Monday Night Steelers Countdown on the Porch

Marc:
This is creepy.

Chris: Oh, yes, here we are on the sports porch. This is the black and gold edition. It is Monday night in Pittsburgh. And we know it's a very special Monday night when there is Monday night football in town. Forty five minutes till kickoff. I know I can't wait. And if you're watching us live, you're watching us on Facebook. You're watching us on Instagram. The Graham watching from Southern California. We got somebody on the Graham with us. How are you doing? You're watching us on YouTube and you are watching us on X. And as always, I am going to drop this podcast right after the show. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And I'm going to put a comment up right now. You can also, if you want to just stream us and listen to us live and not watch, you can listen live on Radio PGH right there in that comment. That's our live stream. Um, I'm your technical director to my right in the studio is the grand Schwabini as always. And, uh, Pittsburgh city of champions on Instagram says, hi fellas. Hey, what's up guys watching from Michigan on Instagram. We got a lot of people in the Graham here all of a sudden. So that's really cool. I like that. Yeah. Keep coming back. And below me coming from the underground studio in squirrel Hill is the counselor. The counselor sitting in for hockey, Jesus. What is up, counselor?

Scott: I'm in the bunker here waiting for Danny Dimes. I'm wondering if you're going to drop that podcast right on him as he's laying on the turf.

Chris: You're talking about Dan Daniel Jones. Yeah, we're well obviously we usually do a lot of different things here in the sports porch and Tonight we're gonna talk mainly Steelers because of course the big game tonight Russell Wilson his second start looking forward to that OC is Southern California on the gram watching from Michigan Share this out with your friends. We want to hear what you have to think about this. We're gonna start tonight and Obviously, with Monday Night Football Steelers versus the Giants, the G-Men are in town. They are, and they are bad. Yes, they are bad. They are really bad. Before I let you and the counselor kind of go at this for a little bit, and Steve DeFletch is watching, of course, hockey, Jesus is watching from, what is that?

Marc: Is that a wrench by his name? It looks like a wrench. I have no idea. I don't know.

Chris: Yeah, maybe, yeah, I mean… Strange. Should we talk about this first?

Marc: Sure, let's just break it out there. We have a concern. I'm concerned for the welfare of one Stephen DeFletch.

Scott: Is he serious? Did he break out his old Mazda? Does he need a wrench or something, or a quart of oil?

Chris: No, no. Oh, it says moderator status. I don't know what that means.

Marc: Who knows? Yeah. I think he's lost his mind tonight. He probably has. Because tonight is a Steeler game. I know. And Steve DeFlitch is all about the Steelers. Yeah.

Scott: Now, Mark, this is an assumption that he had a mind to lose.

Chris: That is true. Right about that. That is true.

Marc: Now, I will say this. Of course, you know, he is a man of the cloth as well. Hockey Jesus. Yeah. Hockey Jesus. Yeah. And he prays to the Almighty. But You know, he left us tonight to watch the game with a church group.

Chris: Is that correct? Well, my first thought when he, when he texts us and said, Hey, I'm going to do a, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to do a watch party with my church group was, well, he's coming. I mean, what greater religion is there in Pittsburgh than football, right? This is the church.

Scott: I think he was afraid because we watched the Tennessee Titans game last year on a night game, he and I, and I think he dropped so many F bombs at that game. He was afraid because this is the classic Tomlin trap game. And well, you know, he wanted to make sure that he had all bases covered in advance of potentially cursing for the next five days.

Marc: So actually what you're saying is this is really more a cleansing for him. That he felt like during this game, he would be better served serving the Lord by not spilling out negative, nasty comments.

Scott: I think there's something for that. And, you know, I mean, just just just the fear that you have after a performance like the Steelers had a week ago, you know, that there's something amiss going into the by sorry, I don't I sound terrible, like I'm going to jinx this thing or something. I've just seen this. I've seen this movie too many times.

Chris: Yeah, well we're going to lead right into that and that's enough about that. Steve, Hockey Jesus, we miss you.

Marc: Have a good time with your friends and say a prayer.

Chris: Yeah, and get your priorities straight, would you?

Scott: Please pray for me too there, brother.

Chris: You actually touched on something counselor that's rap game Yeah, you you've touched on that and I brought this up a few years back. The Steelers always have a couple trap games a year and This to me is that game? This is the trap game now. We are gonna have a stump the ends are segment and that's the segment that I think I hope doesn't jinx this whole thing, but I You know, as far as trap games go for me, and then I want you guys to chime in on this. I think this should be the easy trap game just because of how overall bad the giants are, but they do have some positives. So, you know, let, let's start with you, counselor. What, what do you think about this? You brought up.

