The Steelers Are Limping into the Playoffs

Steve: It's what you make me do, I'll tell you.

Chris: Blah, blah, blah.

Steve: Blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_03: Oh.

Chris: Oh. Yes it is, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, everybody around the world. It is time for the Sports Porch, the black and gold edition. And if you're watching us live, you're watching us all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X. and Instagram. And yes, we are a podcast. So I dropped the show right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. I am here in the studio across from me is the Grand Schwabini. To my left is Hockey Jesus with Monday Night Football queuing up behind him on the television. And I'm also going to drop this comment right here because We have an internet radio station. It's called Radio PGH. You can find it at radiopgh.com. And you can also listen to us. If you can't watch, listen to our live stream right now. I dropped it in the comments on Radio PGH. So welcome to the show. What are we going to do tonight? Yeah, well, of course, we're going to talk about the Steelers. Mike Tomlin had a press conference today. Did you guys hear any of that?

Steve: Oh, yeah. It was the same as the last 16, platitudes on platitudes.

Chris: Here is the line, and then we'll get to the meat of this, because this is kind of the line here, and OC is in the house on Instagram. Thanks for being here, OC. The line that I got from this, that I took away from this is, we didn't extract enough meat from the bone. That's exactly the platitude he wants you to hear. There are a lot of Mike Tomlin press conferences that I actually come away from hungry.

Marc: You do. I mean, if you're going at the bone, you do want to get the meat off the bone. That's true. I agree.

Steve: When you don't get enough, then, you know, look at what you left. You left the mess. Everybody knows what he's talking about when he says it.

Chris: Yeah, they do.

Steve: I wonder what picture Keira is going to use on that shirt. Is it like a turkey leg? And then there's like meat left on it. Is that what she'd use?

Chris: You mean Kia Tomlin?

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: I don't know, but this is good. This is starting to go.

Steve: I think she'd use a turkey leg.

Chris: This is starting to go in the wrong direction. Starting to go off the rails already.

Steve: I do want to say… You brought up Tomlin Press Conference. I did, I did. That in itself is going off the rails.

Chris: Look, it was unplanned and we know how unplanned things go around here because everything is unplanned. So let's talk about what we're going to talk about. How about that? Kansas City, Christmas Day, big disappointment, little George Pickens controversy. When is there not George Pickens controversy? What's going to happen this week if the Steelers beat Cincinnati or lose to Cincinnati? Is George Pickens the answer? That's a big debate. Hockey Jesus can't wait for that. We're going to do our NFL predictions as we always do. There is a tight race here. There's not a tight race for No. 1, but there is a tight race for No. 2 and No.

null: 3.

Chris: We'll get to that. Then we're going to do a little what we're watching. We do not have a Trader Joe's segment this week, just because I've been off. And Rota joins us, the last show of the year, an early welcome to 2025. Keep it going. Thank you, Rhoda. Thank you, Rhoda. Guys, listen, this is our sixth year of doing this. It's been nothing short of fun. Time flies. Frustrating at the same time.

Steve: fun, frustrating, fantastic.

Chris: Yeah, but I can't, I can't wait till next year. Next year is going to be our best year ever, but we're going to make sure this is going to be the best show of 2024 hands down. No doubt about it. Hockey Jesus is already drinking. Um, yes I am.

Steve: Just a little bit of cider. Nothing, nothing crazy out there.

Chris: Hell is that?

Steve: It's a French cider.

Chris: Oh, French cider. Where do you get that? France. I didn't know the French were famous. I didn't know the French were Pittsburgh.

Steve: Uh, you don't, you get it from Cleveland. You import it in.

Chris: Oh, from Cleveland. So this is, uh, from France via Cleveland. Yeah. It's a Cleveland brew from France. Able French cider. Yeah. Really? It's true. Yeah.

Steve: Look right here. Made in France. Right there.

Chris: I did not.

Steve: I did not know the French were famous for their side of France imported by CNI brands.

Chris: I got myself a Lipton diet. I see. I know. And I have, of course, no Trader Joe's segment, but I do have a Trader Joe's sparkling. Yeah. So it looks like I'm the normal dude here with a bunch of hoity toity.

Steve: I'm on vacation. I drink what I want.

Chris: I don't know that Steve's a hoity toity, but you know, whatever I try. Yes. And you've been okay.

Steve: I did have some good pierogies though the last few days. Yeah, I bet you did.

Chris: All right. Jeff Paulus is in the house. What's up Jeff? Where's your tan CK? Jeff, you were with me the last time I ever got a sunburn and we don't have to go over that story now, but I know God damn well you remember it. Yeah.

Marc: You're a little fair skinned.

Chris: Yeah. I wear a, I am the, I am the idiot with a shirt, hat, sunglasses, and slathered with suntan lotion.

Steve: Hey, you don't have to worry about those things growing off of your body that way.

Chris: Right. What things are you talking about?

Steve: The things you got to get plucked off because they grow really funny.

Chris: What? What are you talking about?

Steve: Don't you ever get those sunspots and you know, you see the dermatologist and they say, uh, that shouldn't be there.

Chris: You know what? Those are the pierogies that are actually coming out in your DNA. So Steve, we just found out Steve, uh, Mike Lawrence, congratulations on your six years. Thanks. Thanks for being here for a lot of it. Mike Jeff says he remembers, look, let's dive right into this. We're going to go, uh, immediately to the well, not immediately. Uh, and remember follow the sports porch on YouTube at the sports porch podcast. So Christmas day, Kansas city. Rolls over the Steelers. George Pickens is back. Okay, I'm going to intro it like this. I'm going to tease it like this. Wasn't he supposed to be the answer? Now, I know they're playing Kansas City. Wasn't he supposed to be the answer? Are we going to do good, bad, ugly first? We're going to do that. That's what I'm saying. Going into this, I just want you to keep that in mind. Good, bad, and ugly. I want to hear your good first, Grant Schwabini.

Marc: Was there any, uh, Jalen Warren ran at a nice clip. Thought he should have had more carries. Right. Okay. 11 for 71 yards. Yeah. Pretty good.

Chris: Yep. All right. That's it for your good. All right. My good was that was, I would say that was my good, but they didn't run them enough. They didn't I actually I honestly I did not see very much good in this game at all I I can't even go to good, okay? Hj any good.

Steve: Well, I mean for all of you naysayers out there about getting the ball to Friar muth They did hit Friar muth for six balls. That's true Yes, they did do that So if you're into that sort of thing and you think Friar muth needs to be the second wide receiver He was this game, but it really didn't help anything. So now Was it good? I guess it's good if you're a Friar Mooth fan. But I would say the good overall would be just the fact that the Steelers got to play a game on Christmas Day at home in front of the fans. I think a lot of people that I talked to who went to the game said the atmosphere was still really kind of cool being down at the stadium on Christmas Day. But that's all I got for you. It has nothing much to do with what happened.

Marc: I do have a question since you mentioned the crowd. If it's the fourth quarter and you're like losing by 19 points, should you not play Renegade?

Steve: Yeah, I, you know what? Renegade is so, so weird when they decide to play it. Right. You know, they try and save it for the fourth quarter, but I always think like there are some times in like even early in the third quarter where you need to play it. Like, I don't think you ever should play it in the first half. Right. But it was too late. I think, I think when you're playing it, like after you get the ball back and you're down by two scores and there's like six minutes left, You're just playing it out of nostalgia.

Chris: I find it. I find it actually pretty sad that we're sitting here talking about when is the right time to play a certain song at the Steelers.

Steve: It's a big part of the game.

