The Porch is Live - 4-2 Puts The Steelers In the Driver's Seat

Chris: You think so? Who cares? That's the most important thing. That's the most important thing. Oh my God, I've been waiting for this all week.
Steve: Oh yeah.

Chris: Oh my God, this is like the only thing that keeps me going in life, Steve.

Steve: You know what I mean? No, it's usually caffeine.

Chris: Well, caffeine works too, but let me tell you, you are watching live the SportsPorsche, the SportsPorsche Pittsburgh live on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on X. And you're also listening on Radio PGH all over the world. And don't forget, right after, right after the show, yes, right after the show, we drop a podcast on the iHeartRadio app, a podcast, a podcast, a podcast, a podcast. I'm going to go over here just to make sure we're live on Radio PGH and we are. We're live. We're worldwide now. Listen guys, drop a comment, a nice heavy echo going, cut the reverb. I wonder if Steve is not muted.

Steve: Nah, I'm muted now, David. Thanks for the technical correctness. You got that?

Chris: Yeah. You got that? All right, cool. Listen guys, we've got a lot to talk about. You can see our studio in the background. We actually have the Phillies game on the back, you know, behind Steve there in honor of, of course, Mark, who is not with us. The television replaces Mark. The consummate, the consummate Phillies fan. So I was going to say the consummate Pittsburgh fan. Well, sometimes.

Steve: When Amy wants him to be, he can be the best Steeler fan around.

Chris: That's right. And we also, we love Amy so much. We also will take your calls tonight at any time. Lines are open 412-805-7236. And let's just start the show with this. Hey, the Steelers are four and two.

Steve: We're in the running. That's all that we've ever wanted, right? Absolutely. The Steelers are built to be the team that looks terrible all the time. But yet somehow manage a win and just want to be, you know, they just want to be relevant. And that's really what they are right now at four and two. Yeah. You know, two of their four wins are against, you know, divisional rivals or two and O in the division, which is very important. And uh, you know, what can you say this team is not going to wow you with their offense They will make a splash play with their defense though.

Chris: And I think that's why people keep coming back Yeah, and and that play by t.j. Watt. I mean go figure The guy can do everything dude.

Steve: I had flashbacks to that Uh cleveland game. Yeah, that's exactly what happened. It was like, uh, it's not looking really good there Who knows what's gonna happen here, you know? Tomlin, in his infinite wisdom, decided that he wanted the offense on the field first yesterday, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Like, why would you want the offense, who has never, ever scored a point in any of their opening drives, to take the ball? I don't know. I think he's really trying to instill some confidence in them, but guess what? It's not really working. I think it's not really working at all.

Chris: Hey, DG, drop us a comment if the audio is sounding okay. We're having a little connection issue here, and I'm just trying to keep everything copacetic.

Steve: I'm pretty sure it's good because I did have my mute unmuted. It was not on mute, but now I'm muted. So it should be good.

Chris: Right. Okay. I think it is too. So, um, let's go back to the Steelers. I have, um, the Steelers right now. I, I've got their stats up here and, and I want to know, I want to know how everybody feels about this. Um, you know, four and two did, did the offense, did it, did it look better?

Steve: Thanks Mike. Yes. The offense definitely looked better. OK, how much better? Well, what part of the offense? The thing that I noticed the most, and let's just start with this. The thing that I noticed the most about the offense was the movement in the offensive line. Right. For the first time ever, I saw a left tackle move into like the right guard position and tried to block somebody there. Right. That's brilliant. That's old school Steeler trapping, you know? Yes. And I think it helped a lot. I really did. To me, it looked like there was that misdirection by the offensive lineman kind of like surprised even Aaron Donald, you know, and, and granted they were running away from that guy and they should have. job of that opening up better holes for the offense. And clearly the reason some of those pass plays work was because they were going to play action and it kind of stunned them like on that Connor Hayward one where he probably should have scored a touchdown. Right. That was a really nice handoff fake. And Connor kind of moved in like he was going to block. And you could see the whole linebacker crew just jump up. And and then when Kenny didn't hand the ball off, I think they were like confused, like, wait, we've never seen this before. We've never seen a play action from the Steelers. Right. And Hayward was wide open and he just couldn't beat the safety for a touchdown. They got in anyway.

Chris: Yeah. So CD says 37 percent better. There were some more holes. DG says Sounds great to clear it up. Okay, great. I do what I do, David. What will we call you? The substitute technical director? Move that out of the way there, buddy. That microphone stand there. Why? I kind of like it. Do you like that? It's like a good dress for my head. Do you like a big, strong piece of metal next to you?

Steve: There's a lot of places I like big, strong metal, but that's not one of the places near my head.

Chris: Yeah. And what I said is, did the Steelers offense look better? We'll take your calls if you want to give us some buzz here. 412-805-7236. Get your thoughts on that. Let's go over some of the stats here and then I'll give you my opinions and you can tell me what you think about them.

Steve: I think the only stat that matters is the foreign too, but I'll, I'll play your game.

Chris: Yeah. I'll play your game. Play my game. Please. Kenny Pickett, 17 to 25 for 230 yards averaging 9.2 yards in attempt. He was sacked twice for 16 yards. Um, his is, uh, you know, quarterback rating was 97, 97. So not bad.

