Take 5: Cy Young, NFL youth
By The Pitt News Staff
September 12, 2018
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
From the first week of NFL action to the dog days of professional baseball, The Pitt News staff gives its takes on five hot topics in the world of sports.
Take 5: Bell, Beadle and Basketball
By The Pitt News Staff
August 30, 2018
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
From catsuits to contract holdouts, The Pitt News staff takes a look at the spiciest storylines from the past week.
Pitt Football gains 11 recruits
By Joanna Li | Senior Staff Writer
June 20, 2018
Filed under Football, Sports, Top Stories
Entering June with zero commitments from the 2019 recruiting class, Pitt’s football team found itself stuck with a late start to its recruiting trail. But despite the slow start, the pace suddenly changed as the the count rocketed to 11 commits in just one weekend, with nine of those players verbally ...
7 Pitt players find NFL homes in free agent deals
By Trent Leonard, Joanna Li and Hannah Schneider | The Pitt News Staff
April 29, 2018
Filed under Football, Sports, Uncategorized
Only three Panthers were selected in this year’s NFL draft, starting in round 2 with Brian O’Neill. After the Vikings picked O'Neill, Tampa Bay chose Jordan Whitehead in the fourth round. The Philadelphia Eagles then chose Avonte Maddox with the 125th overall pick. The seven Pitt players in the dr...
Tampa Bay selects Jordan Whitehead with the 117th overall pick in the NFL Draft
By Trent Leonard | Senior Staff Writer
April 28, 2018
Filed under Football, Sports, Top Stories
Pitt football had its second player taken off the board— after offensive lineman Brian O’Neill— when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected safety Jordan Whitehead in the fourth round with the 117th overall pick in the NFL Draft. Despite dealing with two shortened seasons after an impressive first year, Whi...
Minnesota Vikings pick Brian O’Neill 62nd overall in NFL Draft
By Trent Leonard | Senior Staff Writer
April 27, 2018
It took nearly two rounds, but the Pitt football team finally saw some recognition in the NFL Draft Friday night when the Minnesota Vikings selected offensive lineman Brian O’Neill with the 62nd overall pick. This is the culmination of a successful three-year career with the Panthers for O’Neill, whe...
Take five: Trades, tanks and take-backs
By The Pitt News Staff
February 8, 2018
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
Remember in elementary school when you would beg your friends to trade what with was in your lunchbox? We can all identify, and apparently so can every coach, owner and player in professional sports this week. Between hour-long hires and trading between sports, The Pitt News has you covered in thi...
Pitt professor’s model miscalculates Super Bowl prediction
By Michael Nitti | For the Pitt News
February 6, 2018
Filed under Sports
Pitt associate professor Konstantinos Pelechrinis predicted the Patriots would win the Super Bowl last week. Or, more accurately, his model did. Pelechrinis has been teaching at the School of Computing and Information at Pitt since 2010. He developed a model two years ago that’s meant to predi...
NFL: heighten safety or hamper the game
By Will Schulman | Columnist
January 31, 2018
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Uncategorized
Getting into formation with teammates, you stare across the field at the quarterback's eyes and hear him shout “Green 18” and “54’s the mike,” signaling players to move around the field. A few seconds later, a crisp “set...hike!” cuts through the noise — the game has begun. Now you...
Eagles blow out Vikings to earn franchise’s third trip to Super Bowl
By Sam Farmer | Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2018
Filed under National News
The Philadelphia Eagles secured a Super Bowl rematch Sunday, and denied the Minnesota Vikings in their bid to make history. Led by quarterback Nick Foles and a smothering defense, the Eagles posted a 38-7 victory over Minnesota before a towel-swirling crowd so raucous at Lincoln Financial Field that...
Whitehead announces entry into NFL Draft
By Jordan Mondell | Assistant Sports Editor
December 11, 2017
Filed under Football, Sports, Top Stories
Pitt football has lost yet another member of the squad to the NFL, as junior defensive back Jordan Whitehead declares for the 2018 draft. The Aliquippa native and former WPIAL player made his announcement Monday morning on Twitter. “After much thought and discussion with my family, I have decided to begin prepar...
