Why The Steelers Are Cooked!

Chris:
That's right. You are looking live. You're looking live right now at the sports sports, the black and gold edition. We are live all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram. Thank you for being here. You can always follow us on YouTube. I'm watching YouTube on the big picture in our studio right now. Follow us on YouTube. the sports porch podcast. And yes, this is a podcast. So you can see we are going to drop the podcast right after the show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. That's exactly right. And what are we going to do here? Well, hey, look, We got a lot of shit coming up and there's been a lot of shit going on and we're going to talk a little bit of Steelers football and some playoff football. Hockey Jesus is in the house. We're going to talk some hockey. of course, and for those of you who watch all the time and you see our new format here, this is to help us with our TikTok clips. So go over to TikTok and subscribe to our channel on TikTok. You're gonna be seeing a lot more there in the coming weeks, months, years, and decades as we move forward. Hey, first, is this our first show of the new year? Sure is. Is it? All right, happy new year. Happy New Year to you and yours. Oh, thank you. Happy friggin' New Year. I've got the Grand Swabini over here on my left. I've got Hockey Jesus on my right. I'm your technical director. And I do want to remind you also, if you can't watch the stream, you can always listen to the stream live on Radio PGH at radiopgh.com or that stream, that link to the stream that I just put in the comments down there. We got a lot to talk about, guys. Let's go real quick. to the loss to the bungles, the good, bad, and the ugly. Um, I get a feeling that we all have the same ugly, but I want to find out. And let's start with you, Grant Schwabini. Uh, let's start with the good from the Bengals loss. Was there any good at all? Wait a minute, OC is in the house. OC on Instagram. I don't get those comments in this software, so I have to pay attention to my other screen. Heard a theory when Tomlin reaches a point in the season where he'll have a winning record, things go on cruise control. I'm sure we'll get to that, OC. Thanks for being here. Anyway, good from the Bungle's loss. Was there any?

Marc: The good. Keanu Benton had a nice stop.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Marc: On a critical play.

SPEAKER_01: Okay. That was it. That was it.

Steve: Oh, man. That's brutal. That's it? That's all you got, Schwalbe?

Chris: All right. Hockey Jesus.

Steve: Hockey Jesus.

Chris: Any good from the Bengals loss at all?

Steve: I mean, you got Friar Muth, your number one right wide receiver again. Uh, you know, you Friar Muth fans out there gotta be just loving this two weeks in a row where he seems to be the only guy who likes to catch the ball except for on the last play.

Marc: Right, right, right.

Chris: I, if I'm going to, uh, oh, and Jeff Paul is in the house. Hey Jeff, it was good that I didn't drive out to the game. Yeah, you're right. I, you know, I saw some good in that game and the good that I saw was our defense. Our defense held the bangles to 19 points. uh joe burrow having a career year jamar chase gonna win the triple crown i mean they they were an unstoppable offense this year their defense was terrible they they they lost a lot of games by one score or one point and our defense did exactly and they intercepted him they did exactly what they should do they held the bangles to 19 points if you would have told me before this game that the Steelers were going to hold the Bengals to 19 points. I would have said they're going to win because I figured I would have figured we can put 21 on the board and we couldn't do that. So I, I think the good, uh, there was some good, it was the defense, um, the bad Grant Schwabini.

Marc: I guess I'll go, uh, Russell Wilson on the bad. I just, I just felt like, you know, he's. You know, and it's not all his fault. I mean, you know, you can put it on the offensive line. You can put it on receivers dropping balls. You can put it on a lot of things. But at the same time, I guess I'll put it on him most simply because. You know, he's here to be the difference maker. He's here to be the guy where, you know, if the defense plays well enough, he's supposed to be able to get you those couple of scores so that you win games like this. And for one reason or another, he wasn't able to do it with what he was given.

Chris: Okay. That was your bad.

Steve: H J. I mean, this is really simple. The offensive play calling was horrendous. I don't understand how you can go to Cincinnati five weeks ago, six weeks ago, and put up, you know, 525 yards and not use the same damn playbook. I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me that they decided they were the smarter team and they figured if they could run and play ball control that that would work. Oh, and not only didn't it work, The Bengals had the ball for 15 more minutes than the Steelers did 15 more minutes. That's a whole friggin quarter more than the Steelers had it for. It's no wonder why the defense, you know, had such a hard time out there. you know, catching their breath because they were always on the field. I just can't believe that either Tomlin or Arthur Smith or whoever's doing the damn play calling thought that was a good idea. That's to me. That was just that's just a bad 100%.

Chris: I. For me, I mean. The bad for me was the offensive line and that in and that. Uh, the regression, um, Dan Moore looks terrible. Uh, Broderick Jones doesn't look like he knows how to block anybody anymore. Um, I, I know, I know, you know, Zach Frazier playing well and he is, um, I, I just think that that is the main reason that now I'm not an apologist for Russell Wilson at all. Um, but Russell Wilson on just about every. Uh, play is running for his life and yeah, I mean, and, and he's look, Patrick, my homes on every play is running for his life, but you know, he's got a purpose. Russell Wilson needs to have a little bit of protection so he can set up and then, and we don't even have to go into right now at the lack of weapons. Cause we're going to get there. Um, so my, my bad was the offensive line. Let's move to ugly grand Schwab beanie. What was the ugliest part of this loss for you?

Marc: couldn't get any uglier than George Pickens. Yeah. I mean, whether, whether he was dropping the ball, I mean, geez, you know, like he, you know, he has strong hands, but he didn't show strong hands this weekend.

SPEAKER_01: No, no.

Marc: Um, you know, a combination looking miserable, dropping balls, just Not contributing, not contributing at all. I think he had one catch for zero yard, something like that.

Chris: Yeah, which is crazy. I mean, they should at least give him a yard.

Marc: You can't have that out of your top receiver. It was a bad game for him.

Chris: Yeah, ugly. H.J.

