Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - December 4, 2025

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BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - December 4, 2025 · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to another episode of Pittsburgh Sports Memories current events for the December here.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your co-host, Steve Wirt, and I'm joined by I'm Tim Hanner.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Alrighty, we'll jump right into it.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get into Penguins hockey.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh over the last week here they lost 7-2 to the Maple Leafs over the weekend, and then on Monday they beat the Flyers 5-1.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think they're one point in the playoffs now.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're tied with the Flyers, but for some reason they're in the playoffs, and the Flyers aren't.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why that is.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's probably some tiebreaker going on, but it just kind of shows what's going on with their team right now, and they're either like barely in or barely out of the playoffs.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure how long this will continue, if they'll just keep doing this all the way to the playoff time or what's gonna happen.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um it's definitely interesting, and it's gonna make it difficult for them to either send the young kids down or play them full time.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it they're kind of like in a bad spot, like we said last time.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it really hasn't not much has changed, except they're now one point in the playoffs instead of one point out of the playoffs.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And they beat the Flyers, and that's always a fun thing.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Sydney Crosby had a couple goals, and uh, actually I watched the highlights.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Tristan Jarley had a nice game, so go figure.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Tristan Jari, he's the gift that keeps on giving.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: When he wanted him to be bad, he's good.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: When he wanted to be good, he's bad.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, he's actually looked pretty good since he came back from that injury.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but like you said, it's like impossible to trust him, so yeah, unfortunately.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, we'll keep an eye on the penguins.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see what happens.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh hopefully they they make the playoffs, because like it's kind of like to the point now where you kind of need to, I think you kind of need to go in.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was saying last week you should just rest, but like this week now, if you're gonna keep hovering, I guess just play the kids and hopefully you make the playoffs.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um pit basketball.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have not talked about pit basketball at all, Tim.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: They are I think six and three, or and they're kind of having an up and down season.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: They lost the Quinni Pack in U University Central Florida, and uh Quinnipac, the only thing I know Quinnipac for is the poll, the presidential poll, and um they lost to them pretty handily, and then they go and totally redeem themselves, beating Ohio State on a buzzer beater, which I guess is the second year in a row they beat Ohio State on a buzzer beater.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think they're six and three, five and three, and they're they're not very good.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I guess they're I I am assuming they're not gonna make the tournament.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they lost a bunch of players from last year, too.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like they lost the twins and some other people.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what happens, right, Tim?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that's they're they're not gonna have a great season, especially once they start getting into the ACC games.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they've already lost like three games and haven't even played an ACC game, so I don't see how they they make the playoffs or the tournament, I mean.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Duke Duquesne and Duquesne's in the same boat.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're gonna have a just a sort of a mediocre season, I think, as well.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: So But that's okay.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's I I to me like supporting those teams and and like in the case of Duquesne, I'm I'm going to a Duquesne game, I think, in January or February.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just I still nice to support the team and and but I don't think that they're gonna really do much either of those teams.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna paint your face for the Duquesne.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta support the team.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I am not.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um so now getting into a sad football Palooza, Tim.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh we'll play the sad football music because it was a very sad weekend.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Terrible weekend for football.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a rough weekend on the north side, and it was a very cold weekend, and uh the play of the two local football teams at Akashore Stadium sure did not help with the uh temperature and the spirits of uh local football fans.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll start off with the college team, fit football in a huge game, like to keep their um college football playoff hopes alive.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: They go and they totally lay an egg.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: They lose to Miami 38-7 in a game that probably wasn't even that close.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um the offense again was totally shut down by a top 10 opponent.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know Miami's ranked top 12th, but I think Miami's a top 10 team.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're pretty good.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um the defense was somewhat ineffective.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the only time they got pressure was they they had the blitz, and they had to kind of disguise the blitz on defense because they weren't like beating Miami's offensive line.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Miami won the trenches both offensively and defensively.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um Miami had 28 first downs, Pitt only had 11.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Miami on third downs were four for seven, and Pitt was four for thirteen.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it really was a pretty dominant performance by uh Miami.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately it was sad because Pitt was in the game, I think it was like uh I forget what the score was in the early in the third quarter, but it was like a 10-point game or 14-point game.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And all pit pit looked like they had had him stop twice to hold him to a field goal attempt, and they take like two really, really stupid personal fouls to give the Miami team life, and you know, you just can't give a team with that kind of caliber of players that kind of life.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: That number um 10, I have the guy's name written down, was really good, and he ended up scoring some touchdowns.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: So Tony?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, their receiver, yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Tony, yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that guy was really good.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just like I said, too many um and like Pat Narduzi Um there there was a lot of reviews.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like that that first half, especially that first half, there was like five or six reviews, it seemed.