Chris: If you ever go to a game. I know I've been to games. I didn't mean to bring you down. I've been to games. The last thing I wanted to do was bring you down. I don't know. So I'm going to let I'm going to let Jeff Paulus start us off with the bad just because he says his bad is going is is the bring him back. O.C. is starting to remind me of Canada play calling awful at times. I'm going to assume that what you really mean by that is just that the play calling is awful because it doesn't look like Canada's play calling. But I agree that that he has not been on his game. So Schwaber, what's your bad?

Marc: I'm gonna put the bad on the offensive line They had they gave up five sacks. Yeah, Russell Wilson was under pressure You know throughout the game right and that did not help the offense, right? Okay.

Steve: Yeah, that's a good one I like that one and I second that but I'm gonna have to go with the defense this is the third game in a row where they've given up more than 30 points and it's just ridiculous the the inability for them to get to the quarterback and to have a scheme that allows them to slow down. I'm not saying you have to stop Mahomes, but you gotta slow the guy down. They did the opposite of what I wanted them to do, which was they stopped the run, so they put the ball in Mahomes' hands. And that's just a recipe for disaster.

Chris: Yeah, I agree. I think the bad was the defense not taking advantage of potential turnovers, the ball not falling their way. Some of that's luck. The other part of that is that they played right into the hands. This is to your point, H.J. They played right into the hands of the Andy Reid offense. Patrick Mahomes understands that, and Andy Reid understands that when you try to get pressure on the quarterback, the best way to do that is dink it, dunk it down the field. And everybody this year who talks about the Chiefs talks about how hard it is to watch them. Because it's boring. It's not the Tyreek Hill years. It's not Travis Kelsey peak years. So you're getting these big chunk plays and Mahomes just lofting that ball downfield. He's still making those pretty incredible throws where he's off balance and everything. But look, Andy Reid is classic, man. It's all about, I know how to win football games. And even if it's boring, the idea is that you score more points and you go to the playoffs. And every team seems to play right into their hands. And it's like and every show I watch, get pressure on my homes, pressure on my homes. Look, they have perfected how to manage that pressure. And that, you know, that that was my bad was was the defense. So. Uh, anyone have having the time of possession on offense for all three games? Defense might be out there too much. We, we've talked about, we talked about that all three games in Philadelphia, control the ball, keep it out of hurts and Saquon Barkley's hands in, uh, what was, what was after the Philly, the Baltimore game. You got to hold on to the ball. You got to have a running game. Same thing in Kansas city. All of it. Absolutely. Uh, Schwaber, what is your ugly?

Marc: My ugly would be the defense, but I would say specifically the defense of philosophy. Because, you know, I heard Tomlin speak, you know, in press conferences afterwards and he said, we didn't get the splash of the potential splash plays. So, you know, like there was the one that could've been intercepted, the guy dropped it, right? Two fumbles didn't recover them. I think the whole problem with the splash play defense is that your luck runs out at some point. it's great to get the splash plays, but you need to have just more of a solid defense, you know, just better coverage, better tackling, you know, things like that, that's what equates to having a really good defense. And then the splashes are like the bonuses on top of it. But it was almost like when Tomlin was talking, it was almost like he was saying like, hey, I mean, we got our splashes, we just didn't fully splash. You know what I mean? Right. Which you can't depend on. We belly flopped. Yeah. You can't depend on that. So to me, I just think it's, I'd like to see their philosophy change a little bit. Um, but that's obviously a huge conversation.

Chris: Yeah. Bigger than a huge conversation. HJ, what was your ugly?

Steve: No, the ugly is their inability to get on to those turnovers when they happened. I mean, the fumbles were there. The interceptions were there. They just didn't make the plays. And I think that's what Tomlin saying when the splash was there. They just didn't splash into the splash, you know, to use a Tomlin ism. Right.

Chris: And they didn't extract the meat off the bone that was available.

Steve: And that's, that's all he's saying. He's saying like, finish the play, get the ball like that on the, on the kickoff or the punt or whatever it was. The fact that it went off of the guy's back and then went backwards was like confounding to me. Like how the hell can that happen? So that the Steelers would, if it would have just went forward and not off of that guy's back, would've went right into that guy's hands and he would've gotten it. I think that's, to use a hockey euphemism, that's puck luck. In this case, it's ball luck. And good teams get to the damn ball first. And they're just not playing well. So I think that's the problem with the splash plays. They're getting there. They're getting the ball to go down. They're just not For whatever reason, finishing the play, and when this team relies, they absolutely need these turnovers, and they don't get it. It's a recipe for disaster, especially when the offensive line, your point before, Mark, is not able to keep Russell Wilson safe, and he's running for his life on third down. The other thing that I thought was really ugly was, Man, when Russell Wilson gets into trouble, he does not know how to escape it. He runs backwards sometimes and sometimes he'll just run right into the guy who's going to tackle him. I wish he would sometimes just throw the frigging ball away. You know, he doesn't do that enough. And I get it. He thinks he's a veteran guy and he can make the play. Just throw it away next time.

Chris: I think he's done a fair amount of that, but he seems to be regressing a little bit right now because he's trying to force things. Mike Lawrence says, my ugly, we're down 13 to 10 at halftime, and then our secondary couldn't stop anything. Tackling was poor too.

Steve: Fundamentals were bent on defense.

Chris: Now, my ugly is two-pronged because Since this is the last show of 2024, I feel like there is some gaslighting that is needed and it's fun.

Steve: Am I going to have to get another drink?

Chris: Only you can decide that, but I'm guessing probably.

Steve: The answer is yes.

Chris: So I'm going to go with a two pronged ugly only because I, I just, I, I have to, I think for me, there were two things that are really ugly about this game. One, the offensive line, what the hell is happening? I mean, seriously, I know against the Eagles, you played against the number one defense and you know, they, You know, they're they're off the ball. They're monsters. Okay, I can kind of give you not, you know, not a pass, but I can understand why you have difficulty there. You have a lot of young players, but then you move on to the Ravens who you know, and then you move on to Kansas City who also has a good defense.

Steve: Yeah, but Chris Jones wasn't even Chris Jones wasn't playing Karloff.

Chris: This is a pretty good player. Yeah, I agree with you there, but but What is going on with the offensive line? There's a lot of miscommunication going on. There's a lot of miss blocks. There's a lot of issues there. They got to reign that in.

Steve: Well, I've heard just to answer your question since you asked it.

Chris: Thank you.

Steve: It has to do with the fact that you've got a couple of rookies. They haven't played at this level many games and they're starting to hit a wall.

Marc: Maybe. That's part of it. Although, you know what? Actually, I think that's kind of the, I think it's the opposite. I think that the rookie center and Mason McCormick overall have played well. Yes. I think the problem are the tackles. I think it's, first of all, Broderick Jones is playing the wrong position, which at this point, I almost feel like they've ruined him at this point. And Dan Moore is just, you know, he's an average left tackle.

Chris: He's a backup is what he is.

Marc: I mean, he's average. I mean, but the bottom line is. But the good teams don't have average left tackles.

Chris: That's right.

Marc: That's true.

Steve: They know how to protect. Right. Right.

Chris: So that was my one ugly. OK. But now is where you might want to crack that second slider.

Steve: I'm not. I'm going to have to get some vodka for this.

Chris: Did you bring it? Oh my God. He did. He got it. He got it. Happy New Year, folks. All right. I'm going to put this up here now because we're going to move on to the sensei game later. Excellent. What is that? New Amsterdam. Did you steal that from an airplane? That's none of your business. Please tell me you don't go out and actually buy tiny little bottles of booze. You do, you do. This is crazy. I guess it is none of my business. I'm just getting ready for your stupidity. I know, I know. It's always stupidity. I don't, I don't get it. It's, it's, you know, is, is George Pickens the answer or the problem? Okay. I'm telling you guys, uh, and, and we were texting during the game. Actually, no, we were texting during the Cincinnati game, right? And they were playing who the Broncos, right? Yep. Who, by the way, uh, that game, I did not, um, OC on Instagram, H J with the airplane bottle. Nice.

