The Steelers Remain Winless in Philly

Chris:
yes it's that time again it is that time it is time for the sports porch the black and gold edition all over the world coming to you from the bunker studio in monroeville outside of pittsburgh we are live right now on facebook we are live on instagram we are live on youtube we are live on the x and we are live on i said instagram right didn't i say instagram no yeah you did And of course, you can always catch the podcast right after the show. I drop it right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And as always, we are live right now on Radio PGH. I'm putting that stream down in the comments. If you don't want to watch us because I don't know, I'm too ugly or Steve's too good looking. The lighting on you looks great, by the way, Steve. Thank you. It looks excellent. I worked on it. Did you change the you did you made it a little warmer? Yeah, I made it a little warmer.

Chris: I didn't want to blare it in my eyes. Really appreciate if I could see I'd take my glasses off.

Chris: I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And Schwaber is with me. Anyway, you can listen live on Radio PGH right here at this stream I just dropped in the comments. That is our internet radio station. We have some exciting things always coming up on there. I am your technical director, Chris, or Calvin, as people call me. Across from me in the studio is the Grand Schwabini, now sitting in front of Jerome Bettis holding up the Super Bowl trophy. in the first parade that he well, he only won one Super Bowl with only one. And to my left to my left in studio is Hockey Jesus. Got the hat on backwards tonight, H.J.

Steve: Yeah. I didn't, I didn't have a good shirt to wear tonight. So I figured I got to represent. I threw on the hat.

Chris: There you go. As always. So what do we do? Well, we're going to talk black and gold sports. Of course, we're talking about the Steelers this week. Uh, and that's the first thing we're going to do. Then we're going to do our NFL predictions. We're going to have a little hockey Jesus in the house and talk about the state of the penguins. Oh boy. We do have a trader Joe snack time, a special one coming up. Um, we have a little Yinzer trivia and then the Grand Schwabini and I have a little bit of what we are watching. My unselfish watching has paid off. There it is. It's paid off.

Steve: Is it going to be a holiday snack by chance?

Chris: Um, did I say something to you at Trader Joe's the other day when you came down? You did not. Okay. Then I'm not going to say yes or no to that anyway. Catch the sports porch podcast anywhere you get your podcasts and of course subscribe to our channel on YouTube at the sports porch podcast our Subscriptions have been skyrocketing lately. We went from the low 40s to the mid 50s Keep them keep it pump it up pump it up Pump it up while your feet are stomping and the beat is bumping.

Marc: Oh All right. We just lost five subscribers. I'm sorry.

Chris: Okay. All right. Still winless in Philly. The good, the bad, the ugly. We all know the Steelers lost 27 to 13 in Philadelphia. They still haven't won there. It feels like ever, which I think really is true. Well, before we were born.

Marc: Since Lyndon Johnson was president.

Chris: For all of us. Yeah. Russell Wilson, 14 to 20, 228 yards and a TD. We'll get into all of this right now. We're going to do good, bad, and ugly. Hockey Jesus, I'm going to start with you. What was the good? I know this is a stretch, but what was the good?

Steve: Boy, this is a stretch. I'll tell you, they got their asses handed to them. By the way, I almost had the score predicted perfectly. You did 28 to 14. Pretty good. 28 to 14. I told you that this was going to be a let go game.

Chris: Well, it helps to be a celestial being.

Steve: I'm just, I'm just going to say, I'm just going to say flat out, I think T.J. Watt maybe played his best game of the year against probably the toughest offensive lineman he went up against. Yes. I know he got injured. I know he got injured late in the game. Hopefully it won't keep him out too long. Really, we need him to play this week, but we don't need him to play this week injured. So I'd rather him not play this week if he's that injured. But I think T.J. Watt's play in particular on the defensive line and the fact that they held a so-called MVP in Saquon Barkley to 65 yards, I think is just phenomenal. It did come at a cost, however, but from just purely looking at statistics and play of people, that's what I'm going with T.J. Watt and stopping Saquon Barkley.

Marc: Okay, Grant Schwab any good I would agree TJ what Lane Johnson? Has gone times where he's gone like three years without giving up a sack so TJ what getting the best of him on a couple occasions It was I thought it was his best game of the year as well. I Caused a turnover with a punch out the peanut Tillman punch out right and Almost had a second one kind of amazing the jail and hurts He was an animal he played really well Man for me it's a seat that he was an animal he played really well But that that's kind of like what's expected of him.

Chris: I You know what I mean? We've come to expect T.J. Watt to make an impact in the game, and he did have those plays, but it didn't really make an impact in the game.

Marc: I wouldn't say it's expected against Liam Johnson.

Chris: Well, no. Well, that's the Philly in you. I'm just saying we expect him to play like that just about every game. You know what I mean?

Steve: We do, but he hasn't this year to that level, against that caliber of an offensive lineman.

Chris: All right. I'm going to go with that's my good as well. I mean, you know how much I hate agreeing with you guys, but I couldn't find a whole lot of good outside of that. The defense holding Saquon Barkley to under 65 or under a hundred yards.

Steve: under 70 yards.

Chris: Yeah, 60 for 19 carries for 65 yards. Yeah, I guess that was good too. You know, so yeah, there's much more of the other two categories. So yeah, so HJ, let's do your bad.

Steve: My bad. Well, it has to be the boneheaded plays that they made. The tackling was absolutely horrendous. The open field tackling was ridiculous. There were two plays by Gainwell, in particular on third down, where the tackling, if you make those tackles, they go off the field. Instead, in both of those series, they went on to score a touchdown. There was one run by Jalen Hurts up the middle where KZ just looked like an absolute idiot. That got him an additional 15 yards. They really, I mean, I want to say they're an elite defense, but when you see plays like that, that get you off the field and allows the offense to get onto the field, to me, that's bad. So I'm going to go with tackling in the open field as my bad.

Chris: Mike Lawrence agrees with you. He says a lot of people are blaming blaming the offense justifiably So I guess however our secondary gave up 270 passing yards What do you guys think defense did contain Barkley and HJ tackling was awful Cranch while be any bad

Marc: I'm gonna say bad was the Steelers past defense. You know, they gave up they gave up 200 hundred yard receivers in that game. Yeah, right. They kind of got picked apart You know, I mean it's it's true that you know, they were dealing some with some injuries there but at the same time You know, they had to know that Bringing a lot of guys in to stop Saquon Barkley.

Chris: They were gonna have to defend the pass better, and they just didn't yeah Yeah, my bad is Well my bad is the passing game itself you did not How many screenplays didn't we see?

Steve: Uh, none. Right.

Marc: I mean, yeah, I was surprised that they didn't do a screen test.

