The Sports Porch Pittsburgh - What the hell happened?

Steve: Alright, we're live, baby! We are live. Oh yeah! Where's Chris?
Marc: Do you see him? Nowhere to be found. No technical director. Can we survive without him?

Steve: I think we can thrive, actually.

Marc: We shall see.

Steve: We'll try. It can't be any worse, can it?

Marc: The song still works without. All right.

null: Welcome.

Steve: We made it. We're live and we're without our technical director. So that means don't call us. We'll call you.

Marc: That is correct. No technical director. But you know what? The show does go on.

Steve: Yes, it does. And of course, you know, the technical director says we will survive. Yes, we will survive. Mr. Technical director. Yes, we will. Hope you're having fun on vacation. Enjoy those kitty cats wherever you are there, Mr. Klein. So, we have a lot to unpack tonight when it comes to those Pittsburgh Steelers, don't we?

Marc: A lot to unpack, yes we do. And it's not good.

Steve: Well, some of it might be good, but nothing was good about Sunday, that's for sure. Yes. Sunday was an absolute shit show, from the weather, to the playoff.

Marc: I don't think I've ever seen a game delayed twice like lightning and thunder. It's just like, I mean, there might have been some lightning and thunder, and I understand that, but it's kind of like, would you just play the game already? Right. Is this like a 10 hour game?

Steve: You know, I don't think the game was over till like almost six o'clock. Yeah. But the thing is, the game was actually over around quarter to two, if you think about it. Yeah, it seemed that way. Seemed that way. Yeah. Yeah. So, hey, let's break it down. Let let me put a banner up here and let me see if I can find it. Yes. Let's go. So in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals, I don't know, do we even need to go over what actually happened, Mark?

Marc: I don't think so, because none of it was very good. I mean, I mean. Go ahead. OK, all right. I'll start us off and then you can kind of go on your diet ride. All right. Um, like that word diatribe. I like it too. Um, so, all right. Um, I was actually, uh, surprised by this game. Now I know you were actually a little weary of this game coming in, but I was, I, I was honestly surprised. I thought that if, if there was ever a game right for a Steelers blowout or at least a, you know, pretty significant win, um, I thought that this was going to be it. I mean, I felt like David, welcome to the porch. Welcome to the porch, DG. You know, I don't know. Like, I thought. Look, I mean, what are the Cardinals have? Well, first of all, I didn't really know who Trey McBride was until nobody did.

Steve: Right.

Marc: OK, so he's obviously very good. You know, look, Kyler Murray, I think, is a good quarterback. Look, he's no Browning. He's no DTR, right? He can actually make some plays. I mean, I think the thing with Kyler Murray, it's a little bit more OK, well, he's he hasn't been playing football for a year because of his injury. And, you know, when he has been healthy and been playing well, there's also some, you know, questions about his mindset and how hard he practices and that kind of thing. But but the bottom line is, is like he's a very capable quarterback. So they had that going for them. But really, I mean, like, my God, like, I don't really know I don't know if I knew anybody on their defense. You know, I mean, no, I mean, like, you know, okay, like, you know, James Connor is kind of like a nice, a nice back, but he's nothing special. You know, I like, I would, I would think that the Steelers defensive line should have been able to handle him. Um, so I didn't really think that the, and look, the Cardinals won two games or three games. Was it two or three? I don't know.

Steve: Two coming into today. Yeah. The winds coming into yesterday.

Marc: Right. So, I mean, I pretty much figured they don't have much. And if the Steelers get on top of them early, they will sort of, you know, crawl into a ball and, you know, fade away. Right. But somehow that didn't happen.

Steve: Well, what ended up happening was, you know, when they had that ball fourth and one right after Pickett went down with his injury, right? That was, that was, that was it right there. Like, I actually, I actually totally agreed with the thought that you should go for it there on fourth. I agree too. You're playing against the Arizona Cardinals at home. You only need one yard. The only question to me in my mind on that play was, Why do they insist on running that play out of the friggin shotgun? Like, that makes no sense to me. Like, you're totally taking away the ability for the quarterback to say, you know what? They only have one guy here on the line. If I just sneak this in, I can get it in, you know?

Marc: Right. Or you take away the play action.

Steve: Right. You take away the play action. So, so, I mean, it just doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Marc: No, it really doesn't.

