The Porch Is Live - Can Kenny Bring Us Back
The Steelers win 2 in a row... is this progress? Hockey Jesus preaches Pittsburgh Penguins and we make our NFL picks. Welcome to the Porc…
Dec. 6, 2022
The Porch Is Live - Can Kenny Bring Us Back
The Steelers win 2 in a row... is this progress? Hockey Jesus preaches Pittsburgh Penguins and we make our NFL picks. Welcome to the Porch!
The Steelers win 2 in a row... is this progress? Hockey Jesus preaches Pittsburgh Penguins and we make our NFL picks. Welcome to the Porch!
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Transcript
I We are live on The Sports Porch The Porch Is Live. com The Porch Is Live. com The Porch Is Live. com The Porch Is Live. com and thank you for joining us if you're listening to us on American Busker iHeartRadio 150 million registered users 2000 devices 260 platforms and boy do we got a show for you tonight if you only saw the pregame whoo wow no the pregame is not for everybody the pregame is not No.
The pregame's not for everybody. It is not. But we are fired up tonight. We are fired up. We are fired up. So Steelers win. We're obviously going to talk Steelers victory and what's going on there. We have a lot of thoughts on that. We are going to have the hockey Jesus preach about the Penguins and then we're going to make our picks for well we'll do our picks before hockey Jesus but we're going to make our picks for the NFL this week.
And as always. Somebody did good again. We get a we get a comment in here DG is in the house. Greetings. Welcome DG. Greetings Steelers. The house. And if you happen to be tuning in from Seattle or Louisville or Philly or Chicago. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Um this is the Sports Porch the Porch is live. So let's jump into it guys.
Um the Steelers won. They've won two in a row. Hey. Let's I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to go to Mark right away. Why? I don't think you want to. You don't want to? You don't you you got bad **** to say? Alright start we'll let the yins in our life start Steve talk to us about how you feel about the as I as Tim Pomato from Palmetto says he king in from the king in from Florida what's up tell us about the Steelers victory and then we'll get into the nitty gritty what do you think well Mark is right I am very optimistic tonight that's a that's a change it is it is a change and I'm optimistic for several reasons the first being they actually won two in a row so that's like a trend that like when you win one then you lose one or you win one then you lose two that's not a trend but when you win two in a row that is a trend thank you for that explanation okay so just in case that's that's an engineering term for you business folk okay okay you know you can map it who you calling business folks and and here's why I'm also very optimistic Kenny's not playing great but they're winning games and he's not turning over the ball so I think that's good the defense is playing good as a team and I think that TJ Watt is actually playing pretty terrible so so you got your superstar on defense who's not playing great and you got your quarterback who's playing okay and you're still winning games so that's why I'm optimistic however I am tempering my optimism my enthusiasm for a two and oh because We did play against the Colts and the Falcons.
These are teams that are definitely going to be picking below us in the draft. Right. They're probably going to be like five and six in the draft somewhere probably. So, they're pretty terrible teams and and but we're winning. The the thing that the offense needs to do better and this is right in the face of Canada is they need to score more touchdowns. This field goal kicking has got to end.
Although, I mean, it's good practice for Matthew Wright when he up on another team probably Kansas City by the look of that field goal that Butker missed but now maybe not but and I don't even know if Boswell's coming back like he's just been an enigma like yeah I mean I know he's got a groin injury you know so I mean that that takes some time to heal especially when you're kicking the ball but it would be nice to have him back but they don't need to be kicking field goals and if they're kicking field goals against Baltimore they actually could probably still be Baltimore but that's a topic for another segment okay so so we'll get my opinion in here in a second good win bad win any win is a good win but it wasn't a dominating win it was like a good win or bad win hm I'm going to go with a good win okay I I think it was a good win and the reason I think it was a good win is because the Steelers they they they finally look to be a little bit more cohesive on offense now nobody lit it up okay and and and we'll break that down after we get Swabber's opinion but nobody lit it up but it did look like they were more cohesive on offense they had a little bit more of a game plan you know on the field because I still have some things I want to say about Canada I always do and I think the defense and again we temper it by what you said Steve Indianapolis and Atlanta not the best teams in the league now as far as whether or not they're going to pick before or after the Steelers the jury still out on that we don't know so we still have a few more games to go so you know getting a comment here Daniel Rupert he's saying Kenny is going to be fine maturing and learning right before our eyes we'll get to that in a little bit thank you Daniel and Mike Lawrence says two games in a row Canada goes ultra conservative in the second half and they almost blow it that's a good point we'll get to it for me good win Schwabber Alright so guys I I think what I have to do here is preface that I I know it's upsetting in Pittsburgh say that I'm a Philadelphia Eagles fan but I think you have to understand my my perspective I'm watching two games every week it would be more upsetting if you said you were a Browns Bengals or Cowboys or Ravens so it's not that Ravens yeah it's not that bad so it's like you know every week I watch an eleven and one team and then I watch the Steelers so you have always gotta get that Eagles dig in not I mean they are 11 and one.