Athletes, educators discuss activism in sports
By Brian Salvato | For The Pitt News
December 6, 2017
Filed under Campus, News, Sports, Sports Features, Top Stories
When former third-string Pitt kicker Ian Troost took a knee during the national anthem at the team’s Oct. 14 loss to NC State, his motivation was rooted in his background. “My reason, other than to highlight police brutality and social injustice in the United States, was because I came from a b...
Editorial: NFL player safety more important than politics
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
December 6, 2017
Filed under Editorials, Opinions
It seems like the National Football League won’t leave the headlines. The week 13 game Monday night between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals turned violent, resulting in a potentially life-altering spinal injury for Steelers’ linebacker Ryan Shazier and multiple players’ ejections...
Quadree Henderson to enter 2018 NFL Draft
By Mackenzie Rodrigues | Sports Editor
December 4, 2017
Filed under Football, Top Stories
Pitt junior wide receiver and return specialist Quadree Henderson announced in a statement on Twitter that he will be leaving Pitt’s football team to enter the 2018 NFL Draft. “My lifelong goal has always been to play in the National Football League,” Henderson said Monday. “After speakin...
Trump’s NFL comments ignore players’ real concerns
By Will Schulman | For The Pitt News
October 6, 2017
After taking the gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos shocked the world — the two Olympians held up black gloved fists for the entire anthem. When Colin Kaepernick, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback, decided last year to kneel for th...
Gallery: Politicians, NFL players join family to remember Dan Rooney
By John Hamilton / Assistant News Editor
April 18, 2017
Filed under City, News, Visual
Friends, family, politicians, NFL owners and players remembered the life of Dan Rooney, the former Steelers chairman and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland who passed away Thursday at 84. The funeral was held Tuesday morning at Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland. ...
Raiders relocate to plunder Vegas’ pockets
By Bayard Miller | Assistant Sports Editor
March 29, 2017
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
My dad became a Baltimore Colts fan when he was 5 years old because he liked the color blue. By the time he was in his 20s and living in Baltimore, he was a season ticket holder and a fanatic. But when the Colts left the city in 1984 — due to the State of Maryland refusing to pay for renovatio...
Bye bye, Boyd: Pitt receiver completes journey from Clairton to the NFL
By Ashwini Sivaganesh / Assistant Sports Editor
May 10, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Football, Sports, Sports Features
There were 57 seconds left in the fourth quarter on September 19, 2015, in Iowa City, Iowa, and the whole stadium knew where the ball was going. Pitt had the ball on second-and-goal from the eight-yard line, trailing the Iowa Hawkeyes by seven points. Quarterback Nathan Peterman was looking for an open rec...
Super Bowl 50 a disappointing product from start to finish
By Dan Sostek / Sports Editor
February 8, 2016
Filed under Football, Sports, Sports Columns
As I sat sprawled in a chair, watching Cam Newton get slaughtered by a vicious Denver defense and a lifeless Peyton Manning loft the ball in the air with less velocity than a granny-style free throw, one thought constantly pervaded my mind. Man, this is so boring. The 2016 Super Bowl was an old-fashioned defens...
Fixing the NFL’s Pro Bowl Problem
By Dan Sostek / Sports Editor
January 25, 2016
It’s that time of year again. That time when the biggest stars in the National Football League face off against one another, playing in one ultimate contest where pride and respect are on the line. Just kidding. The 2016 NFL Pro Bowl kicks off this Sunday in Hawaii and, quite frankly, is perhaps t...
Burfict problematic, not the problem in NFL’s roughness epidemic
By Dan Sostek / Sports Editor
January 11, 2016
Filed under Football, Sports, Sports Columns
Vontaze Burfict and Adam “Pacman” Jones signed, sealed and delivered a playoff victory to the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday. Thanks to the two Cincinnati Bengals’ defenders’ personal foul calls against them on an incomplete pass that saw Burfict drill star Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown in ...
