Mark Madden Columns category, Page 25
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: JuJu’s side hustle has been muted in Kansas City, and success followed
The Steelers are reportedly glad to be rid of JuJu Smith-Schuster because he’s “me-first.” They’re likely happy that Chase Claypool also left, citing similar reasons (and the second-round draft pick he fetched from Chicago, too). But Smith-Schuster is a decent receiver, as evidenced by 78 regular-season catches for Kansas City....
Mark Madden: Stuck in salary cap purgatory, Penguins have to play better to keep playoff spot
It’s difficult to draw a bead on the Penguins. The Penguins mostly look like excrement on skates lately, but have points in each of their last six games (3-0-3). They’re in the Eastern Conference’s second and last wild-card berth, but only two points ahead of hard-charging Buffalo, which has five...
Mark Madden: Scott Rolen’s Hall of Fame inclusion is laughable
The Baseball Hall of Fame drifted further toward insignificance when third baseman Scott Rolen somehow made the grade. Rolen is a ham-and-egger. Mid, no better. Rolen hit .281 lifetime with 316 home runs and 1,287 RBIs. Former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Dave Parker has better statistics in every category but isn’t...
Mark Madden: Steelers should fight neutral-site conference championships
The Pittsburgh Steelers must make sure the NFL doesn’t play its conference championship games at neutral sites. Because the NFL surely wants to. The NFL mooted the concept because of the Damar Hamlin near-tragedy, which caused cancellation of the Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. Because...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: NHL’s 3-on-3 overtime has become too tactical, boring
The NHL should change its overtime format. Three-on-three stinks. Three-on-three OT started out exciting, but coaching ruined it. It used to be played with reckless abandon. Now it’s about endless doubling back with the puck and staying ahead of your foe’s changes. It’s mostly boring. It’s too tactical. It would...
Mark Madden: Ivan Provorov situation yet another example of why politics don’t belong in sports
When quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem, the left supported and the right got angry. When Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear a pride-themed jersey during warmups, the left got angry and the right supported. Each man did the same thing, namely exercising freedom...
Mark Madden: Pirates should make pitch for Trevor Bauer, despite PR nightmare
The Pittsburgh Pirates are at any number of disadvantages when pursuing free agents, not least that good players have other choices and all those options are better. But right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer is a good player who might not have alternatives. Bauer, 32, is at loose ends after being cut...
Mark Madden: Ron Hextall needs to fix problems he created because the Penguins need a change
Up to this point in his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins GM, Ron Hextall has done little. Hextall has made two token deadline trades, doled out two awful contracts, retained lots of players, put the team in salary cap hell and won zero playoff series. That’s a lean two years. Hextall...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Pirates need to capitalize after signing Andrew McCutchen
Now that Andrew McCutchen is again a Pirate, a big switch must be made: McCutchen should change his uniform number from 22, the digits he wore during his prior Pittsburgh tenure. It doesn’t matter what number McCutchen uses. It just has to be different. There’s no conflict: No. 22 has...
Mark Madden: Steelers offense was terrible, but was it Matt Canada’s fault?
The citizenry has dubbed offensive coordinator Matt Canada the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Great Satan, visiting upon Canada all the sins of an offense that averaged just 18.1 points per game. Everything that went wrong was Canada’s fault. If it went right, it was the doing of rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. The...
Mark Madden: Penguins are stale, and it’s time to call things into question
The Pittsburgh Penguins need change. They too often come out flat. There’s a sense of familiarity about their mistakes, almost comfort. Little gets solved. Good teams don’t have long losing streaks. But the Penguins recently lost six in a row and had lost seven in a row before that. Bad...
Mark Madden: Mike Tomlin is ‘great’ just because. And that’ll have to do
The avalanche of praise began not long after the clock hit three zeroes in the Steelers’ victory Sunday: “Mike Tomlin is Coach of the Year, end of story. One of the best coaching jobs ever.” — ex-NFL GM Michael Lombardi, currently a podcaster. “Mike Tomlin is incredible. He has not...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers season full of contradictory occurrences, opinions
The AFC championship game might be headed to Pittsburgh. The Steelers are just extremely unlikely to play in it. It’s been that kind of a year. Lots of contradictory occurrences and opinions. Coach Mike Tomlin is getting praise for navigating the Steelers from 2-6 to 8-8, as if he had...