Scott: On the positive. I mean, let's look at it on the bright side. We probably only need to score 13 points to win this game. Which is since Kenny Pickett is no longer the quarterback, I feel pretty confident we're going to score more than 13 points.

Chris: I hope so.

Scott: Let's start there on the positive on, on the downside. I will say, as I mentioned, Tennessee Titans last year, I will know. I'm sorry, not Tennessee. It was new England. New England was preceded by Arizona, I believe. And. You know, having watched a couple AFC championship games in person, I got to tell you, I, you know, I sent, I sent my son and my wife down to section 512 tonight. So I didn't have to be tortured with the possibility, especially when I saw the Ravens win or the Ravens lose yesterday, because I thought to myself, God, the Ravens. Lose what a perfect setup for the Steelers not to go into the bye week. with, you know, a full game lead. Anyway, sorry again, I don't mean to be negative, but the team, the team's played really well. I do think they're going to win because as I said, they will score more than 13 points because Kenny Pickett is not the quarterback.

Chris: That is true. Schwaber.

Marc: Well, the way that I look at this game, first of all, this is not a trap game. This is a, this is a game against a terrible football team. Uh, they got a quarterback who has really never been an NFL quarterback. Um, Nobody even knows who the running back is. They got a good kid at wide receiver who's brand spanking new, so he doesn't have much maturity to his game. The only way that the Giants can stay in this game is if the Steelers self-destruct. If the Steelers turn the ball over, because the Giants' defense isn't terrible. Right. Dexter Lawrence is a hell of a player. Yeah. Leads the league in sacks in the middle of their line.

Scott: They lead. He leads the league in sacks and they as a team lead the league in sacks.

Marc: Right. So, you know, the defense isn't terrible. So if the defense is able to generate a few turnovers and maybe they're on the right side of the field for them, then this game could get a little dicey. But I don't really see that happening. The Steelers have really protected the ball well the entire year. Uh, whether it's just some fields or Russ. So, um, you know, I, I think we're going to see more of the same than we saw that we saw last week. You know, Russell Wilson's going to be efficient. He's not going to throw for 300 yards, but it'll probably throw for two 30 and a couple of touchdowns. And, you know, maybe he makes one miscue, but I think for the most part, uh, you know, it's going to be a solid safe game.

Chris: Well, I think that if there's anything that is going to catch the Steelers off guard, it is going to be the center of that Giants line. And they have McCollum starting at center again. He's done a great job filling in. The questions on their line, while the line has performed admirably given all the switching around and the injuries, there's still questions that remain. Can they sustain that? And with Dexter Lawrence there, he's going to get pressure up the middle. And I think that actually is good from the sense in that it kind of plays into one of Russell Wilson's strengths, and that is getting rid of the ball as far as improvising, going to a check down, whereas I don't think Justin Fields really had that. And not that he played poorly and we've been down this road before, but I think that's really the problem on defense. All they really have to do is play defense. And just like you said, I mean, they don't have, they don't really have a running back. Their quarterback is pedestrian and Malik neighbors is back, but he had a concussion, right?

Marc: If you, if you, if you can shut down Malik neighbors, they have no offense.

Scott: Yeah. Yeah. And it's hard to score when you don't have the ball. And I think the running game will be something tonight too, because these guys are lowest in the league and average yards, uh, I believe per carry. So I, You know, Chris, I, when I was on the show a few weeks ago, I said the line play, you know, frankly has been exceptional for as many different rotations as they've had in there. Uh, Pat Meyer deserves a ton of credit for that, especially coaching up a couple of young guys. The fact that you haven't heard Ryan McCollum's name called is just a plus in and of itself, because I mean, honestly, you're playing line. You never want to have yourself called because if you are, it's usually because of a penalty or something bad happened. There was a sack so the lines been exceptional. The other thing is, as I said a few weeks back I think. Jalen Warren wasn't Jalen Warren until last week, uh, in the game against the Jets. So I would actually expect Jalen Warren to have a really big game today on the, on some outside runs and some delays and even some, even some screens to try and beat that, uh, that Giants pass rush, because that is, you know, their one, uh, their one piece that is exceptional, uh, from, from a football standpoint, three phases of the game.

Chris: I also think the earlier you get Darnell Washington in the game, the better.

Scott: Hey, Mark, how long did that take?

Marc: Like 12 minutes? I'm surprised. I mean, I think it's still, you know, it was the over. Yeah. But yeah, yeah. Darnell Washington, uh, Chris Klein's favorite play. I love that.