Steve: Um, that's for all you people out there flying. Don't get on a seven 37, 800 max.

Chris: Yeah. Really?

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: They're bad. Are they bad? They're bad. That's for another discussion. Have you been on them and they're bad or you just know, because all the press just look it up. Okay.

Steve: I'm not going to cause 60 minutes special on it.

Chris: I don't want to watch it. No, you don't want to get on. So we were watching the Cincinnati game and Mark texts that we have, you know, of course the three of us have a text string going together and we like to gaslight each other and Mark texts, I would, I would rather have T Higgins than George Pickens any day. you know, blah, blah, blah. And I started thinking about it now.

Marc: Well, the only reason why I said that was because there was talk before the season. I know, I know. If they could sign T Higgins, right. You know, should they go all out for it? And they should have.

Steve: I think, I think they should go after Jamar Chase.

Chris: Okay. So, so let's, let's table that for now. That's probably unattainable. You guys, you guys, yeah. Well, you guys know how I feel about George Pickens. If you watch the show, if you listen to the show, I give him the proper credit for having skills. not that's not debatable he has skills absolutely but he is a total asshole and I thought that this was the answer I thought George Pickens coming back would open up the passing game I thought that was the reason the last two games they had trouble Russ didn't have his go-to guy mm-hmm That's not the case. That's not what I saw. I saw the old George Pickens, who didn't get what he wanted, who threw a fit at the end of the game, who ran over for some really freaky TV time with Patrick Mahomes and Jason Kelsey just to get his face in the spotlight. I'm telling you right now, I don't care if the Steelers go on to win the Super Bowl and George Pickens wins the MVP. He is not the answer as receiver on this team. It was a mistake. Now we know why other teams passed on him. There was chatter about his maturity level before the draft, and Tomlin loves a project, so he took George Pickens. I'm sorry, Steelers fans. I'm sorry. I am not on board with this guy. I think he's a hamstring issue in more ways than one, and I definitely think that he's a problem and yeah he may look he may come out against cincinnati we'll talk about that game in a minute he may come out against cincinnati and he may catch five balls for 120 yards two scores and they win the game great i'm not saying he sucks i'm saying he's not a team player I would take T Higgins all day long over this guy because that guy has a guy in Jamar Chase on the other side of him. And I know Jamar Chase draws a lot of attention, but T Higgins is a baller and he's a professional. That's my take. Are you with me on that Schwaber? I mean, or is there anything different that anything I missed before we let hockey Jesus tell me what an idiot I am?

Marc: Well, I mean, what I would say is this, what I would say is, is that, George Pickens is not enough of an answer against the Eagles and the Ravens and the Chiefs. Now, against lesser competition, he is an answer. You know, he's gonna get open, he's gonna make big plays. And, you know, if he was healthy throughout the stretch, he might have made big plays in those games, too. I mean, look, here's the thing. The thing about pickings, I don't personally like it when players are like these big babies and everything's about them and they seem to distract attention from what should be more important, which is just basically winning football games. So I don't really like those kinds of players. I mean, I would be much happier to see another top receiver on the Steelers instead of George Pickens. But then at the same time, if you don't have George Pickens, then you also need two instead of one. So the other thing is, if you ask me, I mean, I think that there is something to having mainly good guys on the team. You can kind of put up with a problem here or there, but it seems like he's always a problem. That's that's the problem. So like to me, you know, look. A lot of teams would take pickings. You could probably get a second round pick for him. Oh, yeah. Easy. Easy. And I would trade him and sign a top wide out, you know, in the offseason and, you know, maybe go into next year with whoever it is, a T Higgins or whoever the best one is available. And, you know, also then maybe even draft one in the first round. And now you've got your two receivers. I mean, that's just my opinion on it. I mean, it's a shame to kind of give up on that kind of talent. At the same time, it's just, to me, he's just an irritant. Yeah, he's showing us who he really is.

Chris: All right, H.J., tell me, go ahead, lay it on me.

Steve: Okay, so first let's talk about the television time with Kelsey Mahomes. I think he was just trying to get a piece of that cake, to be honest with you. But, you know, that's just me. Second, secondly, I don't think your problem is with George Pickens. I think your problem is with the Steelers philosophy when it comes to wide receivers in the offense. Yeah, maybe. And hear me out. All the good teams have two really good wide receivers, right? Look at the Eagles. Yeah. Devonta Smith, great receiver. They could have done great things just with him. But what did they do? They went out and got an A.J. Brown. Minnesota Vikings. Nobody's talking about the Vikings. We're going to talk about everybody knows Jefferson is one of the top notch talents in the league, right? And what do they do? They go out and draft the Jordan Addison. Yep. You know, a guy that maybe he's a little bit of a project, but it's got, but has good, he's really good, but got good talent. And we know cause he played for Pitt. And then lastly, what's the third team I'm thinking of? I'm thinking of the Bengals, where they had Tee Higgins, and the very next year they draft Jamar Chase. I mean, they went out two years in a row and said, we're going to put capital into this position. Now, and not all those teams have great quarterbacks. I mean, probably Burrow's the best, but we all know he's a bum, so fuck that guy. And he's never getting back to the Super Bowl in LA.

Chris: He just can't help himself.

Steve: But other than that, all the other good teams in the league have two really good wide receivers. Now, unless you have a Patrick Mahomes, who doesn't really have two good wide receivers, even they went out to get Hopkins. Right. I mean, and they got Hollywood Brown.

Chris: And they drafted that worthy kid. Yeah.

Steve: And they got, they got a speedster that you can run down the field. So, and plus they had the best at the time, the best tight end in a league. So is really wide receiver. So my point is the Steelers just don't put up, put enough capital into the wide receiver position. They think they can go get one guy who's a project. And turn them into something good which they've been able to do but they never followed up with another year of doing the same thing Because they think they need to run the damn ball and that's the philosophy and it's the wrong philosophy

Chris: Okay. So I'm missing the part about, about me being an idiot.

Steve: I mean, I don't think you're an, I think you're an idiot because you think, you think if they get rid of Pickens, it's going to get better. It's actually going to get worse. That's not, that's not what I'm saying. I actually don't think that, that Pickens would be a bad person or an asshole if he was surrounded by another good guy and they could feed off of each other. I don't know. I don't, I truly believe that. Like, let's just say in a fictitious world, they do go get Jamar Chase next year and he's on the team. Jamar Chase and George Pickens. Do you think Pickens is going to complain if Jamar Chase is getting the ball? No, he's not. Because you know why? George Pickens is going to be open more. And there are times when those guys play off of each other and one guy doesn't have a good game. The other guy does. And they love that. They love when the other guys succeeds because then that means they're going to send more resources that way, which means the next game he's got to be ready. Now it's just Pickens and he's the only guy and that's not enough.

Chris: Okay. So, um, so we're not really agree, even agreeing to disagree. I, I think, um, OK, I guess I see your point. Pat off track says Burrows has the third best stats for MVP, Steve.

Steve: Hey, Marino won a lot of MVPs, too. Did he ever win a Super Bowl? I want to unpack this whole… Explain that to me, Pat.

Chris: Yeah. And, and I ice Bailey too on Instagram says, and Ravens, I'm not sure what he's answering to their Ravens have two good. Oh yeah. And the Ravens have two good receivers. Not really.

Steve: They have Lamar Jackson. Who's a better than average quarterback. I want to unpack the same with Josh Allen. He doesn't really have any good wide receivers, but these guys are the top of the wide, the quarterback.

Chris: Yeah. So why is Joe Burrow a bum? Because I don't think he's a bum. He's leading the league in touchdown passes. He's leading the league in yards.

Steve: I'll tell you why he's a bum.

