Pittsburgh (3-2) at Las Vegas (2-3)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m. EDT, CBS
BetMGM NFL Odds: Steelers by 3.
Series record: Raiders lead 14-12.
Against the spread: Steelers 3-2; Raiders 2-3.
Last meeting: Steelers beat the Raiders 23-18 on Sept. 24, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Last week: Steelers lost to the Cowboys 20-17; Raiders lost to the Broncos 34-18.
Steelers offense: overall (23), rush (13), pass (27), scoring (26)
Steelers defense: overall (8), rush (5), pass (17), scoring (2T)
Raiders offense: overall (24), rush (30), pass (15T), scoring (22T)
Raiders defense: overall (17), rush (23), pass (16), scoring (28)
Turnover differential: Steelers plus-4; Raiders minus-7.
WR George Pickens. The talented but mercurial Pickens caused a stir during last week's loss to Dallas when he wore eye black that read “open (expletive) always.” It wasn't just the eye black that caught people's attention. Pickens played a career-low 34 snaps and didn't appear to handle it very well. He openly sulked on the sideline and at one point slammed his helmet on the ground so hard it leaped over the bench. Coach Mike Tomlin downplayed Pickens' diminished playing time, calling it load management, but for a team that desperately needs Pickens to be a difference-maker every week, the 23-year-old needs to be engaged and on the field.
QB Aidan O'Connell gets another chance at being the starter after Gardner Minshew was benched this week. Coach Antonio Pierce also turned to O'Connell midway through last season, and he went 5-4 after taking over the position. But after Las Vegas signed Minshew in the offseason, the team had a quarterback competition that ultimately sent O'Connell back to the bench. Now he has a second chance to show the trust that Pierce had in him was not misplaced.
Raiders RTs vs. Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt. Watt loves to line up wide left and be an absolute nightmare for offensive tackles. He already has 4 1/2 sacks this season, and that doesn't tell the complete story of how he can wreck offensive game plans. Thayer Munford is the usual starter at right tackle, but has missed the past two games with knee and ankle injuries and his status remains uncertain. The other tackle is rookie DJ Glaze, who has allowed two sacks this season.
Steelers: OLB Alex Highsmith (groin), OLB Nick Herbig (hamstring), OLB DeMarvin Leal (neck), RB Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle) and S Damontae Kazee (foot) are out. RB Jaylen Warren (knee) might play.
Raiders: WR Davante Adams (hamstring) will miss his third game in a row. TE Michael Mayer (personal) was placed on the non-football illness list. WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle), RB Zamir White (groin), G Jackson Powers-Johnson (knee), T Thayer Munford (knee and ankle), LB Tommy Eichenberg (hamstring) and S Trey Taylor (knee) were questionable.
The Steelers have won the past two meetings, but the Raiders had won four of the previous five. ... This is the second straight year the teams will meet in Las Vegas. They most recently played each other in Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve in 2022 and Las Vegas QB Derek Carr was benched the following Monday. ... Though the teams haven't played each other in the postseason since Jan. 1, 1984 in Los Angeles, they have a rich playoff history against each other. They each have won three times, the first meeting being the most famous. That Dec. 23, 1972 matchup was the “Immaculate Reception” game when Pittsburgh's Franco Harris grabbed a batted pass just above the turf for a catch-and-run score as time expired to beat the Raiders 13-7.
The Steelers have dropped two straight following a 3-0 start. While the offense's sluggish starts have been an issue, so has a defense that has given up 803 yards combined in the two losses. Pittsburgh allowed just 687 yards combined in its first three games. ... QB Justin Fields will make his sixth straight start, though he may be running out of time to make a case he deserves to be the full-time starter over Russell Wilson, who is nearing a return from a calf injury he aggravated just before the season opener. Fields is coming off perhaps his shakiest performance of the season, completing just 15 of 27 passes last week against Dallas. Wilson was a full participant in practice this week for the first time since early September and could serve as the primary backup behind Fields. ... The spate of injuries at outside linebacker means Jeremiah Moon, a second-year player claimed off waivers from Baltimore in February, is in line to make his first NFL start opposite perennial All-Pro T.J. Watt. ... The Steelers are expected to have the same starting five offensive linemen in consecutive games for the first time this season. Injuries forced Pittsburgh to shuffle its lineup constantly over the opening month. ... The Steelers want to be known as a run-first team. So far it's not working. Pittsburgh is 29th in yards per carry. Najee Harris is 21st in the league in yards rushing (250), but his 3.3 yards per carry average is tied for the worst among qualified running backs. ... Las Vegas' Brock Bowers leads all tight ends with 28 receptions for 313 yards. ... Raiders LB Robert Spillane, who played for the Steelers from 2019-22, will try to extend his double-digit tackle streak to six games to open this season. The others to accomplish that since the statistic was kept beginning in 1999 were Ray Lewis (1999), Zach Thomas (2005), Luke Kuechly (2016) and Denzel Perryman (2021). Perryman also played for the Raiders when he hit that mark. ... DE Maxx Crosby is one sack from passing Anthony Smith (57 1/2) for third place in franchise history. ... CB Jakorian Bennett has given up 11 completions on 23 targets. His 47.8% completion rate allowed is the fifth lowest at that position for those with at least 20 targets. ... P AJ Cole averages a league-best 52.4 yards. Six of his punts have been 60 yards are longer, second only to Cleveland's Corey Bojorquez, who has nine. ... QB Aidan O'Connell has won three of his past four starts, all to end last season. He threw eight touchdown passes and no interceptions over that span. This is his first start since then. ... The Raiders have had at least three sacks each of the past two games, and only three teams have a longer active streak. The Baltimore Ravens have the longest at four games.