Steve: I mean, they try what they think is a screen pass by throwing it out into right into the flat and then all the linemen run over there. But that's not a true screen play.

Chris: Right. Yeah. Pete, Pete Moore on Facebook. Thanks for being here, Pete. He says, you guys have anything to say about punches being thrown and no flags against the Eagles? Yes.

Steve: Oh, yeah. Save that for after.

Chris: It's stick with us. We got to get through good, bad and ugly. Yeah. The lack of a of a of a game plan for the ferocity of the Steelers or excuse me, of the Eagles pass rush is my bad. It didn't even look like we planned for that. I mean, first of all, your number one receiver is out. You've got Van Jefferson supposedly playing that role poorly, I might add. Where the hell was Mike Williams? We don't know. And you're not accounting for the fact that, you know, the Steelers offensive line, it's serviceable and good at times, but also young and has not faced a front seven literally a front seven like the eagles number one defense this year so it didn't look like there was any planning for that at all so that's that's my bad um now we're going to move on to something even better the ugly

Steve: Yeah, there was.

Chris: Did we get to your bad? Yeah, yeah.

Steve: He said, yeah, my fault. The past defense was, was horrendous. I could even make that mildly, but I'm not, I'm going to say the boneheaded penalties. And I get it that, you know, there were some punches thrown and some, some flags didn't go our way, but let's face it. If Mount Washington stops blocking at the end of the end zone, none of that shit happens. That's true. And what is he trying to do by throwing Slay into the stands? He already made his point. He blew him off the line 25 yards. Slay's not going to beat him. It doesn't make any difference whether he does what he What he did now I did see an angle where definitely slay hit him in the head two times and then you know Calvin Austin the third jumps in and he gets a penalty also Which all of that is true is ridiculous, but if you're just thinking about the situation You just got you know four yards on first down. It's second and goal from the six and That is a whole lot easier to do than second and goal from the 21. Right. That being said, the offense still could have scored a damn touchdown, but that didn't help. And at that time, that was right after the second turnover. And at that time, the offense was horrible. I mean, in its first four series, it had like negative 17 yards. So, they needed, they didn't need that to set them back, and it did. So, that cost them four points. The fumble by Najee cost them another four points, potentially. This is a lot of ugly here.

Marc: That's a lot. Will there be anything left for us?

Steve: Seriously. No, there will not. And then the last is, I forget who it was, but the guy who ran over the center on the field goal. Now that didn't end up costing us points because they still kicked a field goal. But think of the situation there. If you're getting blocked into the center, Don't roll the center over, just run back into the guard on the left-hand side instead. You know you can get flagged for that, and it's just dumb. Sometimes the Steelers are not aware of the situation, and they don't care because they're trying to make a point which is a dumb point. So that was completely ugly to me, and it actually cost him eight points. It wouldn't have made a difference in the game. I don't think the Steelers were ever really in this game. They absolutely got blown out. Would it have helped if both guys got flags? Sure, of course it would have. But that's not what happened, and good teams look past that. Schwaber, ugly.

Marc: Well, I was going to go with the Blocking slay into the bleachers. I was gonna go with that, but since I think we covered that pretty well I'll just go with By the way on YouTube says and Jesus gave out ugly for all I Guess you know I'll go out with The fumble of nausea Harris right because that was to me. That was the true turning point in the game. Yeah and It was just a perfect pitch to him. I mean, yeah, there was nothing wrong with the play.

Steve: And it was right there. Well, there was something wrong with the play.

Chris: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I just mean everything was executed properly.

Steve: Giving Najee Harris a pitch outside is just a dumb play.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: never worked all year, it's not ever going to work, why would you do it now? Yeah, okay, he did fumble, but in fairness to nausea, it was his first fumble all year. But you are right, it was still ugly.

Chris: And Jesus stole Schwabini's ugly.

Marc: No, I agree. No, I agree. He's right. It was ugly. Yeah, it was ugly because, look, it was a perfect pitch to him, and it's not like there was any pressure on him either. Like, there was nobody around him. He kicked it after he dropped it. Yeah, he took his eye off it. kicked it. Of course, when something like that happens, he kicks it right to slay like nobody else even had an opportunity for it. Right. You know, so it was just and that was at a point in time where the game was within reach and they were driving. Yeah. So that was a huge turnover.

Chris: Yeah, my ugly is the not scoring more than three points off of two turnovers early in a game that you knew you were outmatched on. And that also includes You know, the what it includes more of, though, honestly, is the the lack of a game plan. And where was Jalen Warren and why was nausea essentially benched after that fumble? Right. That made no sense to me at all. Yeah. And I really think the the ugliest part of this, honestly, we've been we've been singing Arthur Smith's praises for most of this year. And I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm going to change my mind on him. I think he, I think it was a great addition, but this one, I think they shit the bed on the game plan. There was no game plan that, that, that is the ugly for me. Um, and then when, when something, uh, is. You know, something happens like happened in nausea. There was no plan for that. Right. So my real ugly is is definitely the game plan. OC on Instagram, because I don't get the Instagram comments. I have to cut and paste and put them up here. He says the do you feel like the Steelers are a solid team, but against teams like Philly, Kansas City, Bill's lines, you you see they just aren't on that level. Philly handed them in all sense, handled them in all senses. What do you what do you think about that?

Steve: It's hard to it's hard to know whenever all your great players aren't playing For example, if Pickens was in that game, I think it's a different type of game, right? I really believe it it does He has the ability to make a big play and that opens up the run without that ability to make a big play nothing really gets opened up and you saw what you saw a bunch of Russell Wilson Changing things at the line and trying to make things happen on the fly when I don't think the offensive play calling from a scheming standpoint was very good. And let's face it, the Eagles defense from a pass rush standpoint and from a cover standpoint is damn good. So, that's, I think, what you're saying, OC, when you're saying, you know, we don't have the ability to play at that level. I think we do when we have all of our weapons. Without all of our weapons, we absolutely do not.

Chris: Yeah. What do you think about that, Grant Schwabini? Don't you love how Steve still can't, he still can't say the Eagles defense is the best in the NFL?

Steve: Well, I gave them two very high comments. He did, he did.

Marc: I would kind of go in a different direction with it. I think this is a Omar Khan failure to have not addressed the second receiver position. Look, that's a good take, you know, and to be honest, I mean, look, We got excited about Mike Williams because his first catch was a game winner, but he hasn't done anything since. He's had like four total catches in five weeks or something.

Steve: And all I'm hearing on the radio anyway,

Marc: by people who are talking to Steelers insiders is that he's not getting open. So the bottom line is, I think that the Jets were probably right to part ways with him, and it's not like the move hurt the Steelers, it actually has helped in terms of winning that one game, but he's not the answer. So they really didn't go out and get a second receiver, to, you know, to plan for if a Pickens is hurt, then you have somebody else you can go to. They just really don't.

