15 Steelers Have the Flu

CBS Pittsburgh – The Steelers are not just battling the New England Patriots this week; they’re also dealing with a bout of the stomach flu.

Tight end Ladarius Green missed practice Thursday because of it, and he was not alone. Five others couldn’t suit up either.

Over the last two days, as many as 15 players have been dealing with the illness.

So the Steelers locker room is basically the waiting room at a communicable disease clinic? In the same week that Le’Veon Bell is mysteriously missing the most important practice of the season for “personal reasons” and they’re already on a shorter week than the Patriots as it is? I feel for them. I really do.

If you remember, the same thing happened to the Patriots in the 2006 playoffs. They went out to San Diego to pull out one of the most dramatic postseason wins in their history (it’s a long list), but somewhere in the 6,000 mile round trip, half the team got sick. And as a result they went into Indy for the championship game, somehow managed to build up a 21-6 halftime lead on grit & balls. Only to have Peyton Manning treat the decimated defense like his Gimp in the second half and win 38-34. So we can relate. There’s never a good time to get the Drizzlin’ Shits. But days before fighting for your playoff lives out in the elements in Foxboro is just about the worst time.

So I think the obvious conclusion is that this is more dirty tricks from Bill Belichick. The criminal mastermind behind spy cameras, hidden microphones, jammed helmet radio signals, flunkies going through the trash to steal secrets, the Tuck Rule and scoreboard clock manipulation, committed an act of bio-terror against the Steelers. How exactly, we may never know. He’s an evil genius good at hiding his tracks. But it was probably some diabolical Assad-like chemical weapons. But hopefully the NFL will look into it and take their draft picks away. If they have any left.