Getty Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg was born in 1970s Los Angeles and raised on the Pittsburgh Steelers. And though Snoop has repped L.A. throughout his career, most notably starting with his collab with Dr. Dre on “The Chronic” in 1993, he’s a Steelers fan through and through. So when Pittsburgh came out to his hometown to take on the Chargers, he was torn.
A successful youth football coach with the Snoop Youth Football League, which he founded in 2005, Snoop said he grew up under the influence of Steelers legends like Mean Joe Green, Rocky Bleier, L.C. Greenwood, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.
Snoop joined the postgame NBC Sunday Night Football crew of Jac Collinsworth and Rodney Harrison to rap about what went down at SoFi Stadium between his Steelers and the Chargers.
“This one hurt a little bit tonight,” Snoop Dogg said. Snoop blamed the defense for letting the game get away from them.
Without key defenders like T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joe Haden, the Chargers put 41 points up on the Steelers. Quarterback Justin Herbert had his way in the air and on the ground with 382 yards, three touchdowns and 90 yards rushing.
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When to Say ‘When’
On the other side of the ball, Ben Roethlisberger was the near-hero for mounting a resurgence to take the lead — albeit briefly. Down by 17 points in the fourth quarter, the Steelers scored on touchdowns to tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Eric Ebron and two field goals by kicker Chris Boswell.
In Snoop’s long history with the Steelers, he’s witnessed a ton of comebacks on the shoulders of Roethlisberger.
“I knew Ben when he was in college and when he got drafted by the Steelers, so I’ve been with him his whole journey. He’s a personal friend of mine,” Snoop Dogg shared. “I love seeing him excel, but at the same time, we don’t know when to say ‘when’ when we doin’ what we doin’. So I think it’s gonna come a time, and he’s going to have to say this is enough, but right now, his heart is telling him to stay on the field.”
Snoop knows it’s just a matter of time before Roethlisberger concedes to another quarterback in Pittsburgh. “Everybody can’t be [Tom] Brady, man.”
Keys to the Bengals Game
The Steelers can’t dwell on the past, only look ahead to their next opponent in the Cincinnati Bengals.
KDKA-TV’s Bob Pompeani sat down with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to discuss the keys to coming away with a victory in Cincinnati on November 28.
Coach Tomlin gives his keys for the @steelers to win their game against the Bengals.
After two costly fumbles versus the Detroit Lions in Week 10, the Steelers didn’t commit any turnovers against the Chargers. Tomlin stressed that taking care of the football needs to carry over to their matchup with the Bengals.
“We had two big turnovers that they turned into 14 points the last time we played the Bengals,” Tomlin said. “And that was one of the core reasons we lost the game.”
Midway through the first quarter in their first matchup on September 26, Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds picked off Bengals’ Joe Burrow on a deflected pass. Moments later, Roethlisberger threw an interception on a ball intended for wide receiver Chase Claypool.
Two quarters later, Roethlisberger threw his second pick — this time to JuJu Smith-Schuster — on the Steelers’ third play of the drive.
Roethlisberger has been doing an exceptional job at taking care of the football lately, though. He’s enjoyed five interception-free games; his last was Week 4 versus the Green Bay Packers.
Watt for the Win
Getting T.J. Watt back is a big key for Pittsburgh to come out with a “W” in Cincinnati. The Steelers were without their star defender the last time these rivals met, and because of it, their 75-game sack streak came to an end.
Watt was also sidelined in Week 11 with hip and knee injuries, a significant reason the Steelers were unable to get any pressure on Chargers signal-caller Justin Herbert.
“To play without T.J. Watt isn’t something you want to do a lot of,” Tomlin said.
It doesn’t look like the Steelers will have to play without Watt this week. According to Teresa Varley of Steelers.com, Watt practiced three consecutive days this week and was a full participant on Friday.