The Porch Is LIVE in Pittsburgh - The Steelers are PRIME for 2023!

00:00 Chris on. We ready? Yep. We's ready. Yep. Where's Steve? I don't know, but we're live anyway. There it is. There it is. No prep time. No prep time. No prep time at all. I don't even know if my mic works. This is how we do it on the Sportsports Pittsburgh. My mic's working. That is what we do. Can you hear us, Steve? Can you hear us? No, I can't hear you at all. We can't hear you either. We can't hear you either. Do you remember how to do this? Yeah, do you remember? No. I do not. We've only done this for years. I know. I know. It's crazy. I have no idea. Steve, unmute your microphone. Yeah, that's good. Can you hear us? Now say something, please. Please. I'm trying. Nope. You got to pick your microphone. You got to pick your microphone. Yep. Edit. Oh, he's going to go out and come back in. All right. Welcome to the Sportsports Pittsburgh. Want to thank you guys for being here. A little bit of technical difficulties. We had some stuff going on pre show. That was actually was a lot of fun. Schwabber. A lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. But now to get back to the grind of old Pittsburgh. That's right. That's right. Or Pittsburgh, as they like to say here. Thank you for being here. We are live all over the world on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and we drop the podcast right after the show, right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin podcast. That's the pirate talking. That is the pirate talking. And of course, you can always visit us at theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com. Yes, you can. Now I want to remind you that you get your buckos report almost after every pirate's game on the podcast on iHeartSpotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And hey, look, guys, I've been ranting a little bit. I am going to talk. I am going to talk pirates here. Let's bring it back to the Steelers. And I actually, I know why I know what the problem was. Let's bring Steve back in. Are you there, Steve? I am. Yes, I figured out what the problem was. And guess what? It was you. It was me. It was me. Absolutely. That's what I thought. Yep. So we're going to talk about the pirates right now real quick. Okay. And I'm going to rant. And then we're going to go on to the Steelers. Okay. The problem with the, hold on, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. The problem with the pirates right now and the problem with what's going on in the media is… What's going on in the media? Well, they're just doing the same old thing. Okay. They're talking about… You know what? I'm so pissed off about it that, you know, the other… I said this on the Buccos report last night. They're apologizing for the pirates and they're saying that the umpires are ruining the game and calling bad games. And they're doing it in a sideways way. You know, well, you know, they're calling it so far off the plate and all of this other kind of stuff. And all I had to say last night was, look, do you think the Atlanta Braves haven't had quite a few games where the umpires missed the calls? I don't know. I think so. Name any team in baseball, good or bad. Okay. And that little box that's on the screen, nobody sees that box but us. Nobody sees it but us. So there's no way to put that box out there and have an umpire call, do calls and strikes. And if you put that box, if somehow you're able to make that box the box, pitchers don't pitch to the box. They pitch a sinker that looks like it's in the zone and at the last second it tails out and the guy swings and misses. Or they pitch a curve ball that looks like it's coming in high and it drops in for a strike. You're going to destroy pitchers if you make it like they have to get it in the box in order for it to be a strike. So I completely, hey Brad, what's up? It's good to see you. I completely disagree with going robo umps, but that's a topic for another debate for another time. I'm tired of hearing the media make excuses for the pirates as far as their play goes. Here's the bottom line. They're filled with minor league ballplayers and the team has no direction. So Henry Davis is brought up and everybody moans because he was drafted as a catcher 1-1. And they throw him in right field because they decide to bring in Andy Rodriguez. Does that sound like an organization that has any sort of direction? No. No. Right. You probably have to turn your speaker down. There's somebody's got to turn their speaker down. Steve. I don't know. Are you hearing me in your headphones or not? Wow. We're just all over. I am just fine. Continue. I'm not talking about you. And, and this, this stuff, they talk about Paul skeins, like literally, Hey, you threw another inning and it was a no hit inning. Come on. All right. Look, this guy is going to have to face the likes of a Kuna jr. You know, he's going to have to, to face the likes of yell itch. He's going to have to face the likes of, you know, name any other, any of the other great major league hitters. I don't think that he's necessarily going to be bad. I definitely don't. Okay. But look, he's in the minor leagues. He was just drafted. He's not the second coming and Mitch Keller looked a little better last night. That's the kind of Mitch Keller we want to see. But, you know, there has to be some patience and some acknowledgement that all of these guys are learning how to play baseball. So, you know, he won base spends three games in a row in leadoff. Why did it take that long? This is a function of the manager and his coaches. That's what I think. I hate to say it because you don't want to, you don't want to blast anyone. Nope. And those guys definitely know, you know, you know, like in football, the X's and O's, they know the game of baseball better than we do. At least they think they do. But I'm telling you, I do not. If you want to, if you think that the playoffs are even a reasonably, a reasonable expectation next year, you're smoking something from a dispensary in Pittsburgh. That's my opinion. You guys got an opinion on that?

07:40 Steve Well, first of all, if you have your medical marijuana card, that's not an issue. But moving forward, can we bring it back to the Steelers? Yeah, sure. Steve, you got to, you got to, you got to, you know, I'm almost afraid to talk. I don't know if you can hear me. Yeah, we can hear you loud and clear. You sound great, by the way. Yeah. Oh, great. Well, I'm glad I'm back. I'm with Mark. Let's talk about the Steelers. No, the one thing, the one thing I do have to say about the strike zone is I'm a big fan of Robo Ops, right? I am actually too. I love the but I'm going to go. But here, the problem with the boxes, it's two dimensional. They have to have a three dimensional box. You know what I mean? That's my point. That's my point. I mean, that's the problem. Like, once that once that technology comes about, I think you have to get rid of the yumps. You absolutely have to get rid of the yumps. But until then, the pirates will still suck. They'll still complain about something other than their organization being a failure. And really, there's nothing to talk about after that.

