The Porch Is LIve - Does it matter if we have a losing seas…
Oh boy... does anyone care if the Steelers have a winning season now? And what about the dumb penalties? We talk this, Hockey Jesus and …
Dec. 20, 2022
The Porch Is LIve - Does it matter if we have a losing season?
Oh boy... does anyone care if the Steelers have a winning season now? And what about the dumb penalties? We talk this, Hockey Jesus and NFL predictions.
Oh boy... does anyone care if the Steelers have a winning season now? And what about the dumb penalties? We talk this, Hockey Jesus and NFL predictions.
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Transcript
Me.
Son of a, it is It is cold. Welcome to the Sports Sports The Porch Is Live. com. The Porch is Live. com. Schwabber. The Porch is Live. com. Thanks for being here and thanks for listening on American Busker iHeartRadio. IHeartRadio has a 50 million registered users. 2000 devices, 260 platforms and be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you get your podcast. It is freezing.
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Come on guys. Let's let's button up here. Yeah button up. You got it. Button it up. Button it up. Let's go. So we are just it's this is actually the last well no we got one more show before the end of the year. Mhm. But we have an exciting announcement to make. We're going to make that announcement right now. Yeah. Um let's get right to it. And we obviously we want to thank Nancy Hahn at American Busker iHeartRadio but you know you guys know who Sting and Shaggy is.
Um and you know who Frank Sinatra is. And on American Busker iHeartRadio starting tomorrow at noon six 9 Sting and Shaggy's tribute concert to Frank Sinatra and we are the opening act kicking it off with our holiday highlight show so make sure you grab American Busker iHeartRadio on the iHeartRadio app and it's going to happen every single day from tomorrow until January 2nd we are just that good Sting Shaggy thank you for your confidence that's awesome And Jim says really a great show.
Jim is in the house. He says hello. Yeah it is. It it's a fantastic show and some great music and who doesn't love Frank Sinatra? Uh you know and who doesn't love Sting and who doesn't love it? It's a holiday special. Absolutely. Our present to you. That's absolutely and and so you can catch that on American Busker. We'll we'll talk about that later. But let's just jump right into it here guys. Let's jump right into it.
The Steelers they won a game.
Again. And I want to ask you. Do you care anymore? If the Steelers win games now it's a loaded question do you care Steve so I actually don't care I actually would have preferred them to lose games only because at this point all they're really playing for is nothing I mean all they're really playing for is their self interest right which is let's try and pretend like we're an okay team and right actually you know the more football I watch the more I actually realize like the Steelers are actually an okay team they're an okay team but there are a lot of okay teams out there and the only way the differentiate differentiates yourself from the okay teams to the great teams is to get better draft picks and by winning they're hurting that so and they're actually beating teams that are now going to go below them and draft below them.
Right. So the good thing is is you know we're four and oh against the NFC South. So if we're playing in the NFC South we would be in a playoff position. You would. Right. But we don't play in the NFC now south. So I would prefer I it sounds dumb to say I would prefer them to lose but I would I don't care that they're winning let's just put it that way Mark well I would say first of all I wouldn't say they're okay I'd say they're below average but they're not bottom of the barrel but the question is do you care if they're winning in games or not disagree with what Mark said they're not below they're not below average because they beat below average teams.
Like they've beaten Brady. They beaten Carolina. They beaten Atlanta. They you know I'm I'm not counting Cincinnati in that mix because it was so long ago and that was kind of a fluke. It really in the scope of the season now as we know it. So I think they they're good against bad teams. So I don't I don't consider themselves below average. I sort of look at it like this.
They're five and eight, right? Uh seven and seven is average. Five and eight is below average.
They're six and eight now. Six and eight. They're six and eight. Yeah. So they're one game off of average in my book.
But they can get there. They could. They could. They could get there. But who cares that they would get there? Well here's the thing. To me it's not really about caring or not. Uh to me just as a football fan. Uh who does root for the Steelers second because it's my wife's favorite team. Um I am just so bored with the team.
Uh I just find it's very uninspiring football. I feel like they don't really I feel like they don't have an identity. I feel like they don't really have a plan. I feel like it's been a season of regression for Mike Tomlin. You know it's the first season that the he didn't have the gift of Ben Roethlisberger and I think he's fumbled the quarterback position horribly.
Yeah. Um I also feel like you know and look I mean I I understand there's 53 guys on a team and everybody you know it's hard to control all 53 guys, but I know some of the penalties that they take I just feel like it's kind of a symptom of you know having a team that's not 100% on board yeah we'll get to that we'll get to that it's just to me it's just it's very boring I mean look there was some nice play from some some of the defense yesterday but you know I just feel like it it's it's so hard to find a a good play these days yeah they have no big play ability right and and on top of that their defense has seem to lost the big play ability so if they're just a meh do I really want to invest two and 1/ 2 hours into this game yeah I mean High Smith and Watt and Hayward you know had good games you know Deontae Johnson actually had a good game although he did have his moments.
