With about 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter of Sunday’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger checked down to Rashard Mendenhall for a 13-yeard touchdown and the first score of the game. I watched it happen live and I remember it because I texted a friend who started Mendenhall in fantasy football to say, “Smart move.” It also made me feel stupid for thinking Jonathan Dwyer was going to be “the Steelers’ Darren Sproles” but I’m an idiot and we all know that.

What I didn’t realize is that the touchdown was credited to Mendenhall as a run, which means that the 7 points (or 7.3 or 6, depending on how your league scores) only went to the RB and not Roethlisberger in fantasy league scoring. At the time, that was fine, because you just shrug it off and hope for more points from your other players. But yesterday morning this wasn’t fine, because the TD was correctly attributed to Roethlisberger. Guess what that means.

That play alone swung results in 20,000 matchups this week, including a tussle involving our very own Handsome Hank and his Violent Executioners.

That’s right — nearly 70,000 NFL.com fantasy users woke up Thursday with a different record than they had the night before, 40,000 because of one Big (Ben) stat correction. The siren call of the fantasy gods is mighty on this day. (Via NFL.com)

This affected a girl that I know and girls are irrational and insane, so I assume that I haven’t heard from her because she’s on a 13-state homicidal spree. Thankfully, it didn’t happen to me, because I wouldn’t be writing this. I’d be in prison, awaiting trial on 14 charges of pooping on NFL officials’ doorsteps. In fact, after the jump, I’ve included some GIFs of appropriate reactions for anyone whose fantasy wins were overturned because of this correction.

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It’s been a busy off-season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger spoke out in favor of Tim Tebow, Wiz Khalifa offered up a lazy remix as an inspiring new anthem and most of the team got murdered by Bane. No, not Bane Kiffin, the regular one. It’s also been a busy off-season for With Leather, muddling through nearly three months of constant, incessant ‘Call Me Maybe’ covers.

Now those off-seasons come together with the Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp Carly Rae Jepson tribute video you’ve been waiting for. It’s mostly just training camp highlights (and some Make-A-Wish stuff) with Steelers players holding telephones sprinkled throughout, but YouTube is convinced that this is certifiable proof that Pittsburgh is horrible at football and will never win a game again.

Example:

So what do you think? Is this video a sports curse for gay jerks, or football players briefly opening a port-a-potty door for a team PR guy and using the remaining 99.9999% of their time to practice? The first one sounds way more reasonable.

Just like the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Pro Bowl had to tarp sections to avoid a blackout.

The 2012 Pro Bowl took place yesterday, in case you were glued to TNT’s broadcast of the Celebrity Drinking Contest annual SAG Awards, and it was basically everything you would expect, as the AFC defeated the NFC 59-41. The defenses played down, allowing the offensive players to do their things, and that’s why Philip Rivers only had one interception, instead of the standard 7. But I also commend rookie Can Newton for selflessly getting the defense involved by throwing 3 picks as well.

The star of the game, though, was Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who had 6 receptions for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl record 4 touchdowns, as he scored once in each quarter. Of course, the controversial wide receiver’s moment in the figurative sun didn’t last long as he eventually opened his mouth.

“Since Jay Cutler I’ve had a few different quarterbacks and being in the Pro Bowl you have these elite quarterbacks and it’s all them,” he said. “They put [the ball] in the right spots and make it easy for me to make the catch. It’s all the quarterbacks.” (Via the Miami Herald)

While he’s right – in the last two seasons, he’s had four QBs in Matt Moore, Chad Henne, Chad Pennington and Tyler Thigpen – some have misconstrued Marshall’s words as an attack on Moore. That would be true if the Dolphins hadn’t already made it clear that they’re looking to upgrade at QB. But I digress. At least the Pro Bowl gave us something to talk about.