Steve: I mean, and then after that, it's like, OK, so what? So they stop them. They got the ball on the one. The Steelers defense will definitely get a three and out. And what do they do? Ninety nine yards later, they're in the end zone celebrating a touchdown. And it's a 14 point swing. I mean, right, right. That's it. That was it. That was ball game right there. I mean, they just never, they never actually, uh, recovered from, from that loss from the fact that picket got hurt and then he was out and then, um, their inability to just, they just really stopped running the ball after that. They were, they were, they were in, they were in, they were in, um, we got, we have to do something better. And, uh, let's face it after they came out in the second half and then, um, after the long halftime because of the weather delay. And then Mitch came out and then he, then Mason Cole, by the way, Mason Cole has been making those, those hikes short all season long. Like this is nothing new for Mason Cole. It wasn't like one of those things like, well, it was, you know, it was cause Mitch was in there. Mason Cole has been short hopping them the Kenny picket all year long. And Mitch, did you see the way he botched that though?

Marc: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Steve: I mean, I mean, he stopped it and then it was like underneath him and he turned around and then he kicked it, kicked it. It was it was it was the dumbest fumble. I think I've seen a quarterback have in a long while and in a very long while.

Marc: Yeah, it was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. I mean, yeah, the whole thing was honestly just surprising. And I mean, I thought I thought that the play calling would have been better, and I didn't really think it was a heck of a lot better this week. I did think it was better the week before. I mean, what happened to the Friar Mooth plan?

Steve: Right, right. What happened to the whole offensive scheming plan? I mean, it just went out the window. And then on top of that, your special teams let you down. I mean, Killebrew, who's normally a pretty good cover guy, runs into the punter. He gets another penalty on a 15 yard out of bounds play. I don't even know what that was about. And Boswell misses a field goal. Boswell misses a field goal.

Marc: Yeah, that was a shocker. And then there was a bad punt, too.

Steve: Oh, right. But those happen once a game. That's not actually very like that guy is unbelievable. Like he can launch a 70 yarder like right. And it'll have a hang time of like 12 seconds. And then he'll shank one off the side of his foot. and he'll be kicking it at the 10 yard line and it'll go out and they'll get it at the, they'll get it at the 35 yard line or something like that. So, but if you're keeping score at home, Penn's just scored, go up one, nothing. It looked like Sydney Crosby, by the way, I called it big Sydney game tonight. So I'm happy to see Sid gets on the board in the first period and no, it was not a power play goal. Sorry.

Marc: Let's move back to the right after the power play.

Steve: Right, they got better after the power play was over. Right, right, right, right.

Marc: But, you know, Amazingly, though, the sewers didn't lose any ground, really.

Steve: I know. Isn't that amazing? Like I'm I'm like looking, you know, because we're watching that we're watching the Sunday night game and they're showing they're showing it. I'm like, is that right? Like nothing changed in the wild card race. We're still the first wild card. I don't know how Houston didn't end up sneaking in to a playoff spot, but they didn't. And, you know, you still have the Browns and the Colts right below.

Marc: Unbelievable. Yeah, I guess I guess if there was a negative, I mean, it didn't help playoff seeding wise, but I guess the Colts and the Texans got to seven wins. Right. So so it punches people up for sure.

Marc: Right. Right.

Marc: It punches people up. But still, you got all the tiebreakers.

Steve: Right. I mean, that's, what's amazing to me. Like how does this, the Steelers end up with all the tie breakers and they can only score three points. Cause none of that makes sense to me. It just is, it's, it's really kind of mind boggling to me that the Steelers, uh, could lose so terribly and, um, and not lose any game. That just, that makes no sense. But moving on, the Steelers are going to have to play without Kenny Pickett for a while. He had, have you ever heard of this surgery for a high ankle sprain?

Marc: No. And the next day, what?

Steve: Yeah. I've never heard of surgery for a high ankle sprain. Too bad the doctor is in the in the house. We could ask him what the hell that means. Yeah.

Marc: I mean, it doesn't make any sense. And usually you're supposed to like let swelling go down and you know what I mean?

Steve: Yeah. if if He was walking around with a boot. The other thing about that play, which I thought was odd was why didn't he stick out the ball? I mean, he was pretty close to the goal line. Like he didn't, he didn't make maybe, and maybe his ankle did get twisted and maybe, you know, he didn't have enough time to react because he was in so much pain because whoever was that got him from behind, you know, caught his ankle and that's why I didn't put the ball, but you almost always see like a quarterback, like put the ball out there like that. Um, I don't know that that whole play was curious to me. I, I didn't mind him running for it because it looked like he had enough. It looked like he had enough space to get in, but that just hold that whole play, um, might change the whole trajectory of where the Steelers end up this season because now you got Mitch Trubisky, by the way, do you think Trubisky is, uh, a better choice over Rudolph at this point?

