Steelers Week 2

Steve:
We go away we go

Chris: Oh, yes, we are live. This is the Sports Porch Black and Gold. You are watching us live all over the world on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on X, on YouTube, and yes, on Instagram. And if you want to, you can always listen to us live on our radio station, Radio PGH. At any time, you can just listen to that. And you don't have to watch us if you don't like the way we look or anything like that. But I'm here. I'm your technical director. I'm right here. The Grand Schwabini is over there. He is coming to us remote tonight because he's got a Monday night football game he wants to pay a lot of attention to. But Hockey Jesus is in the house right over here. Yes, Hockey Jesus is in the house. And what are we going to do tonight? Well, we're going to do what we always do. We're going to talk about Pittsburgh sports and the Steelers, of course, have started 2-0. So we're going to do a little Steelers talk. That's probably one of the most important and controversial subjects we have going right We are also going to talk a little hockey because there's some big news. Everybody knows the Penguins news now, but Hockey Jesus is in the house and everybody wants to hear what Hockey Jesus has to say. Everybody wants to talk about Sydney Cross. That's right. And then I don't know if the Grand Schwabini has a prediction prepared for us tonight or not. I don't know if the universe has thrown things into his mind yet, if the current has gone in there, but maybe he does. If you need me to rub the lamp for you, Mark, I got it.

Marc: If it happens, I'll let you know.

Chris: Okay, and of course we are going to have a Trader Joe's snack time, but unfortunately I think the Grand Schwabini might have liked this one, but he decided to bag out today. Well, if it's not a corn dog, then he would have liked it. And, uh, what we're watching, we're going to do that. But first I want to remind you, if you're watching us live or you can't watch us live, if you want to listen, you can catch the sports sports podcast. We drop it after every show, right after the show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And for those of you who are unaware of it, baseball season in Pittsburgh is officially over officially. It's just officially over.

Marc: Yeah. Are they actually eliminated or not?

Steve: Yes, they are actually eliminated.

Chris: I believe so. They're 10 games out of the wild card. Yeah.

Steve: And there's only there's only like three, six, nine. There's only nine games left, I think. Yeah.

Marc: They have not been officially eliminated.

Steve: Oh, so you say we've got a chance.

Marc: Yes. And I can tell you what the percentage chances that they will make the playoffs.

Chris: Please give us that.

Marc: Let's get this over with more time. Yeah, it's less than 0.1%.

Steve: Oh, so you're saying there's still a chance? Hey, Schemes is pitching tonight. We always got a chance when he's on the mound.

Marc: Maybe if they win the Schemes game tonight, maybe it'll go up to 0.2%. Bring it back.

Chris: Bring it back.

Marc: Okay.

Chris: And one last thing before we get on the Steelers talk right now. I want to let everybody know that our Twitter handle, our X page is at the Sports Porch, numero one at the Sports Porch with the number one at the Sports Porch one. And I've got a Twitter poll up there right now. We've got some votes coming in. And we're going to talk about that right away. So the Steelers are 2-0 with Justin Fields at quarterback. The Twitter poll is, did Justin Fields show us any progress this week? Go to Twitter and vote. There's the handle, at the sports porch one, at the sports porch with the number one. So far, everybody is saying, and we've got a bunch of votes in, 100%. They're saying that, yes, we saw progress from Justin Fields. What do you think? Let's start with the Grand Schwabini. What do you think, Grand Schwabini? Did we see progress? We all know they're 2-0. Did we see any progress from Justin Fields?

Marc: Yes, but it depends on what you want to call progress. He hasn't turned the ball over, which is what they want him to do.

Chris: Almost. So it almost happened in this game again. If Jalen Warren hadn't jumped on that fumble.

Marc: But it didn't happen. Right. You're right. Two games, no turnovers. So what you've learned is he can play the Steeler way of defense running game and try to hit a big play every once in a while. So he's done that well. Now, what I find kind of I guess a little frustrating, is as I was watching this game and as the second half started, I said to myself, you know, doesn't it feel just plain pretty good here? You know, if he if he puts together a strong second half, you know, I could I could see the argument for sticking with him. Right. But but because he didn't, because he still has no touchdowns, even though one was taken away, but I know he has one touchdown. Um, he has one touchdown in two games. I just don't think that's enough to where, you know, you don't let Russell Wilson play if he's healthy, because I think that you've got a potential for more of an offense with Russell Wilson. So, um, I think it's just kind of, to me, been more kind of disappointed, um, that he hasn't really taken the opportunity and run with it.

Chris: Yeah, I think that I saw, I did not see him fall back, but I saw no progress. Does that make sense?

Steve: Yeah. You're basically saying he's the same as he was in game one, right? And I'd say the, if you consider throwing two balls over the middle versus zero balls over the middle, that's progress. So everybody, you know, defines progress their own way. The reality is, and he did throw a touchdown past this game. So I think you have to say he didn't progress. The question I think that I would like answered is, did he make Oh, it's what a healthy Russell Wilson looks like. And we don't. So we have to we have to rely on the Steelers organization to tell us he's healthy. He can play. Right. And he's the number one quarterback or he's healthy. He can play. He's the number two quarterback. I just feel that they're just letting Russell Wilson come into out of this injury because it seems like it's lingering. Um, just letting it take its time. I think he probably could have played, but I think he would have played injured. And I don't think that's what the Steeler organization wants. They're looking at this from the schedule standpoint, which is we got to win most of the first eight games because we're probably going to need both quarterbacks in the last eight games to salvage a 500 record if we're lucky. Yeah, I, I don't, I think that's where they're going with this. So I can understand why, you know, as dealer nation, you know, comes to this, they're thinking, let's just stick with what we got. And I think that's dangerous because I think we're going to need both quarterbacks throughout the whole season.

Chris: I, I, I agree that we're going to need both quarterbacks throughout the whole season. But one thing that I thought was great was, yeah, they threw the ball over the middle a little bit more twice. Um, well, I mean, yeah, I think he had another pass that he tried over the middle that he missed.

Steve: So maybe tried three times, but I think it was one completion, one incompletion and maybe it's, it was bad. It wasn't that much progress, but it was progress.

