Jan. 24, 2023
The Porch Is Live - NFL Playoffs And MORE!
Does the City Of Champions still exist? NFL Playoffs and more!
Season 3
NHL Pittsburgh Pengunins
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Pittsburgh Penguins
Hockey
Pittsburgh Steelers
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Does the City Of Champions still exist? NFL Playoffs and more!
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Transcript
Welcome. Welcome. Sports Porch.
Here we are. The Porch Is Live. The Porch Is Live. The Porch Is Live. com. Yes. I think I'm in a cell. Let's do that again. Yes. You're in a cell. You are in a cell. Steve is in trouble. They put me in the basement. Uh so welcome. Thanks for being here. The Porch Is Live. com. The Porch Is Live. com.
The Porch Is Live. com. That is where you can find our website and all of our podcast and we want to thank you of course of course for listening on American Busker iHeartRadio American Busker has or iHeartRadio has 150 million registered describers describers yes registered describers registered users 2, 000 devices and 260 platforms and we could not be more grateful to be on iHeartRadio thank you Nancy Hahn thank you Nancy Hahn thank you iHeartRadio and thank you makeup team for helping us look this that's right we need we need the lighting team in here I feel like I am in a closet.
We need to get you out of jail is what we need to do. Yeah. Maybe next week. Maybe a collection. Send Stars a collection for Steve. Alright and moving on moving on obviously you can catch the Sports Sports Podcast on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you get your podcast and we have something very special tonight. I want to thank our sponsor VirginFlooring WWW.
VirginFlooring. com. VirginFlooring. com. Uh little bit about VirginFlooring real quick. What a great logo. Chris, yeah, it is. It's super cool. Yeah, it's super cool. You can't miss the trucks or anything but Chris is Chris is a great guy. Chris at VirginFlooring. His wife Cathy. They're the nicest people on the planet. They have two two showrooms. One in Allison Park, one out here in Murraysville and I just want to show you guys something.
Uh do you see that picture? Yes. That is our bedroom and that is our flooring down there. That's not my bedroom. No. Looks very nice. It better not be your bedroom. Well, you said are and I was confused. Very nice. Well, I I mean me and my wife. That that that's my bedroom. Do you think you have enough room in that bedroom? No, I don't.
I think you need two more beds in that bedroom. It looks a little old. You think so? Yeah. You think so? You should see our bathroom. Virgin Flooring did our bathroom as well. So listen guys, if you have any kind of flooring work, they redo bathrooms, tile work, flooring, carpet, manufactured hardwood right now, that manufactured vinyl hardwood stuff, that's what we put in there and friendliest guys out there, Chris and his team are absolutely incredible.
They do incredible work and they're a local business. We I have personal experience with them where they wouldn't be invited to be a sponsor of the show. So, I can't tell you how much I appreciate and we appreciate VirginFlooring. Thank you, VirginFlooring. You can never have enough VirginFlooring. Absolutely. I can't. I love it. Yup and the Playoffs continue. So, I do want to remind you again, The Porch is Live.
com is where you find us and look, hey, look, it's playoff time. Playoffs. And obviously, We're going to talk about the playoffs. Yep. We're going to talk about the playoffs. I'm going to encourage Steve to kind of talk at the mic a little more just because it's hard when I'm in this closet. Yes it really. You want to talk about playoffs? Yes. We do want to talk about playoffs.
Number one. Uh number two obviously oh and Pat Pat chimes in. Oh of course. Four kids you need separate bedrooms. Yeah well we do have I think he's up to six but who's counting? No it's seven but whatever. Yeah. So and Pat, we're going to we're going to reconcile this in Key West. Yes. Yeah, that's a good idea. Pat may not make it back from Key West.
He he thinks he's going to be dead before we make it there. You think so? Yeah. It's possible. Say it. Yeah. I think he's going to make it. At this point. I do too. 4 weeks left. I think he's going to make it. Actually, Pat is one of the more resourceful people I know. So, I I think if anything. I think if he died, he would still show up at Key West.
He probably would. Yeah. Somehow. I think they made a movie like that. Yup. Off topic again, boys. Alright. Yup. Uh okay. So, You know the Steelers season obviously we know it's over right now. Um news came out this week.
Canada's back for sure. Much to the chagrin of what it seems.
