Steelers to the Super Bowl? Not so fast!

Chris:
Oh yes, it is that time again. It is time for the Sports Porch Black and Gold from Pittsburgh. I am your technical director. This is the Grand Swap Beanie to my right. You are now watching all over the world if you're watching us live on Facebook, LinkedIn X, and the Gram in the house. Welcome to the porch. I'm going to drop this podcast right after the show. That's right. Right after the show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Then there's one more place. You can always catch us live. You can listen. If you want on radio PGH. I'm going to put that stream right in the comments. Don't worry about that link, guys. That's just a link to the stream on Radio PGH. You can carry it with you. Listen, that's our sister radio station we have here in Pittsburgh. Grant Schwabini, how are you?

Marc: I'm doing well. It's a victory Monday.

Chris: It is a victory Monday. It's a big victory Monday, actually. Yes. Huge. It's a huge victory. Huge. I don't know what you're thinking. I said the Steelers, they're a good team. They're a good team. They got good players. They got a good coach. It's huge. How do you feel about that? not good. And if you watch our show on a regular basis or you listen you'll notice that there is someone missing and that is of course Hockey Jesus now. He's missing for a good reason because Hockey Jesus is actually holding a sermon down at PPG Paints Arena tonight. He is. It's not working well, though.

Marc: What is the score? The score is currently three nothing stars over the Penguins. Seven minutes left in the first. OK, you know, it looks like some some boys. I don't know what to tell you. The boys for the Penguins did not take communion.

Chris: Well, what we're going to do is we're thinking that Hockey Jesus may actually make an appearance during the game to give us an update. But if Hockey Jesus is watching, I want to encourage him to actually call us. Just give my cell phone a call because we can bring him in that way as opposed to video. Yeah, it's probably the better way. So I'm going to make sure that we got the phone all set up and ready to go here. Hey, you know, let's just get right into it. You know, we're going to talk Steelers, of course. That's the big story in town right now. Awesome game yesterday. Excellent game. We're going to do our NFL predictions. We sure are. We've got a little Trader Joe's snack time coming. We sure do. Yeah, we got a little bit of what we're watching. And we have that as well. Yeah, and we've got so much for you folks. Yeah, we do. I'm not sure that I might have to work on the what we're watching while you're talking because I got some of it in but not all of it in our show prep here. That's okay. Yeah, okay. Uh, anyway, so let, let's go to the Steelers man, big victory, 28 to 27 over the Redskins or the commanders. I will, everybody knows I will always call them the Redskins. I don't really care if you're offended. That was the team I grew up with. I no longer love them because they changed the name, but it was good to watch the game. Now that's another story. That is another story. Steve did call hockey. Jesus called it 17 to 10 Steelers. Uh, you called it 23 to 20 Steelers a little closer and I of course the homer that I am picked the commanders to win 19 to 17. I don't even know why I did that. But that being said, um, there's a lot of talk around this town now. I know, I know. Superbowl or bust for the Steelers. Pump the brakes. Let's talk about this win first. Yes, I would pump the brakes on that. I would too, but let's go good, bad, ugly. We're going to start with you. You do the good. What was your good from this game?

Marc: My good from this game was Russell Wilson continues to play at a high level. I don't know that the completions were great or the yards were great, but three touchdowns, one interception is very good. Including, you know, the deep bomb to Mike Williams to win the game late in the game. So, Russell Wilson being 3-0 as a starter and just looking like he has complete command of the offense. Um, is just a great sign. I mean, the bottom line is, is that the Steelers haven't really had an offense they could be happy with for a few years now. Right. And, and really even this year, uh, up until the point when, uh, Russ took over. So, you know, look, they, they finally have a quarterback right now. Yes, it's true. They finally have a quarterback. So, um, you know, certainly project for the trajectory is going up.

Chris: So your good is once again Russell Wilson, third game in a row looking like a real quarterback. Yes. My good is the fact that near the end of the game, when the Steelers have historically, first of all, let me tell you, this was the most entertaining game, Steelers game, and actually football game, one of the most, most entertaining Steelers game I have watched, I think, in the last two and a half years. Okay. The good for me was at the end of the game, when all they had to do was get a few more yards to seal up a field goal to take a two-point lead, which would then have left the commanders the opportunity to do the same. Instead of playing the same old Steelers football we've gotten used to, playing it conservatively, they took the reins off of Russ, they gave him the show, and they said, win it. And he threw a perfect ball to the newly acquired Mike Williams, who, if you listen to any of the interviews last week, said one of the things that he liked and appreciated about Russell Wilson, besides his leadership and his pedigree, was the ball that he throws, the moon ball. And wouldn't you know it, he put it right on the money. One of the most exciting, the most exciting play we've seen all year. George Pickens had a great game, incredible touchdown catch to start the game.

Marc: Yes, I thought that was for me, that was the highlight of the game.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, that was that was the highlight catch of the game. But the good, the real good in the game was the fact that the Steelers, they went out to win this game. And they did it. They played aggressive. Yes. Yes. So, um, you guys out there watching and listening, good, bad, ugly, official OC on Instagram says TD, your description of Russell Wilson was spot on. He's a professional QB. There you go. That, that, that's both of us feel that way. Um, OC. So, um, was there any bad in this game? There's always bad. Absolutely.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. Um, cause look, let's also, let's also pump the brakes here. Like, Look, great win against a good football team. But let's also realize, you know, player two goes the other way, they lose this game. So it's not like, you know, if they would have came out and just demolished the commanders, I would say, wow, okay, now we might really have something here. To me, this was the trajectory is moving up. We're moving in a good direction. There were some bad things, and I can think of two, but I'll save one for the ugly. So the bad, Joey Porter Jr. was awful yesterday. He was just terrible. You know, that first holding call where he basically held the guys armed against his body for like a full 25 yards was pretty terrible. I've always said that he is very handsy. Yes. But to this point, he's kind of gotten away where they haven't really called him too much on it. Right. But if you want to look for it, it's certainly there. So I thought that Terry McLaren, one of the best receivers in the league, had his way with Joey Porter yesterday. And I also sort of felt like mentally, I don't think that Joey Porter had a great game. I think that the penalties sort of frustrated him and took him off his game a little bit. So, you know, look, a lot of people will say, and you know, our man, Hockey Jesus, believes that Joey Porter is a shutdown. I don't see that at all. I see Joey Porter as a good corner. I see him as a big play corner. but I don't see him as a great corner. I just, I see him as just a good, solid corner.

