Sports category, Page 819
Friday Football Footnotes: Steelers not alone among teams with playoff aspirations in need of big Week 2 rebounds
For as bad as the Pittsburgh Steelers were Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, they weren’t close to being the only team with high expectations to flame out in Week 1 of the NFL season. In fact, there were plenty of perceived playoff contenders who were just as bad — if not...
After awful August, Pirates slugger Jack Suwinski streaks toward strong finish
Jack Suwinski has endured his share of slumps, so the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder is enjoying every moment of a seven-game hitting streak that is giving him a good ending to a roller-coaster season. By going 2 for 3 with a solo home run Thursday in a 2-0 win over the...
Backyard Brawl Take 5: Pitt players unconcerned with West Virginia fans’ venom
Bring on the hate. The Backyard Brawl will be contested Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pitt players M.J. Devonshire and Konata Mumpfield are hoping Mountaineers fans will be loud and annoying. “I take it as a blessing, being able to play in those environments,” said...
Jalen Hurts, D’Andre Swift lift Eagles past Vikings
PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts ran for a pair of 1-yard touchdowns and threw a 63-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith, D’Andre Swift ran for 175 yards and a score, and the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles held off the turnover-prone Minnesota Vikings, 34-28, on Thursday night. Hurts, the MVP runner-up, shook...
Pirates farm report for Sept. 14, 2023: Max Kranick, 4 Indy relievers throw 2-hitter
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 65-74) shut down Omaha (Royals), 4-1. Five Indiananpolis pitchers took a no-hitter into the seventh and finished with a two-hitter. RHP Max Kranick (2.79) started and went three innings, allowing no hits and one walk with one strikeouts. LHP Cam Allred (8-8, 5.20) worked two scoreless innings, allowing...
Jets’ Zach Wilson stepping in for Aaron Rodgers with renewed confidence, swagger
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Zach Wilson was in the middle of the locker room Thursday talking about taking over for the injured Aaron Rodgers when a teammate shouted and made the New York Jets quarterback grin. “Zach, we love you, bro!” It was a light moment, but one that was...
Analysis: Ronald Acuna-Mookie Betts showdown for NL MVP highlights award racesVideo
Ronald Acuna Jr. has the kind of numbers that make the young Atlanta Braves star a no-doubter for the National League MVP award. Then again, so does Los Angeles Dodgers standout Mookie Betts and his teammate, Freddie Freeman. It’s getting close to the postseason for Major League Baseball, which also...
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson is healthy this time and gets his shot to face the Bengals in CincinnatiVideo
BALTIMORE — When the Baltimore Ravens’ season came down to two big games at Cincinnati eight months ago, Lamar Jackson was absent with a knee injury. “Very tough,” the star quarterback said this week. “One, I was injured. Two, I wasn’t able to travel with my guys and support them....
Extra-large Browns rookie Dawand Jones set for colossal MNF matchup against Steelers star T.J. WattVideo
BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns rookie Dawand Jones does everything extra large, so it’s no surprise his first NFL start will be on a colossal stage. Monday night. In Pittsburgh. Against Steelers star T.J. Watt. Are you ready for some football? “Can’t wait,” Cleveland’s unassuming 6-foot-8, 375-pound right tackle said...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi: Team ‘locked in’ for WVU after better practices this week
Pat Narduzzi is in a profession where he’s expected to speak his mind. Actually, that’s probably how he got the job as Pitt’s head coach nearly nine years ago. It’s easy to see him going into the interview with university officials in December 2014, sure of himself, full of ideas,...
Steelers place Cam Heyward on IR, promote WR Dez Fitzpatrick from practice squad
Defensive captain Cameron Heyward officially was placed on injured reserve Thursday by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who also promoted a player from the practice squad to help fill the loss of wide receiver Diontae Johnson. By heading to injured reserve, Heyward will miss at least the next four games after undergoing...
Colorado State coach pokes at Deion Sanders for wearing hat, sunglasses before game with ColoradoVideo
DENVER — Colorado State coach Jay Norvell just heated up the rivalry with No. 18 Colorado by poking at his counterpart Deion Sanders. On his coach’s show Wednesday night, Norvell made a reference to Sanders’ tendency to wear a hat along with sunglasses at news conferences and said that “when...
