Breakfast With Benz category, Page 156
First Call: Michael Keaton pans Pirates again, Cam Heyward warns AFC North QBsVideo
Tuesday’s “First Call” gives a frightening perspective to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bad start. Michael Keaton takes another swipe at the franchise. And Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward is giving a little jab to the quarterbacks in his division. Tweet from Wayne Manor Pittsburgh native and award-winning actor Michael Keaton once...
Investigating ‘fixed’ NHL draft lottery theories. Frozen ball, hidden weight, magnets? Let’s believe ’em all!
The fix is in! The Penguins and the rest of the NHL got robbed! The NHL wanted Alexis Lafrenière to go to New York City the whole time! Those are the cries of foul play flying around the NHL after Monday’s draft lottery. The New York Rangers won it. And...
Tim Benz: David DeCastro understands O-line changes for 2020, braces for more in ’21
Amidst two years of non-playoff results, significant injury and roster tumult on the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, one thing has remained relatively steady. The offensive line. Change is coming in 2020, however. Alejandro Villanueva will remain as the left tackle. Center Maurkice Pouncey and right guard David DeCastro will look to...
Unfiltered: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss Penguins’ humiliating loss to Canadiens in the playoffsVideo
Tim Benz and Mark Madden return for this week’s edition of “Unfiltered” on TribLive’s Facebook page to the discuss the Penguins humiliating loss to the Montreal Canadiens to be bounced from the Stanley Cup playoffs. The guys have had a few days to contemplate the game, but they still feel...
First Call: Steelers facing 2021 cap trauma. Will Flyers win the Stanley Cup? MLB brawl.
Monday’s “First Call” profiles an ugly situation for the Steelers salary cap. We also get some fantasy football insight on JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner. Plus, we’ll show you a baseball brawl. The Flyers are in prime position to end a 45-year Stanley Cup drought. And questions remain about Marc-Andre...
Mark Madden on Penguins elimination: ‘Worst, most embarrassing loss for anyone in NHL playoff history’
You can probably guess the main focus of this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast: What happened to the Pittsburgh Penguins and where do they go from here? The “what happened” part is all encompassing when it comes to the Pens’ four-game series loss to the Montreal Canadiens last week. It was...
Tim Benz: Want a rebuild for impotent Penguins? Let’s examine what that really means.
Blow it up! Tear it down! Total reboot! We hear those reactions from Penguins fans after almost every season-ending playoff exit. Those calls for drastic change are often hyperbolic emotion. Prisoner-of-the-moment stuff. Presently, though, demands from fans and media to reconstruct the team resonate more logically after the club’s putrid...
First Call: Pitt, Notre Dame ACC odds, Big Ten coaches exchange barbs, Gerrit Cole vs. Tyler Glasnow
Friday’s “First Call” gives us gambling odds for Pitt football in the ACC. And for Notre Dame, too. We also try to scout the Pittsburgh Pirates’ next opponent. A pair of former Pirates pitchers square off this weekend. And an epic Big Ten rivalry just got more salty. Irish odds...
To stay alive, Penguins must offset Canadiens’ blue line contribution
Whatever you pick, you aren’t wrong. Just about any complaint you want to raise about the Pittsburgh Penguins in their preliminary-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, you are right. • They aren’t scoring enough. • They are getting out-worked. • They are getting out-coached. • Montreal’s goalie has been better....
Fantasy Sports: Which Pirates player may heat up? Early NHL, NBA trends. Warnings about Rob Gronkowski?
Fantasy sports aren’t all about regular-season baseball and football. Jeff Erickson and I start this week’s fantasy sports podcast talking about results in the two “bubble sports,” as the NBA and NHL are underway in Orlando, Toronto, and Edmonton. In the hockey playoffs, Evgeni Malkin is off to a slow...
U mad, bro?: Penguins are down 2-1 to Canadiens. So, yeah. We’re furious.
Our weekly reader-reaction question for Pittsburgh sports fans is “U mad, bro?” Well, the Penguins just blew a 3-1 lead to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of their best-of-five preliminary round series. The franchise is now on the verge of losing its third straight playoff series. This time, it’s...
Tim Benz: Beyond Ben Roethlisberger, who will be most helped by new quarterback coach Matt Canada?
Just because former Pitt Panthers offensive coordinator Matt Canada has returned to Pittsburgh doesn’t mean his offense has. Not entirely anyway. Now in his first year as quarterbacks coach with the Steelers, Canada spoke with members of the Pittsburgh media this week. He took great measures to reiterate his specific...