Chris: Yeah. And I, I think that, um, the bad in this game, man, it's, it's, it's hard to find bad, but I think our, our, other than Patrick Queen, who you could actually, I mean, if it wasn't for the, the phenomenal play of, of, uh, Williams on that one play and then George Pickens, uh, you know, and Russell Wilson. You could say that Patrick Queen kind of found his stride in the defense. Yeah, he had his best game as a Steeler. Absolutely. It's hard for me to find the bad in this game except for the fact that the Steelers' linebacking core was kind of exposed, and I had talked about this a little bit last week. If you hear that squeaking in the background, guys, that's my dog Sassy. She's playing with her squeak toy. You know, I think their linebacking core was exposed as far as the Redskins or the commanders seem to exploit the middle of the field. And that's where they seem to pick up some of the yards. Scary Terry on those slant patterns. They just don't have the speed that they need all the time to cover that. But overall, I thought what happened was, once again, you have a situation in which T.J. Wan is double teamed the whole game. He's chipped or he's double teamed the whole game, and he shows up at the end. He does, but you know, Cam Hayward shows up at the end.

Marc: He does. You know, the interesting thing, though, is I always kind of wonder, like, so if you're the commanders, why do you chip them the whole game and render him, you know, harmless the whole game and then decide when the game's on the line not to chip.

Chris: I that that befuddles me. It seems to happen a lot of defense or a lot of offenses do that to a lot of great pass rushers. And I think it's more of a play calling thing.

Marc: Yeah, I think it's you know what I think it is. I think it's desperation on the offense's part. They think they got to send the tight end out. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, but yeah, it doesn't usually end up well when you don't double cover T.J. Watt.

Chris: So, Mike Lawrence is back with us again, watching on Facebook. Mike, thanks a lot for being here. Great win, he says. Our secondary is still kind of porous. Joey Porter had a bad game. He got torched and had at least three penalties. Broderick Jones had some holds, too, I think, as well. And he also follows that up by saying he doesn't really want to whine about the refs, but they missed some calls holding on the field goal kick. A couple of face masks they missed. That seems to be happening more and more in every single game. I, I don't like to, I don't like to call out the refs. Not, not that you, not that you're not making a good point, Martin, Mike, you really are. But I don't like to call out the refs unless it's like the end of that Packers game, the Vikings game where it's like, man, they yanked him by the face mask and that made the difference. But, but I think, I think the bad from that game for me was that was that, um, let's go to the ugly for you.

Marc: Okay. The ugly. It's easy. It's easy. That fake punt. That fake punt was horrible. Now, let me tell you. Okay, first of all, I get it. It completely worked. The guy just dropped the ball. Right. Okay? Right. Okay, so it did completely work. The guy just dropped the ball. However, totally unnecessary. You know, you've got a seven to nothing lead, and you try that, like, what, on your own 20-yard line. The risk is part of the decision-making process. And so you didn't counter in the risk, which basically came to be, and you handed the Redskins the commander's momentum by just serving them up a touchdown on a platter, turning it into a 7-7 game. Now look, I have no problem if you make that play at the 50-yard line. Right, right. Still a surprise. Nobody's expecting it, you know, or even at your own 45, but not that far back and so early in the game. That's just dumb. And you know, and you know what that kind of tells me? That tells me it was just something scares me a little bit. You know, if you're a Steeler fan, You know, be a little scared about, they're really feeling themselves on the special teams. And they should, because the special teams have been phenomenal this year. They've blocked a bunch of kicks and ran back a kick for a touchdown. You know, great, bravo. But you know what? Most of the time, most of the time, The special teams don't win or lose you the games most of the time. Right. So let's not just get cute with it and think we can do whatever we want because we have the best special teams in the league.

Chris: Yeah, I do agree with you 100 percent. They're the doctors in the house. CDC says give some leadership credit survived a trap game. Nice job there. While losing the turnover batter. Yeah. And we're going to we're going to go there. But I'm going to hop on that train with you. My ugly. I'm going to talk about the punt. the fake punt and then I'll go to my ugly because that wasn't my ugly. But there was absolutely no reason to do that then. Now I did go back and listen to a lot of the interviews afterwards. This was a play that they had planned to, they were going to, they were going to, they were going to call this play all week. They practiced it all week. I heard he also never dropped the ball.

Marc: Never dropped the ball. Right. But he's a safety. Yeah. But he's a safety cause he's not a receiver. He doesn't catch the ball.

Chris: Right, but my thought process went to, okay, you plan to incorporate this in there. When you call this play, not only do I agree with you completely about the field position where you call this play, But I also agree with when you called it. This is a play that you call in the third quarter when you're down by a score or you're up by three points and you catch them totally off guard. And you do it if you're on your 45 or right outside of field goal range. And to call that play so early in the game literally took all of the momentum out of the Steelers because they had, they had gone ahead seven to nothing. And, and I was thinking at that point, Oh, wow, they might handle this game pretty well. Commanders come right back down the field, well, 15 yards or whatever they had to go and they score a touchdown. Right. So I think that, you know, that, that for your ugly, I get it. I don't think that was the ugly though. Okay. I think another ugly. uh cd says uh agreed they did need to pull that trigger early uh brad tromley says good evening guys what's up brad uh and i'll tell you what do we want to break and bring hockey jesus into the in here because it looks like he's in from the game so we're going to move on real quick here because we don't know how long we're going to have him we're going to bring hockey jesus right now

Steve: it's six nothing hockey jesus i think it's bad here there you should be here i almost saw three fights and i was think i was in one of them number 71 is deacon jelly i'm not lying either so for those of you for those of you who are uh

Chris: I would certainly say if you take your eyes off the ice, that's a better situation. you. You can follow on YouTube at the school. Later on he's down PPG paints arena we weren't sure the signal he was going to get on the spot so now he's trying to get. The PPG paints where there's

Steve: No, I came into the hallway. Look. I'm going to hang out by the 70's.