Chris: Yeah. And that touchdown throw to Darnell Washington, it just made me feel good because I've been screaming for that guy for the last two years. Like, I get it. You know, he's a run blocking tight end. Yeah. But even the announcers, you know, who are Adam Archuleta and and Spiros, whatever his name is, Spiro Agnew. I don't know. That's I hate the announcers for Steelers games all the time, you know, all the time.

Steve: Get what you get.

Chris: We need to bring you know what we have games. We have AI now. I can't have Myron Cope back.

Steve: I would love to have Myron Cope back.

Chris: You could probably do that. Yeah, yeah.

Steve: There was not much zigging and zagging going.

Chris: No, there wasn't. But but but back to the Darnell Washington thing, I even they made the comment that like this guy is a huge target. He's six foot seven. And it was a good throw.

Steve: Well, it was the first time you saw Darnell Washington actually split out and get one on one against the short little. Yeah. How are they going to defend that?

Chris: They can't short yardage.

Steve: But honestly, the pass was perfect and his hands were perfect. I mean, he caught a really nice ball. Yeah. It wasn't like it was an easy, like right in front of his face catch. He kind of had to put his arms out there and grab it. So I thought, I, I do believe that that was that, that was progress, but let's face it. You scored one touchdown against the Falcons and the Broncos. Yeah. who don't look like either are going anywhere. This is not going to last.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, what does that mean for the future? Well, here's the thing that for anybody who's, who's still not sold on the Arthur Smith offense, I think really what we would, what's happened is we haven't really seen it yet, but we're starting, we're starting to see pieces of it now because for the last couple of years they would not use Darnell Washington at all. Yeah, at all, other than to bring him into run block. Right. OK, so now you see Arthur Smith, who likes tight ends, looking at this guy and saying this guy, does he like tight ends? Apparently looking at this guy and and saying we need to get him into the offense. OK, so there's that step number one right there. Number two, you know, a couple throws over the middle fryer move more involved in the game was. And, you know, two nice long passes to Pickens, one that was called back on a penalty that he just that was right on a rope. You know, beautiful pass, beautiful catch. A couple others that were close. You know, is it that they're taking it slow? This is Steelers football. And I just don't think we're going to see Russell Wilson. That's that's where I come in on this. You don't think we're going to see him at all? If just this is Steelers, I'm going to where you are, H.J. Steelers football. Yeah. Tomlin wants to win by not turning the ball over and playing great defense.

Steve: Yeah. But the problem is, you know, and I know and all of Steelers nation knows eventually somewhere down the road. Justin Fields will have a bad game. Of course, every quarterback does. So, I mean, so is he out then or do you just roll with it?

Chris: I say you roll with him. I just say you roll with him.

Steve: And that's going to, that's going to be the problem because that's not going to fly.

Chris: You don't think so? No, no way. Yeah. No, I don't think. You mean you don't think that's going to fly with Tomlin?

Steve: I don't honestly, I have no idea what fricking Tomlin's thinking. I don't. I don't. I think he's… I believe, and I have no sources for this other than I've watched hundreds and hundreds of Steeler games. And as far as Tomlin's concerned, I think he just goes with whatever his gut tells him. And I think his gut's telling him Tomlin now, but I think he knows that he's got to save face. When Russell Wilson's healthy, he's got to put him in. I think he absolutely has to do that now. That's not actually been his that's not been the way he's run in the past right because remember when Mitch and Then you know, he sucked he was out and he was out for good. But can you do that with Justin Fields?

Marc: That's well Keep in mind here. I mean the way that I'm looking at this is that To me right now. The pressure is completely off Tomlin It's a very easy decision. I mean, Russell Wilson comes back in. Justin Fields hasn't done anything to earn the position. He's kept them in games. He hasn't turned the ball over. He's basically played like a good backup quarterback.

Steve: A good backup quarterback. Good enough backup quarterback.

Marc: Right, so so there's no decision right now. The only decision comes is if Justin Fields plays the next game and throws for 320 and three touchdowns.

Steve: Yeah, well, that's never going to happen in the Steelers offense. Probably not.

Marc: Probably not, but I'm saying that's the only thing that could make that happen. That's my belief.

Chris: Yeah, I just, I think that they're rolling this. I think that the schedule is benefiting them, that they're rolling this offense out a little bit at a time. I think once again, those, you know, Broderick Jones playing right tackle and those penalties that he took. It is still confusing to me that you're not putting him in at left tackle. What are we doing with this guy other than destroying his career?

Steve: Let me tell you what we're doing with this guy. He was only in that one series. That was it.

Chris: That's all he played the whole game. Well, he had two penalties in that one series. And after the game, Tomlin, they said, is that why you took him out? He said, that's correct.

Steve: Well, why didn't he take Dan Moore Jr. out when he got a holding panel? That's right. That's what I'm saying. What are we doing with this guy? I'm just I think what they're doing with Broderick Jones is absolutely dismal. Right. It's the worst thing that Tomlin has ever done to any guy ever. Really?

Chris: Yeah. That bad? It's awful. I mean, it's bad. It's bad.

Steve: You not only got him in the first round, you traded up for him.

Chris: I know. I paid a whole bunch of money at an auction to get a signed jersey, and now it's going to be worthless.

Steve: That's garbage. I know. I know. That's the problem with Tomlin. This was the first pick by Wydell and Kahn, right? Yes. They said you need to have offensive linemen. And what does Tomlin say? I like my old guys better. Yeah. That's basically is what he's saying. And he's, he, you can't prove that Broderick Jones is better if he doesn't play. Yeah. Or if he only plays in a limited role on the other side that he, he, his, he can only play. If you put Dan Moore jr. On the right side, that motherfucker would not do anything. Yes. He wouldn't even be able to move off the line, right? And that's what upsets me so much about Tomlin He plays this these platitudes like he's a veteran. He's proven himself But he can't play the other side at all. And then you penalize broderick jones a great talent And you you basically kick broderick jones off the team. Yeah is what you're doing Like, just trade him now, then. Just trade him for a wide receiver that will help us this year. If you're going to plan on playing Dan Moore Jr. the rest of the season, you might as well just sign him to a $25 million contract next year and give Broderick Jones to somebody where he can thrive.

Chris: Yeah, I give him to the give him to the Ravens. Yeah, why not?