Marc: I would say no. Um, I, you know, look, I mean, you know, Mason Rudolph for for all the negativity people seem to have about him. I believe he has a winning record as a Steelers quarterback. He does. I think I think it's like six and four or something like that. Yeah, it's nothing great, but it definitely is a winning record, but it's a winning record. I think that. He throws a nice ball, you know, certainly he can throw a deep ball pretty well. And, you know, you know, I guess I guess all I can say is, is that to me, it almost seems like Mason Rudolph never really got his fair shake. I mean, it seemed like he was he had some momentum and then Garrett hit him in the head with a helmet. Right. And like and like derailed everything.

Steve: You know what I mean?

Marc: Right. Mitch Trubisky, unfortunately. I actually was pretty positive on the signing before he got here, but everything I've seen since he's been here to me, he just sort of seems like he's just kind of like a losing quarterback.

Steve: Yeah. And on top of that, it looks, it looks like a lot of times he's just going through the motions. Do you know what I mean? Like he doesn't have a lot of confidence about him when he's out there. Like, I know he's not afraid to throw the ball in the coverage and things like that. And I actually think that could be a problem for this team moving forward. They don't need a risk taker out there in the quarterback position. Um, and his arm isn't that strong. Doesn't seem like to me like he's not, he's not going to chuck it very deep, but you know what? Then again, neither is Rudolph cause Rudolph was never was known for his strong arm, you know? So I don't know. I think I'm willing to give Mitch a good look, you know, it's against New England. I mean, new England got a pretty good defense. I mean, they only gave up six points to the chargers. Um,

Marc: I'll tell you what, though, if the Steelers are behind at halftime and Mitch is looking like crap, I think a change will be made. I think it'll be a quick call.

Steve: No, I agree with you. I don't think they're married to him at all. But the reality is they can't afford to get another quarterback hurt because their emergency quarterback was… Did you see who they picked up today? No. It was that McSorley from Penn State.

Marc: Oh, OK. OK.

Steve: Which is hilarious in and of itself because, um, he probably is just hanging around and like, oh yeah, McSorley's like down the hall. Let's just, just something like that.

Marc: I always find it amazing though. How, how like these guys who were like great in college, like are just nothing in the pros.

Steve: Right. Yeah. I mean, they're, they're, they're calling them up for emergency quarterback spots after three guys go down. Right. Um, so I don't know, I guess, I guess you got to hand the reins over the Mitch. I think he probably will do just fine against new England. Um, who knows what Belichick's going to scheme against us. He always does something weird that you're just like, What? And I don't know the status of Ramon de Ramon Dre Stevenson. I know he left the game.

Marc: Yeah, I think he's out. I think he's he's injured.

Steve: Yeah. So that could be good for the Steelers because really the only thing they had going for them was a running game. They have another guy up there. Oh, they have Zeke, right?

Marc: So, yeah, I mean, but to be honest, I mean, like, I mean, look, I mean, Mac Jones hasn't played very well this year, but no, and neither is Bailey's happy. I think he's better than Zappy, though. I don't know, man.

Steve: I think Mack Jones does make a lot more mistakes than Zappi does. But Zappi is a turnover machine himself. I think they just struggle to not throw interceptions. And that's good for the Steelers. I think they're going to need a little help when it comes down to it. let's see what David's got to say here. Ben never helped Rudolph. Trubisky seemed a little lackadaisical, especially on that fumble. Yeah, that fumble was ridiculous. I agree with you, David. I think that Ben never helping Rudolph just derailed him from the beginning. And that's what Mark, I think, was was alluding to. So maybe maybe he does deserve it. I mean, you know, it is Christmas time. There is this guy called Rudolph who who saved Christmas. Maybe maybe he could be our Rudolph, you know, put a nice little put a nice little red nose on him and put him out there. What do you think?

Marc: You know, I go back to it all the time, but I happen to Go see Oklahoma State with Mason Rudolph play against the Pitt Panthers on a day where Mason Rudolph threw for 500 yards and they sat him down in the fourth quarter, you know, like and like five touchdowns. And I was just like, I remember watching that day. I'm like, holy crap. I'm like, this guy's an NFL quarterback. Yeah. I'm like, this guy can really sling it, you know. And and I like that pick when they picked him in the third round. Um, and I think it just, you know, for whatever reason, sometimes things just don't work out. Like, you know, like had Ben maybe only played one more year at that time and then he steps in as a starting quarterback the next year, maybe he's still the quarterback now for all we know. You know what I mean?

