Tim Benz Columns category, Page 104
Tim Benz: A return to the 1980s Pittsburgh sports scene? Sadly, it may have already started.
The 1980s were good for a few things. Hair metal. Karate. Tom Cruise movies. Acid wash jeans. Just a few things that leap to mind. However, they weren’t a great time for the Pittsburgh sports scene. No titles were won in Pittsburgh from 1979 (when the Steelers and Pirates both...
Tim Benz: The best Steelers teams that did not get to the Super Bowl
When the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers got off to their 11-0 start, most of us in Pittsburgh were having dreams of talking Super Bowl LV this week leading into the bye after the conference championship games. How can the Steelers slow down Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints? Can they...
Tim Benz: Jim Rutherford’s ‘personal reasons’ for leaving Penguins resulting in public speculation
The sudden departure of general manager Jim Rutherford from the Pittsburgh Penguins organization raises an always delicate question for the sports media. And for fans on social media, too, for that matter. Hey, I’ve got a column. You’ve got a Twitter account. A lot of us have podcasts and YouTube...
Tim Benz, Brian Metzer on issues that may be slowing Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin
The Penguins are on a four-game win streak. Sidney Crosby is hot out of the gate with seven points over the first six games. Kasperi Kapanen is back with the team and skating into form. Goalie Tristan Jarry appears to have stabilized after a shaky start in the net. The...
Tim Benz: Steelers’ signing of Dwayne Haskins shows what could come in the post-Roethlisberger era
There is a lot of speculation over what the signing of former Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins “really” means for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Is it an indicator that Ben Roethlisberger is going to retire? Is Haskins being brought on board to goose Roethlisberger in that direction? Does it mean that Mason...
Former NFL scout: How combine changes could affect NFL draft; who may tempt Steelers to go RB in first round
As soon as Matt Williamson said it, I thought that his comment made a ton of sense for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, for every team in this year’s NFL draft. But especially the Steelers. Williamson is a former pro and college scout. He now works for SNR and WDVE in...
Tim Benz: NFL head coach hiring trend should be a reminder to Steelers about Mike Tomlin
Relax. This won’t be the 5,000th post you have read over the last three years about whether the Steelers should keep Mike Tomlin as the head coach or fire him after a third straight late-season collapse. That debate has become Republican or Democrat. Heavy metal or country. Beach or mountains....
Tim Benz: Photo of dejected Ben Roethlisberger conjures bad Pittsburgh sports memory
I saw that photo of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sitting alone on the bench at the end of the team’s 48-37 playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns. Dejected. Almost slouching into his pads. Staring off into the void of defeat and a murky future. It was about 10 minutes after...
Tim Benz: Based on his own ‘Tomlinisms,’ Mike Tomlin has failed to meet that ‘standard’ lately
We all know about the “Tomlinisms” from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. His colorfully descriptive phrases to spin a sound bite. There’s usually a message underscoring those quotes, too. Truth and lessons underneath. The problem is, if you judge Tomlin by his own slogans, he hasn’t measured up to them...
Tim Benz: ‘Browns is the Browns’? Nope. Sorry, JuJu. Try ‘Steelers is the Steelers.’
Say what you will about Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and his “the Browns is the Browns” quote. You may think that line was destructive bulletin board material before a playoff game. Or you may consider it a fleeting quote that didn’t even rise to the level of tepid trash...
Tim Benz: If Steelers championship window has closed, is Penguins’ still open?
It’s time for the annual passing of the Pittsburgh sports torch from the Steelers to the Penguins. From football to hockey. From winter to … well … more winter. Pittsburgh sports fans segue out of the denouement at Heinz Field to the rising action at PPG Paints Arena. From old...
Tim Benz: ‘Airing of Grievances’ after Steelers suffer humiliating playoff defeat to Cleveland
It was just the latest in a long list of games that the Steelers couldn’t possibly lose, which inevitably they lost. To Washington and the Cincinnati Bengals this year. To the New York Jets last year. To the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos back in 2018. To Ryan Mallett and...
Tim Benz: What was real (and what wasn’t) from Steelers-Browns playoff appetizer
Watching Sunday’s 24-22 Steelers loss in Cleveland felt like a preseason game to me. I spent 50% of the game yelling at the Steelers players to run more aggressively, block better and tackle harder. Then I spent the other 50% of the game yelling at them to avoid getting injured....