Steve: Um, well, here's the thing about Kenny Pickett. If you take all of Kenny Pickett from the first three quarters and you throw that Kenny Pickett away, right? And you take the Kenny Pickett, who I think was like seven for seven for 135 yards. And, uh, I don't think he threw a touchdown. Maybe he did. No, he didn't. He didn't throw a touchdown. Uh, no touchdown passes, right? So still seven for seven for like 130 yards on those two drives in the fourth quarter. I'll take that Kenny Pickett every day. Yeah. But here's the thing, you know, and I said this at the beginning of the season, he's not throwing enough touchdown passes. And I know, like, I don't even know if they had a rushing touchdown before this week. And I think they had three this week. And so the running game's getting better, but the passing game is still what the passing game is. Splash, they gotta rely on the splash play, right? They did look better with Deontay Johnson in there, 100%. That definitely helped pickings get open. But CA3, non-existent. Allen Robinson, did he even catch the ball?

Chris: I think he had one. I, well, uh, I could tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say one catch for seven yards, right?

Steve: Hey, word. Actually, I thought he filled in pretty good for Fryer moves. So, uh, you know, I have to give it to Hayward. I'm always hard on, on Ironhead jr. But, uh, I think he had a pretty good game. I think he's filling in as a backup tight end. Pretty good.

Chris: Well, I'll tell you for me. Right. Everybody's talking about did did Kenny Pickett, you know, throw out the first three quarters and when it mattered and. A win is a win.

Steve: What I saw, I think that's what they want him to do, too, by the way. Well, here's I think they maybe they don't want him to look that terrible in the first three quarters.

Chris: Now, now I will admit there were certain parts of the game because I had to pause and do some things and then catch up, you know, and that stuff that I missed. But yeah, dare I say we did not see a jet sweep.

Steve: I didn't see one that was noticeable, put it that way, or run at the wrong time where it's like third and three and it's a jet sweep. If they did run one and it was appropriate enough that it was not noticeable.

Chris: Dare I say that Kenny Pickett looked a little more comfortable in the pocket throwing over the middle?

Steve: Yeah, I think that's safe to say, especially after, like in the first quarter, like in the first couple of series that they had the ball, it was like everybody after Kenny Pickett in like he was getting clobbered. Yep. So I thought I thought for that reason alone, I thought he did better, even even if there were times he still got happy if he wanted to leave the pocket. I thought I thought he definitely looked more comfortable, just like David said.

Chris: Right. Najee Harris, 14 carries for 53 yards, averaging 3.8 a carry. He did have a touchdown. Yes, he did. He also had three catches for 15 yards on three targets. You know what I did? Let me go back to Kenny Pickett. I think Kenny Pickett looked better. I just do. I'll reserve any sort of comments on Matt Canada. Thank you. To the end of our discussion here. And DG chimes in, I think it did look more comfortable this game compared to last week. OK. Well, you brought up Najee's statistic.

Steve: Yeah. I think he had a better average yards per rushing than Jalen Warren did.

Chris: He did not. Warren, six rushes for 32 yards. and six rushes, 32 yards, and a touchdown long rush 13, 5.3 yards.

Steve: Okay, so he had more average yards per rush.

Chris: Now, Kevin Austin did have one carry for one yard, so he was in the game.

Steve: I know he was in the game, but he was definitely not in the passing game for sure.

Marc: Yeah, exactly.

Steve: And it's because they had Alan Robinson out there a lot. Right. And I think they need to correct that. But you know how the Steelers are with their rookies, even though he's a second year rookie.

Chris: Right. Right. We do have a call coming in.

Steve: All right. Let's see what you want to talk about.

Chris: Let's see what's going on here. Welcome, caller, to the show. Oh, hold on a second. Welcome. Welcome, caller. Welcome to the show. Thank you.

Marc: I decided I would spend my time calling in on the social media. You could watch the game and talk to us. Ah, I see. We have it on the background.

Chris: Yeah, we do have it in the background. We're watching Kimbrel probably lose this game. Well, it's already lost. Anyway, so what are your thoughts, Schwab? Have you got anything that you want to add here? CD chimes in and says the running back split are only as productive as the OL. And I'm with you.

Steve: So you're saying they didn't have a total of 100 yards rushing then?

Chris: They had 86 yards rushing. I think the rushing game was one, the rushing, yeah, the rushing attack was once again anemic.

Steve: On how many carries?

Chris: 14 for Maggi and how many? 29 total carries, 86 yards for three yard average. But they did have three rushing touchdowns, penning through in a rushing touchdown.

Steve: Well, yeah, but one of them was basically because of TJ Watt.

Marc: Are you guys interested in talking to your caller?

Steve: I didn't know we had a caller online.

Chris: Sorry, caller. Schwaber, even though you're here, we're not interested in talking to you. So this is no different. So give us your thoughts. Since the Phillies look like they're going to end up going to a game seven here, give us your thoughts. That was a great catch, by the way.

