Steelers Post Game - The Porch Is Live

Chris: I messed that up too.
Steve: And this music is terrible.

Marc: You gotta fix this music. Yeah, something's off with the bass and the treble.

Chris: Uh, that was just a messed up beginning because that was a messed up game and I'm a messed up guy now. So welcome to the sports porch. Uh, if you're tuning in, we're about what, 27 minutes, um, later than usual, but that would be because of course there was a playoff game. Uh, there was a game. Yeah. And I want to, I want to know what you're all thinking about it right now. But of course the sports ports, we are live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram right now, which I'm watching right now. We've got a lot of people joining us on Instagram. A lot of people joining in. Yeah. Schwabers not even looking at Instagram.

Marc: Let's get right to it. Steve, fellow Yinzer Steeler fan for your entire life. Break it down for us.

Chris: Yes. And you can also call us. The number is on the ticker on the bottom of the screen. 412-805-7236. As usual, we have one line open.

Marc: We have an open line. Great time to call.

Steve: Thanks. Well, this game had something for everybody, Mark. If you had hope and you thought that the Steelers could come back, there was a time in this game where you were like, hey, they're not out of it. You know, so maybe they can still do it. There was a time when you were a stealer hater early in the game where it's like, I told you they suck. They're getting their asses run over. There's no way they're ever going to be in this game. And if you're a Tomlin hater, you've got everything you wanted because, well, it wasn't really his fault. You know, the defense didn't show up or, you know, the offense just didn't do enough. So no matter which way you look at this game, somebody is going to take something out of it that's going to fit in their mantra and that in a nutshell, are your Pittsburgh Steelers and have been your Pittsburgh Steelers for quite some time now. What I was really interested in over the weekend was not something that happened on the field, you know, the last three hours. It was actually something that was said by Mike Florio at halftime of the first playoff game when he announced to the whole United States of America and the international community Mike Tomlin, Mike Tomlin would let us know if he wanted to coach next year. Not any, you know, it's not anybody else's decision, but Mike Tomlin. And you know what? He's probably right. And therein, that's the problem. This game is a microcosm of their last five games. Look, in the last five games, the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up. I looked it up and I did the math. They gave up 40.4 points against on average. Their defense gave up that much. This is supposed to be an elite defense, and it's far from elite. In fact, it might be worse than Dallas's defense. And we don't have Dak Prescott to throw for 400 yards to get 30 some of those points back. So that's the problem. And that was the problem with the game. Actually, I was texting with you guys. I see this game is a total microcosm of the Steeler season. It starts out. And maybe we're OK. And in the middle somewhere, it goes haywire and we suck. And then somewhere in the middle towards the end, it looks like maybe we can pull it out. But in the end, you know what? We really can't pull it out, can we? And that's really been the Steeler season in one game. Mark, what do you think?

Marc: Well, I mean, I want to give the Steelers some some credit here, because I really did think that Buffalo was going to blow them out. And when it was 21 to nothing, I thought we were well on our way there. So I think they showed a lot of character staying in this game and putting up a fight and closing it to a one score game in the fourth quarter. Um, I thought outside of that first interception, um, in the end zone, I thought, thought that Mason Rudolph played a pretty good game. Um, they also, you know, they, they weren't terrible running the ball either. I think they like totals a team, like 22 carries for like 96 yards or something. But it didn't it didn't seem like it was enough or there wasn't really there weren't really any many chunk plays out of the run game. And, you know, look, let's face it. I mean, I you know, the Steelers defense is a different defense when T.J. Watt is on the field. You know, I mean, there's there's no question about that. Now, I don't think that their defense really was as good as advertised this year, but I do think that if T.J. Watt is in there and healthy, you've got a chance for turnovers just by the havoc that he imposes on the game. So, you know, unfortunately, you know, I think that the hard part is, you know, as somebody who would prefer to have a longer playoff run so that, you know, our show could keep going. Um, you know, it, it seems, it seems like, it just seems like to me, honestly, that we're not much further along than we were last year, you know, which is, which is kind of where, where this is at, where. Tomlin continues to have a winning season. One year you make the playoffs, the next year you don't. You know, it's nine and eight. It's ten and seven. It's eight and eight, you know, and and it's and it's one and done. And to me, what it really, you know, for a while, like, you know, when you were back towards when Ben was playing, it was actually probably even more frustrating then because you had Ben Roethlisberger. Um, now it's, it's kind of like, well, you almost sort of expect it because they don't necessarily have an elite quarterback. And, and that I think is, you know, the big thing that's missing, like, you know, like, like, for example, like flip it around, put Josh Allen on the Steelers team. And I think Steelers win this game.