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: There was even like one or two in the second half, and the officiating wasn't great, and people were kind of booing the officials and whatnot, but I felt like Pitt got baited into taking those penalties.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I watched, I was at the game, so I was able to, I wasn't I didn't watch it on TV, I actually watched it in person.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you could tell like on every kickoff, and there was certainly a lot of them by Miami since they scored so much.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like the Miami players would just hit like every kickoff sailed through the back of the end zone.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was I think there was one that was returnable, and every time the Miami players would come running down and like hit the pit players and try and start stuffed every dime, and like nothing was done.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen that before, and they like Miami just did that the whole game, and Pitt fell for it a couple times, and it's just and that's what Pat Narduzzi said.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: He said, We talked about composure, we're going to play football, we didn't want to play their game, so that was the message is not to get baited into it, and we got baited into it.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And for some reason the paper said that Pat Narduzzi didn't take risk like responsibility for the team's performance.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I thought that was taking responsibility.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, Tim.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pitt not good enough for Prime Time.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Any any thoughts on the post mortem on the pit football season here?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was so so first of all, yeah, taking this personal fair uh personal foul calls was just dumb.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um but but at the end of the day, I don't think it really would have mattered.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they would have been in it till the end of the third quarter instead of the beginning of the third quarter.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of a postmortem on the season, um, you know, Pitt had a really nice little season, a really good season.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: They they were two and two.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: The freshman comes in and they were in it in the ACC title race all the way to the last day of the season.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you really could ask for more.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: They weren't they're not an elite team, they're not Miami or Notre Dame.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, they're not a playoff team.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: They're not they're they they couldn't they couldn't ever hang with a team like Ohio State or Indiana.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not who they are.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're not so they weren't at that level.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: But they were at a level where they were one of the best teams in the conference, and they hung in there till the very end.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: They they were like, yeah, like Georgia Tech or probably Virginia, like definitely better than Duke.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: That leads me to this.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like Pitt's not ready for prime time, uh, and that's disappointing.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's definitely, you know, I've said this before, it's definitely the players, not necessarily a scheme, I think.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because it just didn't seem like they have like like it looked like Pitt was a team that was on another level, like, and these teams were like up a level.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like it looked like they were playing up a level in competition and they just couldn't match it with talent-wise.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even like scheme, it was just talent.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that and and they're young too.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Again, you know, a bunch of players.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: There are young, a lot of young players.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So so it it's something to build off of.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and maybe those guys, you know, now Mason Heinschel's played in some big time games, and maybe that'll help for next year.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it won't, I don't know.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I I refuse to be disappointed about the pit season.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Again, they were two and two, they looked like they're they raised the expectations that that's what they did, but that's a good thing.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually a good thing because we we had and uh and honestly, it feels a lot better than last year when they were 7-0 and then they just completely fell apart.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: They were good and they just weren't good enough to beat the elite teams, and that's really okay.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I will say the one really disappointing thing, Steve, was that I couldn't believe that SMU lost to Cal later that night.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: That that was that's the most, yeah.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if they would have won, they would have been in the championship game.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: They would have been in the championship game.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's the ACC.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what is wrong with the ACC?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I hate this comic.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's not very good, is what's on it.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: It it's just it's run so poorly.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's run for certain teams, Duke and North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson, and all the other teams can like go to hell.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just tired of the ACC.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've been tired of the ACC.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about the ACC.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even care about them in basketball.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, Pitt gets nothing out of this relationship.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: They really don't.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: They do, though.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: They get to be in a power for a conference.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's all that matters.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: But who cares?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: The millions and millions of dollars that it brings into the university is who cares?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh whatever.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I I yeah.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my point is SMU lost to Cal on a missed field goal.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: SMU actually was leading that game by like three touchdowns at one point, and it came down to a missed field goal by SMU, which means a six-way tie, which means five lost Duke.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Five lost Duke is in the championship game over Miami.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wrap your freaking head around that.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because and somehow Miami, somehow Louisville got the ruined pit in Miami season.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the stupidest thing ever.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a tiebreaker.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have to have tiebreakers, and so those are there's got to be a better better way of doing it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: It came to like strength of schedule.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was reading the Miami Herald, and they said because Miami, because Duke had a strength of schedule of 500, and Miami only had 434, and that's why Miami didn't get in.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just insane because I I haven't watched any Virginia games, but I I can't imagine Virginia is as good as Miami, but hey, you never know.