Steve: time than some NFL stuff. Okay. Well, let's go for some stuff tonight.
Chris: Let's go for some stuff. All right. There we go. There we go. Somebody going to watch the IG? Thanks. The Instagram boys. Looks like we got CityCast watching on Instagram. Thanks for being here, CityCast. CityCast, welcome to the show. Excellent. Hey, listen, if you haven't heard CityCast's daily podcast on Pittsburgh life, you should do that. Yeah. Yeah. It's very informative. Great people. I've done a little work with them. Yeah. But of course, we got a show to do. We got a show to do. So I want to thank everybody for watching The Porch, The Sports Porch, Pittsburgh. The Porch is live right now. We are live all over the world on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube, right?

Marc: You bet. YouTube's a part of the program. It is. They've signed on.

Chris: Thank you, YouTube, for broadcasting us. Yes. Thanks so much. And of course, we dropped the podcast, The Sports Porch, right after the show. So you can subscribe, leave us a review. We would love that. Absolutely. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

SPEAKER_02: or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts.

Steve: The pirate's coming out.

Chris: It's almost time. It's almost time to bring back the bucko report.

Marc: By the way, great time to call in. We got an open line 412-805-7235. 723. Oh, that's right.

Chris: Is that the wrong phone number? Thanks for pointing that out Schwaber. Yeah. Hey, listen, how often, how often do you dial your own phone number? You know what I mean?

Steve: How often do you do that? I text you all the time.

Chris: I don't know your number. You don't. That's exactly right. And I'm going to drop a comment right now because we encourage you to. We encourage you to not watch social media in your car, so you can always stream it on Radio PGH at that link I just put in the comments. Stream it live, and we do the pregame and the postgame after the show. We kind of stay on, and there's some little, significant little nuggets we get from that, right? And it will save your life. Yep. I'm not a beanie cap kind of guy, you know what I mean? Like, I don't look really good in them. You think so? You think it's all right? Because I got to wear the colors. I got to represent. I got to represent. So, uh, Einstein or Alan has more TDs than anyone in the league and it's not even close. What do you guys stand a chance? Oh, how do you guys stand a chance without TJ watt? That's an Instagram comment. Thanks for being here. Well, he's right. We're going to get to that. Absolutely. We're going to get to that. But before we do, I want to remind you that our website is the porch is live.com and during the show, 4, 1, 2, 8 0 5 7, 2, 3, 6, please call in, tell us what you think. If you like us, if you love us, if you hate us, if you don't, And we do have a couple comments coming in right here. Pirate Fest didn't get you fired up. Not really. Not even pirates at the pens game. Richard says, let's go bucks. I'm going to dive right in because, you know, Holy shit. They made the playoffs. They backed into the playoffs. Now, I want to go over something real quick. In the beginning of the year, all three of us, we did our Steelers predictions. And we did the predictions based on the season wins and losses. We're not going to go over every game because that doesn't matter anymore. But what I am going to say is that Mark had the Steelers going nine and eight. Pretty close. And if you're watching you have to excuse Mark because the television behind Steve has the Flyers and the Pens game on and Mark just can't keep his eyes open.

Marc: I didn't stutter at the question.

Chris: That's true. Chris had the Steelers going 9-8 and Hockey Jesus had the Steelers going 10-7.

Marc: Did you plan on three victories from Mason Rudolph in those calculations?

Chris: Listen, no, I'll go over this part. I'll go over this part of the schedule. Steve had we had the Bengals, the Seahawks and the Ravens to finish the season. Yeah, Steve had them beating the Bengals, losing to Seattle and losing to the Ravens. So he actually had them at 10 and four. Yeah, and they ended up 10 and seven. Yeah, I remember.

Steve: So well, because they flip flop those last two games with the two jabroni games.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: Arizona jabroni. What a Pittsburgh word. Jabroni. I'm bringing it back. I'm saying it all the time. Dude, as far as I'm concerned, I've known you for so long, it's never left. You know, I heard that word in Philly in 93 and I thought, I don't know. Uh, so here we go.

Steve: I saw a hockey card with a guy named jabroni on it. I need that hockey card.

Chris: You have to. Yeah, you have to. Yeah. I'm tasking you with that. I got to get it. Yeah. I'm tasking you with that. Okay. So, uh, John King says, when is that? We're going to talk about all this stuff here, but I want to get these comments in because we love when you comment on the show, we would love it even better. If you called in at that number on the ticker below, when is the last time Tomlin won a playoff game? And it looks like TJ would go without a playoff win. Again, DG is in the house. He is, um, Uh, joining us on YouTube tonight, since he still hasn't gotten a Facebook notification. I don't know why DG we are on the sports porch, Facebook page. So you could go there, but as always DG, one of our number one guys.

Steve: Cause I got the, I got the game on in the background.

Chris: One of our number one fans now we're on Facebook. Um, I can tell you we're on facebook because we have 16 people 17 People watching us facebook right now. So dg's in the house. Good evening. Uh, Dg, thanks for being here as always almost every friggin show. Um Guys mason rudolph, uh, let's just start there.

Marc: Yes, the grand schwalbe go for it schwalbe Well, I believe that I said before the season that Mason Rudolph was the most talented quarterback on the Steelers roster.

Chris: Now, I don't remember those exact words coming out of his mouth, but I do remember that you were of the mindset that Rudolph was the better quarterback. Correct. Yeah, that is true. I'll back you up on that. Correct. All right.

Marc: All right. Yeah. So, hey, Mason Rudolph got his opportunity and he didn't waste it.

Chris: He certainly did not. Now, Steelers freak is in the house. Philadelphia hasn't suffered this much since the British occupied the city in 1777. Philadelphia stock down, Pittsburgh stock up.

Marc: I don't. I will say 1777 rough year.

Chris: Yeah, it was not just for Philadelphia. I have a faint memory, but I think I was in the throes of, I don't know, some sort of addiction or something. I don't know. Maybe.

Marc: Yeah, I mean, it's a while ago. It was hard. Three lifetimes. It was hard to get a good, you know, gas lamp back then. I know it was. It was.

Chris: Yeah, it was also hard to get a good cheese steak in Philly back then. I don't think they existed. All right, let's bring it back to football. Yeah, let's bring it back to the Steelers. So, Mason Rudolph. You're saying that you, so, so, so Schwaber, let, let, let's just, let's unpack this. Let's unpack it. Let's unpack it a little bit. So you, what you're telling me is that in a perfect world, you would have started Mason Rudolph this season. You would have, you would have anointed him the starter.

Marc: Would that be what you would have done? No, I would not have done that. Okay, well what would you have done? But I would have pulled the plug sooner on Kenny Pickett.

Chris: And you would not have started Trubisky when Pickett went down.

Marc: Correct. Or I would have maybe played Trubisky and as soon as he showed his god-awful play, I would have sat him down after one game.