Steve: Yeah, but we can't do that. Sam makes a really funny point. Josh Allen did bend us over and said, you suck. And he basically took it to us just like we thought he would. And the weather didn't matter. The elements didn't matter. Josh Allen mattered, and he's the guy who could get it done. And he didn't make any mistakes. And you know what? Rudolph played good for Rudolph, right? But the bottom line is, this defense is terrible. Even if TJ Watt was in, I'll grant you, they are a better team with him in. Even when they're in, they still are a terrible playoff team. In the playoffs, their defense is horrible. 31, 42, 48, 45, 36 points. That's how much the defense has given up their last five playoff losses. They're terrible. They just can't stop teams. And somebody sent me an email, or I'm sorry, somebody sent me a text that said that the, I want to get this right, that of the five playoff games they lost, Steelers have been outscored 66 to nothing in the first quarter in those games. 66 to nothing in the first quarter. When you're getting behind by that much and you have an elite defense, you want your defense to go out there to set the tone and they don't set the tone. They set the tone the opposite way. Come and score on us and do it frequently. That's the problem with the Steelers. They're not, they're not afraid. They're afraid to look in the mirror and say, our problem is the defense. It's not necessarily the offense, although they do have some offensive problems. But the offense can keep you in it. But the defense is not winning games. And if you look at the Steelers this year, how did they win games? Kept it close. Defense got turnovers. Offense didn't make mistakes. Well, in this game, the offense made a couple of mistakes. It actually probably made three mistakes. And I saw something about the refs didn't help us out. Well, the refs didn't help us out, except for that fumble that should have been a fumble, which they said, well, it was a fumble, but it was going out of bounds. Yeah, yeah, that's what it was. It was a fumble that was going out of bounds. And clearly the ball was never out of bounds. Farley never touched the ball. He wasn't on top of somebody. It was just the script working, trying to work in the Steeler's favor to keep him in it. So, you know, the thing about the refs, you just have to just boom, just forget about it. So I think that, I think the problem is one, Buffalo 100% was the better team and deserved to win this game. Let's just say that for what it is. Buffalo is better than the Buffalo teams in the past because now they can run the ball. And before, that's when Josh Allen made mistakes. He had to throw the ball all the time. So guys like TJ or Miles or whoever you want to say is a good pass rusher can get to him because he always has to throw the ball. But now they can run the ball What do you do? You know, that's a problem. The only thing that I the only beef that I have with the rest, by the way, was why was that not a penalty on the guy who hit J.P. Junior? J. J. J. Junior in the back. Come on. And the other thing, too, is I'm sorry, but the slide rule, the slide has to be eliminated from the NFL. If that if if the quarterback wants to run the ball, the quarterback should be able to run the ball and get hit like a real man. If this is a man's sport, and we're allowing the quarterbacks to get hit if they want to be a runner, take the GD slide out of the game. It's just ridiculous.

Chris: I'm going to have to take control now, Steve. You blasted off here for a good 10 minutes.

Marc: I would agree. I would agree. That was kind of a, that was a bang bang play. And it's like, look, you know, when they do it in slow motion, It looks like it was late. But I mean, instantaneously, it was like a bang bang play. He didn't know he was sliding when he launched. You know what I mean?

Steve: By the way, they're never going to do that because they want to protect the quarterbacks.

Chris: Of course not. Let's acknowledge some of our friends here that have been commenting. this entire time DG is finally lowered his blood pressure enough to join the porch. Welcome as always. Yes, Sam Furiano is watching on YouTube. He's had a lot to say. Of course, Amy May says Tom needs to go. Let's start that again. Jeff Richter had a comment about the defense on Facebook. Janice Klein is sorry for all her Yinzer friends. I'm not sure who she's referring to there.