Steve: Well, as much as that is true, George Pickens definitely was ugly. I have an uglier and his name is coach T. I mean, come on. Think about the mistakes this guy is made at. First of all, let's talk about the end of the second quarter. Why are you going for it when the ball's on your 37 yard line? And all you have to do is punt it away. He said the reason he did it was because he didn't want them to have the ball back and they had three timeouts. Well, guess what? They got the ball back and it was on the 37 yard line instead of the 10 or the 15. That's ridiculous. And then on top of that, his inability to know how to coach this team when the game is on the line He just has no clue. Like, if you look at him, half the game, it looked like he was ready to cry. And the other half, he had no idea how to change things up to do things differently. The guy is just incapable of doing it at this point in his career. And it's sad to watch. It really is. And so, by far, Coach T gets the ugly.

Chris: Okay. Grace on Facebook says, for some reason, I always knew we would have trouble with Wilson. The Steelers are made from heroes. We haven't had a hero for a while. Jay, wrong there. No, she's not wrong there. You're right. My ugly was, it was really hard to come up with an ugly on this one because there was just so many that was ugly, so much that was ugly about it. But at the end of the day, I have to go with the grand Schwabini on this, George Pickens. We could talk about the plague calling, and we could talk about Russell Wilson. Um, I will say that the ugliest look was from Mike Tomlin because every time they showed him on this, I knew five minutes into the game when they showed him on the sidelines, it was like, this game's over. He doesn't even look like he's there. Um, which I thought was strange, but, but I digress on that. Um, I've been saying this for two years. Uh, H J is vehemently disagreed with me. Uh, the local Pittsburgh media has vehemently disagreed with me for the most part. And I've been calling it out. Uh, I was, I'm more right about this than I was about nausea Harris. Even though I said nausea, Harris is not the back for this team. Everybody's going to hold up the statistics that he's run for a thousand yards for four straight seasons. And he's the only back to do that in the last four years. What I say is who cares how big were those runs? You know, I mean, didn't any of them really make a difference? And the answer is no. When it comes to George Pickens, not the guy, not a great receiver, horrible for the team, terrible attitude. I have never taken away from the fact that he has great Skills, okay. There's a lot of players that have played in the NFL that have had great skills as a matter of fact in order to be drafted in the NFL in the first three rounds You have to have some sort of great skill Pickens is a loser period end of story that getting in a in a in a verbal fight with a fan after the game for what I For what? You got one catch for zero yards. You're not running the routes the way you're supposed to. When somebody asks you whether or not you and your quarterback are on the same page, you get up and you walk away from the podium like a baby. And when that same quarterback is asked the same question, what does he do? He says, I believe in George more than anybody else. And he has nothing but great things to say. That's called he's trying to lift you up and teach you a lesson. I say, get the hell on the bus, get out of town. And I don't care. Look, I don't care if he comes into the Ravens game next week and catches 11 for 162 scores and they win. Great. OK, what's going to happen the next game when he doesn't get the passes that he wants? What's going to happen the next game when when a reporter asks a question he doesn't like? Listen, man, win something, prove something and then start acting like a diva. You're not a diva. You're an idiot. Period. You don't belong in the NFL. That's my opinion. I'm sticking to it. I haven't wavered from it, and I'm not going to waver from it. That's the way it is. And that's why he's the ugly. George Pickens has been the ugly on this team all year long. All of the problems on offense have been centered around George Pickens. OK, oh, George isn't playing. He tweaked a hamstring. Oh, that's why our offense sucks. Oh, George came back. He still can't catch a ball. Oh, George is throwing a fit. He doesn't want to look at look at H.J. All right. I'm done. My rant. My rant is over for now. But we need we need an overhaul. Now, it does stretch to maybe it's not over. It does stretch to. I agree with the Tomlin analysis you have, H.J. I agree with the Arthur Smith play calling. But Arthur Smith does not have the right tools to call any kind of offense. And Russell Wilson doesn't have an offensive line or a running back he can depend on, and he doesn't have any receivers. So we got a huge problem. So anyway, H.J., go ahead. What was, did we do your ugly? Did we? I forget where the hell we are.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. We did my ugly. Um, and, and there's one ugly I'd like to add TJ watt, by the way, didn't even make it on the stat sheet for this game. No, no tackles, no sacks, no fumble recoveries, nothing didn't even make it on the stat sheet. So that's pretty ugly for a guy who wants to be defensive player of the year. But regarding your thoughts on pickings, I don't have a problems with what you're saying about Pickens being an asshole and not being an elite receiver when he thinks he is. I agree with you there. However, if you look at when the Steelers were playing well, It was because the offensive line was able to give Russell Wilson enough time to throw the moon ball and to throw it downfield to George Pickens and others, that's right, and others. But he was the reason why those other guys were open because guys were trying to stop him from doing it. So that's why I shake my head in a negative way when you start talking about George Pickens not being in the NFL, come on. There are plenty of other garbage guys out there. And let me remind you, because I did this, I had to go back and look. Do you remember James Washington?

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

Steve: He was a number two pick. He's much worse than George Pickens. How about Claypool? He was the number two pick was he better was he was he worse than George Pickens? I think so How about Deontay Johnson? He was a third round pick but still he's garbage. He's not really in the league anymore So, I mean you can you can say that Pickens doesn't belong in the league, but But those other three guys are 10 times worse than George Pickens. And maybe Deontay Johnson had some better years in other places, but these guys were just as bad of a headache. And your problem, and I'm gonna say this forever, your problem is not with George Pickens and his talent. Your problem is with the Pittsburgh freaking Steelers inability to get out of the 1980s, stop running a damn ball, start throwing it, start drafting. offensive players who know how to play this game in the 21st century. And that's what the Steelers lack. And that starts from the owners to the head coach and the player personnel. I like the fact that con and extras are trying to do something about the offensive line. But next year, let's face it. We'll talk about this in the in the postseason a lot. They're going to have to do something about these blast positions because they're in big trouble next year if they don't.

