The Porch Is Live - Was The Green Bay Win Good for the Steelers?

Steve: He probably had to get up at 2.30, but… Come on, let's go. We've got to be ready at 5 a.m.
Chris: Ah, here we are. Here we are. The Sports Porch, Pittsburgh. Welcome to the show. You're listening to us live. You're watching us live all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X. The X. Yes. Did I miss one? I have no idea, but we also drop this podcast. We drop this podcast right after the show, right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. And we are live right now, live right this very moment on Pittsburgh's newest radio station, a brainchild of, uh, can you have multiple, can you have multiple parents, multiple brain children, our brain child, uh, one of your brain children. Anyway, we are live right now on radio PGH.com. So if you're in the car, don't watch, don't watch the screen. It's really, it's really bad for you, but you can click this link. You can click this link and go to radiopgh.com.

Steve: And we do a pregame up there, too. You know, you stop in 15 minutes early. You might hear us talking about stuff we don't talk about now.

Chris: Yeah. Which could be even more entertaining. Oh, it's much more entertaining. You want to be there. I agree. So hop on radiopgh.com, listen to the show. There's more things to come down there. And of course, theporcheslive.com is our website, theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com. There you go. Listen, 412-805-7236. You have some thoughts on the Steelers.

Marc: We have we have one open line. Good time to get in.

Chris: That's right. That's exactly right. So they go fast. Listen, guys, I started with this question last week. I'm going to ask this question again this week. I'm saving mine for last.

Marc: Please do.

Chris: And I want to hear what you have to say, because this is an interesting year. And I, I have some thoughts on the Steelers myself that are maybe a little different than the last few weeks. So I am not talking about, and if you're listening to the podcast or on radio PGH, the ticker at the bottom says, are the Steelers a playoff team? Give us your thoughts. Call us at 4 1 2 8 0 5 7 2 3 6. Now, Or just drop a comment if you're listening or drop a comment. What what I mean is I know that right now in the playoff seating, they are in the playoffs. Yes. But we have what, eight, nine more games to go.

Marc: Only only three home games left.

Chris: Right. So my my my point of asking this question again is they won last week. They won again this week.

Marc: You are absolutely correct in both those statements.

Chris: Thank you. Are they a playoff team? Are they a playoff team?

Marc: Schwaber. Yes. I said they're going to get to 10 and I think they will. That would mean that they would be going, what, four and four in the final eight.

Chris: Okay. Steve.

Steve: Yeah. I said last week, they're a playoff team. Nothing this week tells me any different because this week was just like the other weeks that they've won. They break your heart. They steal it. They rip it out. They throw it on the floor and they say, no, we're not. And then by the end of the game, you're like, yeah, yeah, we can, we can, we can, we can make the playoffs.

Chris: Sure. That may be what happened in your house and my house. I just eat another piece of pizza, but you know, That's me.

Steve: Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, there's real fans who get their heart stomped on during the game. That's you. And then there are people that eat pizza and wings. That's me.

Chris: Yeah. Or drink a beer. Let me. That's not me. But let let me let me throw one other word into this question.

Marc: Well, are you going to answer the question, Chris? I will. Or the just questions for Mark and Steve questions for me.

Chris: No, I will answer this question, but I I'm going to answer it. with this word are the steel, uh, Steelers, a playoff caliber team. Grand Schwabini, Grand Schwabini laid on me. Are the Steelers a playoff caliber team?

Marc: What do you mean by playoff caliber?

Steve: Fill in the blank. It's a fill in the blank. I mean, did you did you graduate from college?

Chris: You get that you get to define what caliber are they a playoff caliber team?

Marc: I don't know. I think if you make the playoffs, you're a playoff caliber team.

Steve: OK, Steve. So offensively, they are absolutely not a playoff caliber team. They couldn't. This offense couldn't beat the worst playoff team, even if they were like a one seed, they couldn't beat anybody. But defensively, they might be one of the best playoff caliber teams. So if you combine them, what do you end up with?

Chris: Hmm. Half of a playoff caliber team.

Steve: That's pretty good. Yeah. That's pretty good. Yeah, I'll go with that.

Chris: I I we got a comment coming in here. CD, you are what your record says you are.

Marc: I mean, although you know what? I'm going to give an opposition to that one right there. So you are what your record says you are. Were the Steelers on invincible when they were 11 to know a couple of years back?

Steve: Well, they were until they lost their for their last five.

Chris: That's where he always goes, though. But that goes to the 11.

Marc: No, but that's what I'm getting. No, no.

Steve: I actually think this team, there's a lot of similarities between the 11 0 team. I think it's actually a an apropos comparison. Apropos. Yeah. Very good. I do, because everybody thinks that they're not as good as their record says they are. And I happen to disagree with that this year. I would probably have agreed with you the 11-0 year, because I think if you're 11-0, then people are really afraid of you. And I don't think anybody's afraid, was afraid of that 11 and other Steeler team. However, I think this year people don't like, they don't want to play against this defense, even though they do give up a lot of yards because they can't figure out why they can give up so many yards. Yet we score so many little points. And by the time the fourth quarter comes around, they're coming from behind the wind. Like people can't figure it out. Even experts are like, I don't know how they can keep winning like this, but they do. And that nobody wants to play a team like that in the playoffs.