Tim Benz: Both sides of run game make Steelers ‘Airing of Grievances’ after Cleveland loss
Sunday’s 24-22 Steelers loss to Cleveland really didn’t matter. The two teams are just going to play again this weekend in the playoffs anyway. And the Festivus season has come and gone. But we continue with our weekly “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength” into 2021. As, of course,...
Tim Benz: Pass game, Mike Hilton lead ‘Feats of Strength’ as Steelers storm back vs. Colts
Given the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive woes of late, I’m struggling to best express my level of surprise with how they turned momentum in the second half of their 28-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field. Perhaps, sticking with the tone of the season, I’ll borrow...
U mad, bro?: Steelers fans come down hard on Ben Roethlisberger, ‘apathetic’ Bengals loss
Over the last three seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have done more to ruin holiday cheer than the Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge, Hans Gruber and “Bad Santa” combined. The difference is all of those movies have happy endings. The same cannot be said for each of the Steelers’ last three December campaigns....
Tim Benz: ‘Airing of Grievances’ after Steelers horrific Bengals loss; Big Ben, JuJu, fading defense
So much for the idea that the Steelers’ trip to Cincinnati was a “get right game.” I suppose that’s what it looks like when “gettin’ right” goes wrong. The 11-2 Steelers went into 2-10-1 Cincinnati and lost 27-17 in one of the worst defeats of the Mike Tomlin-Ben Roethlisberger era....
Tim Benz: Steelers have plenty to get right in Monday’s ‘get right game’
The expression of the week when describing the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Monday night test against the Cincinnati Bengals has been, “It’s a ‘get right’ game.” If you’ve listened to any sports radio at all this week, you’ve heard that phrase applied to the thinking of how things should go down in...
Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin’s messaging is clear, but some answers are not
Most Steelers fans assumed that their team would fall from its unbeaten perch eventually. However, most didn’t expect to see them tumble down the NFL mountain so quickly. Over the last three weeks, they’ve looked more like a Super Bowl fraud as opposed to a Super Bowl favorite, thanks to...
Tim Benz: The ‘new normal’ stinks, especially as a way to describe the Steelers’ rotten offense
Like everyone else, Steelers fans are enduring everyday existence with the “new normal:” face coverings, closed businesses, social distancing and Zoom holiday functions. Now the “new normal” is a way to describe their favorite NFL team. And it’s annoying in those terms, too. Because, for as much as I struggle...
Tim Benz: ‘Airing of Grievances’ starts with putrid Steelers offense, eroding defense in loss to Bills
For the third straight December in Pittsburgh, it doesn’t appear that Festivus is going to be very festive thanks to the Steelers. They lost three times in five weeks in December 2018. Last year, the team dropped three in a row between Dec. 15-29. Now Mike Tomlin’s team (11-2) lost...
First Call: Browns get loud after Steelers loss; playoff-clinching scenarios in Buffalo
The Cleveland Browns are getting awfully brave on Twitter after the Steelers’ loss Monday. Let’s see how their head coach responds. Aaron Donald is still in top form out in Los Angeles. Just ask the New England Patriots. We have gambling odds on the New York Jets going winless and...
Tim Benz: How big is the top AFC seed for the Steelers? Team history shows a mixed bag.
Washington’s victory Monday evening at Heinz Field hurt in ways beyond just ending the Steelers’ unbeaten season. The struggling offense was further exposed. The defense suffered two more injuries (Joe Haden, Robert Spillane). And the team fell into an 11-1 tie with the Kansas City Chiefs atop the AFC. Technically,...
James Washington explains Steelers’ drops; JuJu Smith-Schuster’s thoughts on WR routes
James Washington is one of the few Steelers wide receivers worthy of praise in recent games. The third-year Oklahoma State product caught a clutch pass from Ben Roethlisberger late in the victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 2. He caught two passes for 80 yards including a touchdown in...
Fantasy sports podcast: How the Steelers’ offensive woes are impacting fantasy leagues
It’s time for our weekly fantasy sports podcast with Jeff Erickson of RotoWire. We surf through lots of fantasy football topics as we approach the playoffs in most leagues. Are Buffalo Bills running backs smart plays after what Washington did to Pittsburgh last week? On the surface, no, because those...