Steve: They need a they need alignment Yeah, just make them better because that's what's that's what's so upsetting me about this Broderick Jones situation Everybody knows he's the better talent or at least equal so he why not play him and let Dan Moore jr Sit, you know why because Tomlin is loyal to the old guys. Yeah, that's it. I

Chris: Yeah, which is not being loyal to the franchise.

Steve: It's terrible for the Steeler franchise. And it makes you feel there's no future for this franchise. And all he cares about is the next game. And that's the standard. Yeah. The standard is the standard. That's what that's what upsets me so much about Tomlin.

Chris: I think he does that. I think it's funny that that when we talk about it, It's almost like we get into a fight about the thing that we agree about. Like we're not even disagreeing, but we're both getting heated about it.

Steve: I get so upset that he's doing this to this great talent. I agree. I mean, he didn't do it with Frazier. Why not? Well, because he didn't have anybody there. Well, Herbie went down. And the only thing that I agree that I've heard on the radio and other people talk about this situation is Broderick Jones didn't play very many snaps in college. Like he only played that one year, essentially. So he probably does need to be coached up. Right. And that's what C.D. is saying. Right. He needs to be coached up. You got to put him in there to coach him up. Yeah. You don't say, oh, you made a mistake. You're out. Yeah. That's the wrong way of coaching. The right way of coaching is you don't grab somebody like that when they're when they're getting by you, because that's going to cause a penalty. And you can see what happens when we throw the ball deep.

Chris: And Mike, Mike is back. Thanks for being here again, Mike. Didn't Jones have three drive killing penalties and something less than about six minutes? Why is that OK? It's not OK. The point I think the point that H.J. was making is that, first of all, you drafted him as your No. 1 draft pick to play left tackle. Then you move him to right tackle. a position he's not familiar with, then you draft another guy to play right tackle, say Amalu is down, okay, so he's not in, I'm just giving you the whole scenario, and now instead of pulling Dan Moore out, and putting Jones in at his natural position and letting him learn how to play the game in real time, you've got him out there right tackle and he makes mistakes and you pull him out of the game. That's no way to treat a first round draft pick.

Steve: Well, and Mike, I love you, man. He didn't have three drive-killing penalties in that drive. The one that was offsides, they ended up getting the third down. The only reason that pass went for as long as it did was because Broderick Jones held his man. If he let him go and he gets sacked, guess what? He doesn't get pulled out. And instead, he gets sacked. So he looks bad either way, but the play doesn't happen without him holding that guy. So, you know, you can look at it however you want to look at it. I'm not asking you to look at it through my eyes, but that's the way I feel about that situation. And when Dan Moore Jr. had a holding penalty on third down, guess what? He didn't get taken out. And that did kill a drive. 100% killed that drive. So, you know, I'm just trying to look at it in a fair, equitable way. And I wish Tom Moon would do the same, but he won't because he loves his veterans and he gives them a lot of rope to hang themselves. And then when they do hang themselves, he just makes excuses for them. And I'm done with it.

Chris: There you go. Straight from the mouth of H.J. on the Steelers. Schwalbe, you want to chime in here?

Marc: Well, it's so disheartening to hear a 2-0 Steeler fan that's as upset and as angry as he is. But yeah, I mean, on this topic, I don't really understand it. You know, Broderick Jones finished off last season playing left tackle, right? And he did really well. So I just don't understand why there would be a change off of that.

Steve: Well, maybe, maybe, maybe they drafted another right tackle. Who's a rookie this year. Who they like better.

Chris: Yeah. Well, maybe here's something more polished. My buddy Jeff's in the house. Uh, welcome back, Jeff. He he's a tootin his own horn here. I specifically remember telling you guys that more was going to stay at left tackle. I think H J said that as well for the same reasons he earned it. He works his butt off in the off season and Jones, uh, doesn't. So, you know, I mean, I, I don't know. I don't know if he does or not. I mean, I, I can't imagine that Jones doesn't work in the off season. I mean, are there, is there any report out there we're not aware of that says he's not a hard worker?

Steve: No, they work equally hard, but it doesn't matter because Tomlin's always going to give the starting role to the older guy. Marvin Hamilton put his up there. Yeah, I did. Jones needs to get his head in the game. That's true. He does. I agree with you, Marvin, that he definitely needs to do a better job when he's in there. But when you're in there for six or seven plays, and you make one or two mistakes and then you get yanked, it's hard to get your head in the game when you're actually not in the game.

Marc: So that's the problem. What was going on? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember watching the game and was it the first series he wasn't in? And then they put him in like in the second series?

Steve: No, he didn't start. Fatanu started at right tackle. And then, I don't know if it was the second or third series, Broderick Jones came in, and then that's when they were driving before he had a couple false start penalties. And they still got first down after the one that was on third and sixth. They were third and 11. They still got the first down. And then it was, I don't know, I think maybe it was third and long, and that was that long pass to Pickens that got called back because of the holding penalty. They were penalties, they were definitely penalties.

Marc: But that in itself is just so strange. Yeah. I mean, who does that? Nobody brings somebody in.

Steve: Coach T does that. Coach T. He's trying to send a message to Broderick Jones by not playing him.

Chris: That's right. I know you're right.

Marc: I know. I know. I think you're right. I mean, that does like we could be completely wrong, but it does sound like he maybe he did something that Tomlin didn't like. And that was his punishment was not not to go back in.

Steve: It was the penalties.

Chris: He did. He confirmed it. I want to get these comments in from Instagram. Official Chris Chata says Steelers awarded Wilson a petty game ball. Sorry, that's immature and dumb, but do you, is that, is he, they gave Wilson a game ball after the game.

Steve: That makes sense because you know, they beat Denver for him.

Marc: You beat your old team.

Chris: Denver paid and is paying Wilson a fortune. Yeah, I hear you, Chris. Yeah.

Steve: Um, is that what Chris said? Yeah.

Chris: Chris, that's definitely petty. Jeff said, uh, Jeff said it was reported on Broderick Jones and he didn't work as hard. I mean, I haven't heard a single thing.

Steve: I think once again, they should just trade him then if he, if he's a lazy son of a bitch and he can't play the right tackle and he always has holding penalties, just trade him now.

