Read More: Emmanuel Sanders (WR – PIT), Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis Rams

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders doesn’t know “100 percent” if he’ll play Saturday against the St. Louis Rams, reports Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The second-year man has a sore right foot stemming from a surgical procedure he had on it following Pittsburgh’s loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl.

“The most important thing is that I’m there for the playoffs and 100 percent,” Sanders said, according to Brown. “Don’t want this injury to be lingering.”

It seems that Pittsburgh will take a conservative approach with regard to Sanders’ injury. Brown guesses it will rest Sanders on Saturday, while Steelers Depot believes Sanders will miss Pittsburgh’s regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns as well.

Sanders, 28, has recorded 21 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns in the 2011 campaign. He hasn’t played since Dec. 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs, in which he caught one pass for six yards.

For more on the Steelers, please visit Behind the Steel Curtain, SB Nation’s Steelers blog.

PITTSBURGH — Let’s start by calling it what it was, the most
meaningful of the games that mean absolutely nothing.

Nobody will remember the score of the Steelers preseason game
against the Atlanta Falcons. What you saw last Saturday night,
however, was the closest to what you’ll see from these two teams
when the regular season starts on Sept. 11.

If what you saw is what you will get, Saturday’s action bodes
well for both teams. The Steelers will be defending the AFC
championship they won last January, while the Falcons will be
trying to improve on a sterling 13-3 record last season.

This third preseason game is called the most important because
the starters for both teams went against each other through the
first half. It was the longest stint for either team so far and, by
coaching standards, should be the most telling, in terms of what
lies ahead.

It’s worth noting that both the Steelers and Falcons played
without a starting cornerback, the Steelers’ Ike Taylor and
Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson both recovering from injuries. Pittsburgh,
in fact, played without either starting conerback. After the game
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that Bryant McFadden will be a
stqarting cornerback. Bryant missed the Atlanta game also due to
injury.

And speaking of injuries, the Steelers suffered a relatively big
one when backup quarterback Byron Leftwich suffered a broken left
arm. That basically saved a job for either Charlie Batch or Dennis
Dixon. The Steelers are perhaps the league’s only team that could
go four-deep on the quarterback depth chart.

Otherwise, Saturday’s game was a good exhibition of professional
football.

Not to notice Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown would be like
failing to notice that the lights were on at Heinz Field. Brown
beat Atlanta’s secondary in every way possible, even if he did go a
bit too far in celebrating the first of his two touchdown
receptions.

After being flagged for taunting on that catch, a 77-yarder from
Ben Roethlisberger, he should have been flogged for impersonating a
dancer on his second TD grab, a 44-yarder again from
Roethlisberger.

Nothing against celebrating, but he looked more like Chad
Ochocinco than Dancing With the Stars champion Hines Ward.

And, yes, it’s worth noting that both Roethlisberger and Tomlin
had a few words with Brown after his penalty-drawing touchdown
catch. Their message was a modern-day version of what Chuck Noll
used to tell his players back int he 1970s: Act like you’ve been
there before.

Neither team established a running game, but neither team seemed
interested in doing so. Why bother when the passing games were
producing a combined 436 yards in the first half alone?

It may be troublesome that the Falcons possessed the ball the
way they did against Pittsburgh’s starting defense, but even though
Atlanta ran 52 plays to Pittsburgh’s 27 and held the ball for
almost 19 of the first 30 minutes, the Falcons managed only one
touchdown. Atlanta had two 12-play drives and a 14-play series, but
all three ended in field goals.

It was far from a work of art, but Steelers coach Mike Tomlin
and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will take it, especially with
only the last exhibition (last night at Carolina) standing between
the Steelers and the regular-season opener at Baltimore.

Both teams will be just fine by then, when the final scores and
who won or lost will count for something.

Sports editor Mike
Ciarochi may be reached at
mciarochi@heraldstandard.com.

© 2011 heraldstandard.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was arrested early Saturday outside Atlanta on a drunk driving charge, sheriff’s officials said.

The Super Bowl most valuable player and reigning “Dancing With the Stars” champion was booked into the DeKalb County jail in Decatur at 3:41 a.m. and charged with driving under the influence. A jail official said Ward was released on $1,300 bond, though the sheriff’s office website said his bond was set at $1,000. The discrepancy couldn’t be immediately resolved Saturday.

The sheriff’s office said it had turned over paperwork to the courts and could not release any further information about the player’s arrest. DeKalb County police did not return repeated emails and phone calls seeking details of the arrest.

Atlanta lawyer Andrew Ree issued a statement saying that Ward, 35, cooperated fully with police and truthfully answered their questions.

“From our preliminary investigation we can tell you that we are confident that the facts will show that Hines was NOT impaired by alcohol while driving,” Ree wrote. “However, Hines is deeply saddened by this incident and apologizes to his fans and the Steelers organization for this distraction.”

A Steelers spokesman did not immediately respond to a message.

ETC.

Bryans keep U.S. alive in Davis Cup

Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan earned the United States its first point in a Davis Cup quarterfinal against Spain, keeping the Americans alive with a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Marcel Granollers and Fernando Verdasco at Austin, Texas.

Granollers and Verdasco were playing their first doubles match together. Granollers was a substitute for Feliciano Lopez, who won a four-hour singles match against Mardy Fish on Friday.

Spain leads the Americans, 2-1, heading into Sunday’s reverse singles pitting David Ferrer against Fish and Lopez against Andy Roddick.

Top-seeded John Isner will play Olivier Rochus in the final of the Hall of Fame Championship at Newport, R.I.

Isner advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory over Tobais Tobias Kamke of Germany. Rochus made it to the championship match by beating American qualifier Michael Yani, 6-2, 6-4.

Isner is 6 feet 9 — the second-tallest player on the ATP tour — and Rochus is the smallest at 5-6.

Cesar Eduardo Gonzalez scored in the second half to help Venezuela defeat Ecuador, 1-0, in the Copa America at Salta, Argentina, and reach first place in the tough Group B.

Gonzalez struck a powerful right-footer from the top of the area in the 61st minute, giving the Venezuelans the lead in a group that also has Paraguay and South American powerhouse Brazil.

Venezuela has four points and is in good position to advance to the second round. Brazil and Paraguay, which tied, 2-2, earlier Saturday, have two points each, while Ecuador remains with one point ahead of the final round of group play.

A draw against Paraguay would be enough to send Venezuela to the next round, and Ecuador will have to beat Brazil to have any chance of advancing.

Yao Ming’s American agent would not confirm reports that the All-Star center is retiring from basketball. But Yao has scheduled a July 20 news conference in Shanghai to reveal his plans.

John Huizinga, Yao’s agent, said Saturday night that he was “not in a position to confirm” multiple reports that Yao had informed the NBA that he planned to retire.

A talent scout whose relationship with Oregon’s football program is under investigation by the NCAA also had ties to California and Louisiana State.

The Oregonian newspaper reported Saturday that Willie Lyles, a Houston-based talent scout who was paid $25,000 by Oregon for his scouting packages, billed Cal $5,000 and LSU $6,000 for similar packages that included game and highlight videos of high school and junior college players from 22 states.