Chris: We were in the middle of our good, bad, ugly for the Steelers game. We've done the good and the bad for all of us. I didn't do my ugly. Let's just get your ugly from the game, because we all know it was a great game. Do you have any ugly from the Steelers game?

Steve: Ugly from the Steelers game? Yeah, I mean, granted, it was the punt. I mean, I like the fact that they tried it. I hate the fact that it didn't work. So it was still all around ugly.

Marc: Yeah, I think the bottom line is, yes, I do get it that they practiced it all week, and it was working all week. And it actually should have worked if he caught the ball. It would have worked if he caught the ball, yeah. But at the time of the game, with the field position that they had, The risk versus reward was so lopsided, and the risk happened, which is… Yeah, you weren't down.

Steve: You weren't down. You were winning 7-0, but just everything about it. They were on this 16-yard line. That's just ugly. That's just ugly.

Chris: Hey, H.J., just want to let you know Brad Trombley is in the house. Say hi to Brad.

Steve: Yeah, Brad texted me, and he said, what the hell is going on? I said, hey, I'll be on the porch, so I'll join you there.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, he said taking a break from the disaster six to nothing. So yeah, I want to go to my ugly because I had the same feeling about the punt. They practice it all week. I'm not going to repeat myself, but I would have waited until later in the game a much more opportunity time, opportune time to do that. As far as my ugly, my ugly was actually Joey Porter. because I think that I hesitate to use this phrase or to use this term because I know there's a lot of people in Steelers Nation who just absolutely love this guy, Hockey Jesus being one of them, calling him a shutdown corner. But from what I saw in that game yesterday, I think he's got a lot to learn in the NFL about how he uses his hands. Because when you say he's handsy, I say he's a mugger. I mean, he pushed that guy down. He held McLaren back, kept his arm all over him. And I think as he, you know, you're not going to do that to Jamar Chase and get away with it. And they still have to play two games against him. And I understand if it's part of your game. But that's something that can be coached out. I mean, he's got the speed. He's got the size. And like you said, he can be a big play corner. But listen, one big play a game and three holding penalties, you're still going to come out on the negative side of that. So for me, the ugly was Joey Porter's play. Now H.A. is going to disagree with me. He's already shaking his head.

Steve: Yeah, I mean, that's just stupid.

Marc: I just said Joey Putter is the bad, not the ugly. That's just stupid.

Steve: Why? He had a bad series, but it wasn't ugly. You want to play like that, you got to play physical as a cornerback. I mean, he just got caught three times and actually the third time that face mask, that was a bunch of bullshit. That face mask wasn't really even a face mask.

Chris: Well, I mean, you know, this harkens me back to something that's a little more serious subject. I was talking to a friend of mine who had a substance abuse problem and basically, you know, when you're drinking, many people in the recovery phase of their lives say, I didn't get caught for two DUIs. You know, I got caught for two DUIs. I actually had thousands of them. So what I'm saying is that he had a bad series, he got caught for two really pretty mugging-type penalties, but he plays that way all the time.

Marc: Here comes another to flinch. Man, Yin's guy's tough on JPJ. If he is allowed to be handsy, he becomes elite. That's the game. I don't know about that. I think Steve Hockey Jesus agrees with that, am I right?

Steve: I'm not even going to talk about this because you guys are so wrong on it. I just want to move on to hockey.

Chris: Okay, because we're going to finish up on our Steelers stuff after you leave and do our NFL predictions. We got yours on the text, so we'll be good for that. So give us your- We got mine, yeah. Yeah, we got yours. So are we going to have an H.J. after the game? Because if that's the case, then we'll just let you go because you're getting kind of choppy here.

Steve: Yeah, we are, but just let me give you the bottom line with tonight so far in the first period. Okay? Okay. Six goals. It's probably the worst period I've seen a Pittsburgh Penguins team play since maybe 1991. when they were post Mario and Kovalev was their guy. And I think they had Rico Fata is maybe the top line center. It's really bad out there today. And then the biggest problem is nobody is sticking up for anybody. And I expect this game to end up like 11 to 1. All right, well. It's going to get worse. Sorry, Brad. I know that's not what you wanted to hear. But it's going to get worse before it gets better. And I had hopes that they would do something. But this team does not have it, dude. This team is just, and that's where they're going to be headed.

Chris: All right, well, Hockey Jesus, we'll look forward to your podcast after the game. After the game tonight, you can find Hockey Jesus at the Sports Sports Podcast on YouTube. Or, of course, you can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. So, H.J., we're going to move on. Thanks for checking in. Later, brothers. See you. Have a good show. Hey, let's go, Pens. He's out here. He's gone. He's just like, I'm I'm I'm out of here.

Marc: I'm out of here. Amy May chimes in. I do not think he is elite. She's talking, of course, about JPJ. Yeah. He has been too handsy for weeks. Yeah, I.

Chris: I mean, he got a lot of hype because of his pedigree. He was always known as kind of a contact type of guy at Penn State. And the NFL is different. And I think maybe his rookie year, I don't want to say he was given a break, but I don't think they were really watching him too much. They weren't. And I think now it's, it's, let's wait and see. I'm not judging the guy. I think he could be great.