Chris: His god-awful play. Is that what it was? God-awful play? It's pretty much God awful play. Yeah. I can't say that I disagree with you on that. Um, I, and everybody that watches our show and has for the last few years, knows that I jumped on that Kenny Pickett train when he was at Pitt. I said they were going to draft him. They did draft him. I can't help but brag about that. You know, it's, yeah, I mean, but you know, at the same time I'm off that train now I, I, and you guys know, I jumped off the Kenny Pickett train a few games back. I think now what I think and what the Steelers organization is, is going to do or could very easily and most likely Be two different things. Mm-hmm. But if i'm making the decisions the kenny picket era is Over no, that's that's my that's my opinion.

Marc: I know. Yeah, it's I agree with steve. It's not over and that's concerning Yeah, I don't know.

Chris: I don't know why I don't know why that didn't uh Uh, no, yeah doesn't sound too loud when I say oh no, yeah Uh, hey, wait a minute. Here we go. Dg comes in with the comment Uh, you guys definitely knew my thoughts all season regarding Mason. He was on your side. Schwab. Is he our savior? I know far too early to make that claim, but prior to last season, Rudolph should have started after that phony competition. I mean, I don't, I don't know about that.

Steve: It wasn't a compliment.

Chris: Yeah. Speakers back. Thanks for being here again. Mason stays in the pocket, which gives you a line more confidence. Mason hanging in the pocket also allows the wide receivers to complete the routes and get open. George Pickens alluded to that earlier in the year when he was talking about a quarterback standing in the pocket. So there is again, there is so much to unpack here. So Mark, you, you know, you said You've always been kind of a Rudolph fan as far as, like, he's the better quarterback.

Marc: I've always felt he's had a very good arm. He's got a good NFL arm, throws a good deep ball. Right. And I always felt that he never really got, like, a fair shake here in Pittsburgh.

Chris: Right, right. I hate this hat. I'm sorry, guys. So, Steve, where do you come out on that? Where do you come out of?

Steve: No, Mark's right. Mason Rudolph never did get a fair shake from the very beginning when he was drafted to replace Ben Roethlisberger. And then after they soured on that year that Ben got injured and played duck dodges instead for some of the games after he got injured, it was his career basically in Pittsburgh was over. But every time he's come back to play, he's proved them wrong. Right. So he actually to Mark's credit, is probably the most talented quarterback on our team, which is why we're going to lose desperately in Buffalo, because it's a battle of competitions against the quarterback against the quarterback, whether you like it or not. And we are severely overmatched in that category in this game. And we have no idea how to stop somebody like Bill's quarterback. I mean, I mean because he's he they don't have running plays for him, right? He just runs whenever he feels like the time comes so you can't set a defense against him take out TJ watt and now he can get to the outside and throw the ball and run the ball and that's a bigger problem because with what at least you could you could you could circle it right and That's how you that's how you stop him. You keep him in the pocket You don't let him run and you let the guys up the middle get the sack

Marc: And you'd have a chance of turnovers.

Steve: Right. You don't rush him from the end because if you flush him out of the pocket, he's going to crucify you. So that's how you got to beat him. And going back to Mason Rudolph, Rudolph has been great and he looks awesome in the pocket and he is a real NFL quarterback However, his talent level is probably three levels down from Josh out and that's the problem Yes, I agree a hundred percent. I think the they're gonna have to run the hell out of the ball and Super effectively and they're not gonna be able to make any mistakes and every time they get in Here's the problem when they when the Steelers get into the red zone They're going to need to get touchdowns, not field goals. And lately they haven't. They haven't. They're one of the worst red zone offenses in the league.

Chris: Yeah. And that was prior to Rudolph taking over. But I think for me, the biggest still haven't been great in the red zone. No, not great, but better. I think that the biggest takeaway for me and Steelers freak is just having a great time tonight. You know, he's saying that this is close to a balanced offense for the first time in three years and players know it. The biggest takeaway for me is this, and Mark and I were talking before the show, before our Philly show, and I said, what I take away from this whole Mason Rudolph episode, and I can't call it an experiment because they didn't want to do this. The biggest takeaway from this episode for me is the fact that when you have the quarterback position, we all know the most important position on the offensive side of the ball, if not the most important position in the team, right? In sports, in sports, baby. He's your leader. Okay. Um, what happens is Philly just scored. What happens is. You look to that guy to elevate the play of your other of the other players So you're you're only going to get a tom brady or a pat mahomes or even a dan marino or whoever? You're only going to get them once in a generation or two So if you look at it, they don't all win super bowls So dan marino one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time never won a super bowl but what you do look for is you look for a guy who plays the position, right and He elevates the other players on your team. So what we figured out about or what I figured out about the I'm never gonna do this with a hockey game on in the background. I'm about to turn the TV off. Well, stop complaining and make your point No, I am definitely not your wife so keep talking so I tried to be your what well that's another show so please I The Steelers do have as much talent as everybody thought they had because now you've got a quarterback who knows how to play the position. Not only that, he's a big guy. He's got a good deep ball. He's got a strong arm. He's a couple years behind, uh, you know, sitting there just learning and staying healthy. And now all of a sudden the offensive line, they know where he's going to be when they start their blocks. Okay. When they start the blocking scheme, they know where he's going to be. They know he's not going to be running out of the pocket right away. Um, your receivers, they know where he's going to be, what he's looking to do. So what it shows me is that I think the Steelers have a lot more, uh, stability and talent on the line and at the receiver position and the running back position than we thought. So that goes back to what was the problem? There were two problems. Kenny Pickett and Matt Canada, you know, and and I say that, you know, I'm not taking that lightly. I don't want to say that about Kenny Pickett, you know, do I think Rudolph can be a starter? I have no idea. I haven't seen enough of him yet. But what I do know is he sure as hell knows how to play quarterback. He knows how to play quarterback. And when you compare the tape, I, I hate to say, cause I know Kenny Pickett knows how to play quarterback, but it doesn't look like Kenny Pickett knows how to play quarterback. And I don't even want to talk about Mitch Trubisky and I feel bad for that guy. We hate him around here, but they brought him in here and paraded him around as a starter. So that leads me to this. Does Rudolph, if he wins his playoff game, does he stay with the Steelers? Not do they anoint him the starter? Does he resign if they offer?

Steve: Yeah, I think he'll stay. And the reason he'll stay is because they're going to cut your bisky and they're just going to give Trubisky, um, they're going to give Rudolph Trubisky money and they're just going to ride that another. What they got another year with Ken before they got to make a decision on his fifth. Right. So they can keep both of those guys for two years and just be who they are, which is a middling offense. And unless they get an offensive coordinator in here who can use those talents better, they'll basically be the same offense they were this year. Now, is that good enough? I mean, this year got us in the playoffs, but let's face it, nobody thinks we're going to beat the Bills. If they do, then they need to open their eyes. And here's the other thing. Even if they beat let's just let's just play. Let's play this out. Even if they beat Arizona and New England and they were still playing the bills, you still think that the Steeler, everybody would be thinking they could beat the bills? No, they probably don't. I don't think they I don't think so. So even if they have two more wins anywhere, a 12 win team, they're still not in the range of where you're saying, hey, this is a good playoff team. They can make a deep run. And that's why they got to make the change. It isn't because of anything else but that. And that's why they have to go get an offensive coordinator now if they feel like they've got enough talent. And by the way, I think they do it running back. I think they do on the offensive line. They're not using Friar Muth enough. And I can tell you, Friar Muth doesn't have six or eight catches on Sunday. not only will they lose, they won't cover and it'll be, it'll, it'll, it'll be bad.