08:48 Chris Here's the thing that I that, and that was a very good, a very good point that you made about the three dimensional box. And you must've been listening to the buck goes report because what I talked about was, you know, the strike zone officially is the width of the plate and the knees of the player to the letters. The top of the letters. G1 Bay is three feet tall. Okay. Brian Reynolds is, I mean, not really Brian. Brian went Reynolds is six feet tall. Okay. So you're going to have to have that three dimensional box adjust. And right. And how do you do that? Well, actually, I did hear something about it. Apparently what they do, like when they're trying it in the minor leagues is they make the specifications to like every single player. Like every single player has their own specifications. That's insane. And so what that means is that, but also what it means is that then no player can shrink their strike zone by crouching. Right. So that's, that's the idea behind that part of it. So that then the idea there is that it doesn't really hurt the pitchers as much. No, it actually would probably help the pitcher. Right. Right. I, I, I continue to think, look, like I said last night, uh, I'm all for replay all day long, you know, a bang bang play at first, they get it wrong. You need to get it right. Foul ball should have been fair. You need to get it right. Bang bang play at the plate to win the game. If the guy was not out and he was caught, you know, you're going to have to get it right. Right. Strikes balls, judgment call pitchers, pitch different ways. It's, it's part of the game. It's part of the game. So, um, all right, let's move on. Steelers another preseason victory. Uh, I want to know what your take is. The lines are open four, one, two, eight, oh, five, seven, two, three, six. Please give us a call. If you want to get on the air, we would love to hear your opinion of that. We'll go right to our, our, uh,

10:47 Marc Steelers aficionado also known as hockey Jesus. Um, Steve, tell me what you thought about the game. And Steve, did anybody make the hall of fame last night?

11:00 Steve I think Jalen Warren did. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Jalen Warren definitely made the hall of fame, uh, the other night. No, I mean, look, Kenny Pickett's three for three. He's been in three series. They scored three touchdowns that passed the fryer booth was really impressive. It was. The thing, the thing that impressed me even more though, was his throwing on the run. He didn't hit every one, but I love the way he's moving outside of the pocket and creating, uh, some additional time for him to be able to throw the ball. And he looks really comfortable doing it. Um, I think that's a good progression for Kenny Pickett. And I think that's a good, uh, a good move on the offense. I don't know if it's by design, um, but I like the way it looks. I mean, they're playing the Kenny Pickett strength, which is a little bit of speed, accurate passing, right? And so, so I liked that a lot. Now, um, I'm not, I'm not these people who are saying, wow, the Steelers offense is going to be a juggernaut. I still think they still have the same offensive coordinator that they had last year. And I do believe that the Bills have really nothing to prove from their first team. So I think the Bills came out totally flat. They didn't look like they were ready to play the game. They, they actually had a chance. They were at the Steelers 38, and then they just took like six penalties in a row. And it was like, I don't know, it was like third in like 49 or something like that. I don't even know how you get that many yards. But so I think the Bills kind of shot themselves in the foot early and they just kind of cashed it in after that. Um, but as far as the offense goes, um, I think it looks improved and I do like the changes they made. However, I did go back and watch the tape on Dan Moore Jr. versus Broderick Jones, because you know, I have an infatuation with this. Why are you playing Dan Moore Jr.?

12:56 Chris I wouldn't call it an infatuation. I would actually call it more of like a damaging obsession.

13:03 Steve It is an obsession to me at this point. I agree. But here's why, because Broderick Jones is new. So we don't really know who he is. Right. And I kind of figured, I thought I knew who Dan Moore Jr. was. So I went back and once again, Dan Moore Jr. was only in for what, six or seven snaps. So you're not getting a complete view of him. When you're watching tape on Broderick Jones, when you watch the last two games, you're seeing like 15, 20 snaps from this guy. So you're seeing the good and the bad. With Dan Moore Jr., when you when you go down the field all three times and score a touchdown, he's going to look pretty good. Here's the thing that I noticed, the difference between Dan Moore Jr. and the small sample that it is. So I don't know how much you can really take from this, but I'm going to take it from it because it's all I got. Dan Moore Jr. doesn't look as physically dominating as Broderick Jones when the defensive guy is coming at it. Meaning, when the defensive guy is hitting Dan Moore Jr., he's knocking him back and he's creating space to get around him. Now, Kenny Pickett's doing a really good job of getting outside the pocket, not getting sacked. But I think that's going to cause a problem down the road. The thing I noticed about Broderick Jones was he's much more physically dominating in both the run and the pass. However, he did give up a sack. He absolutely gave up a sack and he gave it up against a linebacker who was very much faster and was great with using his arms to get away from Broderick Jones. Broderick Jones seems to have a problem with chasing down fast guys. And if you think about the ends that will give you problems in this league, they're all fast. They're all strong. So for that reason, I'm kind of tempering my enthusiasm for Broderick Jones. But dude, I think he is a beast of a tackle. Once he can figure out how to get his feet moving a little bit faster, I think he's going to be a dominating left tackle. And sooner than later, I promise you this, Dan Moore Jr. will get absolutely owned by Bosa in the first game. What I saw from him was just getting pushed back. And he did create a little bit of a hole on that Jaylen Warren run. However, if you look at everybody on that, I mean, the right guard got a dominating block on an offside linebacker. The left guard pancaked the nose tackle that was in front of him. And Deontay Johnson did an excellent job of shielding off the cornerback so that Jaylen could get loose. Now that being said, I think we do have to talk about Najee, which I know you want to talk about. I know Mark wants to jump in on this. But that's kind of my feel about the offense. I'm happy about its progression. I still think Broderick Jones is the dominating left tackle, but I'm OK with Dan Moore being in there. But I don't think he's going to be in there for very long because I really don't think he's the better tackle right now. I think they're just starting him because of what Tomlin likes to do with fetching guys and not upset them. What I saw of Broderick Jones, and this is me kind of watching after the play, I saw a lot of standing around. You know why? Because his guy was completely away from the play. His guy was nowhere near the play. I literally went back and watched the game for a second time. And all I did was fast forward to the play that Broderick Jones was in. And I just watched Broderick Jones. And with the exception of actually that linebacker who was in there the whole time gave him a problem the whole time he was in there. Wasn't just on that one sack. It was two or three plays before that. And I don't know why, but I also noticed that they had Clark. I don't know who this Clark is, number 67. They had Clark in there for a little bit and he looked terrible. I mean, he looked awful. It was like he looked so bad. Like they were like, we have to put Broderick Jones back in because they had Broderick Jones in for like two series. And then he disappeared for a series and then they didn't do anything. And then they put him back in and they started moving the ball again. I just have to, I really believe that by looking at the tape, he really is going to be dominating. The other guy, by the way, on the defensive side, who's going to be great is Herzig. He's incredible. He's going to be incredible.