The Steelers defense. Pittsburgh is tied for second in allowing 14.6 points per game, and it faces a Las Vegas offense with a new quarterback and without its top wide receiver and potentially its top running back. Not that the Raiders had a dynamic offense to begin with in averaging 19.2 points a game.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt talks to reporters following an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, early Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Pittsburgh. The Cowboys won 20-17. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Las Vegas Raiders safety Tre'von Moehrig looks on as time runs out in the second half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Back-to-back hurricanes have jumbled the presidential campaign schedules of Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Trump and Harris have separately gone to Georgia to assess hurricane damage and pledge support. Harris also has visited North Carolina, requiring the candidates to cancel campaign events elsewhere and use up time which is a precious resource in the final weeks before any election. Both Georgia and North Carolina are political battlegrounds.
Meanwhile, a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a solid majority of Hispanic women have a positive opinion of Harris and a negative view of Trump. Hispanic men are more divided on both candidates.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are taking another shot at making their case to gun owners.
Their campaign announced Friday they are launching their newest coalition: Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz.
Harris has advocated for stricter gun safety laws, while also underscoring that she and her and Walz are gun owners.
She told Oprah Winfrey at a campaign event last month that she had a gun and that “if somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.” The vice president revealed earlier this week in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that her weapon is a Glock pistol and confirmed that she has fired it at a shooting range.
The hunters and anglers group is set to hold a call next week aimed at mobilizing like-minded peers to get behind Harris and Walz.
The campaign announced the new group as Walz on Saturday will join fellow hunters in Minnesota to mark the start of pheasant season
Donald Trump is in a Colorado suburb, aiming to tie the arrivals of migrants to a perception of chaos in smaller communities.
He is doubling down on his pledge to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Trump’s rally on Friday in Aurora, Colorado, marks the first time either presidential campaign has visited this state that votes reliably Democratic in statewide races.
Trump has been consistently loud in his statements on immigration. Over the last few months, he has pinpointed specific smaller communities that have seen large arrivals of migrants, where tensions are flaring over resources.
Vice President Kamala Harris said she will create a bipartisan council of advisers to provide her feedback on her policy initiatives if she makes it to the White House.
Harris announced the initiative while attending an event in Phoenix with Republicans supporting her campaign. She said it’s critical that there is structure in her administration so she could hear from a spectrum of voices.
“I love good ideas wherever they come from,” said Harris, who is making a push to get Republicans with doubts about Trump to support her.
Vice President Kamala Harris laced into former President Donald Trump on Friday for letting Iran “off the hook” while he was in office and argued that she would be a greater champion for Israel’s security than the Republican nominee.
“Make no mistake, as president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists,” Harris said in a call with Jewish supporters ahead of Yom Kippur. “And I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end. But all options are on the table.”
Harris charged that Trump “did nothing” after Iranian-backed militias attacked U.S. bases and American troops.
But during his time in office, Trump had ordered strikes against Iranian-backed militias as well as a January 2020 operation that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iran-backed group in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF.
Trump said he ordered the killing of Soleimani because Soleimani was developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members.
President Joe Biden said ahead of a Friday briefing about hurricane damage that estimates are the Hurricane Milton alone caused $50 billion of damage, while adding that his predecessor, Donald Trump, is “just the biggest mouth” for disinformation about the government’s response.
The president added that the disinformation is a “permanent state of being for some extreme people,” but that he believes the country as a whole wants facts and bipartisan cooperation to address natural disasters.