When will Penguins scoring pick up? How do they work around it until it does?
The Penguins may have scored enough to beat the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. But that’s a far cry from saying that they are scoring … enough. The team’s 3-1 victory in Game 2 of its preliminary-round series was a rarity of late. The Penguins had lost their previous seven postseason...
First Call: Judge scorns Antonio Brown; former Steeler opts out of season; Austin Meadows returns
Wednesday’s “First Call” recaps a tough day on the legal front for former Steeler Antonio Brown. Another former Steeler is opting out of 2020’s season because of coronavirus concerns. And Austin Meadows makes an impact in his return for the Tampa Bay Rays. Gavel comes down on Antonio Brown The...
Tim Benz: Pirates may prove ESPN right on ‘worst ever win percentage’ prediction
Tuesday’s Pirates-Twins game was delayed in the top of the fifth inning when an unauthorized drone flew over Target Field in Minneapolis. Welp, this is a first. Pirates vs Twins game delayed because of a drone on the field. pic.twitter.com/uMPPcv8nOL— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) August 4, 2020 The delay lasted about...
First Call: Bart Scott ‘disrespects’ Troy Polamalu; OBJ not happy with NFL; Gerrit Cole’s Bronx debut
Tuesday’s “First Call” looks at former Raven Bart Scott sticking his foot in his mouth about Steelers great Troy Polamalu. Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. isn’t happy about the state of the NFL. New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has his Bronx debut. And Marc-Andre Fleury’s status in...
National Guard captain from Washington County targets Pittsburgh Half Marathon after leukemia battle
What happened there? What was that about? In October 2019, those questions scrambled through Jason Mounts’ mind. A quick, three-mile run wiped him out. It was supposed to be just a warm-up for an extended workout. But he was whipped. That was odd for Mounts. A former soccer player at...
Tim Benz: Some Penguins answered challenges in Game 2. More must do so in Game 3.
Challenges made. Challenges answered. Well, in some cases anyway. The Penguins lost Game 1 of their NHL Eastern Conference preliminary round series to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Saturday. And it was very clear which players and which aspects of the Penguins game needed to improve for them to get a...
Unfiltered: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss Penguins’ loss and plan for Game 2Video
Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss the Penguins - Canadiens series so far, Pirates’ struggles, Notre Dame joining the ACC, NFL players opting-out, and answer some reader comments on this week’s edition of “Unfiltered” on TribLive’s Facebook page. Madden slammed the Penguins for their Game 1 performance, saying the biggest...
First Call: Antonio Brown’s NFL return still cloudy, Marc-Andre Fleury won’t start Monday
The NFL may have given Antonio Brown a road map for his reinstatement. But plenty of questions remain before he steps onto a field again. The result of Penguins-Canadiens in Pittsburgh wasn’t exactly a hit. But the NBC ratings were. Marc-Andre Fleury won’t start in goal for Las Vegas Monday....
Madden Monday: You know what Penguins did wrong. What did Canadiens do right?
Since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 to the Montreal Canadiens, Mark Madden and I have spent a lot of time grousing about the result and what the Penguins did wrong. We could use another day or two to get through it all. But what did the...
Tim Benz: Mike Sullivan is ignoring the obvious when it comes to net-front issues
After the overtime loss Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 playoff opener, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan blamed a lack of offensive net-front presence as a major factor. “We generated a fair amount of scoring chances,” Sullivan said after the defeat. “It’s not that there wasn’t opportunity....
Tim Benz: Penguins better finish or they’ll be finished a lot quicker than we thought
For a team that is supposed to have a lot of finishers, the Penguins haven’t finished much of anything during the playoffs lately. And if that trend doesn’t change fast, they’ll be finished in the reformatted 2020 NHL postseason a lot quicker than the hockey world anticipated. The Penguins lost...
First Call: Notre Dame-ACC football deal not as bad as some conference fans believe
For Friday’s “First Call,” we take a closer look at ACC football’s sudden addition of Notre Dame this year. And we try to dispel some of the knee-jerk, negative reaction to it. Although it’s totally understandable. I mean, c’mon. It’s Notre Dame. Ugh. On Wednesday, a torrent of anti-Notre Dame...
Fantasy Sports podcast: Joe Musgrove over-slotted as top starter? Pirates hitting, bullpen woes.
A week into Major League Baseball’s return, we are already seeing some interesting trends in the fantasy sports world. So far, most of them aren’t great for the Pirates. Especially when you look at their bullpen and batting order. In our weekly fantasy sports podcast, Jeff Erickson and I dive...