17:32 SPEAKER_02 I want to thank Amy for the update on the battle last place, Pirates versus Cardinals, two to nothing, Pirates the end of the second. Here's what I actually think. And I like to play devil's advocate with you, Steve, because you are a devil. That's right.

17:55 Steve And I just use data to mess you up. So I apologize for that.

18:02 Marc He was really digging into the tape.

18:03 Chris He was. He was. That's dedication. What are you digging into? Usually, I think he was getting dug into. My attorneys have advised me not to answer this question and to evoke my Fifth Amendment right. So I actually believe this year. Okay, let's go back three years when Ben was in his last year. We have to go back to 2020. No, but this conversation. But we're going to. You're always so difficult. Why are you so difficult? Well, I'm the humor. That is so we. We stick in the same thing. Well, no, you look every time I do something, you guys like jump in and just slice me up into little pieces. And then I got to pop another Xanax in between shows and pop Xanax left and right. I'm just telling you. Yeah, I'll be just fine. They're not working. Well, no, the reason I do that is I'm actually going to give the Steelers brass a little credit here. This is what I'm starting to think. Okay, and this is going to play into what Steve's talking about. Three years ago, Ben's last year offensive line Pouncey, right? He retires. So you got two years ago, basically almost a completely retold line. They're absolutely terrible. Last year, they seem to they seem to gel because they've got a year plus under their belt. Nobody gets injured. This year, they draft the big offensive left tackle who I actually happen to believe has all the potential in the world. Definitely. And he's huge. I mean, that's what you want. Okay, reminds me of Trent. What's his name? William Trent Williams. Thank you. Thank you. So I actually think that in hindsight, I'm looking back on this and saying, you know what? The Steelers knew they were going to have offensive line issues. They could see that coming. And yeah, who retired? Was it DeCastro that retired that they didn't expect to? There was somebody in there that retired kind of haphazardly. But anyway, they saw that coming and they knew that they were going to have to build. And you bring the wide influence in. And I actually think that the blessing of last year, nobody really getting a bad injury and that line playing together. All year. And then the addition of say a Malu from Philly. And then you bring in this big guy from Georgia while he may not be ready to step out there and start immediately. The one thing that he did do was he pushed Dan Moore because Dan Moore Jr. Knows I'm going to lose my starting job. So I better play well. I better play great. And now you're starting to see the results of that. And you put that piece in there from Philly, say a Malu. I'm actually starting to think like you want to know what? This was a plan that maybe they were thinking about all along. Now, of course, certain pieces come at different times. It's not that they orchestrated it perfectly, but I think they had a general outline of where they had to go. And from what I've seen in the preseason so far and basing it on the fact that last year they performed much better than people thought they would. I'm liking where the line is going now. And look, if Dan Moore plays out of his socks and Broderick Jones is pushing him, then at some point, even if Broderick Jones takes over, it's only going to be because he edges him out and he's the first round pick.

21:57 Marc Well, here's another thought for you, which is I'm a big believer and you should have your best players on the field. Right. OK, now, and now this is something this is totally different than, you know, Henry Davis playing right field. This is something that happens in football a lot. Yeah. Who cares about Henry Davis right now?

22:16 Chris When you can you can we bring it back to the Steelers? Yes.

22:18 Marc Thank you. When you have a left tackle, always wanted to say that when you have a left tackle who's enormous and they're having trouble with speed guys, often what they'll do is you'll kick that player in to guard where they don't have to deal with as much speed. Right. And he sort of gets his footing in the NFL and then you kick him back out to left tackle. OK. So I'm kind of wondering, like, why don't you take that approach? I don't I don't like the he's not on the field play. That's what I don't like. Oh, so you're saying that that could could they put Jones in it at guard? Right. Well, I mean, obviously, they're not going to do it at this point. Right. I know they you know, they it would have been something that they would have done in training camp.