Chris: That's true. I think they have a I do not think the Steelers overall are a playoff caliber team. And the reason is. They have a very opportunistic defense. So they have some guys there that will make some plays. And so far that has for the most part, bailed out the offense this year for the most part, not all the time, but they still, the, the, the, the offense is still struggling. And by struggling, what I mean is yeah, the last two games, their running game has come alive. Mainly because they're playing the players that everybody outside that coaching staff said they should have been playing since day one. They bring in Darnell Washington to help block. They have Broderick Jones playing. Obviously, when you open up holes for NFL caliber running backs, your running game is going to do better. But I got to tell you, man, Kenny Pickett looks like I'm going to look, I'm going to steal this from the PM team on ninety three seven. The fan, because when they said it, it made sense to me. Kenny Pickett looks like a backup quarterback playing. He does not look like an NFL quarterback. I don't see what's wrong with that. That is not actually, it's just not sustained.

Steve: I think it's more sustainable to have a backup quarterback playing in the house than it is to have a caliber of Jalen hurts who, if he goes down, the Eagles are absolutely screwed.

Chris: Okay. And you think if Kenny Pickett goes down and Mitch Trubisky or Mason Rudolph comes in, they're not, you know,

Steve: I don't think they are. I mean, actually, when Kenny did go down and Mitch came in, I think Mitch tried to play a different game. And I think that's why they ended up, you know, not doing so well, because Mitch tried to do more things than Kenny would have tried to do.

Marc: Actually, I think I would like to make a comment on Kenny Pickett if I could.

Steve: And I would like to go back and talk about the definition of an opportunistic defense, because I want to take umbrage with that.

Chris: Well, I will. I want to hear what Schwaber has. I want to hear what Schwaber has to say about it.

Marc: Now, don't this is not meant as a negative, but my feeling was I was going to say something in some respects positive about Kenny Pickett. This week, I feel like the after this week, we now know what Kenny Pickett is and what he is is a game manager. That's what he is. He's not he's not a backup quarterback. He's not that bad. He is not a good starting quarterback. He's not that good, but he is a game manager.

Steve: I actually think he's probably less than the game manager. And the reason I say that is because a game manager would have better completion rating than he does. His completion rating is horrible for a starting quarterback, no matter which way you look at it. A game manager wouldn't try and throw the ball down the field as much as he does. And the other thing that Kenny doesn't do is if you look at his pass chart, he never throws it across the middle. And I can't tell if that's because He's not supposed to or he's afraid to because he knows it'll cause an interception and he's told, never in your life throw another interception. So I think you're right in the sense that he is a game manager, but I think you're being too kind with those words because I don't even think he's that good.

Marc: I don't think it's on purpose though. I think it's, now I'm saying, I don't think he's not throwing down the middle on purpose on his part. I think what the offensive game plan is, is check down throws, bubble screens, and throw it to the receivers on the sidelines where either they catch it or nobody catches it to avoid turnovers.

Steve: Yeah, you absolutely could be right about that. I have, I have nothing that tells me that it's the offensive scheme or it's Kenny scheme, but when I watch him play, it's never like he's going through more than two progressions. He never, he rarely looks off his first one. And when he does, the second one is usually a running back or cam or Hayward, um, coming across or it's too late middle or he's running for his life. That's right. So, so I think, I think that's, that's a problem that the Steelers have to fix. Cause he's going to have to be better than that if they do make the playoffs, because he's going to have to throw for more than 180 yards on, you know, 19 completions. So to beat a playoff caliber team.

Chris: So Mike Lawrence chimes in, we'll talk about this. No question. The defense helps them win these games. However, our secondary looked pretty bad outside of the two interceptions and CD says modern day game manager, no low turnovers and can run when needed.

Marc: I think that I think that makes the point that he is a game manager.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I think he's agreeing. I think CD is agreeing with you. Yeah. So I don't know.

Chris: I, I do not think that the Steelers are a playoff caliber team. Mike Yannick Steelers offense next game, 27 yards, 58 yards rushing. They still win 21 to seven.

Steve: They would probably need two defensive touchdowns, but I wouldn't rule that out.

Chris: Mike Yo carries in the house playoffs playoffs. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the thing. So we got Cleveland coming in here, but I, I have a couple more questions. So let's, let's move on here. Is, is Canada off the hook now? is Matt Canada off the hook now that they actually play the guys they're supposed to play the guys they drafted high and the offensive line looks like it's blowing open holes.

Steve: I think as long as Canada stays on the sideline, people are going to be okay with him. Yeah. And I don't know why it makes no sense because makes a difference. I think it I think it makes him look more human for sure. Like he can actually interact with people because when he's in the when he's in the booth up there, he looks lost. Let's face it. He looks lost up there. And when he's on the when he's on the sidelines, at least he's, you know, talking to people and he looks like a real human. Otherwise, there's no human value to him when he's up in the box.

Chris: I love the whole no human value thing. We can unpack that, too. So D.G. says zero passes across the middle, no tight end down the seam. So this is what we're getting from back. That should help that. I don't know. Canada should not be off the hook. I agree. I shouldn't be. Yeah, I. And that's that's why you haven't heard a lot of talk about Canada the last couple of games. But it's his game plan hasn't changed. What's happened is you've got a monster in the middle of that line. Who's blown open holes. So I don't think Canada should be off the hook. I think it's more of an indictment of the, of the whole process.

Steve: You know, you should be off the hook. The guy who decided that Broderick Jones needs to be on the field as opposed on the sidelines, right? He's making all the difference because now that they can run the ball, it really should make the passing game a lot easier. Although they still don't seem to be able to pass the ball. And to me, that's their biggest problem on offense. Defensively, it's different. I love this from CD tag.

Chris: Prescott just threw another. Only only only use the losing teams against the Giants is And and and yo Gary says there's a hot take a be sad Gary sad for Warren We'll talk about that in a second. Go ahead Schwab. Okay.

Marc: No, I yeah, so now I have an interesting Question for you. So you're not asking the questions.