Chris: I have to interrupt because I, we, we don't get the Instagram comments on this side of the things and I want to get it in before it disappears. But Einstein or who is replying to DG, uh, who was talking about Alan, um, he says at, at David G at DG, Alan has not played poorly this season. His stats are better than Lamar Jackson's. The media gives him a bad rep. because of his interceptions, but his TDI and T ratio is still the best in the NFL. Well, I mean, I think we know that Josh Allen is a good quarterback. Right. Yeah. I think we know that what DG saying here is Mason will stay. And when picket craps out, he'll step in again. It won't take long. Well, look, if they follow the same playbook as this year, which would be a horrible thing to do. Kyle is in the house from Atlanta. It's the porch, baby. Let's say hi to Kyle. What's up, Kyle? Hey, Kyle. What's up, Kyle? Yeah. Delta. Delta Airlines. Best airline in the world. I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear anything about it here. The smart play by Steelers freak, uh, is to take a nice raise. Don't bitch about number two and wait for the fans and players scream for him.

Steve: Well, I think they can actually, and I don't, I can't believe we're actually talking about next year and not the damn playoff game. But that aside, I'm just going to make my last comments regarding that.

Chris: Okay. Go right ahead.

Steve: The only way they can have an open competition is if they bring in a new offensive coordinator and the offensive coordinator says, here's the new playbook. First one to figure it out and can do it. The best job is starting quarterback.

Chris: It's really that simple. I don't know. I think that Mason. Mason Rudolph. I was going to say Mason Crosby. I think that Mason Rudolph would be absolutely insane to stay here. Well, I'm sorry, guys. We're working out this Instagram thing because they don't have the comments over here. I like to respond. Soul Wax 79 says any chance TJ will play. And I think the answer is no.

Steve: I mean, they said he really wants to play.

Chris: Of course. But you got to take an injury like that and figure like a Super Bowl, not on the horizon, really this year. Do you want to take a chance at making that a worse injury? Yeah, I would. So let's go back to that. Let's go. Not my knee. I don't care. I get you. Let's go. Let's go back to Mason here. I think Mason would be crazy to stay here, given that just we all know the history.

Steve: Dude, where else is he going to go and get $8 million?

Marc: Well, the other thing, too, if he wins a playoff game, the other thing, too, is, you know, Pittsburgh is going to be Pittsburgh is going to be one of the best places to go, where as the backup, you got a really good chance of taking over the job.

Steve: This is true. Why would you want to leave that situation? And you know everybody, you know who you're throwing the ball to. It doesn't make any sense for him to go, honestly. Now, as a person, maybe he does want to go. That's what I'm talking about. And if he does, I think he'll make that known right away.

Chris: Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about the dollars and cents. I'm not talking about the Steelers side of it. That's fine. If he goes, then we sign Kirk Cousins and we're better off. That would be horrible, I think. Yeah, sign Kirk Cousins. Do you think the Steelers would do that? No.

Steve: I doubt they'd do it, but it's not a bad idea. I did hear their inquiring about the quarterback in Chicago.

Marc: Justin Fields. Yeah. And I think that's a bad. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what. Tomlin is dying. Yeah. He's dying for some athletic quarterback. He is. He was dying for it. Yeah, that's true. Because, you know, that that's I hate to say it, but that's the kind of quarterback he can win with playing his way.

Chris: Yep. So DG says right now, Rudolph makes 1.08 million.

Steve: He takes the 8 million and runs. No, 1.08. No, no. Next year when he re-signs, he'll get 8 million.

Chris: Somebody else is going to pay him more than that. No way. Not more than eight million.

Steve: But I'll take that. And if that happens, then, you know, we get Justin Fields and we go to the Super Bowl. Yeah, this is all crazy. Justin Field. OK, can we talk about the game?

Marc: Yeah. How about there is a game this week, right?

Chris: Yeah, I think so. We want to talk about the Steelers game or are we moving on to our. our predictions.

Marc: Since we haven't talked about the Steelers game yet, I think we should probably talk about that game.

Chris: Okay, that sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Mark. I'm so happy you're here all the time. I'm so happy you're here. Well, we've got to try to keep you on track. Okay, keys to the game.

Steve: Your thoughts. Everybody knows what we need to do. we need to score more points than the other team. Okay. Well, see how simple that was.

Chris: And I'll start the music now.

Steve: Yeah. Right. How do they do that? That's the question. That's the problem because I don't think you can get into a shootout with them, honestly, because let's face it. Josh, Josh Allen has too many targets. I think the best thing you can do is let them run the ball and then hope that when they get the midfield 40 yard line, what happened against Miami happens again. And that's where he makes turnovers or they get stalled and they can't get seven points. Because if they start getting touchdown after touchdown, it's going to snowball on the Steelers because they have to run the ball. And let's just say first three series, they come out and they can't run the ball. Well, that's a problem. So I think what they need to do is they need to come out and throw it deep early. And I think that's, that'll, that'll loosen up the run game. Okay. If, if, if it's successful or successful enough and deep for the Steelers lately has been, you know, 40 yards. But I think even if you go 15, 20 yards, I think that's good enough. And that's where I think you need to bring Fryer-Muth in because I think everybody knows they want to throw at the pickings. And let's face it, Deontay Johnson is not, has become a third down receiver, so he's garbage. And Alan Robinson hasn't been anything all year. So I think you got, I think you have to surprise them. They've had some, they've had some injuries in the linebacker position. I think they can exploit that the best. That's the best chance at exploiting that defense. And then they can open up the run and then they can keep the game close. And then when the game is close, then, you know, the Steelers actually are one of the best one score teams and they don't lose if they have the, they have a lead in the fourth quarter. I think that could change with Josh Allen because he's an excellent come from behind quarterback. But if they get to that scenario, then that's the, that's the way the Steelers can win the game and score more points than the bills.

Chris: What about you Schwaber? What do you think? How do they win?

Marc: I think, I mean, mainly I'm going to echo what Steve said. I mean, I think they need to get an early lead. And I would do the same thing that Steve's talking about, which is try to surprise them going deep early. Maybe catch, you know, pickens on a 70-yard touchdown or something like that crazy.

Steve: We're even talking about that as a possibility Actually, they probably would need to do with like somebody they haven't used like Calvin Austin the third right ca3.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah Well, I mean at the same time though, you know look I mean now I realize Pickens didn't do much against Baltimore, but I And you could say that they're keying on him, but look hey you want to be a wide receiver one You got to make some plays in the playoff game.

