The Porch Is Live - Are the Steelers A Complete Mess?

Steve: and went right past him.
Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Anyway, the guy who had the jersey at the Penguins game was a Maurice Jones Jew jersey. Ah, very nice. But yet somehow he was still rooting for the Penguins.

Chris: Well, right, right, right. Of course, it takes all kinds. Here we go.

null: Here we go. Let's go, Penn.

Chris: Oh, welcome to the sports porch pittsburgh where you can watch us all over the world on facebook on youtube on linkedin on x and of course of course if you can't watch because you're driving and We generally don't like to watch facebook or youtube while we're driving. You can always catch us at radio pgh.com it's really easy i'm going to put that link in the comments and You can listen right now because we are live on radio pgh.com And we drop the podcast right after the show on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts So be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. And of course the porch is live.com the porch is live.com

Marc: ThePortsIsLive.com.

Chris: Absolutely. So, listen, we have phone lines open, as always, all the time, 412-805-7236. If you're watching or listening to the live show, would encourage you to call in because we do want to know what your thoughts are on the subject du jour, guys.

Marc: Right now we have one, right now we have one open line.

Chris: And we have, we seem to always have one open line. Uh, what, the first thing I do want to say is this, we, our, our, our best fan, our number one fan out there, DG, DG, he sent, he sent us something special. We got something special. We're not going to get to it tonight, DG, because we're doing it remotely. We had some other things going on. So I am in the Monroeville port Schwaber is in the, uh, Indiana Township porch. And he hates when I say that. And Steve is in the actual Pittsburgh slash Greenfield porch. So next week, we will be debuting that. And I can't wait. I can't wait. And DG said, take long. The Steelers offense sucks. Angela says, hi, Amy, of course is in the house. She, she says, hi, look, I'm going to go. I want you guys to follow my lead here. I am going to, um, I'm going to start with some specific questions that I think really need to be answered. And we've been asking them for a long time. And then I'm going to go to the overall general picture on the Steelers. Okay. Because I don't want to get mired in the record and what's going to happen and all that. I want to get to these. Okay. Here's my number one question right now. This is my personal number one question. And I want to hear, uh, your thoughts on this. I want to hear your thoughts. If you're out there for one, two, eight Oh five, seven, two, three, six. And I want to hear you guys's thoughts. When in the hell are we going to get a new punter? When are we getting a new punter? I know it's not like he throws passes, but he freaking sucks. He sucks.

Marc: Come on. I think that's the last thing on the agenda right now.

Steve: It's the first not according to Tomlin. That was the only guy that Tomlin threw under the bus was the punter.

Chris: Yeah, I know. I know. And how many times are we going to throw this guy under the bus?

Steve: Get rid of him. He's just gonna have to get another groin injury.

Chris: He sucks. He sucks when he doesn't have a groin injury.

Steve: Wait, didn't the punter that they had in that one game because of the groin injury Didn't he get picked up by somebody? I don't know him anymore. I don't think I don't know.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. I think he's the I think he's the Eagles punter. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. He's actually he's punting pretty well in the last couple games.

Chris: Yeah, he's pretty happy.

Steve: Well, I mean, you only punt the Eagles only punt the ball like three times a game. The Steelers won the ball once a game. Yeah, the Steelers won the ball four times in the first quarter.

Chris: Yeah, but look, they drafted him. He was wasn't he in a first round pick?

Steve: Six. Come on. Let's not, let's not overdo it.

Chris: They talk.

Steve: There are definitely bigger fish to fry than a punter. Although I do agree with the punter definitely sucks.

Chris: But this is the thing. It's the little things. It's the little things. Okay. When you're trying to play a football game, especially the way the Steelers play, which is God awful. And we'll get to that in a minute. Field position becomes paramount. And when you can count on your punter to give the other team good field position every single time, that makes it even worse. All right. 4-1-2-8-0-5-7-2-3-6. Next question. Do the Steelers have a tight end?

Steve: They have three actually.

Chris: Do they really have a tight end? Because I haven't seen them really try to use one this entire year.

Steve: Well, then you weren't watching the game because Hayward was targeted six times more than more, more than more than more than more than when he was playing, please.

Chris: Yeah, go ahead. You're you're making excuses, but my apologies, my apologies.

Steve: No, he had he had more targets than Pickens did. I mean, that's ridiculous. Like, how can you throw the ball to a backup tight end more than you can throw the best talent you have on the offense? That's what's ridiculous. And he's is he a real tight end? No, of course not. He's just on the team because his brother's really good. He's hurt right now. But that's the only reason he's on the team. The only reason he's a tight end is because he couldn't make it as a fullback.

Chris: Okay. Okay.

Steve: That's what's ridiculous about it. Like, think about it, dude. They threw to a guy who's not even a backup tight end.

Chris: That's what I'm saying.

Steve: He's a failed fullback.

Chris: Right.

Steve: He had more. He had more passes thrown to him than your best fricking wide receiver. So you answer. This is what our offense is.

Chris: You answered my you answer my question. So cliff cliff bailey Thanks for chiming in he says with all the problems on this team You're complaining about the punter if we had an oc that could call an offense. Look we we yeah Listen tune in every week if you do and you just don't speak up, uh, no big deal But thanks for your comment. We have talked so much about mac canada. I I I like when I say that those words The Matt Canada, I throw up a little in my mouth right now. It just happens. I can't help it. It's like a gag reflex. And, you know, so I'm just trying to bring a little levity to this situation and point out some obvious shit. You know, the Steelers have tight ends. That's what I'm getting at. Where the hell are they? They're thrown to Connor Haywood. What about the guy they drafted? Darnell Washington, where is he? Is he that bad?

