October 20, 2014
As of a few minutes ago, we received our 5,000th subscription.
That represents the halfway mark our stated full-year goal of 10,000, and it comes a week shy of our having been online for three months. So, obviously and without hyperbole, this exceeds our most optimistic projections.
Thank you. So much.
We’ll work, on the reporting and the business end, to never let you down.
October 20, 2014
Daniel McCullers, the Steelers’ 6-7, 352-pound rookie nose tackle, could make his NFL debut Monday. — GETTY IMAGES
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Minutes after the Steelers sprint out of the tunnel Monday night at Heinz Field to take on the Texans — 8:32 p.m. kickoff — there will exist at least a chance to witness something truly special as it relates to the Dick LeBeau defense: The best players might actually take the field.
Be sure to savor it. Your grandchildren will want the tale told right.
Brice McCain will start over Cortez Allen at left corner. McCain hinted as much in our interview last week, and LeBeau strongly suggested it Thursday, as well. And all that took was for McCain to be the team’s best corner in practice by a wide margin — Mike Tomlin’s assessment, not mine — and for McCain to pull off a game-sealing pick-6 in Jacksonville and for Allen to be ranked 103rd out of the NFL’s 103 qualified corners by Pro Football Focus.
Huzzah.
October 20, 2014
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
A look at the week ahead on the site:
• Monday: Steelers-Texans preview column this morning, followed by the game tonight at Heinz Field with another column very late at night once it’s done.
• Tuesday: We’ll chat on Tuesday 12 Qs at 1 p.m. By nightfall, the Steelers PATs feature will go up.
• Wednesday: Penguins-Flyers at night, game column to follow from Consol.
• Thursday: Pitt-Georgia Tech preview column will be up at 1 p.m.
• Friday: The Friday Insider will be up at 1 p.m.
• Saturday: Pitt-Georgia Tech game column from Heinz Field.
• Sunday: Steelers-Colts game column from Heinz Field. Might as well just spend the night. 
As always, expect News/views entries and video interviews to pop up along the way, as well.
October 19, 2014
News: Ravens romp, Browns and Bengals fall hard. Really hard.
Views: Insane as it sounds, the AFC North is very much there for the taking for the Steelers, whose 3-3 record matches Cleveland’s for worst in the division but is only a couple games back of Baltimore’s 5-2. And with the way the continually exposed Andy Dalton and Cincinnati’s offense are crumbling, coupled with key injuries, I wouldn’t hesitate to put the Bengals in the same class.
That said, Joe Flacco and the Ravens’ offense struck it rich the past two weeks against two terrible defenses, Tampa Bay and Atlanta. And while it’s commendable to take care of business, it’s hardly a sign of legit contention.
I’ll have a full column Monday morning on Dick LeBeau and the Steelers’ status-quo defense.
October 18, 2014
Patric Hornqvist works away from Colin McDonald behind the Islanders’ net Saturday. — GETTY IMAGES
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Football players can’t be taught to hit hard. You hear that from Pop Warner all the way up to the pros. They’ve either been doing it their whole lives, they either love doing it, or they never will.
The most common baseball variation relates to a pitcher throwing inside. If he isn’t backing off batters by Little League, he’ll never do so in the bigs.
And hockey’s?
“No one learns how to go to the net,” Eddie Johnston was telling me late Saturday night after the Penguins’ 3-1 throwdown of the previously perfect Islanders at Consol Energy Center. “I’ve been around the game my whole life, and I’ve never seen a player who you could tell to go to the net, and he’d be good at it. Not one.”
E.J.’s seen his share of hockey, to say the least.
And he knows exactly what he sees when watching Patric Hornqvist.
“He lives there. He loves it. You can’t get him away from there.”
The net, he means.
“A guy like that … boy, that’s what we needed.”
Who could dispute it after this one?
October 18, 2014
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Been a trying week for Markus Wheaton after catching only four passes out of 11 targets last Sunday in Cleveland, then committing himself to extra work to get it right. Today’s practice was no different, as he and Antonio Brown again were the last two off the field following extra tosses.
Had a good talk with Wheaton afterward over at the South Side HQ, though you’ll also notice he was the victim of some videobombing by Cam Thomas, Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert:
October 18, 2014
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
A weekly look at what’s new and what’s coming on our site …
• The app is in its final testing stages and, rather than just keep telling you about it, thought I’d share some ‘mockups,’ as the techies call them. Those pics above are screengrabs off my phone, with the sliding menu to the left, the animated — and amazingly cool — intro screen in the middle, and a sample column off to the right.
I’ll remind that this is being built by Brisk Media, our Canadian developer and a real player in this game that’s done work for Disney and NBC. And I’m only now beginning to appreciate, especially after being immersed in the project myself over the past week, what a task this is compared to how simple it winds up.
October 17, 2014
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 …
• Don’t underestimate the loss off Jeff Banister to the Pirates. His 29 years with the organization, from minor-league catcher, to a 1.000 lifetime batting average in the bigs — singled in his lone at-bat — to his many years of building up the farm system at the grass-roots level of inspiration and instruction, to his loyalty and service to Clint Hurdle these past three years … that doesn’t just show up and shout hello.
Some of you will know that from the experience I shared from Atlanta on the night the Pirates clinched a playoff berth last month. That was quintessential Banny, both before and after that game.
I’ll give you another, one I’ll mention again to Banister today when I reach out to congratulate him on becoming the Rangers’ new manager:
October 17, 2014
NEWS: Pascal Dupuis was back on the ice this morning, skating for 20 minutes at Consol before the Penguins’ practice and showing no signs of injury.
VIEWS: Of course he was.
October 16, 2014
Pascal Dupuis is struck in the upper back by a shot near the Dallas crease Thursday night. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Sometimes it really isn’t about strategy or sweat or even an egregious Evgeni Malkin giveaway.
Sure, the Penguins turned what felt like the safest possible one-goal lead against a sleepy Dallas squad into a stunning 3-2 loss Thursday night at Consol Energy Center — Jamie Benn scored with 2:57 left, Tyler Seguin with just 2.9 seconds left — and it left all concerned pretty sour.
“In the third, they were down one and started coming a little harder and … we probably made it a little too easy on them,” Sidney Crosby said. He was one of four players to show for the media availability, which only continued the silence that essentially defined the evening. “But still, to not even get a point out of that, it’s a little frustrating.”
No doubt. And all I’ll add to actual hockey analysis is this: Malkin’s turnover at the attacking blue line led to a Seguin breakaway that led to a waved-off goal that led to Lindy Ruff and the Stars fuming that led to their guys finally emerging from a fog that led to Benn’s goal that led to Crosby needlessly yanking down Benn with 10 seconds left that led to Seguin’s power-play goal on a one-timer that looked eminently stoppable on Marc-Andre Fleury’s part that led to more questions about a penalty-killing unit that’s been the lowlight of the Penguins’ early going.
And that’s it.
Because, if you ask me, all of this was really about Pascal Dupuis.