Marc: Yeah, my thoughts on the Steelers. You know, it's, it's, it's, what, what can you say? I mean, the bottom line is like, how many games can you win? If you got to rely on the game, you know what I mean? Like that's, that's kind of like the way I look at this game. It's like, you want great interception, which basically, I mean, that's yet the, uh, the The trouble is that you can't rely on it, especially the better teams in the league. first time that the scalers offense actually looked capable, you know, looked like not anemic, like they looked like they had some rhythm. You know, I'm not a big Deontay Johnson fan, but I think him back means you don't have, you can't put all your attention on pickings. I thought it kind of screwed pickings up.

Chris: Yeah, we didn't even get to that yet, right.

Marc: you know, so I think it's breezing him up a little bit and he did make some good throws. I don't know though, I just sort of feel like it's a, it's a, what do you call it? I think it's a fool's gold 4-2.

Steve: I don't, and here's where I'm going to disagree a little bit with you. I actually think the defense can make a splash play.

Chris: Well, they did. That, that, that interception was a splash play.

Steve: I mean, pretty much every game, I think they can do it. The question is, will they do it when they're still in the game? Because let's face it, that game against the Texans, it didn't they made. They were just getting thrown all over the place. That's why I think this week's game against Jacksonville is very interesting because Jacksonville has an excellent running game and let's face it, Trevor Lawrence can pass the hell out of the ball to two or three players. So I think this, if they can do it against Jacksonville, then I'm going to be more excited than them doing it against the Rams because I think the Rams get in their own way. And here's why I say that. They missed two field goals. They missed a point after a 10. They had a chance on that one field goal to go up by 10 points. And then what happens? The Steelers score a touchdown leak by the gate. And I think the Rams think they're better than they are. And they're not really that good of a team because Stafford, when you give him the ball all the time, he's going to make that mistake. He's going to forget to look for TJ Watt in the secondary. And he's going to throw that interception. And I think a lot of teams, the NFL is very mediocre right now. I think there are a lot of teams like that out there that this defense can take advantage of. But I don't think Trevor Lawrence is one of those quarterbacks.

Chris: Well, let's stick to this game because obviously we're going to talk about our picks and everything. Schwab, are you going to stick around for this or do you want to hop online?

Marc: Yeah, I can stick around for a little bit.

Chris: Or you could hop online so we could free up our phone lines just in case somebody else wants to call in.

Marc: I want to watch the game. You never know when you're going to have the greatest comeback ever. That is true.

Chris: It happened in Arizona already. So back to what we're talking about here, receiving, because I do have a question. George Pickens, 5 for 107. No touchdowns. 31 was his long. He was targeted eight times. Deontay Johnson, he's back, 5 for 79. as long as 39. Conor Hayward 2 for 23, Najda 3 for 16, and then, you know, Alan Robinson had one in there. So, here's the one that I want to talk about first. Deontay Johnson coming back does make a difference, definitely.

Marc: It was actually good to see that because… Yeah, and it was a positive step, too. This was one of the few games where I don't think he ran backwards.

Steve: He wanted to on that one play.

Marc: Yeah, he wanted to.

Steve: But he kind of stayed on the line and he actually ended up getting a first down out of it.

Chris: Yeah, that's right. And I think that, you know, this is going to be something that… Look, Firemouth is on the IR. I know they like Conor Hayward as a tight end. Not good enough. Not good enough. Where is Darnell Washington? I think they'll work him in.

Steve: I hope so. Honestly, I think he's not really a tight end first. He's more of a blocking back. So I think they want him to learn the blocking packages before he learns all the wide receiver, all the tight end packages where he can run. So I think depending on how long Firemouth is gonna be out, Cleary's gonna be out at least two more games. If he's gonna be out more after that, I think you'll see them bringing Washington in more passing situations.

Chris: Yeah, so here's my question though. Those taunting penalties, George Pickens, do we have to worry about his attitude?

Steve: I'll let Mark take that one first.

Marc: Well, you know, I put out a test where my fear is, is that Pickens is gonna become, certainly nowhere near as insane, but maybe a lesser version of a Antonio LeBron. Kind of just your, you know, like standard diva receiver. He just doesn't know when to shut up, you know? I, you know, I can see that, you know, being a little bit of a problem, but, you know, look, we just have to say, hopefully he'll mature. He's still only a second year player.

Steve: I like the excitement he brings, but when you get in somebody's face, when you try and headbutt somebody, when you go and shush somebody like Deontay did, that's just stupid. That's just unnecessary. I love being, you know, excited about it and if a defensive lineman gets up and like is standing over you get up and you're just like staring at them. I think that's really good for the game. I love that. But you can't headbutt somebody. You can't push somebody. You can't go shush in their face like that. Especially if you just made the big play. Like, that's just, that's, they gotta know where that line is. And if they don't know where that line is, then they gotta shut the hell up.

Chris: And CD says both Deontay and Pickens should get fined for dumbness. DG comes in and says you can't count on every team allowing those back shoulder passes to Pickens. We can talk about that. Kind of predictable. I'd like to smack both Johnson and Pickens for their juvenile taunting nonsense. Tomlin yucks it up with him.

