Vick to start for Steelers
Roethlisberger out ‘weeks’; NFL backs ref over Newton.
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin confirmed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s knee injury at his news conference Monday, but didn’t offer a whole lot of clarity beyond that.
Tomlin said Roethlisberger will miss “a number of weeks” after spraining his medial collateral ligament in Sunday’s 12-6 win against the Rams. Tomlin did not, though, offer any specifics beyond saying that Roethlisberger will not play Thursday against the Ravens.
“I don’t have great detail about what that length of time might look like or might be, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “I know he’s out this week.”
Michael Vick will be the Steelers’ starter for as long as Roethlisberger is out. Tomlin said the team will “rally around” Vick.
While Tomlin said he was comfortable with Vick’s knowledge of the team’s playbook, that doesn’t mean the look of the offense won’t change.
“He is (comfortable in the offense), but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to ask him to exe- cute our offense in the same manner as we’d ask Ben to,” Tomlin said.
Panthers: The NFL vice president of officiating says that referee Ed Hochuli insists he never told quarterback Cam Newton that he “wasn’t old enough” to get a personal foul call during Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints.
“Ed was adamant that he did not say that,” Dean Blandino told the NFL Network on Monday. “He told me that he said (to Newton) that ‘the difference is you were running.’ I think when you look at the tape it does look like Ed did say (the difference is you were running). I think that’s where we are right now and we’re just going to kind of move on from there.”
Newton called out the veteran referee after Carolina’s 27-22 win after he felt a personal foul should have been called on Saints defensive tackle Tyeler Davison for hitting him out of bounds after he released a pass.
TV replays show Newton having a brief conversation with Hochuli after the play.
“The response that I got was, ‘Cam, you’re not old enough to get that call,’ ” Newton said Sunday.
Blandino told the NFL Network if Hochuli did tell Newton he “wasn’t old enough” to get calls, he could be reprimanded.
■ The Panthers acquired veteran defensive end Jared Allen from the Chicago Bears in exchange for a 2016 sixthround draft pick. The trade will become official pending Allen passing a physical, Panthers team spokesman Steven Drummond told The Associated Press.
49ers: Coming off two straight blowout losses, San Francisco coach Jim Tomsula remained in the corner of his starting quarterback.
“I believe in Colin Kaepernick and I think he’s got the tools to be a darn good quarterback in this league,” Tomsula said Monday after the 49ers lost to Arizona 47-7.
Kaepernick threw four interceptions, including two on his first two possessions that were returned for touchdowns, and finished with a career-low 16.7 quarterback rating.
Eagles: Kicker Cody Parkey was reportedly placed on injured reserve after injuring his kicking leg during pregame warm-ups Sunday. The Eagles signed kicker Caleb Sturgis, who was one of several kickers to work out for the team Monday. The signing was first reported by NFL.com.