Chris: They did it with Chooks last year when he said some bad things. They let him go.

Steve: They kept Chooks forever.

Chris: Well, I know, but you know, last year was the final straw.

Steve: When he became unaffordable, that's when he went away. True. So just trade him. I'm okay with that. Just trade him.

Chris: CD says he wants to hear you give Coach T some credit for end game time management.

Steve: Well, he actually did manage that pretty well.

Chris: Yeah, you didn't have to do anything.

Steve: ACD the only thing I would say there is maybe they should have tried to Get Justin Fields in there and run around for 15 seconds Yeah, right and then throw it out the back of the end zone give them the safety and then they wouldn't have had to do anything Yeah Yeah, I mean, you know, it's really hard to grade the Steelers right now Through the first two games.

Chris: Oh, no, I think you can create them. Well, I guess I guess let me finish my thought here because I think that you know, their defense was coming up against two teams that are under, below average. I mean, Cousins is a statue. and denver is an unmitigated mess unless atlanta like smears philadelphia tonight which i don't think i don't think that's going to happen either but you know so you know if we're flipping this over to the d side of the ball they perform great uh trice with an interception i mean that who saw that coming uh what what right he did what with that sack that would like wasn't really a sack the ankle tack well what was funny is like He hit his ankle and then it looked like Bo Nix dropped to the ground and then like a slinky sprung himself to the left and fell down. I was like, I was like, good for TJ, but what an idiot. I mean, this guy has no balance. He needs a ballet teacher, you know, uh, on, we have another comment on, uh, Instagram from brilliant realness. Thanks for being here talking about Jones. He was drafted as a left tackle. Any other team would succeed with Jones. Dude never gave up a sack in his collegiate career at Georgia.

Steve: You know, so your name is perfect, right?

Marc: By the way, I did do some looking online just to see if there was anything about any trades out there.

Chris: No, they're working hard.

Marc: I couldn't find anything on that. But I did find that Broderick Jones has criticized the coaching decisions that he doesn't think it's in his best interest to be in a game and out of a game that you should just pick one and stick with it.

Steve: Yeah, that was that was recently that was a couple days. Yeah. Since the end of the game. And that is true. And I think that's going to get him in trouble. And of course, honestly, that should get him in trouble. He needs to say the right things until he can get out there and prove that he can do it. And that's not going to help him. And I will not stand in his camp for that one.

Chris: Yeah. there you go so uh cd says give all former players petty ball apparently steeler's been doing that for a long time i didn't know that neil o'donnell uh as a jet reference oh yeah that was thrown out of the end but that was that was when he was with the jet i missed neil o'donnell yeah

Steve: Oh, by the way, you know, thinking about Neil O'Donnell and I just want to get off the Broderick Jones things because it's just upsetting me. I can tell that there's steam coming out of your head. Thank you. I feel, I feel better now. I got that off my chest because that's really been bothering me. Um, no, the Neil O'Donnell reference, I, you know, you go on Facebook and you go on the marketplace. Don't, don't go there by the way. It's filled with junk. Yeah, of course. Oh, did you? Yeah. There was, there were, there were like, uh, there was this, uh, somebody up in zillion Opal had probably a half the amount of cards my brother has. Um, but there were like 400 look like 1980, 1990 Steelers. And it was like 20 bucks. And I was like, yeah, send them to me. I'll, I'll pay for the postage. So they're coming. Oh boy.

Chris: We're going to have some fun. We're, we're going to have some fun.

Steve: I saw a Neil O'Donnell one there. I is the one that really caught my eye was the Bubby Brister.

Chris: Oh man. That did me beautiful. Jones didn't start many games when it Georgia just had a decent senior year. He only played his senior year. He only played his senior year. I think so. That's it. But still You know, look, the arguments out there.

Steve: Actually, I think it was his sophomore year and then he got drafted. He's young. Yeah, he's really young.

Chris: Well, maybe that's part of it. I don't know. But look, your frustration is felt.

Steve: Your NFL contract starts last year for him. So he's going to get another contract before. Unless the Steelers completely ruined him this year.

Marc: Fellas, fellas, I think 30 minutes is enough on Broderick Jones. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So what? Who's on deck? Who's on deck for next week, guys? And what are we thinking of the keys to victory?

Chris: Yeah, I would say, yeah, who is on deck for next week?

Steve: Who is on deck for next week, you ask? Yeah. Come on. You should know this. Yeah. It's the home opener. Oh, yeah, that's right. It's the LA Chargers. Yeah.

Marc: Oh, and the 2 and 0 LA Chargers with Jon Haba.

Steve: The bum. They're bumped up, though. Yeah. I guess, uh, I guess, uh, Herbert Herbert's, uh, limping around. He's not doing too good.

Chris: This game, this game's gonna come down to the D. I mean, I think we all know that. I, I, I have a feeling they're going to hold Russell Wilson out for this game. Yeah, I think so too, because they, you know, And see, that's my thing. And I keep going back to this, and I'll just finish it on this. I don't think, once Wilson hurt his calf, I think that was the excuse for Fields to be the quarterback that Tomlin bit on. And I think that this is, it's all a disguise. And I think they're going to keep fields in for as long as they possibly can. I'm not saying I'm for or against it. That's all. But next week, the key to the game is the defense. They got to have a big, a big splash play. They got, they, they're going to have to, it's going to be tough, especially if Herbert's playing, if he's healthy.

Steve: this, this sounds really stupid. And I just thinking about it, I feel stupid, but I'm going to go with it. I actually think the offense is going to break out this week. Maybe I do. I, I don't think the chargers are very good defensively and they like to run the ball. And if they, if the Steelers can get some three and outs, I think they're going to have more chances to score than they would normally. And I think that's going to make a big difference. I, I, I look, I think they're going to win by like two touchdowns. Wow.

Marc: J.K. Dobbins is looking pretty good.

Steve: He is, but the Steelers, their defense has gotten really good at stopping the run. I think if they can stop B. John Robinson, I think they can stop J.K. Dobbins.