Steve: He was on the he was on the field for six plays and they didn't draft him.

Chris: I love how Steve counts that. Yeah. Well, they don't have anybody to catch the ball. They should at least give him a shot.

Steve: Well, no, they didn't draft him to catch the ball. They draft him the block because he's so big.

Chris: And he's not in there and he's not blocking.

Steve: Okay. Because he's a rookie. You understand that the Steelers don't play their rookies more than 10% of the time. I mean, they drafted broader Jones first and Dan Moore jr. Got hurt and he was in there. And that just so happened to be the time when they could actually run the ball and they drove the ball down the field when Dan Moore jr. Was hurt, but then he was better. So they put him back in and then they suck the rest of the game.

Chris: Well, and that's that's what I'm getting at. I mean, you know, it's it's one of those things where I'm what I'm saying is I'm kind of pointing out some of the some of the stupid things, because now at this point in the season, you've just scratched the surface. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And D.G. Levity, there is no levity after Tomlin's press conference.

Marc: You know, I didn't hear it this week. What was it about? Like like we need we need to out muscle the The other team, we need to get back to hitting pads.

Steve: No, I think it was more about, you know, you can't bridge that distance. It's a distance too far. You know, whenever, whenever, whenever, whenever you get down, whenever you get down, whenever you get down, whenever you get down by 10 points, that's just a distance too far for, for, for our offense to go.

Marc: You know, it's like what we're not built to come back.

Chris: That's right. That's right. Well, I, I, I guess the whole idea about this for me is that there are just some, I mean, we've been talking about the obvious for so long that there's some other things that are kind of like, they, they go hand in hand with having a complete team. That that's what I'm, what I'm talking about. When your punter sucks as bad as that guy, you can't play the field position game. You can't do it. You can't pin anybody deep because the guy shanks every damn punt. When you don't play, when you don't work a tight end into the offense, a tight end is a quarterback's best friend. You know, when he's going through his progressions and everybody's covered, where does he look? He looks over the middle of the field in the softness of the zone to find the tight end. They don't. And, and, you know, Steve, yeah, right. They're trying to throw it. Connor Hayward is not a tight end.

Steve: I will make a brief point.

Marc: I would say that punter and a poor use of tight ends are not in my top five issues. Right. Let's get to the number one issue.

Steve: Let's talk about the quarterback.

Chris: Well, that was next Trubisky or Rudolph 412-805-7236.

Marc: Um, because that wasn't what Steve was referring to.

Steve: Well, no, big Ken's actually going to play on Thursday, so you might want to put him back on the list.

Chris: That sucks.

Steve: Yeah. Well, so here's, here's the, can we, can we talk about big Ken's problems?

Chris: Yeah, sure. You can talk about whatever you want.

Marc: Why did we name him big Ken? Yeah.

Steve: Well, that's that's that's the name that Hayward tried to give him because they wanted to make him seem like he's just as good as Big Ben. So he said we should call him Big Ken. And it never stuck, except for with me, because I like making fun of it because it's so it's so he's so not like Big Ben. It's ridiculous. And here's why he's not like Big Ben. One, actually, he has been clutch this year in some games. So there I think I give him the Big Ken moniker. it. That's not a play where you can like fracture a rib or bruise a rib on like what, how did, could you get injured on a play like that? Like it was just a hard takedown. It wasn't even really, it wasn't even really like four guys jumped on him. And the guy that hit him was just, just a normal linebacker. I think, I think the guy one is fragile, you know, and I think that's a problem. And. I actually was kind of happy he got injured because I did want to see what Trubisky could do, honestly, because… I still, in my mind, I'm not sure whether it's big Ken or Canada who are the problem on this team. And unfortunately the second half didn't help because Trubisky wasn't, was, was good for, for one series, but that's it. That's all he was good for. And I see why they play big Ken now, because the reason they do is he doesn't make, he won't make that risky pass. He won't throw in the triple coverage to Alan Robinson across the middle. You know, he just would never make that pass. Although that's that that's a bad that's a bad analogy because throwing to triple coverage to Allen Robinson across the middle is dumb. You should at least throw it to pickets or or Deontay if he was in the game because that's just a bad choice of who to throw to but he will he will make risky throws and that's why he's not in there.

Chris: What I would say is to even There, there are no good analogies on this team. Okay. This, this team is in complete disarray.

Steve: Well, that I disagree.

Chris: Huh? You disagree?

Steve: Yeah. I disagree. All right.

Chris: Hold on. I'm going to stop you right there. Listen, you've been talking a lot. Schwab, do you disagree or agree with me?

Marc: Well, I don't know that disarray is the right word, but I do feel that, um, Their trajectory is downward at the moment. Now, that could be different with a first round quarterback pick next year. But I just feel like their trajectory right now is downward.

Chris: OK, so Cliff is back and he says it's poor use of all the talent. I don't think you're going to get an argument there out of it.

Steve: I think Cliff's right there.

Chris: The offensive play calling is too predictable, right? Run plays are always Harris up the middle, slant, curl, screen plays. Same thing over and over and over. Misuse of talent, right? Mike is in the house. Mike Lawrence, thanks for being here. Mike Trubisky is good at throwing into double and triple coverage. Yeah, he's excellent at it. Yeah, um I I say this team is in disarray because the excuses are never ending never ending it. Listen, I listen to sports radio Go ahead, bud.

Steve: No, no, go ahead finish your point

Chris: All I hear is, well, Najee looked a little slower this game. He's not, they're not getting the holes opened up for him. Warren is explosive, but he's probably not every down. Friermuth is injured, so we don't really have a tight end. The defense is able to call the plays before they run them, but the players have to execute. Kenny made the first pass of the game and should have been a touchdown. Um, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look it to me. And then you go to the mic, the Tomlin press conference. And I got to tell you, man, like he confuses the hell out of me when he talks.