Chris: I'm asking the questions.

Marc: Yeah, but they're not very good So basically, I thought this was a this was kind of a funny comment But I think it's kind of worth talking about in terms of how we evaluate Tomlin. So Mike Greenberg on, you know, get up this morning said on Mike Tomlin, you can't coach a team better than this guy is coaching this team because they stink and they're six and three.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Marc: Now, do you do you agree with that or do you not agree with that?

Steve: Oh, I completely disagree with that. You knew that was coming. First of all, Mike Greenberg has no clue what Steeler football is all about. He just looks at the statistics and he likes Mike Tomlin. So he's always going to say Mike Tomlin should be coach of the year. In fact, I think even in that same monologue, he said the coach of the year award should be called Mike Tomlin and they should give it to somebody else because he always deserves it every year. Yet. I don't think he's ever won coach of the year. Not once. Yeah. So so first of all, the source is corrupt. Second of all, corrupt, corrupt.

Chris: You heard it first here.

Marc: Here's a dig for you on the sports porch. Mike, Mike Greenberg is corrupt.

Steve: And he has an agenda. Other than that, other than that, he's a great guy.

Chris: Agenda is a big word for a pirate.

Steve: So can I finish my thoughts? So therefore, I think that six and three record is is not necessarily because Tom is doing such a great job. It's because. And I'm going to I'm going to save that for later, because I really want to talk about the defense, because I think the defense is different than everybody thinks it is.

Chris: If Tomlin didn't have Boswell, he's winning seasons would never have happened. You know, well, you're right about boss being the kicker of the year. I was saying yesterday, Boswell is the best offensive weapon this team has. So yeah, my next question was, you know, is the defense going to be able to continue to bail out the offense? Um, and, and I'm going to say no, because it is, it is really hard. to have a, a game changing game saving play by your defense every single game. And now I don't think it is defenses make plays every game. But what I'm saying is, you know, the Patrick Peterson tipped interception in the end zone. Great play by Pat Pete. It was a great play, no doubt, but that's not going to happen every game.

Steve: Uh, it's happened quite a bit this year. Right.

Marc: And, and well, it happened. It happens when you play teams that aren't very good.

Steve: It happened against Baltimore. Yeah. I'm just saying like, guys, you have to listen to me on this. I know what I'm talking about. And here's where you're wrong. The, the defense has been good and they've gotten timely turnovers. Yes. But that's not the only heart of this defense. Okay. What, why these people can't figure out this defense is because they give up so many splash plays the 25, 35 yard plays. Right. And then offenses are like, Great, no problem.

Chris: 40 yard touchdown pitch and catch yesterday by love, right?

Steve: Like they're like this is going to be a piece of cake. And then what happens is the Steelers defense figures something out and every week it's kind of different. Like sometimes. Sometimes it's the tight end. Sometimes it's the wide receiver. Sometimes you got to stop the run. Whatever it is, they figure out what's going well against them and they stop it. And then the other team doesn't know what to do. And then what they do is they end up forcing it, that play again. And the Steelers have a play to counteract that play. And it usually ends in an interception. And here's the other thing. The Steelers defense They're eighth in the NFL in number of completions allowed. That's pretty low. That's pretty good. In the completion percentage, they're second in the NFL at 58.7. So that's not telling me they give up a lot. First of all, they don't give up a lot of completions. But the completions they give up are long because they're almost worse in receiving yards. In fact, they are worse in receiving yards at 12.7 yards per catch. Worse than the league. But it doesn't matter what they do between the 20 and the 20, it matters what happens in the red zone. And the Steelers, the red zone defense is number one in the NFL. They just don't let them get into the end zone. And then what happens is they get so close and these teams are not taking the field goals, they're pushing it and they're throwing interceptions in the end zone. And that's causing points. And what do the Steelers do? They go down the field, they kick the field goal. They're like, oh, well, that's plus six, really, if you think about it, it's almost a touchdown by kicking a field goal. And that sounds dumb, but that's exactly how they're winning these games. And then what happens is somehow at the end of the game, the defense figures it out, they get it to Kenny, and then Kenny just turns into, you know, basically a one drive man. And that's what he does. And he scores whether they need a field goal or a touchdown. He didn't need it really this week. But that's how they're beating teams. And that's what teams can't figure out. So if teams were smart and they would take the points whenever they got close, not force it. And they just scored points. And even if it was three, six, nine, and then they forced Kenny Pickett to do something across the middle, make them funnel them to the middle. And then Kenny can't do it. Teams would kill us. Well, I absolutely obliterate.

Marc: I don't know, though. I don't know. I don't know why you have confidence in that. I feel like that, believe it or not, like the Ben, the Ben don't break defense. Like, to be honest, I feel like the Eagles have a very similar defense and they win all the close.

Steve: They're actually they're actually worse against the past and the Steelers are.

Marc: Yeah, they're very similar. They let people go up and down the field. And then at the end of the game, They get a turnover or stop and they win the game. But to me, see that that worries me because I think I feel like it's the law of averages. It'll eventually it'll eventually catch up to you, you know, and maybe it's not going to catch up to the Steelers until. their first playoff game and they're playing.

Steve: I actually think it'll catch up to them now that they have more injuries. I'm more concerned about the injuries because now they have really no idea. First of all, they weren't good at stopping the run before. Now they have literally no linebackers to stop the run. And that means even worse things for the pass across the middle. Because if Minka is not back, and let's see he is back this week, They're still, they're still in big trouble when it comes to that short pass across the middle. They have no linebacks to be able to cover it.