Chris: It's real easy. I want to know why.

Steve: Because he got success early in his career. He thought he was going back to the Super Bowl and now he's slinging the ball really well and he's having an excellent season. That's not enough. It's not enough. You have to be a team player. You don't have to you don't have to throw the ball for 5,000 yards every year You just have to have a balance attack in a good The reason he's making all that money is the reason their defense is so horrible They've got too much resource on the offensive side not on the defensive. Well, if you look at my homes his contract is structured so that he can be a good guy, and also have enough money for the rest of the team. He's a bum because he thinks of himself first, and that will never get him a Super Bowl. Until he restructures his contract, makes less than 15 million a year, and is allowed to go out and get a good defense, then maybe I'll change my mind. You mean 50 million a year. Yeah. Well, I mean, he makes 50 million a year, but he needs it. He needs to take about 15 million off the top.

Chris: Okay. So you're saying, you're saying he's a bum because he took this huge contract and now he's handcuffed him because if, so you're exactly, at least what you're saying is what I'm saying is if they had a good defense, they'd be unstoppable.

Steve: but they can't because of his contract. That's why he's the bomb.

Chris: Okay. All right. Amy May says they need to work on receivers and offensive line. They keep using band-aids instead of getting good players. Yeah. I mean, I, I, you know, I, I see your point there, Amy May and you're right.

Steve: She's right.

Chris: Um, okay.

Steve: She's our number one fan.

Chris: So I, now that we've, now that we've created a drinking event for Steve, that was fun. Let's, let's, let's go on to a, will the Steelers beat Cincinnati and what happens if they don't? I mean, I know they've, they've clinched a playoff spot, but let's talk about this a little bit. So what do they need to do to beat Cincinnati? They got to stop Jamar chase. No, they just need to score more points.

Steve: They need to score more points than they have the last three weeks.

Marc: You know, they need they need to put up something in the in the mid to upper 20s. Right.

Steve: I think they need that. They need more. They need to make the offense the Bengals offense have turnovers, which means they need the intercept borough or they need to get a fumble off of if Chase Brown is the guy running the ball.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: I don't know. He got hurt there at the end of the game. So I don't know. He didn't be back.

Chris: I think what they need to do is what they did the last time, and that is contain Jamar Chase for most of the game, because sooner or later he's going to break free.

Marc: Will JPJ be back this week?

Steve: Yeah, they said he's going to play.

Chris: I think everybody's going to play. I think they need to keep the ball, and this is a recurring theme, keep the ball out of Joe Burrow's hands. I know about the whole running game thing, but establish a run game, ball control, and maybe we'll save this conversation for the end of the year conversation, but I don't think you're going to establish, pardon me, I don't think you're going to establish a run game with Najee Harris. I think you need to see more Jalen Warren out there.

Steve: Well, the Bengals' defense is so bad. Against this team, yeah. What they need to do is just score touchdowns. When they get the opportunity to score, score a touchdown, and then just stop the Bengals' offense, get a splash play, and they'll win. They don't need to win, but I think it's more important that they win and play against Houston than it is to lose and then play against Baltimore.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: Or, or the bills, right? No, they can't, they can't play those bills apparently. Okay.

Steve: They beat Denver. So Denver would be tied with them.

Chris: Okay. So what happens if they don't beat Cincinnati? What happens if Cincinnati wins to this team? Do you think they limp into the playoffs and they're wanting out? Do you think it can, this, this problem can be solved this year?

Steve: well i mean they're gonna play against two teams they have that they have a probability of uh… could beat i mean houston's limping into the playoffs more young than the steelers right right and playing against baltimore's usually comes down to a one score again so i mean in the last game it didn't you're right so and i think baltimore's a much better team which is why i'm saying i'd rather play against use of course uh… because they're banged up and you know cj stroud uh, didn't really do anything in the playoffs last year. So, um, I don't know.

Chris: It looks like he's ready for a mental breakdown.

Marc: You're right. Because, you know, he's crying about his best friend.

Chris: I mean, I, you know, it's, it's a horrible injury. Whether the prospects after that.

Steve: Then you get to play either Kansas City or Buffalo. I mean, come on, we got no chance against them, no matter what. So the best scenario this year would be, and if you told me this at the beginning of the year, we would make the playoffs and we would win in the first round, I'd say it's probably good enough to continue on the pattern that you're on, which means You know, you can let nausea go. I'm okay with that. But that means you got to resign Wilson and you got to do something about the wide receiver position for real next year.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: And, and that puts you on a better path towards maybe being a little bit more competitive against the Buffaloes, the Kansas city.

Chris: So the, the, the, the problem becomes at the end of the year, if you're going to resign Russell Wilson, let's say they win a playoff game and then they lose. Yeah. If you re-sign Russell Wilson, what are you going to pay him? Okay. It's not going to be cheap. It's not going to be the most expensive, but it's not going to be cheap. You've got a very expensive defense. Um, and now you need to go and get a wide receiver and a running back, you know, how much cap space do you have? I mean, the, these are, these are issues that of course we'll be talking about after the season postseason. That's not about, yeah, that is true. Yeah. Um, let's see, uh, Pat off track needs a nationwide Papa John's deal.

Steve: He's not wrong. I mean, if Burroughs got a deal like that, then he wouldn't have to take so much money. The problem is the guy's a bum and doesn't want to work. Russ needs to throw the ball.

Marc: By the way, one thing I will say. One thing I have gotten out, I haven't watched a lot of.

Steve: Here comes the hard knocks.

Marc: I haven't watched a lot of hard knocks. Yeah. Because ultimately I feel like it's pretty bad. Yeah. I feel like it's really watered down. That's what I was saying. Too many teams. Well, too many teams and the teams are definitely ciphering out what's being shown. Right. But one thing I will say is Joe Barrow is pretty freaking goofy, man. Yeah.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: Like he's a dork, man. He's like a total like. like loser almost like, yeah, like I didn't really expect that. Well, they say he's like Joe cool. Like he's not cool at all. Yeah. He's the furthest thing from cool.

Steve: I think you could just use my term. Yeah.

Chris: Well, no, I mean, yeah, I think, I think what makes him cool is $250 million. That's, that's pretty cool if you ask me, but Yeah, I was watching the game, uh, yesterday and, um, I, I, what struck me is when they showed, you know, Bo Nix and Joe Burrow up on the screen, you know, when they would go to commercial, I, I, I, it was like, I could not take my eyes off of Joe Burrow's face. I was just like, what is wrong with that guy? He had like a pouty face. It looks, he's weird. He's definitely weird. Yeah. What's going on with that? And wasn't there a clip where he was saying he's going to buy the Batmobile or something?

Marc: Yeah. I don't know. Like they showed him like joking around with the wide receivers. And I felt like even the wide receivers are like, like this dude just isn't cool.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: But he can throw.

Chris: Yeah, but if he can throw for 400 yards a game and four touchdowns, who the hell cares how cool he is?

Steve: Statistically, he's having a great season.

Chris: He is having a great season. There you go. That's the best compliment I can give him. Well, good for you. You've finally come around. Amy Maishwa, Bruss needs to throw the ball away, not take sacks. Pat Off Track, who is a Bills fan, says, I don't want to play Cincy. Yep, I agree with you. We'll beat him for you, Pat. And as far as Joe Cools, Pat says, he ain't getting Haley Steinfeld.

Steve: No, that's Josh Allen.

Chris: Josh Allen is engaged to her.

Marc: Good for him. Good for him.

Steve: So they make a nice couple.

Marc: Yeah. Nice young lad from Wyoming.

Steve: I'm sure they're not going to live in Buffalo.