Scott: For those who are joining for the first time, Chris Klein officially has a man crush on Darnell Washington.

Chris: No, no, no, no. I had a man. I have a man crush on Justin Herbert. I just think that Darnell Washington is like this. He's like a nuclear bomb waiting to go off. I mean, you get that guy the football and please tell me who can tackle him. I actually, the other game, he tried to leap over somebody. I mean, I'm tired of seeing Najee try to leap over people. Let's get Darnell the ball and see how many people he can leap over.

Marc: That's fun. Najee likes to leap over people in the middle of the line. Yeah, I know. He needs to stop that. I know. No, I mean, look, he's a nice other weapon to have. But, I mean, look, if you're asking me, I mean, you know, your weapon number one, to me, is Pickens. You know, Nagé and Joan Warren are, you know, number two. Friar Muth you can throw in there. You know, these are all people that I would throw the ball to before your big tight end.

Chris: I know. I know. I just, I, what I like when they get him involved in the offense is it's, it's, you're throwing a kink in the scheme and it kind of sets the defense back a little bit like, Oh, wait a minute. This guy's like a, he's like a sixth offensive lineman. Now we got to worry about him catching passes. So I think it's, it's actually a good strategy to get him involved early. And I think that's part of their game plan. As far as their game plan goes, I don't think they stray from the way they've played the last couple weeks. And one of the things that I have to give them credit for is, as tough as I've been on Najee Harris throughout his career here, and I will say that I am still not sold on him, I know, you know, last week he rushed for, what, 108 yards or something. The week prior to that he entered 100 yards. But most of those yards, and this is what the game plan is about, they come in the second half. And that's a testimony to that offensive line and sticking to the run game even when they're getting very small positive yardage or even a negative yardage and tiring that defensive line down. And I think that really is the key. I think you're going to come out if the Steelers come out and they focus on that run game and focus on trying to wear that Giants defensive line down, then that's going to open up a lot of opportunity for Russell in the second quarter, second half. of the game. And I really do think that's the key, because even though we're down on the Giants and we talk about they're a bad football team, they're still an NFL team. And the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens yesterday.

Scott: So I think the stat, Chris, again, last year, I think the Steelers were the first team with a winning record past, you know, past the halfway point of the season, whatever the metric was that lost the two, two teams each with two wins. Yeah, right. So again, that was that That, you know, in my in my 50 plus years on this earth, that's maybe a low point in Pittsburgh Steeler history for that to happen. And almost, you know, it's almost not make the playoffs, you know, because of that was was pretty terrible. But but I do agree with you. I think the most important thing the Steelers do tonight is to get out of this game, you know, to win, to play a ball control game and for no one to get hurt. And then to get some guys healthy that are hurt, I think they really, really could use Herbig in there. I don't wanna see TJ Watt playing 97% of the snaps going forward. I think he needs to be closer to 85% of the snaps. I'm just giving that as one example of the trickle down of Herbig not being in the rotation to play 20 to 22 snaps a game. So we really wanna just get through this and take the lead on Baltimore and let them sweat down in Ratbird City.

Marc: Yeah. Well, keep in mind that there's a big difference between this team that lost the two to win teams last year or last year's team that lost the two to win teams and this year's team. And that is, can you pick? Yeah. You don't have that quarterback anymore. You got a real legitimate starting quarterback. So, you know, and I think that can make all the difference. But you know, the reality here is that the only way that the Giants can be in this game is if the Steelers help them out. If the Steelers turn the ball over, have a lot of penalties, you know, maybe bad penalties at bad times, maybe pull back a touchdown because of a penalty, that kind of a thing. If things like that happen, then yeah, then just about any team in the NFL can get in the game, right? But for the most part, they shouldn't be in the game. So I think we're gonna enjoy this victory tonight. And I know everybody is always a little bit worried about the trap game. I would actually, say that this one is not as much a trap game. Like I'll tell you what's going to be a trap game in my mind. Like when you play Cleveland and the record stinks, but Jameis Winston is actually pretty good.

Scott: Yeah. Cleveland, Cleveland on Thursday night, that's going to be brutal. I agree with that mark.

Marc: Yeah, that's going to be tough.