Steve: Yeah, it was hard to tell if he was yucking it up with them or if he was kind of chastising them in like a brotherly way. And I don't like that. I think he I think he needs to chastise them like in their face. Like, if you do that again, there's going to be hell to pay for it. And you got to know he's got to be able to tell them what they can do and what they can't do, because he does like the passion also.

Chris: I yeah, I'm I'm with just about everybody here. I think that as talented as Pickens has shown, he is and, you know, Um, he is not mature. And when you look at, uh, Pacu and Nakua or Hakuna Matata, that kid, you can already see he's a rookie fifth round draft pick. He's already got a level of maturity. He's all business on the field. And You know, there's a lot of people talking about him being really a breakout. He's the real deal. Well, you know what? We'll see next year. He's obviously already having, I mean, he's had a great year for a working now if he doesn't play another game. So I can definitely see a difference there. And you know what, Mark? I, that is my concern. Um, is that, you know, Pickens is, is already kind of on the mean thing. and not on the team thing. He didn't do things that said, look at me. Yeah, but like the clay pool.

Steve: The neat thing would be getting up and pointing at yourself and like, looking around and being like, come on, look how great I am. He doesn't do that.

Chris: By the me thing, I don't mean necessarily that. I mean, just like getting up and getting in somebody's face. He's thinking about his own emotions and not what's better for the team.

Steve: And, and let's, let's face it. I think that he thinks his emotions are what's good for the team. I think Tomlin likes that too. Yeah. I think that's, that's what we have to come to terms with here. Like, I think it's okay to have those emotions. I have no problem with that. But what I do have a problem, what I do have a problem with is The pointing at somebody the head butting of somebody the shifting of somebody Everybody knows that's going to get you a penalty every time like just don't do that. Don't do it. Just don't do it.

Chris: It's that simple I agree. I agree. I I and I know that stealers nation is probably not going to like what i'm what i'm about to say right here, but you know, we're already kind of putting this lead type status on George Pickens as a receiver. And he has, other than the fact that he can make some pretty ridiculous catches, there's nothing to lead about this guy until he starts putting up the numbers, until he starts winning games, you know, until he starts doing this on a consistent basis. And I just think that he feels like He's believing the hype. He's starting to believe his own, the press. And that to me is, is a problem that, that could, that could end up being a problem.

Steve: Look that game. And I think the other problem is, and CD brings it up, is that he came, he went to, he went to Georgia, Georgia's top notch schools. And you know, he was highly recruited, right? You know, he's been catered to basically since high school and he was the best Right. So I think this is just who the Steelers decide to pick now. That's the talent they're going after. And I have no problem with that. But I think as a head coach, I think Coach T's got to do something to say, you're in the NFL now. You can be emotional. You can do these things, but you can't do this. You can't get penalties. You can go out and catch the ball for 35 yards, but you can't then get 15 yards of it back because you're so excited that you've made a mistake. And he needs to be able to tell them where that is. As long as that happens, I'm absolutely fine with the emotion. I love it. Now, if I start seeing things on social media, if I start seeing hats with their names on it and stuff like that, and they're calling more attention to themselves because they think they're a superstar, I'll change my mind. Well, maybe you will. I might. Maybe you will. I might, because you're right. Pickens has done nothing yet in the league, right? Neither has Pukua and Nakua, except for, you know, broke some rookie records, you know, with the first three games. But that's the way their offense is. That's not ever going to be the way the Steelers, they're never going to have a rookie wide receiver come out and break records for how many catches they're going to get in the first, you know, five games of their career. So I think you just have to accept that the Steelers are this team now. They do like to draft divas, right? Right. And they need to have a coach that keeps it under control so it doesn't hurt the team. Right. Right. That's it.

Chris: Yeah. Um, I, I just, I just hope that I hope that somewhere in that locker room back there, because of course we only see what they want us to see. So yeah, you see Tom, I saw Tomlin given, not giving him business, but you know, talking to him. And you know what Tomlin was saying, you can't do that. You got to keep your head about you. You just made a great catch. You got us 18 yards, you lost us 15. And the next time that happens, you know, it could take back a score. You know, that kind of stuff. But I hope in the locker room, some other player is pulling him aside.

Steve: So I agree with you there. And I don't know who that somebody would be, though. I don't know right now. Yeah. They said that's why they went to get Alan Robinson to be that guy, that mentor. Right. I don't think he's doing it.

Chris: Well, you don't know what he's doing in the locker room. That's true. You know, he's not doing anything on the field. We already know that. CD is like Plex because he, there was a comment about shooting. CD said, shooting yourself in the leg at a nightclub. Right. Plex, uh, San Antonio, AB, Le'Veon, Claypool. Right. They, they, they seem to have a history of, of having these, these players that kind of get into this whole me thing. And then, you know, and, and that, that, and that's been kind of a knock on Tom for a long time. He's too much of a players coach.

Steve: That's who he drafts. He likes players like that. I'm telling you that this is his history. If you want to talk about Tomlin's history, these are the types of players that he brings in.

