Sports category, Page 819
Martin Truex Jr. staring down elimination from NASCAR playoffs after winning regular season title
A shell-shocked Martin Truex Jr. has slumped into Bristol Motor Speedway fighting for his season. Truex won the regular-season title, but two bad races to open NASCAR’s playoffs has him on the brink of elimination headed into Saturday night’s race at Bristol, Tenn. The bottom four drivers in the 16-driver...
Analysis: History suggests 0-2 start is too difficult to overcome in the NFLVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Two losses in five days already puts the Minnesota Vikings in a big hole that’s been difficult for NFL teams to overcome. Since 1990, only 31 of the 270 clubs (11.5%) that began a season 0-2 advanced to the playoffs. The Cincinnati Bengals recovered from losing their first...
Deion Sanders makes most of Colorado State coach’s comments about sunglasses, hatVideo
BOULDER, Colo. — When Jay Norvell threw shade at Deion Sanders for wearing sunglasses during interviews, Coach Prime responded by handing out some of his signature shades. Sanders passed out pairs of Prime 21 sunglasses to his players during a team meeting — “I just want to see how y’all...
Browns safety Juan Thornhill back at practice, could face Steelers
BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns starting safety Juan Thornhill returned to practice, a promising sign for the defense going into Monday night’s game at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thornhill, one of the Browns’ key offseason acquisitions, sat out the 24-3 win in the season opener against Cincinnati with a calf injury....
The Penguins are deep, but old, at center
The Pittsburgh Penguins are scheduled to report to training camp Wednesday, with the first day of on-ice activities coming Thursday. Here is a look at their depth at the center position: Absent a few debilitating injuries, the Penguins haven’t had many questions about their top two centers for the past...
‘It was a goal’: Battling right hand injury, Pirates rookie RF Henry Davis returns from IL
When the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Henry Davis to Triple-A Indianapolis on a rehabilitation assignment to test the muscle strain in his right hand, he pulled a 407-foot home run on the first swing of his first at-bat. Davis had no delusions that one swing would prove to the Pirates that...
Added to active roster, WR Dez Fitzpatrick trying to carve a role with Steelers
Dez Fitzpatrick got a change of scenery this offseason when he left the Tennessee Titans and joined the Pittsburgh Steelers. This week, he got a boost to his paycheck when the Steelers elevated the 25-year-old wide receiver from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. Another step for Fitzpatrick could...
Steelers rookie Broderick Jones makes most of switch to RT
Rookie tackle Broderick Jones wasn’t about to argue Friday when informed of Dan Moore’s flattering comments a day earlier. Moore told reporters that Jones was a more natural fit to play right tackle, a position that neither Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman specialized playing while in college. “Probably,” Jones said, smiling....
Penguins goaltending prospect Taylor Gauthier is eager for more opportunities
The drive from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre is a little more than four hours, give or take a battery or two of PennDot barrels. And it’s just over an hour between Pittsburgh and Wheeling, W.Va. So, the trek from the Poconos to the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia can take upwards...
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...
No. 7 Nittany Lions ready for hostile crowd against upset-minded IllinoisVideo
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Penn State will play in a hostile environment for the first time Saturday, opening its Big Ten season on the road at Illinois in a nationally televised game. The Illini are coming off a disappointing loss last week at Kansas. They hope a raucous home crowd can...
5 things to watch in WPIAL Week 3: Preseason contenders cope with 0-3 starts
West Mifflin started the season ranked second in WPIAL Class 3A, but the Titans are still winless after three weeks. So, now what? That 0-3 record might cause panic inside some locker rooms, but coach Rod Steele said he hasn’t seen any from his players. In fact, they’ve held onto...
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....
