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No. 9 Pittsburgh Steelers
No. 10 Chicago Bears
It was not quite the way the Steelers wanted their week to end after multiple offsides penalties gave the Chargers a chipshot game-winning field goal opportunity. Perhaps even bigger than the loss to the Chargers was running back James Conner leaving the game with a leg injury. According to ESPN, Conner sustained a right lower leg contusion against the Chargers. Pittsburgh is already without Le'Veon Bell, and it would be a big blow if Conner is forced to miss time. "You never want to see a guy like that go down," Antonio Brown told ESPN. "But like we said, every guy in a helmet is upholding the standard, and anyone can be the reason we win." Pittsburgh blew a sizable lead over the Chargers in the second half and have now lost two straight games. Leading up to the game, the focus was on Ben Roethlisberger's relationship with his star wide receiver after he criticized one of his routes in Week 12. Brown noted there was nothing going on behind the scenes. “Ben is my guy, man,” Brown explained to Trib Live. “I love him. There’s a method to his madness. It’s only going to inspire the group, encourage the group to do better. I know the type of guys he is. I know it can be misconstrued and changed in regards to how you guys put it out there. But he means well. He’s here to inspire us all. He’s the only one in this locker room that has a championship under his belt. If you do the little things, it’s only going to encourage us to do something special.” Pittsburgh has an opportunity to get back on track in Week 14 on the road against Oakland.The Bears Were Stunned by the Giants
Chicago suffered a surprising loss to the Giants, but they still remain among our top 10 teams. All is not lost for the Bears as the team still sits atop the NFC North. The Bears were once again without quarterback Mitch Trubisky. After the game, Bears head coach Matt Nagy provided an update on Trubisky's status as well as an evaluation on how Chase Daniel did in his absence. “He’s feeling better,” Nagy explained to the Chicago Sun-Times. “His arrow is going up every day, he feels like, and you can see [that] when he’s throwing. So we’ll continue to keep our fingers crossed...We weren’t really in rhythm, [and] we weren’t getting first downs. Starting the game with a pick-six is not how you want to start it. But to his credit and the rest of the guys’ credit, they figured out a way to give us a chance at the end of the game as hard as it felt throughout the game. I appreciate how Chase has been this whole time. It’s who we are as a team, and I’ll never put a win or a loss on one guy.” Things get even more difficult in Week 14 as the Bears host the Rams on Sunday Night Football.It has been a wild couple of weeks for Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown, but he’s finally made his return to Napa for training camp. He has been absent for the last week because of an ongoing issue that he had with the NFL concerning their new helmet rules. He was also out because of a foot injury, but it seems like he’s mostly recovered from that. It looked like he may not make an appearance for the media and fans at Tuesday’s practice, but he eventually made his way to the field.
Antonio Brown Makes Appearance at Raiders Training Camp
Brown, of course, had the Hard Knocks crew swarming him. The often controversial wide receiver has likely been causing the team headaches over the last week or so, but there is no better ibuprofen than scoring touchdowns. There’s almost no way he’ll play in Thursday’s game versus the Arizona Cardinals, but his presence is an improvement. According to Silver & Black Pride’s Levi Damien, Brown is excited to get back and he’ll hit the field shortly.
Antonio Brown is here (no practice yet). said he’s excited to be back out here and he’ll “get in the groove here shortly” #Raiders
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The Retirement Bluff
It would be very irresponsible to label Adam Schefter’s report that Brown would retire if he couldn’t wear his helmet fake news. It’s very possible that he made that claim and it was just a bluff. He has a flair for the dramatic and he probably did threaten to retire if couldn’t wear the helmet. Luckily, this whole thing seems to be fizzling out and the team can get back to focusing on football. Brown had a chance to speak to the media.
“We’re working with the NFL regarding the helmet,” said Brown when asked about the helmet situation. “I’ll make sure to put on the equipment approved helmet and I’ll be ready to go shortly.”
He also had a chance to talk about his foot issue.
“It’s a process. We all make excuses,” said Brown. “I’m feeling a lot better. It’s been a process with all the adversity. We’re still here standing, so it’s an opportunity to do what I desire to do.”
He said the media will have to “stay tuned” for when he’ll return to practice. He was also questioned as to where he’s been over the last week and he said he was seeing a foot specialist. He was very vague with a lot of his answers and it wasn’t expected for him to appear in front of the media, but it’s a good sign that he’s willing to talk. Not much more information has come to light as a result of his interview, but it’s good that he’s returned to the team. According to Brown’s agent Drew Rosenhaus, the retirement talks weren’t serious.
“I don’t think there was ever any legitimacy to the retirement talk,” said Rosenhaus about Brown’s reported threat.
Per The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, Rosenhaus said that Brown needed laser treatment on his feet and confirmed that he did suffer from frostbite. He also revealed that Brown has found helmets and that they’re on the way. Fortunately, Brown’s return should be near.
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