First Call: Steelers lineman draws praise; Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury reunite; new heights for Duquesne soccer

Wednesday’s “First Call” has some Pro Football Focus research into a Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman.

Former Penguins teammates Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury relive old times. Plus, there were some big TV ratings for those dueling Monday night NFL games.

And Duquesne has something to celebrate for one of its teams.

Daniels doing the job

Chicago Bears guard James Daniels joined the Steelers with some acclaim via free agency this year. But he didn’t exactly get off to a stellar start in training camp or the preseason.

However, his first two games of the regular season have been better. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus Pittsburgh, Daniels has been elite when it comes to pass blocking.

James Daniels this season:

️ 78 pass-blocking snaps
0 pressures allowed
️ 84.1 pass-blocking grade

One of just five OL with 50+ snaps yet to allow a pressure this season

( @steelers) pic.twitter.com/a9HZBBsjms

— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) September 20, 2022

That said, Daniels suggested that fans shouldn’t take too much stock in those numbers because he thinks his play can improve.

“I’ve been getting a lot of help pass blocking,” Daniels admitted. “I really haven’t been one-on one-much in pass blocking in the first two games. It’s hard getting beat when it is two-on-one, so I wouldn’t pay attention to that stuff. But that’s one thing I wanted to improve on.”

Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has been rolling out of the pocket and throwing fairly quick conservative passes too. So that’s helped Daniels and the rest of the offensive linemen. And Daniels did point out that he’d like to improve his run blocking as well.

Daniels is third on PFF’s chart as a pass blocker and 41st as a run blocker (18th overall).

Gluttonous games

Here is how that overlap experiment went on “Monday Night Football.”

The double dip of a 7:30 p.m. Bills-Titans kick on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes plus an 8:30 p.m. start for Eagles-Vikings on ABC and ESPN+ yielded a huge number.

According to Pro Football Talk, the two games being played at once generated an average audience of 20.6 million people on all networks.

That said, PFT pointed out the individual splits weren’t all that eye-popping, though. Titans-Bills averaged 7.9 million viewers, while Vikings-Eagles averaged 12.9 million viewers.

Neither game stayed particularly close. The Bills ended up winning 41-7, and the Eagles won 24-7. So the audiences didn’t stay with the games all that long.

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Just like old times

When Marc-Andre Fleury was a Penguins goalie, he was renowned for his locker room pranks. That tradition hasn’t stopped since he has moved on to Las Vegas, Chicago and Minnesota.

On Tuesday, though, he got a chance to pull one over on Sidney Crosby while the two former Penguins teammates were in the locker room together for the NHL Media Tour.

Fleury taped all of Crosby’s equipment together and hid a cup of water underneath Crosby’s helmet.

Dontcha know, payback is best served with 7 rolls of clear tape!

pranks longtime friend, Sidney Crosby, during the #NHLMediaTour.#mnwild pic.twitter.com/CyPgfmBknI

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 20, 2022

Fleury did something similar to Crosby back in 2018 as well.

Pitching in

A pair of former Pirates were pitching for teams with playoff visions dancing in their heads last night.

The National League West champion Los Angeles Dodgers had a doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They won the first game 6-5 for win No. 103 on the season.

In Game 2, former Pirate Tyler Anderson was on the hill. He entered the start with a 15-3 record, but the DBacks won 5-2. Anderson suffered the loss and allowed three earned runs in six innings. His ERA is now 2.52.

As for the Atlanta Braves, they are firmly in control of the top NL wild-card spot and are just one game back of the Mets for the NL East lead. They trotted Charlie Morton onto the mound Tuesday for a game against the Washington Nationals.

The former Buccos right-hander walked away with a 3-2 win. That clinches a playoff berth for the defending World Series champions. At 38 years old, Morton has a 4.09 ERA to go along with a 9-6 record. He pitched into the sixth inning allowing only one earned run and striking out nine.

Dukes debut

The Duquesne men’s soccer team has just been ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 for the first time in 17 years.

The Dukes are tied for 25th nationally with Louisville in the Sept. 20 poll. Duquesne is off to a 6-0-1 start.

The last time a Duquesne team was ranked was in 2005. The Atlantic 10 regular season co-champions were ranked No. 24 in the Nov. 8, 2005 poll.

This year’s DU team was the first in program history to start 5-0. It has tied the school record for most games without a loss to open a season set in 2002 (5-0-2). It was later matched in 2019 (6-0-1).

DU beat previously unbeaten Loyola Chicago 2-1 in Saturday’s Atlantic 10 opener. The 2022 Dukes are also ranked No. 3 in the Southeast Region by the United Soccer Coaches.

Up next, Duquesne is in action Saturday, when they take on UMass in Amherst.