Chris Adamski stories, Page 117
Former Penn State star Trace McSorley throws 1st NFL TD pass for Ravens vs. Steelers
In the 23 months since his final action in college for Penn State, Trace McSorley’s experience in meaningful football games had been limited to exactly one snap. That was a 1-yard carry on a third-and-1 three snaps into the 2019 regular-season finale for the Baltimore Ravens against the Pittsburgh Steelers....
J.C. Hassenauer latest ‘next man up’ contributing to Steelers
Since graduating high school as an All-American and the top-rated center prospect in the country in 2014, J.C. Hassenauer had started all of 11 games. At any level. Three in college and eight for the Birmingham Iron of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football. That changed Wednesday. Hassenauer played the...
Steelers’ Bud Dupree reportedly has torn ACL
Ben Roethlisberger first gave an indication the injury to teammate Bud Dupree was serious when he referenced it as one of the reasons why the mood was not more celebratory for the Pittsburgh Steelers after their Wednesday victory against their biggest rival. Moments later, a report from the league’s network...
‘Game on,’ but Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey goes on covid-19 list and won’t play
As an NFL spokesman put it, “Game on.” But while they will play the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be without their eight-time Pro Bowl center. Maurkice Pouncey was placed on the NFL’s reserve/covid-19 list less than three hours prior to the 3:40 p.m. scheduled kickoff time...
Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith cleared for game vs. Ravens
Special teams coordinator Danny Smith was cleared to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers and is available to perform his coaching duties during the scheduled Wednesday game against the Baltimore Ravens. While the game was yet scheduled to be played Tuesday, the Steelers announced Friday that Smith would not be available...
Ravens-Steelers game still on, despite reports of 2 more Ravens positive tests
Two additional members of the Baltimore Ravens organization have tested positive for coronavirus, according to multiple reports from national organizations. However, the NFL maintains the game will be played as currently scheduled: 3:40 p.m. Wednesday at Heinz Field. “No change to the status of the game,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy...
Wednesday pro football the domain of Spartans and Pirates, but rarely in modern NFL
If you’re younger than 75 years old, you’d at best only be able to recall one NFL game played on a Wednesday. And if you’re significantly older than that, you might be among the select few still left among us who remembers the Portsmouth Spartans. Yes, playing a pro football...
QB coach Matt Canada cleared to return to Steelers, coach during Ravens game
Assuming the game gets played Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will remain without three players because of coronavirus concerns. But they won’t be without their quarterbacks coach anymore. Matt Canada has been cleared to return to the team’s UPMC Rooney Sports Complex headquarters, according to Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten. It was...
Amid postponements and controversy, don’t forget, Steelers-Ravens has plenty at stake
By the way, it’s Ravens Week. In case you’ve forgotten, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 10-0. Perhaps you’ll recall, the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed — and valuable lone bye that comes with it — remains very much on the line. Keep in mind, Baltimore is on the verge...
Youthful enthusiasm masks JuJu Smith-Schuster’s maturation as receiver for Steelers
Everyone saw JuJu Smith-Schuster blow out the “candle” — a football — after the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers receiving corps sang “Happy Birthday” to him following the first touchdown of last week’s game in Jacksonville. It was classic JuJu, complete with a set of effervescent celebratory hops — the...
Steelers Four Downs: Ben Roethlisberger and the deep passVideo
1. Going long The advanced analytics community has been less than kind in evaluating the season of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, who is the starting quarterback for a 10-0 team. Often, the criticisms of Roethlisberger revolve around his downfield passing. First, the good: Only four NFL quarterbacks this season...
Vance McDonald reinstated to Steelers’ active roster, Trey Edmunds to IR
Tight end Vance McDonald was re-instated to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 53-man roster Thursday, the day his exemption from being on the reserve/covid-19 list expired. A coronavirus test McDonald took while the Steelers were in Dallas on Nov. 8 came back positive the following day, and he has been isolated from...
Postponement adds to quirky, sad history of Steelers’ Thanksgiving Day games
The game never getting played because of a worldwide pandemic that caused an outbreak within a bitter division rival? Unprecedented. Unique. Bizarre. And yet, entirely on brand for what has been the history of Pittsburgh Steelers games on Thanksgiving. The first scheduled NFL game to be played on Thanksgiving in...