Chris: Yeah. So I, I'm not, I'm not sure that I'm a believer yet, but this is, this is where I was going to, this is where I was going with this whole thing. Is this just the kind of Steelers football that we need to get used to now? Meaning that, you know, it's not fun to watch.

Steve: It's definitely not fun to watch. I agree with that.

Chris: Right. I agree. I mean, I'd rather it be more fun. But the bottom line is this. They're winning games now. They're not playing the best teams, but they did beat the Browns. They did beat the Ravens who, for a few weeks anyway, looked like they were unstoppable. Yes, those are always division games and they're tight. Now they have Cleveland coming up this week, right?

Steve: At Cleveland, at Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio.

Chris: So, you know, this is this is something where I'm looking at it and I'm saying, You know, you finally decided to play the guys that you drafted and put them in. I mean, they got Jones on the right side, but you know, he's on the field, he's in the line, he's on the field. Your running game has turned itself around now for the time being. Um, your defense, by the way, they need both running backs and they do need both running backs. I'm, I'm all over that. I agree. I agree. I still think Warren is overall the better running back, but when you open a hole for Harris, he hits the hole and then he tries to hurdle somebody every time.

Steve: I, that's, that's kind of, that's like the Deontay running backwards for me. It's like, come on, dude, you're a big enough dude. Just run somebody over.

Chris: Yeah. You're going to get, you're going to, yeah. You lose yardage sometimes when you hurtle. Hard to watch, but six and three is the record. And yeah, I mean the AFC North is, if you think about it, the AFC North is really old school football.

Steve: Well, and that's why it works because the other teams play that in our division. Well, except for the team that doesn't do it is Cincinnati, right? They definitely want to open it up more because their defense isn't as good. And that's why they're probably at the bottom of the division because they're just making more mistakes that way. And they're having to come from behind a lot, which they can. Of all the teams in the division, they're definitely capable of it. But I think Baltimore makes a lot of mistakes and believe it or not Cleveland makes a lot of mistakes They throw a lot of turnover. They throw a lot of interceptions Deshaun Watson, although he had a really good second half against Baltimore He's susceptible to that and that's the only way I think the Steelers can beat Cleveland with with all the injuries they have in the secondary is to somehow manage to stop the run if they can do that and they can force the ball to Deshaun Watson and Have him throw it. I think the Steelers can win that game. I

Chris: Okay. So here's my last question on, and by the way, I agree with CD.

Steve: The style is completely by design. That's exactly what Tomlin wants. Yeah. I mean, the reason he got it is true. The reason he got rid of the last offensive coordinator was because the last offensive coordinator, he let Ben throw for through 450 yards, two games in a row. And he, it was so much fun to watch. Right. Yeah. But they can't have that here. That's exactly why he got rid of him. because he's like, Oh, I'll just install Canada and a cloud of dust. And we'll just, you know, 250 yards, three, three, maybe 300 yards offense. That's it. No more. I, I don't want, I just want the offense out there for eight or nine minutes every, every quarter. And that's it. We'll let the defense, a well rested defense, take care of the rest. And it is backwards thinking by the way. I agree. Like if you look at the teams that are at the top, All the teams at the top, San Francisco, Miami, just go down the list. The Eagles, they all have super yards per game.

Chris: They're, they're all at the top of the yards per game. Well, they build around the offense and then the, and then the defense, you know, that's why I think the Steelers

Steve: Team is such an enigma for everybody else because they're the complete opposite of that. Even Baltimore, if you look like their their points per game is like top three in the NFL.

Chris: So the question is, and I don't think there's an answer for it, is let's say they can grind out victories. OK, so this is obviously we know this is Tomlin by design. This is what this is the kind of football he loves. And yes, the defense is opportunistic. It has some playmakers. You got a ground game now with an offensive line that seems to be gelling. This is classic Steelers Tomlin football. Awesome. Love it. Let's win at one. I don't love it, by the way. I know. At what point, at what point does the fact that Kenny Pickett is making no progress as a passer? Now, I don't want to hear this. 147 pass attempts without an interception. It's because every pass they dial up for him is a back shoulder or an out route. It's not over, you know, so show me, show me stats when he's throwing all over the field like that. And then you're, you're showing me a quarterback who knows how to play at what point is Kenny picket not being any better than what he is right now. going to come collapsing down on them. That's what I'm talking about.

Steve: That's easy. If they make the playoffs, they play a better team.

Chris: But seriously, I mean, but what I'm saying is it could be next week. You know, you just don't know that.

Steve: No. So I think it's always and I think Schwab will back me up on this. It's always different when you're playing in division because you know the team you're playing pretty well.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: But like, honestly, it could be like when they play at Seattle or even at Indianapolis, like those could be games they lose because Indianapolis at that point, you know, Pittman might might go off and they can't stop Taylor from running the ball. Right. And who cares if Indianapolis is that point is is four and 12. It won't matter because they won't be able to figure them out. and indeed won't care to play that smash mouth game. They'll just play with their talent, and that's how you beat the Steelers.

Chris: Okay, so we all had them beating the Packers last week, and this week… Ooh, yo, Kerry brought us bad stuff there. Let's see. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. OK, so here's the thing about the backward pass. OK, we've heard it. I'm sure you guys have heard it. We've also known as a lateral. I know we've heard it analyzed a billion times. Right. And look, here's the bottom line. First of all, every quarterback makes one bad throw a game. That was a that was a horrible throw to they didn't call it. So it doesn't exist. Okay. Yes. It looked like it was probably a backward pass. Yes. It looks like the refs missed that call. Yes. How did he manage throwing it so poorly? It didn't happen. They never called it.