Chris: Okay, I want to get some comments in here, if you don't mind. We've got a bunch of them coming in. So Steve, of course, you know, he's referring back to us busting him up on being with his church group, Peace My Brothers. Yo-Ho Son, Yo Carey's in the house on YouTube. Prayers, aka Hail Mary Redskins. See, everybody's going to keep calling them the Redskins. Boz will win for us, a.k.a. 3-point king. That's good for your buddy Rube. CD, the doctor is in the house. Biggest risk is Dexter Lawrence. We talked about that. Steelers will reverse the line. We will have one touchdown and seven field goals. Yo-ho, son. You never cease to make me laugh. Mike Lawrence is back. Thanks for being here. He's predicting Steelers 24, Giants 7. Najee rushing for close to 100. I mean, that's not, I like that score. I like to score too. I mean, I, I, I hate to, to think that an NFL team would only score once. I mean, it's just, you know, but they could, um, Marvin Hamilton says we might need help getting into the playoffs. Well, that's every year.

Scott: Marvin may have to carry the ball himself to get that score.

Chris: Yeah, you're right.

Marc: By the way, these Steeler uniforms that they're wearing tonight. Yeah, these are my favorite Steeler uniform. Yeah, the color rush black uniforms. I love it. It's black and like the letters to the gold is actually gold instead of yellow. Yeah. You know, I love that look. I think it's great. I wish it was there every jersey.

Chris: Every game jersey. I agree with you. Yoho Sun says, Beanie Bishop with a pick six and Boz seven field goals.

Marc: You didn't catch the Grand Schwab Beanie from last week. I made the grand prediction that Beanie Bishop, who has two interceptions on the year, will finish the year with to intercept.

Chris: I still have it up from last week. The Grand Schwab Beanie predicts Beanie Bishop will finish the year with only two interceptions.

Marc: Well, because, you know, Sutton's back tonight.

Scott: Yeah, I'm just happy George Pickens caught a touchdown before Thanksgiving, because that was one of my big asks two weeks ago.

Chris: Yeah, that is true. That is true. Other comments before we get on to some other stuff here. Marvin Hamilton says, Winston has a good game here. Here and there, he means. He's not the answer in Cleveland. Uh, we have the best color rush jerseys. He, he agrees with you. Uh, now Brad Trombley's in the house. Brad's been a fan for quite a few years. He's actually met up with Steve a couple of times. Where's your original third member tonight? Hey Brad, go back to the beginning of the show or listen to the podcast. You'll hear us. It's fun. He's with some, he's with his disciples as he likes to say. The hockey Jesus is in church praying. That's right. When, when he, I think he should be in this church right here, but you know, Hey, look, it's a free country, right? Right. Right. We all, we all church or is it a temple?

Marc: Um, Mark, I don't know. Well, I'm going to say, I'm going to say church because the Jewish folks call it temple. Yeah. Um, I think some Christians call it temple too, but let's just call it a church. All right.

Chris: OK, so we before we move on to our other NFL news and predictions, let's get our take on or our predictions for the game tonight and counselor filling in for Hockey Jesus. What's your prediction for the game tonight?

Scott: You know, I really I close to that. that score earlier, I'm thinking this is like a 27 to 6 game. You know, something like that. I think if we should, frankly, the defense should not let these guys get to the end zone. So maybe they kick two field goals. You know, I'm going to say 27-6.

Marc: I'm going to say 31-13 Steelers, and it might be a little dicey up until halftime, but I think in the second half the Steelers just poured on.

Chris: Okay, Marvin Hamilton chimes in. Steelers 35, Giants 10. He also loves my hat. You're welcome, and thank you. And Brad Tromley thinks 31-13 Pittsburgh. Look, guys, nobody's going to like this. I always trap game Klein. I, I bring the party down. I know I do. Um, it's only because these are the games that Tomlin has the ability to mess up, whether it's with clock management, um, or the wrong play call. Or, you know, I don't know if he has the team up for it or not. I think the Steelers are going to win. But I think it's going to be much closer than people think. I'll get Yoho Sun's prediction in here first, 28 to 17. I think the Steelers are going to win this 21 to 18. I think it's going to be a one score game. I think it's going to be tight for most of the game.

Marc: Steelers going to block a field goal in the final second?

Chris: Look, at this point, I mean, we haven't even talked about their special teams play. A couple of years ago, people were calling for Danny Smith's head. And look what he's done this year. It just goes to show you, you know, in the NFL, you get the right players, you get the right people to buy in good results. But right now, it's a 50 50 shot every time there's a punter, a field goal that, as far as I'm concerned, that the Steelers are going to block it or do something.

Marc: So the main thing is for that. You got to have people that love it and want to do it. You know, a lot, a lot of teams, players just don't want to do it. Yeah.

