No more free pass for Ally Villaneuava

[NorthCoast]

Man, some of you guys are Harsh! Consider it a near miss, but we came out of the game with Ben in one piece.

He lost 20# in one weekend? What did he have, cholera or something?

probably TMI, but I once had constipation for 2 wks, went to the doc, get meds, and had a 'release' a day later... losing 3 lbs.... can't imagine 7X that in a weekend.

[Ernie]

If Hubbard is OT3 that means when LT1 and RT1 go down, OT3 has to play, but he can only play one spot.
Of course they played AV over Feiler. He absolutely is better at 50% than Feiler is. They probably figured at worst they'd have to hook him up to an IV during halftime to keep him from getting dehydrated. He got progressively worse.

agreed....

[birtikidis]

I don't understand your question?
Hubbard was the 3rd OT.
If AV was sick they should've saved a roster spot and dressed FEILER

If you start your OT3 (you'd have to make that decision by 4pm on Saturday - do we know how sick AV was?) you start Hubbard and your #1 back up is Feiler. Gilbert went down also. SO that means you have a rookie udfa who has to step in and play. You actually feel comfortable with that?

[RuthlessBurgher]

For what it's worth, Matt Feiler was undrafted, but he is not a rookie. Houston signed him as an UDFA in 2014, and he spent his rookie year on their practice squad. He spent training camp with the Texans in 2015, but was released on final cuts, and that's when we claimed him off of waivers. He's been on our practice squad for 2015 and 2016, being promoted to the 53 man roster for a couple of games last year, but never actually getting on the field. He is actually out of practice squad eligibility already, which is why we opted to keep him as a 9th o-lineman this year.

[phillyesq]

if he was that sick he wouldn't/shouldn't have played. He hasn't been impressive thus far.

I don't get that at all. I'm not going to fault somebody for wanting to compete and giving it an effort.

[birtikidis]

For what it's worth, Matt Feiler was undrafted, but he is not a rookie. Houston signed him as an UDFA in 2014, and he spent his rookie year on their practice squad. He spent training camp with the Texans in 2015, but was released on final cuts, and that's when we claimed him off of waivers. He's been on our practice squad for 2015 and 2016, being promoted to the 53 man roster for a couple of games last year, but never actually getting on the field. He is actually out of practice squad eligibility already, which is why we opted to keep him as a 9th o-lineman this year.

My bad, someone else mentioned rookie, and I ran with it. Dur lol

[feltdizz]

I don't get that at all. I'm not going to fault somebody for wanting to compete and giving it an effort.

I'm faulting the coaching staff. I expect players to always want to compete.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

AV had the flu, according to Tomlin (from Labriola's 9-21 "Asked and Answered" on Steelers app):

Mike Tomlin said during his Tuesday news conference that Marcus Gilbert injured a hamstring against the Vikings. Al Villanueva had the flu in the days leading up to the game, and it weakened him and caused him to lose a bunch of weight in the days leading up to the game against Minnesota. He played the game in this weakened state and suffered some more because of the heat.

It does raise some depth concerns if they thought he was the best player to put on the field despite how ill he was.

[Oviedo]

AV had the flu, according to Tomlin (from Labriola's 9-21 "Asked and Answered" on Steelers app):

It does raise some depth concerns if they thought he was the best player to put on the field despite how ill he was.

...or he is actually that much better. Second string is second string for a reason.

[Slapstick]

probably TMI, but I once had constipation for 2 wks, went to the doc, get meds, and had a 'release' a day later... losing 3 lbs.... can't imagine 7X that in a weekend.

Nobody is going to comment on the three pound dump?

You guys are disappointing me...

[Oviedo]

Pouncey, and Heyward Bey, apparently was sent home this week with same thing AV had

[RuthlessBurgher]

Nobody is going to comment on the three pound dump?

You guys are disappointing me...

The European Fecal Standards and Measurements office requires you to convert that measurement into courics.

[birtikidis]

Nobody is going to comment on the three pound dump?

You guys are disappointing me...

It spoke for itself. Nothing more needed to be said.