Steelers’ Broderick Jones works at right tackle, looks ‘more natural’ there, says Dan Moore
Dan Moore remained at left tackle at practice Thursday, with rookie Broderick Jones shifting to the right side to fill in for the concussed Chuks Okorafor. It was the second day in a row that Moore remained at his familiar position for the Pittsburgh Steelers while Jones made the transition....
Diontae Johnson vows to work to rehab injury, support Steelers WR corpsVideo
In the two or three days immediately after suffering a hamstring injury during Sunday’s regular-season opener, Diontae Johnson was in pain and had a difficult time walking. Since the Pittsburgh Steelers returned to practice, though, Johnson has joined his teammates on the fields at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Donning his...
Mitch Keller dominant as Pirates take 4-game series from Nationals
Thursday’s series finale at PNC Park between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals featured an interesting pitching duel between Mitch Keller and Josiah Gray. Keller and Gray both were first-time All-Stars earlier this year, but since the end of July, the two starters had seen their 2023 campaigns derail to...
Browns star RB ‘Mr.’ Nick Chubb has earned respect of Mike Tomlin, Steelers
During his weekly news conference Tuesday, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin referenced almost four dozen individuals. His players. Opposing players. Coaches for the upcoming opponent. For the vast majority, Tomlin was complimentary and dispensing praise. But for only one among those 40-plus men Tomlin spoke about did he address in...
Penguins forward prospect Corey Andonovski, like pal Kenny Pickett, hopes to rebound from rough start
Corey Andonovski had a different perspective than most Pittsburgh Steelers fans after an ugly 30-7 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers. First, he’s Canadian. So American football isn’t necessarily an ingrained infatuation for the Uxbridge, Ont., native. Second, and perhaps most profoundly, the Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect is friends...
Steelers’ offensive showing vs. 49ers caught OC Matt Canada by surprise
Before he took any questions from the media Thursday at his scheduled availability, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada offered a blunt assessment of his unit’s performance Sunday in a 30-7 loss to San Francisco. “It was not what we expected,” Canada said. “Not how we practiced, not how our...
U mad, bro?: Steelers fans lash out about loss to 49ers and other fans who sell tickets and boo Pittsburgh players
Did you ever come home from vacation, open the door, and utter those four words every homeowner hates to hear come out of their own mouth? “What is that smell??!!” Then you realize the microwave clock is blinking. Oh no! How long was the power out? That’s when you see...
First Call: J.J. Watt addresses talk of joining Steelers; will Jets ask about Steelers QBs? Chase Claypool to the bench?
“First Call” on Thursday gives you J.J. Watt’s quotes on the idea of joining his brother T.J. with the Steelers. We also consider the prospect of the New York Jets trading for either Mason Rudolph or Mitch Trubisky. Chase Claypool’s issues in Chicago are getting worse. Plus, the City Game...
WVU players, coaches expecting 106th installment of Backyard Brawl to be a dogfight
Last weekend, violent lightning storms in the Morgantown, W.Va., area brought on a delay of nearly two hours that paused play between the Mountaineers and Duquesne. By the time the weather calmed to a light drizzle, only a fraction of the 50,037 fans who originally filed into Milan Puskar Stadium...
Pirates farm report for Sept. 13, 2023: Henry Davis picks up 2 more hits on rehab assignment
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 64-74) beat Omaha (Royals), 5-4. RF Henry Davis (.375) went 2 for 4 as he continues to rehab a hand injury. He’s 8 for 13 with a homer and five walks during the rehab assignment. LF Canaan Smith-Njigba (.262) went 2 for 4 with a double, two RBIs,...
Bills’ Josh Allen wants to put turnover woes behind him through actions, not words
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen was short on apologies and promises on Wednesday in attempting to put behind lingering frustrations of his four-turnover dud that cost the Bills in a season-opening loss at the New York Jets two days earlier. The only way the quarterback can prove he’s better...
49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk, coming off big game vs. Steelers, earning respectVideo
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Defenses preparing to face the San Francisco 49ers have plenty to worry about with three playmakers who have been All-Pros in recent seasons. There’s running back Christian McCaffrey, who once topped 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. Then there’s Deebo Samuel, who had...
Alex Rodriguez ratted out Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun to feds in PED probe, report says
Alex Rodriguez told federal agents nine years ago that three Major League Baseball All-Stars — Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun and an unnamed player — were performance-enhancing drug clients of Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, according to an ESPN report. In 2014, then-New York Yankees star had been summoned by federal agents...