22:59 Steve But I feel like maybe that was a missed opportunity. Well, no, not this year because they went to get Sayamalu and they got Daniels for the other side. So they really have that guard position locked locked in the place. So I just think that they have to decide how many mistakes they're going to let Dan Moore Jr. make before they let Roderick Jones or maybe it's going to be like in every other series or every third series, he's going to come in and play because the reality is he has to play against the Bozos and the Crosby's of the world. So so it's sooner or later, even if he only plays five or six snaps, he's going to play against them. And it will there will be a third down in there. It's not like they're going to pull them out on third down because then that would signal pass. And, you know, you don't you don't ever want to signal anything in the NFL. So I just think it's I think it'll be an interesting competition to watch. It is a competition. I personally, after looking at that, I didn't look at Dan Moore Jr. last week. I didn't look at his tape last week. But I can tell you by looking at the tape individually, I am 100 percent certain that Broderick Jones is the man among those two guys. And he will be starting and he will be taking the bulk of the snaps before the midseason is over. You heard it here. You heard it here. OK, let's. My point, my point about the offense, Mark, and I like your take on this. Do you think that when Najee's in there that he's just not hitting the holes fast enough? Or do you think that they're just not doing a good enough job to me? I'll just going to be honest with you. I think the play develops much slower when Najee's in the backfield. I don't know if that's a nausea thing or if it's just the type of plays they have called. What how how have you seen good running backs be able to hit the hole and like get up the field? Because, I mean, you know, in Philadelphia, they got guys like Gainwell, who was super fast, even, you know, Samuel, when he was there, I mean, they had fast backs. Do you think it's just a philosophy of making the guy find the hole or do you think Najee doesn't have it?

25:17 Marc No, I mean, well, I do think that there is a difference with the back that's on the field, you know, and I think that that's something that the players sort of feel. You know, it's more like a feel thing than an actual that they're actually trying to do something. You know, it's it's it's not like they're trying to go out the play in a more methodical, slower fashion for Najee Harris than they are for Jalen Warren. But I think what you actually see happen is that that does happen, you know, because they know Warren is so fast that he's going to get there quicker. Right. Right. I do think that's a part of it. But, you know, I still believe in Najee Harris. I need to see more from Jalen Warren for me to think that he is anything more than a really good running back to. Right. You know, I mean, because the reality is, is he hasn't played enough to this point to know if he's going to be able to face the wear and tear of the of the NFL. We also don't really know, you know, on a consistent basis, if he was given 15 carries a week, we don't really know on a consistent basis if he's going to hit a home run every week. And if he doesn't, you know, is he going to hit a home run? But then it's going to be like, you know, a one yard, a one yard, a minus one yard, and then it's going to be 50. Right. So we don't really know what to expect. I think Najee is the kind of running back that gets better with the flow of the game and with more carries. And I just don't think, look, he's not as exciting as Jalen Warren. Everybody likes the guy who can run the distance. That's not Najee. I mean, Najee is the kind of guy who if he breaks out into the open field and he has a 40 yard run, you know, somebody's going to push him out of bounds after 40 yards. You know, that's just who he is. He's just a bigger back. But, you know, for me, if I'm the Steelers at this point, I mean, I'm saying what Tomlin is saying and I'm saying what Candid is saying that Najee is my number one back until he proves that he's not worthy of it.

27:43 Chris I don't. All right. So Mark Madden had a piece on the trip, in the trip, and he was he addressed all the of course, you know, all the Yenzers out there screaming that Jalen Warren should be the starting back over Najee Harris and all this kind of stuff. And you guys know that the last couple years I've been very suspect of Harris and- Well, you originally had a love affair. I did. And you fell out of love. I'm very fickle. I'm very fickle. I feel like it even got to the point of divorce. Yeah, we're all we're separated right now. We're separate. We're trying to make it work. I mean, we're talking about it. Well, no, not yet. Okay. We're on the edge of therapy. If I could get Najee to come to therapy, I think there's still a shot that we could work things out. Well, if Susan reached out to him. But Susan? Not Steve Susan. Susan works in our field department. Oh, Susan. Right. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I don't think Susan would be willing to help. It's not Steve Susan. Anyway, so I you know, listen, Najee Harris, what's his longest run? 40, 46 yards, something like that. I mean, I don't know. Yeah, it's less than 50 yards. Right. Right. And and now, of course, this is no way to actually grade a running back. But, you know, Jalen Warren is a guy who he could take it to the house every single time. He can. You know, he's shown that on a few occasions and it was preseason. So you can't really judge it that way. But what Madden was saying is that Najee Harris deserves to be the number one running back because he was a first round draft pick. And you can't just give the undrafted guy, you know, the the starting job because he he averages a yard more per carry and he's faster through the holes and can hit a home run. But you still haven't seen enough to make him the starting running back. Okay. So first of all, I completely disagree with that because Harris is going into his fourth year. We all know and he carried a huge load. We all know how long a running back's life is in the NFL. Okay, and Harris to me cannot find the hole. He does not have a burst of speed and I do not believe that he is the answer here. That being said, I don't think Jalen Warren is the answer either for the reasons that Steve has cited in the past. And that the guy is he's small. He's not an every down back because he's not going to be able to take the wear and tear. But the mere fact that you look at the way he runs and you compare it to Najee Harris and you go, that's the way a running back should hit the hole. That's the kind of speed we need. There are guys that have Harris's size that have that kind of vision and that kind of speed and we don't have one.

30:48 Steve No, I mean, there's really only one guy like that and that would be Derek Henry and he's just the freak of nature. I mean, I don't think it's fair to say we don't have a guy like that.

30:59 Chris What I think, and by the way, Najee's in his third year. He's not in his fourth year. I'm sorry, excuse me. You're right, third year.

31:07 Marc But your point still, I still agree with your point. No, Jalen Warren was drafted, correct? Third or fourth round? Fifth round?

31:16 Steve No, I think he was an undrafted or maybe it's the other guy who's the undrafted back. But one of those two guys is undrafted for sure. I think it might be Jalen Warren, actually.

