By Allan Smith
September 19, 2018
Antonio Brown (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a season's worth of drama take place just this week.
On Sunday, the team became the first NFL franchise in at least 78 years to score 37 points and commit no turnovers in a home game and lose. The loss put the preseason Super Bowl hopefuls at 0-1-1 after a tie with the Cleveland Browns, a team that had won one game in the past two seasons.
Afterward, star wide receiver Antonio Brown went at it with a former Steelers public-relations employee who said he wouldn't be able to put up the same eye-popping numbers if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger weren't throwing to him.
"Trade me let's find out," Brown tweeted on Monday, a day when he didn't bother showing up for work.
Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree also got into a tiff on social media. And TMZ posted footage of Le'Veon Bell, the team's star running back who has refused to end his holdout for a long-term contract, on a WaveRunner.
If that wasn't enough, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for the adult-film star Stormy Daniels, hinted that Roethlisberger would be featured in his client's upcoming book detailing her alleged affair with President Donald Trump and other topics. Avenatti tweeted on Tuesday that the pair had "no further comment at this time regarding the details relating to" Roethlisberger.
Avenatti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The Steelers now have to prepare for a tough Monday-night game in Florida against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are off to a surprising 2-0 start riding the hot hand of backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
"Steeler Nation, know we're all down right now, got to stay positive and move forward, better days to come!" wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster tweeted Monday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, nothing had been published on details about Roethlisberger in Daniels' book, "Full Disclosure," set to be released next month.
But in January, when Daniels' allegation of an affair with Trump was made public, it was revealed that she told the celebrity gossip magazine In Touch in a 2011 interview, published this year, that Trump had Roethlisberger walk her back to her hotel room a day after she and Trump slept together at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament in 2006.
Daniels told the magazine she caught the Manhattan billionaire at a party with the Steelers quarterback, who had won his first Super Bowl earlier that year. Trump, she said, made Roethlisberger "promise to take care of me."
"I stayed another 15-20 minutes, and Ben Roethlisberger actually walked me up to my room that night because Donald told him to," she continued. "Yeah, he walked me all the way to my hotel room."
Roethlisberger has twice faced allegations of rape. A civil suit was settled in 2012 over an accusation that he raped a woman in his hotel room in 2008 at the same Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament. Meanwhile, Trump has promoted his relationship with Roethlisberger.
Reflecting on the Steelers' woes so far in this young season, head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that issues with the team abounded and that there was no shortage of areas on the field that needed addressing.
"It's not one constant area that's below the line," he said. "It's usually popping up in a lot of areas."
If there's any sign of hope for the Steelers, it's that the next venue on their schedule is at least a place where they've enjoyed success. The last time Roethlisberger led a Steelers team into action at Raymond James Stadium, they won Super Bowl 43, in 2009.
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