They are good. They are good. They are good. I'm just saying imagine watching that offense and then watching this offense. Right. Okay. So immediately I'm already kind of skewed towards this is terrible. Right. Right? Yeah. Right. Um so here's where I am at this point. Now I'm not saying I'm not saying that this is definitive. I think this could change. Okay.
But I feel like I've seen enough out of Kenny Pickett at this point to say that I think best case scenario best case scenario he's Ryan Connell which is a serviceable quarterback that you could if you had a great defense good running game in some decent receivers maybe even win the Super Bowl but what I'm saying is I don't see him being better than like the thirteenth best quarterback in the league I see a lot of bad passes.
I see balls in the dirt. I see missing receivers high. I see you know and some balls like for example you know they might hit a receiver in the hands but they're like thrown very fast. It'll be a really hard catch to come down with. I just see him as pretty average. Um and I'm not really seeing anything better week after week except a lack of turn so for that reason I'm not really enthralled with him okay and and because of that and I know this is just you know look if they're not going to do this okay because of the Steelers and they committed to Kenny Pickett and blah blah blah but I would if I I sort of feel like if I was a Steelers fan I would rather lose the rest of the games and make a package to go up and get the number one or number two quarterback this year huh that's interesting that that's that's kind of where I'm coming from you know that's interesting defense played a good game but then again you know you're talking Atlanta and I'm liking seeing more out of Najee Harris which I really like a few asides.
Obviously can't stand Matt Canada. I hate the fact that Fryermoth has three catches for seventy-six yards and they never even looked his way in the second half. Um I hate Deontay Johnson. I think he is horrible. Yeah. Well you know what let me stop you there. We're going to we're going to stop there. We're going to get to that. I'll stop it. We're going to get to that because we're going to get into the nitty gritty right now.
Uh I'm going to get these comments in real quick. Tim says he's with Steve on TJ. I believe he's still hurting. Did he come back too early? Um Kenny C to run too soon most of the time his clock runs fast says yo DG says he needs to pass to Pittsburgh we're going to talk about that and and but he hates to see a rookie running and that that kind of that kind of I thought about that too when they showed Pickens I thought look if you're in your second and third year and you're really balling then then you can go to the sideline and say throw me the ball but you know I mean he he does he does deserve to be frustrated so starting with Pickett what I saw you know my question was did he learn anything did it look like he learned anything and I don't know that he learned anything other than stop throwing at Deontay Johnson he looked which he didn't do he he continued to throw to him I I I think that what I saw I mean let's combine this all together this pick at Canada thing okay what I saw in the first half of that game was a game plan that started with the run and opened it up to throwing the ball downfield I like that because that what you need to do in the NFL.
You need to get the ball downfield. Yeah. I think that I think that Kenny's touchdown pass to Connor Hayward who we're going to give congratulations to of course was a great pass and a great throw. I really do. I don't I don't think it was really that good of a throw. It was almost overthrown. No, I think he put it in the back of the end zone and Hayward caught it.
Is because Hayward's not fast. Right. He's not fast. But you you gotta give him credit for that. I think as far as addressing picket runs too soon I don't think that at all I think what happens is I think the biggest improvement that I've seen this year is the offensive line and I was thinking about this during the game okay where Tomlin had made a comment in in the pregame the pregame interviews with the commentators where he said this offensive line they have played every single game together there have been no injuries or significant injuries and they are maturing as a unit I thought to myself you want to know what they could end up getting lucky because I still think they piece that line together and it was a it was a horrible they handled it horribly and they still should have drafted an offensive lineman or need to next year or get somebody but this line is now learning to play together and I think Pickett is trying to find his way in that system and I I think he looked better I think he had better command now fast forward to the second half total regression Total regression on the play calling.
That's when we saw the majority of wide receiver sweeps. Mm hmm. Now, what what is it that makes Canada think that we haven't really called a wide receiver. I think they called one in the first half and now they're going to be surprised. I mean, every team runs one a week but that no team runs five a week. Right. So, from that perspective, I I think Pickett looks, I I think the jury's still out on on your comment about.
