rooney was a great athlete on the North Side and football was big and semi-pro athletes were big.
Semi-pro teams drew big crowds, but they couldn't play on Sundays because of the blue laws. They couldn't play athletic events in Pennsylvania. So Pittsburgh was really tougher on them. And they went out into the suburbs and the law and the government would wink at them, but they wouldn't let them play on the North Side in Pittsburgh, and in 1925, they cracked down on them. And so they went to Steubenville to play. And luckily, fortunately for them, the Hope Harveys is what Rooney's team was called, were the best of the semi-pro teams, Art Rooney's team, and they played got a exhibition game against the Canton Bulldogs, who were in what the NFL was in 1920.
It was ever-shifting, always moving. They wanted a Pittsburgh team, knew they couldn't get the blue laws changed, so they just wished and wanted the Pittsburgh team. So they scheduled an exhibition against the Canton Bulldogs and Rooney's Hope Harveys, and the Canton Bulldogs had Jim Thorpe. He was 39 years old, but he was still a big draw. It was NFL. They were NFL. And the Hope Harveys played them to a 3-0 loss. It was such a tough game. Usually Jim Thorpe would pull himself out at halftime again in these exhibition games. He played the full game, got the respect of the NFL, the NFL kept their eye on Art Rooney, and by 1933, they finally knew they had the blue laws repealed and they welcomed the Pittsburgh Pirates into the NFL.
Scott: So basically, the Steelers were a barnstorming team before they became a part of the National Football League.
Wexell: Well, semi-pro. Barnstorming, you could call it that. But they barnstormed around locally and they had leagues and they had big crowds. And Art was on the North Side, and that was rich in politics. And I don't want to say criminals, but it was, you know, old Allegheny wasn't part of Pittsburgh until, what, 1913? And they were considered like old Canada. You could go there and get away with things. There was a lot of gambling, a lot of nightlife, a lot of politics was discussed in Art Rooney's father's bar on the North Side.
So Art got to know all the politics. He got to know how it worked, and he positioned his team as the number one semi-pro team. And he knew how to work the local media, too. So he had all kind of publicity. And so he learned all that. The main guy he learned it from was Cum Posey, the Baseball Hall of Famer. And he was a basketball star at Duquesne. That's where Art Rooney went. Didn't graduate there, but it was a prep school and then slash college. And he played his college football there and at IUP, which was called Indiana Normal.
And so he learned the art of promotion from Cum Posey. He learned politics from David Lawrence and Michael Coyne, a Democrat and Republican. And so he learned how to play the game. And he did well. And once he got the team, it was more of an act of survival. And before his son finally grew into the — it wasn't called the GM role, but he was in charge, Dan Rooney. And then Art Rooney, Jr. was hired. And then Chuck Noll was hired and Bill Nunn. And a perfect storm came in the late '60s. And then finally, Art Rooney, The Chief's, vision finally came to fruition.
Scott: Well, so we mentioned the term "barnstorming" and you talked a little bit about the basketball history there. When I think of barnstorming teams, I think of the Harlem Globetrotters. The Steelers looked more like the Washington Generals, though, for most of this past Sunday at the Indianapolis Colts. Prior to that, though, the Steelers had won three straight and wins can mask a lot of ills. Are there any alarming trends that you noticed in the three wins that ended up being exposed this past Sunday in the loss?
Wexell: Well, I've been complaining about the running game, and a lot of that has to do with an offensive line that's going to get better. I know they suffered another injury, but they do get [Isaac] Seumalo back. And I just want to see better running. And Cordarrelle Patterson came in and showed that you can cut back. You don't have to slam into a signed hole and then blame it on your linemen. You can cut back to daylight. Problem is, he's 33 and he really was out of shape most of the summer. So I think rushing to get back into shape did not help him with his availability.
So Cordarrelle is going to be come and go and Jaylen [Warren]'s having trouble. Hamstring and now knee. So they're still stuck with Najee [Harris]. And so the better point is, the silver lining is, they found a quarterback. I do believe they found a quarterback and the offensive line will get better and they have a quarterback. You know, there were some big mistakes. The fumbled snaps are big mistakes but they don't strike me as a quarterback who's making losing mistakes. It just strikes me as a quarterback still trying to find his sea legs. I'm not going to hold what happened in Chicago against him. I don't know what kind of coaching and what kind of cast he had around him. I like the cast and I like the coaching around Justin Fields right now. I like his backup.
Russell Wilson is still not rolling out, still not jumping over the littlest of bags in drills. So they're still cautious with that calf. They're probably worried that he can blow an Achilles. So they're still going to work Russell Wilson, slowly. And meanwhile, I'm just seeing nothing but good things out of Justin Fields.
Scott: All the injuries you mentioned, you talked about the running backs, the top two backup running backs to Najee Harris, Cordarrelle Patterson and Jaylen Warren, both injured. This team continues to drop like flies. Jim, are the Steelers going to have to maybe broker some deals and work the trade lines to make sure that they aren't fielding a team of backups by the time that we roll around to the middle of the season?
Wexell: Well, I mean, I don't think they're suffering any more injuries than any other team. I think the running backs will be back. And in the meantime, I think they've picked up a couple. [La'Mical] Perine, I really liked him in the preseason. So they know some guys who are out there, they're picking guys up, they have a good scouting department, Andy Weidl knows what he's doing, Omar [Khan] knows what he's doing. I just the maneuver I want to see them make, I know a lot of people in town disagree with me, but I want to see Davante Adams. I think we've talked about him in past weeks. I want to see the move for Davante Adams. I think that makes them a contender right away.
Scott: The big injury for the game coming up against the Dallas Cowboys is the Cowboys' own version of T.J. Watt, linebacker Micah Parsons. You mentioned the Steelers look like they're going to be getting offensive lineman Isaac Seumalo back for this game. Is that enough, Jim, to make you say advantage: Steelers for this coming Sunday night?
Wexell: Yeah, I think the Steelers have the advantage. You know, I wish I would have stuck with my intuition last week and picked them to lose because I did not feel good about that game. I sided with the Steelers because of the Colts' injuries. Now, Dallas injuries are just the cherry on top here. Dallas has played a weaker schedule. They have really porous run defense, which I don't know if the Steelers can take advantage of it, but the Steelers are markedly better at the line of scrimmage, markedly better at efficiency scoring-wise on especially the defense. The Dallas Cowboys bend and break. The Steelers bend a little bit and really don't break much.
I like the Steelers in this game, coming off a loss, Sunday night, a lot of excitement will be surrounding this team, and there will be energy there. They're not 3-0. They don't think they're all that going into Indianapolis. They're coming home and they're hearing it on the airwaves about blowing that game last week. Najee Harris is really hearing it. Today, he fought back. He made comments. Last week he flipped off the Colts fans and then ran out and carried 13 times for 19 yards, and the linebacker called him soft. Well, I mean, he's going to run with some determination against a soft Dallas defense that's now missing Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. And they're going to be missing Brandin Cooks, a receiver. So I like the Steelers here for a lot of reasons.