Steve: Yes, right So usually come down the secondary players if you think about it I mean you you let's face it digs is gonna get his right and I think Pickens will probably catch enough balls to be relevant if they're gonna be you know close to the bills But really it comes down to the running game and who is going to be that third receiver is going to come in and do something different.

Marc: Yeah. I mean I think obviously you got to you got to win the turnover battle. And I think that's harder without T.J. Watt there, because he often gives you a turnover, you know. And if he doesn't give you a turnover, you know, his play, just like from rushing the quarterback and creating pressure can cause turnovers, where it's not necessarily directly assigned to him because somebody else intercepts it. So it's win the turnover battle, get up early, And once you're up, you know, try to keep Josh Allen off the field. You know, methodical drives, you know, three plays, you know, you know, three yards, four yards, three yards, you know, keep going down the field.

Chris: DG says he agrees they need to throw deep early, throw to Friermuth and hope they can jump out ahead with some defensive splash plays, then keep Allen off the field by pounding the ball when they're loading the box, toss a bomb to put them away. I think it's kind of risky to do that, but I understand.

Steve: I think the key to this… They're going to have to take risks if they're going to beat Buffalo in Buffalo.

Chris: No doubt. No doubt. I agree.

Steve: I guess, and also the other thing we didn't talk about is the weather.

Chris: If the weather is horrible… And Soul Wax on Instagram says, how is the weather forecast for Sunday?

Steve: The weather forecast could be, you know, lake affects snow. So if that's the case, then you just have to grind it out. I mean, yeah, you really don't want to do anything. I think that favors the Steelers. That favors the Steelers. I like the Steelers a lot more if if Josh Allen just can't go out there and come from behind in two minutes and go down the field because, you know, there's one inch an hour of snow falling on the ground, you know, or be like more like one inch every minute.

Chris: You're the you're the engineer that lake effect snow is nuts.

Steve: Yeah, it is crazy Well, I think I think they do the two running back sets, uh, like steeler's freak saying I think that's when you go to the two running back set Because then you don't know which way you're going to run it.

Chris: Yeah, I I think the key to this game um is not Winning the turnover battle Because we were and we were talking again before the show You know alan's a turnover machine The key with Alan is that he can and does turn the ball over on a fairly regular basis. But he's kind of like that Brett Favre kind of guy. He brushes it off. and then he moves on to the next play. He can put it behind him, right? The key is if they get a turnover, which I would say it's a good 80% chance that they score, not necessarily a pick six, but if Allen gives you that opportunity, if he coughs up the ball, they got a score. That's when I would take the risks. It's like an old Joe Gibbs play. Joe Gibbs used to do this back in the eighties all the time. He was famous for this. The Redskins defense, now they are better teams than what this Steelers team is, but the Redskins defense, they get an interception or a fumble and maybe it was on their own 40-yard line. First play, pass action, long bomb. They're not expecting that. Those are the risks you have to take. I think the key to this game is if there is a turnover, that's when they take that risk. That's when you strike, because now you've got a team that's back on its heels and you've got Allen who generally can brush those off because a lot of times they don't result in the other team scoring. But first of all, you've got you've got the double whammy. He threw an interception and on the very next play, they scored six points. Yeah. Now you're starting to put them in a hole. So, and that's a lot of, there's a lot of variables there. And we get, Mark and I were having a little bit of a debate about this, about them beating the Ravens. And we were all texting during this game. And I'm on your side of the coin on this. If, first of all, that game was equalized because of the rain. So the fact that Lamar Jackson wasn't playing and who was else? Zay Flowers wasn't playing. Right. That rain was so hard. I had a buddy who was at the game. It was pouring down, drenching rain the entire game. And that's a great equalizer. So I don't see that victory against Baltimore as being lesser because Lamar Jackson wasn't playing. That was a good win. And if they do get that snow up in Buffalo and there is like, say, six inches on the field or six inches on the ground,

Marc: Well, maybe that favors the bills because Jalen Warren can't handle the ball in the bad weather. Well, that's the rain.

Chris: That's the rain. Yeah, let's not go.

Steve: I mean, let's not. It is ironic that he fumbled after saying his praises the week before.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. And DG comes up with something that I think we all agree. Harvin needs to go. Yeah. Maybe next year. Uh, soul wax on Instagram. He's, he's big into the, into the show tonight. Thanks for being here, buddy. Joe, Joey Porter, JP Jr. Versus digs is a big factor. Yeah. You know, I want to transition to this. I want to transition to this transition. Okay.

Steve: Let's talk about JPJ.

Chris: That's exactly right. Actually. What I want to talk about is Tomlin. All right. Every year we go through this with Tomlin. Oh, his time's up. Oh, he doesn't know how to handle this. Oh, are you on the bandwagon? Are you off the bandwagon? I'm beginning to think that at least with JP Jr. What was it? First five games, maybe six. Everybody's screaming, start this guy. And then they started him. And now he's performed very, very well. Let's just say that very, very well. Once he learned the tackle. There you go. Maybe Tomlin was onto something. Maybe he knew in the beginning of the year, putting him out there and just kind of letting him learn the ropes. was not a good idea maybe all along he said if he hits a certain level of what we feel is uh is work in practice and when he does play then we'll move him into the starter position for good tomlin's a defensive guy i think he knew what he was doing with jp jr because the guy you know the guy ended up being pretty good Go ahead, Steve. Go ahead. Come on. Well, I mean, you didn't shave today, so I know you're, you know, you're kind of, well, let me, let me get one day's worth of, well, let me, let me get, let me get this straight.

Marc: Let me get this straight. So you want to, you want to praise Tomlin. because he allowed a second round pick to get a few games under his belt before he went into a starting role. Is that some fantastic coaching technique?

Chris: This is what happens when you put Philadelphia fans on your show. I mean, I was thinking they want to fire Sirianni in Philly. Did you hear that on the show? Whatever. They're talking about firing that guy. That's Fine, fire him. I'll take playoffs three years in a row and a friggin' Super Bowl appearance.

Steve: Well, you can hire him because, you know, the commanders need a coach.

Chris: Let's get off the commanders. You guys know what I texted you. I am not a fan.

Steve: Here were my thoughts as you were saying that. There's no way to prove that positive or negative. Like if you like Tomlin, you'll say he's brilliant. If you don't like Tomlin, you say, why did he wait so long? This guy clearly has the goods. He should have been in there from point one. Here's my only point with that. Tomlin waited until Patrick Peterson proved that he was garbage. And that's when he got rid of them. And that's what Tomlin does. You mean that's when he moved him to safety? That's right. And that's the only reason he moved him. I can tell you if Patrick Peterson thought he was still, uh, an all pro cornerback and he played. Okay. He would still be there, but he was such garbage. He had to move him out of there. They couldn't, he couldn't cover anybody. He still can't cover anybody, which is now he, he still will play safety.

