Pittsburgh Steelers

Tuesday 12 Qs: Russell, Pascal, Honus, Ben

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twenty Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m.

The 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 as the session is going to cover follow-ups or updates.

As always, all topics are on the table. Really, anything at all.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Here we go …

Brenna: What odds do you have on the Pirates resigning Russell Martin?

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Column: Steelers’ defense back-splashed again

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Whatever becomes of the 2014 Steelers, this 20-16 preseason loss to the Giants on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium shouldn’t be seen as anything more than the opening act of the prenatal stage. That’s it. It barely qualifies as DNA. It’s a series or two for the starters, then a slew of second-half backups and bungles that only the Edmund Nelson in your life could appreciate.

“You got that right!” the big man was telling me before tending to his annual role as KDKA-TV’s preseason commentator. “I love it!”

Takes a special kind.

Which isn’t to suggest, of course, that nothing at all should be culled from the evening.

There was, for example, another BIG PLAY AGAINST THE DEFENSE.

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Steelers PATs: A little love for Le’Veon

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• So the offense’s first two plays of the 20-16 preseason loss to the Giants on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium went like this: Le’Veon Bell over right guard to PIT 32 for 9 yards. Then, Bell over left guard to PIT 40 for 8 yards.

Not exactly a bad way to start. And not just for Bell.

“The offensive line looked awesome,” Bell told me afterward.

He then laughed in recalling that, on the second of those runs, Ramon Foster drove back his man to the right, and Kelvin Beachum pulled all the way across from left tackle to take the man behind Foster’s. And yet …

“Ramon came up to me and apologized. Seriously, right up to me and says, ‘I’m sorry. My bad, bro. My bad.’ He told me he didn’t feel like he did well enough on that play, that he had more in him. I’m looking over at the yard marker, and it’s second-and-1, and I’m like, ‘What happened?’ That’s something you love as a teammate. Because that makes me feel like I could have done better, too. I could have gotten more than the 9 yards they gave me.”

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Interview: Daniel McCullers, Steelers

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. – Daniel McCullers, the Steelers’ sixth-round nose tackle, has turned heads across Saint Vincent College for his 6-7, 352-pound frame, not only because it stands out on a roster of behemoths but also because he carries that weight to the point where he isn’t remotely overweight.

Tuesday 12 Qs: Stephon, Kasperi, Jose, Dana

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twenty Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m.

The format is simple: Use the comments below to submit an entry, no more than one per person. Submit them anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling. I’ll then keep monitoring new entries, even as the session is ongoing, to cover follow-ups or updates.

As always, all topics are on the table. Really, anything at all.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: OK, here we go …

jtusk64: Many believe Pedro Alvarez is not a part of the long-term future since he’s a Scott Boras client. What’s the definition, then, of “giving up” on him: Pinch-hitting, trying a new position, or waiving/trading? Or do they hope for the best and try to resign at low value?

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Column: What will Wheaton pull from hat?

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — Maybe Markus Wheaton had lost a bet. Or maybe he just wanted to stay dry from the steady rain that soaked Saint Vincent College all Sunday long. Or maybe it was pure symbolism, a statement that he was ready to compete.

Whatever the case, the kid would not take off his helmet.

Chin-strap snapped up and all.

Why?

“Eh, I don’t know. It’s OK. I’m just leaving it on,” Wheaton was telling me nearly an hour after practice and, yes, the helmet stayed on through the whole interview.

It was all quite the sight, and not just Wheaton in isolation. This was one of those Mike Tomlin practices that punished as much as it reinforced. It was physical. It was a mental test, one drill added right after the previous had seemed like the last. It went 33 minutes longer than the two hours allotted and, when the final horn finally sounded, players were dragging, limping off the field. Most didn’t detour a single step in climbing the big hill up to the cafeteria to devour their dinners.

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Tuesday 12 Qs: Pedro, Jarvis, Scuds, more

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twenty Qs, a better, fairer format, I think, for the weekly chat. We’ll do it every week at this time, and this time was chosen so that, in football season, it can immediately follow Mike Tomlin’s weekly press conference.

The format is simple: Use the comments below to submit an entry, no more than one per person. Submit them anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling. I’ll then keep monitoring new entries, even as the session is ongoing, to cover follow-ups or updates.

Again, all I ask is that it’s one entry per person. Most of the complaints I heard in the old format were about the same people getting chosen too often.

As always, all topics are on the table. Really, anything at all.

UPDATE 12:56 p.m.: OK, I guess we’re about to get going … except that I said 20 questions, not the 72 I’m seeing down there right now! Come on!

Milo Hamilton: What have these past three weeks or so been like for you ?

DK: Kind of like this new format, Milo: Bitten off more than I can chew!

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Column: Why Pittsburgh will love Ryan Shazier

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — “I wasn’t surprised at all,” Ryan Shazier insisted to reporters Monday when asked about the almost barbaric punishment being doled out in the Steelers’ annual backs-on-backers drill. “We’re a hard-nosed team. We’re in Pittsburgh, Ohio.”

He caught himself immediately and laughed a bit.

“Pittsburgh, P-A. I’m sorry about that. Went to Ohio State. We’re from Pittsburgh, P-A. We play dirty.”

Caught himself again.

“Not dirty, but hard-nosed.”

Nah, that last one was fine, actually. And the other one wasn’t all bad, either. The way Shazier competed Monday — in backs-and-backers and all that followed on the first day in full pads — I’m guessing no one would care which Pittsburgh he’s from, so long as it’s the only one in the world ending with an H.

I’ll say it yet again, Nation: You will love this kid.

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Column: Ben smiles through another snub

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Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ coaches talk during drills at Saint Vincent College. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. – Ben Roethlisberger looks and sounds fantastic, but don’t take my word for it.

“This is the most excited I’ve been about any offense I’ve had,” Todd Haley was telling me as he walked down the winding path to Chuck Noll Field for the Steelers’ first formal practice Saturday at Saint Vincent College. “Seriously, I mean any offense.”

Wow. And what, apart from the standard summer optimism, would prompt that sentiment?

“Have you seen Ben?”

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News with views: Steelers’ reporting day

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — “This team, as far as energy and all the young guys, it feels like ’04-’05.”

That was Ike Taylor, among the handful of veterans who held court with the media on the Steelers’ reporting day at Saint Vincent College on Friday afternoon. And for better or worse, he was making that statement from experience.

I’m not sure if Ike is right. He can’t be sure, either. But I know that his statement seemed to sum up the sentiment of a whole lot of folks up here in the rolling green hills of Westmoreland County. The talk is of speed. Of energy. Of fun.

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