Steve: Honestly, you're not the only one.

Marc: I know. I know he doesn't. He really doesn't say anything.

Chris: He doesn't say anything. 18 years. You've been the head coach in Pittsburgh Steelers. And what he has learned is that he can say nothing and get and get away with it. He can say nothing and get away with it. Here's where I am. This is where I am. And they may end up. I highly doubt it. They may end up winning every game the rest of this year and everybody's going to laugh about that. They're not going to.

Steve: That's not going to happen.

Chris: It is time. It is. And I know I know what this I know what the Steelers know. I know what the Steelers way is. I get it. It's time to make a change. It's time for a new head coach. It's time for a complete redo. We are not going to relive the Ben Roethlisberger glory years with the current system. We are not going to win four Super Bowls in six years like we did in the 70s with the current system. The NFL is a constantly evolving League in which teams get good for a period of time and then they then they go through You know a transformation and they have changes. This is the time to do it That's the way I feel now and I look Steve. I know where you're going. We've we've had how many conversations? Yeah, of course, they're never gonna do it, you know, just like just like Amy says The word change is not a part of the Rooney vocabulary. She's absolutely right. She's absolutely right.

Marc: But it's not a comment of the show thus far.

Chris: Is that why you put a little star next to it, Mark?

Marc: Yes, I did.

Chris: Yes. I've been wondering who's been putting those stars next to comments. So I'm going to be quiet right now and let you guys down on that.

Steve: And I mean, your fantasy world is quite fun, by the way. I do enjoy, you know, I do enjoy thinking about getting a new head coach because I do think that is necessary. But but until Tomlin retires, that's not going to happen. So let's talk about the reality of the situation. the reality of the situation was last, not this past week, but the week before everybody was happy. We beat the Rams. They're a pretty good team. Everybody. So thought we were able to stop them. Our defense was good enough, made a big splash play and we win the game, right? The only difference about this game was The very first series where Deontay drops that pass, if he catches that pass, who the hell knows? He might be in the end zone on the very first play. And we're talking about the Steelers playing from ahead as opposed to from behind. And that's where they need to make the change. They need to make the changes in execution of the game plan. Because I actually think for the first time ever, the execution, the play calling would have been right, but the execution was extremely poor. And that's where the Steelers have been bad all year and have been bad since Big Ken has taken over. They're just they're just not consistent in their execution. They keep relying on defensive plays, defensive scoring plays to keep them in games. And that's just not sustainable in this NFL. And I get it. You know, this defense is pretty good. And I agree with you. They're not as good as they think they are because they're not actually they give they give up a lot of yardage. just like they did last year. But you can give up a lot of yardage in the NFL and still win games as long as you're getting the turnovers. And that's that's what this defense has done all year. The problem is the O-line cannot open up any holes. They have no running game. And then they got to rely on an in passing game. to be able to make that happen. And how this offensive line got worse after signing, after taking a number one pick who they have sitting on the goddamn bench, and Seamalu, who presumably was going to be the savior, right guard, I guess all he does is he just jumps off sides on field goals now. Although we can talk about that by the way, because I know he didn't jump off sides. I know he wasn't off sides before we get 6,000 comments on that. But the reality is the offensive line is not opening up any holes. And whether Najee was back there or Barry frickin Sanders was back there, Barry Sanders would only get 50 yards with this offensive line.

Chris: I don't know. I don't know. He would get at least one 50 yard run. According to Schwab or it'd be one, one negative three 52. Listen, Jeff is in town. Grab says no moxie on this team. No discipline. The airline is an app. What do I know more than the coaches?

Steve: and and and at the end of the game when they have to come out and say that you know all it was the refs fault the refs to me first of all Deontay gonna be lucky if he doesn't get suspended for this game for some of the things he said you know, insinuating that the rest actually were paid off. That is, that's dangerous territory. The NFL doesn't like to hear that talk. He'll get, I bet, I bet you he gets a $250,000 fine at least for his comments.

Chris: I want to break in here and I just want to tell you that I'm watching the pregame for Monday night and I'm kind of digging The uh lions cool helmets for color rush. All right, brad trombley says i'm gonna let you guys pick the game I come to know and two on the games I come to well, I guess you're not coming then brad yesterday was a complete misery sitting in that shit.

Marc: Yeah Well Shall I make my comments on the game? Um Yes. All right. Go ahead. Go ahead. Well What I have to say is It is a miracle that the Steelers are four and three.

Chris: Are we going to call it? We might actually we might actually be getting a call here. Let's let's see. Hopefully it's hopefully it's not spam. Hey, it's the porch and you're on the porch.

SPEAKER_02: Yep, dg calling in. I can see you press the right button.

Chris: Yeah It is j Welcome dg. I gotta I gotta program your number into my phone for dg because when it comes up Then it'll spit it out and reject the call. Yeah. Yeah. So go ahead. What do you got to say dg?

SPEAKER_02: Just a couple of things. I mean you guys are getting all the points and um, you know, um after tomlin's press conference today um he said something that I didn't know if you guys picked up on but to me it was just kind of amazing because he does say nothing like like Mark said and you guys agreed but he said about the defense um you know they didn't they didn't provide plays that were advantageous to our offense and they didn't yeah they came up with turnovers but they weren't and I was like how many turnovers did we pick up that game how many does he expect his defense to provide for him. And so you might, you know, you're not going to take take a pick six, you know, every turnover, you know, they stopped those guys. How many times?