Scott: Yeah. I think it's that plus it's, it's Danny Smith's film study. I, you know, I've heard in the past how he's sort of crazy at, you know, breaking down the tape and trying to exploit things. And, you know, I, I think again, Chris, as you said, testament to that. And, and I, and I got to say, as I said earlier, you know, Pat Meyer, call him out from the line. I think. you know, you guys and, and, and myself as well, been pretty critical of Coach Tomlin in the past, but you really can't argue with much at this point, you know, that, that, that the team has done. And And I think, you know, the defense, especially in the second half, you know, we've all griped on the slow starts, but the second half, the defense has just been lights out and look at the points. And last year, even when we had a winning record, our point differential was still terrible, which is just perplexing. But our point differential, I think is, is close to tops in the NFL, if not top. So just all the way around, I think Danny Smith deserves a lot of credit, but I think the coaching staff as a whole.

Chris: I agree with you. I really do. I think they've done a tremendous job with the line, considering everything that's happened. And yes, special teams are performing nothing less than incredible so far this year. Marvin has a quick question for us. If Russell Wilson doesn't play well, how long before Tomlin pulls him?

Scott: Well, apparently Justin Fields is not going to play tonight. That's what there were a lot of reports out there. And I think that That broke with Jay Glazer yesterday talking on Fox about a conversation he apparently had with Coach Tomlin yesterday. So it sounds like Fields has a tweaked hamstring and he's not even gonna play. So I think this issue is settled. I think Russ would have to do something really, really, really terrible at this point.

Marc: Yeah, I agree. Even if Justin Fields was healthy, I think Russell gets the whole game tonight. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I don't see anything. I don't see anything having them going back to fields. Yeah. Barring, you know, it would have to be something like a

Chris: three game losing streak or you know russell has a couple like back to back two or three interception games i mean it would have to be a really poor performance by russell wilson and and even then i'm not sure that that's what you do and and i know and and anybody says uh or anybody that that listens to our show on a weekly basis knows that I was very high on Justin Fields being, and I got the name right for the first time. Justin Wilson? Yeah, on Justin Fields. I was very high on Justin Wilson. Right. And you were wrong. I said it again. Just let him do it. I know. I know. Okay. You guys, you get in my head, you get in my head. Anyway. Um, I, I was very high on Justin Fields, uh, remaining the starting quarterback when they said Russ was healthy because they, they had a four and two record with him and, and he didn't look awful. And if he was going to be the future of the franchise that you, you let him ride it out. Now, What I will say is that the transition to Russell and the way Justin Fields handled it changed my mind. And I always said from the beginning when there were rumors that Russell Wilson was coming and when Russell Wilson did arrive here just a mere like week or so after or before Justin Fields did, that everybody was giving Russell Wilson a raw shake because his statistics in Denver last year were pretty damn good. even though the national media and Sean Payton would have you believe that he was done.

Scott: If you took national media hates him, I just I don't understand it.

Marc: Yeah, they do. Well, you know, there were a lot of stories about him not being a good teammate. Right. And things like that. I have a feeling, though, that he's probably learned from that. You know, there were some things that he did, like in Denver. One of the things that he did, which Sean Payton was just like disgusted with, was he he asked for his own office, like by the locker room when he was in Denver. So he could run his social media. Right. And so, you know, Sean Payton was like, no, you don't get an office. You're just like every other player. You know what I mean? But I would guess like Russell Wilson probably learned from that. Yeah. You know, he probably learned that that was kind of a dumb idea. Yeah. Kind of separates you from your teammates a little bit. Yeah.

Chris: We just gave you $200 million. You can go build an office somewhere. Right.

Marc: So, you know, I, I think that, you know, and, and obviously look when you, when you lose, you know, somebody gets blamed. Right. Yeah. And, and it's always the quarterback. Yeah.

Chris: so yeah so i i i think that russell wilson is the quarterback um i'm gonna say he's the quarterback for the rest of the year barring injury i i i think you got a ride with him marvin wants to know uh is justin our future qb counselor what do you think about that you know i really think it's tough because just the processing's not there and

Scott: The processing and I think what we saw at the line of scrimmage last week and I also feel like. The touch that that Russ showed, you know he put on the ball just you know that he just those passes that just sort of dropped in there. You know, Justin Justin doesn't have that. I'm not saying he he couldn't develop it. What what I'm really struggling with is how much. You know his play thus far has been a product you know, pretty bad team and coaching around him, obviously in Chicago, you know, with, with what we've seen here, because I do think we really saw something in that indie game, uh, when he came back, uh, you know, so I don't know if that's the anomaly in Pittsburgh, uh, or if there are more, you know, indie type games, uh, in him.