Steve: Right. Yeah, you're right. I mean, they thought that maybe Roman Wilson could be that guy, but he's never seen the field. No, he hasn't seen the field. So that's the problem.

Marc: I think they were banking on IUC was going to come here. Yeah. And that didn't happen. I think that was part of it.

Chris: Jeff Jeff agrees. Jeff, my buddy in New York. Thanks for being here again. We need another wide receiver. Williams was a flop. Need to draft one in the first round if there's one worthy of that. Marvin Hamilton is back in the house. Good evening guys. Hey Marvin. You know, I do not think that the Steelers are on the level of Kansas City or Philadelphia. I don't think they have the right weapons. I was saying on our earlier show, on our Philly show, you know, because, and I know you were watching, you know, I'm not, I'm not a hundred percent sold on George Pickens. I'm sorry. I haven't been since day one. Everybody knows that. I think George Pickens has great hands and he is, he has great footwork. He has a, he has a ton of ability, no doubt about that. Probably, one of the more talented receivers we've seen in a Steelers uniform for quite a while. I think his attitude at times sucks. I mean, these are things we already know. He's not a go-to guy. I don't see him as a go-to guy. He is a big splash play guy who's going to burn you for one on the outside. But I'm just not sold on him. So to think if he had been in the game, would it have been different? I think it would have been different from a defensive standpoint for Philly. Yes, they have to account for him. But seriously, after you've accounted for him, what else do they have? You look at Philly's offense, A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, any one of those players at any time during any game. can either make a big player score a touchdown. They've got at least four. And then you throw in Dallas Goddard, gets injured a lot. A guy like Gainwell, that Calcaterra is in a bad second tight end. Now we're starting to talk about backups that are good. The Steelers just don't have that. You know, they don't have somebody who you're like, this guy can score a touchdown at any time. They don't have somebody like that. Pickens is not that guy. Yeah, he is. Hold on. Unless I know, unless they have what we've been talking about, a solid number two threat. And Friar Muth is not a solid number two threat. He's a tight end.

Marc: A positive, though, he did make a heck of a contested catch.

Chris: He did. I agree. I agree. I mean, I mean, it's not it's not like I'm not saying they're bad. I'm just saying they don't have all the pieces in place to be on the level of, say, the Eagles or the Lions on offense, not on defense, or Kansas City with Pat Mahomes, you know. And I think, you know, a lot of people are chiming in here. Marvin Hamilton. I agree. Williams isn't a good fit, John, on YouTube. I don't think Khan works alone. It was front office head coach failure. You know, I would agree with you, Grant Schwab, any that that this is a front office or Omar Khan failure, so to speak, because after it's clear to me from watching that game, at least that when they're facing a good defense, the Steelers do not have a receiver. If Pickens is in is not an excuse me, they don't have a receiver and you have to have more than you have to have more than one. Are we done did I did I do my ugly we know no, I need to change you Please do I feel like the last few weeks we've been trying to pull his strings like crazy I mean, I'm just we're just reporting. We're saying just being honest. That's all That's what this is about, honesty.

Steve: Your honesty and your analysis is wrong in this case because George Pickens is a touchdown threat every time he's on the field. The problem that the Steelers have is they don't have enough weapons. OK, so we're kind of talking about the same thing. And I think it's OK when Pickens is on the field that CA3 and Van Jefferson are good enough. But here's what they're missing and nobody's talking about. They don't have the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. They're not using it if they do. Right. And that's the one thing other teams utilize a lot of. Pacheco catches it out of the backfield. Everybody that has a good Barkley can catch it out. Yep. Yep. And he's a threat. They hit the home run when he does that. Yep. Detroit that don't even get me started on Detroit's ability to score big. Right. So and the difference with the bills is, OK, so maybe maybe they don't have a really good off the offensive guy who can catch the ball wide receiver. But they got the best MVP in the league in Josh Allen, who can make anybody better. And Russell Wilson does make other guys better, but he's not Josh Allen level. That's why we are on the sub-tier, because of those lacking talents. Now we try and make up for it on defense with this splash plays, and unfortunately that hasn't really worked out that well this year. There have been times when we've won the turnover battle and we've lost the game. And that's not a recipe for success. So that's why I say pickings is not the problem. Pickings, more pickings is the problem.

Chris: Well, yeah, I mean, we're actually talking about the same thing. I kind of said that I did say that that Pickens is not a threat to score a touchdown every time he touches the ball because there isn't anybody else. That's that was my whole point. I he's not a go to guy unless there's somebody else to worry about.

Steve: Well, you could say the same thing with A.J. Brown if Devonta Smith wasn't on the field.

Chris: I don't know. I think when when he played for the Titans, he was pretty good and they didn't have another receiver.

Steve: They weren't very good because they were always playing from behind.

Chris: Yeah. Well, I mean, we can we can argue the semantics of this whole idea.

Marc: I mean, the bottom line is they need they need a receiver other than Pickens to help the passing game.

Steve: Yeah, they need a receiver like pickets to help Marvin Hamilton.

Chris: Why bring in just Justin just to run He didn't have any penny got hurt on that one.

Marc: He got hurt.

Chris: Yeah Yeah, I want to go up here to Mike Lawrence's question because this is this is an interesting thing here Why do you guys think Arthur Smith is obsessed with establishing the run? I'm gonna take a stab at it first It's about ball control And it's about setting up for, you know, play action pass, which leads directly to getting the ball into George Pickens hands or a receiver. So he's obsessed with it because I mean, personally, I think that's that's how you win football games.

Marc: You have to try to establish the run so you can't fault them for trying to do it.

Chris: I don't feel like they even tried to do that yesterday.

Steve: No, they knew pretty much they were getting manhandled from the very beginning.

Chris: You mentioned it early in the game, in the third play, we had a moonball on the third play of the game and you were like, game over, moonball already.

Steve: Yeah, well and they're throwing to Van Jefferson too, so I mean that's rarely going to be successful. So that's the problem. And the other way you can establish the run to is by loosening up the secondary and the linebackers by throwing the moon ball. The Steelers seem to do the opposite approach, which is let's run it for six or seven and then throw the moon ball. And then we've got them way off balance. And that does actually seem to work for them. It just didn't yesterday because Philly's front defensive line just manhandled our offensive line. Right. We couldn't establish a running game. And then we became one dimensional and weren't very good at all on third downs, which is something that Russell Wilson had been very good at. So they beat us at our own game and we just have to take it.

