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Pittsburgh Sports News & Views

News/views: Conner ACC Player of Year

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James Conner pushes through Miami’s Jamal Carter in Pitt’s win Saturday at Sun Life Stadium. — PITT ATHLETICS

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: Pitt running back James Conner was named ACC Player of the Year Wednesday afternoon, edging Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the most recent Heisman Trophy winner.

Views: Richly deserved. And it shouldn’t have been as close as the 16-13 vote between the two, as decided by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

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Steelers PATs: Oh, those achy, ancient corners

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New Orleans Saints v Pittsburgh Steelers

The Saints’ Marques Colston catches a 3-yard touchdown Sunday in front of Antwon Blake. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• Amazingly, the secondary is actually worse than it appears.

Ike Taylor and William Gay were the starters Sunday in the 35-32 loss to the Saints, and there’s no single-game critique to be levied for their playing all 57 defensive snaps. Plain and simple, Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau had no other options, with Cortez Allen out to injury, and Brice McCain going down early with a hamstring issue.

But oh, man, the results: Taylor’s assigned man was targeted four times by Drew Brees, all four were completions, two went for touchdowns, the total yardage allowed was 103, and his one chance to make a tackle was a charged miss. Gay was targeted seven times by Brees, five were completions, one was a touchdown, and the total yardage allowed was 96. Pro Football Focus didn’t credit either man with a pass defensed, but I had Gay with one from watching live.

Regardless, that’s some catastrophic corner play.

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News/views: Pitt bowl eligible … and so what?

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James Conner leaps over the Miami line for one of his two touchdowns Saturday. — PITT ATHLETICS

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: Pitt beat Miami, 35-23, at Sun Life Stadium to level its record at 6-6 and, thus, is bowl eligible.

Views: Yeah, and so what?

Look, I don’t want to be mean here. There were points during this ongoing season that the Panthers looked like a legit contender. I found their early W at Boston College to be especially upbeat in that regard and reported as much from Chestnut Hill. Beating Virginia Tech at Heinz Field had a fine feel, as well. And even after the Akron debacle took place, I was more interested in how they’d fare in ACC play than in regurgitating old narratives. I’ve been anything but the standard Pitt basher.

But this?

Finishing .500 and waiting for the BBVA Compass Meineke Car Rental Who Cares Bowl to call?

Man, that’s stale. Especially when it’s the same result for all three of Paul Chryst’s seasons.

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News/views: Dukes lose first, Ferry fumes

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The Dukes’ Micah Mason brings the ball up the floor as NJIT sets the defense. — DAVE DeNOMA/DUQUESNE ATHLETICS

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: Duquesne lost for the first time in the 2014-15 season, 84-81, to NJIT on Saturday at the Palumbo Center, prompting Jim Ferry to remark afterward, “I thought that was one of the worst defensive performances I’ve ever seen.” He later clarified that it was the worst by the Dukes in the past two seasons. But still …

Views: He probably had it right the first time. My goodness, the Dukes were awful defensively.

Oh, wait, Ferry wound up using that word, too.

Well, if adjectives don’t sum it up, this will: The Dukes got 18 points from Micah Mason, 16 from Jordan Stevens, 14 each from Derrick Colter and TySean Powell … and defense from absolutely no one. NJIT shot 56.9 percent from the field and, stunningly, were 12 of 24 from 3-point range. Some of that was legit, as Damon Lynn, one of the nation’s most productive outside shooters, put down 27. But he and the rest of his 2-4 team had clean looks all game, inside and out.

Cue Ferry: “If you think you’re going to outscore people, then you’re not going to win.”

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News/views: Dupuis out with lung blood clot

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Pascal Dupuis had returned to the Penguins from major knee surgery for this season. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Pascal Dupuis has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung, the Penguins just announced at a press conference at Consol Energy Center. He will miss at least six months while undergoing treatment with blood thinners.

The clot was detected Monday through testing after Dupuis had complained of chest pain. Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, the team physician, said the clot traveled from the leg to the lung and was the second known such incident for Dupuis. The other, not previously made public, happened in January of this year while Dupuis was recovering from major knee surgery.

Dr. Vyas called it ‘extremely important’ that it was found when it was and would not speculate as to whether or not this was career-threatening.

