Steelers: Assistant coach/fan altercation never happened

As if there weren’t enough storylines surrounding Thursday night’s New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers season-opening game – a triumphant Tom Brady in uniform, the Steelers’ difficulties in covering New England tight end Rob Gronkowski, the headset issues – another one cropped up Friday morning: accusations that a Pittsburgh coach had assaulted a Patriots fan at Gillette Stadium.

ESPN reported that Steelers tight ends coach James Daniel allegedly kicked a fan in the back of the leg and yelled at him in front of witnesses as he was making his way from the coaches’ booth to the locker room for halftime.

When Daniel returned to the booth for the second half, local police were waiting for him. NFL Security opened an investigation and interviewed Daniel after the game.

Pittsburgh also conducted its own investigation, and found no evidence of an incident.

In a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, team president Art Rooney II said, “We have conducted an internal inquiry into the alleged incident involving Assistant Coach James Daniel at the Patriots stadium Thursday night. After interviews with Coach Daniel as well as other personnel who witnessed the alleged encounter, we find no corroboration that Coach Daniel was involved in any physical altercation with a fan.

“Coach Daniel has worked as an assistant coach for the Steelers for the past 12 seasons. We have a high level of confidence in his character and are confident that any further investigation of this incident will reveal he was not part of any assault or misconduct involving a Patriots fan.”

So it looks like nothing happened with Daniel, and the NFL said the Patriots had nothing to do with the Steelers’ headset problems. The action was just on the field? Fancy that.