Steve: Yeah. And I, I think quarterbacks like that need to get into the right system and let's face it, you know, as much as we've gotten rid of Canada and, um, our offense is still struggling. The Steelers have an identity crisis when it comes, when it comes to their offensive talent. I mean, they just don't seem to be able to shake this inability to score points and get the offense continually moving in the right direction. It seems like no matter who is calling the plays, no matter who, now we're going to get a different look at a different quarterback. They just can't seem to shrink like four or five great, great strings together. You know, some, some plays where you're just going down and scoring, even if it's just field goals at this point. It's like you get a field goal here, maybe in a few drives, you might get a chance at a touchdown and maybe, you know, a few, a few drives after that, after three more punts, you might, you might have a chance at another field. You know, there's, there's no, and I hate to use a Tomlin ism here. There's no fluidity to their offense at all. Like they couldn't get a third down yesterday for the life of them against the defense that had no name. I mean, I mean, how many people are going to last in this Thursday night game when the when when the New England Patriots only gave up six points and lost, by the way, in the over under the over under for this game is something like twenty nine points.

Marc: Like, yeah, I'm surprised it's not ten.

Steve: Well, it probably would be, and you know what? They could probably take it the whole way down to like 16 or 18, and they would still get bets on the under up, I'm guessing. You know what I mean?

Marc: Right, right, right, right.

Steve: Because most of these teams have no offensive talent and have an offensive philosophy of, let's just take it easy. Let's just get whatever we get. And if we run the ball, you know, 40 times this game, that's fine with us.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and then I think the other thing, too, is unfortunately, I think it's kind of turning out that Kenny Pickett seems to be pretty injury prone. You know, it's it's it's happening, you know, over and over again, whether it's concussions or a knee or an ankle sprain or a rib, it seems like it's something. And, you know, sometimes there's just nothing you can do about that. Certain guys just get nicked up.

Steve: Right. And, you know, David's talking about David's talking about Rudolph looking good in training camp. My goodness. Training camp. Remember how good they looked in training camp and everybody was like, this is the offense. We're going to score 28 points every game. We are so far from that team. It's unbelievable. But hey, maybe maybe maybe if Rudolph can can get us to score 2124 points a game, I promise you that he would be continue to be the quarterback at least until until Kenny showed back up. What a technical director have to say? Yeah, we were talking about the mixerly signing.

Marc: Yes. Earlier in the show. Please tune in every night, every Monday night, 730 Chris.

Steve: If you get here at 730, you'll get all the insights to all the Steelers. That's right. Um, so yeah, so I think, I think that going into this game against New England, they just have to survive it. They have to get a win really when it comes down to it. Um, I don't, at this point, and you know, the way I've felt about this team all season long, I think their offense is geared to only score 17 or 20 points and, I think it might even be a struggle to score that many points. Although, you know, there's this old adage that I've noticed in the NFL, when two evenly matched teams, like even if they're very low scoring teams, play each other, they tend to score more points.

Marc: Right, right, right, right.

Steve: Right? It's just like, Oh, this is going to be a defensive battle. And then it ends up being like a 35 31 shootout. Everybody's like, how the hell does that happen? Well, it's because both teams are so evenly matched. They know how to play against that type of defense. and they get a little bit more relaxed. I wouldn't be surprised to see this be like a 28-17 type game, to be honest with you. I think it has that feel just because everybody thinks it's going to be the complete opposite. And I think that there are gonna be some big plays that are gonna make a difference. What do you think?

Marc: I'm gonna go with a Steelers win 17 to 11. There will unfortunately be a safety in the game.

Steve: Oh, safety.

Marc: OK. The Patriots are going to have three field goals on the safety. 17 to 11. I think that's probably right on script, by the way.

Steve: if if

Marc: You know, and I mean, how old is Belichick anyways? He's 70 or something.

Steve: Yeah, he's definitely he's definitely in his upper 60s, if not in his younger 70s, for sure.

Marc: Yeah. So it's like, why would you even want him? You know, the only reason why I would consider keeping him around is, you know, obviously he did a hell of a job with Tom Brady, although it's probably more Brady than Belichick. But, you know, like What? I mean, by the time the the the new quarterback is 25 years old, what's he going to be? Seventy five. I mean, yeah, right.