Yeah. He worked about that. He went backwards about five times. Yes. Well I mean he did catch the ball nine times. Yeah. I mean that's about right. Yeah. Um but of course he has like a ridiculous penalty and. Yeah. But I'll I'll hand it over to you since you want to hold those for later. Yeah yes. The breaks. Yeah. Of the breaks.
Yeah. I I'm I'm sorry. I'm I'm I go back to this okay. Too much. I go back to this and I and and it's funny. Mark and I were talking before the show. Um I actually heard on the radio over the weekend somebody say you gotta remember this will sound familiar to you okay somebody said on the radio you gotta remember the Mike Tomlin era started almost 20 years ago and he inherited a Super Bowl winning team with a hall of fame quarterback and you gotta expect that he's never had to juggle this sort of thing and G I wonder where we heard that yeah we talked about that at the beginning of the season okay where are these guys getting their ideas from seriously well they're not very good and they're tuning in here that's right so you know the point is that Steelers fans and I count myself among them have been for the last I mean there were bad years in the some bad years in the 60s a couple bad years in the 70s not you know most of the 70s were great the 80s were mediocre to poor the early 90s started rebound cower but for the last two decades basically you could count on the Steelers to be not only competitive but a a a good watch you know they had they had an identity like you were saying and so for the last 20 years now now you know so all the Tomlin naysayers they might have a point okay and and for me I don't really care whether or not the guy never had a losing season I I don't care does that mean that he's done a good he's a good coach yeah you you want to know what obviously Tomlin is a is a good coach okay he has had success in the NFL however now is where the rubber meets the road now is where you have to earn that money all over again it's not that you didn't earn it before but now you've got a quarterback situation and I agree with you Mark hindsight is 2020 they should have done of two things.
Either gone with Trubisky for the whole season or gone with Pickett for the whole season. Well, here's the thing. Uh you know, so I think where Tomlin you know, the Detractors have their points is that I feel he did kind of fail this quarterback situation and we've said that the whole year. That's true. You know, we thought that you know, the time for Kenny Pickett maybe to start was you know, like after the buy and he sort of rushed him in there.
Yes. And you know so so that I don't think went very well and it's kind of hurt the team and you know the the other part of it too is and and look I mean okay look the the greatest coaches of all time like you know everybody will say Bill Belichick's the greatest coach of all time but usually the greatest coaches of all time are linked up with somebody fantastic like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or or somebody like that and the the reality is is that and and I'm not saying that you know it's no small feat to win a Super Bowl with a quarterback like that because you know Peyton Manning only won two Ben Roethlisberger only won two right but the bottom line is is that there are coaches out there who may actually be better coaches than those coaches because they're able to do something with a lot less right right and you know the reality is Bill Belichick is below 500 without Tom Brady that's it you know what I mean you saw you saw the play they had last.
Yes. Yeah we're going to talk about that too. Talk about that later. Yep. But you know this is this was Tomlin's sort of first opportunity to do a good coaching job. I mean look there's talent on the team. Right? It's not a it's not a terrible team. It's not Baron. Right. Right? There's talent on the team and he didn't get the most of them.
Like look for example at like the Lions and their coach. Like what is he doing? He's making something kind of out of nothing. Yeah. I mean some talented players. Same same situation. Same but it's same situation. Different culture. Different culture. Play in a crappier division. Right. Yeah. Yeah but you know that's something or like look for example at Nick Syriani on the Eagles.
First year quarterback Jalen Hertz. Nine and eight went to the playoffs. You you know what I mean? So you can do better than Tomlin did this year. Yeah and I I I think it's very obvious and Brad Trombley's in the house. What's up Brad? Good to see you. Bradley. I I yeah I I think it's very obvious again and we talked about this earlier in the season they never really had a plan for when Ben left they never had a plan okay you you never do have a plan when you lose a hall of fame quarters I I don't think that's the case at all I think Green Bay had a great plan when they drafted Aaron Rodgers because they knew Farr was going to leave well they had a great plan when they drafted the guy who's now sitting on their bench and then they they still kept Aaron Rodgers right well it's but his time right but his time hasn't come that the time the time you make this switch from a hall of fame quarterback to another hall of fame quarterback maybe four or five that you can name and there are probably 15 or 20 where you can't name because they were so bad.
Yeah and and I I think you're absolutely right. It's not it's more about it's more about when you know okay it was obvious that last year was going to be Ben Roethlisberger's final year. Whether he was pushed out. Sure. Or he retired. It was obvious. So you had an entire year and I you know I know okay you're a coach and you have a year of football you got a plan for the games and everything but you have a whole organization who knows this is it and you had no plan at all and then as soon as Kenny Pickett looked like he was going to be available you basically went ape **** over the guy and then after signing Mitch Trubisky and then in the middle of a Jets game you know we all know we all know what happened there there was there's no there's no cohesive plan and it goes back to the fact that Tom has never had to deal with that before.