Chris: I give it three years. All right. We're going to move on now. If you're watching us live all over the world, this is the sports porch. It is the black and gold edition. We do have a Philadelphia show. If you're a Philadelphia fan, that's at 6 p.m. Eastern time every Monday night, but this is our black and gold edition at 7 30 PM on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram all over the world. And right after the show, yes, I am going to drop it into a podcast. You can listen to us on the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. There was a pirate ship down in the Bahamas.

Steve: I know. We talked about it on our show last week.

Chris: Did we? Okay, never mind. I remember. I am the captain now. Yes. Uh, and don't forget to follow us. Go to YouTube right now. If you're watching on YouTube, please click that, uh, follow button, subscribe button and notifications at the sports porch podcast. Uh, and keep an eye out for our shorts. We're on tick tock. We're on Instagram. We're on a YouTube shorts, reels, videos, whatever the hell you want to call them. We play with that a lot and have some fun.

Steve: We play with it a lot.

Chris: And what you're saying, I play, I play, I play all the time.

Steve: You play with it a lot all the time. Yeah.

Chris: Hey, when you get to be in your fifties, what is there left to do?

Steve: It's a play yard.

Chris: I don't want to hear any more of this. You start your life playing, you end your life playing. You start your life in diapers, you end your life in diapers. It's true. Enough of the geriatrics. Alright, we're moving on to our NFL predictions. Now this is interesting because Mark last week and I were both 2-1 and Steve was 0-3. Now Mark is running away with the season.

Steve: Oh yeah, the season's over.

Chris: And he is obviously the champion at 33-15.

Steve: But we've got a battle for second place going on.

Chris: Here's the interesting thing right here. Yes, Steve is now 23-25 and I am 22-26. And man, I'll tell you what, all the marbles this week, I would love, I would love nothing more than to just not finish in last place for once in my fricking life.

Steve: So you got a chance, unless I take all your picks. Actually you pick after me. So there you go.

Chris: Yeah, whatever. So, uh, Sunday night we're doing that this, this week we're doing the Sunday night game and then two Sunday games. They all have playoff implications. Sunday night, we're going to have a discussion about this one. And we want to know what your pick is. So drop your pick in the comments. I want to get this comment in here. Good work, boys. OK, thanks, Pat. Sunday night, Vikings at Lions. Your pick in the comments. Now, look, I watched and maybe a lot of you did, but I watched the Vikings yesterday. for the first time all season. Why? Because nobody's talking about. Well, because they never play the Vikings because everybody knows they suck. Well, I know, but nobody's the areas. Why? Because they don't have Joe Burrow.

Steve: Because they're going to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Their uniforms suck.

Marc: Purple doesn't work. Skoll, Skoll. That's, that's incredibly stupid.

Steve: And it's incredibly made up. According to the counselor.

Chris: And he knows because he lived in Minnesota for eight years. Well, what he said to me was that he's pretty sure that it's made up because a lot of his Minnesota fan friends have said it's made up, but he's not a hundred percent sure.

Steve: Well, I mean, renegades made up too.

Marc: When the Eagles took the Vikings out in the NFC Championship game the year they won the Super Bowl, they went foals, foals, foals. That's awesome.

Chris: Okay, so here's here's the Billy's good at mockery if nothing else that is true Vikings at Lions your pick in the comments grand schwa beanie Lions Mike Lawrence is taking the Lions with home field advantage grand schwa beanie. What is your pick for this game?

Marc: I'm gonna go Lions. I I don't think they're I I mean they're reeling with their injuries, but I just feel like you're playing at home, this important of a game, they'll win. Okay?

Steve: Yeah. Lions are definitely going to win by three touchdowns.

Chris: Three touchdowns. Have you finished that vodka yet?

Steve: No, I need to go get a watermelon drink.

Chris: Okay. Go for it. 35 to 10. Go grab one. I'm going with Minnesota because of what I'm going to say about Minnesota right now. And I'm going to do it while Hockey Jesus is at the fridge. I know you can hear me. I am thoroughly impressed with the Minnesota Vikings. Now, here's one thing, one fact that came out early in the game last night when they said the Minnesota Vikings are the oldest sports franchise in America to have never won a championship. And I feel really bad for vikings fans.

Steve: Not not that bad Hey, at least they've been in one detroit hasn't even been in.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: Well, they were in four in the 1970s We have to go through No, no minnesota has but detroit has never been no, no detroit's never been in so so yeah, the steelers beat him.

Chris: I am very impressed with sam darnold this year and You know, everybody can write him off I get it. All right. I totally get it. But Sam Darnold started his career being drafted by the jets, where as everybody knows, all quarterbacks go to die. And sooner or later, sooner or later, there is going to be a jets quarterback who was drafted in the first round, flamed out in New York. who ends up living up to his talent with another team. Sooner or later, it's going to happen. What happened to Sam Darnold? Did he go to Carolina next or did he go to Miami next? He went to two places. He went to Carolina and San Francisco. Not the ideal situation in Carolina, although he did play well for them for a few games. San Francisco, not the starting quarterback. Didn't need to be. He comes to Minnesota, not the starting quarterback. They draft J.J. McCarthy, who, by the way, played for Harbaugh in Michigan, but it was kind of like they had the best offensive line in college football. They had a great receiver in Roman Wilson who didn't do anything for us.

Steve: There's always next year.

Chris: There is always next year with him. What I'm saying is that I think the eye test is that Sam Darnold looks like he is playing the quarterback position with authority. He looks like he knows what he's doing. He's in the right system. He has two really good receivers. He's got a good running back. He's got a good line. And their defense is pretty good. And I think if there is a sleeper, And we'll go over this next week when we do our playoff picks. But that's my sleeper. If there's a sleeper who can come out of the NFC and hit that Super Bowl, I think it's Minnesota. Can a No. 1 seed potentially be a sleeper?

Steve: Right. Well, they might they am actually you're just saying in the list.

Chris: You're just saying because nobody's talking. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I get what you're saying. If they're the number one seed, they're technically not the sleeper. But who the hell was talking about Minnesota? True. Let alone Sam Darnold leading them to any sort of success. And they're 14 and two.

Steve: Yeah, that's why the coach is going to be coach of the year. Of course, he'll probably be out of a job in two years.

Chris: Of course. By the way, Pat off track says the Lions won several NFL championships. Bobby Lane was smoking a heater in the huddle.

Steve: We don't count anything pre-Super Bowl.

Chris: Yeah, no pre-Super Bowl. Really part of the NFL.

Steve: Sorry, Pat.

Chris: OK, so Schwaber and Hockey Jesus are picking Detroit. The technical director is picking Minnesota. Let's move on to the next game. This is another game that has playoff implications. Chiefs at the Broncos. We want to know who you think is going to win. Grant Schwabini, Chiefs at the Broncos.

Marc: Now, this is a tough one because is Patrick Mahomes going to play? No, I doubt it. He's not going to play. Yeah, I doubt it. They're not going to play. And their backup is Carson Wentz. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Steve: He's alright.

Marc: Not really. No, he's not.

Steve: He's better than Kenny Pickett.

Marc: You know what? I don't think so. I really disagree with that. I gotta say, I don't know why, but for some reason, I just don't believe in the Broncos, so I'm gonna take the Chiefs. Okay.

Steve: Yeah, I'm just gonna go with the Broncos. I don't know why he's going with the Broncos. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me think about this. If the Steelers play on Saturday, this game is on Sunday, right? So if the Steelers win, then the Broncos don't have to win, right?

Marc: Yes. No, they still need to win to get in. They still need to win. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: I don't know. It's between them and Miami and the Bengals. They do have to win. I'm going to go with the Broncos.

Chris: This presents a problem for me because I don't want to pick the same as Steve.

Steve: I mean, go with the 14, 15, and 1 team.

Chris: Gary Mikko says, Vikings all the way. They're incredible this year. I would love to say the same for my Steelers, but they have lost some very important games of late. They need some good luck. Thanks for being here, Gary.