Steve: Yeah.

Marc: So you might as well just start over at this point. Yeah, it's it's look, it's it's a disaster. I mean, they've got two wins there. What are they, two in ten? So it's yeah. For New England, it's an absolute disaster. They've completely fallen apart.

Steve: I agree with you 100%. Speaking of succession plans, what do you think the Steelers succession plan is for their coaching staff?

Marc: You mean, do I think you mean for the offensive coordinator and the head coach for that matter?

Steve: Because, you know, I think he's only signed through next year. OK.

Marc: Well, I think that look, I still think the Steelers are going to find their way to a winning record. If you think about it, I mean, look, they have to be they have to beat New England. That's eight wins. They need to win one of the remaining games. Sure. They're going to they're going to have a winning season. So I think Tomlin will be back. They might even give them a one year extension, you know, so it's you don't have a lame duck coach. Um, I think for offensive coordinator, um, to me, it's looking like, uh, that, you know, and especially because Kenny Pickett is out, there's no way that. you know, Faulkner and Mike Sullivan are going to look good enough that one of them is going to be named the coordinator. Yeah, I agree with that. So I think they will look for an outside coordinator. The problem I see it is, is that, you know, they don't do a great job hiring, you know, young up and coming coaches. So the question becomes, can they do that? You know, can they sort of take a step forward into a different kind of football mindset? Can they do that? Or, you know, are you looking at like a Byron Lefkowitz is the guy because, you know, they know him. Right. Right. You know, or some somebody from the past who, you know, used to work for them and they know. Right. You know, so. Yeah. I mean, and unfortunately, I don't really think that. I mean, look, you know, I guess you could say Jory's still out. I'm not a big believer in picket. I really don't think that the offense is going to get a heck of a lot better. until you have a better quarterback at the helm. I mean, look, with Kenny Pickett, I think the best case scenario is keep shoring up the line, maybe get another dynamic playmaker. And if Kenny Pickett can avoid interceptions, which he's done very well at lately, and make some big plays down the field, then maybe the offense can be mediocre. You know what I mean? But I don't think like, you know, when you think about the teams who you think have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year, the vast majority of them have a top quarterback.

Steve: I agree, I agree, I agree with you there and I noticed that you were staying off the third rail there when it came to the head coach and and the succession plan with the head coach. But let's face it, the Pittsburgh Steelers have no idea what to do with their head coach at this point, you know. So there's just really nothing they're going to be able to do until they can identify whether or not the head coach that is Mike Tomlin is the guy who's going to stick around. And as long as he has a winning record, I just don't see any reason that they would, they would move away from it. And I just don't know how this team and this organization can go forward knowing they just have mediocre talent and will always be playing in that, you know, nine and eight, you know, ten and seven area for in perpetuity, really, when it comes down to it.

Marc: Yeah, I think the I think the thing that sort of holds the Steelers back a little bit and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they sort of care a little bit too much about what the public perception is. And what I mean by that is I don't think they they would ever fire Tomlin because, you know, with a winning record, because they would feel that the perception would be how can you fire a coach that's never had a losing season? Right. Whereas whereas other teams, you know, for example, they could have a head coach win the Super Bowl a couple of years ago and fire the guy.

Marc: You know what I mean?

Marc: Because they feel like, you know, that the guy's not, doesn't have the right offensive mindset or defensive mindset or whatever it might be. And I think you have to be bold in those types of decisions. And I just, I think that they're very, um, I don't know what the right term is, but I think they're very cautious when it comes to making big decisions about the football team.

Steve: I just don't think they know how to make them because they haven't had to make them in a very long time. And I think that's the problem with the Steelers right now as an organization. How do you join the 2020s when you're stuck maybe in the 1990s? You know what I mean? It's like, how do you do that as an organization and not not not move forward. I mean, really, that's the problem, I think, with the Steelers overall is an organization like like like think about this.

Marc: Like here's an example for you. Take like the the L.A. Rams. Right. The L.A. Rams went to a Super Bowl with Jared Goff. OK. And then two years later, they traded him for Matt Stafford. Like, you know, teams will make bold decisions, you know, with the mindset of, hey, we need to do something to take this to the next level. And like, you know, when we think about the Steelers, like, let's be honest. I mean. I have almost no doubt at all that Kenny Pickett will be the quarterback next year, even though I think we all pretty much think that at best he might become a good game manager. You know? Yeah, but but he's going to be the quarterback next year because they they won't make a move. They won't. Like, for example, like what's something the Steelers could do? Well, there's a lot of good quarterbacks coming out cousins.