Steve: So who cares? Yeah. And I think Jalen Warren fans care. Yeah, I think they do. I think there's probably six or seven memes about it.

Chris: I think they have a lot more to care about right now than than that particular play. But I understand what you're saying. Rogers back.

Steve: Yeah, right.

Marc: I have I have a very interesting stat from the week that I wanted to share with you guys, please, that I caught. So this is this is interesting. Now, everybody knows that, you know, you win the turnover battle, you're most likely going to win. Right. But since 2019, uh, there's been a long time that, yeah, there's been 77 games played when the Steelers have zero turnovers. They are 22 and one when they have one or more turnovers. So they could only have one. They are 25, 28 and one.

Chris: You mean when they turn the ball over?

Marc: When the Steelers turn the balls over the turnover battle. Oh, that's another minus plus minus minus.

Chris: OK. Yeah. Why don't you straighten this stuff out before you like spit this?

Steve: It's still good. No, it's still good. I like it, you know.

Marc: I know. Actually, you know what? The more I'm thinking about it now, it's not right. It was Steelers with zero turnovers. It wasn't plus my it was Steelers with zero turnovers, 22 and one. Yeah. Steelers with one or more turnovers, 25, 28 and one.

Chris: Right. So maybe next week you'll get your, you'll get your shit together.

Marc: But the point is, is that's, but now remember the one person has been there through all of that is Tom Tomlin, right? And so that has, I'm sure has a lot to do with why they run their offense the way they do.

Chris: It's amazing to me how you can screw that whole thing up and then still somehow make a good point. It was a good point from the beginning. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Aggressive this evening.

Marc: You seem to just try to, you know, make something more out of it than there was. And then I had to, you know, you caused me to jumble my brain. Yeah.

Chris: All right.

Steve: So we all, we actually, uh, no, that's a really interesting statistic though. And I think it actually does play into the psyche of Mike Tomlin. Like don't turn the ball over. Like we can't turn the ball over no matter what. Don't turn the ball over. If that means you're not comfortable, he's not saying don't throw it across the middle. He's saying if you're not comfortable throwing it across the middle, don't do it. There are two other targets on the sidelines every time.

Chris: What I actually think is really interesting is that, When Mark says, you know, remember who was here this whole time. It's Tomlin. So it's, it's kind of in, it may be part of his psyche. And that's why we're seeing like picket, you know, not thrown over the middle, all that kind of stuff. Keep the turnovers down, try to force a turnover on the other side. And for those of you who don't know in a past life, Mark was a psychologist. So I think instead of the grand Schwab beanie, I think you should just be Dr. Schwab.

Marc: Chris, I think that what you're having is some sort of like dissociative disorder or something, because you just repeated exactly what Steve said a minute ago.

Chris: Did I really?

Steve: Yeah, it was a brilliant.

Marc: You were preparing your assault on me and you missed the whole point that Steve had brought up.

Steve: Did you did you say he was a doctor? I agree that. Yeah, that you were not paying attention to me.

Marc: Oh, yes.

Chris: Okay, great. All right. So let's go. Let's go on here with in this particular game. I picked I'm picking the Steelers to win. Well, wait a minute. Yeah, I'm picking the Steelers to lose. Steve's picking them to win. Mark's picking them to lose. That's how we started the season off.

Steve: And I have to say that I'm not feeling as comfortable with my wind prediction, knowing the way the defense is set up this week. Right. But, uh, I'm, you know, got to still go with the go with, I think they're going to win.

Chris: Yeah. And DGs comment in here. Don't turn it over because we're mediocre at best and can't score enough to compensate and win.

Steve: Well, actually, if we want to get into the psyche of people, I think the psyche of Mike Tomlin is I got to have another winning record. Honestly, I'm with you. I don't I hate to say that out loud because that sounds so selfish, but I really do believe like that's really important to him.

Chris: And and I wish it wasn't but I could it not be I totally believe it is he and that's the way he Schemed the whole offense in in the entire Steeler the way the Steelers look and play now I and I I could not agree with you more I I think that no matter what he says and no matter how he even really maybe truly feels in his psyche it is not lost on him and that he has never had a losing season. And I'm sure because he has already won a Super Bowl, I am sure that he would like to go down in history. I don't I don't know this. Maybe Schwab or you can check this at some point, but I'm sure he would like to go down in history as the only NFL head coach to never have a losing season.

Steve: Well, that actually could work out well because if they win this year and they lose the playoff game and then he can retire. And I think that works out for everybody. We can get rid of Kenny Pickett. We can, we can bring in Kirk Cousins and then we go back to slinging the damn ball all the time. There you go. And then we go to four and whatever, four and four and 13. Okay.

Marc: So, you know what I think would be great? What I think would be great as a long-term projection is let's say like the Arizona Cardinals finished like four and 13. They decide they use their top pick, you know, on a quarterback and the Steelers get Kyler, Mary, I think Kyler, Mary could do some damage with this team.

Chris: Now I really think that they should bring back that Josh Dobbs.

Steve: I think he should be in a steel. That's not going to happen. I'm just kidding. He's going to resign with Minnesota after they win the super bowl.

Chris: All those Yenzers that I hear, they're like, you want Josh Dobbs. You got to bring Josh Dobbs back in that.

Steve: Dude, they didn't want, they didn't want him as the backup. They wanted Rudolph over him as the backup four years ago.

Chris: That's what's crazy. Josh Dobbs. Of course you're saying they're a playoff team. All right, we're going to get to our NFL picks. They are a playoff team. Last week. I continue to, I continue to fall further and further behind, which is, it really is a story of my life. Uh, as of this week in our NFL picks, Mark is now 19 and eight after going two and one last week, Steve, two and one is 1611. And Chris is a dismal 10 and 17. I went one and two again, our NFL. I'm not embarrassed. Nothing embarrasses me. You know that already.