Chris: Marvin Hamilton is back in the house. Good evening. Hey, what's up Marvin? My friend Jeff says, is this a name? Lima Swede? Yeah.

Steve: Limus sweeper. Yeah. Limus Swede. He's gone. He's gone to the way back there. I only am going back to the, the heyday from the 2018 season after, after we made it to the AFC championship. I can't go back that far cause then we're just going,

Chris: Yeah. It's a rabbit hole.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Way too many more.

Chris: It's a rabbit hole. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, you're right, Steve, my, my problem in general, overall, you're exactly right. You know, the Steelers, they, they, they, they need to move it a little further along in the 20th century or 21st century here, you know, just a little, let's get there.

Marc: Um, the problem that I see, which I think ties into what you're both saying, is it's really just a lack of talent issue. I think what happens with the Steelers is, and this might be a little contrary to your guys' frustration with the coaching, but I think that Tomlin has shown to be a good NFL head coach, Arthur Smith, has been a good offensive coordinator. I don't know if Terrell Austin even does anything, but we'll just lump them in with common for defense. But, you know, but, but the bottom line is they're, they're good coaches. And so what good coaches do is they get the best out of the talent that they have. That's, that's why the Steelers surprise you. And they consistently beat the teams that are average, maybe even a little above average. They consistently beat them. They roll up a good 10 and three record, and then they have you believing. But what's really been missing, you know, in these games against the better teams in the league is just the talent, you know, like there's nobody at receiver outside of George Pickens. forget about his problems. There's nobody else. I mean, you know, look, you're running backs, you know, Warren and nausea. Not bad, but they're not special.

Steve: No.

Marc: Right. You know, tight end. Not bad, but not special. Right. I mean, that that's what they're missing. They're missing. special talented players at the elite splash positions. And without that, there's really not going to be much that the coaching can do, you know, until those positions improve.

Chris: Yes. And when is that going to happen? We don't know. I do have a comment here from official Chris Chada OC on Instagram. He's got a question for us. I'm going to put that up so everybody can see it. So with these last four weeks, where are the Steelers in terms of the quarterback position? Do they jettison both guys and start over? Is that reactionary? I'm going to say, I think we wait and see what happens in the playoffs. There's a lot of speculation, but the bottom line is this. They're not going to draft the quarterback. I mean, maybe they do, but there's nobody they can draft. They're going to end up in the bottom half of every round, the first round and being the critical one. Aaron Rodgers may or may not want to play again, and we don't want him, and neither do the Steelers. Kirk Cousins may or may not be in Atlanta, and he would be another Band-Aid a la Russell Wilson. They're basically the same age. Who else?

Steve: Sam Darnold will be out there.

Chris: Maybe.

Steve: Might be.

Chris: Maybe, but at the same time, Look, he goes to a system in Minnesota where he fits and they have an offensive minded head coach. Are the Steelers where quarterbacks go to die now? You know, I mean, now I'm not ready to say that, but this is certainly not the type of system that Sam Darnold would flourish in. I think Personally, if I'm going to front run this a little bit, I think you bring Russell Wilson back because Justin Fields has had, you know, I heard this stat on the radio the other day that, you know, they say there's about 25, you, you, you grade quarterbacks once they've had about 25 full starts in the NFL, you kind of know what you got. And Justin Fields has had a lot more than 25 starts. So I think as a backup and an option, not bad, but I'm not resigning him unless I absolutely have to. And if Russell Wilson doesn't want to stay, I'm front running it. But I bring Wilson back. I find us a running back and a good wide receiver. And we reboot. I mean, what the hell else are they going to do? They're not going to fire Tomlin. And they're sure as hell not going to hire another offensive coordinator. No. So anyway. I don't know if you guys want to address that at all, or if it's even worth addressing at this point until after the playoffs for us to have a full discussion on it.

Marc: Well, I mean, what I would say is obviously you sort of have to let the playoffs play out, right? You know, if the Steelers were to win a playoff game, which I think is highly unlikely, but if they were, then it's obvious that you bring Russell Wilson back, right? If if they don't. Um, I think probably what's most likely is the Steelers will bring him back. Uh, because you don't want to start over again, you know, back to back years. You want to have some continuity and maybe with a full season in the system, that type of thing. However, to, to be completely honest, like, you know, if I, if I'm the Steelers, just, you know, I'm more of a gambler and I know the Steelers don't play this way. But if I'm them, I, I try to make a trade up, you know, into the top of the first round. Uh, if there's a quarterback, I like, you know, think of maybe like a team that probably has a top 10 pick, but doesn't need a quarterback. Like for example, like Carolina, right. You know, maybe give them George Pickens to, to help out, uh, Bryce young down there and, you know, two first round picks or something. If there's a guy you like, go get them. You know, I kind of look at it like that. I don't think the Steelers would ever do anything like that, but that's kind of the direction I would go.

Steve: Yeah, I don't really want to address the Russell Wilson position, but OC asked about Tomlin tanking once they got to 500 was safe or they were going to make the playoffs. I actually looked into this because I was curious to see if that's actually true or not. So what I did was I went back and I looked Uh, beginning with the 2017 season, this is the season after they went to the AFC championship. And this is, this is the, this is the, this is the, to me, the beginning of the end of what Tomlin had going on. And he hasn't been able to get out of his funk yet. So in 2017, they lost to Jacksonville in the first round of the playoffs 2018 and 19, they didn't make the playoffs. In 2020, they lost to the Browns in the first round of the playoffs, 48 to 37. The next year, they lost at Kansas City, 42 to 21. A couple of years ago, they didn't make the playoffs, and everybody knows last year they lost to the Bills, 31 to 17. How they got there was really interesting. Their record, and this is what I want to get to, their record when the 500 record was safe, when they were going to make it to 500, In those seasons, they were eight and 16, eight and 16. That was their record once they realized that the 500 record was safe. And when the Steelers needed to win so that Tomlin could preserve his 500, to have a winning record, they went nine and O. So it just goes to show you that it's absolutely true that the Steelers play for Mike Tomlin to keep his record of 500. Once they get it, they freaking tank and they no longer care about the Super Bowl. I have one other thing. Tomlin has only won playoff games in four of his 18 seasons.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

Steve: four of his 18 seasons. And yet we keep this guy around. I just wonder when Steeler fans are going to say, Mike coach T it's time to retire. Like coach Noel knew it was time to retire when he couldn't make the Superbowl for 12 years. This is Tom one's 14th year in a row without making the fricking Super Bowl. When is he going to get the memo that he doesn't have it anymore? Somebody needs to wake him up and tell him it's time to cash it in. It's time to stop coaching. You don't have it anymore, Coach T. I'm sorry, but it's time to move on.