So I think he actually thought it would take care of itself. I'm telling you. So let me let me unpack what you just said. Unpack. Please. Okay. One is that you can have a plan from a hall of fame quarterback to another hall of fame quarterback but the Steelers lost that chance three or four years ago when they needed a draft somebody for Roethlisberger for this right right and so so the main Rudolph pick was a failed pick.
That that chip said with Mason Rudolph not being that guy right okay so that's that's out there second was you talked about the Jets game so why did he put in Kenny Pickett for Trubisky and the Jets game because he wanted to save the season because he thought they were going in the wrong direction I'm I'm just I'm just going with facts here I'm not saying I agree with any of that right so isn't it ironic that he put in who he thought would be the better quarterback for the Future to save the season who now is out and the guy who's actually the better quarterback he's definitely going to pull to put back in a quarterback of lesser talent at this point in time because he already made that decision back in week three when he panicked against the Jets and this is where I this is where I felt Tomlin alone one the organization messed it up from the beginning because let's face it the guy who drafted Kenny Pickett was Tomlin but but they They don't have they don't have the same structure that they have now with the GM being the other guy from Philadelphia and Omar Khan, right? Right.
They're going to draft differently. Wedle. But Wedle, right? Right. They're going to draft differently than Colbert did. Colbert basically said, I'm going to take Pickett because you want Pickett and now I got the quarterback for the future but there was no cohesion at all because Colbert already figured out that they needed a quarterback and they already went and got Trubisky and $10 million dollars on him so it's like they weren't talking to each other at all why spend $10 million dollars on a quarterback when you know you have a chance at a quarterback anyways and who would have picking up Trubisky anyways like he probably still would have been there after the draft like they they the organization is a mess from that standpoint and that's the problem that's the problem so you you unpacked you you very very eloquently yes unpacked the Problem with the problem with the problem that they now have is this perpetuates for years down the road.
Right. Because they probably still have to keep Trubisky and his 10 million dollar contract with 10 million dollar contract isn't a big deal when you're paying Kenny Pickett only 3 million for next year. Right. But then the year after next year they don't have any quarterbacks. They if Kenny Pickett decides that he's just okay and the Steelers are just okay then they don't have anywhere to go.
Which means and they can't pay a quarterback this year they're in trouble for a few years after this because of the situation they put themselves in game three if they would have just stuck with Mitch Trubisky and waited for Kenny Pickett to come along Kenny would have never gotten injured he would probably be playing now against lesser teams looking much better than he would now and that and that is all on Tomlin yes and that's the way I feel about the situation I agree and and the the other part of this too which is also as much of a concern is that I think what all of us are fearing is they're going to use winning these games as you know the improvement needed to retain a Mac Canada.
Yes you gotta keep with it you gotta keep with what you got because it's working and it'll be better next year. Right. But but you know. What does that sound like? Sounds a little bit about it sounds a little bit like somebody that Richard likes to talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yeah yeah it is and Richard's in the house get a chance to do bucko talk yeah there's your bucko talk Richard when the season comes around we'll get here's the thing though I mean the the problem with that is you shouldn't do that you you shouldn't say hey because we're beating teams that are below us at the end of the year this means things are going in the right direction you can't say that you gotta look at the whole season as a whole you gotta say to yourselves you know we lost a fourth quarter lead to the Jets who have a practice squad quarterback you know what I mean Like you you've gotta look at it from from those lenses and and you gotta do something.
I mean, I know they're not going to fire Mike Tomlin because they just don't fire coaches but you gotta do something to change the environment and it seems the easiest thing to do would be to fire Matt Canada. You know, like instead of pairing Kenny Pickett with a guy who was a good college offensive coordinator, right? Who runs an offense that doesn't really seen geared towards pro football.
Right. You know find him somebody who you know comes from a winning team as an offensive coordinator from a winning NFL team who can maybe bring the most out of Kenny Pickett and and devise an offense that the other teams aren't saying they know the plays that are coming. Yeah and it it's funny. I'm going to I'm going to make one more comment on this and and and we're going to actually I'll I'll I'll put in two things here you guys can talk about if you want to.
First of all we had a very disappointing fantasy day but it was really because of the Canada offense how does Pat Fryermouth not get a single target in a game like that you know and I I don't want an answer to it he's a he's your tight end alright if you're not working your tight end into the passing game I I I literally it actually looks like a high school offense to me that's what it looks like to me okay and at the same time you've got I'm I'm watching the command game last night and they lost and there were some questionable plays but they've got North Turner's son up there Scott Turner as a coordinator and he's calling plays and I'm looking at it now his plays actually looks similar to some of the plays that Andy Reed is calling in Kansas City he's got some two tight end sets he's got this he's got that now look they're they're a better team than the Steelers right now but they're not a top tier team but I I said at the end of that game that was a hundred more exciting than watching the Steelers play and they lost.
