Football footnotes: A Steelers tattoo 5 years in the making
In our Friday Football Footnotes, you get to see a five-year Steelers tattoo, Ben Roethlisberger as Baltimore's Thanos, Tom Brady's yacht-to-yacht TD and a Mychal Kendricks update.
Five-year Steelers tattoo
Wanna see what a five-year Steelers tattoo looks like? Well, here you go.
That's Scott Wolfe. Former Ink Master artist Sarah Miller has been working on that for half a decade.
Good move by Scott. The only guy on his arm who hasn't retired yet is Ben Roethlisberger. So — hopefully — nobody's face is going to need to be blurred out if they wind up with New England or Baltimore someday.
Kendricks update
As we suggested last week, the Steelers should look at signing Mychal Kendricks.
The Eagles recently released the linebacker. In terms of skill, he'd be a good fit here. But he may cost too much against the salary cap.
There is only $5.7 million left under the cap in Pittsburgh. Kendricks may be looking for $7 million or more per year.
Yet, one of the three teams he is scheduled to meet is a club with even less space than the Steelers.
That's Oakland. According to OverTheCap, the Raiders have only $2.85 million remaining. So they'll have to play the shell game there if they want Kendricks.
The good news for any team involved is that he apparently is willing to listen and take a look around. Kendricks went to Minnesota yesterday and didn't sign right away. BrownsWire.com reports that he left the Vikings facility without a contract even though his brother, Eric, is on the team.
He'll go to Oakland next, then Cleveland. The Steelers should keep their ear to the ground.
Ben is Thanos
Part of enduring a midlife crisis is realizing you don't understand movie references anymore.
For instance, I have no idea who Thanos is. My frame of reference for movie bad guys begins with Darth Vader and basically ends at Hannibal Lecter.
Apparently Thanos is a supervillain in "Avengers: Infinity Wars." Or so the kids tell me. Ravens safety Eric Weddel was asked who acts as the "Thanos" of Baltimore .
After some hedging, he said Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, just a tad over Tom Brady and New England.
I assume it is safe for Steelers fans to take that as both the ultimate compliment and the ultimate insult.
The guys at SteelersWire.com pointed this out though: "It is important to note that in the comic books, Thanos' ego eventually gets the best of him and the good guys find a way to beat him by playing to his own hubris."
Ego? Hubris? Ben Roethlisberger? Pfft! Please. No concerns there, right?
Right?
Brady's yacht-to-yacht TD
The Steelers aren't the only team dealing with the uncomfortable reality of a star QB and a star pass-catcher being absent from organized team activities this week.
That's happening in New England, too.
Tom Brady's arm looks sharp though, as this video of his yacht-to-yacht touchdown pass in Monaco would suggest.
Before getting on the yacht, @danielricciardo was challenged to catch a ball launched at full speed by #TomBrady . Check out the video with @bellahadid and @gerihalliwell cheering them on! #DontCrackUnderPressure #TAGHeuerIsMotorRacing #F1 #MonacoGP #Monaco250 pic.twitter.com/NzKeMkduIz
— TAG Heuer (@TAGHeuer) May 27, 2018
Let's not go crazy. Daniel Ricciardo was wide open. Not as open as Rob Gronkowski in the Steelers secondary. But wide open, nonetheless.
Speaking of Gronk, he spent some of his time away from Foxborough playing video games and pimping some sort of whitening kit for his teeth.
Video Games while using my Snow Teeth Whitening Kit! Get yours now using code 'Gronk' for 25% off! It's easy cheesy! Check it out - https://t.co/dYfAtkPfzF pic.twitter.com/eQ2zOHx14j
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) May 31, 2018
I like the glow-in-the-dark look.
But the Patriots are downplaying their absences even more than the Steelers are minimizing Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell missing out.
Here is almost-a-Steeler (and current Pats linebacker) Dont'a Hightower via PatsWire.com .
"As far as work goes, it's honestly the same, man. (Brady is) a big part of this team and he means a lot to us in the locker room, but as far as the culture goes, it's always been next man up."
I've heard that next-man-up quote before somewhere before, haven't you?
New kickoff idea
So, Ravens coach John Harbaugh wants the kickoff to now count for a point if it goes through the uprights .
C'mon, coach. You are only advancing this idea because you have the only kicker in football that can make the kick every time.
If the Ravens didn't have a Justin Tucker, do we really think Harbaugh would be suggesting this?
Please.
Well John, let's spice it up. Let's — as Tucker said on the topic — have some "give and take."
If you want to go for one point, you have to declare it in advance. If you miss the attempt, you either lose the extra point you just got or you give one to the other team.
For all the legal gambling fans out there, that'll help "the over."
If that sounds a little extreme to you, how about this: The other team gets the ball 10 yards further up if the kicker ... uh, excuse me ... if Justin happens to miss.