Marc: So one one one positive note. I do want to go back and change my good camp. Cam Hayward had a hell of a game.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Marc: And I forgot about that because of how bad it was as a whole.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: He knocked down like four passes. Yeah. He was everywhere.

Chris: Well, and that's why that's why my good was the defense. I mean, I know T.J. Watt wasn't on the stat sheet, but overall, the defense played really well. The line played well. You know, even with Jamar Chase out there, they held him to 19 points. So, you know, we don't want to digress on that point. But, you know, you're absolutely right, Steve. You know, it's it's time to make a change. And who knows? So my question to you is this. Let's say a miracle occurs and they run the table and Russell Wilson rides off into the sunset as a Super Bowl champion. Do you change your opinion?

Steve: Yeah, I do, because he can win a playoff game. That's all I want from Coach T. I want him to start winning. I want him to stop talking about the standard is the standard. And I want the actions to prove the standard is the standard.

Marc: We don't want to leave meat on the bone.

Steve: We want to take the meat off the bone. And we want, we want to raise that silver trophy with that beautiful football on it. It's been too long since we've even been there.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. I know it really has. It really has. And I am in complete agreement with you here on the sports sports black and gold edition. You're watching it live all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram. We've got a bunch of people watching on the gram right now. Thanks for being here. Uh, and I want to remind you, please go to YouTube, subscribe on, uh, YouTube at the sports sports podcast. Our subscribers are grown. We want to grow that list, hit the, the, uh, subscribe button, the notification. So, you know, when we're live and you can always catch the sports sports podcast, if you want to catch up with us right after the show, we drop it everywhere. You get your podcast, the I heart radio app, apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging cop podcast. Yes, Marvin Hamilton says trade Mike Tomlin for a couple of picks. He's a good coordinator, not a great coach. Cam Hayward also played with the flu, says Amy May. Wow. How about that? Yeah, and Marvin backs that up by saying that. We did get a comment in here from somebody watching on YouTube. Randy's with us on YouTube. Thanks, Randy. Tomlin's time has passed over. You can't play in the 80s. It just doesn't work anymore. You know what? Right on, Randy. Right. I think it's absolutely obvious. Let's talk about the keys this week because you know what? You know what? Go ahead.

Marc: Here's the thing, though. You know, I'm not going to completely agree with that, though. You can play like the 80s if you have the talent to do so.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

Marc: Right. Like you can do it with, say, Quan Barkley. You can do you can do it with Jameer Gibbs. You know, you can do it with Derrick Henry.

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

Marc: You know. So, you know, you can do it. You just need better talent to do it.

Chris: Yep. Well, there is a game.

Marc: That's a good point.

Chris: There is a game to play this week. It is in Baltimore. Um, the Ravens playoff game, the keys to victory. Let's talk about that right now. Uh, H J well, what are the keys to victory here?

Steve: I mean, it's pretty simple. You have first, you have more points. No, I'm not going to go there this week, but thanks for bringing it up.

Chris: Somebody gave us hell on tick tock for that. Did you see that comment? Yeah, I did. Great fucking take score more points. I was like, thank you for watching.

Steve: You know, anyway, that's why I said it, because I did see that comment. I thought it was pretty funny, actually. No, seriously, what they have to do is they first, they have to stop the run game. And then they have to stop Lamar Jackson. Those are two tall tasks. They've been very good at stopping Lamar Jackson in the past, and I think they know how to do that. You know, Zay Flowers being out is a big deal, I think. That's going to help keep Lamar in check. But I don't know how you stop. I don't know how you stop King Henry. I just don't. I just think he's going to be the difference maker. If you can do those two things and you can make Lamar Jackson try and do too much, he will make mistakes. That's about the only hope you have. Defense got to make a splash play. Russ can't fumble the ball again. And you get into a field goal battle, which seems like we can always win those field goal battles. It's gotta be an ugly, just a slugfest. Hey, maybe it'll rain really badly and the field will be a mess and that will help. But other than that, it's gonna be really difficult for us to get back to when we did beat them earlier in the season to that level of play. I think Baltimore's figured it out and they just need to stick to the script. But if they get into a slugfest with us, that's our only chance.

Chris: So your key to the game is cloud seeding, right? Yeah. Cloud seeding.

Steve: Definitely. You got to find a way to make that field impossible to run on and slow both King Henry and Lamar Jackson down.

Chris: Yeah. Maybe a little action a la Bull Durham. You want to rain out? I'll give you a rain out. Remember that scene? Grant Schwabini, what are your keys to victory here for the Steelers versus the Ravens on Saturday night?

Marc: I think, here's what I think. I think no matter what, the Ravens are going to play better than the Steelers in terms of yardage. I think that the Steelers can win the game if they get four turnovers. Wow. And when I say that, too, I mean four for four.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

Marc: When there's a ball on the ground, you got to get it right. You know, you know, you might need and include include in the four a special team score as well. You know, you're going to need to, you know, and also include in that maybe like some Justin Tucker misses as he's had a pretty miserable year. You know, you just need to have a lot of things go wrong for the Ravens and a lot of things go right for the Steelers. And look, I think there's a slim chance of that. I mean, you know, I put it like a 25% chance. That's better than slim. still pretty slim. It's still pretty slim, but it's still, it's a one in four shot. I think they could win the game.