Marc: All right. Not very football minded.

Chris: Uh, Bengals, uh, I'm not sure what's going on here. Oh, I know what's going on here. All right. Bengals at Ravens. Sorry. Very unprofessional. Bengals at Ravens is the Thursday night game. Um, Schwaber, what say you?

Marc: I'll go Ravens.

Steve: All right. I don't know.

Marc: Mark, you don't have, I have the magic lamp.

Steve: So you like the, you like the Ravens, huh? Yeah Definitely the Bengals. All right, Steve's going Bengals almost half the win By the way, this is a no-lose game for the Steelers whoever loses helps the Steelers So it doesn't really matter.

Chris: I'm going with Joe cool and the Bengals Alrighty Sunday night game Another bar and burner Vikings at the Broncos now The Broncos have kind of turned things around a little bit here. They are, they are playing tonight.

Marc: What's the record three and five or something?

Chris: I don't know, but Russell Wilson, his cube, his quarterback rating is one Oh one 16, uh, TDs to, uh, fifth to four interceptions. He's playing better. They beat the chiefs. Yeah, they're three and five Mark Josh and they played a night Josh Dobbs and the Vikings at Russell Wilson and the Broncos Schwaber.

Marc: I will take those horses.

Chris: Schwaber takes the Broncos.

Steve: There's no way Vikings are so red hot Broncos on a short week. There's absolutely no way I got the Vikings Sunday night game at home.

Marc: Play the odds.

Chris: All right.

Steve: I'm going with the Broncos. You're right about that though. Sunday night game at home. Primetime usually take the home team.

Chris: All right. In our pick them game. One of the best and most anticipated. This is a barn burner. Of the year. The home of the newest Kirk Cousins, Sam Howe, Giants at Commander Yikes.

Marc: The matchup of Poland Powell versus Danny DeVito. I'm going to go with Colin Powell and his commanders.

Steve: I like the commanders also.

Chris: All three of us like the commanders. All right, there you go.

Steve: The Giants are so horrible. Their offense is just pathetic.

Chris: It is. Well, yeah. And they got a guy named DeVito playing quarterback.

Steve: The Giants defense, by the way, doesn't give up a lot of points. So I don't think it's going to be a low scoring.

Chris: Well, they beat the commanders last time around. So this is going to be a split. That's why I'm picking them. And Sam, how does have an arm? He can throw the ball. So we'll see.

Steve: We'll see what throws a lot of interceptions to do well with the stillers.

Chris: Let us know what you think.

Marc: 4128057236 is all yards losing quarterback.

Chris: Now what we're going to do is we're going to move to something close to near and dear to Steve's heart. Hockey. Jesus is in the house. Hockey. Jesus preaches on the podcast and the iHeartRadio app Apple podcast. modifier anywhere you get your friggin podcasts and Hey, man, bless it army now preach Preach with hockey Jesus. Give us a call.

Steve: How you feeling about the Penguins at West Coast trip turn things around for them Well, I can tell you after last week the sleep factor was low. I Very very low.

Chris: Yeah, but you were man dedication.

Steve: Let me tell you dedicate I tell you I can't remember the last time I stayed up for both West Coast games like literally the whole game I know and I was absolutely Exhausted but it really did help that they won those games. Yeah. Well, it made it worth staying up yeah, because it would been like You get to the point, and I don't know if you've ever done this, where you're watching something late at night, and you're like, at some point, you're like, I have to, either I'm in or I'm out on this, right? And for me, it's always after the first period. Like, okay, the first period, you can usually power through the first period. And then when you get to the intermission, you're like, okay, what can I do to keep myself awake during this first intermission? And then I think there was like a football game on, on Thursday night. Right. Right. And then Tuesday night I was watching, maybe I was watching that sly, uh, uh, uh, we were talking about that. Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, and it just got me, it got me through somehow. And like, once I got to the second period, like you're all in, because you get to the third pair, you have to stay up to see how it ends.

Chris: You can't not, right. You can't not do that. My buddy, my buddy Jeff from York PA is back in the house. Hey Jeff, what's up? Good stuff. Yeah.

Steve: Uh, so yeah, so they're back off of the West coast wing. Um, that was the first time they won on the West coast in like 20 years or something like that. They swept the West coast teams.

Chris: Um, you mean the first time they swept, they swept the West coast teams.

Steve: Right. Um, and honestly that San Jose team horrible, that Anaheim team was the team they should have beat the first time. when they were at home and they had that five on three and they blew it.

Chris: Yeah. Well, just, just for reference, uh, point sake here, San Jose did finally win a game.

Steve: Yeah, they actually, um, flyers and, but they also beat, um, Edmonton Oilers and we can talk about the Oilers. They're a absolute mess. They're, they're, they're actually as bad as San Jose and everybody was picking them at the beginning to like make it to the Stanley Cup finals and they've already fired their coach.

Marc: Yeah. Flyers are talking about maybe ripping them off and giving them Carter Hart.

Steve: Well, they need something because they're a mess right now and I don't know why they would want to give them Carter Hart unless they can get dry sidle. They can get dry sidle then.

Marc: It would only be if it's a, if it's a police.

Steve: Yeah, but other than dry sidle and you're not getting the real hockey Jesus up there.

Marc: Connor McJeeves.

Chris: I just want to remind everybody that after every Penguins game, You can grab hockey Jesus preaching on the sports porch podcast anywhere you get your podcast and usually drops it right after the game. So going into the next, some of our, some of our most listened to shows. So hockey Jesus on the sports porch podcast. So preach now preach.