31:27 Chris But the reality is, Najee's got to prove it this year because if he wants that… Hold on, I'm sorry. Warren signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 draft. There you go.

31:38 Steve Yeah, I thought you were right on with that. But the reality is he doesn't have the explosiveness and that's what I thought we would see by Najee by this point. So the… And actually the reason we didn't see it last year in my opinion was because he was injured. So I was hoping we would see it. So my point is I think the Steelers have certain plays dialed up for a fastback and certain plays dialed up for Najee, which is, you know, get up in there and you know, get the three and five yards and then when we need the home run, we'll bring in the fastback and we'll give it to them off tackle. I actually thought that they ran the ball too much on first down against the Bills and when they went for… I'm not kidding. When they gave it to Jalen Warren, I was like, don't run it on first down. We need some play action. We need to mix it up. And then he runs for a touchdown. I'm like, well, I guess I'm no match. Yeah, we'll take that. But what I'm saying is it wasn't Najee that was back there that time. It was something different. So I think maybe they're doing something different with that. So I guess what I'm expecting is to see a little bit more Jalen in there all the time. Like, he's not going to get a time to have his series. They're just going to put him in there for spot plays. And I think what will happen is over the year they'll recognize, oh when he's in there, they like to run this play. You know what I mean? They love to run that off tackle play over near where Dan Moore Jr. is. It'll break up Sayamalu's butt or something.

33:16 Marc And also keep in mind, too, probably up until this 62-yard run that he had in preseason. Up to this point, you know, if you're the defensive team, when Jalen Warren's in the game, you're thinking pass.

33:32 Steve I mean, you are. Most of the time. Yeah, maybe. You're right about that. But I mean, last year when Jalen Warren was in, he actually performed pretty well when Najee was out to the point where people were like, maybe he should be the starter. And then when, you know, Najee came back, he became the starter again. But I think he's an adequate spot starter. But I agree. I agree with you, Mark. I don't think he's the everyday. I don't think he's the everyday back.

33:58 Chris I don't think he is either. I just think what he's showing is that Najee is not either. He's not the answer. That's what I'm telling you. Well, you know, one plus one equals three. And there you go. Yeah, that's some good engineering math. Excellent. So what do you think about the defense? We haven't talked about the defense. What did you think about the defense? I think the defense is, this is going to sound bad, and I don't mean it as bad as it sounds. And I actually think it's a good thing. I think the defense is playing soft because nobody wants to get injured. And it doesn't matter how many points you score, or you let the other team score in preseason. What matters is that you understand your assignments and you're in the right place and you're matched up on the right guy. I love the fact that JP Jr. got an interception, even though it wasn't a great interception. It was a poorly thrown call.

34:54 Steve Chris, you could have caught that. You could have caught that.

34:56 Chris Right. I almost did, actually.

34:58 Marc He did do a nice job of pushing the wide receiver out of bounds. Yeah.

35:03 Chris Seriously. That's playing with strength. Right. So I think it's really hard to judge the defense because, and Luke's in the house. What's up, Luke? Glad you made it. I think it's really hard to judge the defense right now because of that. But that being said, I like it. I'm just praying for no injuries. I think our linebacking core, obviously that is the big issue and has been for a few years. So it's going to be interesting to see. I think Herbig is great. I think he's a great talent there, great young talent. Cole Holcomb is…

35:43 Marc Is that a pump the brakes? No, no, no.

35:46 Steve I think he's good.

35:48 Marc I didn't say Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame. But now do you guys remember that when we went over the draft, I pointed out that you'll be pleasantly surprised with him because I knew of his brother with the Eagles.

36:04 Chris You did say that. He's now with the Steelers, by the way. Oh, because the brothers have to be together. Yeah. It's a family sport in Pittsburgh. What can I say? So yeah, so that was my take. I just think the defense looks good. And I don't think there are a whole lot of missed assignments. But other than that, I don't look for anything out of the defense because they really can't be as aggressive as they're going to be in the regular season. They risk injury. And of course, TJ Watt, I mean, you can't… That guy, every time he goes down, that defense just drops down a couple levels. So they just got to make sure they have their assignments right. That was my take.

36:44 Marc I thought they looked pretty good. I think they're going to be better at the linebacker position. I think the big concern is his corner, really. I mean, to be honest, and I'm not sure that Patrick Peterson… I'm sure he'll bring a great veteran presence, but I don't know how good he is anymore. And I don't mean that he's bad, but I think he might just be like an average cornerback at this point. Well, yeah, he's past his prime. And so you're playing with two average cornerbacks. And so I think that leaves them open to problems in the passing game. Now, what the Seahawks do have is they have a really good pass rush, which can negate some of that. But against teams maybe that have better offensive lines and can hold those guys at bay for a little while, I think they stand to have a weakness maybe in the passing game.

37:48 Chris And let me jump in here real quick and just say I was impressed with how Highsmith did not give up on that play in the beginning of the game where Allen was scrambling and Highsmith just never stopped running. I mean, that shows you the quality of player he is.

38:06 Marc I think Highsmith is for real. I think he will have another good year.