Marc: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: In the reds, though. And And the offense never stepped up, never, you know? And Hunter, I mean, that guy, since day one, I just haven't figured out why they keep him around. But you know what, I think, and then I'll let you guys go, it's just, I don't think, I don't see the discipline You know, Tomlin, he walks around, he's Joe Cool, and he's got, you know, Glorilla in the house. And he's, you know, what the hell? It's like, it's like, listen, you've got an offense that it's anemic, it's been anemic. And, you know, the change needs to be made. And I just think that he's burning up a lot of, He's burning up a lot of stock that he's built over the years. And if they continue this way, a change will end up being made. I hope so. They're not going to tolerate this. And you know, the defense isn't the greatest defense, but they're a damn good defense that's provided, you know, the situations to allow a normal offense to at least, you know, win some of these games. And they just, and one last thing, the Deontay, you know, it reminds me, you know, kind of the stuff that Mark has talked about in the past and I've been worried about. even with pickings, you know, these guys, you know, lipping off like that about the refs. You know, and first of all, he dropped the pass, you know, and he's talking about the refs. It just reminds me back to my old high school football coach, you know, he was a pro center. And he was like, The refs, you know, now, if you're in a, if you're in a position where you're, you're, you're saying that the calls lost the game for you, you know, you, you didn't, you didn't, you didn't play well enough.

Chris: Yeah. I agree. I agree a hundred percent. As far as the, as far as the defense goes, DG, um, my, my whole point about the defense is they're ranked 30th overall.

Marc: Okay, they they're ranked 30 out of 32 teams, right?

Chris: That's right. Uh, they are ranked 28th in Pat or 25th in pass defense and 28th in rush defense. They're horrible. What are they?

Steve: What are they in point scored points against?

Chris: Uh, I heard. But here, but but here's the thing on that scoring defense.

Steve: How many points against points against?

Chris: Uh, yeah, that's what I'm saying points allowed, right?

SPEAKER_02: Uh, but turnovers they they uh, 17th 17th

Steve: Yeah. So they're more like a Midland defense, not, not, not an authority defense.

Marc: Well, and they also have a, have a buy-in there too, helping them out on that.

SPEAKER_02: I thought we were hired in 17.

Chris: Red zone defense. They are 22nd, third down defense. They are 24th. Uh, and that's as far as I'll go. Uh, I am just saying that I, and, and DG, listen, thanks for the call. We'll let you go. Always so happy. that you were here with us. And next week, your little surprise, we'll get it into the show. I can't tell you how.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Hey, it's all good. Hopefully, I'll bring you guys some laughs. This week though, Levis is Levis dude, you know, rookie.

Marc: I can't imagine why he wouldn't be playing. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah, he'll be playing for sure. Definitely going to play.

SPEAKER_02: So everybody's all Kenny, Kenny Pickett. Kenny's our man. Kenny's our man. You know, I'm still waiting for two touchdown passes.

Chris: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, DG. Thanks for calling in. Always appreciate it.

Marc: All right. Well, listen, I'm going to finish up my my points because I actually watched this game, which was torture.

Chris: You watched, you watched it on a replay Schwab and you, you, you, but you, you tortured yourself. Like you took one for the team here because we were all texting back and forth during the game. You're watching the Eagles game, but you're getting a play by play blow from us. And then you actually went back and watched it. Now, of course we were like, we don't need to relive it. So please don't text us again. But right. So, so go ahead. It was a torturous game.

Marc: Yeah, so this is this is my kind of overall feeling here. I just think it's really what it comes down to kind of overall kind of across the board. I just feel like it's like it's a lack of talent. You know, not to say there aren't some really good players on the team, OK, like T.J. Watt, like Highsmith, right, like Pickens. But, you know, look, the quarterback. Isn't very good. Uh, he's, he's, he's middling at best, right? The offensive line. Isn't very good. Um, the best offensive lineman on the team doesn't play is probably on the bench, right? Who's the first round pick? Um, even if there were holes, I would still say that, uh, nausea and Jalen Warren are both average. Um, you know, if Friar Muth is healthy, decent, average, um, you know, Deontay Johnson, I mean, look, I recognize he's got talent, but he can't play for me. You know, he dropped two balls on that first drive. Now, one would have been nullified because there was a penalty. But you know what? If he caught the ball, they would have at least had another down. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. You know, so I mean, look, on on offense, there's there's not a lot to work with. And beyond that, you've got horrible play calling. Uh, now, like Steve was saying, the play calling wasn't terrible yesterday, but he also said, which I completely agree with him, you know, um, I mean, Jesus, I mean, Pickens, he's your best player. And you know, he got like his now one was taken back on a penalty, but technically he got his first target, like on the touchdown pass, like midway through the third quarter. I know. Right. I mean, that's, that's ridiculous.

Chris: And Johnson was back, you know, and they weren't throwing to a tight end.

Marc: Right. And then, you know, like if you if you if you look at the defense, I mean, what I've been kind of saying all along is, look, they got a really good defensive line. I think the linebackers are in a smidge better than last year. Um, the secondary, I think is, is kind of weak. Um, and even mink has kind of been, uh, below average this year. I do like we've, what we've seen from Porter junior so far. Yeah, he did get burned yesterday though, but he's young and he's learning. Right. But the bottom line is, is that, you know, you know, Steve's right in that. You know, by the eye test, the defense doesn't seem that bad. They really don't. And that's basically because they keep them in games and they make big plays. But, you know, it's like I was watching the game with with Amy yesterday. And what I told her was I said I said I couldn't believe this because I was looking up if I was going to start Travis at the end or not in my fantasy team. And I was shocked that they were 28th against the rush and 30th overall. I was I was honestly shocked by that because because the eye test tells you different. Right. And and and so Amy was like, what does that mean? And so I said, basically, what that means is, is there a big play defense? It means people are going up and down the field the whole game long, but then they make a big play. And that's why they're in games. And sure enough, I mean, that was like the whole game, like like if you look at it from the Jacksonville Jacksonville could have had him blown out early, but they kept driving down the whole field and then the Steelers would get a turnover. Right. So that's that's basically what was what was happening. And I just sort of feel like just the way Steve is just saying, like, you know, the pick sixes aren't sustainable. I also just to I also just kind of feel too like Turnovers aren't really sustainable either.