Entire Steelers nation. Why on earth? Nobody understand. Would they bring this guy back? Of course the rumors started swirling when Tampa Bay was going to let go. Byron Leftwich. I don't know why you would bring Byron Leftwich in here anyway. I get it. I I get the past history but the real question is you know why we're looking at a lot of other teams some who made the playoffs who released or fired their offensive coordinator this is a mystery to everybody I don't think it should be a mystery this is how the Steelers work but I will tell you one thing that I started thinking about this week and this is all the time we're going to spend on the Steelers is this this OC stuff yeah because we want to move on to other stuff but I I think the NFL has passed the Steelers by.
I really do. I think from an innovative standpoint. Now, I am not an analytics guy. Every time there's a game on, what are we doing? We're texting. Take the points. Take the points. You know. Yeah. I am. I am. Right. But. Unless you have Brett Mauer. The real the the real. Sorry, Cowboys. Yeah, right, right. I know that hurts a little. The real point I'm making here is that I I still think Tomlin is a is a good coach and a motivational guy but is it possible that the NFL has now innovated itself past where the Steelers are? And that being said, is it not just a coordinator problem? Is it now a coaching problem? All due respect to mister Tomlin.
Yeah. Well, this is easy. Can I take this? Yeah, take it. This is like a softball for me. Softball. Absolutely not.
And here's why. Okay. I I know you didn't see this coming. I didn't. You thought I was going the other way but. I don't really know this day these days where you're going. Yeah. Well. I don't. I'll probably take the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. You would probably. Alright. We'll go for it. Well, here's the reason. Look at the teams that are left, right? You've got two teams in AFCU clearly have bypassed the Steelers in in talent in their offensive scheming, right? Right.
But they both have running games. I I think Kansas City has less of a running game than than Cincinnati but the reason Cincinnati beat Buffalo because because they had a running game, okay? Let's look at the the NFC I mean how many yards did Philadelphia have rushing 298 yards rushing and that was a lot and and what are the forty-niners built on defense and an okay quarterback play I mean Purdy makes the plays when he has to he doesn't throw the ball for 350 yards so actually I think if the forty-niners win the Super Bowl it means really good things for the Steelers because that means defense wins Championships and you only need a half decent guy who can throw the ball five good times a game.
Now Pickett wasn't that good this year but he could turn into that guy. So actually I I I thought when I looked at Burrow and I looked at Cincinnati and and I'm like damn it. I hate so bad that Cincinnati is a good team and we text about this. Right? I it drives me absolutely freaking nuts that Cincinnati is going to be AFC Championship game two years in a row this team is not won a Super Bowl and they think they're the Cats Meow when they really are just they're they're kind of hitting pay dirt with with Burrow right now and and Chase and T Higgins and Mix in once those guys are gone their defense isn't that great think about this what did it take to get Burrow the number one pick it had to be a loser for like eight years right and and not just a number one pick remember they struggled with Dalton for like what six or seven years or they they thought that Dalton good like my fear is is the Steelers have Dalton right now and they don't have Borough and they're going to be what what Cincinnati thought they were be okay try and make the playoffs but not really do anything that's my fear with the Steelers but no I actually don't think it's passed them by now if you want to talk about coaching I think I think there are definitely some some problems with Tomlin as a coach but I think the scheme itself isn't that far off with having a great defense being able to run the ball and having your quarterback just do enough.
What do you think Mark? Well I I actually do completely agree with you on the I I think the bottom line is you you no matter you know even though it's an offensive league it's a passing league you do have to be able to run the ball to have success you know there's there's no doubt about it and you're always going to be better off like if there's one thing that you do well you wanted to be running the ball right you know so I think the Sewers mindset there is good I just think from a coaching a coaching point of view I don't like the the way the Steelers are fixated on you know it's all about stability stability you know I I think they're like they're very proud that they've only had like three head coaches in the last 50 years or something right but you know here's the thing and and and Tomlin is a good coach he's not a bad coach I mean he's never had a losing season real, right? Yep.
He's not a bad coach. But but the problem is you know at what point does a message become stale at what point do you need to just go in a different direction? Like like take for example you know like let's take the Eagles for example right? Doug Peterson is a good coach. You know they won a Super Bowl with him. And they let him go three years after they won a Super Bowl.
