Sports category, Page 598

Some Penn State fans might not recognize the name Billy Fessler. But the former Nittany Lion quarterback is a coach on the rise — and he’s re-joining the Big Ten. Fessler, a reserve quarterback at Penn State from 2014-18, is now the new quarterbacks coach at UCLA, according to multiple...

Damontae Kazee is officially back on the Pittsburgh Steelers active roster, but the team officially lost another member of its ailing safeties corps. Kazee was restored to the 53-man roster, it was announced Wednesday upon the expiration of the three-game suspension he served resulting from a hard hit on Indianapolis...

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears are sticking with coach Matt Eberflus in 2024 after the team showed improvement over the second half of the season. There will, however, be some big changes to his staff. The Bears fired most of their offensive assistants, including coordinator Luke Getsy after...

Mike Tomlin put his Pittsburgh Steelers players on buses and sent them across town to practice Wednesday at Acrisure Stadium. Weather conditions made the grass practice fields at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex unusable, and Tomlin wanted to the players to experience a playing surface similar to what the Buffalo Bills...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Derby purse has been raised to $5 million for the 150th edition in May. The increase of $2 million was announced Wednesday by Churchill Downs. The 1 1/4-mile race will be May 4. This year’s winner will receive $3.1 million. The runner-up will earn $1...

For the final week of the regular season — and, perhaps, the final game of any kind for his season as an individual — T.J. Watt went out on top among the corps of AFC players on defense. Watt was named the AFC defensive player of the week for the...

By the end of this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have played 41 games, exactly half of the season. Upcoming contests with the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes await before the halfway point, and heading into Thursday’s home game against the Canucks, the Penguins (20-15-4) are on the outside of...

Cameron Heyward doesn’t care that the Pittsburgh Steelers are prohibitive underdogs in their wild-card playoff matchup at Buffalo on Sunday. The Bills, winners of five games in a row, are 10-point favorites according to many betting sites. “That is for Vegas and all the other naysayers,” Heyward said Wednesday. “We’re...

There is some good news for Pitt and coach Jeff Capel, but it’s difficult to find much of it after the 78-53 loss to Duke on Tuesday night. The Panthers can cross off North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, the ACC’s leading rebounder, from their list of big men they must confront...

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Police in South Florida say a man fatally shot a 30-year-old Buffalo Bills fan during an altercation outside Hard Rock Stadium after the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins in the final regular season game. As Dylan Brody Isaacs and his friends were returning to their vehicle...

As a veteran pass rusher, Markus Golden has made a modest impact on the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. He finished third on the team with four sacks despite playing just 22% of the defensive snaps. As a locker-room presence, his impact has been incalculable. At least that is the opinion...

Last weekend’s series against Stonehill was a measuring stick of sorts for the Robert Morris hockey team. The Skyhawks came in at 0-18-0 in their first year as a D-1 program. Meanwhile, the Colonials are in the first season of a program reboot after a two-year shutdown. It went well...

Wings aren’t what’s best about Buffalo. Beef on weck is better. Refreshing Pittsburgh Steelers notes are even juicier. Have you ever seen the Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl? • T.J. Watt’s absence will hurt when the Steelers visit Buffalo. But sacks that don’t occur on third or fourth down...

Wednesday’s “First Call” gives us a Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer rushing to the defense of Mike Tomlin. J.J. Watt thinks he has an idea for the Steelers to offset the loss of his brother at outside linebacker. We tell you how Broderick Jones graded out among rookie tackles. And...

During his weekly press conference Tuesday, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin needled the media for making too much of Goodwin Igwebuike’s heads-up play in Baltimore to touch a kickoff while reaching into the field of play from out of bounds. “You guys act like he did a stupid human trick,”...

When the Pittsburgh Pirates made major position changes to the outfield last spring, it was with the intention to accommodate two of the most important players on the team. With Andrew McCutchen expected to start in right field and Bryan Reynolds expressing a desire to return to left, Jack Suwinski...

Pitt was deficient in many areas Tuesday night in its 75-53 loss to No. 11 Duke in what started out as an energized Petersen Events Center. The most dominant factor in the Panthers’ third loss in four games was the fact they had no answer for Duke 7-foot center Kyle...

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Maybe Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos aren’t headed for a costly divorce, after all. The possibility of working things out with their benched $242.6 million quarterback was the main message that emerged from the Broncos’ season-ending news conference Tuesday. Coach Sean Payton said no decision has...

Dallas coach Mike McCarthy thought he talked too much about his return to Green Bay last season when the Cowboys lost to the Packers. With the stakes much higher for another reunion in a wild-card game at the home of the Cowboys on Sunday, McCarthy can use the benefit of...

HOUSTON — After winning its first national championship in 26 years, Michigan heads into an uncertain future. Who stays, who goes and is a repeat possible in an expanded and loaded Big Ten that will include the Washington team the Wolverines beat 34-13 in the national championship game? The biggest...