Chris: I think slim is like 10%, but, but basically what I'm hearing from you is it's going to take a miracle, you know, like, there are, there are, there are games that end up that way.

Marc: There are games that end up that way. So it's possible. Now, you know, another thing, one of the things that we do talk about with, with the splash play is that there is an element of luck involved. One thing I will tell you is the Steelers have actually been on the downward side of that luck for quite a few weeks now. So that luck might just be ready to turn around. Who knows?

Chris: Yeah. I, uh, Jeff, Jeff says, uh, make them attempt more field goals and touchdowns plus turnover margin. Yeah. I mean, it's actually kind of a sad state of affairs when you're, when you're thinking like, Hey, uh, we need to make sure that they just kick field goals so we can kick field goals. So we win. Um, My key to victory here is that we're going to have to have the offense show up. And as much as I have maligned George Pickens over the last few games, over the last few years, Listen, man, he's going to come out. He's going to have to come out and ball. So, George, this is your challenge. Prove me wrong. Come out and catch a touchdown pass. Actually, you're probably going to need to catch two or three. So show us why you deserve to act like the jerk off that you've been acting like and change my mind. You know, so there's a couple of keys to the game. I agree that they have to stop. They have to try to stop King Henry, but I don't see that happening. As a matter of fact, the real issue that the Steelers have right now, aside from the fact that they have Derrick Henry, is that there's a guy named Likely who they seem to not be able to cover. You know, the Ravens have two decent tight ends. When I say decent, I mean pretty good on any given day. So even with Zay Flowers being out, yeah, sure, that helps a little bit. But can Patrick Queen cover Isaiah Likely?

Steve: No, no, you got to cover him with Menka. I mean, that's that's or or you just play the zone because if they're not able to run Derek Henry up the middle, then you can drop the linebackers. There's a lot of things you can do to to slow them down. It's just that will Baltimore figure it out and can the Steelers jump out to a lead? I think that's also important. You know, the Steelers were one of the few teams in the NFL who didn't have an opening drive touchdown the whole friggin season.

SPEAKER_00: I know that's crazy.

Steve: How about, how about if we come out and, and drive down the field the very first time and give our defense a seven point, uh, lead that could, that could, that could change the, that could change the tone of the game. Because remember we're three and one against Baltimore and playoff games. They might start thinking, oh shit. this is Pittsburgh and they're going to do it to us again. When that negative starts to build in, that could also be a recipe for success, but they're going to have to take it away from Baltimore. Baltimore isn't just automatically going to go there.

Chris: So Randy on YouTube says, if they play the offensive scheme, like they played the Bengals the first time and scored 44 points, they could run away with a win. Yeah, I would say if the Steelers score 44 points, they probably win this game. But that's why, Steve, that's why I say that the issues that they have. Pickens has to show up. The passing game has to show up, which means Pickens has to run his routes, whether he's going to get the ball or not. Run the route. There's a reason that on an offensive play call, you're supposed to run the route no matter what, because it's not just about you getting the ball. Sometimes it's about getting the other guy's attention.

Steve: Yeah, you're, you're right. But the defense is, is got, got to be there first. Remember the last four playoff games, the defense has given up 31, 42, 48 and 45 points. The last four playoff games we've had. That's all that's ridiculous. The defense, the defense has got to be there and they got to hold, they got to hold Baltimore to definitely in the twenties. If they can hold them into the teens, then I think we got a chance.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: If they hold Baltimore at under 20 points, I think they win, but Hey guys, did you, uh, do you think any of our viewers are wondering? Who's preseason predictions for the Steelers turned out best? Oh, yeah, definitely. We got to go there.

Chris: What a great what a what a great segue there. Let's what I want to do is I want to go to. Hold on a second here. I have all of this stuff queued up reviewing our twenty twenty four regular season predictions for the Steelers. Go for it, Schwab. Let's let's talk about this.

Marc: Well, somebody. Nicknamed the Grand Schwalbini. Oh. Who knows all. Got it exactly correct.

Steve: No, you didn't.

Marc: Ten and seven for the Grand Schwalbini. Now, you guys did pretty damn good as well. Both of you went nine and eight. Just one game off. One game off the mark. Well done. Well done.

Steve: Yeah, but I picked all the games correctly. The only problem is I had reversed when they would lose and win to Cleveland. Cincinnati and Baltimore. So I had them three and three in the division, but I got all six of those games wrong because I picked the wrong game. They were going to win. But if you take that aside, the only other game I missed was the very first game. I picked them the win to lose in Atlanta and they won. But I got all the other games right, so I'm taking the crown.

Marc: You did a fine job, you just weren't exactly correct.

Chris: Are you taking the crown or are you sipping the crown?

Steve: Oh, I'm putting the crown right on my head and crown and coat.

Chris: All right. All right. So there we go. Now let's move on to our NFL predictions that we do weekly to finish up the year. We all three of us, by the way, were two and one last week, all three of us. So that means to finish up the regular season, Mark is the champion. Again, the grand Schwab beanie at 33 and 15. Very, very. Pretty dominant. Pretty dominant. Steve, 23 and 25. Chris, 22 and 26. All I can say is that I feel good that I made a late season surge from absolute horrible, you know, from from a sewer like situation to being at least respectable enough. Scott Clark on YouTube. They are cooked because they have a coach who seems to be happy just finishing 500. Thanks for being here, Scott.

SPEAKER_01: Right.

Chris: You're exactly right. So what are we going to do now? Of course, we're going to go on to playoff predictions. Playoffs.

Steve: We made it.

Chris: We did. We made it. Unbelievable. I want to remind you, you can always subscribe to the sports porch on YouTube at the sports porch podcast. Subscribe. Hit the notifications button. That would be great. And I also drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get. your friggin podcasts. Let's do AFC predictions and you comment your picks for us. We're going to predict the AFC playoffs this weekend. First first game, we're just going to go in order of games. The first game is Saturday at 4 30 PM. The Chargers at the Texans. You give us your pick in the comments. Grand Schwabini, you won the whole contest for the regular season. So let's start with you.