Marc: Chris, what are your thoughts on the game?

Chris: I wasn't even going to get a chance to say anything because Steve is just so incensed about the entire idea and he's talking so much my mouth got dry and I finished my cup of water.

Steve: Well, look, I mean, I got more. So, you know, I know you do.

Chris: I know he wants to leave because he wants to watch the Eagles. No, no, no.

Marc: Well, hey, you know, look, we know that, you know, you spend a lot of time behind the switchboard there, TD. You're right. But I think you do have some, you know, football knowledge. A little bit.

Chris: A little bit. A little bit. OK, so here's the thing. I'm looking at this right now because we look we all knew Who picked, I'm looking at this.

Marc: By the way, the Grant Swabini is 5-0. I get it, I get it. Although he did pick the box.

Chris: I'll get there in a second. Well, you did that because it's superstition. Rudolph was 22 of 39 for 229 yards, a touchdown and that interception, which I don't think was his fault. It was a really good play by the defense. Josh Allen, 21 of 30, 203 yards, three touchdowns. Now he did run for, I don't know, 100. yards almost i know he ran for over 70 yards 70 something yeah one one was on one play yeah 52 yards the second longest run incredible incredible incredible so quarterback um i i think the thing that the thing that i'm looking at here is This did not answer any questions about the future because we all pretty much knew. Now, I picked the Steelers to win in our poll last week because you guys picked the Bills and I wanted to be a homer. But my gut was telling me that once they switch this to better weather conditions that you're also just really really bad at picking games i mean yeah that that too i mean really well i mean he does play the contrarian which isn't right yeah no no i i like i like playing the contrain but but anyway so What I'm saying is that it doesn't answer any questions here. First of all, I think Rudolph looked fine. I don't think there's anything to complain about there. You know, he played the game he was supposed to play. There were a couple of big plays we didn't get. There was an interference call that I do believe was an interference call that could have possibly changed the outcome of the game. But the bottom line is that there was no T.J. Watt. And without T.J. Watt, it's really hard to win football games for the Steelers. They are now one and 11 without T.J. Watt. There's nothing more you can say about that. I heard a lot of people all day long commenting about what does it say about one player on the defense? You know, you tell you how bad is your defensive. It's not about that. It's about the effect that that player being in the lineup, how it how it raises the level of play of the of the other people around you. Um, and you know, he wasn't there to raise that, that level and that missed tackle by Minka. Um, you know, I was not, I'm not, I'm not a fan of a guy who's out for five weeks, even if he's a pro bowler, he made the pro bowl, you know, or he's all pro for why, what did he do this year? You know, but in all honesty, I digress and I'm going on a tangent. We have not answered any questions for next year at the QB position. I think Mason played worlds better than Kenny Pickett would have played, especially after the Steelers got down by two scores. Once the Steelers got down by two scores early in the game, You know, Rudolph was able to compose himself and make it a game. Our defense just did not deliver. And therefore, we have no answer to any question about next year and who the quarterback is going to be.

Steve: Can I tell you how wrong you are on TJ Watt? Sure. The problem with T.J.

Chris: Watt is he is- Tell me how wrong I am in general, Steve. It seems to be the going thing these days.

Steve: I just want to keep it to T.J. Watt. I don't want to get any more personal than that. Maybe Mark would later. In fact, I'm sure he would. Let me get to T.J. Watt first. Look, when T.J. Watt plays in a playoff game, you know how many points got scored against the defense? 48 and 42. This year, he didn't play and they got better. Only 31 points. Okay, okay. Dude, I'm telling you this. I'm telling you this. There's still 1-11 without him. There's still 1-11 without him. Right. And they've won zero playoff games with him. Tell me how that helps their playoff record. It doesn't. It doesn't help at all. In fact, it hurts it because now his salary is sucking up four other players who could tackle better and could make better plays than he can in his one uniform that's on the field 40 percent of the time. That's the problem. I mean, I'm just I'm being honest because I love T.J. Watt and he's a phenomenal talent, but they spend the money in all the wrong spots. They got to go out and either get a quarterback or they got to draft the quarterback who's going to become elite. Ken Pickett is not that guy. OK, Mason Rudolph is not that guy. Mitch Trubitsky is not that guy. Guess who is? Josh Allen, they won. CJ Stroud, they won. Patrick Mahomes, they won. Now you get into the Jeff Goffs in the Matthew Staffords of the world, eh, they're probably not elite, but at least Goff has a whole hometown behind him who haven't won a playoff game in what, 32 years or some shit like that? So granted, that's a little bit different.