And that wasn't a bad decision you know Jacksonville eventually benefited from getting a good coach but the Eagles also found themselves another good coach you know so it it's I I think they're you know they're just so caught up in the whole stability thing and it's almost more like you know when they held on a cower for like 15 years before he won a Super Bowl I just feel like it's okay to let go a good coach it wasn't fifteen and try something new they hired him in ninety-two and when did he win a Super Bowl oh yeah 2007 yeah he went to a Super Bowl in in the first three years, but okay I yeah yeah but I I just think the bottom line is I think it's it's okay to hire a to to fire a good coach and to try to bring in a coach who might be better yeah and and you know my the entire point that I was making about that was that it it's not about you know all the things you talked about about a good defense running ball none of that has changed it's about being able to scheme to that new I mean you look at offenses nowadays and and look at all the movement all the misdirection look at defenses nowadays and how they try to disguise things and then you look at the Steelers defense they didn't really disguise anything okay they would line up and it's like okay they're bringing the blitz or they're playing covered too there wasn't a lot of movement to disguise it and obviously we don't have to talk about the offense right alright so what I'm saying is I think that stability that that is always been the hallmark of the Steelers organization which I do think is a good thing for the most part.
For the most part. I think that the NFL has now changed enough that the Steelers organization needs to start catching up with the idea that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Tomlin is is not the kind of guy who's going to innovate. He's going to go with what is always worked. And that's great when the league itself is moving at a slower pace.
But now with all these hybrid offensive these guys that can play three positions on offense. I mean you got Caffrey he's lining up in the slot he's lining up as a wide receiver he's lining up as a half back and once in a while he throws the ball okay Taseum Hill look what they do with him in New Orleans okay you know and you can you can say well Tomlin tried that with slash alright well that was that was that was Cowell that was Cowell right you know that so I'm not saying that Mike Tomlin needs to be fired I'm not saying that at all but what I'm saying is this is going to lead to in my opinion another year of a very a very a lack of passion on that team because these younger players want to play in these new offenses.
I I think what would be really nice would be if Tomlin would sort of get out of his own way. You know I I agree. He's just he's just very stubborn. He's actually a good CEO type of coach. Mhm. You know kind of you know you know look they they never have problems challenging or not too much with any clock management really too much.
I mean he manages the game pretty well. He motivates and inspires very well. It'd be nice if he just kind of said like hey you know it's okay to have somebody you know on the offensive side of the ball that quite frankly is a lot smarter than me on the offensive side of the ball. Yeah and and unfortunately it's like you're in a catch 22 situation where he's been a head coach for so long.
He doesn't want to bring in somebody who might be younger and more innovative to make him look bad when actually it would make him look smarter. Right. So so I think he I agree with you. He needs to get out of his ego. He he he needs to say a couple prayers about who he wants to hire. Prayers.
Tomlin's a very religious man.
And and and and he needs he needs to think about how he can kind of step aside and let somebody young and innovative come in. I think I agree with you there. He on the defensive and the offensive side. Look the only reason their defense was so good. They have like ten number one picks. There's a lot of talent on that side of the ball but unfortunately they spent so much money on that side of the ball who do they have to get rid of Mike Hilton where is he doing well hm I think I saw him doing pretty good yesterday for the Bengals yes you know so that's the problem the Steelers have spent so much money on their defense to make it so good they don't got any money left to spend anywhere else so that's what they gotta do they they gotta figure out they gotta figure out those positions and I and and Mark you've said this a lot and I agree with this they spent they they spent money on the pass rusher look the Bengals got of the pass got got to to Allen with no really stud pass rusher.
Right. They just they just went and got it. They like they they they motivated enough to get it. Right? They didn't have a TJ Watt that somebody they spent $25 million dollars for. But they do have a really solid defense. It's an opportunity. It's a teams. It's a team defense. Right. And and it's hard it's hard to pick the bad spot because on a defense like the Steelers it's easier to say okay wherever Minka is and throw it to the opposite side of the field and it'll be fine because whoever's over there is going to suck and it's usually true and good teams figure that out and that's I think the Steelers problem right now they they they've they've tried to put too many number one picks they're not creating a team and that's what they need to work on moving forward I I I get just never ending joy out of the Bengal hate that I get from Steve no matter what it's always Bengal hate they could suck or they could be good he hates the Bengals well that makes you a true fan you know true fans dude I just hate teams that like think they're the they're freaking great yeah and they haven't won a Super Bowl they've only been in two Super Bowls in their freaking career and they lost them both oh for two Cincinnati let's go yeah I will I will say I will say I mean Joe Barrow is very very good yes I mean he I you were not on that that bandwagon last year no no I I've always been no you have not has he always been I've never heard him say too many bad things about yeah No.
