News/views: Dupuis out with lung blood clot

by • News/views •

dupuis

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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Tuesday 12 Qs: Live from Music City

by • Tuesday 10 Qs • , , ,

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The corner opposite the Predators’ arena, Broadway businesses and AT&T skyscraper. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Welcome to the Music City edition of Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 2 p.m. and offers you a chance to dictate the discussion.

photo-150x150The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.

UPDATE 2 p.m.: Away we go …

zidanesdagger: DK, assuming the Steelers do the right thing and kick LeGarrette Blount to the curb after his shameful quit-job last night, are they REALLY going to go with only Dri Archer and Le’Veon Bell for the rest of the season? Any potential targets they could sign?

DK: The fact that it’s now early afternoon and nothing has happened leads me to believe nothing will. These things tend to go pretty quickly. If Mike Tomlin was going to cut him over this, it shouldn’t have involved much deliberation.

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Column: Le’Veon lifts Steelers to next level

by • Columns •

Pittsburgh Steelers v Tennessee Titans

Le’Veon Bell tiptoes through the Titans’ front seven for some of his 204 yards Monday. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The offensive lineman in football is at the epicenter of it all. He doesn’t just experience each play. He feels it. He doesn’t just execute each play. He understands how every cog contributed.

Be sure, then, that Ramon Foster felt every fantastic facet of Le’Veon Bell’s 33-carry, 204-yard burst onto the national scene Monday night in the Steelers’ otherwise tepid 27-24 tipping of the Titans at LP Field.

“That young man was just an engine,” as the effervescent guard would put it, “an absolutely unstoppable engine.”

Asked to elaborate, Foster added, “There’s just this sense that you get when it’s clicking, this feel between an offense and a running back. You build confidence. You get a little cocky. You get on a roll. You’re pushing, not retreating. It’s …”

He smiled broadly.

“It’s a blast, man.”

“That’s energy,” Maurkice Pouncey chimed in from the next stall. “That just makes you want to go to the next snap and get up on the guys again and see if you can do it again. It was awesome, man.”

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

by • News/views •

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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Column: Steelers motivation? Take your pick

by • Columns •

Tennessee Titans v Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger is sacked by Jurrell Casey in the Titans’ 16-9 victory last year at Heinz Field. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Breaking down the Steelers’ Monday night matchup with the Titans — 8:30 p.m. kickoff, LP Field — isn’t about how Dick LeBeau dominates rookie quarters and will lengthen that legacy against poor Zach Mettenberger, or how Mike Munchak knows Tennessee’s roster so well, or how Ray Horton knows Pittsburgh’s roster so well, or how Ben Roethlisberger and the boys should romp against the NFL’s No. 22-ranked defense, or how only the winless Raiders have a worse offense than the Titans.

Fact is, it’s all so much simpler from the Steelers’ standpoint than any handsomely compensated football guru would be comfortable confessing.

At least it is if one accepts the following three stances as truth:

• The AFC North is there for the taking, with the Bengals first at 6-3-1 and all the rest at 6-4. The Browns’ reign atop the division lasted all of a week. Both of the Steelers’ meetings with the Bengals remain, meaning they drive their own destiny.

• The Titans stink. Don’t be afraid to say it, either, for there’s no other way to explain a 2-7 record and a seven-game nosedive in which their lone triumph came by two points over the Jaguars.

• The Steelers will finally take such an opponent seriously.

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Monday planner: Music City and more

by • Site stuff •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A look at the week ahead on the site:

• Monday: Flying to Nashville well before sunrise, thanks to Southwest’s new nonstop service out of Pittsburgh. A Steelers-Titans preview column will publish upon my landing at BNA. And of course, much, much later in the evening, there will be the usual full-scale treatment on the game itself from LP Field.

• Tuesday: Tuesday 12 Qs will take place at 1 p.m., also from Nashville. And later that day, a new Steelers PATs will revisit the game in greater detail.

• Wednesday: A column featuring our first hard focus on Pitt basketball, though I strongly suspect the subject matter will have broader appeal. This day also should mark the debut of the new Morning Java video feature.

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