Marc: The Chargers, the Chargers.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: Yeah, the Texans are beat up, I got the Chargers in this one also.

Chris: It's funny. I did a show earlier. Um, yeah, we're all three of us are going to pick the chargers.

Steve: Okay. Well, we know why you're taking the chargers. It's your man.

Chris: It's my man crush. Absolutely. Jeff is picking the chargers. Um, okay. The next game, Sunday, 1. P.m. Who to thunk that Bo Nix and the Broncos got the chargers too. Randy, let's let's put his pick up there so everybody can see it. Randy says the Chargers. OK, 1 PM Broncos. At Bills Grants while beanie.

Marc: The bills.

Steve: Yeah. I mean, you got to go with the bills here. Rookie quarterback. I like the way the Broncos have played. I mean, I mean, they scored 38 points against Kansas city's backup. That doesn't really count, but they won when they needed to. So, uh, I think it'll be closer than people think. Uh, but I, I got, I like the bills in this game.

Marc: I'm not afraid of Courtland Sutton.

Chris: I got the bills as well. Uh, Jeff Paulus is picking the bills and Randy is picking the bills. I mean, these first round games right now, it, you know, this, this game is tougher than it looks, but Saturday at 8 p.m. Steelers at the Ravens, you're picking the comments. Grant Schwabini.

Marc: Taking the rat birds.

Steve: I tell you what, I'm going, I'm going off script here. I'm going to take the Steelers.

Marc: All right.

Chris: Yeah. You know what? In, in the Philadelphia show, I was, I was picking the Steelers and then Rube got into my head and I ended up picking the, picking the Ravens, but I'm going with the Steelers on this one. We got a George Pickens show up. Jesus show up.

Steve: Defense is going to do it. They're finally going to show up at a playoff game and everybody's going to sigh a big. Excellent.

Chris: Yeah, let's hope so. Jeff Paula says the Steelers and Randy on YouTube says the Ravens. OK, now let's move on to the end of the NFC playoffs Sunday at 430 PM. You have the Packers at Mark Schwab's. The Grand Schwab beanies Eagles Packers at Eagles. I'm going to reverse it. We're going to go with HJ for this for the first pick HJ.

Steve: Well, I like the Packers if Hertz doesn't play, but I think Hertz is going to play, so I'm going to take the Eagles.

Chris: Yeah, there is absolutely in my mind no way Hertz doesn't play. I don't care.

Steve: Well, I mean, he's still in concussion protocol, so they have no control over that.

Marc: Actually, you want to hear what's interesting, a little side note on this? Please. One of the Philadelphia reporters said, you know, you have to be tested to get out of the concussion protocol. Right. They didn't even test him this past week. They didn't want to. Right. They just said, just take your time.

Steve: Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So he's going to be fine.

Steve: That is pretty crazy, though. I know, right. He was going to sit anyways.

Chris: Right. That's why. Why test him when you just rest and whatever. OK, Schwaber. Steelers or I'm sorry, Eagles Packers.

Marc: Uh, the Eagles.

Chris: Okay. That's what I figured. Uh, I'm, I'm, I, I'm going with the Eagles as well. I mean, it's just, I, you know, I, we had this argument on our, on our Philly show the other week, who would they rather play? These guys are like, Oh, they'd rather play the commanders. I'm like, no way. They'd rather play the Packers as far as I'm concerned. Uh, we got a bunch of, we got a bunch of picks here. Randy says, says he may crow on his, on his pick. Uh, Jeff Paulus is picking the Eagles and Randy is picking the Eagles as well. Um, Sunday 4 30 PM. Uh, Sunday, um, oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Sunday, 8 PM commanders at Buccaneers.

Steve: Um, who you got H J. I got Baker Mayfield and the bucks.

Chris: Okay.

Marc: I took, I took the commanders. I, I feel like Jaden's gonna do some magic. Will them to one win.

Chris: Yeah. I, I, I feel like the commanders are riding a high. And like I said, in the previous show, uh, even with Marcus Mariota, scary, Terry figured out how to catch a last second touchdown to win a game.

Steve: So he is really good by the way. McLaren's top notch.

Chris: Yeah, yeah. Nobody loves the commanders. Jeff is picking the box, and so is Randy. Okay, so this is the last playoff game of the first round of the playoffs is a Monday or Sunday night game.

Steve: No, it's a Monday night game.

Chris: Excuse me. Yes, you're right. A Monday night game. The Vikings at the Rams. Hj.

Steve: Well, I think this is going to be the best game of all of them.

SPEAKER_00: You're kidding me.

Steve: Yeah. No, I, I think it is. I think it's going to be the best game. I think the Vikings are going to show up, but I do like the Rams. I think the Rams, uh, will come well coached. Um, they'll have their offense high flying and they'll win 35 31. Okay.

Marc: I also like the Rams with a 37, 35 victory.

Chris: We're not even picking the scores, but here's the thing about the Vikings that shocked me. It is, they are the leading team. They lead the league in interceptions.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

Chris: And the Rams are a pass heavy team. So, uh, Jeff Paulus is picking the Rams. Randy's picking the Vikings and following that script. I am also picking the Vikings. So we will see next week. Uh, who is, who reigns Supreme?

Steve: Well, we already know Schwaber is going to win. So you already know that. I mean, he's got the spirits and they just come in and they go out the spirits.

Marc: They, they, they lead me in the right direction. That's my path. Some people have the gift.

Chris: All right. Do we want to do a little H.J. right now? Do you got something to talk about H.J. or are we going to move on and call it a night here?

Steve: Oh, no, we have to. We have to talk about the penguins, dude.

Marc: I want I want a Bavulier update.

Steve: Well, Bavulier was a scratch, as you know, last week.