Steve: They could go get Kirk cousins.

Marc: They could, they could do that or they could trade, uh, you know, their number one pick and maybe like the third pick and the fifth pick and move up to number five to get a quarterback. You know what I mean? There's different things that they could do, but you know, I just think the way they're built, I don't think either one of us sees them doing anything like that.

Steve: No, they're very conservative when it comes to draft picks and staying put and home growing, you know, their talent. And there's nothing wrong with that, but they got to get better at picking talent in order to be able to keep it. And they have to get it on the field sooner. They can't wait three, four, five, six games into the season when you clearly have rookie talent that should be out there on day one and just develop it and just feel good about your coaching staff. I think the Steelers in this offseason, and I agree with you, by the way, I think they will have a winning record this year. They may even they'll probably even make the playoffs. OK, dare I say. They barely will. Dare I even say they have probably as good chance as any, probably this year better than any, to actually win a playoff game this year because the AFC is so wide open. Pretty much anybody has a chance at winning anything, maybe even the whole AFC. Now, I'm not going that far with this team, especially with the Hurt Kenny Pickett and the backup Mitch, and potentially even a Mason Rudolph having to come in. I don't think that team can go anywhere. But that being said, at the end of the season, when they look at it, they got to do something better with the small coaching staff they have. They have to hire better brains. They have to say, look, we need an offensive coordinator with a better mind. We're no longer going to rely on a head coach that got hired in the 1990s. We're going to rely more on this coach that got hired in the 2020s. And let's try a new philosophy around that. because I think that's the only way the Steelers can move into the 2020s and have a better chance at having an offense that will have a plan B. I don't mind their plan A, by the way. I think their plan A of not making mistakes is okay. Clearly, that didn't work on Sunday. They made too many mistakes. They played far too from behind. But They also have to have a plan B, which means, OK, when when we're behind by 10 points or more, this is the offense we have to run. We have to, you know, go up tempo. We have to make more chunk plays. We have to involve the tight end more across the middle. And we've got to send, you know, somebody deep on every play with the chance of it coming out. So Tim's asking, is there any chance that they may hire Big Ben? Well, that's a really interesting question, Tim.

Marc: There's no way, is there?

Steve: I can't see it. I mean, there could be worse things to do. I mean, I would love to see Big Ben coming in as a quarterbacks coach, for example. I think he could really help out any of the quarterbacks they have right now. And I think he would certainly help Kenny Pickett develop his skills better in his reads and make smarter, quicker decisions. I don't think that would be a bad thing at all, but Ben doesn't want to do that. Ben doesn't want to coach in the NFL. I mean, he barely wants to coach Seneca Valley. So, um, you know, I think he's perfectly content, you know, making his millions off this podcast and, um, and, and, you know, sitting around him and watching his son grow up. I don't, I don't blame him for that, by the way. So I don't, I don't think he has any, I don't think he has any, uh, strength left in him to be able to do anything like that. I think it's time to move on to our picks, Mark. Alrighty. Let me see. I actually did tabulate. Oh, did you? Our picks from last week? Yes. I actually I kind of guessed because, you know, Seahawks played the Cowboys and the boys won. And I think we all took the Cowboys. Yeah. Chiefs played at the Packers, and I believe we all took the Chiefs. I believe so. Yeah. So we all lost that game. And then it came down to the Texans and the Broncos. And I think I may have been the only one who took the Broncos. I believe you guys I think you guys took the Texans so that made you two and one Chris two and one and me one and two and I believe that's the standing so We actually kind of already talked about this for the last 36 minutes but the first game that we are going to pick is going to be Where is it?

Marc: is going to be. Thursday night game, New England, and it is not Tom Brady against Big Ben Roethlisberger. It is not. Remember those? Remember those days? Oh, yeah, the good old days.

Steve: I remember the good old days. Yeah.

Marc: Well, I am going to take Pittsburgh over New England. Reason being, you're playing against a team that has two wins. What could go wrong?

