Ben Roethlisberger was still in the process of picking himself up off the Heinz Field

turf when the scrum started http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/marcus-gilbert-jersey-cheap , one that sent a message that at the moment it might be unwise to mess with the Pittsburgh Steelers.Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey and right guard David DeCastro were not particularly pleased with how Carolina safety Eric Reid launched himself at Pittsburgh's franchise quarterback as Roethlisberger finished off an 18-yard scramble during the third quarter of a 52-21 dismantling of the Panthers on Thursday night.Together the two perennial Pro Bowlers 鈥?a combined 630 pounds give or take a meal 鈥?let Reid and a handful of his teammates know they didn't appreciate Reid's approach to his job. What followed was 30 seconds of flexing, grabbing and shoving before Reid was ejected for targeting."You've got to be there for your guy," DeCastro said. "Just trying to stand up for him and show him we've got his back."As the Steelers made their way back to the huddle, Roethlisberger gave his linemen peace of mind should the NFL decide to hit their wallets after sticking up for him."Ben came up after and said, 'If any fine gets handed out, I'll handle that,'" Pouncey said with a laugh.Pouncey, in the fourth year of a five-year contract that will pay him $44 million, can certainly afford to write the check. He believes the fact he won't have to if it comes to that says a lot about Roethlisberger 鈥?and a lot about the current climate within the Pittsburgh locker room."It's cool man," Pouncey said. "I appreciate all the guys repping like that."Those guys have found their identity over the last five weeks. Pittsburgh (6-2-1) set a record for the most points by an NFL team in the 17-year history of Heinz Field while rolling to a fifth straight victory. The reward? Five days off to rest up before starting a daunting final stretch that begins on Nov. 18 in Jacksonville in a playoff rematch that saw the Jaguars stun Pittsburgh at home in January."Last year is last year," Steelers cornerback Mike Hilton said. "We're a different team just like they're a different team."If anything Cheap Ben Roethlisberger Jersey , Pittsburgh looks much better than while getting pushed around by Leonard Fournette and Blake Bortles in a confidence-shaking 45-42 setback that led to an exodus in both the secondary and portions of the coaching staff.Randy Fichtner took over for Todd Haley as offensive coordinator and, even with star running back Le'Veon Bell sitting out due to concerns with his one-year contract, has put together an attack that looks as dynamic and varied as anything in the league.James Conner, Bell's replacement, already has 11 touchdowns through nine games, as many as Bell has scored in any full season. Roethlisberger spread the ball all over the place on a night he finished with more scoring passes (five) than incompletions (three)."We've got a lot of weapons on this team and Ben showed it tonight getting the ball to all of them," DeCastro said.Roethlisberger's only complaint is that Fichtner may get a little too loud in the headset because he's so pumped up about the next play call.Pittsburgh's defense kept Carolina's Cam Newton under wraps, sacking him five times while limiting the Panthers to 242 yards, the fourth straight game an opponent has finished with 275 yards or less. Save for a couple of early communication breakdowns that allowed Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey to get loose, the Steelers kept things tight."I don't think it's a come-to-Jesus moment where something miraculously just happened," defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. "I think everybody got back to work. It showed on the practice field and it showed ever since. This is a big win Cheap Maurkice Pouncey Jersey , but it's not like we don't have games after this. We'll enjoy it for tonight and enjoy it for the weekend, but when we get back in we have to get back to work."The NFL’s new roughing the passer rule is silly Remember during the spring, summer and NFL preseason, when you were raging over the league’s new rule (or was it a new emphasis — hard to keep track of these things) to protect the health of its players? Turns out, you were right to be enraged, only you were angry about the wrong rule. While the NFL’s new rules on targeting and helmet-to-helmet hits stole the headlines before the start of the 2018 regular season, it’s the league’s newer and sexier roughing-the-passer rule (or emphasis) that has stolen the show so far. Can you remember the last time a player was called for a helmet-to-helmet hit? I knowthere have been some, but it doesn’t seem to be altering games or keeping drives alive at an alarming rate through the early portions of the 2018 season. And maybe that’s because you can fundamentally teach players on both offense and defense to block and tackle without using their heads as battering rams. Sure, there have been some bang-bang non-calls, but those are going to happen. Perhaps to the credit of the officials, they’ve mostly used common sense in situations where helmet-to-helmet contact is simply impossible to avoid. But you can’t give the officials any credit for how they’ve been emphasizing quarterback safety by throwing roughing-the-passer flags at an alarming rate that appears to be zooming on the way to being absolutely ridiculous. Through three full weeks Youth Bud Dupree Jersey , 34 roughing the passer penalties have been called, up by 18 from the same time-frame in 2017. The quirk in this new emphasis isn’t necessarily the amount of penalties that have been called, but why. Remember the good old days, when defenders were only flagged for things like shots to the head or hitting the quarterback after taking a two- or three-step running start? Much like the helmet-to-helmet hits, a defender could cut down on such fouls simply by using proper technique and a little restraint.But I’m at a loss at what to say about this new emphasis on roughing the passer in 2018, when it’s now illegal for a defender to land on a quarterback with all of his body weight. How is that really possible in most cases? How can you tell a defender to use proper tackling technique on a ball-carrier (bend at the knees, see what you hit, and drive the ball-carrier to the ground), but then turn around and tell him he must take a different approach when hitting a quarterback? What is a defender supposed to do? If he’s not using proper technique, he must either sling a passer to the ground or take him down with a semi-clothesline, a la pro wrestling. In the Steelers’ 30-27 victory over the Buccaneers in Week 3 Cheap Antonio Brown Jersey , four roughing the passer penalties were called — two on both teams — with perhaps the silliest one going against safety Sean Davis, who weighs 20 pounds less than Tampa Bay quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. So now, if you’re a defender, you can’t hit a quarterback high, hit a quarterback low or tackle a quarterback to the turf like a regular football player. Prior to Week 4’s matchups, the NFL doubled-down on its new emphasis on protecting the quarterback, which is cute for now. But wait until a Jesse James-like play alters not only the course of a drive or game, but changes the fortunes of some aspiring playoff team. Much like the Catch Rule and many other irrational league mandates, you can almost guarantee the NFL ultimately will de-emphasize its current stance on roughing the passer.It’s just too bad that will happen next spring.In the meantime, brace yourself and hope it’s not your team whose playoff aspirations are de-emphasized in 2018. www.nflshopoutlet.com/jacksonville-jaguars