Steve: I think you turned Gary into a Minnesota fan. You sure did. I'm a very convincing person. Gary, are you going to go out and buy a Sam Darnold shirt?

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: Or are you going to buy one of those chauffeurs and go boo!

Chris: Okay, here's a challenge for you. Let's pretend that Cincinnati backs their way into the playoffs and they win the Super Bowl. That will never happen. Yeah. Okay.

Steve: Whatever you want. I don't care.

Chris: Then you will buy and wear a Joe Burrow jersey. I will. Okay. There you go. This year. This year. Yes.

Steve: Absolutely.

Chris: For every show this upcoming year.

Steve: Not every show. Yes. The inaugural NFL show.

Chris: Only one show? Yeah. No, we gotta have it. How about this?

Steve: How about this? Come on, we gotta have it. If they make it to the Super Bowl, then I will buy the jersey and wear it during the Super Bowl.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: And then I'll wear it the next week, whether they win or not.

Chris: And you have to root for them during the Super Bowl. I will. And we have to film it.

Steve: Okay.

Chris: He will definitely not root for them during the Super Bowl.

Steve: I can fake a good root.

Chris: All right. All right. Chiefs at Broncos.

Steve: Plus, that also means Kansas City loses. So I'm all in on that.

Chris: You know what? So if I go 0-3, then I'm 22-29. Steve goes 0-3, he's 23-28.

Steve: You got to pick up one game to tie me.

Chris: Um, we didn't pick the last game yet. No, I know. So see, I, I already won. I'm picking the Broncos. Yeah. So I gotta, yeah. I know I'm already one different. Here's the thing about the Broncos. Number one in the league in sacks, their defense is sneaky good. And I like what I see from Bo Nix. I hate Sean Payton. I hate him. I really do.

Steve: I don't like- I think Sean Payton overthinks things.

Marc: Sean Payton just seems like a bad guy. Yeah. He's just a jerk.

Chris: He seems like a total ass. I'm with you.

Steve: I wouldn't want him being my- Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. He's just an asshole after that whole New Orleans bullshit.

Steve: I don't mind that, but I just don't- He doesn't look to be a likable guy.

Chris: Yeah. And honestly, I look at like Russ Wilson and I'm like, Okay. Maybe there were issues with Russ and you didn't get along with him, but Russ Wilson seems like the nicest guy around. He does seem pretty nice. I mean, that was Sean Payton. That wasn't, maybe Russ did ask for an office and Sean Payton was like, you're not getting an office. But at the same time, I mean, you ran a good quarterback out of town. I mean, come on.

Steve: Hey, we're thankful. Thank you.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. And Pat off track is saying Bounty Gate. Yeah. I'm talking about Bounty Gate. But I she didn't deflate football. I do like what i'm seeing. I i'm doing I do here we go with the tom brady cheater stuff I do like oh and and tom brady was was uh, he screwed up a whole bunch of times.

Steve: Yeah I don't like him.

Chris: I don't really in the booth.

Steve: Yeah, but whatever it's not it's good. It's good to watch him struggle

Chris: Yeah. I like when he was like, and who else did they beat? I don't even know. Everybody got really quiet. Um, so, uh, yeah, I'm going with the Broncos. I like what I see from the Broncos. And, and I do think that Bo Nix, um, is better than people thought he was, you know, that, that, that's my take. Okay. You're picking the comments. Next game, Marquez, the Chiefs, Steve and I, the Broncos. Last game of the year until we start predicting the playoffs. Now, this is one that it has playoff implications. The Dolphins at the Jets, the Dolphins have to win. Do other things have to happen for them?

Steve: Um, if they win, then the Broncos have to lose. That's the way they get in.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: So, and, and, and the Bengals have to lose and the Bengals have no, actually, I'm sorry. They own the tiebreaker over the Bengals.

Chris: Okay. So they, but the bottom line is they have to win period. Dolphins at the Jets, two is not playing. Are you 100% on that?

Steve: Maybe not. They don't know.

Chris: They don't know.

Steve: It's the whole, you know, he's got a sore arm or something.

Chris: He's got a, yeah, who knows? Well, let's put, let me put it to you this way. They need to win to get in. He is playing.

Marc: Maybe not they also might look at it and say we're not winning the Super Bowl this year. Yeah with a seven seed So let's wait till next year. Who's the backup? I can't remember TJ Huntley Okay, so all right well and Aaron Rodgers is playing right I Assume so unless he's gonna take himself out in the first quarter he might I'm gonna take the Jets Big game for Devontae Adams and the other dude, what's his name, Garrett Wilson? Garrett Wilson, yeah. And if this is Aaron Rodgers' last game in the NFL, he's going to say goodbye on a high note with three touchdowns. All right.

Steve: I'm going with the Dolphins. I just don't believe the Jets. I think the Jets want to get a better draft pick, so they're going to lose.

Chris: Isn't, isn't Rogers close to 400 touchdowns?

Steve: Yes, he is.

Chris: I think he is. Yeah. I think he's close. Yeah. I think he's close enough that Devante Adams could catch his 400.

Steve: Oh, he's going to catch it.

Chris: All right. All right. So I'm, I'm, I'm going with the jets. I'm going with the jets on this. I hate Aaron Rodgers and the jets, but I, I just think that, uh, and the dolphins to a plane injured or to it, if two is not in the game, the jets are winning no matter what. Um, but Miami does not play well for 99.

Steve: He only needs one.

Chris: Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm going with the jets.

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: So you're picking, I say he gets the one and then he takes himself out.

Steve: All right.

Marc: Then he takes himself out. Antonio Brown. He did. He did take himself out this week.

Chris: Yeah, I know. It's just crap for that. Pathetic. So, OK, the sports sports black and gold all over the world on Facebook live right now, every Monday night at 730 p.m. Eastern Time, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and Instagram. We are also live on radio PGH. I drop that link in the comments. You can follow us at the sports sports podcast on YouTube. And, um, I'm going to drop, I'm going to, yeah, on YouTube and I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show and the IR radio app, Apple podcasts, or anywhere you get your free podcast. Mike Lawrence says the dolphins are going to win because the jets are a dumpster fire.

Steve: Yes, they are.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: Can I give a tease for next week's NFL? Sure, please. So I did some great analysis on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh boy. and i just want you to come back next week to get it because it's some of the best work you can see anywhere ever anywhere ever is that the booze talking no no i have it right here i was ready to talk about it today but because because it's because it's always because she's I'm going to save it for next week.

Chris: Two pages. All right. Well, you can add to it between last week and, and, or between this week and next week, right?

Steve: It's perfect the way it is.

Chris: It's all right. I can't wait to see. Should we, should we, should this be a 90 minute show?

Steve: No, I'm very good at getting good things out in a short period of time. Unlike you.

Chris: Oh my God. All right. Happy new year. Uh, okay. Hockey Jesus. We are blessed. in this house because we have Hockey Jesus, the all-knowing hockey prognosticator. And I'm looking for the thing here that I put up for you, Hockey Jesus, and I can't find it. There it is. So who is Hockey Jesus? He's this guy over here on my left, right there. He's above me on the screen. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single Penguins game. faithfully. He tells you like it is. He talks about the penguins and where they're going to go and where they've been and what the hell's going on. And you can follow him at the sports porch podcast on YouTube or catch him the sports porch podcast, anywhere you get your podcast.

Steve: So Steve, real quick, bubbly, a update, but Villier got a goal. Okay. He's got seven on the year.

Chris: So I am going to let you take it from here. Hockey Jesus. Tell us what is going on.