Uh but then I'm always consumed with my own hates. I've I've always thought I mean since last year I thought it was very good. But I will also say he's very cocky and he's kind of unlikable. Yeah. See that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. And by the way the moniker Joe Cool. Sorry there's only one Joe Cool. It's Joe Montana. Joe Montana's the original Joe Cool.
The next person that says Joe Cool is this guy over in Cincinnati can guilt Cincinnati themselves.
There you go. That's a new phrase. So you know what? So you know what the dream would be. The dream would be that the Bengals are on a Bills like run of losing multiple Super Bowls in a row. Well they're almost there. They're getting there. They're getting there. No I want them to experience pain by Burrow experiencing a Mahomes sprain. Oh. Maybe maybe first couple maybe first couple plays at the Super Bowl.
Poor Joe Cool. So we got a couple comments coming in. Uh Yo Kerry Canada first. Luke says talking about Tomlin. He needs to open his mind up to new innovative ideas. Um and he would love to be a fly on the wall in Rooney's office. I don't think there's a lot of things said in that all. Pat's talking about you. He just hates cinnamon chocolate in his chili.
Who wouldn't I like Cincinnati chili but I don't think they put chocolate in their chili. Yeah and if they do. If they do I I'm with you. Yep yes. Snoopy was the original Joe Cool and I agree with Pat who follows that up with Leave My Bills Alone, Mark. Don't worry, we got Key West. Say anything about Key West. Yeah, they're horrible.
They're horrible. Josh Allen is actually his own worst enemy but we'll get to that in predictions when we talk about the game. Alright. So, we're going to move on here. Uh once again, I want to thank you if you're listening on American Busker iHeartRadio. IHeartRadio has a 50 million registered users, 2000 devices, over two hundred and sixty platforms and we also want to give a special shout out and thanks to our sponsor tonight.
Virginflooring, WWW. VirginFlooring. com. Please, if you're looking at getting a new floor, new tile in your bathroom, anything like that, get a hold of these guys, personal experience with them. They are the best. So, Steve had an idea for tonight. I did. And The only one of the year. And yeah and no more after this. Because Mark and I didn't feel like coming up with ideas.
We thought this was a good idea. So Steve I'm actually yo Carey says Steve lacking on the cool background stepping up. Uh well he's yeah he's in a cell right now. We'll get it there. We'll get it there. Don't worry. They put me in a closet. What can I say yo Karen? We're working on a new studio. Hockey guys don't mind. We're going to have a new studio.
Yeah you're right about that. Alright so Steve wants to know. Um I guess I I'll phrase it this way and you correct me if I'm wrong. Yes. Is there a city of champions anymore? That's that's very good. That's very it's it's very good because what I did was I looked at the past 10 years and I looked at the big four Now, I know not all cities have the big four, right? Some teams don't have an NBA team.
Some teams don't have an NHL team. Some teams don't have an NFL team which is kind of bizarre but it's true. Um so and I look back and you know, I I hearken back to the years when the you know, the Pittsburgh was the city of champions growing up and I was on a text with somebody and he was like, we're not we're no longer the city of champions.
We're now the city of one and done and I was like, man, that's harsh and then and then I thought, well, is there really a city of champions right now? So, I don't even know the criteria and I thought that that the criteria for one for what a city of champions is would be good to talk about with you guys. So, so in the last 10 years, there's actually only been one city who has won all four and this wasn't in one year.
This was like in 10 years. It took em to win all four and that was LA. And by all four, Super Bowl, NBA Super Bowl, hockey, hockey ball. Yup. They did a all. So so I thought that was interesting. So so the criteria can't be all four in a year because that's not happened in the past ten years. What was the original criteria? I mean back in the day they called Green Bay Title Town.
Okay Green Bay has one team. Right right right. And they own two titles in a row. It's winning a lot. Like so yeah it's also winning like consecutive years or two or three years. There was in a row. There was a time where like New England like the Celtics won. The Berlins won. Yeah the Patriots a bunch and then the Red Sox won a couple.
Okay. Right. You know. Is that in the last 10 years? Well and like when we said City of Champions it was literally only like baseball and football or football and hockey. So it was only two. Yeah. So if you're going to go with the two criteria which to me is the the the smallest number that I think the smallest thing you could say for City of Champions.
So you could go back to actually you just have to go back to twenty twenty-one. Tampa Bay won. Right? They they won football and they won hockey. If you go back to 2020 then you got Major League Baseball. The Dodgers and the Lakers. Now I don't know if we should talk about this. Do Covid Championships count? Yeah.