Chris: Yeah. And that's, I, my, my response,

Marc: to that question uh is is fields the future qb is i have no idea right now it's there's just no way you just don't know i mean russ russ is older you know i mean look look i mean hey if russ has a uh season-ending injury you know sometime the rest of the way this year yeah he's probably justin fields is probably your quarterback next year yeah you know so it's like we have no idea what's gonna happen well even if russ has an injury and fields has to come in

Chris: then you still don't have him signed for next year. So it's kind of like, okay, Russ has an injury fields come in, plays the rest of the year. They go under 500. He's underwhelming. Are they going to want to sign him next year? You know? Um, who knows? I think if Russ plays the way Ross knows how to play, then he's probably the quarterback next year as well.

Marc: Yeah, that's for sure. True.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and he also people forget it. Well, how much money are you going to have to pay him? Well, he's still getting paid by the Broncos next year as well. So he was willing to come in here and play for a little over a million bucks. Now he's going to want a bigger contract. But you're probably not going to have to break the bank to keep him.

Marc: So they probably will, though. I mean, not not terribly so, but they will. Like it'll be over 20, 20 million bucks.

Chris: I'm not saying it's not going to be a lot for the Steelers.

Scott: Trump chains for quarterbacks, Mark.

Chris: Right. That's exactly what it is. And Marvin Hamilton, he appreciates our honesty. And that's why you come to the sports porch, because we're not the talking heads in the media. We don't have access to the locker room. We don't try to create controversy where there is no controversy. We just like to tell it how we see it. And if you don't, if you don't like it, well, we don't care. Um, but we also like to hear what you have to say. And if we like it, we'll put it on the air. There you go. All right. All right. So, um, my prediction was what? 21 to 18 Scott, you were what? 24 to 13, 27 to six. Twenty, oh wow, 27 to 6. I had 31 to 13. Oh, you had them scoring a lot more points. OK, so we're not going to do all of the other stuff we usually do because the game is getting ready to start here in a couple minutes. So we're going to move on right to something that we love doing. Stump the Yinzer in honor of H.J. who is not here, the counselor from his basement bunker in Squirrel Hill. is our honorary yinzer because he actually does have pierogies in his DNA as well and the Grand Schwabini is over here to my right which looks like my left on the screen if you're watching. So what is that? I'm going to ask a question that a yinzer should know. They're both going to give an answer. Whoever gets it right either remains the yinzer or becomes an honorary yinzer. The honorary yinzer. So Stump the ends or what is the Steelers record all time on Monday night football home games?

Marc: Well, can you tell us how many games it is? You got to be kidding me.

Chris: I know he knows.

Scott: I mean, I would, I would do, I would have done better with Carlton hassle rig.

Chris: Yeah. Okay. Come on, man. Okay. They have played 21 Monday night games at home at home all time.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: Not on the road at home record out of 21 out of 21 games. What is their record at home on Monday night? Okay.

Scott: Scott, I do know. I do know because I read this earlier that they haven't lost on Monday night since we were in college, which is, what at home that is.

Chris: I think that's on Monday night period since we were in college. I don't know. Anyway, go ahead. Go ahead.

Scott: Yeah. So so 21 all time Monday night home games. Is that what you said? Yes. Yep.

Marc: Man, this is you're not you're not Googling, are you?

Scott: Unless I would have read this today, like

Chris: Man, I saw it on ESPN while we were getting ready for the show. I took it right from ESPN.

Marc: You got to make a guess.

Scott: Uh, I'm going to say 16 and five. Okay.

Marc: 16 and five. Okay.

Chris: I'm going to say 18 and three. You're both wrong. It's 21 and Oh, Really? That's insane. Yes. That was on ESPN. I took it right from ESPN.

Scott: It never lost on Monday Night Football at home.

Marc: At home. Are you sure that it's not primetime games, like including Thursday, Sunday night? Maybe. I don't know. In the last five years or so?

Scott: Yeah. I think that's going back I think that's going back to 1991 the number that I heard, because I'm telling you guys I know there was a Monday night game. And I'll tell you how I know it was because it was during deer season. And I remember the Monday night games that I've watched at deer camp. And somebody who's on the show might help me here. Steve might even remember this one. They lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the Dwight Freeney era. I'm pretty sure this might have been.

Chris: It is dating back to 1992. The Steelers have won 21 straight Monday night football home games dating back to 1992.

Scott: Okay.

Chris: I just pulled it up. So I wasn't wrong.

Scott: I know that Indianapolis smoked them and Dwight Freeney had like four or five sacks.

Marc: Okay. Well, good enough. It's pretty amazing. It really is pretty amazing.

