First Call: Le'Veon Bell disputes injury; Steeler assistant on head coaching radar?; JuJu Smith-Schuster addresses future

A Steelers assistant coach is on the ascent. Le’Veon Bell’s practice time in New York was on the decline Wednesday.

JuJu Smith-Schuster wants to stay in Pittsburgh. Hockey and politics don’t mix.

And Plaxico Burress has us all very confused.

All that is in “First Call” Thursday.

All ‘A’s’ for Austin

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Doug Farrar posted a list of “14 assistant coaches who should be head coaches in the near future.”

One of them is Teryl Austin. He’s the Steelers senior defensive assistant/secondary coach. As Farrah writes, “Austin was a bit of a name as a future head coach candidate when he was the Lions’ defensive coordinator from 2014-2017, but it’s his role in turning Pittsburgh’s secondary around in 2019 that may cause a renewed interest in his services.”

Sure, Austin — a native of Sharon and a product of Pitt — deserves lots of credit for the Steelers secondary’s vast improvement last year upon his arrival.

Signing Steven Nelson and trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick didn’t hurt either. But give Austin credit.

Former Steeler and current Philadelphia Eagles assistant head coach Duce Staley also made the list.

Is Bell dinged? Or not?

Former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell was pulled from a New York Jets scrimmage Wednesday because of hamstring tightness.

Or … was he?

That was the explanation given by head coach Adam Gase.

“We pulled him out,” Gase said. “Just got a little tight. We just thought it was precautionary for us … We didn’t want anything to happen on a soft tissue that we had.”

But Bell says he was fine.

ain’t nothin wrong with my hamstrings https://t.co/6ri3vCVQ1U

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 26, 2020

Bell seemed upset with his lack of practice action.

its tough to stay loose when you do a bunch of standing around......& I’m used to GOINGGG ?

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 26, 2020

exactly...I PRACTICE for a GAME!!! I need to PRACTICE to be great in GAMES!!! duh https://t.co/AcOUMBOgdt

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 26, 2020

As The Daily News pointed out, this isn’t exactly the first time there has been a gap in communication between Gase and Bell.

That said, Gase did praise Bell.

“I just know right now it was precaution,” Gase added. “And he’s pretty good. He’s hasn’t been somebody that really comes out of practice. I’ll always have to pull him … and say, ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go.’ But he’ll try to go back out there. So, that’s why we pulled him out. He won’t do it on his own. He’ll keep going out there until somebody else pulls him out.”

Who wants to tell him?

Plaxico Burress piqued the curiosity of many football fans on the internet earlier this week.

The former Steelers and New York Giants receiver announced he was joining OnlyFans.com. Most importantly, he didn’t exactly say what he would be doing there.

The reason that left so many people scratching their head is ….

Well, if you aren’t familiar with OnlyFans.com, let’s just say there is a reason why I am not embedding a link.

You see, OnlyFans.com is primarily known for being a webcam interactive platform for … um … celebrities with specific backgrounds.

Catching on yet? How can I put this — those with a public following that specialize in adult content.

So either OnlyFans.com is branching out, rebranding, and diversifying — or Plaxico is.

Or should I now call him “PleXXX.”

Odds are whatever Burress will be doing is tame, regardless of what his internet neighbors on the platform may be doing.

But that didn’t stop Twitter from having a field day with Burress after he made his vague announcement.

JuJu wants to stay

Current Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster also spent some time interacting with fans this week.

He jumped into an “Ask Me Anything” discussion with fans on Reddit Tuesday. And one of the questions he was asked was if he saw himself retiring as a Steeler.

He simply answered, “Yes.”

That’s an interesting response seeing as how Smith-Schuster is about to become a free-agent. And most pundits believe he will be leaving via free agency after the 2020 season ends.

Someone also asked Smith-Schuster who he would identify as the toughest defender to guard him. He replied Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey.

After what Humphrey did to Smith-Schuster in overtime at Heinz Field last year, you can certainly understand why JuJu might say that.

Pucks and politics

On Wednesday, San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture sent a tweet from Toronto — which has since been deleted — about the upcoming U.S. election.

“I spent last night in Toronto Ontario. I talked about voting for the Republican Party, and I mentioned Donald Trump by name. I was sucker punched. Is this really what we are coming to? If you vote you are a villain? Man this world is so wrong.”

As you may expect, he got a ton of blowback from the political left including … Daniel Carcillo?

Yes. As it turns out the former Philadelphia Flyers goon is as aggressively liberal off the ice as he was aggressively agitating on it. Because he seemed to take some offense to Couture’s political views.

I spent last night in Toronto, Ontario sucker punching people in the face for their political views

I wish Milbury was still in the city

I had to settle for Logan Couture#NHL

— Daniel Carcillo (@CarBombBoom13) August 26, 2020

If anyone would do that, I certainly believe it could’ve been Carcillo.

I mean that certainly wouldn’t be his first cheap shot. At all.

By any means.