Chris: Yeah. And as John points out on YouTube, Boswell breaking the team field goal season record is an indicator of the lack of red zone efficiency hurts them. Yeah. You're not going to beat teams like the Eagles with field goals. You're also not going to beat them when you, when you get lucky and you, you force two turnovers in the beginning of the game, you don't turn it into at least 10 points, you know, three points is horrible.

Steve: That being said that this game against Eagles means nothing this game against the Ravens means Everything that's exactly right, so that's what we're gonna do right now, and if you already haven't done it Can I make a comment on that please do?

Marc: See What you're saying about that is true in in terms of if the Steelers win this game all is good in the world they win the division they win the division no matter what but If they beat the Eagles, this game wouldn't mean everything. Because they'd only have to win a couple games to win.

Steve: No, because they would still have to beat Kansas City.

Marc: Would they? Yeah. But that's assuming that Baltimore wins out. Yeah. Right. That's right. So I don't know. I always think every win matters.

Steve: Every win does matter. But some wins mean more than others. And that's what this Saturday means.

Chris: Well, see, for me, playing the play in the which win means more game, I've I just, I don't buy, I mean, I get it. I totally get it, but I've never bought into it. I think every win matters. That's just, you know, like it's, if you're thinking, and, and this goes directly to that point when, um, when, when they asked Tomlin after the game, when he said, it's a loss, let's not get dramatic. Right. You know, that mentality to me was kind of like, You guys weren't even thinking about this game anyway. You guys, and the game plan reflected it. I told you.

Marc: Yeah. And if that's the case though, that's not good. That's not how you win playoff games.

Chris: He's got three playoff wins in the last 13 years, none in the last seven. I mean, look, and I've been watching hard knocks and he's definitely the best communicating coach of those three of the four. I'm sorry.

Marc: Was there any I didn't watch this last week. Was there any highlights out of it? No, not really.

Chris: No, they, they really only, they, they only did the Steelers, uh, Cincinnati game. Really? Oh yeah. They didn't. Yeah. I think this is, it's really hard because you realize like the Monday night game, then you got all your film guys and your editing guys, they're, they're, they're probably pulling a 48 hour shift to try to get this shit together to get it ready. I don't know, I don't know how they can pull it off and make it meaningful in any way, shape or form. Plus on top of that, the teams are obviously, it's obvious that like Tomlin is not letting them in very far. Right. You know, he's, he's basically given it the whole, like, you're going to get my best moments and that's it.

Marc: Right.

Chris: So, I mean, it's, it's a hard watch. It's not, it's not as good as I thought it was going to be, but anyway, I don't, I don't like it. I don't, I don't like the fact that they, that they were looking ahead to this game, but, um, as we like it, if they win as, as, as they were saying, I was going to tell everybody to subscribe at the sports sports podcast on YouTube when you, uh, chimed in there and wanted to make a conversation out of this. What do the Steelers need to do to beat the Ravens?

Steve: Well, that's simple. All you have to do is start, stop Lamar Jackson. which they've in the past been able to do. However, I think, I think Baltimore is in a much better spot than they had been when the Steelers met them previously. I think they're rolling pretty, pretty good.

Chris: And, um, well, their, their past defense has really tightened up.

Steve: Yeah, but the Steelers really didn't exploit their past, their lack of past defense the last time they played, you know, these two guys wanted to slug it out. And that's what you have to do is make Baltimore feel like they got to slug it out with you. Because I think if, if Baltimore decided just to start chucking it deep, I think the Steelers could be in trouble, and that could be a problem. So let's see if they can first stop Lamar from running, and then second stop the deep pass, and let's get into a slugfest with them. I think we win that battle.

Chris: Yeah. Marvin Hamilton says, I think we can. KC offense isn't that good, and neither is their defense. He's talking about win out. Yeah. Every win does matter. Thank you, Marvin. I appreciate that.

Steve: You might be true about that, Marvin, because Kansas City may not have much to play for.

Marc: I might have known my home.

Chris: Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Steve: Well, I might want to arrest him, right? That's true. My ankle sprain, but he's played with a high ankle sprain before. He sure has.

Marc: Yeah. And he won a Superbowl. Yeah. It didn't seem like anything was wrong.

undefined: Yeah.

Steve: He's got the right juice that they can't find. Yeah. Somehow they can't detect the juice he's taking.

Marc: I think all I've been testing on those days.

Chris: I think all they have to do to beat the Ravens is do exactly what they did the last time, and that is trot Boswell out there six times. He's the Raven killer. Um, no, I mean, I think, I think the, this is a matchup that, uh, plays well for both teams. Um, it's in Baltimore, so it favors the Ravens. It does the Ravens. Um, you know, like Tomlin likes to say, both teams know, know each other really well and the, they have to, they have to contain Lamar Jackson. One of these days, Lamar Jackson is going to break the curse that is playing the Steelers for him. And he's going to play like Lamar Jackson. It's like he had five touchdown passes this week and he ran for 66 yards. That's Lamar Jackson. But when he plays against the Steelers, he plays like against the Giants. Yeah, well, of course, it's a bad team. But what I'm saying, though, is that's closer to the the MVP caliber. Lamar Jackson, for sure. When he plays against the Steelers, he plays like Kenny Pickett. You know, it's like it's almost as if the aura of the Pittsburgh Steelers being in the area kind of it limits his abilities. One of these games that's going to change. Is it this game? I don't know. So I think it's the obvious. You have to keep Derrick Henry from running and you have to keep Lamar Jackson in the pocket because he's not as good a passer in the pocket as he is out of the pocket. We have to score some frickin points. You know we're not gonna. You know what I said earlier. It's not gonna happen this game We're not gonna trot Boswell out there six times score 18 points and win the game You know this game is gonna be decided by touchdowns, and we need to score some Schwaber well, you know it's I'm kind of at the point where I

Marc: You know, for the past two years, I've felt like the Ravens were a better team than the Steelers, and yet they always find a way to look like slop against the Steelers. They do, they do. You know, they really do. So I almost kind of feel like, until it's proven to me otherwise, I'm actually favoring the Steelers in this game. I also think, you know, the Steelers, You know, the loss of the Eagles also kind of serves as a wake-up call, which is kind of a good thing. Whereas, you know, the Lamar Jacksons are coming off the high of dominating a horrible football team, you know, and they're probably full of themselves and thinking this is the time that we take it to the Steelers. And my guess is, is that they'll find a way not to. I mean, and you know what? I will tell you too. I really was surprised. Now granted, it was just one episode that I watched of the Hard Knocks. I was shockingly surprised. I was just not really that impressed with John Harbaugh as a coach. And I don't really see him motivating his team quite the way that Tomlin does, and I think that that does matter. Yeah, I agree.

Steve: Yeah, in divisional games, I think it really does make a difference.