Right. Yeah. Okay so really this is this is getting this is getting out of control with this Matt Canada thing. It's getting out of control and and we talked about this. I fear that they're going to do exactly what we're talking about. We gotta keep the consistency going and all I can say is if they do that we better see that playbook change next year.
Cuz you're going to start losing fans in the stands. I don't know anybody who says keep Matt Canada. Have you heard anybody say anything about that? Nobody.
Wants him. As a fan nobody wants him. Right. I think there was one article that said this is why you would keep him. Right right. Right. Yeah. It wasn't an endorsement to keep him but it was it was it was a if they're going to keep him this is why you're going to keep him article. It's there's a difference between that and being passionate about wanting to keep Nat Canada which nobody does.
Right. But I think the Steelers organization will just just bring up Mike Sullivan. I mean I they're not going to go out and get a guy. I mean I think they're probably going to be a couple head coaches out there pretty offensively brilliant minds that might do well on a Steelers offense. Mm hmm. Yeah. But they're not going to go get em. Yup. Don't be surprised when they don't go get em.
Yup. Because somebody else will that that wants to have an innovative offense and and teams that can score. So, we'll see. Yeah. So, you know, we've got a lot of people here. Uh Brad, Brad is chiming in. Friar Moose should average 7 to 8 targets. Well, you should average at least five. At least five. You know, DG saying, you know, I'm afraid you guys are right or saw several articles where they claimed that Tomlin has the Steelers offense that's complete **** and you know I I just you know let's move on let's move on from that for now because I think the Steelers have bigger issues you know we we had a a bone head play for Marcus Allen yesterday sticks his head in the huddle on the other side okay and and then on top of that listen and you guys know I'm not a Deontay I am not a Deontay Johnson fan right a lot of people are these I don't care about his skill level I think he's horrible because again he runs backwards he's got that stupid backwards well you have two more years to get the yellow I think he does bone head plays funny thoughts Pete the funny thing is he went backwards about five times I counted yesterday and like four of them he actually did get positive yards yeah well good good for him clearly the same amount of positive yards he could have got if he just went up field to begin with why do that to your side so so the point of me bringing this up is this okay so on the radio after the game and this morning I heard the I heard the I don't want to say Tomlin apologist because I I I like Mike Tomlin I think he's a good coach we've established that but but he doesn't need to be able to evaluate self evaluate and change some things and he seems to be kind of stubborn but I heard the coaching apologist say well you know the Marcus Allen penalty did it change the course of the game no the Deontay Johnson penalty did set him back 15 yards but they scored a touchdown hey look that's not the point that is not the point okay if what what would have happened if they didn't score a touchdown okay then everybody would be screaming Deontay Johnson screwed up okay it's not about the team overcame the penalty and the bone headed move it's about the bone headed move should've never happened if if if Marcus Allen is on a Bill Belichick team where is he today he's on the street okay he's cut he's cut okay and I don't know Marcus Allen I know nothing about him nicest guy on the planet.
I he really just kind of jumped on my radar as he did something that made him recognizable. Right.
So I'm going to guess he's not that good. No. He's not that good. So it's a special team. So if he's not that good he should be gone. Absolutely. You gotta just make an example of somebody. Yeah. And Johnson when you do that I saw I saw you know on the sidelines. I saw Tomlin kind of jawbone at him a little bit. Yeah. But it didn't look like he was giving him hell. It looked like he was saying hey you know you can't really do that. You gotta think about no listen man.
If Johnson does that look if he played on a Joe Gibbs team. Yeah. Or a Buddy Ryan team or a Bill Parcels team or Belichick he'd be sitting the rest of the half. Yeah. Now I mean the the Deontay Johnson one. I mean that happens. Sometimes you're in the heat of the moment after he make a a big play. So I I I can I can forgive one of those. I I would forgive it if he had one one touchdown this year. Right right. But DeMarcus Allen was really the the clear idiot play of of the year.
Yeah and Chris I agree. I like where you go with the Deontay Johnson has no touchdowns this year. That's ridiculous. Like okay and so he had a taunting penalty got him fifteen yards. Marcus Allen's an idiot. Okay so what? I don't get too beat up at I don't get too bent out of shape over those things because that's just in the course of a game. If you watch any NFL game this happens all the time.
True. With players throughout the game. But the fact that Deontay Johnson thinks he's such a great wide receiver and he has zero touchdown catches this year. Right. Zero touchdowns. Zero touchdown catches. Like how can you consider yourself an elite wide receiver in this league and not have one or five even at this point. Yeah. It's ridiculous. Like yeah. The this is what this is the disconnect I think Tomlin is having with with the regular fan is when the superstar says I'm an elite player and it has no touchdowns and he's he's being an apologetic guy for that guy As a head coach.
It's like dude call your guys out. Yeah. Say hey he can start having taunting penalties when he catches a freaking touchdown. Yeah exactly. Something like that. Like I think that would bring that would bring that would bring people closer to understand what Tomlin's about. And when he doesn't do that all the and I think this all the time. All he cares about is having a winning record. And that's just not enough for this logo.