Chris: And that's just the way it is. All right. So, on defense, Minkah Fitzpatrick led the defense with 11 tackles, 6 solo. You had Ogunjobi with the sack. Nick Herbig got his first sack. That was fun to see. Of course, T.J. Watt. T.J. Watt actually had no sacks. He only had one tackle, but he did get that big interception. So I think overall, the defense played the way they should play and the way we expected them to play. And Matt Stafford was 14 to 29 for 231 yards. One TD in that interception. But here's the interesting thing. I think in the fourth quarter, he did not complete a pass. Wow. I think Matt Stafford was over in the fourth quarter. So, yeah. So my, no, this is the, this is such a tough thing right now because it's like, like you said, Schwaber, fool's gold, four and two, you know, um, but they are four and two.

Marc: Well, that's, that's right. Although I guess the reason why I'm more inclined to say fool's gold is not, I think people are going to disagree with me here. But I think after watching this week, I'm pretty clear that the Ravens are the best team in the division. They just demolished a good five and one Lions team. And let's face it, I mean, they dropped like five touchdown passes against the Steelers. They still did. They still did drop them, OK? Yeah, but you know what? I have a lot more trust and faith in Lamar Jackson quarterback in that team than I do. Can you pick a quarterback in this team?

Steve: No, for sure. I mean, who's the guy who told you since the beginning of the season that I think Baltimore is going to be the team to beat? Always singing his own praise. And I agree with you. I think as long as he can remain healthy and it looks like he's only running whenever he has to run. And I think that will help his health. Um, I think I agree with you. I think Baltimore is but one thing about the drop passes I know everybody's like, well, they just dropped the passes. You know why people drop passes? I know why I dropped passes when I was playing It was because you're the death about getting your ass beat and that's what this defense does. Yeah, true That's what this defense does. It hits you so hard that you're not really thinking about you know getting that ball in your hands and pulling it in, you're thinking about, oh shit, somebody's going to hit me. I'm going to get hit. And they drop the ball. And it happened to Cooper Cup. It never happens to Cooper Cup. That guy had two drops and he never has drops. I'm just telling you, it's by design. It's not just luck. Dropping the ball has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with how hard your defense is playing.

Marc: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. I mean, I think it's sometimes it's luck and sometimes a guy just drops a pass.

Chris: Uh, this, this is, this is true. This is true. Playing secondary is tough, but Wallace seems to do a lot of chasing from behind. Joey Jr could use some tackling techniques. So there you go. There was that knock on Joey Porter and we did see a little bit of that. But you know, I thought it was good.

Steve: He's trying to tackle. He's there to make the tackle. Patrick Peterson and Mr. Wallace, who aren't anywhere near tackling.

Chris: That's right. I was going to say they're always catching up. I think our secondary, listen, it doesn't matter how many yards. This is where a dub is a dub comes in. You know, it doesn't matter how many yards Cooper did or didn't catch, how many catches Nakua had or whatever. They, they lost the game, you know, when the chips fell down. And so my bottom line for this, and then we're going to get to our NFL picks. Okay. So my bottom line for this game is this. Uh, the Steelers look better. The offense looked like there was a little bit more creative play calling. Kenny was throwing over the middle. Uh, they're still missing the running game. I don't care what anybody not that, you know, I i'm sick of this like Ajay was running pretty good. No, he wasn't Okay, listen guys. Najee harris is not the answer. I'm, sorry And roderick jones. I don't care. Kenny was only sat twice Roderick jones in the lineup. It was good to see that joey porter got more playing time, but I think he were playing time because they had those two receivers that were just ridiculous. That's what all the experts were saying. Right. That's why. So when are we going to see more of him? I mean, the only way that kid's going to learn how to tackle right is to get out there and have to tackle somebody full speed all the time and understand what it's about. The defense looked the way the defense was supposed to look. You know, the Rams don't, didn't really have a running game. But they did rush for 135 yards.

Steve: I know. That's what's amazing to me about teams. They just get away from the run with the Steelers. And it's because they feel like they can, they can exploit that Wallace situation. Right. And, and they can at times. You need to run more if you want to beat the Steelers. And that's why I think, you know, having Travis Etienne in there this week, it could be a big problem for the Steelers because Jacksonville will run with Travis Etienne 100 percent.

Chris: Yeah, because he's a real running back. Yeah. So, right.

Steve: And by the way, you're a little off base with Najee. Najee and the other running back, Jalen Warren. Yeah. they're running back on the committee. This is what the Steelers running game is. I know.

Marc: They just need to run Warren more.

Steve: I think they just need to run him as much as they run Najee. And if they do that, things will be fine. Then they'll have 15 runs apiece. They'll get over 100 yards. It's just that the, when the offense doesn't get, you know, they don't make the third downs. They just don't have enough time to be able to do it. They did in the, and that's why, that's why we like those drives so much in the fourth quarter because they were sustained. They could run, they could pass, they could pass, they could run, they could run, run, pass, they could pass, pass, run. It didn't really matter. They were able to mix it up and get things done.

Chris: Could you go back and say all of that three times fast, run, run, pass?

Marc: pass, pass, run, run, run, pass, run, pass, run, run. Thank you, Mark. Thank you. Thank you. There you go. Are we going to, are we going to make our six before we get on to the next one? Yeah, we're going to do that.

