Tim Benz Columns category, Page 102

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...

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was already on record as saying his defense can do more in 2020. Even in the turnover department, where the franchise led the NFL last year with 38. “It’s reasonable to expect us to improve in that area and to improve in all areas,”...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

During the Pirates’ rebooted training camp at PNC Park, starting pitcher Mitch Keller identified two specific goals to hone his arsenal. • Develop a changeup. • Get the spin and movement on his fastball to equal its often-electric velocity. So far, so good to start Year 2 of his big-league...

Steelers and Pirates fans shouldn’t be mad about anything. Because this week’s “U mad, bro?” is coming a day early. I was looking at the rest of the week’s schedule and realized it was best if we just got our rage out a little earlier than normal. Because, apparently, a...

Curiosity. That’s what drew me so deeply into 2020’s coronavirus-delayed first weekend of Major League Baseball. Well, that, and desperation for any sort of live sports whatsoever. Just having the games back is what mattered most. Fans in the stands or not. I wasn’t eagerly looking forward to what “Pandemic...

The first weekend of Major League Baseball in the coronavirus era was exactly as advertised — not just for the local team but league-wide. From an MLB perspective, viewers across the country quickly got used to cardboard cutout fans, manufactured crowd noise and runners beginning extra innings at second base....

All week at “Breakfast with Benz,” we’ve been tackling the biggest issues surrounding Pittsburgh’s three pro sports teams as our region’s franchises return to play after a four-month absence thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. The Steelers will be the last team back. That’s if the NFL can get off the...

The Penguins are taking part in the rebooted NHL playoff format. And it’s not with the goal of soaking in Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition and the scenery of Edmonton. No. The goal is to win a sixth Stanley Cup. The Penguins have a good chance of doing so in 2020...

Two of Pittsburgh’s pro sports teams are on their way back to competition after the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The Pirates open their season on Friday in St. Louis. The Penguins are supposed to face the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto on July 28. That’s also when...

Our long wait for the return of Pittsburgh’s professional sports scene is hopefully coming to an end. The Pirates are playing warmup games. Their regular-season debut is slated for Friday in St. Louis. The Penguins’ first exhibition game is July 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s also the day the...

It seems as if Pittsburgh’s three professional sports teams finally are on the verge of returning to play after the coronavirus lockdown. The Pirates’ first regular-season game is Friday. The Penguins’ first exhibition game is July 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s also the day the Steelers are supposed to...

Our “Breakfast With Benz” Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training 2.0 coverage has built all week to this. We’ve posed one crucial question per day about the Pirates as they prepare for the 2020 shortened season. We looked at the batting order and the starting rotation. We analyzed the bullpen and tried...

With the Pirates ramping up to their 60-game sprint of a season, each day this week at “Breakfast With Benz,” we will be examining the five most pressing questions facing the team. The Pirates open the season on Friday, July 24 in St. Louis. Tuesday’s question: What should the Pirates...

The Pirates are ramping up to their 60-game sprint of a season at PNC Park’s “Spring Training 2.0.” The Major League Baseball schedule starts for the Pirates on Friday, July 24 in St. Louis. So each day this week at “Breakfast With Benz,” we will be examining the five most...

The Pirates are ramping up to their 60-game sprint of a season at PNC Park’s “Spring Training 2.0.” The Major League Baseball schedule starts for the Pirates on Friday, July 24 in St. Louis. So each day this week at “Breakfast With Benz,” we will be examining the five most...

Sometimes this job requires you to act like you have all the answers. All the time. Immediately. Even if you don’t. Saying “I don’t know” feels like a cop-out. But when it comes to asking what the football ripple effects will be from Thursday’s decision by the Big Ten to...

In June, when Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he couldn’t condone players protesting the national anthem, he was excoriated by athletes throughout the sports world. By the media. And on Twitter. He went from one of the most popular players in football to a national pariah overnight. To be clear,...

In 2020, the Pirates might be able to hit enough to stay in contention over the looming 60-game sprint of a season. However, their pitchers may get hit around the yard on a nightly basis just as hard. Or worse. One X factor in how the starting rotation performs is...

National Football League players have recently expressed some concerns about a return to play. In some cases, they have a point. And, in some cases, they absolutely do not. In the coronavirus era, the analysis on every level is about risk versus reward. And in the NFL’s attempt to launch...