Chris: It will come back now. He doesn't have to really cover

Steve: Right and that's the that's my point. No, no Tomlin wasn't brilliant about it No, he didn't have some coaching genius on the defense He he did he did draft a really good player and the reason we were able to draft that player were thanks to the Bears Thank you.

Marc: I gotta I gotta be honest with you guys though. I am still not entirely sold on JPJ I find him to be very handsy. I love it.

Steve: And I feel like you look at all the good cornerbacks in the league. They get away with it. You know why? Because they know how to do it. All the good cornerbacks do it.

Chris: No, no, no. Right. No. No. Walker on Instagram says Minka's back. Keep Peterson off the field. He agrees. Go ahead.

Marc: Now playing both is is Minka gonna be back this week. Yeah. Yeah, that's gonna be bad. I don't like that I find I find a plan.

Steve: I find the genie adult and Kincaid.

Marc: I find the JPJ is very handsy And it's not going to shock me playing against Diggs if he gets a couple of PIs this weekend.

Chris: OK, so Asia 2 Sexy.

Steve: Maybe the snow will be in the referee's eye.

Chris: Asia 2 Sexy on Instagram has said, Schwaber, you have lost your mind. JPJ is boss. Yeah, I'm with Asia on this one. I'm with Asia too. Anybody who's named Asia 2 Sexy, I'm with them.

Marc: All I can tell you is, You know, look, I discuss this with my wife every single Sunday when I watch football. And it's an interesting phenomenon, right? When the corner is a no-name, they get a flag, right? But when they're a name, like a slay, right? Or, you know, or somebody like a, you know, they, they don't, they, there's no call, right? It's nobody. And like, I sort of feel like I kind of feel like where they are with JPJ is they're sort of half the refs are sort of half in on them, right? Half out on them, right? I feel like he has got their hands all over the guy. Every single play. Yeah, and then sometimes they call them and sometimes they don't yeah, it's just it's just a weird phenomenon Well, they did that all the time in New England on those Super Bowl teams, right?

Steve: You just got crazed over you're like, but he's holding him the whole way down and they're not calling anything You know why cuz they do it every play. They're not gonna throw a flag every play right script doesn't allow them to do that, right and

Chris: Well, and we know what goes on in Mark's house during the football games, because Amy May agrees with Mark. He is too handsy. Mark, you need to be a little less handsy. You can bet there are very few flags being thrown in the Schwab house.

Marc: I bet Mark throws that red flag quite a bit. Would you throw a flag on this? Let's see that play again.

Chris: DG, I think the majority of times it's smart for coaches to let rookies become acclimated before tossing them right in the fire. Thank you, DG. Trubisky was supposed to allow Pickett to be eased in. Pickett and JPJ were tossed in because they were needed. Steelers freak on YouTube. Porter's technique will get better. He will get the benefit of the doubt with longevity. That is a good point by Steelers freak. Yes. And DG says Amy May is projecting. So well, I guess it's that time. Uh, what, and what time would that be?

Steve: We're going to have to make our picks.

Chris: Oh, yes, absolutely. Okay. So listen, first of all, I want to give a big congratulations to Schwaber for winning the regular season. I think in the regular season picks, his record was 373 and two, uh, Steve, you were around 500 and I was, I was 13 and 747. So it was a bad year.

Marc: Usually that bad.

Marc: Yeah. You were just horrendous. I was horrendous. Yeah. I mean, the fact that you're talking about sports now is, you know, in question, it's crazy Asian too sexy on Instagram says the Steelers ball.

Chris: They will.

Marc: Oh, look at Amy May. Yeah. It's too fancy.

Marc: Thanks, Dave.

Chris: Thanks for that clarification. Amy May, Amy May, you didn't go to college with him. Stop it, you scoundrel. Scoundrel the grand schwa beanie nose and sees all let's go. Let's get to it Let's do it store Okay Before we make our picks though. I do want to thank you for watching us all over the world on facebook linkedin youtube x and now instagram on Pittsburgh Beautiful's Instagram. Thank you so much for being here. And of course, this is a podcast as well. The Sports Porch podcast. We drop it every time we finish the show right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts and picks playoff picks first. Browns at Texans, our picks. What's yours in the comments? What's yours? Hey, Mark, regular season winner. Yes. Started off Browns, Texans, Joe, and don't worry guys. We will be picking the Steelers game later in this segment.

Steve: So Browns are favored by the way.

Chris: Browns at Texans, Flacco, Stroud, Flacco,

Marc: new. How about that? That's a tough one. I'm going to take the Texans. All right. You know, even, even though Cleveland has been winning games, uh, and Flacco is sort of been playing well, if you've really looked at it, it's like, he's really had like three touchdowns, three interceptions in those games. So I think, I think Stroud is going to keep the turnover differential down and I think they will win at home.

Chris: Steelers freak says texans, uh soul wax Uh 79, uh who's been chiming in on instagram. He's actually from watching us from germany So when I say all over the world alvida zane all over the world now that's saying goodbye. Oh sure. It's it's it's guten tag Guten tag. V Gates. Guten tag. Hello. What's going on? How are you? Guten tag. V Gates. Soul Wax. Okay. King Chorus 412 on Instagram. I'm going to have to say Browns. Flacco has been on it. Steve, where are you going?

Steve: I do like the Texans. And the only reason I like the Texans is because I don't like the Browns.

Chris: There you go. Yeah. And we already knew that. Yeah. Um, okay. So Steve and Mark are going, that'll be a really good game. I think I am gone with Joe Flacco and the Browns. I am going with Joe Flacco and the Browns, uh, and Marie Texans Browns disrespected when you disrespect the towel, just ask the Jaguars. Grab says the Texans. All right. And the next game up for bid on the prices, right, is the Dolphins at the Chiefs. I'll tell you what, this could be a good one.

Steve: Oh, yeah, but nobody's going to watch it because you have to have a peacock. Right.

Chris: Comments. Comments. Yeah.

Steve: Anybody out there have peacock?

Chris: Yeah. I have a peacock, but it's not mine.

Steve: Are you are you allowed to watch it? I'm allowed to use the peacock if I need to. Well, I might need to borrow your peacock.

Marc: OK, I will. I will say that Mahomes will win his home game. All right. Marcus, go.

Chris: I'm still. Are you OK over there? I don't know. It's like I'm six years old. You just can't say the word peacock without me.

Steve: Yeah, that's true. I know.

Marc: Yeah.

Marc: Did you like that picture I sent you of the peacock chasing the squirrel?

Chris: Did you actually type that in and look for it? No, it just came up.

Steve: That was one large peacock.

Chris: Yeah, it was. Well, he had extended himself. Yeah. All right. All right.

Steve: All out. That's for sure.

Chris: Dolphin. Dolphins achieves King chorus on Instagram. Let's go. Dolphins. Eileen Kelly says chiefs. Mark says, chief Steve says, I say dolphins.

Steve: There you go. I actually think the dolphins were not trying to beat the bills. I'll be honest with you. I think they threw that game because I don't think they wanted to play the bills again, honestly. I just think they're like, if we lose to this team now, then if we have to play them later, we'll play them later.

