First Call: Former Steeler honors Ben Roethlisberger; T.J. Watt explains how he got the bad news about the sack record

Friday’s “First Call” flashes back to a happy Pittsburgh Steelers memory. A former teammate waxes nostalgic about Ben Roethlisberger. T.J. Watt’s tale of woe about the sack record chase. And the Penguins gear up for the second of back-to-back games.

Big props from Big Bud

Former Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree is getting ready for a playoff game Saturday. His Tennessee Titans are hosting the Cincinnati Bengals.

But during the week of prep, Dupree spent some time during media interviews expressing some fondness for former teammate Ben Roethlisberger in advance of his retirement.

“Ben is a legend. Hall of Famer. There’s just no doubt about it,” Dupree said via TennesseeTitans.com. “I know he (doesn’t) want to hang it up, nobody wants to hang it up. … But, he’s got a lot of life outside of football. He made a very, very powerful impact in the city of Pittsburgh, and also around the world just being who he is, one of those big quarterbacks running over people, throwing the ball, extending plays. He kind of created that nature, and he’s been a great leader for that team. I know he’s looking forward to seeing his afterlife with his kids, waking up to his kids every day.”

Between injury issues and coronavirus, Dupree only managed three sacks in his first year with the Titans. But one of them was against Roethlisberger on Dec. 2 at Heinz Field.

Related:

• Steelers punter Pressley Harvin deals with grief off field, adversity on it to finish season on high note
• U mad, bro?: Steelers fans emote after a bad playoff loss in very different ways

Broken record? Or broken rule?

Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt was on the Dan Patrick Show this week, discussing how he nearly broke the NFL’s single season sack record.

As you may remember, it appeared as if Watt had two sacks during the first half of the Week 18 victory in Baltimore. But Watt’s first tackle of Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley in the backfield, wasn’t ruled to be a sack because it was a botched snap.

So the Steelers All-Pro only ended up tying Michael Strahan’s 2001 mark of 22.5 sacks in a season, instead of breaking it.

Watt told Patrick that he found out during halftime that the first sack had been disallowed.

“I thought I had two, but I checked my phone, because our d-line coach was like ‘they’re giving it to you, they’re giving it to you, you have it,’” Watt said. “Then a couple of guys are like ‘no, you’re not.’ So I checked my phone at halftime, which I never do, and then J.J., my brother, was in a group chat, was like ‘they only gave you one man. You got to go get another one.’”

Watt said he tried to make up for the statistical decision in the second half, but to no avail.

“I tried like hell to get another one in the second half, and they were running the ball a whole bunch, so it wasn’t in the cards,” Watt said.

The Steelers lost their appeal to have the ruling overturned.

Worse yet for Watt, shortly after telling the story the internet was ablaze with speculation that he may have ratted himself out for breaking an NFL rule which prohibits cellphone use by players during a game. The Cleveland Browns were busted for that in 2015.

#Steelers LB T.J. Watt admitted on the @dpshow that he used his cellphone during halftime of the #Ravens games in hopes to find out if he broke the single season sack record.

According to league rules, that is prohibited.pic.twitter.com/SWTBP0BV0A

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 19, 2022

I’m not sure how much — if at all — the NFL is still enforcing that rule. But given the $112 million contract that Watt signed during the offseason, I’m sure he’ll be able to handle any fine he may get.

Quick turnaround

After the Penguins’ 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators, the team has to make the quick trip to Columbus to visit the Blue Jackets.

This will be the fourth set of back-to-back games for the Penguins this season. They lost two in a row on Nov. 13-14 in Ottawa (6-3) and Washington (6-1). They split two games on Nov. 26-27 against the New York Islanders (1-0) and Montreal Canadiens (6-3). Then on Jan. 5-6, coach Mike Sullivan’s team swept the St. Louis Blues (5-3) and Philadelphia Flyers (6-2).

Columbus is in fifth place of the Metropolitan Division at 18-18-1. That’s good for 37 points, 16 behind the Penguins and Capitals who are tied for third and fourth place.

The Blue Jackets had the night off Thursday. OK, that’s an exaggeration. They actually played in Philadelphia. But, you know, same thing.

Columbus won 2-1. That’s 10 straight losses for the Flyers. It’s their second 10-game losing streak of the season.

Happy anniversary

Wait? The Super Bowl used to be played in January? You sure? It’s played in, like, early April now, isn’t it?

Yup. That used to be a thing. In fact, Thursday was the 42nd anniversary of Super Bowl XIV, the Steelers’ fourth championship.

It was played Jan. 20, 1980, in Pasadena, Calif. And the Steelers beat the Rams 31-19. Terry Bradshaw was the game’s MVP for a second consecutive season thanks to throws like this one to John Stallworth.

SEVENTY. THREE. YARDS.

BRADSHAW. TO. STALLWORTH.

We lead 24-19 with a little under 12 minutes left in Super Bowl XIV!

Watch live: https://t.co/JvtNkntnbD pic.twitter.com/P8n4FbqEp5

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) May 24, 2020

Bradshaw threw nine touchdowns in four Super Bowls. Three of them went to Stallworth.