Chris: Constanza Rodriguez I will say this now.

Marc: Let me hear your your answer on this counselor. Is it just me or When the Steelers play on Monday night, do they always seem to play like a horrible team? Like it's it's never like Steelers 49 conspiracy theory dealers, Cowboys or your Steelers, good Buffalo Bills or Patriots. It's always like that's where they decide like, OK, we got to get the Browns in answering that question, Mark.

Scott: I'll sort of ask the perennial bitchy Steeler fan question, which is how many Super Bowls would the Steelers have won if they played in an AFC East schedule? the last 30 years. I mean, seriously, think about the Steelers and the Bloodbath that are two Ravens games versus what New England had to play against during most of the Tom Brady era, where the Dolphins and the Bills were just terrible and the Jets were worse than terrible.

Marc: Yeah, and never, you know, you know, there's deflating footballs. There's videotaping practices. There's a lot of bad stuff going on in New England.

Scott: Yeah, I think the Steelers from a schedule standpoint, you know, it's gotten hosed a lot. I mean, this this year, the schedule's terrible. I mean, three, three home, you know, primetime games in a row. It's a joke.

Chris: Yeah. Uh, first of all, Chris Chada on Instagram wants to know if Carlton Hasselberg is still alive.

Scott: I don't think he is dead.

Chris: Yeah. He's he's at the, uh, Rest in peace. The great football stadium in the sky. Okay. Prediction time, prediction time. And if you're watching us, this is the sports sports black and gold edition on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and the gram. And I'm going to drop the podcast right after show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Uh, by the way, Just as an aside, Daniel Jones in primetime, in primetime.

Marc: Like 1-9 or something? 1-14. 1-14. Russell Wilson in his last 13 primetime games is 4-9, so let's hope we get the 4-win Russell Wilson on that one.

Chris: NFL predictions last week, all of us, me, Mark, and Steve were 2-1. Mark is now 15-6, Steve is 12-9, Chris is now gaining respectability at 8-13. I don't think 8-13 is respectability. I think it is for me. Uh, so what we're going to do is the counselor filled in for Schwab or the last time he was in. So he's going to fill in for hockey Jesus tonight, NFL predictions, Thursday night game. And we want to, we want to hear what you think. Uh, Texans at jets. Who's your winner counselor.

Scott: Wow. This is really tough. I got to tell you now, sorry, Texans. Yeah. I think, I mean, the jets are just, I mean, can can the NFL flex away from this game? Right, right. I don't know. I mean, you would want the hell wants to watch this. Jesus. And the only thing that could be worse is if there's a Pittsburgh Penguin game I have to watch on Thursday.

Marc: We'll get to that shortly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can't really with a good conscience pick the Jets. So I'll have to take the Texans. But but I will say that, like, if you want to talk trap game, This is the ultimate trap game. That's why I'm going with the Jets. I mean, it's like Jets are like, you know, they've lost like their last five. They changed coaches, but we know they still have some good players finally at home. But I'm going to say no, can't be done.

Chris: I'm going with the Jets. Trap game. Texans. I'm going with the Jets. All right. Sunday night. Colts at Vikings. Who's your winner counselor?

Scott: I like the Minnesota Vikings to rebound here. I think that you know, as I as I said a few weeks ago and picking that game and I went against the grain. You're welcome Mark. Thank you. The Vikings are, you know, it's a. It's a US Bank Stadium is a really, really tough place to play. I like the Vikings here.

Marc: I also like the Vikings. I I'm not a big believer in Anthony Richardson.

Scott: Well, he came out yesterday because he said he was tired.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. I have to I have to find out more about that. I saw an article, but I didn't read it. Yeah. He apparently tapped out. Yeah.

Scott: He was tired. Yeah. Mom, I need a rest.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: Oh my God.

Chris: The big question is, are they going to go with Joe Flacco or are they going to go with Anthony Richardson? And I think if they go with Joe Flacco, they beat the Vikings. That's what I think. If they go with Anthony Richardson, it's just going to be a shit show for him because you know that crowd is going to be all over him.

Marc: Well, they have no choice but to go with Anthony Richardson. If he's, if he's healthy, they have no choice because if not, then they basically spell the end of him.

Chris: That is true. That is true. So, I'm going with the Vikings for that one too. All right. Our Sunday pick them game is a good one. Um, that is the lions at the Packers.

Marc: I believe it's a showdown six and one lions at the six and two Packers, I believe. Yeah.