Chris: That's right.

Marc: Like, you know, like, no, there's going to be a team that has the most turnovers. Maybe it'll be the Steelers. Maybe they'll be in the top five. They probably will be. But, but, you know, you're going to hit your games where you get no turnovers or you get one. Right. You know, and that's going to be the game where when teams are going up and down the whole field, that's that's when Houston happens. You know what I mean?

Chris: And that's exactly right. And you cannot live on a defense that is ranked as low as the Steelers' defense is ranked and win games, especially if your offense is where their offense is.

Marc: Right.

Steve: So that statement makes no sense because they've won four games that way.

Chris: Against who?

Marc: Yeah, but that, that doesn't mean that it doesn't against Baltimore, Cleveland, Baltimore, which is a division game.

Steve: And they, and, and they draw what you're saying doesn't make sense because in the scope of things, yardage doesn't really mean that much when you're getting turnovers. What does make sense is you can You can't sustain turnovers all the time. That's what I'm saying. That's that's what happened yesterday. Their defense basically. And this is kind of I think Tom one's point. Their defense bailed out their defense. It didn't help the offense because they didn't get a turnover in They didn't get the turnovers in the side of the field that allows the offense to score. That's a total Tomlinism, by the way.

Chris: I was just about to say, wait, did you actually just say their defense bailed out their defense?

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. No, I got it though. I got it. But everybody understands what I said when I said that. Right.

Steve: Because their defense basically allowed the team.

Chris: You've been watching too many Tomlin Prescott.

Steve: Dude, I have to because he's our coach in perpetuity until he retires.

Marc: You get that, right? Here's the thing. Now, Steve, like what you're saying, you know, because one of the things you're saying, and it makes sense, but they're four and three playing this style of ball, right? Yes. But the whole point that I'm trying to bring up here is that. We're tired of nine and eight. We're tired of eight and nine. We're tired of seven and ten. You know, that's what we're tired of. And it seems like that's the direction that we're headed in.

Steve: And this is this is the way Tomlin coaches. You're absolutely right. Yeah, I'm I'm tired of not being in the Super Bowl for 10 years.

Marc: Right.

Steve: I mean, so tired of not seeing not be not winning a playoff in that long. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm very tired of it. I'm sick and tired of it. But here's the reality. The reality is until the coach changes, the system doesn't change. And the system, the system is based off of let's play good enough to make the playoffs. Cause then we'll, we'll, we'll be, we'll be in a good position to be able to win a game, which hasn't actually worked ever. So, so you're not going to fire the coach. So unless you have some dirt on Mike Tomlin that I don't know about and you can get him to retire next year, this is what we have for the foreseeable future.

Chris: And we're not saying we want anybody to dig up dirt on Mike Tomlin. Let's just make that. No trust me if if there was dirt out there i think it would have already been lumped on him and this is not an indictment of mike tomlin as a person but he is i think his his ability to to see clearly through um the process that needs to adjust to this new NFL, I think it's limited and his time is up. And you guys know, I have been a Tomlin defender for quite a few years now. I really and truly have, but I can no longer defend this, especially since we started listening to the press conferences, which if I was listening to them five years ago, I would have been there anyway.

Steve: You're the reason the Steelers are in this predicament because you predicted that they would draft Kenny Pickett.

Chris: I did? I did.

Steve: Sometimes you're actually you're actually the problem.

Marc: You do need to take some blame here. Yeah. You know what? No. But but see what you said, Steve. That's very. I like. Go ahead.

Chris: DG's comment. Yeah.

Marc: Yeah. I'm just saying what Steve just said, though, like that's that's that's quite depressing, though, because it's what we got.

Steve: I mean, because it's either way. If you don't like the Steeler way, then it's time to pick a new team because this is never going to change.

Chris: to a

Steve: So when you do want to sell the team, what do you think about putting it out there for the public to buy the team? So that you'd put out a million shares, everybody would buy a thousand shares, a million shares at a thousand dollars, and you get your money and we get some stake in what goes on with the team, much like Green Bay does. He gets his billion dollars, and we get rid of Tomlin. I mean, I think everybody would be happy that way.

Chris: Robby says, I love the Steeler way. Thanks for being here, Robby. Brad has a question for us. Thank you, Robby. What I'm telling you right now is- The Steelers organization, I can't decide if they would be in big trouble or be completely saved if this happened, but you know darn well who would buy as many shares as possible, and that person's name is Scott.

Steve: No, you can only buy one share, by the way, you can't like up in Green Bay.

Chris: OK, Brad Trombley has a question. And let's just let's fantasize, OK? Because since we're stuck and mired in this quagmire.

Steve: Wait, Brad's at the hockey game and he's he's texting us questions.

Chris: Yeah, that is a true fan, right? Oh, is he at the hockey game tonight? He's still in.

Steve: Yeah, he's he's he's in the game. He's at the game right now. I love it.

Chris: That's awesome. So Brad says, who would you like to see as the next head coach? And by the way, Brad, show this show to everybody in your entire section there. We'd like you to get it out there for us. The number one hockey Jesus disciple. Who would you like to see as the next head coach? My answer to that is anybody but Mike Tomlin. I'm going with Glo Rilla. I'm dead serious. Glo Rilla? Yeah.

