The Pittsburgh Power have used the exclusive free agency period to sign two players to the 2013 roster from last year’s squad.

Wide receiver Mike “The Joystick” Washington will return for his third season in the AFL, all for the Pittsburgh Power. The local Aliquippa native has been very consistent for the Power during his career, notching 114 receptions for 1,367 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2011 and 115 receptions for 1,484 yards and 34 touchdowns in 2012. He earned AFL Playmaker of the Week after catching 13 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns against Cleveland on April 28.

The Power have also signed defensive back Chris “Gingabread” LeFlore, who set the franchise single season record for interceptions last season with nine. Leflore, a three-year AFL veteran, helped lead a Power defense that was one of the stingiest in the league in terms of yards allowed. His two interceptions against Orlando on April 14th helped spark the largest successful comeback (35 points) in AFL history.

When asked what helped him make the decision to return, LeFlore said, “I love the fans in Pittsburgh. That’s one of the reasons I came back.”

Pittsburgh has until Monday to exclusively sign players who were on the 2012 roster. The Power have already teased fans with a big announcement on Monday, so perhaps another key player is already in the mix.

The Power will also be holding open tryouts for the team on November 10th. For more information about how to tryout, go to www.pittsburghpowerfootball.com

Pittsburgh Steelers Need To Shift Their Focus Back Onto The Field

Rashard Mendenhall is back at his old Twitter nonsense. This time he is calling out Steeler Nation for not supporting this team.

“Seriously, if you’re gonna talk trash about your team and everyone on it, don’t call yourself a fan. A fan is a supporter.” – Rashard Mendenhall (@R_Mendenhall on Twitter)

Is it really talking trash, or more like discussing the cold hard truth about this team? My gut feeling is that the Steelers need a wakeup call in more ways than one.

Maybe the Steelers need to focus more on themselves and not what the fans or media are saying about them. They have enough issues to worry about. In the end, nothing a fan or media person says about this team matters. All that matters is that you go out and win football games like you are paid to do.

This team is clearly lacking in the focus department. Plenty of stupid penalties, missed tackles, blown coverage, poor fundamentals, poor coaching and playing down to opponents. You name it, they are doing it. They are very hard to watch right now.

Rashard, you are paid to play the game of football. You are paid to win games. Fans pay good money to see you guys play on the field, and many invest their time and passion into a team. They identify with a team. You represent the city of Pittsburgh on and off the field.

God forbid Steeler fans actually call out the team for playing lackluster, uninspired football on the field. Are the fans supposed to blindly applaud when this team is losing to the worst teams in the league? Oakland and Tennessee are terrible and Denver is also a losing team and yet the Black and Gold have found a way to lose to all three.

Pittsburgh fans are some of the most knowledgeable football fans in the world. They recognize a stinker when they see it, and the Steelers right now stink with the worst of them. There’s no mistaking their 2-3 record, they’ve earned it by being one of the most undisciplined teams this year in terms of penalties. They’ve dug themselves a hole by letting teams hang around and steal victory from them. Good teams find ways to win close games like this, the Steelers aren’t and therefore, they aren’t a good team.

At what point do we see these losses to inferior teams and conclude the Steelers might also be an inferior team? This was supposed to be the “easy” part of the schedule, and they are 2-3 and face a must-win game next week against Cincinnati. Lose that one and fall to 2-4 with 4 losses in conference already.

The defense can’t stop blowing fourth quarter leads. The coaching staff makes head scratching decisions like going for a career long field goal with a high likelihood of failure. Shockingly, the defense couldn’t stop the Titans from moving right into field goal range. Not like we haven’t seen that story out numerous times this year.

Despite all this, you’d think Mendenhall would be more concerned with finding ways to improve his game. Maybe even stay on the field and help contribute. With all the time he spends standing on the sidelines lately, maybe it’s time for the Steelers to hire actor Orlando Jones to serve as his double. They’d probably save some money on his contract.

The Steelers need to get their focus back and soon, or else they’ll have an entire offseason to spend tweeting about how good they are. Seeing the lack of focus from them, maybe they’re already there.