Safety Clark visited Dolphins to look for new chance

Still on the open free agent market with freedom to choose a new team, safety Ryan Clark made his first visit since becoming a free agent on Sunday and the destination was the Miami Dolphins, who released safety Gibril Wilson on Friday after one disappointing season to both sides.


Clark has spent the past four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2009. Before putting on the Steelers jersey, he played two seasons with the Washington Redskins and the previous two with the New York Giants. During his eight-season career, the veteran has had totally 75 starts and eight interceptions. He made three interceptions for the Steelers last year, and one of it was made to seal a win over the Dolphins.

Before Clark’s visit, the Dolphins have already signed linebacker Karlos Dansby from the open market to bolster their defense. But I guess if affordable, they would not mind also having Clark, who is also the pursuit of seven other teams, on their defense.

Galloway joined Steelers to replace WR Sweed

After placing wide receiver Limas Sweed on injured reserve Monday because of a non-football related illness, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed receiver Joey Galloway to the roster as the replacement to Limas.

Galloway was cut by New England earlier this season after catching seven passes for 67 yards. The former Ohio State receiver has 689 catches for a 15.6 average during since putting on NFL jersey to become a professional football player in 1995, but he hasn’t had a TD catch since making six for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007.

The Steelers also signed long snapper Jared Retkofsky to replace Greg Warren, who injured a right knee during last Sunday’s in over the Green Bay Packers. Retkofsky was also with the Steelers for the final two months last season as the replacement to Warren after the latter tore a knee ligament.

Former Steelers lineman Green was given Coke ad award

30 years after he played a role in a 1979 commercial for Coke, the former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Mean Joe Greene was given a award upon the 30th anniversary for the ad’s airing.


The award is given annually for excellence in advertising, and Greene earned it for his role in the 1979 commercial, which has been frequently cited as among the best in TV history. In the commercial, he flipped his Steelers jersey to a young fan who handed him a cold Coke as the weary Steelers’ lineman limped to the locker room following a game.

Tommy Okon played the young fan in the commercial at the age of 9. And he was also present when Greene was given the award on a ceremony for the 30th anniversary of airing. The time was before the Bengals-Steelers game Sunday.

Lions QB Stafford did not practice Wednesday with knee injury

Although the knee injury has kept the Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford out of practice Wednesday, coach Jim Schwartz still insisted that it was not necessary to rule Stafford out for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.


When Schwartz was told that the Steelers had said they expected to face Stafford, the coach replied, `We’ll see on Sunday.’ And during the practice, Daunte Culpepper took snaps with the first-string offense, while Stafford was watching in his red No. 9 lions jersey. He looked as good as he was in the preseason.

The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft twisted his right knee on a sack in Sunday’s loss at Chicago. After the game, he told reporters that he hurt the same knee in high school. He won the starting job at quarterback over Culpepper as the latter went to have a surgery on his foot after the team’s third exhibition game.

Steelers RB Moore remains out with hamstring injury

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Mewelde Moore has been out of practice since he injured hamstring on Aug. 4. Although he is still unsure when he will be back with the team, he is certain that he will play for the Sept. 10 opener against Tennessee Titans.


“Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve been in a situation like this before where I had something and I wasn’t able to get as many (practice carries) throughout the preseason and I still managed to play the season,” Moore said Tuesday. “I’ve always taken pride in that (playing a full season).”

As a third-down back, Moore ran for 588 yards and five touchdowns last season, with an average of 90 yards in four starts while filling in for the injured Willie Parker. He also had a season-high 120 yards and managed to score three times against Cincinnati. No wonder coach Mike Tomlin expects him to return quickly.