Steve: I think that's why she was there, actually.

Chris: I think James Harrison should be the next.

Steve: I think she's going to be the new offensive coordinator.

Chris: What do you glow? Rilla? Yeah, you know what? She would. She would. She would. What's the word I'm looking for? She would deflect hands and she would. What did you say?

Steve: She would enhance the style of the offense.

Chris: Yeah, I thought you said something about pants, but I'm not going to go there.

Steve: I did not say pants.

Chris: I know I know it was just me. It was just me and honestly I don't think I could think. I can't think past who I would like to see as the next Steelers head coach because they still have a head coach and I'm all about the fantasy, Brad. Totally all about the fantasy. Like who would somebody trying to answer this question?

Marc: You know, here's a simple answer to it.

Steve: Come on, get in front of the net for God's sakes.

Marc: It should be, it should be a really good offensive coordinator in the NFL who, uh, you know, seems to hold the characteristics and traits of a good head coach, but it needs to be somebody on the offensive side of the ball.

Chris: Yes.

Steve: Who's the offensive coordinator for, uh, the chargers?

Chris: Kellen Moore.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: Yep. Kellen.

Marc: It could be, could be sure.

Chris: Yeah, I think it needs it needs to be somebody who is right one of the one of the newer innovative minds in the NFL, because obviously, going back to your old style head coaches is not worked out. for a lot of teams, Sean Payton, Mike McCarthy. I mean, those guys are of a previous generation. And look, analytics and throw in the ball and fast wide receivers. That's the way it goes.

Steve: Would you get in front of the net?

Chris: And Steve, we would really appreciate if you would watch the game in silence during the show.

Marc: People on the radio listening to the podcast would have no idea what you're doing.

Chris: You know what? And that being, that being said, we're going to move on here. We got to do our NFL picks real quick and then we're going to let hockey Jesus talk real quick. And I promise I'll hit the mute button the next time. All right. So last week, um, we all ended up two and one, by the way, we all ended up two and one. So right now, um, Marcus 15 and six, Steve is 12 and nine and Chris is eight and 13. We want to know what your pick is. The Thursday night game is, of course, the Titans at the Steelers. Since Marcus picked first every week since the beginning, I'm going to let Steve pick first this week.

Steve: Well, I took the Steelers, and I'm going to stick with the Steelers.

Chris: Okay. Schwaber, you took the Titans in the beginning of the year.

Steve: I did.

Chris: No, no, no, no. Mark took the tight.

Marc: Oh, my. Did I? Yeah. Did I? So I don't have to take them, though.

Chris: No, but I'm just telling you, that's who you picked in the beginning.

Marc: You know, it's such a it's such a crazy question because it's like, you know, can a rookie quarterback compete against the Steelers defense? Yes. But you know what?

Steve: Well, CJ Stroud did.

Marc: Well, here's what I have to say to myself. What I have to say to myself is I'm basing that based on what I think of past Steelers defenses. So I will take the Titans.

Chris: There you go. And I am taking the Titans as well. I love it. Next game. Next game. Sunday night. This is a game.

Marc: Watch. Watch. They'll trade Derrick Henry tomorrow at the trade deadline.

Steve: Yeah, right. They say he's probably going to go to Baltimore.

Chris: Right. Which would be just fantastic. Sunday night's game. Bills at Bengals. Bills at Bengals. What are your picks, Steve?

Steve: Well, you know, I told you the Bengals were going to beat the 49ers in 49er land, and I was right about that.

Chris: Yeah. And Mark and I picked the Niners.

Steve: I actually like the Bills in this game, and I don't know why. I'm just going to go with the Bills.

Marc: Schwaber? Um. I'll go Bengals home team.

Chris: I am actually going to go with the bangles on this. I think the bills get in their own way and I think the bangles are on the way back. Okay.

Steve: This is an exciting bangles to lose because I think they're winning too much.

Chris: And DG says, don't second guess the Grand Schwabini. That's right, DG. He's right about that. This is a great game to pick. It's a 930 game from Frankfurt, Germany. Dolphins at the Chiefs. Now, this is interesting because that Dolphins offense, that Chiefs offense, this is the kind of game that if you're like a FanDuel kind of guy, you know, they're like, bet the over, bet the over. It's going to be 900 points. Bet the over. I would look at this and say, you wanna know what? This is the kind of game that is like 13 to 10.

Steve: It could be, you're right.

Chris: So who are you going with, Steve? Dolphins or Chiefs?

Steve: Now remember, there is no- I bet the over under on this is probably like 57 or something.

Chris: I bet it is. I didn't look it up because I'm not a betting guy, but- No, me neither. I don't bet, but- Dolphins and Chiefs, and there is no real home team. It's in Frankfurt.

Steve: Well, the Chiefs just lost. They're um, they're oh and one without taylor swift and she's definitely not going to be in frankfurt for the I hate that don't I don't ever want to talk about taylor swift I did it just for you. I had to guess.

Chris: I know you're just being an asshole.

Steve: Come on Ah, I know I had to had to had to throw that in there. He's so ugly Dolphins are definitely on a roll That's why I think the chiefs are gonna win. I got the chiefs 49 to 48

Chris: It's in Frankfurt. All right, Robert Dolphins Chiefs.

Marc: You know, as far as. The way the teams are playing, I mean, the Dolphins are playing better than the Chiefs right now, but. I'm just going to go Pat Mahomes over to Andy Reed over the kindergartner teacher for the Dolphins at head coach. After a loss and a bad one at that, I'm going to. I'm going to go Chiefs.

