Breakfast With Benz category, Page 146
Tim Benz: If Steelers don’t slow Saquon Barkley, Giants could pull off upset
If the Steelers are to win their season opener Monday night against the New York Giants, they are going to have to stop superstar running back Saquon Barkley. Check that. The Steelers are going to have to slow superstar running back Saquon Barkley. Stopping Barkley doesn’t happen very often. Just...
Fantasy sports podcast: Game 1 paying off some hype. Renewed faith in Steelers’ James Conner?
If Game 1 of the NFL season is any indication, a lot of offseason fantasy league hype about certain skill position players is about to come true quickly. The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs beat the Houston Texans, 34-20, in the Thursday night league opener. Rookie running back...
First Call: Kris Letang wants clarity. Giants coach wants better practices. Gerrit Cole wants better results.
Friday’s “First Call” starts with Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. He wants some clarity about his future. New York Giants coach Joe Judge wants his players more focused before Monday night’s game against the Steelers. And former Pirate pitcher Gerrit Cole wants to avoid home runs. • • • Letang update:...
Giants could offer Week 1 problems for Steelers’ reconfigured offensive line
If the Steelers are searching to find a litmus test for their revamped offensive line, they could do worse than starting the season against the New York Giants. In 2019, only two NFL teams — the Carolina Panthers and Miami Dolphins — allowed more points per game than the Giants...
First Call: Myles Garrett’s ridiculous quotes about ‘clearing the air’ with Mason Rudolph
Thursday’s “First Call” features some insane statements from Cleveland Browns defensive star Myles Garrett regarding his 2019 helmet incident with Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. Also, a look at some Penguins priorities for the offseason, Steelers Super Bowl odds and a potential Steelers threat in Week 2 might be out of...
Matt Murray to Colorado? Avalanche insider says he’s atop their ‘potential wish list’
Colorado Avalanche insider Adrian Dater seems to have a pretty good feel for Penguins fans and Pittsburgh. His parents lived in Wexford for some time. During Thursday’s podcast, Dater told me, “I learned early on, don’t troll any Pittsburgh Penguins fans about their team. Because if you do, you’ll get...
U mad, bro?: Steelers fans go after JuJu and ‘Duck;’ Pens fans fret about Jim Rutherford
Normally, this time of year, Steelers fans are mad over what the team did wrong in the preseason as we get ready for NFL opening weekend. So with no preseason games, does that mean Steelers fans are any less concerned? Pfft! Not according to emails and my Twitter feed. In...
Rod Woodson: Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster may not be No. 1 receiver, Mason Rudolph not top backup
Steelers legend Rod Woodson made some headlines lately talking about his former team on Twitter. On Saturday, Woodson tweeted about Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, “All he wants to do is be on social media!” Seriously you can get no I draft pick from Juju, all he wants to do...
First Call: Steelers, Giants face O-line questions; Matt Murray and NHL goalie pool; Pitt star shines in NBA playoffs
Wednesday’s “First Call” looks at a shared concern for both the Steelers and the New York Giants in advance of Monday Night Football. A former Pitt basketball player is emerging in the NBA playoffs. And the NHL goalie rumor mill may have one less name in the hopper. So what...
Steelers prepare for Giants team with new coaches, no preseason tape
Here’s a fun question for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and his players heading into the 2020 season opener. How do you study film when there is no film to study? I know. Very meta n’at. But it’s a worthy concern going into the season opener for Tomlin’s team on...
First Call: T.J. Watt hears some trash talk from J.J. Watt; head-scratching Antonio Brown anniversary
“First Call” is back after a long holiday weekend. Steelers star T.J. Watt is on the receiving end of some trash talk from his brother, J.J. We investigate how Jadeveon Clowney almost became a Baltimore Raven. We check up on Charlie Morton’s comeback. And it’s been a year since Antonio...
Tim Benz: Cameron Heyward follows Steelers legacy of Brett Keisel, Aaron Smith. Now he’ll try try to outlast it.
There are multiple reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers reworked the contract of defensive end Cameron Heyward to the tune of $75.1 million between now and the end of the 2024 season. He’s an All-Pro. He’s a stabilizing locker room influence in an unstable time. He’s a tremendous fan, media and...
Madden Monday: Whose window will stay open longer? The Steelers or Penguins?
If Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is really trying to keep his core players together, let’s look at what that means. Sidney Crosby is signed through 2025. Jake Guentzel is locked up until the end of the 2024 playoffs. But Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin both only have two years...
Leonard Fournette isn’t coming to Steelers. What that means for your fantasy football draft.
So much for the “Leonard Fournette to the Steelers” talk. The former Jacksonville Jaguars running back signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week, ending any discussion about him coming to Pittsburgh. But now, from a fantasy football perspective, the speculation is rampant as to what that may mean for...
First Call: Here’s what Steelers missed most without preseason
Coronavirus has done the impossible. Again. It shut down sports. The political conventions. Schools. Life as we know it. Now it has done something even more difficult: It has actually made me miss the Steelers preseason. Perhaps even the final preseason game, which would’ve been played Thursday night in Charlotte...
U mad, bro? Fans spout about Pirates failures, Steelers moves, Penguins trade talk
Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. We spin the hits here at “U mad, bro?” No one is spared in this edition. This week people spout off about Steelers personnel, Penguins trade rumors and Bucco ineptitude. We begin with William. He checks in on the woeful Pirates. “I have followed this team...
Examining Penguins trade strategy, being ‘one forward short,’ NHL goalie glut, Flyers stay alive
It’s only taken nine months. But we are finally in a position where we are on the verge of something good happening in 2020. The Philadelphia Flyers are on the cusp of being eliminated in the 2020 playoffs. It didn’t happen on the first try, though. They stayed alive with...
Tim Benz: Are Pirates ‘building or rebuilding?’ There’s no difference and it doesn’t matter.
Getting mad at the Pirates is a pretty common thing to do in Pittsburgh. It has been for most of the past three decades. Sometimes we just do it out of habit. And not for the right reasons. Don’t get me wrong. At 10-23, there are plenty of reasons to...
First Call: Jim Rutherford keeps trade talk open on Evgeni Malkin, Matt Murray. Bounce back for JuJu? Marte Par-tay in Miami.
The trade action could be swift on Penguins goalie Matt Murray, and general manager Jim Rutherford is letting speculation linger about Evgeni Malkin. That’s how we start Wednesday’s “First Call.” Meanwhile, former Pirates outfielder Starling Marte has started his new chapter in Miami with a bang. Someone is thinking JuJu...
Mike DeCourcy remembers John Thompson, Cliff Robinson, Pitt’s Demetreus Gore, Big East glory days
If you like college basketball as much as I do — especially memories of the Big East’s early days — then you know how bad of a week it has been. • Former Pitt standout Demetreus Gore died of an apparent heart attack over the weekend. He was 54. Gore...
Tim Benz: Pirates’ inactivity at 2020 trade deadline – I can’t even fake a reaction
I got nuthin’. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington gave us nothing in terms of trades before Monday’s deadline. So I’ve got nothing in terms of a response. I can fake it if you want. I can gin up some faux outrage over front office inactivity. Or I can dial up...
First Call: Someone may want Nick Bjugstad? Someone signed Donte Moncrief? Cole vs. Glasnow.
Tuesday’s “First Call” examines some potential Penguins roster movement. An ex-Steeler has a new home. Leonard Fournette gets a swift kick on the way out of Jacksonville. And we look at how Glasnow vs. Cole Round 3 turned out. Bjugstad or Bonino Buffalo-bound? Looking for a team that might absorb...
Unfiltered: Tim Benz and Mark Madden say fun has been taken out of sportsVideo
Tim Benz and Mark Madden return for this week’s edition of “Unfiltered” on TribLive’s Facebook page and say the fun has been sucked out of sports. Madden says that if sports wants to sacrifice the fun element to get the social message out, that’s fine, but then it’s not fun...
First Call: Pitt basketball great dies, Cole vs. Glasnow III, Flyers lose, Fleury back
For “First Call” on Monday, we try to wrap our minds around a brutal weekend in college basketball. The Flyers are on the brink. Marc-Andre Fleury went back in net and won. And two ex-Pirate pitchers square off for a third time this year. Can’t take anymore If you are...
Madden Monday: Steelers are ‘9-7 team, 10-6 at best.’ Penguins have a potential move bigger than Kasperi Kapanen trade.
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden and I talk about the Steelers outlook in 2020, the Penguins looming offseason, and the Pirates at the Major League trade deadline. Mark isn’t lacking for opinions on any front. “I see the Steelers as a 9-7 team. 10-6 at best,” Madden...