Yeah. The best he could be is Tannehill and and in truth, the best he could be is great and the worst he could be is horrible. The problem is we just don't know that right now and what happens is when you see Canada start to game plan what looks more like an NFL offense you start to see Pickett being able to show his abilities to run an NFL offense when you pull it back now you're back to the same old garbage and I agree with you Fryermouth disappeared he disappeared so Steve what what what say you about the Pittsburgh I have two things to say what I say is interesting is your comparison to the Eagles because you watched them last year and they were terrible last year right they were well they were terrible they ended up nine nights they were okay so they got better as the year went on yeah they started off terrible and they got the best right so I and I think the difference and I'm certainly not comparing Jaylen Hertz to Kenny Pickett because they're two totally different quarterbacks yeah Jaylen Hertz can run the ball well he can pass the ball well and he's got world class Jalen Hertz is better, right? He's just better.
But the development of him is the important thing that I want to focus in on now because he has a coach who can make plays for Jaylen Hertz. They're not making plays for Kenny Pickett. Exactly. They're they're they're not. They're not featuring him and that's either that's that's why you're never going to see him as anything more than Attenio because they're never going to feature Kenny Pickett in in a run scenario.
They're never going to do anything of that sort so what do they have to rely on a good running game which the running game has been much better now and that's why Kenny Pickett looks better because the running game is better so he's getting better pass protection and that makes the line look better if any of those things break down he looks terrible right because he can't here's what you have to do as an NFL quarterback you have to extend the play Kenny Pickett is not shown he can extend the play the other thing you have to do is you have to be able to improvise inside the twenty be able to make somebody miss so that you can then throw the ball to somebody open in the end zone because the field shrinks and it's harder to score when you get inside of the 20 these are the things that Kenny Pickett has to figure out in the in the the remainder of the season I'm going to give him the remainder of the season and the other thing he has to do is he has to throw two damn touchdowns in a game yeah he's only thrown one touchdown in a game like and that's good that's not good that's not good enough and he's gotta get better at that and but I do think they are getting better as a team now as far as the defense goes I know you know we said well they're they're the Falcons so the defense you can't really say anything actually the Falcons are the fourth best rushing team in the NFL you got it and they stopped them and they stopped Alvin Kamara so actually the Steelers defense when it comes to run now it wasn't like this they've really because because they've solidified that line they got everybody healthy on the interior line and Miles Jack is is is coming coming around that what they have to figure out is how to stop that short pass to the to the to the running back coming out and the and the tight end that's that's where their big weakness in is in playing against Baltimore I know even if Huntley plays I'm really concerned about Andrews because they don't really have a guy who can cover him which means they probably have to make Minka cover him which means now they're susceptible to that deep ball throw right and once again if Lamar was playing I'd be more concerned and he probably will play I don't know because what what it our boss say well he's day to day week to week no I think he's out for a while nobody knows what that means yeah we don't know yet but but good point there but yeah so that's that's what I that's what I'm saying like I I think that I think they're getting better but I I agree with you like I don't see world class count talent in Kenny Pickett now to tank the season and go get CJ Stratton I'm not saying I disagree I mean well they would have to now because their schedule is pathetic I mean except for Baltimore they play at Carolina who's terrible and and they play the Browns who aren't very good so I mean they're playing teams that aren't very good so I think they need I think they just need to get a offensive coordinator who will make Kenny Pickett more comfortable and make him become somebody better than an average Ryan Tanhill I don't think they'll do that by the way and and so I'm just going to go with the reality and say we're stuck with a mediocre quarterback for the next three or 4 years.
Well so. I think they might they might bring in a new offense board in next year. Maybe. One one quick point that I think that that goes to something that we talked about in the beginning of the year. The Steelers coming into last night's or yesterday's game. We're ranked number six against the rush. I would call that an improvement. Yeah. I would call that improvement.
Now they're like twenty-fourth against the pass. Terrible against the Pass. Right right. But Minka shows up at the end of the game with an interception and wins it. Now I want to get this before we hear what Schwaba has to say because this is quite frankly the longest comment ever on the sports board so and I'm going to read it Atlanta made so many mistakes they lost this game Pittsburgh got lucky Atlanta played terribly Tomlin made mistakes Canada helped out a little then became stupid get the facts right will you Tomlin's a bum as his entire staff Kenny Kenny I did so many errors here some nice plays for sure but needs good coaches I mean I I think I am sad.
Tell it like it is. Sportscasters wake the hell up. Okay so first of all. We are telling you. First of all we are not sportscasters. We are guys that love sports.
Yeah. Yeah. Talking about sports. But I do appreciate the comment. It says a lot of things. And a lot of things that we do kindly kind of agree with. And a lot of things that we've actually stated here. I am not a fan of Matt Canada. I don't like him. I think he should have been fired before the year started. None of us like Unfortunately.
