Pittsburgh Steelers Arrive in Dallas With the Mystery That Is Maurkice Pouncey

The Pittsburgh Steelers arrived in Dallas Monday, and Maurkice Pouncey hobbled down the stairs from the plane.

He placed his huge body on a cart that took him to the team's bus.

Already there's a major mystery surrounding these Steelers.

Will he or won't he? Will there be a Maurkice in the Super Bowl XLV lineup come Sunday?

The reports from virtually anyone who has these wonderful hidden sources have said that Pouncey has a broken bone in his ankle.

Monday madness started with Mike Tomlin on the witness stand with plenty of cross examination.

"He has a high ankle sprain," was Tomlin's take on Pittsburgh's most famous ankle. "We want to do everything we can to give him the opportunity to play. He's not on a clock until Wednesday."

Oh really?

Let's see, we've got teammates telling us Pouncey's kaput. We've got reports of broken bones in ankles, and suddenly, here's Iron Mike talking about high ankle sprains.

Will someone please put this guy under oath?

Is his ankle broken? came the question to the Steeler boss.

Tomlin responded with this Three-Rivers dance:

"I'm sure it could be characterized as that. I'm sure I have something floating around in my ankle," said Tomlin. The only difference is, Tomlin's ankle wouldn't have to hold up with B.J. Raji throwing his hefty 337 pounds at him.

Oh, there was more Pittsburgh fun to be had on Monday.

Seems the Sultan of Sports Illustrated, that Peter King guy, brought forth the scoop that Big Ben Roethlisberger might not have been the most popular guy with his teammates the past few seasons.

What? Big Ben disliked? What a shocker!

King tells us that when the Commish, that Goodell guy named Roger, was conjuring up some punishment for Big Ben's offseason shenanigans, he talked to about two dozen of Roethlisberger's teammates.

"Not one, not a single player went to his defense," is what King tells us the Commish told him.

When asked about his popularity or lack thereof upon his arrival in the Big D, Roethlisberger read out of the same book that Tomlin was reading.

"I know for a fact that when the commissioner came to training camp and talked, a lot of our guys did. I'm thankful that my teammates are who they are, and I'm really appreciative of them," was Big Ben's take.

You'll notice he didn't tell us that the guys were all for him, did he?

Oh and after all of this came the news that defensive end Aaron Smith will have an MRI on Wednesday. Wednesday? What, were there no functioning MRI machines in the city of Pittsburgh?

Not that it matters. Smith's had that triceps problem for a while now, and Ziggy Hood has been quite effective, thank-you.

Yes, the Steelers are in town, you have the questions, they have the answers, or something like answers.

But Tomlin did have one take that's easy to believe.

"This is the third game that I've been involved in, in one fashion or another," Tomlin told everyone willing to listen. "There is a certain comfort that comes with being experienced, if you will. It lessens anxiety in terms of some of the non-football things. If there is a benefit, it's that."

Thank you coach Tomlin, you may step down from the witness stand. Oh, but wait, before you go, could you go over that high ankle sprain business one more time, please?