Marc: No, I mean, I, I just, you know, to be honest though, one thing I would say with, with JPJ, which, which I think is important, you know, for him and for, the team is they need to teach him how to be physical while being less handsy. Right. You know, because if they can do that, then they might have a special player. Right. You know, the reality is, is those are skills that can be taught. Right. You don't want to just you know, say, go out and do your thing and be physical, because that's what he's doing now. And once you're playing against top ten receivers, they're going to flag you.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Let's get let's get to some stats on the game. Russell Wilson, 14 to 28, four hundred ninety five yards, three touchdowns, one interception. Jalen Warren, 14 carries for sixty six yards. Naja, 21 for 53 with a TD. George Pickens, fantastic touchdown touchdown catch. You know, in the end zone to start the game, five catches for 91 yards, a touchdown, 18 yards per catch average. Mike Williams really is. He won catch for 32 yards with a touchdown, the winning score. You know, Calvin Austin wasn't really around. And here's one thing that I thought was really interesting that they were talking about now before the. Before this game, Mike Tomlin talked about the need to get Pat Friermuth into the offense and try to work him in more, especially, you know, in the red zone. Now, of course, he did have a touchdown, which was great, but three catches for 17 yards. That's not exactly getting him into the offense.

Marc: No, it's not. But but he was in the offense in a timely manner.

Chris: Well, right. I mean, when it counted. Yeah. I mean, I think going forward, I'd like to see them continue to expand that playbook. Five, six catches. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think you can do that. So and as far as the Mike Williams addition, one catch for 32 yards in the winning score does not mean he was necessarily the answer. Right. I told you guys before this game in our in our group text that we that's constantly a 24 hour thing. Yes, that I actually liked the move because I'll be honest. I said I didn't like them. You did say that, but I liked it because of his size. his experience and the type of ball that Russell Wilson throws is a type of ball he likes to catch. Is he a difference maker? Not in the sense that he's going to, you know, light it up with seven for 110 in a score every game, but he's definitely going to draw some attention away from George Pickens. Or because he's not double covered, he's going to be able to go up and get those 50-50 balls. And Ross, man, that throw, beautiful. He's getting crushed. He's on his back foot. He's tossing it up. I mean, things could not look better for the Steelers right now. That's my opinion. How about you?

Marc: Yeah, I mean, I agree. Yeah, you know, here's the thing, and actually, as we're saying some positive things about Mike Williams, I also want to, let's say, I hope that the Steelers also learn what doesn't work, okay? Right. Because here's the thing, whenever Russ throws up a 50-50 ball, to anyone other than Pickens or Mike Williams, basically Calvin Austin and Van Jefferson, they miss it every time.

Chris: Yeah, there was a few throws in that game to Jefferson that I questioned.

Marc: There are a few of them that, yeah, that makes sense if you're throwing to Pickens or Mike Williams. It does not make sense to throw that ball to them. So maybe we can actually learn something, too. You know what I mean? Because those are kind of wasted plays. But yeah, to be honest, maybe I was wrong on Mike Williams, we'll see. It was one catch, but it was the most important catch of the game. I just sort of felt that if Aaron Rodgers felt that he wasn't worthy of being on the field, that maybe he was done. Um, that's what you said.

Chris: Yeah, and so maybe maybe he's not or maybe maybe i'm giving aaron rogers too much credit Maybe aaron rogers is the quarterback who's done now Well, I I i've been saying that for two years ever since he went to the jets where quarterbacks go to die So I I haven't been wrong about a about that yet um Mike Lawrence chimes in. Well, let's get let's get a comment from the doctor. Williams will drop half the balls but catch ones like the game winner better throw than catch. Okay, maybe maybe not. Mike Lawrence says what about the commander's call on third and whatever I thought the runner's knee was clearly down before the line to gain Steelers get the ball back and win. I think that was one of those what the arts is. Yeah. Yeah. Near the end of the game where it was fourth down. I think that's one of those calls where there was no way to get a clear view. I think that the refs initially spotted the ball really wrong. Right. But probably about a half yard shy of where it really was. But as far as did it did it did it get those extra six inches it needed. There was no angle to overturn the call. There just wasn't.

Marc: There wasn't. I mean, you know, it was a weird play because typically what happens on that play is, you know, you catch the ball over the line. and then you come back, they always give you where you caught the ball. But this time they didn't. He caught the ball over the line, and then he went down, put a knee down, started to turn, and then they touched him, and so they spotted the ball there. Now, I actually think that's probably really the correct call, but that's sort of like the unwritten rule of the game, is you always you always spot it where he caught the ball. Right. And so they didn't give him the benefit of that doubt, which I thought was strange, but yeah, it happens.

Chris: I don't even think you could really say when he caught the ball, it was a hundred percent over the line. It looked like it was so damn close. It was just for, you know, from the angles you're getting on TV there, there was just no way. Now I, I am a proponent for putting like a sensor in the ball and along the line, cause then it's a hundred percent, you know, most of the time. But Hey, look, Steelers got a big win. What can I say? Um, Let's look forward to the Ravens game coming up. What do you see here? It's home against the Ravens Sunday at one o'clock. Huge game. I'll be at work. I can't stand that. I'm going to have to watch it after the fact.

Marc: You know, it's it's one of these games where it's weird. You know, the Steelers have sort of had Lamar Jackson's number. And honestly, I don't really know why.

Chris: Yeah Because he's so darn good.

Marc: I think it's more I think it's more in Jackson's head than the Steelers have his number Remember the game last year though where like they dropped three touchdown passes. Yes. Yeah, you know, so it's you know, sometimes it's just sort of like, you know, I fate or something. But, I don't know. The thing about the Ravens this year, obviously they're a tremendous offense, but their defense is not as good as it usually is. So, do I think the Steelers are going to put up some points on them? I do. Will it be as many points as the Ravens put up? I don't know. Um, I would kind of lean more towards the Ravens, but at the same time, you know, the, the Steelers are kind of pretty hot right now and they're probably pretty confident. So, I mean, I really think it's a pick them game. I mean, it's a toss up.