Marc: Yeah, so, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Steelers come away with the win. I think it'll be close. You know, it'd be a field goal one way or the other. Oh no, Tucker gonna miss his 60-yarder. Tucker's definitely gonna miss a field goal. He did for us all year long. And Boswell's gonna make all his. Really, the only concern I have is playing without pickings. That's the concern I have. They have to find a way to create some more offense. I think it can be done in the screen game. I think it can be done by using Friar Mooth more, but I think Arthur Smith needs to get a little more creative.

Chris: Yeah, I agree. I agree. Any parting shots there, H.J.?

Steve: Nope. I just think that Steelers got to get out and get the win. If they don't, they still can actually still win the division, but it requires Baltimore losing a game. Yeah.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: And they probably will, though. Well, they play against the Texans right before or right after the Steelers play on Christmas Day. And the Texans are starting to play good ball. Yeah. And they have a short week and they're playing in Houston. So maybe. We'll see.

Marc: Yeah, I can see it's possible.

Steve: This is this is not over if this no Now this is the gauntlet we were talking by the way, the Steelers are in the playoffs. I think we forgot to mention.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: Yeah They are and they've got they pretty much have a stranglehold on like the fifth seed So even the fifth seed means you go down the Houston the play which isn't the end of the world So, I mean, the playoff scenarios right now look good for the Steelers no matter what. But one, we need to get Pickens healthy. Two, let's just beat the frickin' Ratbirds. And let's just roll into the playoffs as the third seed.

Chris: Now, could this be scripted any better? A Steelers playoff game in Houston with TJ Watt and JJ Watt's former team.

Marc: I like the Steelers in that game.

Chris: I like the Steelers in that game. That does sound like an NFL script. That's what I'm saying. It does.

Steve: That sounds like an NFL script.

Chris: Let's see if that happens. Somebody will remind us if we talk about that.

Steve: I mean, there's a scenario, too, where the Steelers could play against the Ravens. Yeah.

Marc: Yeah, there is. Yeah, I know. I know. That would be something. Yeah.

Chris: So, you know, they're in the playoffs. That's great. But let's win the division. We'll see. I'm not a fan of what I've seen in the running game so far. At least we have something to live for after the regular season is over this year.

Marc: Well, we did last year, but did we really? Overall, it's been a good season. They definitely have the ability to do some damage in the playoffs, whereas last year they didn't.

Chris: Yeah, that's that's absolutely true. All right. You're watching the sports sports podcast, the black and gold edition. If you're watching us live all over the world, we're on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and Instagram. And of course, we drop the podcast right after the show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcasts. And you can subscribe to us on YouTube. We're live there right now at the sports porch podcast. Go over there, click the subscribe button, the notifications button. You'll know when we go live. Um, and, uh, I don't know, I I'm, I'm smelling that food hot over there. Food is hot. So I'm thinking maybe we need to, you guys are hungry.

Steve: I know you're hungry. I know the biscuit.

Chris: My, my, my wife is allergic to shellfish. So she wouldn't be delivering a, Crab cakes. Potato pancakes. But maybe, yeah, it seems like it's that.

undefined: Oh yeah, that is the music and that does mean one thing and one thing only it is Trader Joe's snack time.

Chris: Everybody knows if you watch the show that I work at Trader Joe's down in East Liberty. I love working there. It's a great store, great place to work. They're not paying us for this, so it's not a paid sponsorship, but we did get permission to do it. Trader Joe's Snack Time. What do I do? I bring home a product every week. We sample it, give you our honest opinion. This week, in honor of our friend here, Hanukkah is coming up on December 25th. It's sundown lasting through January 2nd.

Marc: Yes, yes.

Chris: We are having what Trader Joe's calls traditional latkes or potato pancakes. Yes. Good stuff. I have never had these. Never in your life? Never had a latke? I've never had a latke in my life. They smell delicious.

Steve: You are missing out.

Chris: You are missing out on them. They smell delicious. And there's a little sour cream up here.

Steve: That's the way I like it.

Marc: Not the applesauce. That's my kind of party now. You like it with the applesauce? No, I like it with sour cream or even just plain.

Chris: I was told these are really good and they were done in the air fryer. I have to give a shout out to my lovely wife, the Pittsburgh Property Diva. She cooked them up for us. You can find her at pittsburghpropertydiva.com. Thank you, darling. Here you go, Schwaber. I don't have separate plates. That's okay. I do have napkins with nobody, which nobody around here seems to want to ever use anyway. But yeah, use your fingers, whatever you want. I'm surprised I didn't get a comment in there.

Steve: Very good. Use your fingers.

Chris: Don't forget, use your fingers. All right.

Steve: All right. This is what it looks like, people. It looks like a fried potato. I'm going to go with some sour cream.

Chris: Mm-hmm. I love I love when we hear Schwab or chew.

Steve: Oh, yeah, the Schwab or chew is a sign of approval.

undefined: That's for sure now Now wow, these are really good. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah These are delicious my people know food they do they know how to make a lot key.

Marc: I think sure as hell no potato pancakes Looks like we have an interested bystander. Oh

undefined: Looks like Sassy wants some. Get down. Get down, girl. All right, so that's going to be a thumbs up for the traditional pancake. Thumbs up. All right, there they are. Well done in here. And then the Trader Joe's gets some for this season. And that is our Trader Joe's snack time.

Chris: We play this music again because we like it and we need to have time to eat more.

Marc: Yes.

undefined: Absolutely.

Marc: Take us out. Yeah, I'm working on it.

undefined: Taste the biscuit.

Chris: Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Taste the honey sauce.

undefined: Taste the goodness of the biscuit with the honey sauce. Don't get that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: Okay. There you have it. Trader Joe's snack time. Thank you very much. This is a sports porch podcast, black and gold edition, live all over the world every Monday evening at 7 30 PM Eastern time and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you get your podcast. If you want to catch up with us next up is our NFL predictions. Oh yeah. And so what do we do is we pick we usually do the Thursday night game the Sunday night game and a Sunday game But we decided that we're getting weird out there. Yeah, it is getting weird We're gonna do two Sunday games this week Sunday day games on the Thursday night game. I'm taking Penn State over SMU Last week last week mark was three, you know Let's go. What's new Steve was one and two and What and yeah, and I took the rams. No, you didn't. Yeah, I did.

Steve: No, you didn't I took the ram telling you right now because I said I'm just I don't know why I'm taking the rams. I'm not giving any descript. I'm not I'm taking the rams dude.

Chris: I I'm just telling you right now steve chris 49ers

Steve: I'm going to play back to tape.

Chris: This is how we do that. This is how we do it legally. This is under. All right. Well, listen, I was 0 and 3, so I was 0 and 3. So Mark is 28 and 14. Steve is 22 and 20. Chris is 18 and 24. Your pick in the comments. The Thursday night game this week. Broncos at Chargers. Go ahead. Go ahead. We're going to let A. Shea go.