38:09 Steve Yes, definitely. Well, what I feel about the defense that I noticed, and I didn't notice it in the first preseason game, it didn't look like Allen could just go back, drop back, and then throw the ball. He was having trouble finding open receivers. And he wasn't actually under pressure right away. He could have did the three-second drop back and throw it, but nobody was open. And I thought that was pretty interesting because on a few of those plays, they actually were blitzing the free safety. So I actually think that means that their defensive backfield is getting a little bit better. Now, I don't know if they were playing zone or if they were playing man. I think they were playing a lot of zone. So I think they're dropping the linebackers a little bit. So it's helping with those short passes and it's not allowing the wide receiver to get open deep because they're covering against that. So that was the one thing that I noticed that I didn't see in the first preseason game. I noticed that wide receivers weren't open all the time, that the quarterback had to make a secondary play before the wide receivers came open. So I think that's actually a good sign moving forward. But I'm pumping the brakes on that big time because I agree with you. I think of the cornerbacks that we have are good, but they're just good. So they're going to have to play really solid zone defense, but you know what good quarterbacks do against zone defenses. They just carve them up. So I think that's classic Steelers defense, by the way. We're going to play really great against those quarterbacks, get confused by zone defense because you've got Minka back there just darting all over the place and you don't know where he's going to be. So they're afraid to throw the ball. But when it comes down to the good quarterbacks of the world, they're just going to carve up that zone defense. So we'll have to see. We'll have to see what happens. Hopefully Joey Porter Jr. matures a little bit, can get into that position and can be a shut down corner

40:06 Marc and they can play a little bit more man, perhaps, maybe. Yeah. I think in today's NFL, even though you might think of the opposite, I still think the best teams play good man. I think zones are just ripe for any top tier quarterback will pick them apart. And you just need to have two guys that can kind of go out on an island that you don't have to give double coverage to. And that's what

40:38 Chris makes one of, to me, the better defenses in the league. Yeah. Like I said, the jury's out until they actually have to play. So they play Thursday night in Atlanta. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. We rest in the starters. Oh yeah. You won't see any starters out there. Yeah. Yeah. I will say that I think the Steelers are actually in a pretty good position when it comes to the quarterback position on the roster. First of all, I think Pickett looks like he's comfortable. And that's all you can ask for right now, because you're not going to see anything for real until he's under real pressure in a real game, but he looks comfortable. It doesn't look like he's nervous. And that's good. No doubt. He's put a lot of hard work in. I, I, Trubisky remains a mystery to me because there are times where he looks really good. You know, he throws a sharp ball. He can move and get out of the pocket. But the guy that I'm really most impressed with actually, and he should be by now is Rudolph. I'm not so sure Rudolph shouldn't be the number two quarterback because he has been in this offense now the entire time. And I think that the unfortunate season he had his rookie year, or maybe it was the second, you know, when he got clonked on the head. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a human being. I know. Totally classy. But I think that shook him up a little bit for actually for a couple of years. And so I, you know, I'm not saying Rudolph could be a starter anywhere. But what I'm saying is that if the Steelers get off to a hot start and everything else seems to be clicking, I'm not as afraid with Rudolph going in as I am with Trubisky. What do you guys think about that? Because that's a possibility. You know, Kenny Pickett's had a couple of concussions. He's, he could go down. He could go down in the first game, God forbid. So,

42:46 Steve well, yeah, Kenny's definitely going to get another concussion or he's going to be out for some time. Let's hope not. Okay. It's just, it's the reality of the situation. I mean, he's not, I mean, he's a tall guy, but he's not like physically built like that was like that was a monster of a man, right? Yeah. He's an even bigger monster of a man now. Yeah. Well, you know, when you do podcasts, you get like us, you get a little lumpy, you know, eating the Fritos or the pizza in the wings in between the shows. I mean, you know, it's just, it's, it's a natural occurrence when you do a podcast. But that's the reality. So, I mean, does it really matter who comes in? For me, it doesn't really matter. But you do make good points about Rudolph being in the system for so long. I think he is much more comfortable than Trubisky. I'm wondering if he's just maybe like hoping somebody else wants to pick him up as a backup, you know, if he's going to remain as a third, like maybe, maybe,

43:46 Chris maybe the Steelers are going to cut him, but I just don't think they will at this point. No, I don't think so either. What I see out of Rudolph when I watch him play and I was actually for this game, I was more interested in watching Rudolph play than anybody else because picket was only in for, was he in for two series or one? I can't remember. So it was two. Yeah, right. It was two. And then Trubisky played till the half, a little bit past the half, right? And then they brought Rudolph and then they brought in Tanner, whatever the hell his name is. But yeah, who was that guy? Morgan. Tanner Morgan. Yeah. He was the, he drafted him or something. But another, another reason why Broderick Jones looks so terrible. Right. Well, okay. Okay. We've, we've, we've, we've gone down that route. I keep putting up Luke's comments because he's participating. We didn't talk about CA three. We will though. We will special teams, special teams. Right. But I, what I, what I see when I see Rudolph is a guy that is totally comfortable in his role as the third string quarterback. And you know, when you're getting paid, what a couple million dollars a year to basically, you know, throw the football around and practice a little bit, you know, you settle into that and you get comfortable. But when he's on the field, at least in the preseason games, he looks like a guy who realizes he's got nothing to lose. So, so why, you know, so why have any anxiety about playing? Just throw the ball, run the play, throw the ball. And to me, I know it sounds dumb. It sounds simple. I'm oversimplifying it, but I, I, I like the Steelers situation at, at quarterback right now and on offense, let's transition to CA three on offense. I think that, that, that translates into depth.

45:33 Marc I think they have depth. Well, they have, they have three guys at the quarterback position that can take the field and can win you a game. That's right. So, and that's good in the NFL.

45:43 Chris Not many teams have that. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So, CA three, he changes that special teams game completely. I think, I think just the fact that he's out there in a

45:57 Marc threat. Well, didn't Sims have a return touchdown last year for the Steelers? Yeah, but that's in the past. That's in the past. So you're saying he changes the game. How does it change the game?