Marc: I mean, but those guys, they're good enough. There's also quarterbacks that are maybe not elite, but they're good enough to win. Good enough to win.

Steve: Well, when you're playing like Love against Dak, right? Dak threw for 400 yards, but Love was surgical. He did all the right things at all the right time and made no mistakes. And honestly, if we had Love on our team, we probably would have had a better chance at winning this game. So those are the guys you have to go out and get money. You stop spending money on guys who have been great to the Steelers. And I understand why they spent the money on TJ. But the time is to shred him, send him away, and make the offense better, maybe even just to blow this whole thing up. Look, you can't lose as many games as the Steelers have lost so bad in the playoffs. since 2018 and and think that this is OK. If you do, you know, I get it. You can still be a Steelers fan, but to me, you got it. You got to do something different if you want better results in the playoffs.

Chris: All right. I got a shout out. So I got a shout out here. I'm sorry to interrupt. I know that drives Mark's wife, Amy, crazy. So like seventy nine on Instagram, because I just know it said Steve equals a Miles Garrett fan only because of the stuff you were talking about. talking about DJ. Yeah, this did this.

Steve: The Browns have the same problem with Miles. Miles Garrett. They spend way too much money on that guy. And they spend way too much money on a quarterback who was an elite, which is a much more horrible problem to have. Because now you got 30 million tied up in a guy who is good as Joe Flacco. And you just paid him a million dollars to play five games and he won four of them.

Chris: How about that Joe Flacco explosion? How about that? I didn't see that coming. I didn't think he was going to. We knew it was going to run its course. I'm the only one that let's get, let's go over our picks real quick from, from this past week. Browns and Texans, Mark and Steve took the Texans. I took the Browns. Dolphins and Chiefs, Chris and Steve took the Dolphins. So I don't feel quite as dumb. Mark took the Chiefs. I took the Steelers and you guys took the Bills. Mark took the Packers. Mark took the Packers.

Steve: Yeah, he did. He hates Dallas. He hates Dallas more than any of us. I know.

Chris: Which is pretty bad because he took the damn Packers. Yeah. Seriously.

Marc: Yeah. I'll tell you, I'll tell you what, though.

Chris: Do you have a fan dual account, Schwab?

Marc: I do. You should. That was a brilliant, that was a brilliant coaching strategy by LaFleur to take the ball first, put the pressure on Dallas, And they couldn't respond with that pressure on them.

Steve: No, what LaFleur did was absolute brilliance. And that should be put up as the gold standard on how to make underdogs believe in themselves, because that's exactly what he said. He's like, guys, we're going to go out there and lose thirty five to ten. I think that was my prediction. Nobody believes in you, but you know what? I believe in you and we can do this. And in order to get it done, I'm going to say when we win that toss, we're taking a ball and when it's going down their throats and you know what? That only works. if they could actually do it. It only works if they it only works. It only works if they can do it. But he had he had. And did you see did you see that Dallas team in the first half? Did they not look like they were stoned or or high or like taking acid or something?

Marc: They were they were like what? They were not even they didn't even show up. and

Chris: That for as a former Commander's Redskins fan, I can tell you that face is the face of every Redskins fan for the last 23 years. So I'm very used to that face, to be honest with you. All right. Well, listen, man, I think, you know, it was good to have playoff football again. The Steelers organization achieved their goal and made it to the playoffs to provide us all another heartbreaking loss.

Marc: Because once you're in, you never know what can happen.

Steve: Can I ask you guys a serious question? Yes. If Mike Tomlin has a losing record in the playoffs, does that still mean he's never had a losing season?