Chris: I say the mystique of the Chiefs is starting to fade. Just like 49ers, huh? It's starting to fade now. Mahomes is look, you know, he's a hall of fame quarterback already. So, um, but I, I I'm going dolphins on this one, boys, I'm going dolphins on this one.

Steve: Well, you got to make up some space. So it's a good time to pick them.

Chris: I, you know what, at this point where I am, I'm just hoping I'm not getting bored by the end of this. So, uh, all right. Remember guys, uh, I want to thank Robby.

Steve: You don't like Taylor Swift.

Chris: I so agree. Thank you, Robby. Thank you so much.

Steve: Stealer way to love Taylor Swift for agreeing me.

Chris: Well, come on.

Steve: Not really. I made that one up.

Chris: So I want to remind everybody listen if you didn't catch the whole show that we do live all over the world on radio pgh.com and also facebook youtube linkedin and x You can catch the podcast right after the show within about 15 minutes. I dropped the podcast. It's on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcasts and um we would love for you to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review now we're going to move on to something called hockey well somebody called hockey jesus and if you've caught up with the podcast preaches after every penguins game on the sports sports podcast anywhere you get your podcasts um and he's and on our deportees channel He's going to, he's going to preach. He's going to preach right now. But, but first of all, I want you to tell us about, tell us about Brad. We had a fan. Uh, you know what? I don't want to call people that are fans, fans. I want to call them friends because if you're watching our show and you're interacting with us and you're telling people about it, you know, you're a friend and you're a friend of the show. That's right. You're a friend of the show. So Brad has been with us for a few years now. He's participated a lot. He's been out to Pittsburgh a couple of times. I think last year was for the Jets game. We weren't able to catch up with him. But this time, Steve made a commitment. Hockey Jesus said, you want to know what? I will pray with you down at PPG Paints Arena during the hockey game. And you met our buddy Brad. And tell us a little bit about that. And then we'll let you preach about the Penguins.

Steve: Brad is a Hardcore Pittsburgh fan. He became a Pittsburgh fan actually because, um, I think, I believe it was his aunt gave him a Jersey of Lynn Swan when he was young.

Chris: He actually grew up. That's that's classic.

Steve: He grew up in Minnesota. So, you know, and he still lives in Minnesota. Um, but him and his son, uh, Jameson, um, came to Pittsburgh. They make the pilgrimage every year and they try and get as many, uh, sports events that they can this year. They were able to get three in. Hopefully they don't go 0-3 tonight. They're at the Anaheim-Pittsburgh game down at the PPG Arena before they fly out tomorrow. But just a great guy. Brad's been with us for a while. It was really good to catch up and actually meet somebody in person down at the arena. It's just great to see fans all over the nation come to Pittsburgh and enjoy the sports and the city. I mean, he absolutely did not enjoy the weather this week.

Marc: And this weekend, I mean, it's still better than Minnesota.

Steve: I mean, at least at least it wasn't snowing, right? He'd probably go back to six inches of snow in Minnesota.

Chris: So, right.

Steve: Yeah. So I guess, I guess everything's kind of relative, but no good to meet up with them. You know, we had a chat, I wanted to buy him a beer, but Hey, the guy doesn't drink. So, you know, I, I respect that.

Chris: God bless him. Yeah, absolutely. Keep it real.

Steve: How dare you? Brad's a super fan.

Chris: Did you buy his son a beer though? Were you able to push a beer on his son?

Steve: Nah, his son didn't want to have anything to do with us and I don't blame him. If I was his son, I would be like, why is he going to meet some weirdo from the internet?

Chris: That calls himself Hockey Jesus. What's up with that?

Steve: No, good fun. Great to see Brad. And so we met up before the game and unfortunately the Penguins went to stink it up and lost. Yeah, well that was your fault that wasn't his fault No, that was the guy that was the guy with the Brian Reynolds shirt on. Yeah, there you go anybody who wears a Pittsburgh a pirate shirt to a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game you should be Taken outside and you got a thing about that.

Chris: You got a thing about that.

Steve: I know I just doesn't make any sense like if you're if you're going to a hockey game and you're gonna pay good money like You don't have to wear penguins gear. I don't care if you don't wear penguins gear, but don't wear Pittsburgh Pirates. I would probably wear a penguins hat to a Pirates game.

Chris: Could I wear my throwback Redskins Donovan McNabb jersey?

Steve: If you'd want to be ridiculed, yes.

Chris: Because I can tell you that when they signed Donovan McNabb just to piss off Mark I went out and I bought a Redskins Donovan McNabb jersey and See how well that turned out for you.

Steve: I know what a waste I think it was I think it was I think it was more than that There was something in the back of my head was you know what you could probably get $25 on in the secondary market I bet CD would buy it

Chris: No way.

Marc: No, three dollars.

Chris: Listen, I would give it away for free just to get it out of my goddamn closet to be. I'll wear it out to be honest.

Steve: I would not wear it in a penguin game, though.

Marc: Maybe you should actually burn it and exercise the demons associated with it.

Chris: I'm not, I'm not sure that's possible. I'm really, I'm really not, but that's a different show.

Steve: If it has the Redskins logo on it, it'll be worth it someday.

Chris: Yeah. Maybe they'll bring it back.

Steve: Maybe they'll bring it back. Can we talk about hockey now?

Marc: He's no art monk.

Chris: Preach Jesus 81. Art monk. Preach Jesus. Preach.

Steve: He's no art monk. That's for sure. Um, so the Penguins are in free fall right now. There's no other way.

SPEAKER_02: There's no good way to say it.

Steve: Everything that could go wrong with this team is going wrong. Their their power play is abysmal. Their penalty kill is not good. And they managed to get like 50 shots on goal. I think they try and shoot the puck like 80 times a game and they get like two goals.