Chris: I don't know. I'm not, I'm not as, I'm not as impressed with B. John Robinson as the rest of the world seems to be, but I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you that the Steelers run D so far this year has looked pretty good. Um, and I think there's some surprises, you know, with the two corners that the corner, the, the, the interceptions the first couple of weeks are not from who you would think would have an interception. The Chargers don't have any wide receivers worth a damn either. The problem is, neither do we, except Pickens. Brilliant realness on Instagram. No one really knows this regarding Russell. He's been dealing with this calf since week one last year when he was with Denver. There's probably more to it than we think, of course. Yeah, that's probably true. CD, Jeff is saying, shut down the run. They have a good shot. I agree with Jeff. Steelers, 23-13, scored two TDs. Well, I think it's important in this game that they score more than one touchdown.

Steve: I agree with you there. Yeah, they got to score more than one touchdown.

Chris: Like these first two games, one game not to score a touchdown, this game to score one. The two games in the year so far where it's like, okay.

Steve: Like I've been saying since they won, one touchdown equals two wins. Yeah. Go figure. There you go.

Chris: You were right. Oh my God. Yeah. So Schwaber, do you have anything to add to next week's matchup? And then we'll go on to our NFL predictions from last week and this week.

Marc: Yeah, you know, I don't know. You know, I had the Steelers coming in at a record of 10 and 7. You don't happen to have it in front of you who I had next week.

Chris: I think you took it home with you because it's not in the state yet.

Marc: Okay.

Chris: I think you had him 3-0. I had him 3-0, I know that.

Steve: I think I did too, but you know what, I'm gonna… Didn't you have him lose in one of the first two games?

Marc: I don't know. I don't know. You know what, I'm gonna go against it. I'm just gonna go back to the way Harbaugh coaches, the way he coached San Francisco. I just remember it was very like methodical. Take what they're giving you. You know, don't drop back. Don't get sacked. You know, short three step drops. Get the ball out quickly. Run a J.K. Dobbins. I'm going to say in a little bit of a surprise, the lack of touchdowns kind of catches up with the Steelers. And I'm going to go 21 19 chargers.

Steve: That wouldn't be a surprise.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. What did you say by two touchdowns? Oh yeah. You didn't assign a number to it. Uh, 28 to nine. 28 to 14. No nine. 28 to nine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Marc: Um, three field goals or a touchdown on safety.

Chris: Yeah. I, whatever you want, Mark. I think this is going to be a closer game. I think this offensive situation is either like you said, Steve, it's going to go one of two ways. It's either going to be a breakout because they open the playbook and they, they, they give fields. They show some confidence in fields. Of course, the wild card is with Tomlin. You never know if, if Russell can go, they might put him in. So who knows, but we just have to assume he's going to start, but I would assume I would hope it's fields to be honest with you because I think you destroy him if you don't. But anyway, the chargers don't play well against us. Yeah. As Jeff says, when is the last time the Chargers won in Pittsburgh?

Steve: I think the last time they were here, didn't, didn't they have like a three touchdown lead and we ended up beating them? I think so. Yeah.

Chris: So I know they were here when Marty Schottenheimer was the coach. Cause I was down at a bar at station square and I turned around, I was getting a drink at the bar and I turned around and Marty Schottenheimer was standing right behind me. And I got a, uh, I got an autograph from him and I told him that I thought the Redskins really gave him a raw deal when they fired him. Yeah. And he told me, he told me he hates them and he hated Dan Daniel Snyder.

Steve: God rest his soul. And he was right. I know the last time the Chargers won for sure was an AFC championship game. I happened to be at that one. It was very sad.

Chris: Yeah, that was back in 94, 93. I don't want to relive it. Yeah, sorry. Stan Humphreys, right? Stan Humphreys. We don't, we don't need to relive it. Sid Bream. All right. So, uh, yeah, I'm not going to assign a score. I just, I think the Steelers are going to win it, but it's going to be close. And if their offense doesn't break out, they are going to win, but it's going to be another field goal snoozer because I think the defense is going to come to play. I think the defense will be there to play. Okay, so moving on to NFL predictions. Week three, so every week we pick the Thursday night game, the Sunday night game, and a random game. Last week, we had the Bills at Dolphins, the Bears at Texans, the Giants at the Commanders. Mark went 3-0, picking the Bills, the Texans, and the Giants, and the Commanders, excuse me. Steve went 2-1.

Steve: Uh, I lost the Thursday night game. I took the fins.

Chris: He picked the dolphins, the Texans and the commanders. And I, the model of consistency went one and two because I picked the dolphins, the Texans and the giants.

Marc: We, uh, we picked up, we picked up right where we left off last year.

Chris: We did. We did. But listen, consistency counts for something, right?

Steve: You got a win in the first week. I did. That's more impressive than last year. I think last year was three weeks. I think it took you like four weeks until you had a win. I don't remember.

Chris: I blocked. So bad. Okay. So what's this week? What's this week?

Steve: The Thursday night game. The Thursday night game is the Patriots at the New York football giant. No, the New York Jets. Patriots at the Jets. Pat's Jets. Oh man. Who you got?

Marc: At the Jets. Oh God. What is it? Is it the guy who's in the lead always picks first? Is that how we're doing it this year?

Steve: Yeah. Go for it. Yeah. Go for it.

Marc: Okay. jets. I'm gonna take the jets with a Aaron Rodgers homecoming.

Steve: Yeah, I like the Jets too. The Patriots actually are surprisingly pretty good. They run the ball well. They play stealer ball. Run the ball well, pass it enough, score enough points, but their defense just isn't good enough. I like Sauce Gardner with a walk-off interception for a touchdown. It's so dramatic.

Chris: CD's picking the Jets. Listen, I gotta start playing catch-up already so you know I'm taking the Patriots. Okay, Sunday night game.

Steve: The Sunday night game. This is a snooze fest. I love it. I'm sorry about this, guys. It is the Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Atlanta Falcons.

Chris: How many times are we going to have the Falcons in our office? Wow. The first three weeks. Yeah.

Marc: Seriously. Oh boy.

Chris: Okay. Schwabini.

Marc: Uh, yeah. I mean, you know, Pacheco is out that, that, that's something. That's something. Hollywood Brown out until the playoffs. Um, geez, it's boy, it's so hard to pick against Kansas city to lose, but.

Steve: Do it, do it. They got to lose at some point.