Chris: Yeah, it really is. Well, it's, it's one of those games that we've gotten used to over the years. It's a divisional game. And again, we talk about this when we talk about our friends in the NFC East. These division games in the AFC North, it doesn't matter how good or bad either team is, you can almost always bet that it's coming down to something late in the game or a mistake. So, you know, you'd be a fool not to say, look, this is going to be a close game. You know, the real question here is, will Russ be able to rise to this occasion? Because now look, he's looked, Granted, he's looked good in these three games, but he hasn't lit it up. He hasn't thrown for 350 yards, four scores. He hasn't shown himself to be the Russell Wilson of 10 years ago, but he's shown himself to be a true quarterback, which is exactly what we wanted to see when he played. You know, we could talk about the commander's game as being kind of like the coming out party for Russell Wilson, winning the game, bringing the team back, throwing that ball to Mike Williams. But the real test is now you're going to see what a Steelers-Ravens rivalry is all about, Russ, and how difficult these games can be. Can Russell Wilson show up for this game? The defense will show up. They've played this game before. Most of the players on offense, except the rookies on the offensive line, they will show up. They've played in these games.

Marc: Although they've never played against Derrick Henry.

Chris: That's not in Baltimore, but they've played against him before. So, you know, for me, the big question mark is going to be, can Russell Wilson continue his resurgence into this game i think he can because i think russell wilson is on a mission uh and and i think he is looking to prove all of his doubters wrong and through three games now three and oh thank god for justin fields leading them to a four and two start Through three games now, 3-0, he is resurging. CD says, Queen really helped with Mobile Daniels. Let's see if he can do similar with Mr. Jackson. Yeah, and here's the one… Well, Mr. Jackson is another level though. He is another level, but here's the one thing that I think people discount sometimes. Patrick Queen played for the Ravens last year. Their defense has not changed a whole lot. Their offense has not changed. Now, of course, they added Derrick Henry, so they got a big time running back, but the offense itself has not changed a whole lot. There is an advantage to having a guy like Patrick Queen in your locker room who can say, these are the signals, these are the formations. You know, you have your tape and your scouts, but he's the guy who can say, Jackson has a tendency to do this when they're going to do that. So there's a little bit of an advantage there for the defense that may help them out. I don't know what his injury status is. Did you see anything about that? Because he hurt his shoulder near the end of the game. And I didn't listen to the radio at all today. So I didn't see that.

Marc: Um, I, I, you know, I guess there's something to that. I think that is a little overrated though. You know, like you see that happen all the time where like somebody takes somebody from somebody else's practice squad the week before the game. Right. You know what I mean? Right. Right. But, uh, and I, you know, and then you watch the game and you never thought of it. Right.

Chris: Well, I don't think it's, I don't think, you know, the practice squad is different than a guy that played almost every snap and was intimate with the defense. I'm not saying it's a huge advantage. What I'm saying is it's something that's not really talked about that we don't see that during the week in preparation for the game that maybe it gives you know a certain player on the line an edge over Sunday.

Marc: Another thing also that we didn't mention was we didn't mention Highsmith's injury. Yeah. He's definitely out for two weeks. Yeah. That ankle roll looked horrible.

Chris: And that's not good. No, but Preston Smith does not have the energy that Alex Highsmith had, but he's a pro. He knows how to play the position. So that move, I think, is going to end up being good from the standpoint of depth because, of course, the Ravens are going to do the same thing to Watt that they did to him in the Commander's game. But Preston Smith is the kind of edge rusher who knows how to play the position, and he knows how to get leverage on people. I think you might actually, I don't know how much he's going to play. He played 22 snaps. Okay, so it looks like he's probably going to play a decent portion of the game next week. If he does, I think you're going to see him step up and play a pretty good game.

Marc: Or maybe not, though. Maybe he played well because he was playing as a situational pass rusher who only had 22 snaps. Maybe if he plays 45 snaps, he's gassed.

Chris: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But what you get there, though, is you do get depth and experience and he's not a bad player. I don't think they wasted anything on him. I think he's going to. Yeah, there's nothing wrong. Yeah. And if you have a healthy high Smith, he's a great he's a great guy to come in and spell it right. And her big apparently is back this week CDs filling us in on that one.

Marc: So that by the way, this is the Deontay Johnson revenge game.

Chris: Oh, yeah, there you go CD Deontay Johnson get that he's gonna he's Deontay's actually gonna score a touchdown for the Steelers Because he's going to run the ball the opposite way. That'd be a safe.

Marc: Yeah, I know. But yeah, interesting. So you could. But you could also say Deontay Johnson could tell the Ravens anything about the Steelers offense.

Chris: Yeah. And although it is different with Arthur Smith, though. Yeah, it is different with Arthur Smith. And I have no faith in Deontay Johnson whatsoever. I don't even think he remembers what their offense was.

Marc: Yeah, he's just still trying to think about running forward.

Chris: Yes, right. He's still trying to learn how to do that. So, um, okay guys, uh, sports, sports, black and gold edition. Thanks for watching. We're still, uh, we've got a few more things to talk about here. If you're watching us live every Monday night at 7 30 PM Eastern time, you're watching us on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and the gram. And of course we dropped the podcast right after the show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere. you get your frigging podcasts. And, uh, I'm going to put this comment back in there again, because we did get a couple of listeners when I put it up there before, uh, this is where you can stream radio PGH, and you can stream us live anytime, 24, seven on radio PGH at that link on any device. And you can also ask Alexa to play the sports porch, by the way. I don't think I go over that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, moving on to our NFL predictions. So, once again, I regress to the mean. Last week, Mark was 3-0. Typical. Yeah, he picked the Ravens, the Lions, and the Chiefs. I was, Steve was 2-1. He picked the Ravens, the Lions, and the, oh no, he picked the, wait a minute, he picked the Ravens, The lions and the chiefs, Steve was, was three and a three. No. Okay. I got to adjust his stuff. Um, and I was owing three. I almost, I almost called the Broncos over the chiefs, but then they blocked the field goal.

Marc: By the way, should we just take one moment also to salute the Grand Schwabini? We had made predictions on the Steelers' records prior to the season.

Chris: You're right. Yeah, let's do this.

Marc: And up until this point, where we are nine games into the season, Your Chris had the Steelers at six and three. Yeah, there's seven and two so nice job Thank you within one game Steve had the Steelers at six and three so nice job. I know why we're doing this I know why we're doing the grand Schwalbe knee He knows it exactly, 7-2.