Mark Madden: Reyna-Berhalter saga makes U.S. Soccer an international laughingstock
U.S. Soccer is a nonstop PR nightmare. The U.S. women’s team went from being arguably America’s most beloved athletes to being disliked by half the country via over-politicizing that resulted in polarizing (but did get them paid more). Now Claudio and Danielle Reyna are treating the U.S. Soccer Federation like...
Mark Madden: With Bengals-Bills postponed, pushing back NFL playoffs seems to be best option
As most said sincerely but a few said by way of disclaimer, everything else was utterly insignificant compared to Damar Hamlin clinging to his life in the wake of the Buffalo Bills safety collapsing during “Monday Night Football.” But that doesn’t mean everything else was utterly insignificant. That game’s result...
Mark Madden: There are still warts, but the Steelers have proven something
Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett has assembled two straight dramatic winning drives. The running game has improved. The offensive line is much better. The Pittsburgh Steelers have rallied from 2-6 to 8-8 and are still in the playoff hunt as Week 18 beckons. Everything adds up to the much-maligned Matt Canada...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Numbers don’t lie for Steelers QB Kenny Pickett
Kenny Pickett ranks 31st among NFL quarterbacks in yards per attempt at 6.1. Pickett ranks 31st in yards per game at 185.5. Pickett ranks 31st with a passer rating of 75.7. Pickett ranks 33rd with a touchdown percentage of 1.5. Pickett ranks 27th with an interception percentage of 2.7. Pickett...
Mark Madden: Refusing to play smarter hockey, Penguins lose via foolishness, arrogance
The Pittsburgh Penguins got routed 5-1 on Long Island on Tuesday. That’s OK. Every team in every sport has the occasional terrible game. But Wednesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to visiting Detroit revealed a lot that’s wrong with the Penguins. Their problems are great, and they are many. (I’ve used that...
Mark Madden: Steelers are flawed in assembly, administration but blessed by perception
As the Pittsburgh Steelers cling to their 2% chance of making the playoffs, it might be more fun to look ahead to next year. On second thought, maybe not. Their problems are great, and they are many. This space has mentioned how rallying to 7-8 will enable the Steelers’ failures...
Mark Madden: You think the Steelers are close, but close to what?
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ win on Franco Day was dramatic, inspirational and happy. It was cool more than cold. That’s saying something given game-night temperatures. Despite the frigidity, it might have been better in person than on television. The crowd at Acrisure Stadium was small but rabid. It deserved that victory....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Mitch Trubisky should remain Steelers’ backup plan next season
The Steelers should keep Mitch Trubisky as their backup quarterback next season. It should be an easy decision. Trubisky is comfortable coming in mid-game. He’s a mature, seasoned pro. His salary cap hit for next season is $10.6 million. Combined with Pickett’s cap figure of $3.2 million, the Steelers’ investment...
Mark Madden: Hurricanes’ forecheck, shooting make for tough matchup for Penguins
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Refreshing sports notes nipping at your nose… • Carolina beat the Penguins for the second time in five days Thursday. The Hurricanes would be a hard playoff matchup for the Penguins. Their man-to-man method of forechecking frustrates, and their style of putting pucks on...
Mark Madden: Like play that made him famous, Franco Harris was catalyst for all ’70s Steelers accomplished
If the Immaculate Reception happened now, with plentiful camera angles and replay review, would Franco Harris’ touchdown stand? Probably. The call on the field was a touchdown. None of the video available concludes decisively that it was incorrect. That the ball bounced directly from Frenchy Fuqua to Harris, which was...
Mark Madden: Steelers create illusion with old-fashioned victory behind defense, running game
The Pittsburgh Steelers won the old-fashioned Steelers way on Sunday. They rushed for 156 yards. They possessed the ball 36 minutes. They had a 21-play drive that took 12 minutes and ended with a touchdown. They played solid defense, especially in the red zone. They were 12 for 16 on...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Expect Tristan Jarry to get extension, hefty raise from Penguins
The Penguins retained their key free agents this past offseason, most notably Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. But GM Ron Hextall faces another challenge this coming summer when goaltender Tristan Jarry gets to free agency. Jarry, 27, is in the last season of a three-year contract with a cap hit...