And and you're absolutely right for us not to have some scheme or semblance of this is the way it's going to work in the future is also very just confusing to me oh by the way he's he's not the only person who's ever done that Bill Cower you know when he left he was high and he actually did a really good job taking over for coach Noel but he left he left the team like like that the Steelers he didn't give the Steelers any chance to assemble another coaching staff when he left he left them in a mess.
Coach Knowledge did the same thing. He couldn't find a quarterback. How many quarterbacks did he had? Malone, Bobby Brister. I mean, you could go on and on and on. Well, Cordell came around in the in the in the coward era scout. But but I mean, he couldn't figure it out. When he lost Terry Bradshaw, he's a hall of fame coach. He couldn't figure it out. He won four Super Bowls in six years.
Like. Yeah. So, you have to kind of remember history so that you don't repeat it but unfortunately, the Steelers are repeating history here and that's why I don't think Tomlin's going to last.
Don't know if he's going to quit he's not going to be he's not going to be kicked out but I I something's going to happen where he's going to be like I can't figure it out I need to go to a team with a good quarterback and I can coach that team and there'll be plenty of other teams out there that will take him I just don't know if the Steelers will release him from this contract to allow them to do that because unless unless Tomlin ask for it if he ask for it then he'll be ostracized by Steelers Nation because he's like who doesn't want to be a Steelers coach and all that **** trust me he think we have problems on the field now just wait till that **** happens and wait till in the in the draft when the Steelers draft Joey Porter's son who's a2 bit quarterback for Penn State sorry Penn State he's pretty good no he's not good he's not good he's not even in the top ten ranked quarterbacks yeah but his name is but they'll take him yeah they will take him because this is what this goddamn team does yeah and it drives me nuts yeah fan love it it's it's it's a family but it's a family of Misfits.
Yeah. And they're not even as good as the Misfit toys. Uh you gotta you gotta put that on the loop. Yeah we're going to get we're going to get that on the loop. There is one coach however who did figure out how to do it. And his name was Joe Gibbs. He won Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. He did. Bring back Joe Gibbs.
He took he took guys. Just until we get a hall of fame quarterback. Hey listen. Listen. He took guys. He took Joe Seisman won a Super Bowl with him. He turned around. He took Doug Williams and well and well and Mark Rippin who who ended up I mean Doug Williams great guy yeah you know first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl but didn't have a humongously great career and Rippin was only good when Gibbs coached him yeah and that was it so that you know the the the point is there are coaches out there who know how to mold quarterbacks and they have a plan and they look at what are the strengths and weaknesses and where does it fit into my offense and there we go all the way circling back around to what is Tomlin really doing.
Yeah. What is he really doing right now? You've got an offensive coordinator that never has a game plan. You've got a defense that is trying to make up for all the ills of the rest of the team. Yeah. You've got a quarterback situation that listen, it's a mess. It's an absolute mess and you've got a a a fan base that's like once again has to ride the bandwagon of well maybe we won't have a losing season and I'm with you so we got we got a we got a great game coming up on Christmas Eve with the Steelers that unfortunately it it really is a meaningless game other than other than it's the nostalgia yeah there's a nostalgia there's 1.
3% chance of making the playoffs it is not meaningless yet yes right exactly exactly yeah they went up from last week.
2 to.
3 I think we should bring up other bone headed plays yeah well and that's why bringing up the Raiders so we have the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception on Christmas Eve obviously we'll all be just you know pinned to the television watching that game let's just talk before we talk about the play from last week what do we think about that game Steelers Raiders I don't think anything about it I honestly I think I think you know because of the Immaculate reception it's going to get a lot of play right yeah it's going to get a lot of nostalgia there'll be a lot of drunk fans they'll be they'll be well I don't know there'll be a lot fans dress like Santa Claus right yeah Kenny Pickett be cleared and will he start that's a really good question I don't really care or Tomlins will Tomlin's desire for the 98 season override if I'm Mitch Trubisky if I'm Tomlin I go with Trubisky because he's the better quarterback I think Pickett first of all he was rushed into it he's had a couple concussions if you want him to be the future you gotta back him down right now you gotta get him healthy you gotta find offensive coordinator.
He got start start studying the playbook. He's been exposed enough to the speed of the NFL and the violence. Get him out of there. Let Trubisky play for a job.
Somewhere else or you know whatever. I'm I'm going to go I'm going to go with Pickett will play. Yeah. And the Steelers will lose. There you go. I yeah I totally disagree with you though. I mean the bottom line is you need as many looks at Pickett as you can get. Yeah I'm right. To to determine what what the future. I just want to have an exciting game and I Trubisky throws the ball downfield better you know let's let's be honest it's going to be really the game is going to it's going to be really cold at the game so I don't think you're going to see a lot of yeah catching and running I will say this I mean you know the whole Trubisky is better than pick a thing I don't know about that I mean the bottom line is like did we did we all forget that he threw three red zone interceptions the last week well yeah I mean you know he's he's you know he's garbage.