Chris: We're actually going to do that right now. Okay. So for this, I thought maybe you'd want to talk about the Flyers hot start. Yeah. Well, no, he doesn't want to do that.

Marc: He's got to go back. I'm not going to turn into flying. Yeah, there you go.

Chris: That's great. Thank you. Okay, just for the sake of what we've been doing with the Steelers, we all picked the Rams to win this game. We were all wrong. For the Steelers next week, Mark picked the Jags to win it and Steve and Chris picked the Steelers to lose. Well, I picked them to lose. You did. Well, that's good because I think they are going to lose. There you go. Well, wait a minute. Let me make sure. Oh, no, no. I picked Mark and Chris. Mark and I picked them to win. You picked them to lose. I picked them to lose. You picked them to lose. So, okay. What are our picks this week? First of all, Thursday Nighter. Yeah, well, first of all, Mark was 2-1 last week, Steve was 2-1, and I was 0-3.

Steve: Man, I'm falling behind, so… I don't think this is going to be the week you're going to want to pick up sets.

Chris: Yeah, our NFL picks right now, Mark is 13-5, Steve is 10-8, and I am a woeful 6-12. We want to know what is your pick, the first game we're talking about. Thursday night bucks at the bills Schwaber.

Marc: You're still on a roll I'll say the bills.

Steve: Okay, me too. There's no way the bills are gonna lose after they

Chris: They blew that against and then I can't afford to fall behind anymore So I am going with the gotta get a win. This is an easy way seven and a half point dog Yeah, BG picks the bills Okay, next Sunday night. It's bears at the Chargers CDs, right?

Steve: That's almost a must win for the bills, too.

Marc: Yeah Bears at the Chargers. Well, that's an interesting one Sunday night There's Chicago coming off a big win

Chris: Yeah, with a game like Division 2 and through 30 points. I put 30 points on the board. He's the new Brock Dirty Hall of Famer. Nah. Go ahead, Kyle.

Marc: I'll go Chargers. I'll take Herbert over to Division 2 quarterback. Yeah.

Steve: I'm just going to go contrary here. I'm going to go with Chicago. I don't think they're going to win because, you know, I have the Chargers that is actually making the wild card this year, and they've got to win in Chicago. But I'm going to try and make up around here.

Chris: Yeah, I'm gonna go with Chi. Okay, cool. I'm going with Bobby Herbert. Uh, and the Chargers. Now, here's the game. We picked Schwaber because we think you would have agreed with this.

Steve: Well, I'm actually kind of hoping the coach gets canned. Maybe the Steelers can pick him up and run their offense.

Chris: There you go. Bengals at 49ers.

Marc: Bengals at 49ers. At 49ers. Interesting.

Chris: Yep. And we're gonna see tonight if CMC is actually gonna be able to play at full speed.

Marc: Even has better than this one. I'm I'm gonna go 49ers. I don't. I don't think that even though Cincinnati's kind of come on of late, I don't. It's it's been a little. The games have been pretty close. It's not like blowing anybody away. I don't know. I just I just see 49ers as a much better thing. I don't. I don't think the Bengals were. If they get in the playoffs for a while,

Steve: I don't think it was good this year, so I'm taking 49ers.

Chris: This is a tough one for me. I'm either going to pick up a game on Mark or pick up a game on Steve.

Steve: I'd go for me because you're already picking up a game on me. You could get two games.

Chris: Yeah. This is tough. It's it's nap. I'm going with the 49ers. It's it's in San Francisco. So I, I, I gotta go with 49.

Steve: I think Cincinnati's already out there. I spent it. I think they spent their bi-week out in San Francisco. Yeah. Well, that's not going to, that's, that's going to get acclimated to that West coast atmosphere. 49ers.

Marc: I'm going to, I'm going to get off the horn for your hockey update. Well, thank you.

Chris: Thank you for being here. Grand Schwab Beanie. We'll talk to you soon.

Steve: Good luck in game seven. Thank you. Well, that was fun, man. He was a long winded caller. We got it.

Chris: We got it. We got to make those calls. I've actually got to take better control of the whole situation. Yeah. He's like, let me just call. We tried that.

Steve: We tried to filibuster him.

Chris: He wasn't having any of that. I know. I know. And meanwhile, it's the bottom of the ninth and there's a I mean, what did he want to do? Watch the Phillies finally lose?

Steve: No, he just didn't want to watch Kimbrel pitch.

Chris: That's right. That's right. Okay. Something we're going to talk about, uh, right now, which is this hockey. Jesus is back. Uh, hockey. Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single pens after what is going on with the banners. I like that bangles at 49. There you go. There you go. There you go. So, uh, Hockey Jesus Preaches on the podcast after every single Penguins game on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you get your podcasts. Listen, it's the Sports Porch podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Every game, every game, we dropped that podcast and you can hear hockey, Jesus preaching, got the music and everything. And we're going to invite you to preach with him at 412-805-7236. And H J this is, this is your gig, man. This is your gig. Now they did lose to Detroit, which I mean, why?