“Hockey’s definitely second in my mind right now,” Dupuis said. “I’m thinking about my family.”

Dupuis and his wife, Carole-Lyne, have four children.

Views: Godspeed to one of the best men I know.

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Steelers PATs: Subs well past expiration date

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Pittsburgh Steelers v Tennessee Titans

Brett Keisel lets out a yell to Steelers fans at LP Field late Monday night. — GETTY IMAGES

 

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• Remember when everyone was all fired up that one time Antwon Blake picked off a pass?

Well, what did everyone think Monday when he flailed helplessly at a Tennessee TD?

We all love the backup when the starter isn’t faring well. And when the backup makes a play or two, we’ll rush to anoint him as some found treasure. Trouble is, they’re backups for a reason.

Blake is a special teams gunner and a really good one. That’s it. As a member of the secondary, he’s much more in line with what happened in the 27-24 victory over the Titans than anything else.

Same goes for Brice McCain, whose minus-4.7 grade from Pro Football Focus is fueled almost entirely on poor pass coverage. And for Sean Spence, whose return to the NFL is a wonderful story but who isn’t coming close to replacing Ryan Shazier at inside linebacker. And for Will Allen, whose mistakes haven’t been magnified much because Mike Mitchell has fared even worse at safety but whose play has not come close to compensating for Troy Polamalu’s loss.

See the pattern?

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News/views: Russell Martin to Jays for $82M

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Russell Martin takes off his mask during the Pirates' last road trip of 2014 to Cincinnati. -- GETTY IMAGES

Russell Martin takes off his mask during the Pirates’ last road trip of 2014 to Cincinnati. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Russell Martin has agreed to terms with the Blue Jays on a five-year, $82 million contract, according to multiple reports, including the original with Peter Gammons.

Views: My God.

Just a day earlier, some of the same highly reliable national outlets were reporting that the Cubs were close with a four-year, $64 million proposal. But very, very clearly, Toronto made a conscious decision to blow that — and everyone, including the Pirates — completely out of the water.

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News/Views: Pitt suspends Johnson for year

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James Robinson surveys the floor early in Pitt’s victory over Niagara on Friday at Petersen Events Center. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: Pitt suspended junior forward Durand Johnson, the team’s best pure shooter, for the 2014-15 basketball season Friday evening just before its opener.

Views: No explanation was given, and the only elaboration from Jamie Dixon was that Johnson will continue be part of the program “going forward,” and he’ll still practice. I can share that I heard at the Petersen Events Center — where Pitt beat Niagara, 78-45 — that the suspension was academic at its root and that it was instigated by the university rather than the athletic program.

Dixon insisted that, even with Cam Wright out until mid-December or so with a broken foot and now Johnson gone, “We’re still good with the wings. We’ve got some options.”

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News/views: Pirates bring back A.J.

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MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs

A.J. Burnett left the Pirates after the 2013 season to spend a year in Philadelphia. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: The Pirates are bringing back A.J. Burnett, signed Friday for one year at $8.5 million.

Views: Wow, so that’s a start, huh?

I’m going to type out some stuff here in real-time, so please keep refreshing to see the whole thing once it’s done. Just wanted to put something up right away.

Burnett will be 38 in January, and he’s coming off a strange season in Philadelphia in which he pitched through significant hernia pain to log a National League-high 34 starts and 213 2/3 innings while going 8-18 with a 4.59 ERA. The latter numbers don’t look great, but 196 strikeouts, 96 walks and the injury factor all point to a guy who is still … well, A.J.

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Hoge, Walker laud concussion advancements

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Merril Hoge, Pierre Larouche, Neil Walker and Jason Kutney at Carnegie Science Center. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

There’s a first for everything, and moderating an Allegheny Health Network symposium on concussions Wednesday at the Carnegie Science Center was a first for me. And I mean of any kind.

But it turned out really cool, and not just because of the wealth of knowledge directly from some of the nation’s foremost specialists in brain trauma but also because of the passionate words of the panelists I moderated in the final segment: Merril Hoge of the Steelers and ESPN, Neil Walker of the Pirates, Pierre Larouche of the Penguins and Jason Kutney of the Riverhounds.

Here’s one highlight from each of those four:

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