Steelers/NFL category, Page 350
First Call: Tight ends will be big in Steelers vs. Eagles. Cole vs. Glasnow in Game 5.
Friday’s “First Call” looks at a key matchup in Sunday’s Steelers-Eagles game. The Steelers defensive front gets some high first-quarter grades. Robert Morris hockey has found a special story and a special skater. And the Duquesne Dukes may be part of an Atlantic 10 renaissance. Tale of the tight ends...
Tim Benz: Steelers-Eagles should be a tale of the trenches
Analysis of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Philadelphia Eagles comes down to two specific things. Check that. The analysis isn’t even that complicated. Simply put, the Steelers should win. Period. And they should cover the seven-point spread bouncing around most gambling outlets. But how easily the Steelers win —...
Steelers unsure which of the banged-up receivers they will face against Eagles
Three days before they play the Philadelphia Eagles, the Pittsburgh Steelers still don’t know which wide receivers they will be tasked with defending on Sunday at Heinz Field. Veterans DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffrey – the two projected starters entering the season — remain question marks heading into the game,...
T.J. Watt sits out Steelers practice with knee injury
T.J. Watt, an early contender for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, did not practice for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday because of a knee injury. It is the first time this season that Watt has landed on the team’s injury report. Watt leads the Steelers with 3.5 sacks —...
Vance McDonald irked by NFL re-scheduling, not with diminished role for Steelers
Vance McDonald is annoyed, but not about his diminished role in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. The veteran tight end is OK with ceding snaps, targets and receptions to free-agent signee Eric Ebron. What he’s not OK with is the team’s season being disrupted by a coronavirus outbreak that was no...
Steelers set guidelines for fans attending game Sunday at Heinz Field against Eagles
Although fans will be permitted inside Heinz Field on Sunday to attend the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the atmosphere outside will look different than previous seasons. The Steelers announced Thursday that no tailgating — a pregame custom for decades — will be permitted in the stadium parking...
First Call: Titans illegal practice session before Steelers game? J.J. Watt’s clash with Bill O’Brien. Ex-Pirates pitchers shine.
Steelers fans want to know what exacerbated the Tennessee Titans coronavirus outbreak. Thursday’s “First Call” tries to bring that into focus. Also, J.J. Watt apparently had a burr under his saddle about former coach Bill O’Brien. The Duquesne basketball team is thinking mini-bubble. And more ex-Pirates pitchers are impacting the...
U mad, bro? Steelers fans are smoldering. Pitt fans upset. Penguins fans ‘fond farewell’ to Matt Murray.
I’ve gained a whole new respect for Steelers fans. They’ve proven to me that they can get just as uncontrollably agitated about a game the Steelers didn’t even play as they can get about a game that the Steelers didn’t win. I mean, this Tennessee Titans postponement really has Western...
Derek Watt, Marcus Allen remain out of Steelers practice with injuries
The first practice report of Week 5 looks a lot like the past few weeks for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Special teamers Derek Watt (hamstring) and Marcus Allen (foot) did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, leaving their statuses in doubt for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. But the six other...
Former Pitt CB Avonte Maddox returns to Heinz Field to play Steelers
Only two of the other 66 players on the Philadelphia Eagles’ active roster or injured lists are shorter than Avonte Maddox. Just three weigh less. But that doesn’t mean the “little” former Pitt standout hasn’t made a big impression on the only NFL team he has known over the past...
JuJu Smith-Schuster OK shifting to more of possession receiver for Steelers
He broke the Pittsburgh Steelers’ record for longest touchdown reception. Then, he broke it again before his 22nd birthday. So, it might be odd to affix a label to JuJu Smith-Schuster as … possession receiver? Yet, to this point of the 2020 season, the Steelers appear to be using Smith-Schuster...
Ben Roethlisberger thinks Steelers got ‘short end of the stick’ in Titans postponement
Still smarting over the Pittsburgh Steelers having an unexpected bye thrust on them in the fourth week of the season, Ben Roethlisberger took a few shots Wednesday at the NFL’s decision to postpone their game against the Tennessee Titans until later in the season. “Of course, we got the short...
First Call: Steelers pass rush facing banged up Eagles O-line. Vegas struggling to trade Marc-Andre Fleury.
