The Pittsburgh Steelers are having a horrific start to their season - and now Stormy Daniels is adding to the drama
- It's been quite a week for the Pittsburgh Steelers already.
- Controversy surrounds the team.
- They have yet to win a game.
- Now Stormy Daniels is involved.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a season's worth of drama take place just this week.
On Sunday, the team became the first NFL franchise in at least 78 years to score 37 points and commit no turnovers in a home game - and lose. The loss put the preseason Super Bowl hopefuls at 0-1-1 after a disappointing tie to the Cleveland Browns - a team that had won one game in the past two seasons.
Afterward, star wide receiver Antonio Brown went at it with a former Steelers public relations employee who said he wouldn't be able to put up the same eye-popping numbers if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wasn't throwing to him. "Trade me let's find out," Brown tweeted Monday, a day when he didn't bother showing up for work.
Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree also got into a tiff on social media. And the team's star running back, Le'Veon Bell, refuses to end his holdout for a long-term contract. TMZ posted footage of him jet skiing.
If that wasn't enough, porn star Stormy Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti hinted that Roethlisberger will be featured in his client's upcoming book detailing her alleged affair with President Donald Trump and other topics. Avenatti tweeted the pair has "no further comment at this time regarding the details relating to" Roethlisberger.
Avenatti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The Steelers now have to prepare for a tough Monday night game in Tampa against the Buccaneers, who are off to a surprising 2-0 start riding the hot hand of backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
"Steeler Nation, know we're all down right now, got to stay positive and move forward, better days to come!" tweeted wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
'It's not one constant area that's below the line'
On Roethlisberger, nothing had been published on the details contained in Daniels's upcoming book, "Full Disclosure," as of Tuesday afternoon.
But in January, when Daniels's allegations were first made public, it was revealed that she told the celebrity gossip magazine InTouch in a 2011 interview published this year that Trump had Roethlisberger walk her back to her hotel room a day after she and Trump had their alleged sexual encounter.
Daniels told the tabloid that the night after her alleged encounter with Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament, she caught the Manhattan billionaire at a party with the young Steelers quarterback. Roethlisberger had won his first Super Bowl earlier that year. Trump, she said, made Roethlisberger "promise to take care of me."
"I stayed another 15-20 minutes, and Ben Roethlisberger actually walked me up to my room that night because Donald told him to," she continued. "Yeah, he walked me all the way to my hotel room."
Roethlisberger has twice faced allegations of rape. A civil suit was settled in 2012 over an accusation that he raped a woman in his hotel room at the same Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament in 2008. Trump, meanwhile, has promoted his relationship with Roethlisberger.
Reflecting on the Steelers's woes so far in this young season, head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that issues with the team were abound. There was no shortage of areas on the field that needed addressed.
"It's not one constant area that's below the line," he said. "It's usually popping up in a lot of areas."
If there's any sign for hope, it's that the next venue on the Steelers schedule is at least a place where the team has enjoyed success. The last time Roethlisberger led a Steelers team into action at Raymond James Stadium, they won Super Bowl 43.