Chris: So it seems like they're shooting the hell out of the puck. And yeah, their score.

Steve: they're getting a lot of opportunities and look, the problem with the Penguins is, and that's what I've been screaming into the mic and I apologize to our fans for doing that, but the game is on, so I absolutely have to be watching it while I'm on live. They get no net front presence. They have nobody standing in front of the net. And what happens is the goalie gets comfortable. So the goalie can move any way the goalie wants to move to be able to make the saves. And goalies in the NHL, by the way, are really very good. So once they get comfortable, They can stop pretty much anything that shot at them, even by Sidney Crosby and Malkin and even Jake Gensel. They can stop them all. So what you have to do is put somebody in front of the goalie. So you take their eyes away and then you score goals. And they just right now, they don't have the personnel that want to be able to stand right in front of the net. You know, basically, you can get pretty injured when that puck is going to be coming at you at 80 miles an hour and accidentally hits you instead of goes into the goal. So people, most smart people in the world that don't play hockey would never do that. But even the people who do play hockey don't want to do it because it's just just a very scary thing to do because it hurts. Well, I mean, they have pads. So, you know, if you get hit in the pads, it's not going to hurt. Right. But you do stand a chance of a deflection and it going in your face. And, you know, just you could go on about what could happen with a deflected puck. But that's that's the big deal. So and right now, the the thing that's really hurting them is inconsistent play from their goalie. Um, Jari has a shutout against Colorado, who's an undefeated team. And then he comes out and gives up three goals on, uh, nine shots, uh, against Ottawa. And it's just inexplainable. I just, I can't explain it.

SPEAKER_02: It's inexplicable.

Steve: I just, I don't understand how he can be so inconsistent from night to night. And they signed this guy to a long contract.

Chris: Steve, this is Gary. They, they, this is what we talked about last year. This is what you talked about at the end of last year. And this is the mistake that maybe, maybe this is the mistake that Kyle Dubas made. Um, what happened to Magnus? What happened to the Centurion?

Steve: Well, he was actually so he came in during the game because he's their backup now because he's bigger than the whole net. Dude, he does like half his body is like above the net.

Chris: It's I mean, how do you score on a guy that fills the entire net? He doesn't even have to move.

Steve: Well, he's not that big. He's not as big as a walrus.

Chris: Okay. I'm not familiar with how big a walrus is, but I'm not going to ask you how big you are.

Steve: I'm sorry. Last year in the playoffs, they, they had this thing where they put the walrus in the goal and they just.

Chris: Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. Okay.

Steve: And and the other thing that's hurting them now is the Penguins are getting frustrated. So they're taking dumb penalties. Letang took a dumb penalty the other night in front. Sid got frustrated by Giroux because Giroux was hitting him with the butt of his stick on on the faceoff play. So he just cross checked him into oblivion. And this is what happens when your team gets frustrated. They take dumb penalties and then your penalty kills not good. And then they score goals and then you're just chasing the game.

Chris: Right, looks like we lost Steve.

Marc: Well, Steve's doing just about as well as the penguins.

Chris: Bad Geno was back. OK, so what we're going to do here is we are going to give Steve a moment to try and come back. I'm going to remove him there. And we really only have about… Yeah, we'll see if he makes his way back to us. Yeah, yeah, maybe.

Marc: Here he comes. Here comes Jesus.

Chris: He's not.

Marc: Will there be a miracle?

Chris: Yeah. It looks like the hockey gods are not happy with what hockey Jesus has to be saying.

Marc: I think he's been struck down.

Chris: Yeah, I think there's been a bush. I'm kicking him out of the studio. Let's see if he gets back. Let's see if he gets back. We'll give him about a minute and a half and then and then we'll do that, man. We were having such a good show and now

Marc: think Moses will part the Red Sea?

Chris: Yeah, I don't know. Do you think Moses to walk through? It's more like, do you think Moses will part the bandwidth? Man with to allow this back on.

Marc: I don't know how things going down in Greenfield.

Chris: I don't know. Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know, it's it's just like old sewers old lines.

Marc: I don't know. I have no idea. It seems like an area that probably would have issues.

Chris: I don't know, but it looks like it looks like he's back. He's back.

Marc: It's a miracle. Jesus is back.

Steve: Sorry, I had to go walk on some water.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah. DG says probably happened because the pens were just scored on two.

Steve: Yeah, I had some rather loud obscenities. I had to get out of my out of my system and I'm back now. So I'm really sorry that you feel better about that. Yeah, OK. And of course, at on cue, Sid took a bad penalty and was in the in the penalty box and and Anaheim scores another power play goal. So there you go.

Chris: OK, so HJ wrap it up for us. We got a couple minutes left real quick, real quick.

Steve: Depends just gotta start winning some games. They're actually heading to the West Coast so that they play tonight, but they don't play again until Saturday, which is a blessing for the hockey Jesus because it's a 10 PM game on Saturday in San Jose, so I'll be up late on Saturday. But you know what? Being up late on Saturday is much better than being up late on Tuesday.

Chris: And with that, God bless you.

Marc: Bless you.

Chris: Hey everybody, thanks for watching the sports porch podcast on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X all over the world. And of course on radiopgh.com. And in about 15 minutes, we're going to drop the podcast on the I heart radio app, apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And that's the sports porch podcast. And we'd love it. If you would subscribe to the podcast, listen to us, leave a review and always visit the website at the porch is live.com. The porch is live.com.

Steve: The porch is live. Dot com.

Marc: Dot com.

Chris: Oh, my God.

Steve: He's got a voice. I think I lost my voice. See you later. That's what I'm saying.

Chris: He says I wasn't finding the hockey report on Facebook, but we're putting it up there. I am your technical director and I am out. Let's go pens.