{"id":38546,"date":"2025-04-05T02:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T02:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38546"},"modified":"2025-04-05T02:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T02:43:20","slug":"former-steelers-defender-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38546","title":{"rendered":"Former Steelers Defender Dies.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ac_100041701\" class=\"article_chunk type_50\">\n<div class=\"froala-view custom-theme first_text_block\">\n<p>Former\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0defensive lineman Ray Seals has passed away at the age of 59 years old. His friend Nini Marie confirmed the news on social media.<\/p>\n<p>His cause of death is unknown at the time of the report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ac_100041702\" class=\"article_chunk type_51\"><center><\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1908204861591605563&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fnfl%2Fsteelers%2Fnews%2Fformer-pittsburgh-steelers-ray-seals-dies&amp;sessionId=4a6a41255639a76b5815a423e0750a3b154f724f&amp;siteScreenName=yardbarker&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-8=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1908204861591605563\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/center><\/div>\n<div id=\"ac_100041703\" class=\"article_chunk type_50\">\n<div class=\"froala-view custom-theme \">\n<p>A Syracuse, New York native, Seal did not attend college but instead played for the San Antonio Express in the Empire League, a semi-pro league. He started his NFL journey with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1988. After missing his first season with a back injury, he spent five years in Tampa Bay, starting 28 games and recording 15.5 sacks.<\/p>\n<p>Seals signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1994, signing a three-year deal at the time. He spent two seasons with the Steelers as part of the Pittsburgh defense in the 90&#8217;s. He recorded seven sacks his first season and 8.5 his second, which tied his career-high.<\/p>\n<p>He missed the following season with a torn rotator cuff.<\/p>\n<p>One of Seals&#8217; most notable plays came in Super Bowl XXX during the Steelers&#8217; loss to the Dallas Cowboys when Seals recorded a sack on quarterback Troy Aikman.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers On SI family sends their condolences to Seals family and friends during this difficult time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0defensive lineman Ray Seals has passed away at the age of 59 years old. His friend Nini Marie confirmed the news on social media. His cause&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Steelers Defender Dies.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Steelers Defender Dies.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0defensive lineman Ray Seals has passed away at the age of 59 years old. 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