Chris: So we'll see at the end of the season. We'll see. Because I think we all had the record getting a little bit worse by the end of the season. We did. We certainly all did. Alright, our NFL predictions this week. Mark is now at 20-7. Oh, I running away with it. Steve is at 16 and 11 and Chris, the TD is at 11 and 16. Hey, listen, I'm still within shouting. This, this season is far from over. It's far from over midway point of the season. So what do we do here? We pick three games every week. We do the Thursday night game, the Sunday night game and a pick them game on Sunday during the day. We'd love to see your picks for these games in the comments. This week, Thursday night, big game, Commanders at the Eagles. Who would have thought that this would be a pivotal game in the NFC East this year, but it's the battle for first place. Two good teams, Commanders and Eagles. Grant Schwabini, who you got?

Marc: I'll tell you what my my Negadelphia side. Yeah, it says the commanders But I think I have to pick the Eagles.

Chris: You have to the Eagles will win this game. Okay, the Grand Swabini picks The Eagles we're gonna get H J's picks in right now. He Let's see, he is picking the Eagles H J is picking the Eagles so Ah, God. I think this is, uh, I think it's the Eagles. I, I, I, I, I hate doing, I picked the commanders to win the last game, but you know, I, I, I think the Eagles are gonna, I think the Eagles are gonna win this game. I can't help myself. Let's see, who do we got in the comments here? We have, uh, uh, CDs, uh, E A G L E S Eagles. Mike Lawrence is saying the Eagles 27 to 24. It's always a close game when they play. So you could be very right about that. All right. The Sunday night game. Sunday night game this week is, who do we got? Bengals. Bengals at the Chargers. Grant Schwabini.

Marc: You know, I'm going to go Bengals here. You know, this is like season on the line for the Bengals. I realize they have no defense, but I'll tell you, man, Joe Barrow is putting up one hell of a year. He is. He's been unreal. Jamar Chase has been unreal. And I think just with your backs against the wall, I mean, they can probably only lose one more game the rest of the way. And I think they are a pretty talented team. I mean, they've lost a couple games by less than one score. So this is going to be one where I think that, you know, the ground and pound, slow, methodical charger way under Harbaugh isn't going to get it done this week. He's going to get outscored by Joe Barrow and company.

Chris: Okay, so i'm i'm uh hockey jesus is going with the bangles as well Um, i'm actually going to go now one thing about the bangles. We talked about their defense not being great. But hendrickson Is he's he's a candidate for defensive player of the year. Oh, yeah, so if he can get to herbert They're going to have a problem. Uh, however, the charges defense is really really good and they're playing in san diego They're 6-3 right now.

Marc: But I think that leads to good weather for a passing team.

Chris: I mean, they're playing in L.A. Jesus, it's the L.A. Chargers now. It would be good weather no matter what because they're playing underneath a roof. Anyway, it's at home. I've got to go with the Chargers for this game. Okay. Uh, let's see if we have a prediction coming in from the audience here. CD says chargers, sneaky, good D. That was my point. Exactly. Um, okay. The Sunday pick them game. This is a big one, man. Now I count the chiefs is not being undefeated. I'm sorry. There's just no way they blocked that field goal yesterday. There is no way they are undefeated. Look, haven't you had enough? Do you think aliens blocked the field goal? Probably. Probably. Haven't you had enough of the Chiefs?

Marc: I mean, seriously, getting every single break in the league. Look, it's the same thing that happened with Tom Brady. Now we're all sick of Patrick Mahomes.

Chris: That's true. That's true.

Marc: And getting sicker by the minute. Yeah, because it's like every single time they find a way to win. It's just so infuriating. Even though he's having a pretty bad year.

Chris: Yeah, well and go figure their defense is one of the tops in the league. My question is Patrick Mahomes with all that money and all that fame, how long do you think that marriage lasts?

Marc: Maybe it's going to last though because he's kind of been with her for a long time and you know you would think by now he would have moved on. That's just my two cents.

Chris: He has look he lives in Kansas City.

Marc: He hasn't made it out to Hollywood yet And he's also not that good-looking.

Chris: Yeah, but he's yeah, do you think that matters? 250 million dollars. No, you're not that good.

Marc: I do not think that matters if Don Zimmer Can be dating like a Russian supermodel, right? I think it doesn't matter

Chris: What about Bill Belichick? Right, right. I mean, come on, 73 and his girlfriend's like 25 or whatever. Right, right, right. I mean, it's all about the cash. It is. Sorry, ladies, but we know your game. Cold digger. I'm going to get drunk. All right. Did we did we do this game? Chiefs at Bills. All right. Chiefs at Bills. We got a couple of comments here. Mike Lawrence Chargers 30 to 20 to 17 CD. Chiefs hold their special teams when needed. Not first quarter fake, not first quarter fake punt. And my home zone's chunk of Royals while playing QB, whatever. OK, got to get that next game up there. Chiefs at the Bills. Your pick in the comments. Grant Schwabini.

Marc: I'm going to go Chiefs, and I'll tell you what I'm also going to do. I'm also going to take this moment to give you a Grand Schwabini prediction. Uh oh, here it comes. Okay, now call me crazy. Look, I only translate what gets, you know, the insights that have been dropped into my noggin from the spirits or spirits.

Chris: I think it's actually aliens, but you know, whatever.

Marc: And something has told me, and I'll just make the prediction now, the chiefs are going to repeat what the Patriots did. Really? They're going to go undefeated all the way to the Superbowl and they're going to lose the Superbowl.

Chris: That's what's going to happen. So the Grand Schwabini, as of November 11th, 2024, is predicting, because the spirits have told you this.

Marc: Yes, and it was a firm conversation.

Chris: And that the chiefs will be undefeated and lose the Super Bowl. Correct. Now have the spirits given you any idea as to who they will lose to in the Super Bowl?

Marc: It will be either the Lions, the Eagles, or the 49ers.

Chris: Oh my God. And how about the Lions? five interceptions and they win that game.

