Mark Madden stories, Page 17

Kenny Pickett’s arm is all over the place. He too often looks rattled. The swag and moxie of the preseason are gone. Pickett must be fixed. There’s no time like the present. The Las Vegas Raiders are allowing an 81.6% completion rate to opposing passers after two games. Seventy-one throws,...

Erik Karlsson isn’t 100% unique. Not quite a unicorn. Pittsburgh hockey fans have seen one like him before. It’s just been a while. (Hint: He wore No. 77.) Since joining the Penguins via trade with San Jose, Karlsson has been conversationally lumped in with Kris Letang. Both are called offensive...

The Pittsburgh Steelers have no accountability. We saw that Monday night in a big way. Gunner Olszewski committed one of the dumbest plays ever. He fielded a kickoff at the 9-yard line near the sideline midway through the first quarter, inexplicably toe-tapping to momentarily stay in bounds. Like he was...

Offensive coordinator Matt Canada is Pittsburgh’s Great Satan as per “Fire Canada” chants at Acrisure Stadium Monday after a botched third-and-1 play. Quarterback Kenny Pickett ran right out of the shotgun and went down lamely, losing 3 yards. Maybe that was the play call: “Shotgun, run right, go down lamely....

The Pittsburgh Steelers need to beat Cleveland on Monday night. Otherwise, the season figures to take on a familiar timeline: • Preseason: “This team could go to the Super Bowl!” • After a couple losses: “We can still win the division.” • After a couple more losses: “We can still...

It doesn’t look good for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium against Cleveland. The Browns have Nick Chubb, the NFL’s best running back. The Steelers don’t have Cameron Heyward, their best defensive lineman. The Browns have perhaps the best trio of cornerbacks in football (led by Denzel...

Fire Matt Canada. That’s the most widely held solution to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ problems. It’s not an unreasonable opinion. Canada never should have been promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. But Canada was already in the building and works cheap. (Like all Steelers assistants, at least in comparison to...

Cam Heyward has tried to shoehorn “Big Ken” as a nickname for Kenny Pickett. Like Big Ben. Not yet. More like Bubby Pickett. Pickett is a first-round pick, a quarterback of some promise. But after Sunday’s home disaster vs. San Francisco, let’s shelve the superlatives for “Big Ken” till he...

In my prior missive, I predicted the Pittsburgh Steelers to go 9-8 and miss the playoffs. Now, by way of formulaic preseason drivel, here are the rest of my NFL prognostications: AFC East winner: Buffalo. AFC West winner: Kansas City. AFC North winner: Cincinnati. AFC South winner: Jacksonville. AFC wild...

This is a pretty good Pittsburgh Steelers team. Improved from last year. It has a first-round draft pick at quarterback who looks ready to break through. It has a myriad of offensive weapons: no proven superstar, but a receiver capable of big plays and a first-round running back who also...

As the Pittsburgh Penguins piece together their new broadcast teams, they’re likely debating whether to cling to nostalgia or move forward. A trend toward the latter has already started with the dismissal of Bob Errey from TV color commentary. For years, the Penguins’ three main analysts have been from their...

College football is stupid. We got reminded of that this past weekend when powerhouses played pushovers to produce scores like 81-7, 73-0, 73-7, 66-14 and 56-3. Even Pitt got to pummel some sacrificial lamb. (Anybody know where Wofford is located? Without using Google.) These mismatches are the progeny of college...

The Champions Hockey League is a season-long tournament involving elite teams in Europe. The CHL is instituting some interesting rule changes: • Minor penalties serve the full two minutes, even if a power-play goal is scored. • If a goal is scored during a delayed penalty, the penalty still is...

The notion that the Kendrick Green trade was some revolutionary display of general managing by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Omar Khan is a bit silly, just like so much about the team’s hype-clogged preseason. Khan traded a marginal asset for another marginal asset: Green to Houston for a sixth-round pick. The...

When I worked for ESPN Radio, I did a TV hit for the Worldwide Leader before the Steelers-New England AFC championship game in 2002 (2001 season). A Boston-area radio host preceded me and gave several noisy reasons why the Patriots would win. I responded by saying, basically, “Yeah, he’s probably...

Hype is fun, even when it’s ridiculous. Especially when it’s ridiculous. On Saturday, a local radio host said Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett has many of the same attributes as Michael Jordan and Sidney Crosby. Does he really believe that? Hope not. But it’s amusing regardless. The Steelers have had...

As the Pittsburgh Steelers go into the regular season with hype falling just shy of ESPN’s Mike Greenberg’s unbridled, frothing lust over the Aaron Rodgers era in New York, a happy coincidence has occurred: The Steelers are free of jerks. The preferred culture is back. Perhaps it’s not coincidence. Le’Veon...

A tale of two injuries: Shohei Ohtani’s bum elbow is devastating to so many on so many levels, not least Ohtani himself. Oneil Cruz’s stalled-out rehabilitation for his broken left ankle might diminish the ability of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ projected best player, or even worse. Ohtani’s torn UCL could necessitate...

After a lifetime of watching wrestling that includes eight years of working in it, I’m not interested anymore. Outside of a few instances, like the Bloodline plot and Cody Rhodes’ ascension (both in WWE), the storytelling is hackneyed and often non-existent. There’s too much wrestling on television: Six nights every...

The Steelers are winning the preseason. They might be preseason champs. It wouldn’t be a shock if Kenny Pickett gets preseason MVP. He’s the king of exhibitions: Three drives, three touchdowns. Pickett has performed very well. I wish he’d played more. Built additional momentum. But Pickett was excellent in last...

Minkah Fitzpatrick might be the NFL’s best safety. He’s made first-team All-Pro in three of the last four seasons, including last year when his six interceptions topped the NFL. But if the Steelers hadn’t traded for him in 2019, they might be a better team. The Steelers might have Justin...

Football’s preseason has certainly changed. When I was a kid, NFL teams played 14 regular-season games and six exhibitions. Starters played a ton in those exhibitions. Starting jobs and roster spots were legitimately up for grabs. Practices were like the Roman Colosseum: Hard-fought and ugly. The Oklahoma drill tested your...

When in doubt, write about the quarterback. So here are some truths we can hold self-evident about Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett: His intangibles often get praised, and rightly so. More tangibles have got to show up, and more frequently. But grit, moxie, etc., all those inexactitudes … Pickett’s got...

Loaded like a freight train, flying like an aeroplane and set to deliver refreshing sports notes to those ready to crash and burn! • Kwon Alexander played well at inside linebacker Friday night at Tampa. If he outperforms Cole Holcomb or Elandon Roberts, Alexander should start. Alexander has started 86...

Ben Roethlisberger is a good podcaster. He tells the truth. He can’t help himself. This statement by Roethlisberger drips with veracity: “I love Kendrick Green. He was a great guy, good teammate, loved him. He was my center my last year. They drafted that guy to be my center. “Last...