Wednesday’s “First Call” outlines some offensive line problems in Philadelphia as the Eagles get ready to face a fearsome Steelers pass rush. The Vegas Golden Knights are struggling to trade Marc-Andre Fleury. And Ex-Pirates aplenty put their stamp on last night’s Yankees-Rays playoff game. More problems up front In advance...
Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin noncommittal on NFL forfeit question. That’s smart. For many reasons.
This 2020 NFL season has to be a special kind of torture for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Almost all coaches from pee-wee football to the NFL pound a message of “controlling the controllables.” In other words, focus only on your team. Your own job within that team. On that given...
Following 3-day bye, Tomlin got approval before putting Steelers through workout Monday
Before Mike Tomlin put the Pittsburgh Steelers through a practice Monday morning, he made sure the NFL and its players association were on board with his decision. The collective bargaining agreement states teams on a bye week must give players four days off. The Steelers had just three after their...
Steelers’ Mike Tomlin noticing a decrease in penalties through NFL
A truism for the Pittsburgh Steelers the past two seasons was that if an offensive lineman was called for holding, chances are the guilty party was left tackle Alejandro Villanueva. Villanueva was called for holding eight times over the 2018-19 seasons, which easily was the most of any lineman on...
Steelers allowing 5,500 fans at Heinz Field for Sunday’s game
The Pittsburgh Steelers will allow fans at Heinz Field on Sunday for the first time this season. Shortly after Gov. Tom Wolf eased statewide restrictions on gathering limits, the Steelers on Tuesday announced plans to admit 5,500 spectators into the stadium for their game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The team...
WR Diontae Johnson to return for Steelers in Week 5 against EaglesVideo
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be at full strength at wide receiver Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles with the return of Diontae Johnson from concussion protocol. Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly press conference that Johnson no longer is being treated for concussion symptoms. Johnson, the Steelers’ most targeted...
Gov. Wolf eases gathering restrictions with formula tied to capacity limits
Gov. Tom Wolf increased gathering-size limits for events statewide Tuesday, revealing a new formula that’s based on a percentage of a facility’s capacity rather than the 25-person indoor and 250-person outdoor restrictions previously imposed. Indoor events are limited to 10% to 20% of capacity, depending upon the venue’s size, and...
Tim Benz: Preemptive shortening of NFL season is not the way to go
In each of the last two years, the Steelers have suffered crushing late-season losses over the final four weeks that have prevented them from making the playoffs. In 2018, the Steelers inexcusably lost to the Raiders in Oakland in Week 13. Then they suffered a heartbreaking defeat in New Orleans...
Steelers players make do with unexpected early idle week
If the routine is becoming cumbersome to Bud Dupree, he isn’t saying so publicly. Each day during the Pittsburgh Steelers season, the 27-year-old outside linebacker leaves his house and heads to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for practice. At the end of the work day, he returns home. Aside from a...
Bud Dupree boosting the production of Steelers teammate T.J. Watt
In this election year, perhaps there is no better pair of running mates on the Pittsburgh Steelers than outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree. In the minds of most, including those who have a say in the NFL’s defensive player of the month and year honors, it’s Watt who...
Confident rookie WR Chase Claypool quickly earns trust of Steelers
During the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most recent game, the skill-position offensive player who played the most wasn’t former Pro Bowlers JuJu Smith-Schuster or James Conner. It wasn’t $12 million free-agent signee Eric Ebron, either. It was a rookie, Chase Claypool. Claypool played 61 of the Steelers’ 80 offensive snaps during a...
First Call: Rough week to watch! During Steelers ‘bye,’ division and conference rivals win.
The Steelers had an unexpected day off Sunday thanks to the postponement of their game against the Tennessee Titans. And if they spent it watching the rest of NFL, they didn’t like what they saw. All three of their AFC North rivals ended up winning. A pair of other AFC...
Madden Monday: NFL covid-19 problems. Pat Narduzzi is ‘a blowhard.’ Metro Division fit for Marc-Andre Fleury?
No Steelers content to discuss for our “Madden Monday” podcast this week, as the team is coming off its surprise bye weekend. That’s thanks to the postponement of their scheduled game against the Tennessee Titans. Mark Madden and I start the show talking about how the NFL is handling their...