Steve: I'm sorry. So the West coast went well for the, for the pens. They came back. And they ended up blanking Buffalo. And I actually thought Buffalo was going to be a better team than they are. They're actually pretty horrible.

Chris: And Pat on track is watching the Monday night game now. But so he's he's not here for you to bang on now.

Steve: That's OK. But yeah, I would tell him that, you know, other than the Casparitis goal against Buffalo many, many years ago, I think that ripped his heart out for good. And I don't think he watches hockey anymore.

Chris: I didn't. Actually, after our trip down to the Keys, I'm pretty convinced that Pat no longer has a heart.

Steve: That's possible also. But this week, actually, they've got some really interesting games. They're at Columbus tomorrow night, and then Thursday they play the Devils at home. It's their only home game. And then at Carolina on the 18th, which I think is a Sunday. No, it's a Saturday. Oh, that's good. That's good. I'll be able to see that game then. Here's the deal. The penguins now have figured out how to use their weapons, which is really important. The thing that they still haven't figured out is their power play. Um, I think the only one really scoring on the power play right now is Carlson and that's okay for now, but they still got to figure out how to get Gino and Sid. Um, and I think Latang's working out okay on the second power play. That's what they're doing now. They split up Latang and, and Carlson on the power play. And I think they still need to figure out how to make that click. It looks like they've got good passing, but they don't, nobody wants to shoot the damn puck. And that's the problem. So they're gonna have to put somebody up there. The person I think that went up there that I think will make the biggest difference is Riley Smith. By the way… You've been talking about him all season. Here's why. Because when he scores, the Penguins are 4-0. So when he scores they they win and you know when when Crosby scores, they're four and two when Malkin scores They're four and three so it's kind of a mixed bag when it comes to those guys scoring But when when Riley Smith scores, it's like it's like a home run. It's like oh, well, we're gonna win now the funny thing is is actually Riley Smith wasn't a practice today because he went to the White House with Guess Vegas Golden Knights you know, get invited to the, so he was able to get the day off to go see his buddies and go see whoever's president now at the White House.

Chris: Did he even realize there was a hockey team there?

Steve: I don't think the president was actually there.

Chris: Oh, then why go to the White House?

Steve: Well, because you get to hang out in the White House. How cool would that be? I don't know. Something about hanging out. I mean, I hear they have a lot of good white powder in closets.

Chris: All I know is you got to, I heard they have a lot of good white and alarm bells went off.

Steve: I had no idea. Well, it is called the White House for a reason. Yeah. Cause it's white. Well, there you go. So anyway, so the penguins are, are, are back there. They're back, you know, basically they're out of the, out of the basement, which is most important. They kind of jumped over Buffalo. They're kind of right there with Philly and actually Columbus is right there to actually think of the games that I, I don't think they're going to beat New Jersey. Let's just face it. I think New Jersey is really kind of the cream of the crop and they're still going to want to try and skate with New Jersey and they can't. The only caveat I'll throw out there is if Jack Hughes doesn't play, he's been injured and they said he's traveling with the team to Pittsburgh, so we'll see if he plays on Thursday. If he doesn't play, they might be able to steal a point from them. By the way, the Penguins have yet to play, to lose an overtime game. They did finally play in an overtime game in that LA Kings game. But they ended up getting goals. Actually, they got two goals from Rust in that game. Nobody probably saw it, but basically, Rust had a goal that got called back because somebody was offside. And then the very next time they went out there, Rust said, no, I'm going to score anyways, and he did. So that was actually, I think, the first time ever I saw two goals scored by the same person, basically on back-to-back runs in overtime. which was pretty exciting because by that time it was like 1230 in the morning. And I'm like, just please end this. Like I didn't want it. I didn't want it to go to overtime. But I know when LA tied the game, I'm like, oh, this game's going overtime. And honestly, I don't mind penguins going in overtime with West Coast teams because that loser point really means nothing when you're playing against the West Coast team. But when you're battling for a playoff spot, you give up that loser point like I'll just rally behind like you can't give up that point. It just really is important. And that's why I still think the rules need to change. I hate that loser point so bad. I think it's I think it's dumb for the game. It's hard for teams that are kind of in the Midland to like move up because you're always getting a loser point. So even though you're losing, you're still kind of keeping pace with other teams, right? You're not getting two points.

Marc: Would you stick with the shootout?

Steve: Um, I, I did, I did something at the end of last season where I said what to do and no, what I would do is I would, I wouldn't, I would just play, I would play it to the end and then whoever won, got two points and whoever lost, got zero points. Really want to come down to it.

Chris: Look at this comment by DG. You guys remember this few days ago, I saw a 27 year anniversary video of a hexed all pot fin goalie fight. It was so hilarious and unusual that everyone else stopped fighting to watch.

Steve: Do you remember that? I do remember that. Yeah, it was ridiculous. Then that's the way Hextol plagues with a lot of passion.

Chris: Hextol is just ridiculous. Too bad he didn't GM like that.

Steve: Yeah, yeah. But, hey, speaking of going back in time, the Pittsburgh Penguins are retiring. Jaromir Jagr's jersey. Yes, they are. February 18th. If you wanted to get a ticket for it, it's too late. They're all gone now. Yeah. And they all went for like, Actually, you can still get them, but like tickets for the upper bowl, just to put this into perspective, are usually around 65, $75 a seat. They were going for 200, but they were going so fast. Now they're going for 250. Soon they'll be 300. Did you get one?

Marc: I didn't get one. Has he stopped playing finally?