Their championship. We had this argument. We had this argument before. You made the argument that it was a championship no matter what. Well let me put it this way. It it counts but it's lesser. I agree. And that was your exact argument. Right like so for example like the the Houston Astros Trash Can Championship. Yeah. 2017. It counts but it's lesser.
You know like to be honest with you I I'll tell you what another one that I almost consider lesser is less year's LA Rams. Like what are they the Rams for 1 year? I mean when did they move from Saint Louis? Right. They don't even have any fans. Yeah well they were the Rams for two years. 2 years? Yeah. Yeah. They lost in the championship game the year.
Yeah. I mean it's like or no no no they went to the Super Bowl with Jared Golf. And they lost. Right. But that was with was that with the Rams? No that was that was LA. That was LA. Maybe they've been there for four or five years. Yeah they were there for a year before their stadium. It's like they yeah they weren't even playing in a real stadium.
But but this just proves the whole point about LA and the fans. Yeah. I mean we're NFL guys. Okay. Right. We can't even remember how long the Rams are. Right. I mean the Dodgers fans show up in the fifth inning. Um Yeah that's true. That's true. Let me get some comments in here first. Um Luke says he enjoys our show from Indianapolis.
Thanks Luke. Alright Luke welcome to the show. He says too many Campbell Soup commercials. Uh my buddy Jeff Paulis from the **** town of York PA. Uh I love you York PA. Says criteria would be at least two in the same year. If Philly wins a Super Bowl then the Phillies win next year. I would say they could be a city of champs in his opinion.
You could do the same with baseball and a basketball team etcetera. Um and Uh Pat says Houston Rockets when MJ was out lesser. So you're going the way back machine. We're only going back 10 years. So really those were the only two. Tampa Bay and LA were the only two that that had that. Now you had DC who won the NHL in twenty eighteen and then they won the baseball in twenty nineteen.
Would you consider that to be a city of champion? Well I mean if you're what city? Um Washington DC. Washington DC. I mean it's who won? It's the district. The Captains and the Nats. Yeah. The Cats and the Nats. And the Cats won. The Cats won first and then that's one after them. I don't know. I mean I just I don't say it is like.
No no but what I'm saying is is like the Nationals I mean granted there was a nationals way back when. Right. But they're still sort of a relatively new team. Well they're like the Senators. Yeah like most people who grew up when we grew up from Washington DC or Orioles fans. You know. Very true. Yeah. So it's like it's true. So it's like you know it's kind of like hey should we root for the new team? But still.
It's kind of like the race. Even though even though they're a new team they're they they play in the city. It's district in the case of district of I think to be honest I think I I think what this kind of points out right now is that there there number one there is no City of Champions. I agree. I I also think that it's I also think it's harder now than it's ever been before.
Because all the playoff formats are expanded so greatly. Mm. That you have to win so many games to to to win. You know like you gotta go through like in hockey and basketball you gotta get through like four rounds right? Oh yeah. Five rounds of seven game series. Right. You know. Right. You know. The most ridiculous. Right. I mean it's it's so long and you know and even baseball you gotta get through 162 and like win around 95 games to make even a play on playing game.
You know yeah playing game. Yeah and and even they're having a playing game now in the in NBA too now right? Yeah yeah they're playing in NBA. Okay. So it's it's just a lot harder I think. And and I also think it's harder because in in in years past it was more a situation where players stayed with their teams longer. Yeah.
And now with free agency and just kind of more power in the player's hands. Yeah. There's a lot more player movement so it's hard to keep teams together as well. That's absolutely true. Okay so one last question before we go on to our predictions. Who was the original City of Champions? Well Pittsburgh of course. Right. And and why was Pittsburgh the City of Champions? Well I I think they were because they were they won so many Super Bowls in such a short period of time.
Yeah well it it actually started. And then I think you know the hockey team kind of oh no you're totally wrong. And then and then the the the Pirates jumped on that band. No you're totally wrong. The Pirates won the World Series in 1970 and 1971. They beat the Orioles. I would know. Okay. Then they won four Super Bowls. Mhm. Then they repeated beating the Orioles again and seventy-nine.