Chris: First, I have to introduce H.J. So we are blessed to have Hockey Jesus on the podcast. Hockey Jesus, who preaches after every single Penguins game on the podcast, on YouTube, at the Sports Porch podcast. You can hear him faithfully bringing you the truth with his sermon. Hockey Jesus, please come in.

Steve: So, um, yeah, so Bavalia was a scratch, but, uh, unfortunately they had an injury to, uh, Thomas, you know, so he's back Thomas, you know, really went into the boards hard. He's going to be out for probably four to six weeks. And if you've been following me, you know, I consider Thomas, you know, the glue guy, the guy that keeps all the lines together. And without him, I think they're going to struggle a little bit. But we're at the halfway mark, 41 games in. I say that the Penguins have to have 45 wins in order to make the playoffs. Right now, they have 41 points, which means they have 20 wins, well, 20 and a half wins because you got that stupid loser point. Actually, their record is 17 and 24, but because of the loser point, I'm giving them three more wins.

Marc: Question for you, H.J. Yes, sir. Will every game the entire rest of the month of January go to overtime?

Steve: Uh, I hope not because they're playing on the West Coast. So if the West Coast games going overtime, that means I'll be up till 2 30 in the morning watching these games.

Marc: And that doesn't seem doesn't doesn't seem like every game is going into overtime. Like they're getting a goal with like under two minutes left to send it.

Steve: Yeah, well, they they have the last three games. The last three games they've they've played overtime. Well, that's not true. They lost in, uh, they lost. Was that an overtime game? I gotta look it up now.

Chris: When you're talking to Jesus, you should know.

Steve: No, it wasn't an empty, it was an empty net. So the last two were though, and honestly, you know I hate the loser point. I hate the loser point, but when you're playing against Carolina and Florida teams that you will never, never catch, it's okay to get a loser point from them because you figure you're going to lose them anyway. So they did get two points on this small, uh, this mini road trip, but they got five games at home. They got to get some home cooking going on. They have to wait at least four of these five. If they want to stay relevant, they're playing Columbus who they should beat Edmonton, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Seattle. I mean, Edmonton's not playing great right now, and I just think they've got a good chance at beating them. They have to beat Ottawa. Tampa Bay, I think, is gonna be the tough game. I think Tampa and Edmonton are the two tough games. If they can get a point out of one of those two games, I think they're gonna be okay. But after that, they go seven games on the road. Seven games on the road. And that's gonna be the make or break for the season. they're still in it. I mean, theoretically they're still in it, but here's where they're really falling down. This would be my last point. Goaltending is still letting them down. And that's their second line with Gino as center has disappeared. They had one shot on goal the other night against Florida. And it was, I don't even know if it was actually on that line. It could have been somebody who was on the power play that, that, um, that made the shot. And, uh, they've got to do something about that. And that's what they've been doing. They've been playing the Philly Bavaria up on the second line. They've been playing Tanner glass. Uh, I'm sorry, Cody glass up on the second line. They've been trying anybody up on the second line with Gino and Bunning and nothing is working. He has no energy left. He is just hit the proverbial old band wall. You know, you hear the rookies that hit a wall because they haven't played Gino. It's just lost his legs. He's just got nothing left in the tank. And I think he's not going to make it through another season. I think this is going to be it for him.

Chris: Okay, so Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single hockey game. You can catch him on the Sports Porch podcast anywhere you get your podcasts, and you can also catch him on YouTube at the Sports Porch podcast. Please subscribe, click the notifications button, and also leave us a review. I do want to get in some comments here by… Mr. Stiller fan who joins us, he's back. So I'm not going to put them all up, but I'm going to put two of them up. So in regards to playoffs, this is upset week. Broncos upset the Bills, Steelers upset the Ravens, Chargers upset the Texans. Wow. He leads us all the way, AFC championship at home with the Broncos, sweet redemption for us. All right. That would be fantastic. That would be incredible.

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: Maybe they bring back Tim Tebow, you know, maybe, maybe the Steelers.

Steve: No, no, no. We lose to Tebow in the playoffs.

Chris: I know, I know. I have a dream. I have a dream that you are going to introduce to us what we are watching. Schwaber, what is this all about?

Marc: What this is about is our way of giving back to our community, our people, you. Uh, you all have a tough time. Let's face it. We even do too. Sometimes picking out what to watch with streaming channels. There are so many choices from HBO max to apple TV plus to, to Netflix, to Amazon prime freebie to Vubie to to be to UB to UB. It goes on and on and on.

Chris: And Clermont.

Marc: Yes. So what we're going to do is we're going to tell you whether something is worth watching or not. That way you don't have to watch the trailers. That way you can just know that the guys gave it the okay.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Marc: And it's time to sit back, pull up some popcorn and enjoy the show.

Chris: Yes. Yes. Please don't throw up your popcorn after this particular show though. Okay, the Grant Schwab beanie. I don't have one this week because I'm in the middle of two things that I'm watching.

Marc: So by the way, guys, do you realize just when you guys can't come up with anything? I've got 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11. I've got 12 on my list that I could give a review on. Yeah, that's great. You also- I've got three.

Chris: I've got three.

Marc: I've got three.

Chris: Okay.

Marc: Well, Schwab, you also have- Well, what I'm saying is stop re-watching 50 seasons of shows you've already seen.

Chris: It's because I'm re-watching. I didn't realize it's because I have a life outside of my house and off my couch. You know, I didn't realize that.

Steve: Are you shoveling snow today?

Chris: Yes, I was. I shoveled my mother's sidewalk and porch. Thank you very much. There you go. Are you going to fly to Florida and plant some flowers for your dad?

Marc: Keeping Jana safe.

Chris: Got to keep Janice safe. That's got to keep Janice safe. Oh, Pat off track is in the house. Mr. Still a fan. That's a hell of a lot of money line partly. Also, the charges are road favorites. Maybe that's not a bad bet to make. Anyway, the Grand Squad Beanie, since he was so kind to introduce this segment, is watching.