Steve: No, no, no, no. Mr. 3 and 0.

Chris: Yeah, even if you even if I was wrong, he still won. So yeah, I'm going to take the Chargers.

Marc: I feel like the Broncos are having a nice season. Bo Nix is proving to be an adequate, decent, above average quarterback, but he really has. But on the road against the Chargers team, didn't they lose pretty badly? They lost this week. Like, yeah, like 40 in the 19 or something. Yeah. Like so Chargers, Tampa Bay. Chargers coming off Baker put it on them charges coming off a loss like that.

Steve: I'm gonna take them to bounce back I agree with the great grand schwa beanie the Chargers and a bounce-back game Steve is taking the Chargers Yeah, the Chargers have to win this they don't have to win it

Chris: Well, I mean, they kind of do. I'm going with the Chargers as well. Okay, we're gonna do the Sunday game one. This is a big game. Eagles at Commanders. What you got there, Grant Schwabini?

Marc: Well, it's kind of hard to pick against the Eagles right now since they've won 10 in a row. Question is, can they win? I feel pretty confident they can beat Dallas and the Giants at home. Can they win 13 straight? That's kind of crazy I'm gonna say they're gonna have to stumble at some point. I will take the commanders boy.

Steve: I Was gonna take the commanders, but now I'm gonna take the Eagles Steve's trying to catch up this trying to get back in the mix. It's hard to catch up when you give me the wrong picks. I

undefined: That's what I wrote down. I can't go back and remember it.

Steve: Don't worry. They have this thing called YouTube. I know. All I have to do is go back and look.

undefined: If you're willing to take the time to do that, I will correct you.

Steve: I know exactly where it is. It's at the 46 minute mark. Somebody can look it up for me right now.

Chris: Go back to last week's show. Right. Yeah, this is a, this is a tough one. Um, the commanders are playing for their playoff lives and on the Philadelphia show, I said the way the Eagles win is just keep it out of Jaden Daniels hands. And if I'm in the, if I'm in the commanders, um, booth, I'm trying to keep the ball in Jaden Daniels hands. So, um, I just, I have no faith in the commanders. I never, I haven't had faith in them since Daniel Snyder bought the Redskins. I'm going with the Eagles on this. Okay. We got some comments. Let's see if we have some other picks in.

Steve: Mike's taking the commanders.

Chris: Uh, yeah. In a close one. By less than a touchdown. That's right. So, okay. Game two. Uh, this is, now we did this on purpose because this is the loser bowl.

Steve: This is a great game.

Chris: The Jaguars at the Raiders, by the way, the Raiders, the pregame tonight, the pregame is on behind hockey Jesus right now. And I saw a stat. The Raiders are five and oh on their last five Monday night football home games. Really? Yeah. So, you know, useless information.

Marc: But so this is the two and eleven versus the three and eleven bowl. Right. Eleven lost ball.

Chris: Jaguars at Raiders. Grand Schwabini.

Marc: I don't know. I think at this point you just go with maybe coaching. So I'll take Dougie P and the Jags to save a little face against the Raiders.

Steve: I love that Brian Thomas. He's such a great talent for the Jaguars and I can't name a single Raiders receiver. Well, Jacoby Myers, but I'm going to take, uh, I'm going to take the rookie over Myers Jaguars.

undefined: All right. I'm going to take the Raiders just as somebody takes the Raiders. How about that?

Marc: Sure. Does that work? I mean, your season's over. It was over six weeks ago. Right. You're like these teams.

Chris: All right. So, yeah, I am. So there are our predictions. Broncos, the Chargers, we all take the Chargers. Eagles, the Commanders. Stephen and I take the Eagles. And Jags and Raiders. I take the Raiders. These guys, these Jablonkis, they take the Jaguars. We're the Jags. There you go. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Horse uniforms and football. At the sport. Yeah, we have to do that again.

Steve: They'll look good in line. Right. We did that last year.

Chris: We did that last year for our holiday special. Remember? I remember. Horse uniforms. I hope we could do that again. That would still be fun.

Steve: You won't be here this holiday season.

Chris: No, you won't.

Marc: Well, I'll be here in spirit. You'll be basking in the sun.

Chris: All right. It's time for Stump the Yinzer. What is Stump the Yinzer? Well, we ask our resident Yinzer who has pierogies in his DNA, Hockey Jesus, a question. And we also ask the Grand Schwabini a question. Whoever gets it right becomes Yinzer for the week. Just a fun little trivia thing. I'm going to go to baseball. Oh brother. Which player shared the 1979 MVP award, National League MVP award with Willie Stargell?

Marc: Who shared that award with him? 1979? Yeah.

Steve: 1979.

Chris: Yeah, they gave out, they gave a dual award out in the National League that year. Okay. God, I don't know why. I mean, why would you ever do that?

Steve: Well, why not?

Chris: I guess. I don't think it's ever been done since.

Steve: Oh God.

Chris: Well, let's just say they, they highlighted this guy on a Seinfeld episode.

Steve: Well, that's easy. Yeah. Yeah. It's Keith Hernandez.

Marc: Well, I know that that is the guy in the Seinfeld episode, but I can guess the same thing. I don't know. I don't know if that guy is, is actually, was ever good enough to be an MVP though.

Steve: I wouldn't have said his name. I was thinking like Andre Dawson.

Marc: Yeah, I'll go.

Chris: Was he Blayton, 79? Sure he was. Yeah, probably.

Steve: How about Dale Murphy? Dale Murphy's a good guess, too.

Chris: Mike Lawrence, Raiders win this, Jags usually find a way to lose. Thanks, Mike. Who'd you say, Dale Murphy? Yeah. Dale Murphy. It was Keith Hernandez. Keith Hernandez. Keith Hernandez.

Steve: That's crazy that he actually- Thanks for the sign for that.

Chris: Sorry. I could tell that there was no comprehension. And that's our Pirates news. for the day.

Steve: I was thinking maybe Derek Strawberry, but he didn't come around to it.

Marc: By the way, though, that was kind of a dumb thing. It wasn't really a Yinzer question. It was it was a New York question.

Chris: No, it was also a Yinzer question.

Marc: You should have said Keith Fernandez. Keith Hernandez. Oh, OK. You know, won the award with which Pittsburgh Pirates. OK. Yeah, and then you'd have to choose from between Matlock, Starzell, Parker. Yeah, gotcha.

Chris: Excellent, excellent point. Well, hey, look, for next week's show, you guys will be setting it up. I'm going to be sitting on a beach in the Bahamas. So go to town and do it right.