That's the City of Champions. That's why they had seven championships in nine years between their two sports teams. And that's what New England was. Well so New England actually New England only had one. Has four. Four or five. Okay. So New England. Five. Sorry. Five. But in I think in the 10 years before that. But if you if you count the last ten years they've had two from Boston and three from from three from the Patriots if you can count the Patriots Boston okay so the originals the originals now now now fans in Green Bay would disagree but they call it Titletown and that was two Super Bowl wins yeah and and but but Lombardi won a bunch of NFL championships before it was called the Super Bowl in Green Bay they they were on a string yeah so you can kind of make that argument in a way but they never called it the City of Champions the name the City of Champions was originated in Pittsburgh because of that nine years fan seven and 9 years.
Well that's right. Seven and nine years. Well I can tell you nobody in the past 10 years has that. So in using that criteria you're 100% right. Right. And I'm going to agree with you. Yeah. Well of course you are. But but it it's not about that shouldn't be the criteria. See I don't think it's I don't think you can put a criteria on it.
That's the point. Well it's kind of like there was a decade there where Pittsburgh was the city of champions. Well I mean if you go back from New England. If you take two 20 19 and you go backwards in time ten years you could ease say New England. But but think about this. They Boston. Okay. So. They definitely dominate. Right. Seventy.
Seventy-one. When did they win their first Super Bowl? Seventy-four? Seventy-four. Seventy. Seventy-one. 74 back to back. Five seventy-six. Okay. Seventy. Seventy-one. Seventy-five. Seventy-six. Mm hmm. Skip a year. Seventy-eight. Seventy-eight. And seventy-nine. Two and seventy9. Steelers. 1980 but yeah. Okay. So out of those nine years. 7 championships. Yeah. I mean there did there was rarely a year that went by when they weren't having a downtown. Yeah. That's the City of Champions and you're welcome.
You're welcome Pittsburgh fans for sorting that out because you're you're you're you're resident Yins are here. Steve, he's the one that was questioning that. I mean, really? Well, I I know about the Pittsburgh. I was just questioning if currently there is and Mark actually verified what I thought which was. Yeah. No. The answer is no. There is no City of Champions. Pittsburgh will always be the City of Champions. That's right.
Even if currently there the city of one and done. There you go.
Let's go on there. Alright. Alright. Moving on. Moving on. Moving on. Moving on. Moving on. Okay. I did update the picks for last week to add the the Tampa Bay game. Uh and this past week this was a crazy one. Okay. So Mark, Steve, and Chris all had the Jags. Um Chris was the Jablanki that picked the Giants to win over the Eagles.
Chris however did pick the Bengals over the Bills and that one I meant. I just picked the Giants to piss Mark off. Uh the Bengals over the Bills I love Joe Cool and Mark and Chris were on the Purdy train. Steve picked the Cowboys. So now our records are Mark is eight wrong about Dak. Mark was you know where he's rumored he's going the the Raiders now that everybody's saying. His career's over. He's he he's not going in. No he's not. Mark is now eight and 2.
Steve is six and four.
And Chris is six and four. We only got three more games basically can okay so if I go three and oh the only the the you would you would have to pick against whatever I would have to lose every game yes yes and that's what's going on you guys would have to win or attain it by the Eagles yeah yes so okay so but if they lose then you don't have to worry about picking them in the Super Bowl so Saturday Sunday's game forty-niners at Eagles that's the first game right yes Sunday game. Forty-niners at Eagles. Uh Am I supposed to pick first? Cuz I'm you're the winner.
You're the champion. Yeah, I gotta write this down now.
Forty-niners, Eagles. Alright, go for it Schwab. Uh I think it's going to be very very tight but I'm going to take the Eagles twenty-four twenty-three. Okay, so Mark's got the Eagles. A one-point win.
I like the Eagles myself twenty-two twenty-one 22 to 21 lots of field goals from Elliot okay okay I I see lots of field goals in his future and listen man Brock Purdy Hall of Fame the guys got ice in his veins I listen interesting did did you see the graphic yesterday that they put up the the the Niners offense before Purdy and after so you could say what you want about all the weapons he has and discount the defense because they're one of the top scoring offenses in the league defense is great but you would he play yesterday? Hold on a second.
In the games that he's going to be under the rest. Yeah. In the games that he took over their scoring their yards per game went up after he took over the offense. I'm telling you I I'm they're not going to hold the Eagles to I'm picking the forty-niners in this game I'm picking the 49 the forty-niners can hold the Eagles less than 20 points they'll win and it's that simple I just don't think they will okay Bengals will Jaylen Hertz fumble the ball He has it.
