About Dejan Kovacevic

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Dejan Kovacevic, a lifelong Pittsburgher, is an award-winning sports columnist who has covered the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and, recently, his fourth Olympics in Sochi, Russia. For 2011, he was named one of the country's top four columnists by the AP Sports Editors. For 2012, he was named one of the country's top three columnists by the National Headliners. For 2013, he was named the state's top columnist by the Keystone Press Awards and top columnist in Western Pennsylvania by the Golden Quills.

Posts by Dejan Kovacevic:

Tuesday 12 Qs: Shazier, Manfred, Hayes, Wing

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twelve Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m. live from the Steelers’ headquarters on the South Side.

photoThe format is simple: Use the comment section below to submit an entry, no more than one per person. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling. I’ll then monitor new entries.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: OK, Mike Tomlin just spoke with us here in his press conference room, and I was able to get downstairs to the locker room for about 15 minutes of material from the athletes.

And off we go …

Kevin: It’s only two games, but the Steelers looked quite different than the past two years. The speed from Ryan Shazier along with Stephon Tuitt, Sean Spence and Mike Mitchell really makes the defense look stronger. If the O-line is improved, as well, then what are realistic expectations for the 2014 Steelers?

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Column: Bench makeup stupid, stupid, stupid

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

The Pirates do stupid things sometimes.

Can we start there?

It’s stupid to have Brent Morel, Jayson Nix and Michael Martinez on the same bench, batting, respectively .143, .137 and .128.

It’s stupid to have Morel start at third base under any circumstance, much less in this latest loss, 7-3 to the Braves on Monday night at PNC Park, much less when a team was trying in vain to cut off a losing streak before it hit six.

And it goes far beyond stupid to have Morel bat in the bottom of the sixth, with the score 6-3, runners at second and third and no outs, when those runs are imperative, and strike out.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

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Column: This is on Pedro Alvarez

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

This is on Pedro Alvarez.

Honestly, I’m tired of tiptoeing around it, tired of hearing and reading every other imaginable excuse for why these dogged, determined and, yes, talented Pirates haven’t been able to assume anything more than a short-lived hold on contention this summer. Or, in the context of their current five-game losing streak, why they’re suddenly in peril of falling out of contention entirely.

Sure, the injuries have hurt, especially those of Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker and Gerrit Cole. The list of blame could also tally up Francisco Liriano’s customary off-year, Charlie Morton’s relentless losing, Jason Grilli’s early blowups, Neal Huntington’s maddening summer-long denial about his bullpen, all these bench guys even their wives wouldn’t recognize, and it could climb all the way up to Bob Nutting’s payroll still being several million shy of acceptable and all the usual suspects.

Devour that list as you will.

But here’s the cold truth once you’re done with the distractions: No single factor has weighed this team down more than that the defending National League home run champion, around whom a lineup and an infield and to some extent an organization have been built, has been an unmitigated bleeping disaster.

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Monday planner: On the road again

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A look at the week ahead on DKonPittsburghSports.com:

• Monday: There’s a Pedro Alvarez column up on the site this morning, and I’ll also produce a ‘News with views’ feature tonight from PNC Park and the game with the Braves.

• Tuesday: Tuesday Twelve Qs from Steelers HQ, minutes after the Mike Tomlin press conference on the South Side. And yes, that number is 12, not 20. I found that the 20 format was taking an awfully long time and, if possible, covering too much ground. Wasn’t comfortable with it. By going to 12, I can feel better about giving more detailed answers to good questions. And for other Qs, hey, I’m here in comments all week long!

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Steelers PATs: Go ahead, lay it on the line

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• The fast guys stole the show in the 19-16 preseason victory over Buffalo on Saturday, but the slowest guys set the stage: Ben Roethlisberger went almost untouched in his quarter-plus of action, and that was almost entirely due to a rejuvenated, all-pistons-firing offensive line.

As Roethlisberger put it, “I think they did a heck of a job. They kept me clean. I don’t have any stains on my pants, so that’s good.”

He didn’t have any in East Rutherford the previous week, either, though that was different. By design, it turns out.

Kelvin Beachum was telling me after this game that the offensive plan was to run one week, with hardly any no-huddle, then throw this week, exclusively out of the no-huddle. And the biggest adjustment, of course, had to be made by the beef up front.

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Column: Steelers’ speed thrills, kills

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

It’s hilarious now, but the Steelers have spent most of their offseason downplaying — no, outright dissing — the relevance of all the speed that’s suddenly up and down their roster.

Remember Troy Polamalu’s tone-setting one-liner this summer about how “we could put Usain Bolt and the whole track team out there,” and it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t play football?

Or Dick LeBeau declaring upon arrival in Latrobe, “Speed’s fine, but it’s got to be going in the right direction” as well as his own “this isn’t track” comparison?

Or Mike Tomlin critiquing we media types at camp that “too much gets made” of speed?

Well, good luck with that now, gentlemen.

Because, with the sizzling work of some of the Steelers’ newer personnel in the 19-16 preseason victory over the Bills on Saturday night at Heinz Field, that cat’s not only out of the bag, it’s sprinting full-steam toward six more points.

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Friday Insider: Simon says, get ready to play

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time spent around our local teams …

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Despres

• No player will see a more elevated role in the Penguins’ training camp than Simon Despres. And, truth be told, no matter what’s asked of Beau Bennett, it won’t even be close.

Mario Lemieux’s words in my interview with him this summer, in which he openly lamented that neither Ray Shero nor Dan Bylsma gave Despres a chance to stick in the lineup, apparently have resonated powerfully through the organization. As they should have. Eddie Johnston recently told me that some inside the team believed Despres was “absolutely our best defenseman at times,” and he’s right. Despres took control of the game for long stretches at both ends. And, counter to what the coaches advised, he actually did his best when he didn’t keep it simple. He did his best when he felt he was needed to step up and stand out, just as he has been throughout his career pre-NHL.

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Interview: Chad Voytik, Pitt football

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Chad Voytik, Pitt’s sophomore quarterback, is entering his first season as a starter after a year of being redshirted behind Tino Sunseri and a year of backing up Tom Savage. He appeared in four games last season, including a winning relief role in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl vs. Bowling Green.

I interviewed Voytik after the Panthers’ practice today on the South Side.

Column: The truth on Russell Martin

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — Sign Russell Martin!

Hang on, let’s try that again with the appropriate gusto: SIGN RUSSELL MARTIN!

Much better.

Honestly, I couldn’t type that sentence with any more conviction if I pounded the keys through my Macbook with a mallet. And if there’s anyone following Pittsburgh sports, intensely or informally, who doesn’t share that sentiment with the same pulse, I’m unaware of them. The retaining of the Pirates’ catcher has become the cause celebre of the summer, from social media to talk shows to that one bigmouth the other night screaming from PNC Park’s upper deck, “Sign Russ now, Buccos! Do it!”

Again, consider that seconded.

At the same time, though, let’s consider whether that’s wishful thinking or holds any basis in reality.

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News with views: Latrobe, where Buffalo roam

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — News with views related to your Pittsburgh Steelers …

So I went to a football practice, and a baseball column broke out. Or will break out. I’ll be working on that later tonight, and I trust you’ll see why I switched up.

In lieu of the promised Steelers column, though, here’s a mish-mash of thoughts, pics and a video from today’s really neat Steelers-Bills joint practice at Saint Vincent College:

• First off, it was a weird sight. I know there are joint practices around the NFL, but seeing the Bills on Chuck Noll Field, making that same winding walk through the fans down from the locker room … jarring, to say the least.

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ALL PHOTOS: DEJAN KOVACEVIC

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