Steve: And you're playing at home. So you got that. Right. I think the big difference in this game versus last week's game is they're playing at night and everybody knows the Steelers love the play in front of those night crowds. I agree. I do think the Steelers going to win. I actually think they're going to score 27 points. They're going to win 27 17. I had the Steelers winning 17 to 11. safety or let's go on to Sunday night, a game that actually will have a little bit more action in it. I believe the Eagles at the Cowboys for first. Well, it's not really for first place, because I don't think the Eagles can actually get taken out of first place, even if the Cowboys win. They would just be it. It definitely is one of those games where you're saying, can Dak beat Jalen Hurts finally?

Marc: Well, you know, this may be as as Homer of a pick as I've ever made, but I just can't believe that the Eagles are going to play two duds in a row, you know, being demolished by the 49ers. I just I just see them getting up for this game and look, they're going to want to prove something on Monday on Sunday night. They're going to want to prove that, you know, they are a contender for the for the Super Bowl. So I think the Eagles are going to come out pretty strong and and win this game. I have them winning thirty five to thirty one.

Steve: And I actually think if the Eagles are going to win, they will have to score a lot of points. I just don't think they're going to be able to score that amount against Dallas in Dallas. But so I'm going to go with the Cowboys. All right. And the showdown for on Sunday will show the bills at the Kansas City Chiefs.

Marc: Well, I'll tell you what. I mean, this is a rough one. The Chiefs are really kind of really, you know, like with with the loss of the Eagles and the loss to Jordan Love and the Packers last night. Right. And I'll tell you what. I mean, look, I know. you know, for those who watched the game late into the night last night, you could certainly say that there was. There he is, the technical director.

Steve: Technical director is coming in for the.

Marc: Will he be screwing up the the the podcast? I don't know. But he already has. So bottom line.

Marc: Have I already, you know, have I already messed this up? Yes, you have.

Marc: That Valdez, yeah, that Valdez scantling can't catch a pass to save his life, whether he's tackled or not. So the Chiefs, man, they can't throw a long ball. They can't throw a long ball. You know, and the Bills, Josh Allen, they're desperate and they've got a nice bye behind them. I'm going to get crazy here. I'm going to say Bills take this one.

Steve: You like the bills. Actually the bills is not a bad pick to be honest with you because you're right. Casey's reeling. I don't know what's going on with Andy Reed, but I think he might've lost a touch or two. I think, I think his ability to call games anymore is, is, is flown out the window. I, I still believe that Kansas city has some magic going on when they play at home. So for that reason, I think in the only reason I'm going to take them is because they're going to be playing at home and they, let's just face it. They always beat the bills. I know the bills hate Kansas city for that. Um, but I just, and the bills definitely got to run, run off some games if they want to even make the playoffs. So they're going to be pretty desperate. Uh, I just, I just think Kansas city is going to have enough, uh, to overcome, um, the Buffalo Bills. Chris, you missed two picks and you owe this one. So what do you got? Oh, that seed just like that. Yes.

Marc: Yeah. Wonderful job. Thanks for adding to the live stream.

Steve: that you know, it's that it's that it's that salt air, you know, everything down there and it just I guess I can't I'm out of here boys.

Marc: I'm not right. I'm not mess this up anymore. I'm out of here Yeah bills over Casey. What are the other two real quick bills?

Steve: You're taking the Steelers or the Eagles over the Cowboys?

Marc: Well, that would be the Eagles or Cowboys Eagles or Cowboys?

Steve: Steelers at New England. Technical director manages to mess up the show and he's not even part of it. Steelers or Steelers, New England. Let's go.

Marc: All right.

Marc: All right. Technical director.

Marc: Oh, sorry, boys. I'll talk to you.

Marc: He's just. What a train wreck.

Steve: What a technical director. He barges in. He doesn't even ask to be entered into the show. He just enters the show. Yes. Did you notice that?

Marc: He can't he can't even make picks. He can't he can't even get himself situated and live.

Steve: and You know what? He like he hates the Cowboys, so he'll take he'll take the Eagles.

Marc: You know, I think he'd take he'd take New England. He's been very negative about the Steelers this year.

Steve: You know what? You're probably right about that. Yeah.

Marc: Give him New England and he needs a lifeline. You know, he's got to get himself back in the game somehow.

Steve: So that's true that that's definitely right about that.

Marc: It's right now he's 15 and 210 on the year.

Steve: when is he? 15 and 210. Yep. You got that. Perfect. Very good. Yep. Yep. Well, it looks like the only thing left is a little bit of hockey.

Marc: Oh, man.