46:07 Chris He hasn't done that in the regular season. I think it, I think the threat of his speed, you asshole, is that, is that, is leave it to the, leave it to the Philly. You know, we do, we do the Philly sports porch. We've got another, we've, we're, we're branching out here. You know, we do the Philadelphia sports porch and before the, before the, you know, before every

46:29 SPEAKER_03 show, he's like, no, but whatever you do, don't talk about Teddy Pickett. You know, we've got to hang up, we've got to hang up a Philadelphia, we've got to hang up a Philadelphia behind me. You know, no, no Baltimore Orioles references. I've told them enough with Jim Palmer. That's right. And yeah, yeah. And whatever you do, don't mention the commanders anymore. Can we have one week

46:49 Chris without the commanders? Of course we get on this podcast and he can, he can just be an asshole the whole time. I mean, anyways, it was Steelers related. Yeah. Well, of course that's, I mean, come on, you're the hype guy. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm the reality guy. I'm the brain. I totally lost my train of thought. So CA3. I know, I know. I'm just saying, I think their special

47:13 Steve teams look better. Steve, I'm going to yield the floor. Well, I mean, anytime you have a fast person returning kicks, your special team's going to look better. Aren't you supposed to have a fast person returning kicks? Well, you would, you would think most teams would get that, but the reality is some fast guys can't, don't have hands. You know what I mean? Right. Right. Like they can't catch the ball. It's, it's pretty hard to catch an NFL punt. They go very high in the sky. It's not, not an easy thing to do. I bet if, if the three of us trying to catch NFL punts between us in 10 punts, we maybe might catch one. No way. I'd catch eight. No way, man. I'd say, it's much more difficult than you think. But anyways, very good. He and I coordinate. The point is you have to not just catch it, but you can't be running backwards when you catch it. You want to be running kind of forward, you know? Yeah. So it's really a talent. And I do agree that I think Calvin Austin, the third seems to have that ability to do it. Like what did McFarland do with the opening kickoff? He like ran it out for five yards out and then he ended up at like the 12 or 13 yard line. That's just dumb. It is, but he's trying to make the team. You know what I mean? He's going to make the team anyways. Like he didn't have to do something stupid to show that he wants to make the team. Normally when you make the team, you do the smart thing and you just let it bounce and you let the first team offense come onto the field. You don't want the offense to start at the 15 yard line when they can start at the 25. Now it didn't end up hurting them because of the 62 yard run, but that's the reality. So when it comes to special teams, you got to think about your kicking game when that means punting and field goals. I don't think, have we even seen Boswell? I guess he did kick a field goal. Were you listening to the game? When Boswell kicks the ball, it just sounds differently. I think I heard that on the radio. I'm like, what? Did he just say it sounds differently? Like it's the crack of the bat? Was it Charlie Batch? Was that Charlie Batch? No, no, I think it was on the radio. I think it was actually Bill Hillgrove that said that. It sounds differently. Well, he was probably at the Asta Asta in Monroeville. Yeah. Well, I think this was probably the field goal that he kicked and it was like, what, 27-7 at that point. It didn't really matter. I think he was just making shit up, which we all do from

49:54 Marc time to time, but not myself. No, of course not. The thing about the returner is actually that I think is the most important thing, seriously, is courage. There's a lot of fast guys in the league, but a lot of guys don't have the courage to put their foot in the ground and go full speed right

50:13 Steve up the middle. Right? Yeah. No, you're right about that. You have to go straight up the field. Hopefully a hole opens up, so once you see the hole, you're just right through it.

50:24 Chris Many times it doesn't and you get smacked in the face. Right. Yeah. But I think it's a positive sign that CA3 showed that he has that. Yeah, I definitely think he is as advertised last year before the unfortunate injury when they were so high on him. Now that we're getting a chance to see him play, he has the ability to be explosive, not only in the return game, but also as a receiver. Like I said before, I think he's the next Tyree Kill.

51:00 Marc You can provide some humor as well. Thank you.

51:04 Chris No, I think he's the guy that brings another dimension. So if you think about it, Johnson is, and you guys know I do not like Deontay Johnson at all. I just don't. DG. DG's in the house catching the play, got home from a quick Pittsburgh visit for my dad's 90th birthday. Well, let's go. He won. DG's dad. Absolutely. 100. Thanks. Thanks for being here, man. Just live when the Mayflower took off. Close. Your math is not very good. You were definitely a business major because you have no understanding of. Well, I was a business major, but I wasn't very good at accounting. You're right. By the way, I think you have to be 90 to see the last time the Flyers won the Cup. There you go. I like that. I like that. Yep. And he probably didn't even watch it. Where were we here? Oh yeah. I think CA3 adds the, I don't like Deontay Johnson. I just don't. Anybody that has to be taught when they're in the NFL that you're supposed to run forward. I don't care how many catches you have. That's a problem. Now I get it. He hasn't run backwards yet. Have you seen him run backwards yet? You may be cured from that. It says three little letters, Y-E-T, Steve, that matter. Well, maybe Claypool was driving him crazy and that was the reason he was running backwards. Do not ever say Claypool again. Why, dude? Look what he brought us. He's a total godsend. That is true. We should have more Claypools on this. Yeah, we should trade away more Claypools. No, I think between Johnson, Pickens and CA3, I'm not even bringing up Alan Robinson because who knows what his final role is really going to be. I think you have a three-dimensional wide receiver group there. You've got a guy who can really stretch the field in CA3. You've got a guy in Johnson who's actually more of a possession type of receiver. I mean, I know he can stretch the field too, but then you've got a guy in Pickens who's going to make those catches, the impossible sideline catch when you've got to save a first down or keep a drive going. I think those dimensions are great and I think they play right into Kenny Pickens' strength. His strength is the ability to improvise and to move around in the pocket and find the open receiver. You forgot about Friar Muth. Listen, I was just about to say, and I haven't even mentioned Friar Muth, Gentry or that beast, Darnell Washington, who, like you were saying, you love how they covered him during the game. They covered him by literally covering him. He's the kind of guy that when he finds his footing, man, it's going to be just toss it up in the air and he's just going to put up one hand and catch it. So, I mean, in spite of the fact that I'm down on Najee Harris, I am very optimistic this year. Now the calls that you see on the internet, the Steelers are going to win the North. No, they're not. But I think they're going to be a much improved team this year, even with Matt Canada at offense. And it's not going to be because of Canada. It's going to be because the talent is there and they'll actually execute the

