Tim Benz stories, Page 172

In Monday’s “First Call,” we try to figure out how Pat Narduzzi will scrub Pitt’s defeat against Penn State. You’ll get a look at the next opponent for the Panthers. Phil Jurkovec makes his season debut at Notre Dame. And why Steelers fans will have an interest in “Monday Night...

History wasn’t on the Steelers’ side heading into their season opener in Foxborough in Week 1. And history repeated itself with a 33-3 loss to the New England Patriots. History was on the Steelers’ side in their home opener against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2. • The Steelers were...

There were roughly six months of happy talk about how the Steelers would benefit from addition by subtraction. Subtract Antonio Brown’s shenanigans and Le’Veon Bell’s constant contract uncertainty. Benefit by getting a more harmonious locker room, fewer distractions and game plans that weren’t hindered by needing to pacify egos. Nice...

In Friday’s “First Call,” the “Cole Train” looks to keep rolling. Injury issues for a former Penguin. Some early MLB struggles for a WPIAL star. Meanwhile another WPIAL legend is going into the West Virginia Hall of Fame. Ten in a row? Former Pirate Gerrit Cole looks to continue his...

It’s our final “Breakfast With Benz” podcast before the Steelers play the Seattle Seahawks in the Heinz Field season opener. So I thought it’d be a good idea to hear from both coordinators in advance of the game. Defensive coordinator Keith Butler speaks first. He remains on edge after the...

This week’s “Friday Football Footnotes” gives us an injury update on the Steelers and Seahawks. We also have updates on both Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. Plus “the other Devin” is banged up. Will A.B. play? It’s the question everyone wants to be answered. Well, except maybe the Miami Dolphins....

Silly me. I thought Rob Gronkowski had retired. Clearly, he didn’t. He just changed his position to wide receiver, his number to 10, and his name to Josh Gordon. Because, obviously, that’s who I was watching in Foxborough Sunday night against the Steelers, right? Doing to the Steelers what he...

It’s our weekly fantasy sports podcast with Jeff Erickson of Rotowire. Some people are worried about Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in fantasy play after Week 1. Jeff tells us why you shouldn’t buy into that concern. How many Patriots should you play against Miami? And how heavy should you invest...

In “First Call” this Thursday, we see how New England is reacting to the news about the lawsuit against Antonio Brown. The helmet saga surrounding Brown may be resurfacing, too. An MLB home run record. And a significant horse-racing scandal. Fed up already? When we found out Antonio Brown was...

A ton to choose from for “U mad, bro?” this week! I had so much material from you folks about the Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the New England Patriots, I could’ve gone entirely down that path. But with Antonio Brown’s defection to New England, the Pirates bullpen fight, and the...

“Jet streaming” and “tailpipe.” Get used to those terms. You’ll be hearing them a lot this week from the Pittsburgh Steelers defenders. And probably a lot during the rest of the season. Maybe the better they perform those techniques, the less you’ll hear these terms: “pick plays,” “rub routes” and...

In “First Call” Wednesday, Odell Beckham Jr. is going to keep his watch. Marcus Gilbert is out for the year. “Duck Dynasty” is back in Pittsburgh. And Jennifer Lopez may be up for the Super Bowl halftime show. Got the time? Odell Beckham Jr. claims he is going to keep...

Fellow TribLIVE columnist Kevin Gorman joins me for our weekly “Breakfast With Benz” podcast wrapping up the Mike Tomlin press conference. The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach sounded as down on his team as you probably feel about it. He didn’t candy coat anything about the 33-3 loss to the New...

Quite the ethical conundrum we have here, isn’t it, Pittsburgh? You, too, Boston. Especially you, NFL. What’s it going to be? Are your moral compasses going to be guided by your senses of right and wrong? Or the logo involved? That’s what has been brought into play with the latest,...

In Tuesday’s “First Call,” Raiders fans voice their displeasure about Antonio Brown. Details of Brown’s contract with the Patriots are out. Deion Sanders seems to think Ben Roethlisberger will retire. And the Astros are unstoppable. What are they saying? The Oakland Raiders were on Monday Night Football at home to...

Hard as it may be to do, we need to move on from the Pittsburgh Steelers season-opening beat down in New England. After all, a good Seattle Seahawks team is coming to Heinz Field Sunday afternoon. Former ESPN anchor Steve Bunin joins me to preview the contest. A native of...

Antonio Brown floating out of Oakland in his hot air balloon over to New England has been a huge story. “Did we just become best friends? YUP” pic.twitter.com/A5gSwiNS68— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 10, 2019 Oh, gross. Make me puke. That element of Brown teaming up with Tom Brady and company...

In Monday’s “First Call,” our AFC North recap features a rotten start for Cleveland. Also, the Bengals hang tough and the Ravens go bonkers. Plus, Philadelphia fans live down to their reputation, while Saquon Barkley lives up to his. Cleveland clunker I’m not one who dismissed the offseason hype about...

It’s time for this week’s “Madden Monday” with Mark Madden of 105.9 the X. And it’s ugly. How could it be anything else after that disaster in New England? The Steelers lost to the Patriots 33-3. The passing game was awful. The run game was non-existent. The play calling was...

There’s one Pittsburgh guy who will be getting a standing ovation in New England this week. Chuck Cooper. The Westinghouse High School and Duquesne basketball star is going into the basketball Hall of Fame this weekend. And it is overdue. In 1950, Cooper was the first African-American player to be...