By the way, we don't even know if Canada's calling the plays anymore. Yeah. Do you ever see him with the headset on in the booth? They show him. I don't know. I but his mouth isn't moving. I don't know. Yeah. I I he could be a figure head for all I know. Yeah. Yeah. So Schwab real quick because I want to I want to move on here and talk about Johnson and and and little bit more in the D but Anything more to say on the Picket Canada issue or have you said your piece? I've said my piece and I just sort of feel sadly I feel like it's going in the wrong direction.
Not saying that he can't get better but every week I'm not getting that that burst of excitement. Yeah I'm not getting that hey he had a great game. Yeah and I I think that there is no way I'm going to go on record right now. There is no way that the Steelers no matter what their position is in the draft draft another quarterback no way they're committed to pick it 100% they won't I I think the jury is out on picket this whole year and then they we reassess and we see what happens if there is a coordinator change that's going to be a help for him I agree with Mark that when you draft the quarterback in the first round you want that quarterback to be great and I agree I haven't seen greatness out of Kenny Pickett yet but I only am saying that because and I'm not a Kenny Pickett apologist you guys know this yeah I'm saying that because the offense is built around not having a great quarterback that's right it's based off of having a quarterback who's the manager of the game by the way those quarterbacks rarely win playoff games and they mostly don't make the playoffs so so I think the Steelers organization has it wrong by going in this and I I I hope that they see throughout the remainder of the season trying to find what Kenny Pickett can be great at we haven't really seen him throw the ball down field much we haven't seen him throw it in the traffic too much because they're trying to make him a manager of the game I would rather them let him open it up a little bit make some mistakes and then maybe see what happens there remember and I I know this is the NFL this is not college but when he was really good at college he could he he was able to get out in the open and then run whenever he wanted to run he had the freedom to do those things and you can just tell like they've got a caller on him that is like dude don't make any mistakes just go out there and manage the game and it's just not a recipe for for a great team it might be a good for a team that wants to go you know nine and 8 or eight and 9 but that's not going to win you playoffs okay so that's where the Steelers need to wake the hell up so the intangible with Pickett is this and this is what I see.
Started his career at Pitt as a mediocre at best quarterback. By the time he finished his career at Pittsburgh he had learned how to play the game. That's why I say I think the guy has the skills to be a pretty damn good quarterback but I think that he has a learning curve that he is willing to put in the time and the effort and he's got a he's got a lot of motivation being Pitts quarterback and then coming back and being the Steelers and I think if anything that guy is going to do everything he can.
I would be surprised if he does it. Now a hard worker. Yeah. Do we want to talk about Pickens? Yeah. Let's talk about Pickens. Yeah. Go ahead Steve. You wanted to talk about Pickens first. So here's the thing. I mean I I I know David said you know that Pickens was whining because he didn't get the ball. Well first of all he can't showcase his talent if he's not being thrown the ball.
That's one. Yeah. Yeah. And number two is remember he played down for Georgia. So he had a lot of friends and family at the game. So clearly he wanted the ball to be thrown to him so he could you know make good in front of all that's a real good point you know considering that he's a kid you know and he still wants to he still wants to showcase his talent for his family and his friends you know right and and he didn't get a chance to do that so I think it was more out of frustration than it was out of Hubris like I'm the greatest on this team I think it was more out of frustration than anything I'm going to I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt so I would say couch your thoughts on Pickens for this week because the guys clearly and Number one wide receiver.
Yeah. Deontay Johnson is not a a number one wide receiver and because we're talking about Pickens we have to talk about Deontay. Why the hell does he run backwards? Every time he tell me why he has to run backwards. I think I I honestly I you know Schwab you you you sent a text during the game like I don't think he or maybe it was you.
I I I don't think he's a great number one but he would be a great number three. Get it. I I I'm I'm telling you I don't think he's a good NFL wide receiver at all okay and and and the reason is number one he catches the ball and takes two steps backwards because he wants to make a move on people that aren't there and and all he's doing is losing three yards and second of all he can't catch it he he he hasn't scored a touchdown this year and the touchdown that was thrown to him he should've come down with that ball he's he's the guy shooting his inner Antonio Brown as Yo Kerry is saying he's because he thinks he's still a great wide receiver and a great wide receiver has doesn't have zero touchdowns you know 10 games in 11 games 12 games in however many we play all I can say is the bottom line is if you just look at the stat sheet right he had 11 targets and he caught five balls that's really bad yeah that's terrible you know I mean a number one now look I'll I'll maybe there was a ball that was too high or something like that one was too low but
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