Mark Madden Columns category, Page 20
Mark Madden: Steelers match up poorly with Browns, intimidate no one
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...
Mark Madden: Matt Canada deserves blame for Steelers’ struggles, but it doesn’t stop there
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...
Mark Madden: Kenny Pickett was brutal, but many Steelers shared in struggles against 49ers
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Eagles over Bengals for Super Bowl LVIII and other NFL predictions
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...
Mark Madden: Time for Steelers’ Mike Tomlin to put his words into practice, be held accountable
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...
Mark Madden: Here’s what Penguins should do with new broadcast team
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...
Mark Madden: Early-season mismatches part of college football’s flawed system
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: NHL would be smart to adopt CHL’s rule changes
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...
Mark Madden: Omar Khan’s work with Steelers has been impeccable, but don’t get carried away
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...
Mark Madden: Loud, watered down TV sports debate shows are expiring
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...
Mark Madden: The hype around Kenny Pickett is loud, some deserved, but Steelers still have question marks
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers preferred culture has returned
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...
Mark Madden: Injuries to Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, Pirates’ Oneil Cruz raise major concerns
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...
Mark Madden: ‘Heels’ is more compelling than WWE and AEW
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...
Mark Madden: Small sample sizes being blown out of proportion in Steelers’ preseason games
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Justin Herbert would be more valuable to Steelers than Minkah Fitzpatrick
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...
Mark Madden: NFL pays lip service to player safety
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...
Mark Madden: Kenny Pickett has intangibles, but Steelers’ success depends on his tangible improvement
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...
Mark Madden: Steelers’ Kwon Alexander, Keeanu Benton have talent, pedigree to earn starting roles
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers trying Kendrick Green at fullback is showbiz
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...
Mark Madden: Overthinking, or not thinking, is common for football coaches
Coaches too often overthink. Or don’t think at all. Maybe they’re just idiots. Mike Tomlin is likely guilty of overthinking when he places rookie Broderick Jones behind the very pedestrian Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle on the Steelers’ depth chart. The Steelers traded up to draft Jones 14th overall....
Mark Madden: With Erik Karlsson on board, the Penguins need to dominate on the power play
Erik Karlsson will impact the Penguins in every phase of hockey — including chances allowed. Yo, Tristan Jarry … buckle up. But Karlsson will profoundly change the power play. Despite loads of talent, the Penguins’ power play has been a disorganized mess: 14th in the NHL last season with a...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ Kyle Dubas is a miracle worker
When talking potential trades, fans want to swap all of their team’s bad players for all of the other team’s good players. Fantasy gets presented as potential fact but is foiled by the opposition GMs not being stupid. But Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas actually made that...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Preseason reps vital for Kenny Pickett, so don’t play it safe
The Pittsburgh Steelers play their first preseason game Friday at Tampa. How much should Kenny Pickett participate? How many snaps should the Steelers quarterback get over the entirety of the three-game exhibition slate? My suggestion would be: a lot. The reality will be: not very many. A few series. NFL...
Mark Madden: Women’s sports deserve equal opportunity, but equal acceptance can’t be mandated
It’s an era of forced equality for women’s sports. For example, the WNBA’s average attendance is almost exactly that of the American Hockey League, hockey’s AAA loop. The WNBA plays in major cities and big arenas. It’s nationally televised. The AHL has none of the above. Yet the WNBA is...