Steve: So technically he still plays for his team in, you know, in, in, in Czechoslovakia, which is not Czechoslovakia anymore. Um, but, uh, so it's kind of controversial if you think about it from that standpoint, that they're retiring a guy who still could play Jersey. But the reality is the guy's never going to play in the NHL. He's retired from the NHL, but he, because he hasn't declared it. And by the way, I don't think he will. The NHL has this vendetta against people who play in Europe and basically in the United States. So they'll just be like, well, by the rules, we can't put him in the Hockey Hall of Fame, even though he would clearly be a first ballot Hall of Fame. Right. Right. Unanimously at that. But, you know, he had a really good video about it, you know, coming back to Pittsburgh. And it was it was really good it'll be great for the for the for the city yeah it's a sunday night game actually play the kings that night but. Wow that was. You should have seen what happened last. I don't even know what to say after that.

Marc: I'm just throwing a little love out to the Penguins.

Steve: Well, I mean, you like Yogurt. You like Yogurt. I mean, he plays for the Flyers.

Marc: He did have a nice season with the Flyers.

Steve: He played for 11 teams. I bet you can't name all 11.

Marc: I bet I can't either.

Steve: I know I can. I can probably name six or seven, but I bet I couldn't name them all.

Chris: I'm not sure I can name 11 hockey teams. Actually, I can't.

Steve: You could. You could if you tried really hard.

Marc: I don't think I don't think you could.

Chris: Let's see, flyers. Somebody keep counting. I got you. Flyers, penguins, devils, kings, sharks, kraken, rangers, islanders, hurricanes, panthers, stars.

Steve: You made it. See? See, he made it. And that was pretty easy. How about that? He didn't even have to struggle so much. Although he didn't say the cities, but hey, we'll give it to him. But I know this. Hershey bears, Hershey bears.

Marc: Which team plays in Hartford? The Whalers. Is there a Hartford team?

Chris: Not anymore. Not anymore.

Marc: So bad. You try to play it off like you don't know. You know what's going on.

Chris: Anaheim, Mighty Ducks.

Steve: They were the mighty ducks.

Chris: It's kind of like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Now they're the Tampa Bay Rays.

Steve: Right. Everybody changes their name. It's all about marketing these days. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: It's all about ball bearings these days. All right, hockey Jesus, when are we going to hear you? Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Steve: Tuesday night? No, not really. I mean, you know, there's some stats about the first lines and second line scoring, but the reality is, is the fourth line's only scored once and we need to get a little bit more than one goal and 13 games from, from, from that line. Yeah. So I don't think they're, nah, they might bust out against Columbus maybe. Um, but they've got to, they've got some really tough games coming up the rest of the, the rest of the, uh, the month. And then we're going to hit the, uh, the 20 game mark that's right around Thanksgiving. And that's kind of the mark where everybody who's in hockey says, well, if you're not in the playoff spot by the time Thanksgiving comes around, you're never making the playoffs, which is statistically correct, but there are always some bubble teams with that. So. We'll see. By the way, the teams that are really surprising people this year. One, for their futility is definitely the Oilers, which we talked about. And two, Boston, the Boston Bruins are still damn good. And I don't even know how they did that. Yeah, I saw it. It's amazing to me that they're still good. I mean, they they they lost they lost Bergevin and then they lost their their secondary guy, Crachy. They both basically retired and they haven't missed a beat.

Marc: And it's really I think Char is gone. He's running marathons, though.

Steve: Char has been gone for a little while now. Has he? Two years? Two years, yeah. They lost him last year. OK. But it's crazy. I mean, it's absolutely crazy that they can lose that much talent and just not even miss a beat. They did get a new coach, and that probably is helping right now. But that's a big surprise for me. I thought I'd see a big fall off with Boston, but it's early. They're up there for sure. It's early. Jeff wants to see a Canadian team win the Cup.

Chris: Jeff's thinking that the Montreal Expos are a hockey team.

Steve: Well, the Expos don't play hockey, even Christmas.

Chris: How long… I know, I'm just kidding.

Marc: It's an American game now.

Chris: How long has it been since… Who was the last team? The Canadiens? I believe it was Montreal in 93.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah, it's been a long time, long time. But hey, everybody still thinks Toronto is going to win it this year. So, hey, why not? Yeah.

Marc: Well, trust me, my entire head office from work is based in Toronto and they never think that Toronto is going to win.

Steve: No, no. All the experts in Canada think that they're going to win it.

Marc: They all think like, how are they going to screw it up again? And they probably will find a way because they do actually have a good, really good team.

Steve: Yeah. There's definitely a top top two or three in the East for sure.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: All right, boys. Well, one last thing here. I just want everybody to know that I've been watching a documentary. It's shocking. It's called the Penfield poltergeist. By the way, I watched episode one of the Penfield poltergeist. I did scary in it. It sucks. Nah, come on, man. Come on, it doesn't suck, it's good, you didn't like it.

Marc: At least it's not a UFO, so at least you're going with the supernatural now.

Steve: It is pretty much UFO.

Marc: Is it UFO or supernatural?

Chris: No, it's supernatural. What's the difference? You guys are a pain in my ass.

Marc: Have you ever seen a ghost, Chris?

Chris: I see a ghost every time I look in the mirror. Every time I look in the mirror. Alright guys, thank you for being here. This has been the Sports Sports Podcast in Pittsburgh. You can find us all over the world on Facebook, Live, YouTube, X, LinkedIn. And of course, I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show. Right after the show. Podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcast. I'm turning Mark off. and you can always catch us at theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com. Alright boys, we will see you next week. And we're out.