Marc: That's a great question, actually. Does he have a losing record in the playoffs?

Steve: Yes. He's now like five and seven. He needed to win this same game to get the 500.

Chris: What's up, Jeff? Jeff Pauls from York PA.

Steve: Now he's five and seven in the playoffs.

Marc: And how many of those… Mike's right about Jerry Jones, by the way.

SPEAKER_01: How many losses in a row is that, Steve?

Marc: How many? How many in a row?

Steve: Five in a row. One, two, three, four. Well, five, if you include the AFC divisional championship game against the Patriots, it's five in a row.

Marc: And I'm counting it because so we started so we started five and two and now it's five and seven. That's right. OK, well, and actually most of the five were like in his first or second year, right?

Steve: Well, right, because they went to the championship game that year and then the other games before that, they won the Super Bowl. Right. Yeah. And they lost.

Chris: They're not going to fire Tomlin. He's got one year left on his contract. All kinds of rumors.

Marc: You know, it's up to him, Chris.

Steve: Yeah, Chris, it's it's not up to the Steelers. It's up to Mike Tomlin. If he wants to, if he can come back, he needs to consult with his family. He needs to consult with his friends. And then he'll get back to the Steelers about it.

Chris: So what do you think?

Steve: You think he needs to prey on it a little bit? Oh, he'll do that. He's a spiritual guy. I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't doubt that he'll do that. But the reality is it should not be up to him. But the reality is it is up to him.

Chris: a

Steve: But if they do extend him even a year, they're going to get ridiculed for extending him after having, we just said it, five playoff losses in a row and now a five and seven record in a career in a playoffs, which he started off being incredible. Mean there's no win for the Steelers The Steelers top-notch people on this one. I I don't envy them But I'm glad it's finally turning the screws to them because we've been feeling it for some time down here in the trenches The trenches.

Marc: All right, guys I am off to watch the final playoff game of this wild card weekend But it's not the weekend super wild card.

Chris: It was a holiday swabber today was a holiday. I

Marc: I know. I celebrate it.

Chris: Absolutely. DG says good luck to Mark's Eagles. The Eagles are so much better than the Bucks. Hopefully they'll show up in force. We shall see Jeff Paul shows up. Mark says go Baker. That's Jeff. Typical York stuff. Alright Schwab. You have a good one. Go birds. See you Mark.

Steve: I'll tell you where do we go from here?

Chris: Well, I'll tell you what you know this is tough. Will will obviously will be back next Monday night to talk about the aftermath. the press conferences. Did you see how George, how pissed off George Pickens was on the sideline after that interference call? I thought, Oh my God, we're going to have an incident.

Steve: I didn't see that, but you know what? I think the NFL shot him.

Chris: He threw his helmet against the bench. It was so mad. Yeah. He was so mad.

Steve: I think I think the NFL has a problem. I mean, I thought it was prevalent in that Kansas City game. All these players. Oh, my God. That was a penalty. That was a penalty. It's like, yeah, everybody's clamoring for a penalty. It's like they should say, if you're clamoring for a penalty, that's a penalty.

Chris: Yeah. There's your penalty.

Steve: Here, you want a penalty? It's on you for being a dumbass.

Chris: Well, it's an old school thing, dude. I know. Every time they celebrate a first down, every time they celebrate everything they do, I'm just reminded of the Jerry Rices and You know, the art, Mary Sanders and the Barry Sanders and the guys and the even the Emmett Smith, you know, he's always gave the ball back to the ref after he's right to the ref. Right.

Steve: So that's, you know, that I just don't understand, like, you know, they think in the refs, I think called a terrible game. Part of the problem is the refs are intimidated by these guys on the field.

Chris: I don't know. Maybe they are. I don't I don't know about that.

Steve: I mean, how many times how many times 10 years ago, if you're watching an NFL game, would you see the refs get together to to talk about the play and make sure that they got it right?

Chris: OK, we're looking at this place here. What do you what do you see there? Oh, you know what's happened. Oh, he left his camera on, but the door is cracked.

Steve: Yeah. So you can only see like into his hallway. I think it's fairly dangerous to.