Steve: Well, you can't lose to Detroit. Well, Detroit's actually off to a pretty good start. Um, they got, uh, Look, I just, I just, I, it doesn't matter who they play against right now, honestly, three, they're two and I know they're two and three, no loser points. They haven't played an overtime game yet. Thank God. Cause I hate that loser point so much. I absolutely hate it. I'm so glad there aren't any, I don't, I think they're going to be a lot less overtime games. I think last year they had like 11, which is, which was near the tops in the league. It's just because the way they play, they're either going to be, ahead by a lot of goals or down by a lot of goals. This is just who the identity is. And why did they lose against Detroit? It was because they thought that they could skate with some of these young kids. And they just can't. They can't do it. And really what happened there was the middle period where they just got, they just got, they got, it was like 4-1 at the end of that period. And then they came back and they made a valiant effort, actually probably had a chance to tie the game. Um, you know, there was this offside that everybody thought the puck was an offside, blah, blah, blah. But it doesn't matter. By that time, the game was already over. Right. I said at the beginning of the season, I think they are going to struggle out of the gate. And I, I'm, you were right. I still think they're going to struggle. And part of the reason they're struggling now is they can't figure out their power play. They, it's like when you draft a lot of really good talent and you have a lot of really good talent and everybody wants to be on the ice. and you only need like three people on the ice and they have five people on the ice who all want to touch the puck, it's too much. You need people on the ice who will distribute the puck to those who can shoot it into the net.

Chris: So isn't that the whole point of hockey?

Steve: It is. But when you have five people who all want to hold the puck, they all want to be close to the puck. They don't want to be in the position that puts them in a better, better place to score. And Sully's, the way he's running the power play now is they have this stupid ass rotation where it's like, well, if the puck goes this way, then you rotate to this side and you go to this side and you go to this side and everybody's playing every position and nobody knows what the fuck they're doing. Yeah. So they need to stick in their positions. They need to get the puck back to Carlson, who's the playmaker, and let him decide who he wants to pass the puck to. OK. It's really that simple. They just need to simplify the game.

Chris: Right. And it's it's it's look five games in. So.

Steve: That's right. So I'm not, I'm not even going to get excited to about 10 games in. I only looked at the standings today cause I had to heard the flyers were at the top and I had to make sure that that was 3-1. It's 3-1 not 4-1. Yeah. They're, they're 3-1. I said 4-1, but they're only 3-1. Yeah. And they actually lost their last game, but the pens have Dallas in Yeah, Colorado coming in this week. They're really good teams in the West But you know last year they played really well against teams in the West because teams in the West like to skate They don't like to play a physical game, right? So I think that helps one thing up in that Detroit game that I thought was interesting was Dubas was interviewed between between periods and he really emphasized their need to get somebody a who can mix things up a little bit. And that means they need to get more physical. And I think he's looking for somebody to play on the third or fourth line who's going to bring some physicality. I hate that word. Yeah. Going to bring some physicality to the game, not in the form of fighting, because I think Personally the hockey jesus here thinks that fighting is stupid.

Chris: There's no room for violence, but I love oh, it's hockey There's plenty of room for violence. That's why half the fans go to watch fights.

Steve: Well, that is true Yeah, but I mean don't go violence in the form of a great cross don't go all check is different than violence in the way of Running somebody over because they have got the puck

Chris: Don't go all peaceful on me here, Hockey Jesus. Peaceful Jesus. Because see, look, we all know that. You're like the violent Jesus.

Steve: The Jesus that overturned the tables in the tabernacle.

Chris: If you think of it, your title, Hockey Jesus, is almost like an oxymoron.

Steve: Hey, DJ, do you like my logo? I put the logo up.

Chris: I did like your logo. We're going to toy with that a little bit. DJ says, and that's what they need to do, shoot the damn puck. And he also says, Gino is looking good. How do you feel about that?

Steve: Gino is awesome. to a hot start. And thank God for that because him and Riley Smith got some synergy going on. Like it ain't no tomorrow. Like they've been playing for a while together. And I think that's cause Riley Smith is a really good player. The same thing is happening with Carlson and Pedersen. Those two play really well together. The, the, the, the, the pair that is not doing it so well is graves in Latang. They are struggling to find each other in the defensive zone. Um, when Graves is, you know, going in, LeTang's going in and it's causing nobody to come back or you get to send your forwards back to cover for both of them. Bad. That's bad that they got to figure that out. So I think they need to figure that out. Um, they absolutely need to figure out the power play. And I actually think playing against Dallas in Colorado, even though they're really good teams right now, I think it would actually be really good for them. I think they'll find their game. The other thing is in the, in the, in the last game, They finally found a third line identity. Zahorna came in, you know, they sent Harkins on waivers down. Nobody claimed him on waivers, so that means he goes down to the baby pens. I don't think you'll see him back, honestly. I think Dubis thought he was going to be that physical presence. Nope, he wasn't. Not only that, he couldn't finish, and he was a bad fit on that third line. Zahorna, I think, is a great fit on that line. Um, so they just need to get some, um, they need to get some four checking going with that fourth line with the chari. And, um, um, I'm, I'm sure the hell that other guy's name. Oh, sorry. Hey, they're all new on the bottom six now. So it's just like Neato and Achari. And I don't, by the way, I, I, I did a hot take on this. I actually think Lars Eller needs to move down to the bottom, to the bottom line, uh, get Carter to sit a little bit. I think Carter and Eller need to periodically just, you know, take a night off because it's a long season and the less we see of those two, I think the better. I actually been watching Lars Eller on the penalty kill. I don't think he's a very good penalty killer either. He's good in the defensive zone taking draws, which is good because you want to win the draw. But I think defensively, positionally, he looks like he's always like not in the box. And the idea when you're killing the penalty is you got four guys kind of in the box and you kind of switch around. And that's when you want to switch around, not when you have the puck. And he always looks like he's leaving a lane open and he doesn't really chase the puck really well. So I'm down on Lars Eller right now, but it's a long season. Like you said, we're only five games in. I'm going to give my analysis a little bit better after we get 10, 20 games in, I'll absolutely know what this team is about a hundred percent. So, um, I would say probably by the end of, by Thanksgiving, you'll know if this team's gonna, gonna be able to pull together or not.