Marc: They do, but not this week, Kansas city.

Steve: That's right. Not this week, Kansas city in a romp. And I'm not stupid. Kelsey finally gets a touchdown.

Chris: I'm not stupid. I'm taking the chiefs. Yeah. All right. What's our, what's our, what do you think our next game should be?

Marc: So next Sunday, 4 25 PM. Okay. You have got the O and two Ravens on the road at the one and one Cowboys.

Steve: Oh, that is a game.

Chris: You see the Chiefs, by the way, from my cheap Ravens Cowboys.

Marc: OK, I'm going to I'm going to I can't imagine the Ravens starting on three. So I can't imagine it. So I'm going to take the Ravens over the Cowboys.

Steve: You know where I'm going with this boys. You always pick the boys. I got the Dak Dak at home. He's not going to lose two at home in a row.

Chris: I'm going with Dak. I'm with Steve on this one. I think the Cowboys are going to win that game. Yep.

Marc: Could be could be an opportunity for you guys to catch up.

Chris: We'll see if the Eagles win tonight. You got to feel like I feel like this. First of all, the Ravens backs are against the wall.

Steve: but tie. I love that call CD.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. I hate both teams at tie. Um, the Ravens backs are against the wall already, but they are arguably the best team in, in the AFC North. So, You know, they have some time. The Steelers aren't going to win seven games in a row.

Steve: The Steelers will lose three games in a row at one point. Right.

Chris: Right. And the Bengals, you know, and Cleveland. But Dallas is in a struggle for the NFC East. If the Eagles win tonight and they are two and oh, this is an absolute must win for Dallas. It's not going to be good enough just to keep pace because, you know, we didn't talk about this. Well, you have to tell me what it is.

Steve: We didn't talk about how the Steelers are 2-0 and both the Bengals and… The Ravens are owing to the Ravens are owing to, I mean, that's great.

Chris: But the reason we did is just because of what you just said. I mean, their, their, their schedule is horrible to end the season. I mean, that's astounding.

Steve: It's only two games in Steve and honestly, Cleveland almost blew that game. They could have easily been on one too.

Chris: Also that's that game kind of surprised me, but, but you know, it's because we're not, We're not there yet. Talk to me. Talk to me. We'll talk about this when, when they're four and oh, we'll be like, Oh my God, they're no, no, no, no.

Steve: Cause then the Steelers will be full of themselves. And then, you know what happened? Big let downs.

Chris: Okay. Let's go back to the prediction. So Raven's a Cowboys. Mark has the Raven, Steve and Chris have the Cowboys.

Steve: I don't feel good about being in the category with Chris on that one.

Chris: Okay. So, uh, Just follow me right down the toilet, Steve. Just follow me right down the toilet. So the grand Schwabini is going to take off here in a few minutes because he wants to watch the Eagles game. So what we're going to do is we're going to jump, we're going to push the hockey Jesus back to the close of the end of the show and Trader Joe's snack time. So let's do, unless Schwabini, do you have a prediction or we'll get to what we're watching right now?

Marc: We'll get to what we're watching.

Chris: Okay, so there will be no prediction this week. Oh, and we'll do stump. Let's do stump the yinzer first.

Steve: Yeah, let's do stump the yinzer.

Chris: Okay, so stump the yinzer. What is that? Every week what we do is H.J. sitting across from me is our resident yinzer. It's in his DNA, his entire family. I feel like you guys are like planted in a field in Westmoreland County and you were grown. You weren't even born, right? That's true.

Steve: Gotcha. You got pictures. Either that or we were thrown off a UFO and like landed in the yard.

Chris: You were thrown off an Iron City truck and a Turner truck.

Steve: You know that Kecksburg UFO thing? Yeah. I think that was all of us. Oh, that's you guys.

Marc: They just dumped us off in Kecksburg. I thought I saw you coming out of a tumbleweed. Yeah.

Steve: There are no tumbleweeds. There are UFOs in Kecksburg.

Chris: Actually, Steve's family, they were all hatched out of perogies. That's what it was.

Steve: Well, that's what the UFO was made out of.

Chris: That's the origin of the perogies. Well, you know, that's the legend. We're going to have a podcast series on that coming up anyway. What we try to do is stump the yinzer, so I ask a yinzer-related sports question. The yinzer gives an answer. Mark gives, the Grand Schwabini gives his answer. If the yinzer gets it right, he remains a yinzer. If he gets it wrong and the Schwabini gets it right, Schwabini is an honorary yinzer. Let's go with it. I'm not sure what that really means, but stump the yinzer. Ted Marchabrota, Jack Kemp, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, and Earl Moral. Earl Moral. Which one of these guys was not a Steelers quarterback? You can read it on the ticker if you need to. Yeah, I do. Ted Marchabrota.

Steve: Ted Marchabrota.

Chris: Jack Kemp, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, and Earl Moral. Earl Moral. I don't know, there's a Yinzer way to pronounce it. Which one of these guys was not- Okay, this one I'm guessing.

Steve: A stealer, okay. But I got my answer. My answer is Len Dawson.

Chris: Okay. Schwaber?

Marc: You are incorrect, Yinzer. It is Earl Moral.

Chris: And you are both Incorrect. Because this is a trick question. Johnny Unitas. He was drafted ninth by the Steelers, but he was cut. Oh, never played as a Steeler and claimed by the Colts.

Steve: I knew he was drafted by the Steelers, but he was never a part of the team. Son of a gun.

Chris: Son of a gun. So I think so. So I think by default, Steve, I think by default you remain. I remain the title. All right. So before we get to where the title is up for grabs. Yeah, the title is up for grabs.

Steve: You know what? Maybe we'll give the title to Amy when we both lose. Yeah, there it is.

Marc: The official Amy.

Chris: She has to come on and answer a question.

Steve: Well, well, if she's available next week, she can come and answer the question. If she can't, then she just relinquishes her title back to me.

Chris: Well, I'll check with her the next time she's grocery shopping.

Steve: There you go. Perfect. I know you guys like to chat on Saturday. Schwaber didn't even hear that.

Marc: Well, yeah, the fact that she hasn't chimed in at this point leads me to believe she may have fallen asleep.