Chris: No, I don't think so at all. I don't think anything crazy goes on there. I think funny things like nachos walking past the door and stuff.

Steve: All right. Well, leave it on. Maybe we'll see some nachos. Nothing funnier than a walking nachos.

Chris: It's a good thing the pens won or steve would be in more of a rare form. That's what dg is saying. Um I guess I guess somebody somebody said i'm a miles garrett fan.

Steve: I don't even know where that came. I must be in rare form.

Chris: Yeah, well Oh, oh, oh mark's gonna shut off the camera now. What are you doing, man?

Steve: What are you doing?

Chris: What are you doing? You forgot to shut off your camera He's look look at him. He can't figure out how to shut off the camera. This is so funny

Steve: This is one of our more classic moments. This really belongs in the hall of fame.

Chris: He's very intent on trying to find the off button mark.

Steve: It's the button on the right.

Chris: Click. This is crazy. You're crazy. That's so funny.

Steve: Come on, Mark. You can do it. Click.

Chris: You can do it, Mark. Come on, Mark. Everything will be okay.

Steve: Don't worry. Round of applause for Mark. He finally figured out how to turn off his camera.

Chris: Now and now he knows Now he understands what the technical director has to go through.

Steve: It's a constant We were just let you have it right before I know on the show too.

Chris: I know it's a constant battle It's like where is that? What the hell who how does this why? And where and what if and last time like that's all I do all day long all night. Well, you know in my dreams Uh, you want to get a little hj in there or you you kind of you're out of it because you did now Here's the one thing that I do need.

Steve: I already did my hockey jesus.

Chris: I know that's what that's what I was going to say I'm i'm going to I want to remind everybody of this. Uh right here And that is that the hockey jesus preaches on the podcast which is on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcasts after every single Penguins game. So it's Hockey Jesus. It's the sports sports podcast. But right after the Penguins game, you hop on the sports sports podcast, anywhere you get your podcast and Hockey Jesus is going to give you a good rant. If the pens lose, he's going to, you know, he's going to pray with you for the power play gods to turn this power play around so they can make the playoffs. I know Sid scored a goal tonight, right?

Steve: Before we get to the hockey, Jesus. Mark knows that we laugh at him, even on camera and off camera.

Chris: But thank you for telling him. Yeah. And 35 years. I mean, we've been laughing at him for 35 years. Most of that time behind his back, too.

Steve: So, you know, probably a good half of the time. Yeah.

Chris: I mean, you know, so 51-49, is that still most?

Steve: Yes. Yes, it is, Chris.

Chris: Yes, it is. Thank you, Steve.

Steve: Yes. Tonight, Sid did score a goal, actually scored two goals tonight, and he scored an empty netter. So is that really a goal? Yes, it's really a goal, but it's he did score two, but he didn't get the first. The second line got on the board first in the second period. Oh, excuse me. Must be those nachos that Mark never brought me.

Chris: The space there where they should be.

Steve: Yeah, where they should be, right? Yeah. No, DOC was playing up on the second line with Gino and they got some chemistry up there on the second line. I'm surprised that that can happen.

Chris: Hey, what's the sticker on that hydro flask, Steve, our buddy?

Steve: Come on. There it is. Yeah. It's actually one of those reflector stickers. So if I went outside and went like this and somebody shined a light at me, it would reflect right back in your eyes.

Chris: Oh, it's like the bat signal, but it's a penguin, but it's a penguin signal.

Steve: Yeah. So if you ever need the hockey Jesus, you know, just shine your light and look up in the sky and there'll be the penguin.

Chris: Shining light on me.

Steve: No, no, no, no. We're not singing tonight. We're talking about the Penguins. So the Pens win. It's actually their first game in the second half, technically, because the All-Star game is this week. I don't even know what day the All-Star game is. My guess is it's Thursday. Why they would have it on the Thursday probably only makes sense because it may be the only game day that there's no NFL football games on.

Chris: Why, why, why do I feel it's somewhere in the future and it could be way off. Yeah. It's going to be NFL football 365 days a year.

Steve: Well, I mean, you saw the XFL and the USFL merge. So now they have one, one team, one division, whatever.