Chris: Well, we, we, we trust in you, hockey Jesus. That's why I'm here.

Steve: Right now, right now, the hockey Jesus says, don't panic. Um, they'll probably be the next time we talk, Let's see, I'm actually going the Saturday night game. Actually, when we talk next, they'll be playing that that Monday night. So maybe I'll be doing this from home. Maybe not. Well, you can work that out later. It's no big deal. That's is that Halloween? No. Halloween's on Tuesday. Whatever. We'll have our masks on because nobody wants to look at these ugly.

Chris: I feel like I feel like it's Halloween right now around my place. So what else? What else are you going to do? We got a comment coming in here from DG. Did you see Gino take a cross check in the back that knocked him down the other night? I was surprised that Gino didn't retaliate because he usually ends up in the box.

Steve: Well, Gino actually, the goalie he got in the first period in the last game that they lost was just hilarious because this is how I know hockey's back for me. I was screaming at the television at the top of my lungs. There is no effing way that was a penalty. When Gino barely even touched that guy and he fell down and they said it was a hooking penalty or some shit like that. I was screaming at the television because I thought for sure they were going to score a goal and they actually had a really good power play. They didn't score and then Krug couldn't keep it in. The puck comes to Gino right out of the box and he scores that goal. I thought that was just sweet justice. I just love that so much. And the thing is, like, Gino was still pissed when he did it. So when he scored, he wasn't smiling. He was just, you could tell he had that look on his face like he wanted to kill somebody. But instead, he put the puck in the back of the net. And that's good Gino right there. When good Gino's going, that's him. He plays with passion. He channels his energy into his game and he scores goals. And that's what I love about him. But you're right. he's the bad Gino, he takes a cross check in the back, he goes and just whacks that guy with his stick back, maybe even breaks his stick, maybe even breaks the guy's leg, and then he's out for two or three games. And he can't get it back, like he doesn't get it back real easily. So, so yeah, that's how you know good Gino versus bad Gino. So when you hear me talking about good Gino, bad Gino, that's exactly who he is.

Chris: And as you're saying this, I'm looking over your shoulder at the Phillies have lost and the Diamondbacks have forced a game seven. And I see Pedro Martinez and I'm thinking good Pedro versus bad Pedro. Listen, back in the day, it was always bad, Pedro.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Chris: He was always throwing at people's heads. I know. Now he's like kind of now he's like fat and happy and smiling because he's getting just as much money to sit there and say, you know, I bitch. I bitch good. I bitch good. When I pitched in the ALCS, this is what happened. And if I could only get a gig, like, look, if any of you out there know of somebody who's willing to give a guy like me an easy gig like that, I am your man. I'm just telling you.

Steve: Yeah. So this week, there's a lot of hockey last week. Not so much this week. The number of games are picking up. So means less sleep for the hockey Jesus than.

Chris: I got one more thing. I got one more thing. We were gonna talk about favorite movie quotes. Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm putting you on the spot. Here's one of mine. Okay. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Oh, yeah, that's easy. Classic. Classic. Classic. What's that from?

Steve: It's from Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now. Who said it? Um, the general, but I don't remember his name. Duvall.

Chris: Robert Duvall. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Yeah. You smell that boys? Love the smell. You smell that boys? That's victory. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. What about you? You got one? I don't have one. Come on, man.

Steve: If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. What's that from? Dodge ball.

Chris: Oh, that's great. Yeah. Guess who said it? Vince Vaughn. No, no. My buddy, my buddy. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My buddy. I don't rip torn a rip. Oh yeah. That's right. That's right. If you could dodge a wrench. Yeah, there you go. You got it, baby. Hey, listen guys, thanks for watching the Sports Porch on social media live right now on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, X, whatever you want to call it, all over the world. And for listening on Radio PGH at radiopgh.com. And we're going to drop the podcast. Actually, I am going to drop the podcast right now, right after the show. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere. Leave the gun, take the cannoli. Yeah, I love that one. I wanted to say casino, but no, it's not. It's Goodfellas.

Steve: Goodfellas, yes.

Chris: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, dropping the podcast right after show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your wicked podcasts. And you can always subscribe it and please leave us a review. We would love it. We will catch you next week. I am your technical director and I am out.