JIM ANDERSON FROM TOLEDO, OH: I know that the Steelers organization was planning to replace the turf after the Cleveland game. However, with Chris Boswell badly slipping with his plant leg, do you think they will better watch the condition of the turf? Boswell could have gotten injured, or in a closer game this could have cost us the game.
ANSWER: I will admit to knowing little if nothing about turf maintenance and management – in fact I haven’t even cut the grass since I was a teenager living at my parents’ house. But here are some of the factors that came together this particular year:
Over the 6 weekends between Aug. 30 and Oct. 4, there were 4 games played at Acrisure Stadium – three Pitt games and the Steelers home opener on Sept. 14. That came after a brutally hot summer in the area, and the area also has been going through what the meteorologists have referred to as drought conditions with up to two straight weeks with no measurable rain not being uncommon.
In past years, the Steelers have re-sodded between the hash marks once around this time followed by a full-field re-sodding after the WPIAL Championship Games, which are played there on the day after Thanksgiving. But this year, the conditions necessitated two full-field re-soddings, and the first one began after the Browns game because Pitt’s next home game is on Oct. 25, and the Steelers next home game is on Oct. 26. That will allow the crew to perform the work and give the new grass time to take root before being exposed to a football game.
And to answer a question appearing in other submissions on this topic, the Steelers pay all of the expenses for every re-sodding.
JEFF STENZEL FROM ORCHARD PARK, NY: Can you explain the non-intentional grounding call against the Browns? The ref said something like “there was a receiver in the area”, which was more baffling to me than simply not addressing it.
ANSWER: I cannot, and the only receiver in the area I noticed was a guy wearing an orange Browns hoodie in the fourth row behind the end zone.
KEN MAULDIN FROM CLYDE, TX: What is the contract situation of Darnell Washington, has he signed a second contract yet?
ANSWER: Darnell Washington is in the second year of the 4-year rookie contract he signed as a No. 3 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and teams cannot re-sign players who are on rookie contracts until their third season in the league.
VICTOR CLAYPOOL FROM GOOCHLAND, VA: Why was Jalen Ramsey’s injury designation changed from questionable to nothing at all? If I know my football correctly, it seems that he could have played either way so why go through the trouble?
ANSWER: At the time the Steelers changed Jalen Ramsey’s injury designation, they were sure he was going to be able to play in Sunday’s game, and the team chooses to adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of the NFL’s injury reporting guidelines.
KEVIN KARASINSKI FROM ALIQUIPPA, PA: Are you guys going to use Will Howard at any point of the season, or are you guys not going to play him for the rest of the season?
ANSWER: The time to give rookie sixth-round picks playing time “to see what they can do” happens during the preseason, and that’s over. These games count in the standings now, and so I don’t expect to see Will Howard get any playing time unless there are a couple of serious injuries. For that reason I hope his first action comes in August 2026.
DANIEL GEISSINGER FROM LEHIGHTON, PA: Referring to the question from Keith Miller in the Oct. 12 Asked and Answered, wasn’t it Tom Coughlin who would sign a player from the Steelers practice squad before a Steelers vs. Jaguars matchup? Was the rule regarding putting the player on the 53-man roster for 3 weeks in effect at that time? Side note: Tom Coughlin was the head coach of my alma mater, R.I.T., from 1970-1973. The R.I.T. football team has not lost a game since 1978, which was the year they eliminated the football program.
ANSWER: Yes, it was Jacksonville Coach Tom Coughlin who regularly signed players off the Steelers practice squad before those games and then released them once the games were over, and that practice was the impetus for that 3-week rule. But Coughlin earned a soft spot in my heart when his New York Giants teams beat the Patriots and Tom Brady twice in Super Bowls.
CHRIS WELBURN FROM GLASTONBURY, CT: Please clarify when the inactive game day roster decisions are required? When are they made public or released to the media?
ANSWER: Teams must submit their game day inactives to the NFL 90 minutes before kickoff of their game. There are no rules about when those inactives are to be released to the media/public.
JERRY LUTZ FROM RED DEER, ALBERTA, CANADA: A follow-up to your stat about there being only 14 No. 1 overall draft picks since 1936 who have earned election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Can you name them please?
ANSWER: Bill Dudley (1942), Charley Trippi (1945), Chuck Bednarik (1949), Paul Hornung (1957), Ron Yary (1968), O.J. Simpson (1969), Terry Bradshaw (1970), Lee Roy Selmon (1976), Earl Campbell (1978), John Elway (1983), Bruce Smith (1985), Troy Aikman (1989), Orlando Pace (1997), and Peyton Manning (1998). A 15th player — Buck Buchanon — was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1963 AFL Draft, which was before the common draft era. And so it is not counted in this statistic.
