Batch, Steelers: Same old story
MIKE WALLACE is in his fourth season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, so the wide receiver is familiar with all this talk about Charlie Batch.
MIKE WALLACE is in his fourth season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, so the wide receiver is familiar with all this talk about Charlie Batch.
Asked whether it was at all concerning that the man throwing the ball to him on Sunday will soon be 38 years old, Wallace shrugged.
"He's been old," he said of Batch. "It's not like he just got old. Chuck's been old since I got here, so it's nothing new."
Neither is Batch making his first fill-in start for his hometown Steelers (6-4), who are at Cleveland (2-8) this weekend. For the eighth time since he signed with Pittsburgh 11 years ago, Batch will be under center to begin a game for the Steelers.
No Steeler is older than Batch, whose birthday is Dec. 5. He spent the first 4 years of his career with Detroit, but only nose tackle Casey Hampton was with Pittsburgh before Batch arrived.
This season, Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich both have rib injuries. Leftwich relieved Roethlisberger 2 weeks ago in a win over Kansas City and started this past Sunday's loss to Baltimore.
In his most recent game, Batch completed 15 of 22 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown in a 27-0 win over St. Louis last Christmas Eve. He is 5-2 as a starter with the Steelers, and one of his losses was a meaningless outing in the 2007 season finale when Pittsburgh's playoff seeding was wrapped up.
Noteworthy *
The next time a flight attendant asks Leodis McKelvin to turn off his cellphone on a plane, the Buffalo Bills cornerback says he's going to listen.
McKelvin apologized after confirming he had been ticketed $75 for refusing to follow a crew member's order during a flight from New York to Buffalo on Tuesday.
According to a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police report, McKelvin refused to comply with a request to turn off his cellphone and place the bag that was under his seat into an overhead compartment. He was fined upon arriving in Buffalo.
* Wide receiver Julio Jones was limited in his return to practice for the Atlanta Falcons. Three defensive starters were held out - cornerback Asante Samuel (shoulder), linebacker Sean Weatherspoon (right ankle) and nose tackle Peria Jerry (quadriceps).
Atlanta (9-1) visits Tampa Bay (6-4) on Sunday.