Chris Adamski stories, Page 115

Their love of sports was born on the cul de sac in front of their house and on the grass fields behind it. The work ethic was instilled by their firefighter father and work-her-way-up-the-company-ladder mother. Their competitiveness? That came by way of an elderly woman over sips of cranberry juice-and-Sprite....

1.Putting on pressure Dating back decades, the blitz has been part of the very fabric of identity of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defenses. As recently as 2018 and last season, the Steelers ranked third and fourth in the NFL in percentage of snaps in which their defense sent more than four...

No one knows with certainty when the next NHL season will begin. If Mike Matheson was making the decision, it wouldn’t alter much from a normal season’s calendar. “I wish the season was starting tomorrow,” the Pittsburgh Penguins’ newest defenseman said during a video call with media Friday. Matheson was...

It’s a perfect game of sorts, one that seemingly is as rare as the traditional version from baseball. For the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3, their entire roster has a clean bill of health heading into a game. Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster returned to practice Friday after being the lone member...

The loss of Javon Hargrave in free agency coupled by the return of Stephon Tuitt from a pectoral injury haven’t done much to alter the preferences of Pittsburgh Steelers in defining their rotation on the defensive line. Through two weeks of the season, Tuitt and Cameron Heyward are playing 80.7%...

David DeCastro practiced for a second consecutive day, and six other starters who missed practice a day prior returned to the field for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday. The lone exception, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, remains out because of a nagging knee injury. Smith-Schuster also missed practice time last week because...

Ben Roethlisberger’s trot onto the field for the first offensive snap of Sunday’s game at Heinz Field will be a historic one. At that point, he officially will become the all-time Pittsburgh Steeler. The game against the Houston Texans will be the 221st of Roethlisberger’s career, breaking a tie with...

David DeCastro returned to a Pittsburgh Steelers practice Wednesday for the first time in almost four weeks, signaling the five-time Pro Bowl guard could be ready to make his season debut Sunday against the Houston Texans. DeCastro was listed as a full participant on the practice report released by the...

Three Pittsburgh Steelers starters did not practice Wednesday because of injury, but defensive lineman Tyson Alualu and receivers Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster all are expected to return to practice Thursday. During his weekly news conference the day prior, coach Mike Tomlin had grouped Johnson and Alualu together with linebacker...

Bryan Reynolds was as succinct as he was honest when asked to evaluate his performance during this almost-completed season. “I think I played decent defense,” the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder said, “and my offense was terrible.” It’s difficult to dispute Reynolds’ latter self-assessment. Reynolds was hitting .180 heading into Monday night....

Somehow, in this drastically shortened 2020 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates matched the 2019 team in one rather dubious way. Games under .500. A 5-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs in the opener of the final home series of the season Monday dropped the Pirates to 15-39. The 24 games under...

It’s a shortened season in 2020, but tell that to Carson Fulmer. The right-handed pitcher has changed teams four times. For the second time in less than a month, he was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fulmer on Monday was awarded to the Pirates off the roster of...

Forty-six times a Denver Broncos quarterback dropped back Sunday. Nineteen of those times, he was hit. It was that kind of day for Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel and the Denver offensive line in trying to contain a Pittsburgh Steelers pass rush that might be the NFL’s best through two weeks...

For the first time since he became the Pittsburgh Steelers’ featured running back more than two years ago, James Conner over the past week was openly questioned for his deservedness for that role. One-hundred-six yards and a touchdown later, Conner re-established himself as the Steelers’ “bell cow” in Sunday’s 26-21...

Players on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense can feel good about stopping 10 of the Denver Broncos’ 15 third-down conversion attempts Sunday. But imagine how they’d feel if 60% of Denver’s third-down conversions weren’t handed to them by way of Steelers penalties. It was that kind of afternoon for the Steelers...

After making it through two consecutive days of practice, running back James Conner was declared a “go” for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener Sunday against the Denver Broncos. “I keep on getting treatment on it and just keep feeling it out,” Conner said during a video call after practice Friday,...

The Pittsburgh Steelers placed veteran offensive lineman Stefan Wisniewski on injured reserve, meaning he cannot practice for at least the next three weeks. The man he replaced at right guard, David DeCastro, already has not practiced for the past three weeks. Neither will play for the Steelers in their home...

When Michelle Kenney read Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s Instagram post in which he indicated he would remove her son’s name from his football helmet, she initially was offended and disappointed. “But when I read to the bottom of it,” said Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose Jr., “I was...

A quick look at the NFL team statistics through one week finds the Pittsburgh Steelers at what used to be a very familiar place. No. 1 in the league in rush defense. During Monday’s season-opening win, the Steelers allowed the New York Giants an NFL-low 29 rushing yards on 20...

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin likes to use the terms “varsity” and “junior varsity” in context when referring to players at various levels of acumen and resume. After a “junior varsity” practice on offense Wednesday, the Steelers’ “varsity” was back on the field a day later. Of the eight offensive...