Steve: We'll just skip that. Yeah, we'll skip that. Nobody likes that part of the show. Oh, come on, guys. Jesus. Everybody just goes,

Chris: The work I put into this show.

Steve: They're waiting for the Hockey Jesus.

Chris: The investment I've made and the return I get.

Marc: They are waiting for Hockey Jesus because it is tis the season.

Chris: Absolutely. To my left here in the studio is Hockey Jesus, who you can also follow on our YouTube channel at the Sports Porch Podcast. Hockey Jesus preaches after every single Penguins game. And he tells you like it is, and he's looking for disciples. So follow him on the podcast or on YouTube. H.J., what is going on with the Penguins now? They had a six-goal period the other night.

Marc: Whoa, the nine-goal game. Yeah, crazy.

Steve: The nine-goal game. But let's go back a little bit. They lost the avalanche before that at home. and really not a very good game for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But they did turn it around by scoring, like you said, six goals in the third period, including Achari and the 8-0, also scoring in the third period for a 9-2 win in Montreal. Montreal is a terrible team. So if you're not scoring nine goals against them, you're probably never going to score nine goals. They're just not a good team. And then they followed it up with actually a pretty well-played game in Ottawa. And they just couldn't, they got a loser point, so you know, they've got three points out of six. That's where they are now, unfortunately. Three points out of six, four points out of eight, you know, it's just, they're in that. gray area. The good thing is, is after they play the Kings and Nashville, Nashville also is the worst team in the league. Uh, the Kings are in second place in the Pacific, so they're playing some pretty, uh, they're playing some pretty good hockey. So I think the game against the Kings is the one, the, the one, the watch they play away in Nashville and it's an eight o'clock game. So it must means it's on TNT or something like that. Maybe ESPN plus. But after that, then they start playing in the Metro. They play the Devils, they play the Flyers, they play the Islanders twice back to back, and they play Detroit. And Detroit and the Islanders and the Flyers are all bunched up together with the Penguins. So these are the games that are going to make or break They're either going to keep them in it, or they're going to fall out of it. Because if they go 50-50 with these games, nothing's going to change. If they somehow can put together a winning streak against these teams, I'm not suspecting they'll beat the devils on Saturday. But if they can beat the Flyers at home, they've got four games off until they play a back-to-back on the island. Um, that those would be big games. And then, uh, it's the, the December 31st game, also known as the Mario Lemieux tribute five goal game. Um, that would be, those would be big games. If they could put a four game win streak together against the fires, the Islanders in Detroit, they could separate, they could start to separate them from those teams. That's exactly what they're going to have to do if they want to remain relevant. Uh, The East is a man. Will they do it? Will they do it? The way they've been playing lately, I think they have the ability to do it. But a game against, say, Philadelphia will come down to goaltending. So who's the hotter goalie that game? I don't think the Islanders are good at all. And Detroit is the same way. I think they can easily beat those teams. So I think that I think it's good to get off the right foot by beating Philadelphia Monday night.

Chris: So OC on Instagram has this question for you, HJ.

Steve: Yeah. Where do the Pens rank in terms of team speed? No, they're near the bottom. If you ask them, they'll say they're near the top, but they're clearly near the bottom. Teams like, actually, Ottawa is a pretty speedy team, but Florida still is a very fast team. Washington, surprisingly, whose top's in the east, has gotten real fast in a hurry. Um, but new jersey devils, I would say probably are the are the are the are at the very top with jesper brot and uh, Hughes those guys, uh, those guys can skate back and forth. They can uh lap circles around geno and the boys. So, um, That's the that's part of the problem with the penguins and the way they've been playing lately. They've not been trying to play They've been playing less of a speed game and more of let's let's jam up the neutral zone And that's actually part of the reason why they've become this in the mushy middle where I'd say, you know They're around 70s. They're trending the 79 82 points which keeps you in it for so long but at some point when you're doing that winning one losing one winning one losing one and Um, you have to go on like a three or four or five game win streak and not ever have a losing streak. Cause if you have a losing streak and you're there, you're back down at the bottom with the Columbus blue jackets in the Montreal, uh, Montreal, uh, Canadians and the like.

Chris: All right. So what do we got coming up here? The game versus the Kings. Is that tomorrow?

Steve: The Kings tomorrow night. That's right. Then on the road against Nashville Thursday. And so it's a mini road trip, just like they had last week, a mini road trip to Nashville and then over the New Jersey. I guess hopefully they won't get taken away by any drones over in New Jersey.

Chris: Yeah, what is up with that? Look, they're military drones. Everybody knows it. And there's some kind of secret.

Marc: Are they ours? Are they other?

Chris: They're ours. You think so? Yes. Of course. 100%. Really?

Marc: Yes. Why don't we just say they're ours? Well, I did just say they're ours. I'm saying, like, the government.

Chris: I'm making an announcement right now. All those drones in New Jersey, they're ours.

Marc: Well, did you know that one, there was one Chinese person who was arrested for having flown a drone over a military base? Well, wow.

Chris: They would arrest me if I flew a drone over a military base.

Steve: Are you telling me that Chinese people fly drones? No.

Marc: No, he can't be. I think he's a he's a dual Chinese and American citizen. And he was flying back to China and they stopped him. OK.

Steve: And then what happened?

Marc: I'm just saying. Yeah, it sounds like a Netflix. This is where I'm all. I'm in this with you. If you want to go conspiracy theory. OK, I feel like there's going to be like an attack, an Iranian attack from drones. Yeah, I don't. I don't think so. And all the housewives in New Jersey are going to die. Yeah.

Steve: Are they going to drop the Koran on us?

Chris: I don't know, but this is a sports show. Let's move on. Let's move on. Grant Schwabini, can you explain to us what we are watching really means?

Marc: What it means is we feel your pain. We understand that it's difficult to make choices, to make decisions. What are you gonna watch? You gonna watch this? You gonna watch that? You gonna watch what's new on Netflix? Or what's new on Hulu? Or what's new on Prime? Or what's new on HBO? Or what's new on Apple Plus? Or what's new on Freebie? Or what's new on Doobie? Or what's new on Poobie? Free V. I think I'm making stuff up now. You get the idea. We're going to tell you so you don't have to go through all this decision making chaos and mayhem. We're going to tell you what's good and what's not good. And here we go. There you go.

Chris: Chaos and mayhem.

Marc: All right.

Chris: The only qualification you have here is that you have to have either finished the season of the show you're watching, or if it's a documentary, you have to finish the whole documentary or movie, the whole movie. The Grand Schwabini this week finished up This somewhere in Queens. Is that Ray Romano?

Marc: It's Ray Romano.

Steve: Oh, interesting.

Marc: Yeah. Uh, I don't remember her name.

Chris: That would be Laurie Metcalf.

