First Call: Another Antonio Brown social media screwup, Cardinals’ messy defense
In Tuesday’s “First Call,” Antonio Brown keeps burning bridges. The Cardinals defense is primed to be picked apart. The Penguins have a tough challenge in their rematch against St. Louis.
Oh boy, A.B.
Former Steeler Antonio Brown still seems to be confused about the best path to getting back into the NFL.
Specifically, with the New England Patriots.
Brown shared a post from a Pats fan site that mocked Robert Kraft’s massage parlor incident, while also endorsing the notion that the team should re-sign Brown to help the struggling offense.
The tweet has, well, some colorful language about Kraft’s trip to the massage parlor. I’m sure Brown could’ve found some other posts to endorse from Patriots fans demanding his return that didn’t make mention of Kraft’s issues.
Maybe Brown — or someone close to Brown — realized that, too, because he took the post down from his Instagram story within an hour.
Confused Cards
The Arizona Cardinals defense is a mess. They are last in yards per game and passing yards per game allowed. They are second to last in points per game.
And the players are struggling for answers.
As we know around here, when you have no clue as to what is wrong on defense, blame “communication.”
As if that makes the reasons for the defensive failures ok, right?
Well, that’s what’s happening with the Steelers upcoming opponent Sunday. Check out this quote from Cards linebacker Jordan Hicks via CardsWire.
“I’d say it was the communication,” he told reporters after the game. “A lot of it is our guys being on the same page. When somebody is running wide open, most of the time it’s a bust. Most of the time, somebody is supposed to have that person. When one or two people are playing something different or playing a different leverage than what everybody else is playing, you are exposed. With one person out of position, you are going to get exposed.”
Sound familiar? I see that quote and immediately my mind conjures up an image of Antwon Blake and Mike Mitchell looking at each other with their palms up in the air asking what happened.
Hopefully the 2019 Steelers can exploit those issues Sunday in Arizona.
Impact move
One AFC team that is still clinging to the AFC South race and the wild-card mix is the Indianapolis Colts.
They are 6-6. That’s only good for third place in the division and ninth place in the conference.
So they need a boost. And one such jolt could come from the return of injured receiver T.Y. Hilton.
He missed three games — including one at Heinz Field — with a calf injury. He came back for one against South-leading Houston, only to miss last week’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
However, Colts coach Frank Reich is holding out hope Hilton can return before the season ends.
“We’re hopeful that he’ll return,” Reich told the team’s website. He’s calling the former Pro Bowler “week-to-week.”
Still hot
The St. Louis Blues still look like Stanley Cup champions.
And they sure did Saturday while beating the Penguins 5-2. They lead the Western Conference with 42 points.
The Pens have to play the Blues again Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
St. Louis managed to squeeze another game in between their battles with the Penguins. They blanked Chicago 4-0 on Monday.
THAT PASS.
THAT SHOT. #stlblues | @jagermeisterusa pic.twitter.com/tq35JGPBgN— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 3, 2019
St. Louis has now won four in a row.
Dan vs. the Dukes
Duquesne’s basketball team puts its 6-0 record on the line Wednesday.
They host VMI at La Roche University. The Keydets are coached by Dan Earl. He starred at Penn State in the mid-1990s.
Earl was named All-Big Ten (second team) in 1996. He led the Nittany Lions in assists four times.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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