Chris: Um, okay. We have a, uh, we got a bunch of comments. I'll, I'll, I'll reserve our, our, uh, friends and followers picks for after we do ours. Um, so you're, you're picking the dolphins, Steve. I am. I'm actually picking the Dolphins as well. I think I think they're gonna roll over that that Chiefs defense Even though it's in Kansas City.

Steve: You're right though about my homes mark. He's excellent at home Yeah, probably I think he'll keep them in the game, but I don't think they can score 35 points I think I think they're gonna have to do I think the Chiefs defense is is the strength of their team and I think that it is I

Marc: Yeah, so when they get carved up, then what are they gonna do? Well, I think, you know, Tyree Kill looked a little banged up towards the end of the game, and I believe Waddle's still out, correct? He'll be back. So, you know, I'm sticking with Pat Mahomes and, you know, Taylor Swift.

Chris: All right. Eileen Kelly, Eileen Kelly on Instagram followers, chiefs King chorus. Let's go. Dolphins. Eileen also says yes. Scott Peacock a couple of weeks ago. I won't miss any games. There you go. Yeah. Let's just

Steve: If you want to share the peacock, I need a peacock.

Chris: Yes, I got peacock. I mean, I got peacock a while ago, too. Did you pick? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I picked the dolphin. Soulwax79 picks the Chiefs, but he wants the dolphins to win. Grab says his gut saying the dolphins for whatever reason. Stealers Freak Miami. Steelers free Casey wide receivers, leave the NFL and drops that, that that's absolutely correct. Okay. Next game up for bid. Here it is. Should we save our game for the last game? No, just do them in order. All right. Steelers stars, stars at the bills, a burn Buffalo. What do you think Schwab? Let's take the hot wings. What the hell does that mean? The bills.

Steve: I am not taking the hot wings. So I'm not taking the hot wings, but I am taking the Buffalo Bills.

Chris: OK, Steve is going to take the bills. You know what? Somebody around here has got to be a Stowers fan next week. I am taking Mason Rudolph and the Pittsburgh Steelers to win a game finally in the playoffs, creating even more hell and opaqueness for this organization.

Steve: By the way, that'll be the first win since they beat Kansas City in the divisional game.

Chris: That's exactly right. So what are your picks, guys? Comments on the Steelers and the Bills? Let me know. Don't have any. Oh, that was back in 2016. Maybe we do have two. Yeah, here we go. These are conditions. Listen, grabs Steelers if Harris Warren run over 100 yards. Look, just pick.

Steve: He took that. That means Steelers.

Chris: That took the Steelers. Steelers freak, of course, Steelers DG. I love it. Steeler's shock, Steve and the AFC. All right.

Steve: Out to defibrillator next.

Chris: Next game. OK, here's where the NFL starts to get a little scripted. These next two games really thought that Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys would play the Packers in a playoff game. God damn, is that timing just so good?

Steve: That makes no sense. He didn't. He used to coach for Green Bay. I think so. Did he win a Super Bowl with Green Bay? Maybe it's like a passing of the torch from Green Bay Super Bowl to a Dallas Super Bowl.

Chris: So plausible deniability, they can always say, yeah, but if we were scripting it, we would have scripted it so they played in Green Bay.

Steve: I know why you're wasting so much time, because we're all going to pick Dallas.

Chris: I don't know. I don't know. Schwaber, who are you going to pick?

Marc: Well, I'm in love, so I am picking the pack. He hates Dallas. Cowboys won and done again. Another massive failure.

Chris: That would be good for your Eagles, I'll tell you that much. That would be good for your Eagles.

Steve: I'm even going to predict the score on this one. Dallas 35, Green Bay 10.

Chris: I'm writing that baby down.

Marc: I actually think Dallas will win. I'm just having fun with it. I'll go Green Bay. So you're going Green Bay.

Chris: I'm going to go with the Cowboys too, even though I don't like them very much. Let's see. It would be fun though if Dallas lost. Yeah, it would be.

Marc: I think everybody would love that.

Chris: It would be grab says Packers. I hate the Cowboys Steelers freak Dallas because it's a home game All right next up here This is the other script game who thought that oh my god The Rams who started off the year horribly would be going back to Detroit with Matthew Stafford what? to play the quarterback The quarterback who went to the Super Bowl, lost it. They dumped, picked up Stafford, and now they're playing first division title since 1991.

Steve: You didn't even say Jared Goff. Jared Goff. He played for the Rams.

Chris: Jared Goff, I think, is the number one or number two quarterback in the NFL this year. Did you know that? No, he's not. Oh, OK. Look, I can't do it here because I got this answer. Get online and see what happens. Okay rams at lions What are your picks Schwaber? I know who you're going with you're going with the lions, aren't you?

Steve: Yeah, this is a hard one lions This is a really hard one for me because I actually think the rams are gonna win Well, then you have to pick them You have to pick them, but they're they're really pretty bad defensively. Yeah, I think this could be like a 4245 game. Who's got the better who's got the better could be who's got the better what who's got the better? They both kickers kind of suck.

Marc: I like I'm under Austin Brown.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, who is who is so under appreciated?

Steve: You know what? I don't think staff. I don't think Stafford can go back and beat his Lions. I think the Lions win. I hate taking that because I think I think the Rams are going to make it real close. But I think honestly, I think Stafford already won his Super Bowl, right? And he's kind of got a heart for the Lions. I, it's sad, but it's true.

Chris: I'm taking the Rams because he's going to go home and do that. Steelers freak Rams for the upset grabs Rams Stafford greater than golf. Uh, did you find the top quarterbacks in the NFL?

Steve: But how do you want me to rank them? I don't know. They're ranked by a QB yard. Is that what, is that what you want? Uh, just tell me where Stafford total yards. Stafford is Stafford is six.

Chris: Okay. All right. I don't know where I heard that.

Steve: I must go off. You said golf, right? Yeah. Golf. Golf is I can't even find him.

Chris: Oh, shut up. He's up there. He's 14. Okay. All right. Well, what do I know? I don't know anything. Okay. Eagles at Bucks. Maybe that was what's your pick in the comments. Eagles at Bucks. Bucks. No, he's I know.

Marc: I know.

Marc: What the hell is wrong with you? I've seen enough. Come on. I've seen enough.

Chris: It's a mercy killing. You don't even want to watch that game, do you, Schwab, while you're watching the hockey game on our show?

Marc: I do want to watch it, but more about… He doesn't want to wait till Monday. I want to watch it… That's true. I want to watch it more from the perspective of where do we got to, you know, what are our needs for the draft?

Chris: It's a freaking playoff game. I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, think about, think about the balls on this guy.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

Chris: We got the Steelers going to the playoffs for the first time in how long?

Steve: Oh, since, um, they, they, they were five years.

Chris: No, it was less than that. Three year, four years when they got beat by Kansas city, right? Steelers are going to play us for the first time in four years. More likely than not. I mean, I know I picked them to win, but more likely than not, they're going to get kicked out.