Bengals at Bengals at don't give it to Boston Scott at the goal line.
He's not the forty-niners killer. He is the the Giants killer. Alright.
Bengals at Chiefs. Schwabber what do you got? Now Patrick Mahomes is hurt. No doubt. No way you come back from that injury in a week. I I gotta go with the Bengals just because and it's solely on Mahomes' health. If if Mahomes was a00% I would tell you Chiefs but I I gotta go with the Bengals here. Uh alright Mark's going with the Bengals.
You can't make me take the Bengals.
The Bengals could be playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and I I would take the Pittsburgh Steelers yes I know that you're looking for the Henny game I I don't know I I I honestly this is a pick em game to me I think I think anybody could win this game I don't think they need Mahomes I don't think the Bengals defense is as good as as as they were in Buffalo I think they benefited from the snow tremendously I don't think they're going to get the snow in in Kansas City I I just I I think it's going to come down to who has the ball last.
Alright so I'm going with the Chiefs because I just gotta do the opposite of Mark. You know the point is to try to win. And you know what? In all honesty I I definitely think the Bengals can win. They know how to play the Chiefs. Um but the one thing I'm going to give to the or to the Chiefs this time around is that Andy Reed's a pretty smart guy too.
That's that's the one thing that's in the Bengals fave. I I know that but that's coming out smartest. That's coming from a former Eagles fan. That's coming from a an Eagles fan, alright? So actually. What do you think the Chiefs will benefit from having to run the ball more? I'm I'm going with the Chiefs. I mean, they can play a good game if yeah.
If if they structure it, right? It'll come down to turnovers. Alright. Always does. Okay. So, one thing I want to remind you guys first of all is that you could catch our podcast on the iHeartRadio app. You can subscribe to it there anywhere you get your podcast, please follow the podcast. Uh send us a review and if you're listening on American Busker iHeartRadio, thank you so much for that.
Uh after every single Penguins game, Win or Lose, the Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast. So, if you sign up for the iHeartRadio app for the podcast on that or anywhere, you can get the notifications and I think he does a pretty bang up job to be honest with you. I mean, that's that's commitment right there. Uh DG is in the house. Join late but still good to see you guys.
Thanks. Hey, David. Welcome. As always for being here. Um so, anything you want to preach to us on the on here hockey team. Here's what I want to talk about the Penguins. You know, this is the time of year where it's win one, lose one, play against teams you should beat, you tie some, you win some, you lose some, there are no highs, there are no lows, it's just kind of going along, it's mid season, right? It's the doldrums of hockey and when you play 82 games, there's a lot of doldrums.
Yeah, yeah. I sense that, right? Right? Right, right. So, so you kind of have to go with the flow. So, what's going on with the Penguins right now is they are getting some of their key players back. They had a lot of injuries and and and any any team that goes through a hockey season has a lot of injuries. So, this is not this is not unique to the Penguins.
Um they will get Chris LaTang back at some time. I think that will help the power play. What they have to figure out is what the hell they're doing with their bottom six. Their top 6 of like 22 of the last 25 goals, which is just way too much like in in in a in a playoff situation your top six are going to get shut down and it always comes to secondary scoring the third line has been tried lately to bring Bluger Bluger Bluger up That was lame.
You gotta do that again.
They bring Blueger up from the fourth line to put him on as the is the third line center and put Carter out to the wing. Look, Carter has hit a wall. I think this guy is like officially retired but he's just skating. Like like he literally filed his papers for retirement but yet he's still out there with the uniform on like.