Alright, let's let's let's. Just like all the other quarterbacks. Right. Let's move on to let's move on to the two the two games we want to talk about real quick before we do our picks. First of all, which which was bigger. The Vikings coming back, the greatest comeback. For years, I said, Kirk Cousins, he's like a top five in yards quarterback for the last 5 years.
Yeah. In statistics, touchdown throws, all that but he just can't he just can't bring him back. He just can't bring him back and the greatest comeback in NFL history in bringing them back against the Colts count. Uh I bringing them back. It does. Thirty-three points. It does count. Doesn't matter who it was. Yeah. Thirty-three points. That's right.
Thirty-three. Well I I would certainly say this about that game. Um you know if I'm a betting man how does that make me feel about the Vikings? Uh stay away. You're right. They found a way to get down thirty-three nothing at halftime to the Colts. Yep. Yep. Yeah you're not going to come you're not going to come back against really good teams when you're down thirty-three nothing.
But they really had a series there. Did you guys watch the game the the first I think the first five series they had were Miami or I'm sorry Minnesota defensive touchdown yeah yeah Minnesota had a ball it was like a pick six and then they they lost it on fourth down on their own 30 and then there was a fumble and then there was a fake punt that didn't go well and and and then what does that mean and it was like they were down like 27 to or like twenty-six to nothing before you could even blink.
Right. Like I was just like dumbfounded like an offense could make that many stupid different mistakes in the course of like a series of five like it was incredible. But I I so for them the comeback wasn't actually that surprising because their offense got going and once they got going I mean you know Indianapolis is not a good team. I mean I still look at it though like you know there's the do you give credit to the team that came back more or do you give you know non kudos to the team that gave it up more tasteless kudos I mean and and to me I mean I'm sorry you know you're an NFL team you lose a 33 to nothing lead at halftime which obviously has never happened before it it's it's on the Colts I mean great you know Kirk Cousins you can flip it fling it around against the Creddy Colts team congratulations but the Colts lost that game yeah I mean well the bottom line is they end up winning their division of out out of that game so yes you gotta give it to him so so the a foremention Raiders you know Belichick haters are are are blaming it they want to blame it on Belichick and I'm sorry I you can't blame that on Belichick he didn't script that play Jacoby Myers he panicked he he he just he something really stupid and he he you know and and the Raiders win that game.
I just I was watching this with my son and and you know we're not watching the game because the game's not on but we have red zone on and we're watching it and I had some fantasy football interest in it because I needed the Raiders goat overtime to kick a field goal to get us into our playoffs and if that would have happened that would have been awesome.
So I'm watching it and I'm watching Ramon Stevenson run down and there's like 5 seconds left and I'm like this is great they're going to fall down they're going to go to overtime Carlson I needed a longer field goal from Carlson yeah everything would have been great and when he pitched that ball back to Jacoby Meyer even then I still wasn't like panicked I'm like okay he's just going to run out of bounds and that's it oh well guys when he ran backwards I knew I knew there was trouble and like you said he panicked and when he threw the ball I was just dumbfounded like did the guy not know the game was tied yeah if he gets the ball to the other team they run for a touchdown they win the game yeah like here's the other thing one one more thing just the my final thing on this when he caught the ball and he ran over Mac Jones.
I had a flashback to Ben Roethlisberger in that AFC Championship. Right. Against the Colts. Where he stopped him. Right. Tackle. Yeah. When Ben grabbed him by the toe and tackled him and you're like oh my god that was almost a disaster. I got a taste like for this split second where it was like that would that would have been what it would have felt like if that guy runs over Roethlisberger.
Right. And runs into end zone the Steelers lose they don't win another Super Bowl yeah true and I'm like holy **** when he pushed it down and ran him over then I I did I kind of laughed when I saw the replay because that poor Mac Jones had no chance at stopping Jimmy Jones yes no chance no way the other thing that was so stupid was the guy didn't even realize that even let's say Mac Jones catches the ball he can't throw it yeah because he's because he's ahead of the line of scrimmage he's got yeah you know he can't throw it So like there's no point to throw it.
He's gotta run. Yeah. You know and you know but it you know to to me I I found it to be a very fun play. Um like I I really enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed listening to the announcers and their disbelief. Yeah. Of what was happening. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just so classic that it happens to Bill Belichick because you know that's not supposed to happen to the best coach of all time.
Right. Who they do things the Patriot way and everybody's so disciplined. Do your job. Guess guess what? There's no Tom Brady anything is up for grabs. Oh my god. I love it. I I love this about. Mark, I'm loving this mark today. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a good, you got the good mark there. We actually got the good Steve today too. Alright, moving on to our picks right now.
Our picks. Last week, let me pull this up here. We're probably all tied today. No, no, we're not. We're not. Last week, forty-niners at the Seahawks. You guys had the Seahawks. I had the forty-niners. So, I won that one.