Chris: Yeah, that's well, you know, that's very possible. There's nothing. Yeah. All right. So listen, you're watching the sports porch live all over the world. If you're watching live or watching the video right now on Facebook, LinkedIn X, Instagram and YouTube. And of course, we are going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Now we're going to switch over to something as Schwaber prepares to leave and go watch his beloved Eagles beat the Falcons. This is what we are watching. And what is that? Well, there's a lot of streaming services. There's a lot of things to watch, old and new. And we're going to tell you what you should watch and what you shouldn't watch. We only have two this week, one for H.J. and one for the Grand Schwabini. We'll start with the Grand Schwabini. The Grand Schwabini is currently watching, and I think H.J. will be familiar with this.

Marc: I, of course, I pride myself as not being a selfish watcher. By the way, Amy May Schwab is awake.

Chris: Oh, OK.

Marc: I am. I am not a self-watcher. Actually, this is this could be a first time, though, back to back weeks. I've had a Steve suggestion and I watched The Perfect Couple starring Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber.

Steve: And you love Liev Schreiber in this.

Marc: Well, the funny thing about it was I thought he was just so creepy, which means he acted very well.

Steve: He acted very well. Guy in this one.

Marc: No, he was just like a like gross. He was like a dirty old man. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was a dirty old man is exactly right. Yeah. Yeah, it was. It was really good. You know, it was six episodes. Really good. Just just enjoyed it. You could pretty much. You know, like the bottom line is somebody dies. It's somebody on the island. And you're guessing the whole time who it was. Did you figure it out? I did not guess it right. Oh, at one point over the six episodes, something happened where I said, I bet it's this person. Yeah. But I got off of that and got You know swept away in many other episodes and therefore did not come back to said person.

Chris: Okay, so the Grand Schwabini, go ahead. Grand Schwabini, the perfect couple on Netflix. We'll see you buddy.

Marc: That is it for me.

Chris: Enjoy the game. Go Eagles. Fly Eagles fly. See you Schwaber. Later bud.

Steve: I guess he's not going to stick around for mine.

Chris: No, but he's, he's going to miss out on something that's going to make us, it's kind of exciting.

Steve: So, well, all right. Amy, Amy will show it.

Chris: Oh yeah, she will. That's right. Amy will say what a great snack he missed. This is for after the show. Anyway, Steve, you watched

Steve: I watched Queen Pins. This is actually a movie. I think it was like from 2021, if I'm not mistaken. And let me just tell you, this movie was absolutely awful. Really?

Chris: Oh, you actually forced yourself to watch the whole thing.

Steve: You know what? When I commit myself to a movie, I'm like, maybe it'll end in a way that, you know, will be like, okay, at least I watched it to the end and this happened. I've been there. No, this is not your movie when it comes to that sort of thing. It had moments of, of, of funniness cause Vince Vaughn was in it. Um, who was, who else was in it? Kristen, I think Kristen Bell was in it. The acting was very good. And it's, and if you don't know, if you don't know the story, the story is about, um, two women, um, who basically go in the couponing and her, uh, Kristen Bell's husband is like an asshole. And he's like, why don't you do something with your life other than couponing? And, you know, she's a major couponer, which basically means, um, she'll go and get a hundred dollars worth of groceries and it'll end up costing her like 49 cents. Right. Right. And she's really good at that. And he, he's just not impressed by it. So she comes up with the scheme where she goes to like these major coupon people who make them and gets them to ship her all the coupons. And then she resells them. She ends up like making like $5 million doing this. Okay. And then she ends up hooking with like somebody who's really good with the Internet. And they're like, this is all dirty money. This is illegal, essentially. So now she has to launder it. Yeah. Yeah. So they and it's kind of funny that way. So it kind of draws you in. But it's not really hilariously funny. Yeah. You just kind of like, oh, this is a cute story. Right. And that's really too bad. Yeah. Too bad. Um, but there, there's a really funny moment with Vince Vaughn and, uh, I forget the other guy's name, Paul Wall, Walter Hauser. I don't know him. He's, he's like, must've been some, the guy with the mustache. Yeah. The guy with the mustache. Yeah. He, he tries to be like a John Candy type guy, but he's not as good. And I think that's part of the problem. Yeah. Anyway, there's a scene with them in the car that's actually really funny about him having to take a shit. Yeah. And that was about the funniest thing about the whole thing. And, and when you, when you go down to that level of humor to, to get, you know, that to be the funniest part, then you're like, okay, maybe this isn't worth it.

Chris: But you, you stuck it out.

Steve: It was only like an hour and a half, but I did, I watched the whole thing because I'm like, I'm not going to watch anything else. This has got to be my what I'm watching.

Chris: You were willing to give that hour and a half.

Steve: I did that for my fans. There you go. And I did it so you don't have to do it. I won't. So I will not recommend Queen Pins. I appreciate it.

Chris: To our sports porchers. There you go. I appreciate that. So Steve says, H.J. says, do not watch Queen Pins on Netflix or anywhere else. Or anywhere you get anywhere else. All right. So we have in the house, obviously, Hockey Jesus. And Hockey Jesus has some things he wants to tell us. But first, I'm going to tell you that you can follow Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Porch Podcast. And after every single freaking Penguins game, He is going to come on and he's going to talk about it. And he has done that for the last two years. And I do believe he's going to continue doing that because he is Hockey Jesus and he delivers for his faithful. So big news. Big news.

Steve: You predicted this. I told the sports porch community. Not to worry, because Sidney Crosby will be amongst us for years to come. Yes. I actually think I said I thought he would sign a three or four year contract. You said three years, yeah. And he only signed a two year extension, which means he's good for the next three years. That basically means while the time Malkin will be getting out, he will be staying in. And there's another year where Letang has another year on his contract that Sidney would not necessarily be there for. And here's, I think, what happened with the contract. I'm reading some tea leaves here. So this is just the hockey Jesus getting the information and giving it out to the folks. Gotcha. I think what happened was Sid wasn't really sure how much he really thought he could play at that highest level because Sid's only going to play at the highest level. Yeah, we talked. He's not moving down to the second line, right? He's not moving down to the third line. If he can't be a first line center, he's out. So, I think in his own mind, he was thinking, I feel great. And he said this, and if you've seen any interviews with him, he's said it time and time again. I feel great. I'm healthy. I feel like I, my, my, my focus is to be the best that I can still be. And I'm still performing at a very high level, which is all absolutely true. Like some guys can fool themselves into thinking they're better than they are. Sidney really is that good still.