Marc: I'll tell you what, though. I mean, it's kind of a weird game because, yes, the Lions are good. But, you know, if you're an NFC team that has aspirations of making the Super Bowl, you look at that and you just say, this is a beatable team. And five interceptions? After that game, yeah. I looked it up. I don't know if anybody had ever thought about this, but I was like, what is the record for most interceptions in a game by a quarterback? And it was actually eight. And it was actually the Eagles in 1950 intercepted some guy from the Cardinals who I never heard of. Bill Hardy, the Chicago Cardinal.

Chris: That's what she said. Yeah. Bill Hardy. Yeah. For eight, eight times. Good God. And they didn't even pass that much back then. Right. So that was like every pass. Did you did you happen to look up the last time somebody threw five interceptions in a game? No, I didn't Yeah, yeah, I think I think no. No, that was touchdown passes. Well, you know what? It doesn't matter. They came back and won the game great Yeah, that's all I can say.

Marc: I saw golf like it is like, you know postgame speech and it was like we're just different man this team we're just different guys and I'm like Yeah, I mean most teams don't have a quarterback if there is five except

Chris: He's still having a great year. I mean, this just brought his year back down. I know, I know.

Marc: He is very, I mean, that's why he actually was so surprising. Yeah. He's actually been really good. Like he had one game where he was like perfect the whole game.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 15 for 15 or something like that. Very surprising. Okay. So, um, going with the Chiefs, the Grand Schwab Beanie, uh, Hockey Jesus is actually going with the Bills and I, I'm thinking this is the game that the Bills, uh, Hand the Chiefs a loss because it's in Buffalo. Josh Allen is having one hell of a year And Amari Cooper, I don't think he played in this last game If he did he was non-existent, but I don't think he played And adding him to the mix. I'm just I'm going with the bills.

Marc: I got to try to catch it I just for some reason I just feel like the bills are kind of like that team that like they'll just they'll find a way to lose it

Chris: yeah you know they might they might yeah yeah that's they'll find a way or the chiefs will find a way to win somehow right somehow uh cd so goff equals eli uh i don't know mike lawrence says bills 28 chiefs 17.

Marc: So, all right, there you have it with our… You can choose to go against the Grand Schwabini, but do so at your own peril.

Chris: Grand Schwabini, predicting the Chiefs will be undefeated and then lose the Super Bowl to either the Eagles, the Lions, or the Forty Winers. Yes. How about that? All right, Schwaber, well, listen, hey, Aki, Jesus is not here to take part in this. I am hungry. But it is. Yes. Time for Trader Joe's Snack Time.

Marc: Taste the goodness of the biscuit. I'm on my own, but I'm still bringing it for you. Taste the honey sauce. Taste the goodness of the biscuit with that honey sauce. Don't get that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: All right. This is the part of the show that Schwaber loves because he is one of the only people on the planet who I know is hungry literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 and a quarter days a year. And this is our Trader Joe's snack time. Uh, everybody knows I work at Trader Joe's, uh, and, um, they did not pay us to do this. So they're not an official sponsor of the show, but they gave me permission to do it every week. I bring home a product. From Trader Joe's, great grocery store by the way. If there's one near you, go down there and buy their food. It's great. Great place to work too. Love the people there. Love the job. And CD says honey sauce. Yes, absolutely. This week, Trader Joe's snack time is their chicken shumai. Oh my, what is chicken shumai? It says little dumplings. I'm going to try to show them to you here. They're, they're little, little dumplings. I think you can see them. And then there's a little sauce. I don't know how warm they still are Schwaber. So I'm very sorry about that. That's okay. But here's the dipping sauce. Uh, yeah. And then let's, uh, here, put that in the center.

Marc: Yeah, that's what I was.

Chris: They're still, they're a little cool, but they're cool now, but they were hot. So they were hot once ago, once ago, whatever that means a little while ago.

Marc: You think you've touched everyone by now?

SPEAKER_01: Yes. I'll tell you what though. They're good.

Marc: Have you had these before?

SPEAKER_01: I have, they would be better if they were still warm. Here, take that.

Marc: They're good.

Chris: Yeah. Chicken shumai.

Marc: I'm more of a pork shumai guy. Yeah. But, uh, but yeah, tasty.

Chris: I'm going to show everybody the box here, by the way. Trader Joe's snack time. Chicken shumai. Yeah. These are relatively inexpensive. I don't remember the price. I don't want to quote it, but, but you get, I think like 15 or 20 of them in here and you know, it's a pretty good snack. So there you go.

Marc: You have like a midday lunch.

SPEAKER_01: So would you give it a thumbs up? Thumbs up. Thumbs up for Trader Joe's Chicken Shumai and Trader Joe's Snack Time.

Chris: Delicious.

Marc: Yeah, it is delicious. It makes you want to stop the show and keep eating. Yeah. But we won't do that. No.

Chris: We're just going to keep eating.

Marc: We're going to send y'all a mid bite here. Um,

SPEAKER_01: Let's see what everybody else has to say. Let's catch up on some of these comments. Hervey Dunn is in on YouTube. Here we go, Steelers. Here we go. Thank you.

Chris: Jeff Paulus, sorry I'm late. My daughter had a Veterans Day concert, just got home. Have a good week.

SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Jeff.

Chris: Got to take that banner down. These are so good, we're just sitting here eating and chewing them and not even paying attention to what's going on. So thank you to Trader Joe's for that. Now we're going to move on to the last part of our show, what we are watching. Schwaber, you want to give us the intro for that?

Marc: Well, I think we all know that it can be really hard to choose something because there's so many different choices. I mean, you've got Netflix, Prime, Max, Apple TV Plus, Hulu, Freebie, Tubi, Bob Squab just made that one up. Right. But there's a million good one. But there's a million of them out there, and you never know what to watch. And so we see this as a service to you, so that you don't have to sit there watching trailer after trailer and never finding anything good. We will tell you if something's good. We will tell you if something is bad. We will tell you if something is in the middle. And therefore, you can make your choices with much greater confidence. There you go.

