pitt Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s time for the yearly symposium on whether this is finally it for the Penguins
This is yet another distasteful side effect of the NHL’s salary cap. Fans and observers of a certain team, especially a successful one, have to start judging just how much sand is left in the hourglass. They have to weigh the age of the best players, salaries of those players, when contracts run out...

Why the Baltimore Ravens should be the team to look out for in 2022
The Baltimore Ravens were ravaged with injuries in 2021. So much so that PFF’s WAR-Adjusted Injuries Lost (WAIL) statistic indicates that the Ravens lost about 2.86 wins last season. That would’ve put the team in the playoffs with either a 10-7 or 11-6 record. They possibly would’ve been ahead of th...

Hot tamper?
There’s a misconception that USC has spent the first few months of the Lincoln Riley era dragging a golden bus across the country and purchasing college football stars at every stop. As of May 2, the Trojans rank second in 247 Sports’ Transfer Team Rankings, but most of those student-athletes are ea...

2022 NFL Draft Day 2: Who are the best players available?
Round 1 is done, and it came with drama, surprise picks (you don’t see a Chattanooga guy in the first round to the Patriots every day), and some big names left on the board for Day 2. Before the second and third rounds kick off tonight at 7 p.m. EST, we’re looking at some of the best players left on...

2022 NFL Draft: A few thoughts on each pick in the first round
The first 10 picks of the NFL Draft are the Oscars in reverse. The biggest honorees are rewarded first. Fans show up and shout insults at the host and bone-rattling contact with Roger Goodell is encouraged....

Reboot USFL will be remembered for its chicken salad, not the football
The contemporary USFL is the chicken salad of spring professional football leagues. In theory, it may feature the name of two ingredients people love, but it’s a stomach-churning and second-rate mixture in practice. For example, USFL running back De’Veon Smith was cut by his Pittsburgh Maulers team ...

The Colts were a trendy Super Bowl pick last season, this season they want to be a favorite
The Indianapolis Colts were certainly not thrilled with the way that their 2021 season ended. It started in disappointing fashion by losing their first three games. They improved, but still lost twice to division rival Tennessee Titans, including a heartbreaker at home — 34-31 in overtime. Then the ...

Dabo Swinney: My locker room is my transfer portal
Spring game season is upon us, and the college football programs that didn’t hold their annual glorified practices last weekend are scheduled to put them on this Saturday. It’s a nice way to catch a nap, check in on a quarterback battle, or get a sneak peek at any coaching changes....

Joe Exotic asked Ben Roethlisberger for an autograph from prison… yes, you read that right
I forgot Joe Exotic existed. The Tiger King was the king of Netflix for a few months in 2020, and his fame vanished almost immediately afterward. Even Tiger King Season 2 wasn’t enough to bring Joseph “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage back into the forefront of American pop culture. Now, the man is impriso...

Dwayne Haskins, 24, dies after getting hit by car
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins died Saturday morning in South Florida after being hit by a car, weeks shy of turning 25. The former Ohio State star was drafted No. 15 overall by the Washington Commanders in the 2019 NFL Draft before his current role in Pittsburgh....

Chasing the Bengals' path to glory
The avalanche started with the fifth pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Cincinnati Bengals selected Ja’Marr Chase from LSU, reuniting Chase with national-championship teammate and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow, Cincy’s selection with the No. 1 overall pick in 2020. Those were far from t...

Don’t buy Mike Tomlin’s brother-saving act now
One question for Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Where were you when Colin Kaepernick was in trouble with the NFL and needed a brother to help out?...

The NFL ‘reinvested’ in its diversity efforts the same week FOX passed on promoting Gus Johnson — go figure
The people that thought Brian Flores was lying have gone predictably silent....

NFL teams, don’t think too hard, if you need a QB, draft Malik Willis
Malik Willis played quarterback at Liberty University (yuck and yuck) for two years after transferring from Auburn. He measured in at the combine at 6½-feet tall, and in Liberty’s biggest game of the year, at Mississippi, he threw for less than 200 yards, three interceptions, and rushed for less tha...

The Colts have the ingredients to resurrect Matt Ryan
Since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement during the 2019 preseason, the Indianapolis Colts have been salvaging every down-on-his-luck quarterback they find. During the 2020 season, they took a flier on Philip Rivers. Rivers became available in his 17th season and led the Colts to an 11-5 campaign, lo...

Baker Mayfield’s time has run out in Cleveland, now they just need to find his next destination
Baker Mayfield had a rough 2021-22 season in Cleveland, so it’d be safe to say he was already at a low point heading into the offseason. That low point is probably down to the floor now after finding out the Browns had replaced him when they traded for Deshaun Watson, a QB that didn’t play one game ...

Baker Mayfield’s not as bad as you think
If there’s one thing you can rely on with the Colts, it’s that they’ll have a high draft pick as their quarterback....

Colts deal Carson Wentz to Washington
A week and a half ago, I wrote a piece about where I believed all of the quarterbacks whirling around in the rumor mill would play next season. Only three have totally come to fruition thus far. Rodgers didn’t go to Denver. He stayed in Green Bay. Wilson didn’t stay in Seattle. He went to Denver. We...

The timing of Mike Tomlin hiring Brian Flores is … odd
Brian Flores is gainfully employed again. But is it for the right reasons?...

Style over substance: Ranking every USFL team based on their jerseys
If you’re like me, looking for anything football-related to fill the void that the end of the NFL season left in your soul, then you were probably jumping for joy when the USFL revealed their uniforms for their first season since 1985....