Chris: Well, I mean, all you have to do is look at last season.

Steve: Yeah. He basically drug the team along. And then I think what he was struggling with was, is he good enough to be able to get this team to another playoff situation? And clearly he thinks he can do it in the next three years.

Chris: I think, I mean, I agree with you when it comes to that standpoint, but I actually think Sydney is good enough to get this team to another playoffs. situation. He needs some help. The question is, are they going to put people around him? Yeah. Because, you know, he's one of the great ones, but it does take a team.

Steve: And he does know that he… So he must believe that. I don't want to say part of the problem, but he's part of the reason they kept the core three together. Right. And he knows that that's kind of hindering them now. I think, I'm not sure how Carlson fits into this. I'm hoping that Carlson fits in nicely. Right. And, and that he'll come along this year. They did go get Dan Quinn to help out Sullivan. I think that's going to help Carlson. I think that's going to help the blue line. Look, the Penguins play on Saturday. It's a preseason game. Now, we're not going to see Sidney Crosby play. But we are going to finally get to see Rutger McGrody play, right? He did actually play last Friday night and their power play actually scored two power play goals. So maybe they're doing something with the power play. They can show the old guys on on how to do it. Yeah, because that's what they really need. I'm working together a preseason spectacular. So look for it. It's coming out soon. I'll be on YouTube talking about it. I'll probably bring the counselor in on it. I need, I'm going to have some other people. I know Mark said he was going to hook me up with some guy from Chicago. So maybe we can, we can get that on. We should just do that at the studio. Yeah, definitely do that. We'll make sure it's well done for the Hockey Jesus disciples out there and the wannabes. So there's always room for more on the Hockey Jesus disciple bandwagon.

Chris: All right. Thank you, H.J. Follow Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Porch Podcast after every single Penguins game. And of course, you can catch the Sports Porch Podcast. We drop it after every show. So subscribe and like and. comment and leave us a review that would be nice a nice review all right to wrap up the show tonight we get to eat always we look forward to i know you guys do especially this is going to be so much fun having a snack without mark yeah i know i don't even know the words

Steve: Put that honey sauce on me. With my chicken wings. It's time for the honey sauce. Bring it on.

Chris: Yes, absolutely. It is now Trader Joe's snack time. As everybody knows, I work at Trader Joe's in East Liberty, so come down and see me. I'm there most days from 1 p.m. till 9 p.m. Trader Joe's is not an official sponsor of the show, and they haven't paid us for this, but they did give me permission. So what I do is every week I bring home a product, for us to try and we give you our honest opinion on it. Since they're not paying us, we don't have to say anything good.

Steve: We don't have to necessarily say anything good or bad about it.

Chris: I happen to like just about everything we've tried, though, just about everything in the store. But this week I have chosen something because Mark was complaining in the last minute he decided to stay home.

Steve: TJ's mini cheeseburgers.

Chris: There's the box right there.

Steve: Oh, I'm definitely eating Mark's portion.

Chris: OK, well, there's only three, so I guess we'll have to split. I don't care what you do, man. I've already eaten enough today anyway. So now I did cook them a little while ago. This is something you guys. Okay.

Steve: I don't, you know what? I don't, I don't mind a little cold on my, on my, on my cheeseburger here. For those who are watching the podcast, I am showing you the, the, uh, cheeseburger and it's looking a little bready. I'm not going to lie.

Chris: It looks a little bready cheeseburgers. It's just for a quick fix.

Steve: Okay. Well, I guess we're about to get our quick fix in. I'm going to go for it.

Chris: I didn't put anything on him. There's no mayonnaise, no ketchup, no nothing. Mm. Mm. Okay. It's not bad. Mm-hmm.

Steve: I am gonna say that's what it looks like when you bite into it. There's actually a little bit more burger in there than you think. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'd say that's a good snack. yeah cd st tj's white castle the uh the uh the bread itself is it's just a little sweet it's got a little sweetness to it's like a hawaiian roll you know yep but uh yeah i i can really taste the meat in it and the the cheese is just enough not overpowering it I'd say this is a thumbs up.

Chris: Yeah. I give it a thumbs up too, man. If they had these around when we were in college.

Steve: Oh, that would not have worked out. Well, no, you know what they would go well with nothing. Those cheese fries from Duff's. Oh yeah. Remember those cheese fries? You just. Just scoop them up, man. Just saucy cheese everywhere here. And because they were, they were the thin, they were the thin fries. I know. Yeah.

Chris: So you really got the sauce and you're going to, you're going to have the other one if you want it. Sure. Yeah. I'll eat it.

Steve: You came and Schwab didn't. Sorry. Sorry, Mark, but thanks Mark.

Chris: There you go. TJ's trader Joe's TJ's mini cheeseburgers, cheeseburgers, three cheeseburgers in a box. That is Trader Joe's Snack Time. That is two thumbs up right here on the sports porch. I think we did it. Yeah, I do. I'm going to play this song anyway. Play the song. Yeah.

Steve: Taste the biscuit. Taste the goodness of the cheeseburger.

Marc: Taste the honey sauce.

Chris: Taste the goodness of the biscuit with

Steve: I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: All right, for the Grand Swabini who is now immersed in NFL football, Hockey Jesus, and myself, the technical director, this has been the Sports Sports Black and Gold. We're so happy you were here. Thanks for watching live. Hey, do us a favor. Share this with all your friends. If you're a Black and Gold sports fan, tell them about the Sports Sports Podcast on Spotify, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. Or follow us on YouTube at the Sports Sports Podcast. We got a Twitter poll out there at the sports sports one. Grab us on Twitter. Grab us everywhere. I mean, hell you can grab me anytime you want.

Steve: Hey, by the way, shout out to those pit Panthers. Oh yeah. What a great win.

Chris: What a great win.

Steve: We don't want to jinx them, but they're looking really good. They are looking to keep it up Eli.

Chris: Let's go. All right. Hail to pit. Jablonsk.