NFL coaches not given enough of a chance to succeed
By Chris Puzia / Assistant Sports Editor
January 7, 2016
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
With a resumé that included “firewood cutter” and “doormat salesman” and peaked at “NFL defensive line coach,” Jim Tomsula didn’t seem like your prototypical head coaching candidate. Following the departure of Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers hired and fired Tomsula after he led the talent-depr...
Pitt grads build big league careers in media relations
By Jessie Wallace / Staff Writer
September 11, 2015
Filed under Sports, Sports Features
Over the years, the football world has recognized Pitt as a sure-fire producer of NFL talent, with stars like Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald and LeSean McCoy all making names for themselves in the league. Unknown to most, however, is that Pitt’s pipeline to the NFL features more alumni than just players. The...
Minnesota Vikings draft T.J. Clemmings
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
May 2, 2015
The Minnesota Vikings selected former Pitt offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings with the 110thoverall pick in the NFL Draft on Saturday afternoon. Clemmings’ fourth round pick follows up the selections of former Pitt players Aaron Donald, Tom Savage and Devin Street in last year's NFL Draft. After starting his ...
Athlete sees benefit of sex on the field
By Chris Puzia / Sports Editor
February 13, 2015
Filed under Sports, Sports Features
Prince Amukamara is getting action in more places than on the football field, and one of his teammates is making sure everybody knows it.The 2011 draft pick and New York Giants cornerback had not initially performed up to his first-round draft choice billing due to injuries and poor performance. But h...
Panthers in the NFL win postseason awards
By Chris Puzia / Sports Editor
January 31, 2015
Arizona Cardinals and former Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald won the inaugural Art Rooney award on Saturday night. St. Louis Rams rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald won the Associated Press defensive rookie of the year award as well.Fitzgerald's award recognizes a player who demonstrates qualities of ...
‘I’m just playing so I won’t get fined:’ Super Bowl predictions
By Alex Wise / Staff Writer
January 28, 2015
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
I’ve never been good at traditional predictions — you know, the probable winner and the score and all that basic stuff. But I did predict before the World Cup that Luis Suarez would bite somebody, which gives me the credibility and the confidence to make some more bold guesses as to what will happ...
‘Deflategate:’ Did Brady and the Patriots break the rules?
By Alex Wise / Staff Writer
January 21, 2015
Of all the things I expected to hear incessantly in the weeks leading up to a New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl – “Tom Brady’s experience,” “Bill Belichick,” “Legion of Boom” – I can’t say I imagined the level of football inflation to haunt my eardrums. But, here ...
Lynch’s postgame ‘answers’ receive media criticism
By Imaz Athar / Staff Writer
January 21, 2015
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
You may have seen one of the postgame interviews with the eloquent Marshawn Lynch. If you didn’t, don’t worry. It was over before it even started.“Yeah,” said Lynch, a running back, regarding the performance of the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line after a win against the Arizona Cardinals. “Yeah,” Lynch said again when ano...
Should Aaron Donald be the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year?
By Alex Fischbein and Brandon Duerr / The Pitt News Staff
January 12, 2015
Filed under Football, Sports, Sports Columns
Former Pitt defensive tackle Aaron Donald entered the 2014 NFL Draft to a litany of questions about whether his 6-foot-1-inch, 285-pound frame could make the adjustment from college to the NFL. The skepticism soon vanished as Donald thrived for the St. Louis Rams, compiling nine sacks and earning a trip to the Pro Bowl as a ...
An analysis of what makes a quarterback ‘elite’
By Imaz Athar / Staff Writer
January 6, 2015
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
Turn on ESPN, or any similar sports channel, and you’ll hear an NFL analyst say it: “You need an elite quarterback to succeed in the National Football League.”Upon hearing it, you’ll nod your head, and you’ll say to yourself, “Yeah, that makes sense. You do need an elite quarterback to win games...