Steve: They played January 16th, 2022. Oh yeah. Oh, 2022. Yeah.

Chris: That's two years. Well, I don't care. This guy's been to the Superbowl because they're 11 and six and he doesn't want to watch a playoff game. Unbelievable. I can't be right. I mean, I'll watch it. All right. So you pick Tampa Bay. Mark picks the box picks against his own team. I'm just telling you what it is.

Marc: I'm being, I'm being truthful.

Chris: Okay. Steve says the Eagles. And I think that the Eagles, Are going to win as well. We got some comments coming in here Uh, whoops grab says the eagles are going to win dg Here we go again. Here we go again depends which eagles team shows up eagles beat the bucks and baker may field easily There you go. Okay, at least that's a decision, right? That's a decision. Okay, so it's going to be an interesting week Um, we know the rumors are going to fly. Um Stealers freak comes in here bucks something happened to the eagles. It can't be fixed until the offseason. I mean in all truth That's kind of where you are, right? I mean, that's that's the opposite of the truth. Yeah, I know I know so, uh, listen Thanks guys for watching us. Uh show's not over yet.

Steve: Very good

Chris: We got a new say we got another segment coming up here, but I want to thank you for watching all over the world on facebook linkedin youtube x instagram This is the sports porch and we do drop the podcast right after the show on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify Or anywhere you get your freaking podcast And yes, it is not lost on me that Pirate Fest happened this past weekend. And I have been keeping my eyes on the moves that they are making and the things that they are. I heard a really great interview with David Bednar. What I love about the hockey game. No it was during pirate fest but what i love about david bednar is he's a boy from mars and he's got a pittsburgh accent. He's a boy? He's a boy.

Steve: No he's a very large man. You know why he's happy? Because their first basement is larger than his.

Chris: Yeah rowdy. Now, I got to hand it to the Pirates for at least bringing in a guy named Rowdy to play first base, because you know what's going to happen in Pittsburgh. If that guy hits a couple of dingers in the first few games, the whole place is going to be like, Rowdy! Rowdy! Rowdy! Yen's going down there, PNC, watch Rowdy!

Steve: I hear rowdy. I think a rowdy play.

Chris: You know what? You know, every time I hear it, you know what Rowdy's doing right now, man, they're getting him 30 packs, Iron City and getting ready for the season. That's right. That's exactly right. Guy like Rowdy going to Rowdy Bob. Okay. DG has a question. Then we'll move on to. Since I'm out of town, I don't hear much news. Has anyone brought a picket plane over Rudolph? No.

Steve: Yeah. Everybody knows that Rudolph is going to be playing in the playoff. Yeah, you can. And he's deserved it. Yes. And picket is not going to be bad this year.

Chris: Yes. And we are going to reserve our conversation. Unless you get injured. We are going to reserve our conversation about this whole picket Rudolph, blah, blah, blah situation for real.

Steve: I don't know, we beat it up pretty good today.

Chris: We did beat it up, but there's gonna be more to beat up if he wins or if he loses because that'll be maybe next week unless they win a game.

Steve: So you're saying… Might be talking about a new head coach.

Marc: So you're saying we're gonna… No way. So you're saying we're gonna have stuff to talk about if the Steelers win and or if the Steelers lose. Only way it happens. Okay, interesting. So we're going to have stuff to talk about either way.

Chris: Either way, no matter what. Breaking news. Yes. Now, what if they tie? Are we just not going to play the show? We're not going to do it.

Steve: That's never happened in the history of the NFL. They could still be playing when we go on air. Yeah. That would be interesting.

Chris: Penguins just scored again. 3-0-1.

Marc: This is actually good. Ruido with the goal. Was it really him?

Steve: Ruido got it.

Chris: Perfect timing listen guys, I want to let you know something I want to let you know if you're a penguins fan And I hope you all are that hockey Jesus preaches on the sports porch podcast after every single penguins game So when that game wraps up you hop on the sports porch podcast, you'll catch the hockey Jesus preaching about what he saw after every single game, so

Marc: It's actually been a really good game. I don't know if you've been catching a little bit out of the corner of your eye. I've seen, I've actually seen most of it.

Steve: You can tell by the number of shots. Yeah, there was… 25 to 19 shots, and only two to one.

Marc: The Penguins had five power plays in the first period.

Steve: Wow. Yeah.

Chris: Excellent. Okay, H.J., take it away. Tell us what you're thinking here.

Steve: Oh, man. So I've heard rumors that the Penguins aren't going to make the playoffs. I don't believe those rumors as being the hockey Jesus. Look, I looked at my preseason predictions and I don't want to give too much of this away because in a few games, I think there are four more games until the midseason spectacular. until the all-star break.

Chris: So we got four more games, including- We're going to call it the mid-season sermon.

Steve: The mid-season sermon is going to come out, but this is exactly where I predicted the Penguins to be. I knew they would struggle in the first, you know, 25 games. And then I knew they would struggle. They would get a little bit better in the second 25 games.

Chris: There he is praying for the playoffs for those of you watching.

Steve: However, I think they really are going to pick it up in the in the next section. I think that, well, first of all, they'll have to. And the thing is, like the Metro is so jumbled up, like they're playing the Flyers tonight, right? The Flyers are only four points ahead of them, but they're like in third position in the Metro and the Penguins are in seventh position. So. It's going to be like this for the next 20 games. Some teams are going to fall out. I just don't see the Penguins losing a lot of games in a row. I know they have in both sections. They've had a three game skid and a four game skid in the first 20 games. I just don't see this happening to this team now. And the power play, which I rally against, They got to figure it out. They just don't have to put Malkin on the point. I'm convinced they're listening to my little rants.

Chris: They probably are. I mean, they're religious bunch.

Steve: I mean, they have to be because. That's the only thing they need to fix. Get Gino off the GD point. And once they do that, then it's all fixed. And that's what happened tonight. Didn't see him on the point, not once. And the power play looked pretty good. So I think if they can tweak those little things, the power play has got to get better. Um, the penalty kills has to remain good. Look, they're not going to get Neato back anytime soon. He just had surgery, so he's going to be out until at least March or April. He's their fourth line guy who kind of plays the grit role. Um, they need to get Ludwig back. There's no timetable for his return yet. They put him on they actually haven't even put him on long-term IR yet Which is shocking because that means he has a chance to play pretty much any time but if they do then he won't be playing probably until somewhere, uh, second, third week in, um, February. And that'll be a problem because they cannot play, uh, P O J with, um, Carlson. He's just awful with him. So I, and I didn't get a chance to see what the pairings were tonight, but I know that tonight they mixed up. Um, they put Smith down on the third line. And they moved DOC up to the second line, and I think that's well well played because DOC has had two three goals in the last five games. So he definitely deserved a little bit of promotion, but I'm going to. I'm going to beat the drum for Valeri Pustanen. He's my guy now. He's the guy who's gotta stay now that rust is back. They got him back on the first line. They got racks back on the on the second line. Rex can play anywhere and it doesn't really matter. So, um, I'm, I'm, I guess I'm more optimistic than a lot of the naysayers out there. I think, I think they still got some figuring out to do. Look, they had 10 new players to this team at the beginning of the season. You just can't put those guys together and think that they're going to play well. They have to play well together for at least half a season. And that's what we're getting. And I said that they would be between 40 and 44 points. If they win tonight outright, they're at 44 points and they still have two more games to play. So I think they're where I thought they would be. And I'm encouraged by that, but the next 20 games are going to be big, it's going to really, it's going to separate those teams. You'll start seeing instead of four or five teams there, you'll start seeing two or three, you'll see two of those teams, uh, bow out for sure.