Marc: The other.

Chris: Yes, it would be. I'm just guessing, but yeah.

Marc: The other, the other star in this is Sebastian Maniscalco.

Chris: Oh, yeah. I saw his show down at PPG paints. Yeah. You like him down there. Yeah. He's funny.

Marc: Yeah, so this was actually like a nice little hidden gem. It was like, you know, 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh, by the way, I have Hulu now so I can watch. All right. Congratulations. Don't forget to watch that Nicole Kidman, The Nine Perfect Strangers.

Steve: Yeah, that's on my list. That's a Christmas special. Anything with Nicole Kidman.

Chris: Yes.

Marc: But this was actually, it was actually like a really good story. It was just basically kind of like about Ray Romano kind of is, you know, middle-aged and feeling like he hasn't done much with his life. He's got a son who, you know, is able to play Division I basketball, but he's also been kind of socially awkward in life. And Ray Romano is kind of trying to live through his son. while his son is sort of trying to find his way through the world. The one thing that you guys will definitely think is funny is that the school that he gets offered a basketball scholarship to is Drexel University. They actually are on Drexel's campus. They show the court and everything. Um, but, uh, it was good. I mean, like, you know, kind of funny, you know, kind of a good little drama, like two hours well spent, you know, one for the wife, wife will certainly know it's a movie.

Chris: It's a movie. Okay. All right. Yeah. I just want to know if Ray Romano is capable of playing anything other than a sad sack.

Marc: I don't know. I don't know. But, you know, I felt this was kind of like his coming out party as like a serious actor.

Chris: Well, he did that series a couple of years ago. Do you remember it was called Men of a Certain Age? You remember that? It was on like TNT. I didn't watch it though. I thought it was pretty good. Yeah. And then it got canceled, you know, because not enough people watched it, I guess. But I thought it was pretty good. But then he did a couple of other things. I'm just like, it always just seems like it's a different version of, of everybody loves Raymond. You know what I mean? Like it's the same sad sack character, like woes me. You know, my life is, my life is good at that.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: And he's also worth hundreds of millions of dollars at the same time.

Marc: So it can't be that sad. Right. Exactly.

Chris: All right, the Grand Schwabini, something in Queens on Hulu, a little Drexel connection for us there. Got a couple of comments here. I want to get to them really quick. Streaming is total chaos. Thank goodness for bourbon and Coke or ginger ale.

Marc: I obviously meant bourbon. I thought I was going to say, thank goodness for the Grand Schwabini. Yeah, I mean, that's yeah.

Chris: You know, or just thank goodness for Coke. It went a different way.

Steve: I was waiting for that.

Chris: Okay. I have exercised my unselfish watching self. Here we go. Which does exist. And my wife and I together finished the first season of The Lioness.

Marc: Oh, what'd you think? Did you like it?

Chris: I, I actually, I really did like it. I, I, you know, for those of you who weren't listening or watching before Schwaber, but did this on his, what, what are we watching? Lioness is about, it's on Paramount Plus or Showtime. It's about a CIA program where they take women and they're, you know, Marine trained women and they, I'm going to get in a lot of trouble for.

Steve: That's okay. You've said a lot worse.

Chris: Where they try to plant a secret agent who is female next to a terrorist asset or a terrorist that they want to kill. Right. And they're the lioness. So this was, I finished season one. Nicole Kidman is, you know, at one point I looked at my wife and I said, when does Nicole Kidman ever not play like the richest person on the show? And it's because it's where she lives basically. But, um, I, I like it. Uh, Zoe Saldina is in it. She's good. She's pretty good. You know, I don't, I don't like her husband in it. Um, he's kind of like, like, dude, you're, you're like a, you're like an oncologist, you know, with like, and, and you like want to crawl in a, in a corner and die.

Marc: Well, it's kind of like, this is the life you signed up for. Suck it up. Yeah.

Chris: Like, like, like the only oncologist I ever met face to face was a guy I helped with some home financing years ago. And he made, A ton of money. Right. Um, he looked like Joe Rogan and he had like a garage full of Harley Davidson's. So, and so in my mind, it's kind of like he's looked death straight in the eye and he's like, screw you. I'm buying a motorcycle. This guy is kind of like, I feel so bad for everybody. I feel so bad for our marriage. I feel so bad. Looks like you're in the thick of it. You know, so I, I didn't appreciate his care.

Marc: I think he gets pretty angry in season two. Okay, fine. That's cool.

Chris: Cause we are going to go on and watch season two. So, um, I thought it was good. I had to stop myself. Sometimes I, I find myself in shows like this going, How much bad shit can happen at one time? I mean, that's just not and then I just have to stop myself and say they're compressing it. Right. And just go back to just watching it. And I yeah, I thought it was really good, especially the end, especially the end.

Marc: Yeah. I like I like that. What's his name? Mike Kelly, who plays the deputy director. I think that's his name.

Chris: Oh yeah, he's in House of Cards and Morgan Freeman.

Marc: He's great, actually.

Chris: He has some great one-liners in there. I love when he's like, you're full of shit and you know it, like that kind of stuff. Yeah, it's kind of cool, the backroom dealing that they're talking about.

Marc: Yeah, exactly. Like they're like… Like a Nicole Kidman's husband.

Chris: Yeah, like somehow he's involved and he's like…

Marc: Yeah, he's trying to like trade after hours by based on what his wife's saying. Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. But he's he's got another reason. Right.

Marc: Right.

Chris: Right. You know. Yeah. It's the backroom dealing where they're like, well, if you didn't want him dead, you shouldn't have put him on the kill list.

Marc: Right.

Chris: It's kind of like once you put him on the kill list, we're going to kill him. You change your mind. Right.

Marc: Yeah, it's good.

Chris: It's a good show. I do recommend it. Lioness. on Paramount Plus, what we are watching. And boys, I think that wraps it up. You know, we got the Ravens on Saturday night. Of course, H.J. is going to have a couple of shows this week and next week. Hopefully, you guys will be able to set this all up on your own because I'm not going to help you no matter what. You watch me struggle for so long, it's kind of like, you know, you're going to come in and finish the game, right?

Steve: No, we're just gonna set it up and do it. We're not gonna complain. We'll just do it better.

Marc: Alright.

Chris: All right. Thanks, Mike. You have a great Christmas as well. Same to you, Mike. You've been watching the SportsPorts, the black and gold edition all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and Instagram. And yes, I am going to drop the show, the podcast, right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And we would absolutely love it if you would subscribe to that or subscribe to our channel at the SportsPorts Podcast on YouTube. For the Grand Schwabini, happy Hanukkah. for the hockey jesus little baby jesus i'm happy chronic technical director and i am out to blonsk to bronsk