Steve: And I have to admit that, you know, the hockey that's been been played lately for the Pittsburgh Penguins is actually been pretty good. But I if you've been listening to my, you know, postgame rants on the hockey, Jesus. you know how how I've been feeling lately about the power play. The power play is an abomination to hockey. The Pittsburgh Penguins have taken the power play and made it so that when teams actually get a penalty against the Pittsburgh Penguins that the Penguins should just say, no, that's okay. We don't want it. We don't want the power play. We're just, we've decided that we're better off with just playing with the same amount of people. Like I know that the penalty you know, just make him not play for two minutes, but you can put somebody else on the ice. That's okay. That's how bad the power play is right now for the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's just, it's just horrendous. And it all stems from the fact that they have too much talent out there that just doesn't want to distribute the puck. And once they figure that out, and by the way, all they have to do to figure it out is put Carlson at the point, put a right-handed shot on the left wing, put a left-handed shot on the right wing, and actually get shots on goal. If they would do that, I promise you they would not be 0 for their last 26 on the power play.

Marc: That's right. It really is crazy, if you think about it, with all their top-end talent.

Steve: By the way, Philadelphia just tied up the game. It's 1-1.

Marc: Tyson Forster.

Steve: I told you I like that kid. Yeah.

Marc: Yeah. He's good. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's crazy. I mean, think, I mean, Crosby, Malkin, Carlson, Latane.

Steve: Well, the tank doesn't play on the first power play, although supposedly it was going to be playing there tonight, but they had against all out there. And so sometimes it's rough. Sometimes it's somebody else. Yeah. I mean, I agree with you. Just having all that talent out there alone should be enough to score at least one goal in 26 attempts. It's really strange. You know, the thing is, like they know it's so bad, like they they give up shorthanded opportunities all the time. I mean, that's the fire score to shorty the other night to tie the game against the Penguins. And that's that was the difference. That was the difference in the game, really, when it came down to it. And so they got to figure that out. They absolutely have to. They absolutely have to figure that out. I don't know. I don't know if they have the fortitude to be able to do that, though. But the reality is that's what the Penguins are going to have to do if they want to get off of this. Well, they actually honor points. Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh Penguins are on a four game point games streak. So if they get another loser point tonight or maybe if they get a win in Philadelphia, that's five in a row where they scored points. which seems incredible because they actually haven't been playing that great. But I just think it's the nature of how they're playing right now that they're just getting points. That's really it. That's all there really is. Yeah.

Marc: Well, I think they do miss Raquel being out, don't you think?

Steve: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, anytime you got to, you got to plug in, that's the thing. Like they got O'Connor up on the second line now, and that's hurting the third line. I actually thought the third line with Zahorna and O'Connor and Eller. I thought that was one of their best lines. And when they broke it up, Zahorna doesn't seem to be able to do it without somebody else down there to do it. I know that they have, they've been putting Nylander. I think they got Nylander on the third line tonight. And they got Kopanen on the fourth line, who's kind of a new guy. I actually like Kopanen a lot on the fourth line. He brings a lot of energy and some speed to that fourth line, which makes a difference. And they've had Nieto and Achari also on the injury list, too. So they've got some injuries now that is causing some issues with some of the line matchups. But as long as you're scoring points, it's OK to have some injuries, especially on the bottom six. The good thing is, is, you know, guys like Sid, Russ was out for a few games that didn't help, but Russ is back now and he looks like he's no worse for the wear. So, yeah.

Marc: It looks like it seems like there's there's a lot of teams bunched up now, you know, only separated by like two points.

Steve: Yeah, it's like it's like it's like six points difference between the third place team and like the 12th place team. Right.

Marc: It's one it's one of those things where like all of a sudden you go on like a four game winning streak and you could find yourself in second place, you know, in the Metro, you know.

Steve: Well, probably third place, but yeah. Yeah, well, yeah Well, we survived mark we did it we survived we survived it is time to say goodbye to all you wonderful people It's time to say goodbye Ready the technical director will be back next week and

Marc: He tried tonight with all his might. He huffed and he puffed and he threw his way in. He did. But he didn't stay. He did not. All right. Take us home, Steve.

Steve: Well, you know where you can get us. You can get us at theporcheslive.com. Theporcheslive.com.

Marc: ThePorchersLive.com.

Steve: We're here every Monday, 7.30, on all the usual places, Facebook, YouTube, and the X. So until then, we'll see you around, Sports Porchers. We'll see you next time.

Marc: Be good. Peace out. All right, we got