Chris: So, so basically, you know, and, and, and, um, of course, and, and, and DG who says, uh, a little prayer every now and then couldn't hurt hockey, Jesus. So, uh, so, uh, so basically I listen to every hockey Jesus, religiously. You know that. I hope you turn your speakers down for the last one. Actually, I thought your last one, did you listen to his last one? It was some of your best work. It was, absolutely. It probably was your best work. I got a little heated. You got to get heated every time, man. Bring that emotion to the microphone.

Steve: I mean, you can't get heated 82 games. Sure you can. No. Sure you can. You can't.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: Because then you're faking it.

Marc: You're also more, that's happened a lot. You're also more, you're more prone to get heated with a loss as well.

Chris: Yeah, true. But I mean the energy anyway. Um, no, no, I understand what you mean. So I've listened to them all. I've followed the season. Basically what I'm hearing from you is this, if they can fix the power play, they'll make the playoffs.

Steve: Yeah. Provided everything else stays. I mean, you know, you always have. Well, if crowds, we get hurt or Gino.

Chris: Right. That's what I said.

Steve: Provided everything, any major injury. I just don't see the goaltending falling apart between Ned and Jari. It's been a competition. Right. Ned's playing the night. He's he's he plays well every time he's out there.

Chris: He's doing well so far.

Steve: This is actually Jari's game. Jari should be in this game. But because he soiled the bed so badly in the start of that Boston game,

Chris: Um, he hasn't been back soiled the bed. Oh, yeah I can tell you've been watching band of brothers because you're using language from the 1940s. You mean shit the bed, right?

Steve: Uh Hmm. I don't like to swear. Is there a different? Oh, come on. I'm a hockey. Jesus really? Oh, holy hell No, but you're right. I think I think that's really what it comes down to for the penguins. They got to continue to play well. They got to continue to get that secondary scoring. You're not going to get it every night. Right. I perfectly understand that about any hockey team. But you have to start beating the teams like the Flyers and Carolina. The fact that they they lost the Washington and Buffalo. Right. And beat Boston. Now, that was that was dumb.

Chris: It's like opposite.

Steve: They should, they should have beat Washington. Who cares if you lose the Boston? I mean, you want to get a point, but, and it was a good win. Don't get me wrong. It was an excellent win. I, I love beating, you know, one of the best teams in the league, but you got to beat the teams in front of you and the teams that are coming up from behind you to keep the ones behind you further away and to catch the ones that are in front of you.

Chris: Did you follow that, Mark? Did you get that?

Marc: Did you follow that? I sure did. The behind you. Beat the ones in front of you and, you know, don't worry so much about the ones that are too far in front of you.

Steve: Exactly. Wow. That was a great summary. And hope that they beat the teams that are next to us.

Chris: That's like a new Denzel Washington movie, The Summarizer.

Marc: I'm sort of The Summarizer. I'm sort of The Summarizer 2. I'm sort of. He's too logical. I'm sort of clergy by proxy. There you go.

Steve: Hey, what are you doing for the hockey or what are you doing for the, uh, the Steelers game for the hockey game?

Chris: I'm sitting in front of it. Well, I don't know. Are we getting together?

Steve: Are we going to do that? I mean, I got an empty house, no wife. It's on, uh, no wife.

Chris: Did you hear that Asian sexy, whatever you are?

Marc: I don't think she's watching. Where is the wife going to be this coming weekend?

Steve: She's going to be a wild and wonderful West Virginia.

Marc: Yeah. Lots of fun there in West Virginia. I'm sure there is. That's not where the hockey is. That's where the moon shines at.

Chris: Yeah. I was going to make some kind of tooth brushing reference, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to do that. I don't even know what that would mean. It just popped in my head. She better brush her teeth. Well, I don't know what that means.

Marc: West Virginians have crappy teeth.

Chris: You're going to let you. I remember there was a time in college where Steve actually told me he never went to the dentist. Do you remember that?

Steve: I didn't go to the dentist the whole time I was in college.

Marc: That's insane. And your teeth are probably better than mine. Let's see. Let's see.

Chris: Show me the bottom. Show me the bottom. Yeah. Oh, you got problems, man.

Marc: I'm all messed up.

Marc: I don't know. I'm going to bring a new set of teeth tonight.

Chris: Now I know why. Now I know why last year you guys are like, do you want your teeth? Do you want your teeth? Do you want your teeth? I don't. I use, I use, I use toothpaste that is whitening toothpaste, but it's because it's toothpaste. I don't put any of that whitener shit.

Steve: No, you have to, you have to use the blue toothpaste now that whitens it.

Chris: Is that blue? Shut up. And you just use the crest white.

Steve: You'll love this. I'm always looking for for for new technology to get my teeth white.

Chris: You'll love this. Schwaber DG says Mark is the ultimate straight man. 50 shot. I'm not sure that I would use the phrase ultimate straight man. And I don't exactly know what it means. You don't know what a straight man is?

Marc: No, no, I don't know. What's that? Shut up. Other than, are you messing with me? Well, he's not talking about that. I'm heterosexual. Is he? Probably. Probably.

Chris: Because we know you're not the ultimate straight man. What does that mean? Straight man. Do you know what straight man is? Here's a little lesson. Here's a little slapstick comedy. You got the guy Abbott and Costello. You got the guy who's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you got the dumbass who's like, king bang, bong, bong. The guy that's like, blah, blah, blah, is the straight man. Oh, there we go. Let's do it.

Steve: A little bit of fighting.

Chris: Yeah. I don't know if you guys can see that back there.

Steve: Connect is always in the middle.

Chris: Oh, yeah. Let's do it. Let's roll around. Come on. I love it.

Steve: This is really what a flyer is paying.

Chris: Yeah, that's exactly right. You guys remember the game. I got to watch. Okay. Time to watch the game. Alrighty.

Steve: And let's go, Pittsburgh.

Chris: Here we go, baby. Listen, guys, this has been a great show. Happy New Year. Forgot to say that at the beginning. So happy that you're here and you watch us all the time. This is the Sports Porch in Pittsburgh on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and now Instagram. And you can always find our website at theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com. And I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show. Listen, don't be a jackass. Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts. Thanks for being here, guys. I am your technical director, and I am out. Let's go, Pens.