Hey I'm on the Purdy train baby that guy dude hall of fame Brock Purdy just riddled me this who had more passing yards in that game it doesn't matter Brock Purdy is the best who had more touchdowns passed it doesn't matter Brock Purdy is Pickett had a better game than Purdy yet no so so Steve and Mark had the Seahawks I had the forty-niners Dolphins at the Bulls we all had the Bills of course and then Commanders at the Giants Steve had the Giants so I went two and one Mark went one and two Steve two and one.
Oh alright. Uh which changes. Our records now I've checked these. Marcus Marcus 27 and 17. Barely hanging on. Steve is 26 and 18. Chris is twenty-four and twenty-one. I dropped from first all the way to third in the last two three weeks. I have to admit I you should put an asterisk by that win for the Giants because they really lost that game.
I I wouldn't say they really lost that game but there were some questionable calls that should have gone the Redskins or the and you know what? You know I I not a conspiracy theorist like Chris Klein is but I will say aliens were there there were no aliens that I could see well there weren't I think they had black and white uniforms yeah they did yeah they they were I will say this if I ever would believe in a conspiracy theory it would be that the NFL does not want the commanders to make the playoffs because they want Snyder out I can believe that okay I can believe that actually I think there's a lot of fixing that goes on the NFL that we don't know about yeah well there could be there could be Okay so this week the games we're going to be calling Thursday the Jags at the Jets hey listen two improved teams oh yeah okay and and Trevor Lawrence actually is looking like a real quarterback yes he is so and he's got Doug Peterson yeah he's got the I don't we don't want to have to talk about this but what a disaster Urban Meyer was oh yeah he's going to go down in history as one of the most disastrous head coach ever okay so Jack Jags a Jets let's see.
Chris and Steve had the best but you were the I I haven't picked first in a while so I'll pick first. Alright. Okay. Jags at the Jets. I'm going Jags all the way. Yeah I'm going the opposite way. I don't think the Jets are as bad as they've been playing lately and I don't think the Jags are as good as they've been playing lately.
Although I think Trevor Lawrence has figured out something but I don't think he's going to figure out a way to beat the Jets. Do we know if Mike White will play next week? Um it's undetermined at the sport.
Yeah. Yeah. So I mean I think I I I would say he's more as likely to play as Kenny Pick is. Mm. Alright. Jags or Jets Schwabber? Uh I'm going to go Jets at home pushing for the playoffs. Okay. I think so. Mark. Okay. So next game.
Saturday. This is a big game for the Cowboys. Not so big for the Eagles because as Steve informed us today. It looks like they're going to sit Jalen Hertz and mustache Magic is coming in but Eagles at Dallas. Uh I'm going with on this one. I really want to take the Cowboys so I'm going to take the Eagles. I'm going opposite of way I'm thinking. I'm going to go with you. Minshu Magic. This game screams Minshu has a great game for one week and shocks the world.
I really want to pick the Cowboys because everybody knows I think that Dallas is is a team that could be a contender when they make the playoffs. They're going to make the playoffs. I just I don't know. I that I I'm Rethinking Dak Prescott. I just don't think I I don't think he's as good as I think he is. Alright so you're going with the Eagles. So I'm going with the Cowboys. Alright so Sunday nights. This is a barn burner guys.
A barn burner.
Bucks at the Cardinals. Yikes. And we gotta pick it because we picked the Sunday night game. So Bucks at the Cardinals. Oh brother. You get to go. And it's Colt McCoy right? Colt McCoy. Well I don't know. Is it isn't Kyler Murray? He's out for the year.
Area. Yeah but is Colt McCoy okay? He got hurt. Trace McSorley was playing. Oh he was. There you go. I'm going with the Bucks. I'm going with the Bucks. Yeah I gotta go with Brady on this one. I I just don't see him losing to Trace McSorley or Colt McCoy. Well somebody's gotta win that division. It's probably going to be them so I'll go Bucks. Alright.
So I'll tell you what man. If I'm right. If I'm right I'm going to pick up a couple games so. Yeah. Alright. Excellent. We got some comments in here from football. Uh DG says something about Roethlisberger saying he considered playing for San Fran no I I actually must have been on his podcast why why would the forty-niners want him I well here's what I heard I heard a bunch of sports casters joking around about stuff like that I there is no way that guy comes back and plays football just not going to happen Christopher CD says another nitty I don't know what that's yeah yeah yeah yeah Trace Trace alright and and CD actually says he he's buying the conspiracy yeah yeah yeah so alright let's move on now.
Um of course, if you've been paying attention to the podcast, you will know that Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast, iHeartRadio app. Uh after every Penguins game and I also want to thank you for listening to us on American Busker iHeartRadio. Uh download the iHeartRadio app. Pick up the podcast. Subscribe to it anywhere you get your podcast and after every Pen's game, Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you podcast.