Chris: I love the UFL. I love the, I love the promo that I see on TV with, I don't know if it's Colin Hurd or one of these sports guys going, this is going to be a merger of two of the greatest spring leads of all time. And I'm thinking this is a merger of two of the only spring leagues of all time. I mean, come on. I could start the Monroeville Football League, the MFL, and be like, this is the greatest local professional football league of all time. It's got one team. We win every friggin' game. You know? I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_01: Jesus.

Chris: How much football can that… Like, I love football. I love football. I live for these 24 weeks or whatever it is.

Steve: Love it too.

Chris: Absolutely. Enjoy it like crazy. I am an NFL fan. I'm not a college fan. And the only reason I'm not a college fan is because to me, there was already a lot of turnover on college teams. And when I grew up in the 70s, 80s, whatever, You know, rooting for pro teams gave me like a hero, like a Cal Ripken, like a player in a team that stuck together. And to me, it was like college guys after three years, they go into the draft or they transfer. So I just could never associate or identify with a team like that long term. So I have nothing against college football. So I love professional sports, but I can't buy into this. Like I would never watch. And I know there are a lot of people that do. Don't get me wrong. And there's nothing wrong with it at all. But I would never watch minor league baseball on television. Well, I just wouldn't now. And there are lots of people that don't. Right. But there are a lot of local people that go to the games, you know, so. I don't know why they're hyping this, this, this marketing stuff tells them their demographic studies tell them that millennials and younger are into this. In which case I get it. So you tell me your answer, Steve.

Steve: There are two things. And then I want to, I want to talk to Mike Lawrence's point about the peacock.

Chris: Yeah, I've got something to say about that.

Steve: I got a peacock that's not happy about that. But the point is, dude, the NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry, perhaps the only one in the USA, right? Right. They want to branch out into Europe and eventually into probably Tokyo or the Far East, somewhere in China, something like that, right?

Chris: You think maybe Afghanistan?

Steve: I mean, not not not not in our life.

Chris: You talk about weather and home field advantage. You start playing football in Afghanistan.

Steve: Yeah, there would be other delays that you probably would have to factor into that. So they're probably a ways away from Afghanistan. But to get to Europe, they're really close because they already play some NFL games. Yeah. So I think what they're going to do is some of these some of these teams that you see in the spring will be in in that area. So it's a test market for that area, for the NFL. And they're basically saying, if you take one of these teams, then you'll be in running. So when we go international, your team will get there. And that's where it's going. Right.

Chris: That's absolutely where it's going. They had the World League of Football.

Steve: No, no, no, no, no. This is different. This is entirely run by the NFL dude. Those were competing leagues against the NFL. This is the NFL establishing its dominance over football 24-7, 365. That's where they want to go. And here's the problem. The problem is they do things like Peacock. And that's why I wanted to get this comment up here.

Chris: Why is the NFL doing a playoff game on Peacock? Are they going to make us pay for playoff games in the future? Greedy bastards. Listen, before you say just did make some people pay for the most watched streaming event ever.

Steve: Well, right.

Chris: And how do you know that they were doing?

Steve: Yeah, exactly. That's why they did it. Because you know why? The most watched streaming service before that was probably Mr. Beast doing some fun thing with some people that got like a couple million views. When they know if you put a playoff game on just exclusively on TikTok, that they're going to get at least 10, 15, maybe 20 million. They had 33 million. They shatter it. They shatter it. And that's why they did it. And they also did it because Peacock is a shitty platform and doesn't have anything to offer. So what did they do? They said, hey, buy it for a year for thirty dollars and it's really cheap. And this is the only time we're going to offer it is right now. And you know what a lot of people did? They gave him the double bullets and they said, no way. I'm just going to stream it how I normally stream it. You don't need to know how I do that. And that's what a lot of people did. But still, if they got thirty three million on their peacock, that's a total win for them. And expect more of it in the future. I bet in the future they're going to start with the Super Bowl and they're going to make it pay per view.

Chris: Who said who says that it doesn't pay to be cocky?