Marc: Oh, in game two. Now, one thing I will tell you. uh, is I didn't realize this, but squid game season two is broken up into two parts.

Steve: Oh, you, yeah.

Marc: So, so, so I did watch the first part, which was seven episodes. And then we got to wait like two months, I think, till the next one.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Marc: But yeah, it's good. I mean, for those of you don't know at home, it's, it's, uh, a Korean show that kind of got world famous during COVID when everybody was locked in their house and they had to start watching Netflix every single day. And so it got really popular and huge. And essentially what it is, is you have a bunch of people who are down on their luck. They owe a lot of money. They're basically, you know, getting threatened by, you know, gambling rings that they owe money to and stuff like that. So they're just desperate for, you know, one big jackpot that could get them out of their troubles.

SPEAKER_03: Mm hmm.

Marc: Now, what these people don't realize is that they accept an invitation to play a game And the game essentially is a bunch of children's games with the added element that if you lose the game, you die.

Steve: You're dead.

Marc: You basically get killed. OK. And and it's fun. It is fun.

Steve: It is fun. You forgot to mention that they can at any time vote to stop the game.

Marc: Right. They can. But, you know, it often doesn't go the way you think it would go because, you know, people are like, you know, let's keep going. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going.

SPEAKER_01: All right.

Marc: But yeah, yeah, it's good. But season two is very good. I mean, it's certainly just as good, if not the same or better than than season one. Some different wrinkles to it.

Steve: Mark, did you did you watch season one?

Marc: Yes. Mhm.

Steve: So the only thing that I don't like about season two is I don't like how they're like trying to fight against the power.

Marc: You know, did you, did you, uh, did you watch the whole season too?

Steve: I did.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. Well,

Marc: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I thought. I mean, it wasn't a good choice. Let me put it that way.

Steve: Well, it was because the ones that are left in the game are still in the game, right?

Marc: Right, right, right. Yeah. No, I kind of I didn't mind that. I mean, it's just. I mean, the only thing, there's one thing about it that I find absurd, but I won't share it because I don't want to ruin anything for anybody.

Steve: Yeah, don't ruin it. You got to watch it.

Marc: It's really entertaining.

Chris: TheGreenswabini recommends watching, first of all, you should probably watch season one, but he is now watching season two, Squid Game on Netflix.

Marc: By the way, you do have to watch season one. You can't watch season two without.

Steve: Yeah, it's better. I think you could watch season two, but you'll miss a lot of the you won't get things. Yeah.

Chris: Okay. Excuse me. Hockey Jesus. Something I want to watch here.

Steve: The Kings of Tupelo. This is on Netflix.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it looks good.

Steve: Hey, Mark, this is a classic Klein documentary. Oh yeah. And I'll tell you why. There's this guy, his name's Kevin Curtis. Okay. Grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi. He, and, and by the way, Tupelo, Mississippi, I have, I've never been there. I never want to go there, but it's like the hillbilly town heaven. Okay. And it's claimed the fame is Elvis Presley grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Chris: I thought it was Tupelo, honey.

Steve: No. OK, please.

SPEAKER_01: All right.

Steve: All right. All right. So, so they have a lot of Elvis impersonators there and this guy Kevin Curtis is an Elvis impersonator. However, he got with his, his, his brother and they like do a dual Elvis act. Okay. And, and that seems normal for Tupelo and you're like, whatever. Well, I guess the act kind of failed and he was running out of money and he started having a family. So he started this cleaning service. And and this is where things go off the rails. I mean, off the rails. He got a contract with the hospital and he noticed there are a lot of decapitated parts laying around. And he started to inquire about them.

Chris: I'm all in.

Steve: He started to inquire about them and he ran up against some power in Tupelo, Mississippi. And it just goes off the rails from there. I'm not kidding you. Conspiracy theories, a guy who runs a Taekwondo center who they don't know his background, but he says he's from the Department of Defense and he knows so much about the world. And he's like, you don't even know half of this story about what they're doing with these parts. It goes off the rails. I had to watch it because I had to see how it ended and I don't think there was a real ending to it. But if you like conspiracy theories and you like Elvis, you will love the Kings of Tupelo.

Marc: How many episodes is it?

Steve: I think it's like six, six or seven. It's a prerequisite six or seven. I wouldn't be surprised if there'll be a second part to this.

Chris: Is this kind of like a Tiger King kind of thing?

Steve: Well, I never watched Tiger King, but I'm betting yes.

Chris: Yeah, it sounds like it is. Um, I actually didn't watch tiger King until a couple of years after it was good because there was so much hype during the pandemic. I thought to myself, there's just too many people watching Netflix, you know, like everybody's going to say it's good cause they got nothing else to do. And then I watched it after the fact. And I actually thought it was, I actually thought it was pretty good, but this was very bizarre.

Steve: I mean, it goes in, it goes in so many twists and directions. You're like, What is going on here? Like, you just can't believe it.

Chris: I can't wait. The Kings of Tupelo on Netflix. That is H.J. 's What We Are Watching. I will have one next week. I can assure you, boys, I want to remind you that I am working on Saturday night, so I'll be home around 9.15. I'm going to try to actually, I'm going to try to get off early to come home and watch the game. But, uh, you know, Hey, listen, man, I'll be texting on the other channel. Don't worry on the other channel. Thank you very much. I really, I really appreciate that.

Marc: And do you like it when we do things like say, Oh my God, I can't believe that.

Chris: with me every single game, every game. All right, guys, listen, thanks for being here. As always, we really enjoy it. We're glad you're here. You've been watching the sports porch. If you're watching live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and Instagram all over the world. And of course, I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast.

SPEAKER_03: Let's go.

Chris: And here we go. We'll be back on Monday night, 7.30 p.m. Eastern time with a recap of the playoffs. For the Grand Schwab Beanie, for Hockey Jesus, I am your technical director. That's right. I am your technical director and I am out. Jablonsk. Jablonsk.