Some NFL penalties better left uncalled
By Alex Wise / Staff Writer
October 29, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
Well, the National Football League has done it once again. The league has found yet another way to make watching its product absolutely intolerable.As if watching a professional football game wasn’t an hours-long commitment already — and as if watching my horrendous fantasy team collapse week in a...
Fan confessional: The struggles of inconsistency
By Imaz Athar / Staff Writer
October 28, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
I used to be a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Before Steelers supporters hunt me down, let me explain why I stopped being a fan. It happened during the 2005 NFL playoffs.For much of my early childhood, I lived in a small town in New Mexico, which didn’t have a professional football team, and I didn’t kno...
NFL lacks firmness in handing out suspensions
By Alex Wise / Staff Writer
October 22, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
And the NFL’s hot streak continues!According to multiple recent media reports, the National Football League sources have confirmed that suspended 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith could have his ban cut by at least one game for “good behavior.”I’m glad to hear that the NFL’s qualifications for “...
Donald earning more playing time with Rams
By Alex Fischbein / for The Pitt News
October 14, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
Pitt’s name has stayed relevant in the football world beyond college for a number of years now. NFL fans have seen Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka and Larry Fitzgerald — just to name a few — enjoy a great deal of success at the professional level. Now, it’s the latest Pitt player’s turn to...
Dallas Cowboys benefitting from parity in NFL
By Imaz Athar / Staff Writer
October 2, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
The boys are back. The Dallas Cowboys, that is.Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys decimated the New Orleans Saints’ defense on Sunday night. Perfect passes, powerful rushes and strong protection carried the 3-1 Cowboys to a lopsided 38-17 victory in what was expected to be a close game.In th...
Pitt in the NFL: McCoy disappears in Eagles’ first loss
By Jack DeMarco / Staff Writer
September 29, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
Many ex-Panthers in the NFL were just spectators this past Sunday. Jabaal Sheard, K’Waun Williams, Larry Fitzgerald and this year’s first round pick Aaron Donald, were on teams with assigned bye weeks and did not play Sunday. But the few Pitt players who took the field might as well have had bye ...
Lasting change will result from collective boycott of NFL
By Mark Powell / Staff Writer
September 18, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
I grew up a die-hard NFL fan. I knew every statistic, and I collected football cards from the age of six until I was 12. I had Pittsburgh Steelers posters all over my room.As young fans, we all notice the bright lights and hard-hitting action. As we get older, we drop everything to watch “our team...
Fitzgerald regains form, McCoy solid again in NFL
By Jack DeMarco / Staff Writer
September 16, 2014
While some former Pitt stars like Larry Fitzgerald got back on track Sunday, others, like Aaron Donald, regressed slightly after excellent week-one performances.After a dismal outing in the season opener, Larry Fitzgerald improved dramatically for the Arizona Cardinals Sunday. The 11th year wide r...
Former Pitt teammates reunited in NFL
By Dan Sostek / Staff Writer
September 12, 2014
Filed under Football, Specials, Specials / Fallemployment2014, Sports
Jabaal Sheard has had his fair share of memorable NFL experiences in his four seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He has been named to the All-Rookie team, sacked Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks and recorded 22 sacks in 46 career games from the 2011 season until now.Still, there is one aspect of being in the...
Donald shines, Street makes first catch in NFL debuts
By Jack DeMarco / Staff Writer
September 9, 2014
To no one’s surprise, workhorse and defensive superstar Aaron Donald led the pack of Panthers in the NFL with a strong opening day performance. Just as Donald dominated the trenches for the Pitt defense a year ago, he showed up in convincing fashion for the struggling St. Louis Rams in his debut....
New NFL domestic violence penalties may still not be enough
By Dan Sostek / Staff Writer
September 2, 2014
Filed under Sports, Sports Columns
While most of the country views football as its prized national pastime, the National Football League has its problems. The one at the forefront of national conversation recently is player health and safety as well as how the sport’s inherent risk of concussions is destroying retired — and some ...