So, HJ, lay it on us they they they had a great streak going on it's been a while then they hit a wall in Carolina yeah but you know what that Carolina team's very good they play with such discipline I don't even really know what to say I'm not it sounds crazy but I I'm not that disappointed with that loss in Carolina just because you know they're down Zuckery wasn't playing for some reason they played to Smith instead of Jarry and goal that was that was suspect but I get it you don't want to play goalie you know, 65 games in a season that's bad for the playoffs you only want them to play like 5055 games so this was one of those where where Sullivan and his mustache crew basically said let's play De Smith you know and I'm okay with that I mean De Smith played good enough to win but you know here's the thing about hockey you gotta have six really good defensemen and there's six defensemen was out because Um he he's injured so they got playing that and he's good at times but when you gotta go against Jordan Stahl and Jordan Stahl's like three inches and 40 pounds heavier.
It's easy for him to get in front of you and score a goal. And that's really what happened. Their third goal was Jordan Stahl just saying look Chad Ruwiadle is not going to stop me from getting a goal. I'm getting a goal and he got it and that was really the difference in the game. Stallie. You know I'm not a big fan of the empty net.
The Pence pulled the goalie with like two and a half minutes ago and you got that crazy shoot down the end and the whole icing stuff it's like just wait for the last minute minute and a half I I can see minute and ahalf two minutes is too long I I think two minutes is okay but anything over two minutes I think is wrong this was like 238 left in the game that's too much it to me it was too much yeah but yeah so here's the thing about the Pens like they play they here's a game you have to watch tomorrow night they play the Rangers okay this is really important the Rangers are on a 66 game winning streak they're starting to come off they had a rough start they're not playing well they're not getting good goalie play from and so I think that's a really important game on Tuesday.
Thursday, they play Carolina again at home. So, they get another chance. Look, they lost to Carolina 3 two in Pittsburgh. That was an overtime loss. They lose to Carolina again three two. Those games are going either way. This is playoff hockey. Like, I was watching that third period and it was incredible. The back and forth was just just great hockey. Definitely, definitely, it felt like playoff hockey.
Unfortunately, when you lose a game that feels like playoff it feels like you're heading in the same direction you were the last few years. Alright, what I need which is very important is it's time for a Bluegra update.
What is that? They changed the site.
Let me get this in here. Let me get this in here first. Uh going back to football real quick. DG says Ben said it on his podcast and was serious about the Sandframe. I didn't hear that. I I just maybe maybe he was joking. Maybe he was serious. That that was that would that would blow. We're only going to listen to Ben's podcast when he comes on ours. That's right. That's right. Let him know that. Mike Lawrence is sorry he tuned in late. What about the Steelers on Sportsman like hey Mike go back to the beginning of the show. Rewatch the show or listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We do talk about it probably about 10 minutes in but thanks for asking. Little summary, we were not in favor of the behavior. Yes. I didn't actually care. Yes. So, Bluger update yeah, give us a quick. The Blueger update is that third line, I I'm sorry. The fourth line, he's still on the fourth line because they still have three centers ahead of him. Uh I love the I love the fourth line.
Bluger, Archibald, and Paling. They're great together. Uh on the penalty kill, they play the penalty together. Uh Blooger's not really lighting it up with points. I think he has three points on the season but he's not supposed to. Right. Best penalty killer in the league. Um and hopefully he'll get get a goal soon. Okay. So next hockey Jesus is the Rangers game. Rangers game Tuesday. Tuesday. And then Carolina oh here's a special right now just for you guys.
I'm going to be at the game on Thursday. These guys don't even know this. I'm going to be at the game on Thursday. I'm going to do a hockey Jesus live from after the game. Get out. So if you want to hear one live you know maybe you'll even hear and the first star of the game Sidney Crosby in the background. You might hear it. Steve how are they going to handle Zabanajot? Um they're not.
It's always asking about some no it's it it's all about Truba. Truba. I want to I want to see you know what I'm hoping for honestly. I hope they play Drew O'Connor. It's good. I hope they play Drew O'Connor and he just comes out. Takes his stick and just wax him over the head with it. And he never play hockey again either of them. Wow. Alright guys. I I I don't like Truba.
And by the way Joe Carey is right. If Aho is back we will be in trouble. That team is much better with Aho. He's so fast. He brings a new dimension to that that Carolina team. So I hope he's not back Mister Carey. Alright thank you Hockey Jesus. Thanks for listening on American Busker iHeartRadio. A 50 million registered users. 2000 devices. 260 platforms. Two and sixtyone. Just a updated that.
And you can catch us live on The Porch Is Live. com. The Porch is Live. com. The Porch is Live. com. The Porch Live. com. Subscribe to our podcast on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you get your podcast. Anywhere. And listen to American Busker iHeartRadio starting tomorrow every day until January 2nd at noon, six, and nine. The Sports Porch Holiday highlight show for the opening act for Sting, Shaggy, and their tribute to Frank Natra.
It wasn't. And firing up the music now guys. Alright guys we are out of here. You guys have a great Peace.
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