Right. He he does he can't get the pucks. He's no longer good on the penalty kill. He just looks slow. Like literally I think if he comes back from the all-star break which is in a week and he still looks like this the guy is shot he'll be done I think he just needs a break and I I really wish they would sit him but they can't because they have so many injuries and a lot of their injuries right now are with the fourth line they got Archibald who really is the he's kind of a spark plug guy you know the guy who runs around and hits everybody and hits everything you're like oh I like that guy but he never scores a goal but he he kind of you know he he can get the team going right so if they put Bluger back on the fourth line with Palin and with Archibald I think the third line will figure itself out I think the third line will be probably the Bluger line and the Carter line will be the fourth line but they'll still you know they they'll never say Carter's on the fourth line center but that's what they need to figure out secondary scoring their defense I think are doing a better job of knowing when to join the play and knowing when not to give up two on ones I think they're doing a better job with replacing with the forward in the back but look they're right at that spot where like well we're on the cusp of a playoff position if we win three or four in a row then you know we'll be comfortable if we lose and win and lose and win then we'll be uncomfortable you know teams like the Flyers are kind of nipping at their heels Florida who they'll play tomorrow night they're right there they're like further away from the Devil or from the Rangers who are like in a good spot they're like in the second or third spot in the metro then that distance to where the Flyers are which is like they're like two teams out of the out of the playoff spot so they're like right in that spot where it's a little scary but the Penguins don't seem to be scared I think it's because they're so old they've seen this they know what to do and that's what to look for so what to look for this week is they play Florida and they play the Capitals and then they finish on Saturday against San Jose and San Jose is not a good team so what I'd like to see him do is at least win one get a loser point once again I hate loser points that's a topic for another another day but they can get five points out of the next six I think they'll be fine if they get four they'll be okay if they only get two you might you might see Hextall picking up the phone and and making some calls to to make some moves or do something because that's DG's question right now Steve who do you think is on the trading block for the Pens well David here's the problem they really can't trade any they have to trade right they can't they can't like just pick somebody up because they're in they're in cap hell right now and so the only and they can't really trade any of their top guys and right now trading Zucker which is probably the only guy they could trade would be just the dumbest thing they could do because he's probably after Sid and Gino is probably the third best person on their team and he's the only one that goes around and hits kind of like Archibald does but he does it on the second line I don't think they can trade anybody honestly I mean I don't know who you would want to trade like you wouldn't want to POJ a young defenseman because he seems to be getting it together you don't want to trade Pederson he seems to be getting it together Duval and nobody wants he's probably not going to be back next year he's in the the last year of a contract so the problem is is the guys you would want to trade are not tradable so the best thing they can do is they they maybe make it make a trade for like draft picks and get like a bottom six guy who might you know play like Archibald does.
Somebody who runs around and hits people who isn't very valuable and maybe is only like 500, 000 or 1. 2 million on the cap and give up some draft picks. That's about the only thing they can do. I mean, there's not much they can do and they don't need to shake up their top lines. It's the bottom lines where they need to do it.
They did bring up Drew O'Connor who is more of a straight line player. When I see him play, he kind of plays like he he kind of plays like a wrecky a little bit but he's not. Wrecking ball. But he's but he's he's not a blast. He he's not nearly as talented. I I don't want to say he's as talented but he plays like that.
You know, he goes straight to the net. He like, you know, he he's he's not a skater who goes like this like Malcolm does and he dipsy dos and he stick handles. He just goes right to the net with the puck and he just shoots it really hard. So, I like him. I think I think he could be a third line guy but he's rough around the edges and he he's only scored once.
Actually, he's one of the two goal scorers on the bottom six that's actually scored.
Alright. Well, listen. Um let's see. Let's check the comments here. Have you seen Zucker's wife? Can't get rid of him just because of her. She must be attractive. She's smoking. Yeah. She's smoking. Although, do we really know Brad's taste? Yeah. Brad taste. Uh if you saw Zucker's wife you would you would agree with that. Oh that's hilarious. So and our apologies to Zucker. Um well I mean they gotta make a decision about Zooker whether they want to sign him to an extension or let him go to free agency in the in the off season.
So right now it's it's a tough call because he's been hurt so much for the Penguins. But if he would have done what he did the last three years this year they would have been a much better team in the playoffs. Alright so there's your Hockey Jesus update. Um remember after every Penns game live on the iHeartRadio app can hear the Hockey Jesus preach and recap and we throw it up on social media.
Uh please want to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and thank you for listening on American Busker iHeartRadio. I want to give a special shout out to the sponsor of our show, our sponsor tonight, VirginFlooring, VirginFlooring. com. Thanks so much Chris. Um great place. Two showrooms. One in Allison Park. One in Murraysville. These guys do a fantastic job. Visit them@VirginFlooring. com and Hey, we got a weekend of playoff football coming up.
Just Sunday. We got some hockey. What are we going to do on Saturday? We're running out of game. Oh my god, a free day. And two more comments before we fire up the music and get out of here. Patrick Donovan says, Hockey Wives are a smoke show and Luke says he appreciates our show and we appreciate welcome back. Thank you very much.
Yup, absolutely. And and with that, That's about it. That's about it guys. I think we are I I messed up the music again because I always do that. You'll hear that on the podcast. But I think that's it guys. We're out. We'll see you guys next week. See you next week. Peace out.
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