In the meantime, people will continue to question the need for the Pro Bowl, and those people need to shush. The Pro Bowl is great for what it is – a chance for guys who get their asses kicked for 18 weeks to f*ck around and have some fun. The NFL just needs to move it back to after the Super Bowl so the players from the eventual championship team can attend and remind all of the other players how much worse they are. That’s the true NFL spirit.

Now enjoy some of the game’s best moments before everyone goes back to airing David Tyree’s catch over and over for the next 6 days.

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Pro sports’ best citizen and America’s most desirable neighbor Tim Tebow has it rough; he provides no reasonable middle ground, and the only two ways to take him are as God’s Precious Little Comeback Angel or the least talented human being in modern history. You’d think it’d be easy to understand a guy who wrote an autobiography in his early twenties, but here we are alternately applauding his performances and staring aghast at his self-indulgent comic book.

Thankfully, the NFL’s second most stand-up guy is here with solid advice on remaining moderate in extreme times. He’s also here if Tebow wants to know how to have sex on dates.

But even Big Ben seemed astounded by the constant attention — both good and bad — paid to Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

“It’s got to be tough. Every time you turn it on, you see something about Tebow. I can only imagine what it’s like for his teammates. Just watching today, it’s the Steelers versus Tim Tebow. No, it’s the Steelers versus the Broncos, so I can only imagine what it’s like for him with all the eyes and the attention on him and the pressure. It can’t be fun. I feel for him a little bit.”

“I don’t think Tim’s really calling ESPN and asking them to talk about him,” Roethlisberger said. “I would assume his teammates understand it. It’s a tough thing. It’s the position we play.”

Yes, Ben Roethlisberger knows a thing or two about pressure. Denverpost.com could’ve kept things in a reasonable perspective by saying “Roethlisberger is a way better quarterback than Tebow so he knows what he’s talking about”, but no, they had to go full facepalm:

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Candlestick Park went blackout dark twice during last night’s Monday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and depending on your level of inner demons your brain should go to one of two jokes: “pretty funny that a place called ‘candlestick’ would burn out like that” or “did anybody get shot?” The second one isn’t a joke as much as a concern, but don’t worry, you weren’t the only one thinking it.

From the Associated Press:

Two power outages delayed the Niners’ 20-3 Monday night win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, first just before kickoff and again early in the second quarter after the stadium moved to a backup power source.

NFL security chief Jeff Miller said he witnessed a transformer blow up while he was monitoring a gate outside the stadium, where a shooting during the preseason already put a negative light on this venue.

Eventually the lights came back on and stayed that way, and San Fran rolled to a 20-3 victory. Nobody was injured or murdered (that we know of) and nothing had to be postponed, so the game’s legacy lies in a gallery of videos and images depicting sudden darkness, dogs being led around the stadium by policemen and a sad line of cheerladies who just wanted to put on their Santa Claus dresses and shake a pom pom for our enjoyment. Those are the real victims.

Anyway, please enjoy said gallery, and yes, the Santa dresses are in there.

[pics credit to Getty Images, AP Photo and Reuters Images]

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Check out what Troy Polamalu’s up to this season: promoting Head And Shoulders by posing as a wax figure and coming to life Kim Cattrall style to scare people at Madame Tussaud’s in Hollywood. And, uh, losing to the Texans!

Some of the better reactions in the video include a child who doesn’t know what a posing arm implies, an old man who says Troy Polamalu looks “a little” like Troy Polamalu and the girl at the :49 second mark who shoves him in the chest and almost fumbles the ball. I feel pretty jipped by this video, I’ve got to say. I was in Hollywood and walked by Madame Tussaud’s a few weeks ago, and the only living wax creature I saw was a guy in the lobby dressed like Rambo.

I’m not 100% on how this promotes shampoo (I mean previous to this were we supposed to believe he washed his hair with a stone, or what), but it’s pretty awesome, Steelers fan or no. They should do this gag with other players. Have Ben Roethlisberger stand still in the Madame Tussaud’s bathroom with his pants down and see how many people fall for it.

[h/t Shutdown Corner]