Scott: Counselor, you know, Jared golf has gone to a new level this year, but previously to the, to this season, he has been, Just fantastic at Ford Field, not so great out in the elements. And I just think that, you know, as I said, I know they look great last week. Take it maybe with a little bit of grain of salt, but I think the Hutchinson injury is going to catch up to them. The only caveat I would have here is I hadn't seen anything about Jordan Love status and he did come out yesterday, so.

Marc: Um, you know, there was MRI, no, no significant damage.

Scott: Yeah. Okay. Thanks Mark. Then I feel pretty confident in saying the pack on this one.

Chris: All right.

Marc: The counselor says the Packers, I'm going to say the lions, man, I'm just a believer in the lion. You are now. Now the one thing I will say is this could be actually unfortunate for the lions. This could kind of be like, you know, like the Steelers, the 11-1 Steelers and the 10-1 Eagles, where they just peak too soon. You know, but I could see the Lions going on a 10-1 run here to start the season. And maybe, you know, again, like a Hutchinson injury catches up with them and they lose in the playoffs. But I like the way the Lions are playing right now. So I'm going to take the Lions. I feel like Jordan Love, even though injury report comes back clean, I just feel like he's getting beat up quite a bit. He's constantly coming out of games. So I'm going to stick with the Lions.

Chris: Yeah, and I'm going to stick with the Lions on this one as well because I think that if there is a team of destiny right now, in this league, it's the Lions. They came up short last year. Dan Campbell is a force. I honestly can't decide if post-Dan Campbell or post-Lyons Dan Campbell will still be a good coach in the NFL. Because I think this is all about his energy and what he brings to the sideline with the team and the underdog mentality. And if they, let's say they do win a Super Bowl and they keep him for a while and then he moves on to another team, I don't see him ever repeating what he's done here. So, I think they're on a roll, and yes, I agree with you, Scott, that on any other team right now, to have a caliber player like Hutchinson go down on your defense, it's like T.J. Watt, when he goes down with the Steelers, their record is horrible, no matter how good their offense is. But I just see something different with this Lions team. I think they have to make a statement and go into Green Bay and win this game. And I think Campbell's going to have them ready to play. I think the Packers are for real, but I think the Lions are more for real. So there you go. OK, so. I don't know, should we, should we, in honor of hockey Jesus, you, you got a little hockey, you want to talk and then, then we can just, uh, cause they got them on the sidelines here. I think they're getting ready for kickoff.

Scott: It's totally, I just, you know, I, I I've, I've watched a lot of bad hockey in my day and, you know, go way back. And again, And again, you know, just just as the defenseman's dad I just can't believe. You know, for those who don't know I lived in Minnesota for 12 years my my kids grew up there my son played high school hockey at a real high level in Minnesota still plays and I just can't believe what I've seen from this team and just. The letdowns and and and times that they play soft and just, you know, letting letting guys get to the front of the net. It's just intolerable and they have some guys in their defensive core. Eric Carlson has been an unmitigated freaking disaster. I was so upset the other night after the game I called my kid at college and said Benny, what's going on? What do you think? Dad, you've always said Eric Carlson's just like a fourth forward. Are you surprised? And, you know, he is, but that's, that's what they signed up for. And, you know, it, it just, even, even Marcus Pettersson, who I think last year for the Penguins was a, I don't know, a plus 28 over the year on, you know, not a great team. Pettersson hasn't been great. But just generally, just letting guys get to the front of the net. And Chris, you know, when I was on for Mark a few weeks ago, I said the one data point I always look at are shots from the slot. If you look at the shot profile for the for the Penguins opponents over the first seven or eight games, whatever we are here, the shots from the slot are just killing them because they're just letting people get to the front of the net. And it's just it's basic hockey. You know, it's what it's what kids learn at the at the Peewee level. And, you know, in fifth and sixth grade. So I just don't know what else to say.

Chris: And that's all you have to say, because the game has started. And Amy May, of course, is saying, hey, guys, kick off, kick off. So we're going to kick off into the night right now. Got a completion here on the sports for.

Marc: CA3 for 10. Have a good week, boys. All right, thanks, Scott.

Chris: All right, Counselor. Hey, everybody, you've been watching the Sports Porch live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, The Gram, all over the world. You can catch us every single Monday night at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time. And I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts.

Scott: And Danny Dimes better keep his eyes open, because that podcast might drop right on his head.

Chris: There you go, baby. For the Grand Schwabini, for the counselor, for Hockey Jesus with his church group, say a prayer for the Steelers tonight. Amen. I am your technical director.

Scott: Here we go, Steelers. Here we go.

Marc: And I, Steve is saying it from the pew, am out.

Chris: Jablonsk.

Marc: Alright great having you Scott.