54:21 Marc plays. And then of course, he'll take all the glory. They might finish ahead of the Bengals though. They only had one jet sweep this last game and they ran it to Gunnar, who I don't think he belongs on the team. My fear is, and I'm actually not kidding about this, I do actually have a fear that Canada in the preseason is able to sort of let loose a little bit. But then when it's a real regular season game, he's going to pull it back. I think that's something to be a little concerned

55:05 Chris about. And I know you hope this too. I hope you are so dead wrong. I do too, but I do wonder about that. Here's what I think about this whole thing. I could not for the life of me understand why Matt Canada this year of all years would not make changes. And if he doesn't make change, well, we already know. I'm going to say something obvious. If he doesn't make changes to this offense this year, you know he's gone. You know he's gone because he's going to be carried out

55:43 Steve on the shoulders and dumped into the Mon River by the fans. Not if they go nine and eight. Yeah. I mean, you don't think so? You really don't think so? No, I don't. I agree with Mark. Tomlin does the same thing with his coaches that he does with his veteran players. He's loyal to a fault. And honestly, I think he likes having a scapegoat around because he doesn't like the spotlight on him. So when things are going wrong, what do they do? They don't point at Tomlin. They point at the offensive coordinator. Yeah, but at some point, I think he loves the spotlight on him when it's good. Yeah, I do. No, I think he likes the fact that he hasn't had a losing season yet. I think that's what he likes. We're already going down this road, man. Yeah, but no, I agree with Mark. I mean, I don't even think we need to even focus on the offensive coordinator at this point. I would say he's having a good preseason by his standards, which are very low. You got to keep

56:49 Marc the bar low. They are very low. I think the bottom line with the Steelers is, in all honesty, the biggest question mark for the Steelers going into the year is, will Kenny Pickett become a top-flight quarterback? And you have to say, I mean, look, it's preseason and it's small sample size,

57:14 Steve but with what he's been given, he's done very well. So you can't be anything but encouraged that it could be heading in the right direction. Yeah, but I think you need to say, if Kenny Pickett can become a top-10 quarterback this year, that would be the most amazing season he could possibly have. Yeah, yeah. Everybody's thinking if he has a good year, he's probably in the top 15. And that might be good enough with his defense, and that's what I think the Steelers are planning for. But if you look at the division, he's got to be better than Deshaun Watson, or they're going to end up in the basement. There's no way in hell he's going to be better than Burrow this year, unless Burrow lands. And this is coming from a Burrow detractor. And he would only become a top-10 if he somehow jumps over Lamar Jackson. And in passing, maybe he will this year. That would be incredible. He'll never do it in running. We already know that. So the best he can finish is second

58:24 Chris in his division. So that's usually not… Which would put them in the playoffs? That would. That would put them in the playoffs. Last year he was in the bottom 10 of quarterbacks. Last year he was in the bottom 10, arguably statistically one of the worst. And if he ends up at number 15, they will make the playoffs because that's literally a 15-point jump.

58:53 Steve Well, not necessarily. But I think that that would be a very good year. Yes. Yeah. I would think a top 15 finish would be a good year for Kenny. But the reality is, he's got to throw more touchdown passes. Oh, yeah. There's no doubt about that. Touchdown passes. Personally, I'm not even worried about the interceptions. I have a feeling he's going to throw a lot more interceptions this year. And I think everybody should just gear up for that because that's what's going to happen when you throw the ball more and you kind of take the reins off of what's going to happen there. But he has to have at least three

59:29 Chris or four games where he throws for three or four touchdown passes. Yes. Well, I don't know if he has to have three or four where he does that, but he definitely has to have like 10 games where he throws at least two. He's got to have less than this many with one touchdown passes. How about that? There you go. That's better. I agree with you. I agree with you. Oh, and that was five for those of you on the podcast. Yeah. I thought maybe you were explaining it to me. Okay. Well, listen, we got a game on Thursday night. It's the last preseason game. And then, of course, next Monday, we will be back and we will do our Steelers season predictions.

01:00:17 Steve Well, you know what? There's a whole week in between. Yeah. Well, we'll do our Steelers season predictions and then we will do our NFL predictions. How about that? Right. There we go. Yeah. Hockey Jesus, you got anything as the hour winds out here? Just like I said, there's no movement on that Tatar thing. I think that was all bogus. I think that was just people kind of saying, Hey, wouldn't it be nice to get him? They're not going after anybody. They're set. Carlson put on a practice jersey and he was skating around with the black and the gold on. So he's ready to go gear it up boys, because it's going to be some fun watching, watching that

01:00:58 Chris guy skate around. And there you go. Thanks for watching. All right, guys. I want to thank you once again for watching the Sports Porch live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, all over the world. And of course, we're going to drop the podcast right after the show. And where can you get that podcast, Schwabber? Theporcheslive.com. He always says that. Theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com. And you can also get it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. I guess Jeff was here. Have a good week, Jeff. Yes. And good night from the last remaining Pirates fan. I am your technical director and I am out. Let's go Bucks.