Ravens reportedly have more positive tests; Steelers game potentially in jeopardy
“Multiple” coronavirus tests among Baltimore Ravens came back positive Thursday, according to CBS Sports reports, potentially further endangering the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that already has been pushed back because of covid-19 concerns. In an early Thanksgiving Day morning post to his verified Twitter account, CBS’ Jason La Canfora...
NFL postpones Steelers-Ravens game over coronavirus concerns, sets new game time
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have to wait to host a Thanksgiving Day game for the first time. Their fans will have to wait until 2021 to see them in person. In the wake of several members of the Baltimore Ravens organization testing positive for coronavirus this week, the NFL announced...
Minkah Fitzpatrick is back to creating takeaways almost weekly for SteelersVideo
There were whispers that Minkah Fitzpatrick’s “ball-hawking” ways for the Pittsburgh Steelers had run their course when his “streak” of games without being part of a turnover was extended to nine through the first four weeks of this season. Since then, though, the takeaway machine that Fitzpatrick was when he...
Steelers ‘unleash’ dominant defense on Jaguars and their rookie QB
Poor Jake Luton was hit seven times, sacked twice and pressured or hurried on countless other occasions by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The rookie sixth-round pick tossed four interceptions and completed fewer than half his passes during another Jacksonville Jaguars loss. For the second consecutive week, the Steelers’ splash-play...
Steelers’ Zach Gentry has ‘significant’ injury, but JuJu Smith-Schuster, Joe Haden OK
Backup tight end Zach Gentry suffered a “significant” knee injury during Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers victory. But two of the Steelers’ most recognizable players, by all accounts, emerged unscathed despite injury scares. Cornerback Joe Haden and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster each needed attention from training staff after suffering injuries during the second...
Steelers see improvement in running game during rout of Jaguars
Running back James Conner remarked that “everybody” had counted out the Pittsburgh Steelers rushing offense. Where did he see that so many were doing so? “Everywhere,” the Steelers’ featured back said during remarks that were perhaps more ornery that you might expect for a player on a team that won...
Isaiah Buggs the odd man out on D-line as lone non-QB healthy inactive for Steelers
There has been an apparent change in the depth chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive line, albeit a minor one. Despite being listed on the league-mandated official injury report as healthy for Sunday’s game, Isaiah Buggs is not in uniform to play the Jacksonville Jaguars. A second-year pro, Buggs spent...
Steelers Four Downs: Yards after catch fueling passing game
1. YAC daddies The Pittsburgh Steelers rank 18th in the NFL in passing yards per game. That’s not an indictment of the team’s passing game. It is more a function of having a lead so often, thus muting the incentive to throw too much. But despite that mediocre total, three...
No ‘messing’ around: Marcus Allen kept working, carved out niche with Steelers
Marcus Allen grinned widely and chuckled. The Pittsburgh Steelers third-year defender answered in the affirmative, confirming what coach Mike Tomlin likes to say to Allen as he passes his locker, indeed, is not “mess with me.” The “mess” in “mess with” — a reference to an encounter they had during...
‘Young Pup’ Antoine Brooks fit in during NFL debut on defense for SteelersVideo
One of Mike Tomlin’s favorite expressions is “two dogs, one bone.” He uses it in regards to creating a competitive environment on his team as players compete for playing time. That certainly applies to Antoine Brooks. But the canine references don’t stop there for the rookie from Maryland. “He calls...
Steelers’ Jaylen Samuels misses another practice but Mike Hilton on track to return to games
Mike Hilton was a full participant at Pittsburgh Steelers practice for the second straight day Thursday. Barring a late-week setback, the nickel cornerback appears well on track to make his return to the lineup after a four-game absence because of a shoulder injury. Thursday’s practice report offered no surprises. All...
CB Mike Hilton practices fully for Steelers; RB Anthony McFarland returns from illness
It was another Wednesday of full practice for nickel cornerback Mike Hilton. But, as was learned last week, that does not mean he will play Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And while the Steelers wait for two players who remain on the reserve/covid-19 list, one player who had an illness...