Chris: All right. this week we're going to start with the grand schwa beanie and i gotta tell you i am really psyched about this this is actually what's going to get you to get hulu back am i correct yeah well this says it's on fx but is it on hulu well it's on hulu

Marc: The Old Man? Yeah, I would assume what that means is it's already aired on FX. I think it has, yeah. And so now it's streaming on Hulu.

Chris: So it's The Old Man Season 2 on Hulu. I'll put that up there in a second. I had it on the wrong thing. So I saw The Old Man Season 1 a couple years back. Absolutely friggin' loved it. And can't wait to see Season 2. So take it away, Schwaber.

Marc: Yeah, so yeah, season one, tremendous. You know, anything that has, you know, the Middle East involved in it, I enjoy. Yeah. Like Fox News. Yeah. And, you know, but I will say this. It was, it was a, it was, If we're gonna give season one an A, I would probably give season two a B. Well, let's get the premise here.

Chris: Jeff Bridges is basically a retired CIA agent who's older, thus the old man, and he's kind of retired slash also like deep under off the grid right like he he could be used yeah so chosen by yeah and john lithgow was in season one did a fantastic job he's in it again amy brenneman was in it no she she's back she's back okay so i'll let you take it from there about season yeah so you know essentially um the other part of the story is that

Marc: Um, you know, he has, uh, the old man has raised a, uh, a daughter who has now also, um, become, you know, a CIA field operative. And, um, this part of the story kind of concentrates on, uh, her finding out who her actual father is, and then all the kinds of decisions that have to go into, you know, the, the big tumult with, you know, who she thought she was and who she now knows she really is, things of that sort. I would say this, it was, you know, I love the show. I certainly recommend you watch season two. I think it's very good. But let me just say this, strong first couple episodes on that. And that's the one thing about these things too. I think it was either eight or 10 episodes, so it's short, right? Right. Like I'd say like first three, four episodes were great. Last two episodes were great, but there was kind of like a middle part that was not that great. Right. And so therefore I much preferred season one. Um, but still very good.

Chris: Okay. Yeah. I thought Jeff Bridges was amazing. Yeah. In in season one and I and and you know, I think season one came out during the pandemic, right? I think so Yeah, and then it was like and then it was like gone and there was no news on it So when they announced season two was coming out. I was I was psyched. Do you think there's a season three on tap? Or is this one that kind of ends? No, they still could be okay. All right, so Schwaber On what we're watching the old man season 2 he's picking it up on Hulu. I want to get this comment in from Hervey Hervey Dunn on YouTube, he says, this week, football games are outstanding matchups, Steelers versus Ratbirds, Chiefs versus Bills, and Eagles versus Commanders. Can't get much better than that, honestly. You're absolutely right. That's three great games. Very true, Hervey. Starting with Thursday night. So thanks for that comment, Hervey, and thanks for watching on YouTube. Subscribe. hit your notification button. We're on every Monday night at 7 30 PM Eastern time live. And you can always listen to the podcast, catch up on the IR radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts. What we're watching for me. Once again, I go back to the well, it's a documentary. Yeah. This is Zodiac killer. Yeah. This is the Zodiac speaking on Netflix. Now listen, if your guys are age or older, Everybody pretty much knows the story of the Zodiac. So in a nutshell, a crazy serial killer on the West Coast who liked to taunt the police and the press by sending encrypted messages uh to them and and challenging them to solve the the encrypted messages uh and calling out the police and literally either bragging about the murders he committed or telling them what the murder was going to be next they essentially never found him And then there was basically this an hour and a half movie. No, it's a three series, three, three episode series. That one last week was actually a 90 minute episode. Anyway. So, um, what's fascinating about this, it's like, how many shows can you watch about the Zodiac killer? How many books can they write about it? They never found him. You know, he wrote these letters. when you watch this, what you find out is that they knew all along who he was. Really? Yes. They know they could never a hundred percent prove it, but I'm going to, I'm going to encourage you to watch it because it is, it goes back. It talks about both sides of the, um, Well, basically what it is, is that there's this family who invited, the mother invited a gentleman into their lives in the 1960s. They were fatherless. I think there were three or four kids. I can't remember exactly. And he was a teacher and he became very close with this family. And then, and it was all obviously all in the San Francisco area and a little bit closer to Southern California, mid-California, I would call it. And what happens is they interview the children of this family who knew this guy. And they piece together all these different events and coincidences and everything. And they're like, we had no idea. And then there was some funky stuff going on. I don't want to, I don't want to ruin it for people. But then you realize that A, the police had him on their radar. And they actually thought it was him. They knew who he was. And I'm not going to, well, you could, you could Google.

Marc: Is the guy dead now?

Chris: Oh yeah. He's dead. He's dead. He's been long dead, but, but they, they knew who the Zodiac was literally weeks into the investigation. really yeah and and some of the some of the uh law enforcement people that are still alive and some of the tapes they have the old one they named him really they interviewed him they accused him of it and and and he of course denied it but there's Like, in today's world, there's enough circumstantial evidence that in your mind, 100%. 100%, this guy. So this is the Zodiac speaking. One hell of a show on Netflix. It's worth it if you're into that kind of stuff. I highly recommend that you watch this. It's a quick watch. It's like three, maybe 40 minute episodes. Um, they get down to business really quick. They don't leave any stone unturned much like we don't leave any stone unturned here. Hey, and there you have it guys. Well, That's all she wrote. Looking forward to a great weekend of football. We got a big game against the Ravens. Can't wait. We've got a big Thursday night game. Can't wait. The Redbirds are coming in. I want to thank you guys, as always, for watching. If you're watching live, watching the Sports Porch Black and Gold Edition here in Pittsburgh on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and the Gram. We love our people on the Gram. We love our people on the Gram. It's great. It's great social media. Great place.

Marc: Love the Gram. It's a great place, great place to know people, to meet people, to socialize.

Chris: 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. For the Branch Walbini, I am your technical director, and I am out. Jablonski. Jablonski. Good.