Tim Benz stories, Page 11

When the dust settles on the AFC playoff bracket, one of three things is going to happen to the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) after their regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals (8-8) on Saturday night. • They could win the AFC North and host a home playoff game next week....

Tuesday’s “First Call” updates the injury status of former Steeler and Pitt Panther Kenny Pickett. Diontae Johnson discusses his latest stop in Houston. The city of Cleveland is jousting with the Browns over their stadium plans, and the Cincinnati Bengals are putting a high-priced free agent on injured reserve. Gutting...

The Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) are 2½-point underdogs on their home turf against the 8-8 Cincinnati Bengals for Saturday night’s regular-season finale. That’s the same Bengals team that the Steelers beat 44-38 on Dec. 1. But after three losses in four tries for the Steelers since then — and four straight...

For many of us, this time of year means New Year’s resolutions. A resolution that a lot of people make is to get their lives more organized. That’s a good one. But there’s a difference between cutting the clutter of one’s daily existence and just knocking out a generic “to-do”...

The Steelers are locked into one of the AFC’s seven playoff spots. You just wouldn’t know it based on how they performed against three straight playoff teams over these past three weeks. Against a trio of division leaders — the Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East), the Baltimore Ravens (AFC North) and...

Most of Western Pennsylvania spent a good chunk of their Christmas Day watching the Pittsburgh Steelers get throttled at home by the Kansas City Chiefs, 29-10. Personally, I think those fine folks deserve a forum to vent. So here is my belated stocking stuffer for all of you. It’s a...

During the second period of Monday night’s 7-3 Pittsburgh Penguins’ win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Pens general manager Kyle Dubas joined the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast team. While speaking with Josh Getzoff and Phil Bourque, Dubas was asked where he wants the team to be by the end of the calendar...

When the Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their typical December swoon last year, it really hurt because the three consecutive losses they endured over a 13-day period (Dec. 3-16) came at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. The Cards and Patriots were both 2-10 at the...

Tuesday’s “First Call” has health updates on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. Diontae Johnson has another new home with a team that is AFC playoff-bound. There is some data to track about the Steelers’ potential playoff seeding. Also, things are looking really bleak for the New York Rangers...

There’s plenty to complain about following the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. But let’s be sure we are complaining about the right things. One of those things is not that Alabama “deserved” to be in the CFP instead of Indiana or Southern Methodist. Alabama lost three...

Monday’s “First Call” gets us up to date on the injury front for Steelers-Chiefs on Christmas Day. We have details on Kenny Pickett’s first extended snaps in Philadelphia. Mason Rudolph gets another start in Tennessee. James Conner has a mixed day for the Arizona Cardinals. Plus, we look at some...

On the surface, back-to-back losses by scores of 27-13 and 34-17 to the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens look bad enough. But as Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLive said during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, things were actually worse than that. “I think both the Philadelphia and...

The AFC playoff picture is going to come into sharp focus after Week 16 is done. For the most part, that’ll happen before Sunday’s games even start. The AFC West wild card showdown between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers already took place on Thursday night. The Steelers-Ravens and...

The 12-team College Football Playoff begins Friday. I’d like to be more excited about it than I am. That’s probably because three of the first-round CFP contests are occurring on a Pittsburgh Steelers’ game day. The lone game I’ll definitely get to watch is the Friday night opener between No....

Friday’s “First Call” examines the Ravens injury report as the Steelers get ready to visit them Saturday in Baltimore. One of the Ravens is reminding the franchise’s fans how important it is to avoid selling their tickets to folks from Pittsburgh. The Penguins head into Christmas break against some divisional...

To an extent, I get where Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is coming from when he defends some of the issues surrounding his offense’s rushing attack. Sometimes, you grow attached to your car or truck to an illogical degree. I had an old Jeep I really liked, and I...

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen is unfazed about how he will be received by the fans in Baltimore on Saturday afternoon. If anything, he’s looking forward to it. “I’m probably going to get a lot of ‘F-You’s’ and boos and stuff,” Queen said. “At the end of the day, I...

Wednesday’s “First Call” shows us that the Baltimore Ravens are confident about Saturday’s game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite their recent woes in the rivalry. And we now know the officiating crew for that game too. The Eagles are saying former Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett helped their cause en route...

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic summed up the team’s 3-2 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Kings in the most succinct way possible. “I thought we did a great job of staying with it and beating them at their own game in a way,” Nedeljkovic said. The final score, the...