Steve: Well, the Pittsburgh Penguins stock is up. Yeah, but it's not there. They were in a playoff position for about two hours last night. because the senators end up winning and then they ended up taking over that second wildcard spot. But if you listen to me, you know, I don't get too caught up in that hype. I don't actually think the Pittsburgh Penguins are a playoff team yet. Right. But because of the since the beginning, since the middle of December, they've been trending over 80 points for about six games now. And that's very important because if you're at 80 points, you're within striking distance of getting into a playoff position. Now they've got what, three more games until they reach the halfway point.

Chris: Wow, we're already there.

Steve: Already there. They played 38 games and they are 17 and 21 because you know I don't like that last digit. But they have 39 points and they're trending for 84 points on the season. What can I say? I just love the fact that Sid got his all-time assist goal at home. I was there at the game last night. It is just incredible to me to watch Sidney Crosby play. And what are you doing? You're holding this over my face. That's over your own face.

Chris: Yeah, it's like I just want everybody to see this. This is how dedicated Hockey Jesus is. I mean, this is unbelievable.

Steve: No, dude, that's nothing. I've got 38 pages of notes of every game.

Chris: That's amazing. You are not Hockey Jesus. You are Hockey God.

Steve: It's the best way to watch the game because to me, if you get the regular statistics, they don't tell you enough. Like you have to watch the game in 10 minute increments. That's the way I like to watch the game. So at the 10 minute Mark, I'm kind of keeping track of where the points are, how many shots are on goal. And then what I like to do is like, like to go back. That's how I found out. And if you, if you, uh, if you watch the, uh, the, the podcast that I, or the, uh, YouTube that I dropped the sermons. Yeah. The one that I dropped this morning.

Chris: Yeah. I missed that one. I didn't watch that one. I usually watch them all.

Steve: I had some good insight in there, and this is absolutely true. When the Penguins come out in the first 10 minutes of the second period, you know whether or not they're going to win the damn game. Because if they come out sluggish, they always lose. Always lose. It's amazing. Like against the Islanders on Saturday night, They had three shots on goal in that 10 minute period last night. They had 12 shots on goal, right? So it's just the difference between how they come out after the second period. They always start off slow, which is bad. They started off fast against the Islanders and you got to get good goaltending. Any team that doesn't have a goalie knows how important good goaltending is. And right now their goaltending is okay. It's still not good. So if they can get good goaltending from Ned and from jars, I think they still can make a run at this. The problem they're going to run into is we all know that Dubis is mandated to get rid of some guys, right? And probably one of them is Raquel, and he's definitely one of the top guys that they have right now playing with Sid and Rusty. So that's going to be something we're going to have to watch after the Four Nations tournament, which is after February 8th. But we'll have some time to talk about that later. But that's the thing I'm keeping my eye on now. What is Dubis saying about trading? Is he thinking about picking somebody up, which I think would be a mistake? And right now their defense is totally decimated with injuries. They've got Pettersson, Letang, and Pickering all on the injury list. They had to pick up this Nathan Clurman. He's basically a minor leaguer. He's been in the minor leagues for five years now. But honestly, he looked really good last night. And I think it's just because he's played at the minor league level for so long. He's kind of a proven commodity. He's not like a young kid who can make a lot of mistakes. He knows how to play the position, but he's got a really, he's got a low ceilings. So he's only going to be this good. That's all he's at.

Marc: What did you say his name was again? Nathan Clurman. I thought you said clergyman.

Steve: Well, if he was a clergyman, he could be part of the hockey team's disciple crew.

Chris: Clurman actually sounds like one of those things you would buy at Ikea. I think it sounds more like a cold medicine.

Marc: Chloroseptic? No, I need the Clurman. I would say like, did you go to Ikea and pick up some Clermons?

Steve: Yeah, it's a really bizarre name. Like, I'm like, what is his name?

Chris: Clermon.

Steve: Clermon?

Chris: Maybe it's a body part. I don't know. I shouldn't have gone there. Sorry.

Steve: But it don't matter. He's not going to be up here. He ain't going to be here for very long because these three guys are going to get healthy in the next week. There's a lot of hockey coming up because they got to sneak in a lot of games in January so they can play this four nations tournament. Yeah. So I think the penguins play, let's see, they play, uh, they don't, they play, uh, the 31st. So they play tomorrow. Then they got a couple of days off, but after that they play every other day until December or January 14th.

Chris: So it's a lot of hockey. There's going to be a lot of hockey Jesus sermons coming up.

Steve: Yes.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: So listen, unfortunately, They're not on the West Coast.

Chris: Yeah. I'm good with that. Makes it a little easier for you.

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: All right. So there you have it. Hockey Jesus. He does preach on the podcast after every single penguins game. So if you are a penguins fan or hockey fan in general, after the penguins games, wait about 10 minutes, hop on the podcast on Spotify, Apple, I heart radio app, or anywhere you get your pod podcasts, get an update on the game. What he thinks what's going on. He's a pretty detailed guy and, uh, his discipleship is growing. It is growing.

Steve: And I like to put out videos now. I like to show videos of the game.

Chris: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You're having fun with that.

Steve: I like it.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: That, that software you turned me onto is pretty good stuff.

Chris: Opus clip. Yeah. It's good stuff. Good job. Mr. Holland's Opus. Mr. Holland's Opus clip. Don't go there. OK, remember, subscribe on YouTube at the Sports Porch Podcast on YouTube. Let's go on to this is the last what we're watching of 2024 and the Grand Schwab Beanie. Take us out. Tell us what what is this? Why do we do this?

Marc: We do this because there are so many different things to watch, so many different streaming channels. There's Netflix, there's Amazon Prime. There's Apple TV Plus. Hulu. There's Hulu. There's Max. There's Freebie. There's Tubie. There's Vuvie. There's Snoopy. And there's a new one, Clurman. Clurman. The Clurman. So we tell you either A, what to watch, or B, what not to watch, so that you don't have to have that 45 minutes of scrambling, watching trailers, and then you still make a bad decision.

Chris: You want to know why I decided to do this? Because did you guys ever watch the movie Deadhead Fred? No, I believe I did back in the day. Uh, do you remember if it was good or bad?

Steve: Is it like, dude, where's my car?

Chris: Uh, I think it was, I think it was bad. Yeah. I walked into a blockbuster video a long time ago. The blockbuster video by the Wendy's on bomb Boulevard and shady. Yeah. Okay. It's now like a furniture store or something.

Steve: It's right next to the church. I got married.

Chris: You got it. People are under 20. They might not know what blockbuster is. That's okay. They've heard the story. Yeah. Google blockbuster. Anyway, I walked in there and I was looking for something and I was going through the whole like, Oh God, when am I going to watch Friday night and blah, blah, blah. And I think I was having some friends or actually I think you were coming over or something. I'm having some friends over and some dude pointed out this movie and said, you want to see a great movie? And I was like, yeah, I'm looking for something. He said, pick that one right there. And it was deadhead Fred. I don't even remember the movie, but what I can tell you was it was the worst fucking thing I've ever seen. Like so bad. I was so upset. The guy punked me.

Steve: He did.

Chris: And all I can think about is you every time you go somewhere, people are like, did you see this? It's really good. Did you see that? It's really good. Guess what? I need somebody to tell me what's bad. I can find out what's good. And if it's mediocre, I'm cool. And I'm telling you tonight, I'm going to tell you about something that's bad. So, Oh, I can't wait. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So, uh, tonight, uh, we're going to start with the Grand Schwab Beanie. Now this is something that looks like I might want to watch. Um, and you could tell me here it is. Grand Schwab Beanie is watching on Showtime. Oh, ghosts of Beirut.

Marc: Most dangerous man the world has ever never known.

Steve: Showtime.