Steve: Hey, it pays. They're a billion dollar industry, but they're, they're, they're absolutely going to reach a point where they're going to jump the shark. They're going to do something really dumb. I thought this was dumb, but not really.

Chris: It's a network streaming service and you and I grew up on the networks. Okay.

Steve: So listen, I, I, I, here's something you only hear. Right here on the porch, I'm breaking this. I bet you, I don't have proof, but I bet you Taylor Swift got involved with the NFL in Kansas City. And Kansas City was the game that they picked for a reason. Because they knew that they would get non-football players to also pay for the service, just so they get a chance to see some Swifties, see their Taylor Swift doing that, whatever. Dance that goes like this and that I bet you That that is the absolute reason they're trying to pump up their shitty platforms with a with a brand that works And you know who else has been doing that espn and they've been failing lately So peacock better watch out and they better learn from what? Because that is a dangerous road my friends a dangerous road

Chris: So is some of the love dust from Taylor Swift wearing off now, Steve?

Steve: Oh, no, I still love Taylor Swift, but let's make sure we get that out there.

Chris: You've pretty much ruined any chance we ever have of having a show on Peacock, no matter what they pay. OK, so you've blown that for us.

Steve: Well, trust me, I don't think I don't think Peacock is the one we have to worry about because I don't think they're going to be around much.

Chris: to be honest

Steve: As far as Taylor Swift and my love for Taylor Swift goes, I still am madly in love with Swifties because I think they're some of the greatest people on the earth. However, I do absolutely believe that this not quite a marriage yet, but this relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is more in-depth than I thought. It's an arranged marriage. But I believe it is an arranged marriage. I agree. And I think at some point down the road, it's going to fail. And I just find it very interesting that Taylor Swift doesn't have the Super Bowl blocked out in her plans. She already has a her tour starting over in Tokyo before the Super Bowl starts. So if you Kansas City fans thinks you're going to the Super Bowl, I don't think so. I think Taylor Swift is already put that little that little nugget out there that says Easter egg. I've already booked my tour in Tokyo, and it's before the Kansas City Chiefs get to the Super Bowl. So I don't know. It's going to be hard. I think it's going to be hard sledding for Kansas City and Buffalo next week. Script that way. Script. There you go.

Chris: You know, last night in that game last night on Pete, was it the game on Peacock last night?

Steve: No, no. Yeah. No, no.

Chris: Last night was Sunday Night Football. Mike Tirico. He let it slip. The NFL has a script twice.

Steve: Oh, yeah. No, he said it on purpose. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, he said it on purpose. Now, now you can't write. I think he was saying, like, you can't write.

Chris: He said, talk about talk about a script in the NFL. He said there's talk about a script in the NFL. So he's acknowledging that people are out there and it's more mainstream that they like it. He said you couldn't write a script any better than this. Talk about a script in the NFL. You couldn't write a script any better than this. And then he said something else later in the broadcast about the script again. Now, full disclosure here, guys, we make fun of the script. We do. We love it. We're not. We're not script conspiracy theorists, although everybody that watches knows that I am a huge conspiracy theorist. But on this, I'm actually funny things on this. I'm a little bit like more like 50 50. So, yeah, and Pat on track. He's watching on LinkedIn. So, hey, listen, man, you know, what's crazy is that we're going to have to we're going to have to do a small segment this week and pick this weekend's playoff games. Oh, yeah, we will. We're going to have to do that. So maybe we can punch that up like tomorrow night or the next night or the next night or something like that.

Steve: Wednesday's better for me. But yeah, definitely.

Chris: Because at this point right now, I guess I just got to go.

Steve: Hey, by the way, congratulations, Patrick Donovan, and your Buffalo Bills beat.

Chris: Absolutely. Pat on track.

Steve: Take out those cheese for us and take the Swifties with you.

Chris: Yep. You got it. You got it. Hey, listen, guys, thanks for watching the Sports Porch. I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show. The Sports Porch podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. Good night, Jeff Paulus. And of course, you can catch us on theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com.

Steve: ThePorchIsLive.com. And don't forget this week I will be putting out a mid-season spectacular on the Hockey Jesus.

Chris: That's it. I am your technical director. And I am out.