“I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going, gonna pay a price for it,” Biden added.
Donald Trump has been running a decidedly “bro-y” campaign.
But he will try to expand his appeal with women as he participates in a Fox News town hall focusing on issues impacting women
Fox News Channel announced that host Harris Faulkner will moderate the discussion in front of an audience of women.
“Women constitute the largest group of registered and active voters in the United States, so it is paramount that female voters understand where the presidential candidates stand on the issues that matter to them most,” Faulkner said said in a statement.
Trump’s campaign has aggressively courted men — especially younger men of color — with appearances on podcasts and sporting events popular with the demographic.
Polls have repeatedly shown he is seen more favorably by men than by women.
The Trump sit-down will be taped Tuesday and air the next day, Oct. 16th.
Fox says it has extended a standing invitation to Vice President Kamala Harris to participate in a town hall as well.
A trio of Wisconsin conservatives declared Friday that they support Democrat Kamala Harris rather than Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
Charlie Sykes, a former conservative radio talk show host from Milwaukee; former Republican state Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz; and former Republican state representative and appellate judge David Deininger told reporters that Trump lacks the character and moral fiber to serve as president.
Sykes said the election is a referendum on constitutional values that the country had always taken for granted before Trump’s political ascendance.
“Republicans have decided winning or staying in power is more important than standing up for these values, which used to be fundamental,” Sykes said. “I’m going to be voting for Kamala Harris for president and it’s not a difficult choice for me. It’s absolutely essential to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.”
Schultz said the country needs real leadership.
“I continue to consider myself a good Republican but it’s time to put the good of the country ahead of the party,” Schultz said.
Deininger said Trump has lied to Americans “about just about everything.”
“A second Trump term would be far worse and far more dangerous,” Deininger said. “If he regains power, he won’t have guardrails to restrain him.”
Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband, says Donald Trump won’t debate his wife again because he was badly beaten in their first encounter.
“He’s afraid that that’s going to happen again,” Emhoff says in an interview for the MSNBC show “Morning Joe.”
The husband of the Democratic nominee says Trump would rather spread “this fog of misinformation and disinformation and gaslighting” than face Harris directly.
Emhoff says he doesn’t have the time to be angry at Trump’s criticisms of him and his wife, because that would be a “distraction” and the focus of the Democratic ticket is on campaigning to win the Nov. 5 election.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is firing back at Donald Trump in Michigan for insulting Detroit while campaigning in the city.
Trump said Thursday that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the White House, “The whole country will be like — you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit.”
Walz was to use a campaign event in nearby Warren, Michigan, to attack Trump’s record in the battleground state, according to prepared remarks shared by the campaign.
“Maybe if he ever spent any time in the Midwest, he’d know Detroit is experiencing a great American comeback. Crime is down. The city is growing. Factories are opening again,” he was to say. "But all these guys know about manufacturing is how to manufacture bulls—-.”
Walz plans to quote Trump campaigning in the state in 2016 promising that they “won’t lose one” automotive plant if he’s elected. ”I guess, technically, that wasn’t a lie — because he lost 6 of them across the country,” Walz was to say.
Walz also plans to reassure the auto-heavy state that Harris was not trying to ban gas-powered vehicles.
Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in a town hall hosted by Charlamagne tha God on Tuesday, the influential radio host announced on his show Friday.
The appearance comes as Harris’ campaign is looking to shore up support among Black men for her candidacy.
The announcement comes a day after former President Barack Obama delivered a forceful call for Black men to support Harris during a campaign swing in Pennsylvania.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says, “I don’t know if any of us do everything right,” as he tried to draw some distance between the Democratic ticket and President Joe Biden.
Speaking to ABC’s "Good Morning America,” Walz was asked whether he and Vice President Kamala Harris would have done anything different over the last four years.
“Look, I don’t know if any of us do everything right,” he replied. “But I can tell you he’s done everything in the best interests of the American public.”
Harris drew fire from former President Donald Trump when she told “The View” earlier this week that she couldn’t think of a difference with Biden — before saying she would put a Republican in her Cabinet if elected.
Walz also used the interview to try to walk back his call at a fundraiser this week to eliminate the electoral college. Harris’ campaign quickly stated it doesn't support such a move and Walz told ABC, “My position is the campaign’s position.”
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz greets supporters after speaking at a campaign event, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Republican vice president nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during a campaign event in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to the crowd during an early voting rally at Palo Verde High School in Tucson, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Kelly Presnell/Arizona Daily Star via AP)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris poses for a photo with a supporter after speaking at a campaign event Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