Marc: Yeah, it's a it's a four part little miniseries, four parts about an hour each. And it's good. It's really good. The only person in it he would know is Dermot Mulroney is in it.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Marc: But outside of him, it's all people you don't know. And it's it's a really interesting story because it's a story of a terrorist that went by a number of different names, but probably the most common was Rod one. And what he was… Rod won. Rod won. And what he was, was he was the person who came up with the idea of suicide bombing.

Chris: I guess, you know what, there had to be somebody who thought of it first. Somebody had to.

Marc: He was basically the one who thought of it and kind of who sold the idea to Iran. And what that pitch sounded like it was it was it was a very it was a very interesting very interesting Story just kind of about him kind of like where he came from how he kind of developed into into what he was and then ultimately How they went about trying to capture or kill him.

Chris: Okay, it was good. I enjoyed it. All right Ghosts of Beirut, the most dangerous man the world has never seen on Showtime. This is definitely something I would watch.

Steve: Yeah, that sounds good.

Chris: Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. H.J., I just can't do this anymore. I don't know why. You have to do it. Why?

Steve: Because we do it twice a year.

Chris: Oh, God.

Steve: It's very important.

Chris: Please. Oh, goodness. Survivor. I mean, when are you going to stop?

Steve: Well, when they stopped showing it, this is so bad. That's when I'll stop talking.

Chris: I mean, this is like, OK, go ahead.

Steve: Forty seven seasons. That's right. Jesus. That means they've been doing it for, you know, about 20, almost 25 years now.

Chris: I know.

Steve: Which is amazing if you think about it. Yeah. Like since the time we got out of college, this show has been on and it still is thriving. Yes. In fact, one of the episodes called Entitled Operation Italy was their most watched show ever, ever. So, I mean, you know, people think Survivor is going away. It's actually thriving and it's doing quite well. I have an affinity to the number 47 because it used to be my old football number. That's true. So for that reason, you know, Survivor 47 was very special to me. It came down to three people in the end, Rachel, Sam and Sue.

Marc: I'm thinking Rachel took it.

Steve: Rachel took it.

Marc: Did you know that for real? No.

Steve: No, because I said why you're the Grand Schwabini.

Marc: That's right.

Chris: It just came to him. Came to me. His predictions are sometimes like, it is pretty amazing, you know.

Steve: Hey, he does talk to the spirits.

Chris: He does. I'm telling you.

Steve: I mean, anyway, and he shouldn't Rachel, but it turned out to be a, after, after, um, uh, one of the, one of the really good guys who was very athletic, got voted out. She won the rest of them and she, she, Took it down. She took down, uh, Sam and Sue. Okay. Sue was, uh, actually a 59 year old woman.

Chris: Wow.

Steve: But she was in really good shape, but she had no chance at winning.

Chris: So what do you win again? What's the jackpot? You only win a million dollars. That's it. That's it. That's not enough.

Steve: And you gotta be out in the, uh, you gotta be out in the elements for like 23 days.

Chris: So that could be, that's a good, that's a good, yeah. You know what I'm talking about? It wouldn't be worth it for me. No, I need more than like, more like $10 million. Yeah.

Steve: I'm surprised they haven't upped the bounty.

Chris: Yeah, really.

Steve: You know what they do? I think like on special shows like Survivor 50 is coming out soon and it's going to be full of all-stars.

Chris: Are they? What are they doing? They're probably going to make it to 48 and 49?

Steve: No, no. They've already got 48 in the can.

Chris: They already know who's won. So we're going to have to suffer through this next year, aren't we?

Steve: Like I said, two times every year. I'm going to give you a survivor update in the fall, in this case the winter, and then again in the spring slash summer. So I know you look forward to it. That's why I waited. I wanted to do it last week, but since you were out vacationing, I waited for you to come.

Chris: Oh, thank you. So you're welcome. All right. So you're saying it was a great season. So it's worth a watch.

Steve: It was a very good season. Okay. Um, just because Rachel, normally the person who does the best with like the puzzles and immunity and that doesn't always win because they want to vote them out. They're like, uh, she gets the end, she's going to win, but she had a right, she had the right amount of wins and immunity idols and she, she played her cards right. She actually ended up with Sue. Um, and that's how she ended up getting to the end.

Chris: Okay. So Survivor season 47 worth of watch according to Hockey Jesus. 16 episodes. If season 48 comes out and it's bad, are you going to tell us it's bad? Because I feel like every season has been like the best. There will never be another Tina.

Steve: I believe season 46 wasn't a very good season. I think I pretty much said that.

Chris: Okay. All right. Okay. Okay guys. So I, I have been watching now, you know, I went on a journey here and I, I said, I'm going to start watching this and I'm going to finish it all the way to the end. And I, I, I can't wait. Um, I am still watching fear, the walking dead. Okay. And, and I just, are you done? Almost? I just finished because the qualifications are you have to finish the season in which you're watching. Right. So I, I, I just finished season seven. Okay.

Steve: What season was that? was it after they were at the Padre? Yeah.

Chris: It's basically as season seven is when Victor is trying to get Alicia back to the tower and Daniel is convinced that Ophelia is still alive and all this kind of stuff. So I'm not going to go into all this details, but what I'm going to tell you is I'm now in season eight. And I can't fucking wait until it's over. It is some of the worst television I've ever watched.

Marc: I thought you said the other week you were saying you thought Fear of the Walking Dead was better than the regular. Are you thinking about a couple of weeks ago?

Chris: Yeah, here's my take. Seasons one, two, and three of Fear the Walking Dead were really, really good. Season four, you could feel it starting to lose its grip. Season five, you start to think, what's going on? Season six, you're going, we're in trouble. Season seven, you're like, please, could they have just fired the writers? And if you want to talk about predictable, it's like, it's like they, they, they save somebody. And then within 20 seconds of them saving somebody, some other people show up. who like take them prisoner again and it's like but it's like 20 people and like you didn't hear them coming they just it's like they're behind the camera it's like okay now yeah look i i you can only do so much dead people walking around i actually i actually thought season uh eight was pretty good okay so i'm only in episode i did i think i'm in episode two season eight the last one i'm in episode two or three of season eight so please god let it redeem itself but i i gotta tell you and and my what season eight anyway you didn't like start out you didn't like madison coming back into the fold i thought that was pretty cool that was the one thing that at the end of season seven basically the one thing i thought okay let's see where this goes so i'm not i'm okay the very beginning of season eight okay All I can say is that I promised myself that I would go back to the very beginning of the walking dead franchise and watch every single walking dead episode I could get to and watch. And I'm going to fulfill that promise. Season seven of the walking dead to me was absolutely unwatchable and I've watched every minute of it, unfortunately. So, you know, you can't skip a season. I think you can skip season seven of the walking dead. If you're going to skip a season, that's the season to skip.

Steve: Well, you have to at least watch the last one where Madison comes.

Chris: Now you can just make assumptions in the beginning of season of season eight or whatever. So there you have it. That is what we are watching. As always, we try to bring you value with what you're watching. And with that guys, Hey, listen, last, last show of, uh, 2024, how do you think it went?

Steve: Happy New Year.

Marc: I think we killed it, as always. Good year. Yeah, we killed it. Happy New Year to you and yours, from our family to yours. We love you.

Chris: I can't wait for that reel. Uh, yeah, neither can I. All right, guys, listen, another great year, another great show. Always good fun. We would not do this if we didn't somewhat like each other. And as Mark said, love all of you who keep us going all the time. So this has been the Sports Porch.

Steve: Or had alcohol to get us through.

Chris: That's true. Black and Gold, live all over the world, Monday nights, 730 Eastern Time on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X. And the Graham Instagram. Thanks, Amy. Catch us on TikTok. You can follow the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcast. And of course, subscribe. Become a subscriber on YouTube. Click the notifications button at the SportsPorch podcast for the Grand Schwab Beanie for Hockey Jesus. I'm the technical director. I am out. Happy New Year. Jablonsk. May all the vagrants