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe my I don't think Miami, I I bet five bucks Miami doesn't get in.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I just have that feeling that they're gonna they're gonna get like the Florida State treatment.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they might.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's the being in the ACC is not gonna help them, but yeah.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Pitt is going to some bowl game, uh, maybe January 2nd in San Diego to him.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um would you be interested if it was the Penn Strike bowl against Penn State?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's a rumor.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll see.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Penn State's it is Penn State.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I guess Penn State finally got six wins.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, they they're eligible.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: They beat Wreckers the other night, so that it's I have no idea if that's even on the table, but I've seen that been been bounced around.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that would be at least interesting.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think Pitt because they won eight games is too good for the pinstripe bowl, but I I don't know.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It would be something that would make get ratings and have a lot of people would probably be interested.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if Narduzie takes that game seriously.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: He probably would.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on to our other second huge embarrassing failure.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh Steelers football.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um they lost the Buffalo.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a shocker.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um early in the game, they had a bunch of chances, and they probably should have been up 10 to nothing because they got a turnover.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, it just got disappointed.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Bills were way more physical, and like I heard TJ Watt say that like he've never been on a Steelers team where they've given up the same play over and over again.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: James Cook had 144 rushing yards, and I think overall the Bills had like 260 some rushing yards.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think the most disappointing again, once again, this is the second week in a row where a team was down to backups in key areas, and pick and the Steelers just could not take advantage, like they just could not take advantage of the Bears and their linebackers, and they couldn't take advantage of the Bills and their tackles, and that's the sign of a bad team, Tim.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they're six and six and a deserved six and six.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it they got away just much like Pitt in the second half, the first play, uh what's his name?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bosa gets a sack of uh uh Aaron Rodgers.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Rodgers gets hurt again.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Mason Rudolph comes in for a series, throws an interception, looks terrible.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't look any better than Rodgers did.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think the Steelers only had 37 yards rushing.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: They have no speed at wide receiver.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think they completed one pass.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Rodgers completed one pass down the middle to um Darnell Washington.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um they failed on a fourth and two that was just it wasn't even close.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Bills totally stuffed them.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they tried to run that little play.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Miami had run that game play against Pitt and had a great success where like they kind of they have the the garden at tackle like kind of double down and they kind of like you know run it's almost like a little counter play into that hole, and the Bills just dominated.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I Josh Allen made a nice play on fourth down for a touchdown and another rushing touchdown because you can't tackle the quarterback.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Although they did they did kind of let him play, they didn't throw the flag early, like they did kind of hit him a little bit.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And they have to because if they're gonna just let Josh Allen run around like that and get the Patrick Mahomes treatment, I I don't know what to tell you.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I don't know, Tim.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is I I booed Renegade, the crowd booed Renegade.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Did you were you booing Renegade and Chanting fire Tom?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: You you booed Renegade, really.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So so yeah, you were there Saturday, I was there on Sunday.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So so the the I mean I have a lot to say about this game.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all also but since you brought up Renegade, so that fourth and two you talked about, that was that was in the fourth quarter.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was like their last gasp chance to they got down to like the 13-yard line.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: They still would have had to score like two more touchdowns, but it would have been like, okay, maybe we've got a chance.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And they got stuffed.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then it wasn't even close.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even close.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody was mad about that.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've been going to games for almost 40 years, Steve, and that's one of the angriest crowds I've been around.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean the crowd was just angry and it was cold, it was miserable, the the offense stunk, couldn't do anything.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I know the defense got gouged, like you said, they couldn't take advantage of the tackles, they couldn't, you know, stop James Cook.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: But honest to God, if at the beginning of that game you would have told me that the reigning NFL MVP came in and with one of the best running backs in the league, and they only scored two offensive touchdowns, and those didn't even happen until the second half, and we got a couple turnovers, I really would have been perfectly fine.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: To me, it was more the offense.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: The offense had the ball for what was it, like 17 minutes or something?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, they can't convert third downs.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just it's been like that all the time.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: They're scared to like throw over the middle of the field.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like that interception that Rudolph threw was to Darnell Washington on the sidelines.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: What are you throwing to Darnell Washington on the sidelines for?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: He threw into triple coverage, which was terrible.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: But why don't you run him over the middle of the field?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's like he's like eight feet tall.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Why would you try to throw a fade to that guy on the sidelines?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: So so the the coaching's miserable.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: The quarterback plays miserable no matter who it is, like you said, Rogers or Marudoff.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: The the running, the the running is non-existent.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's like they had no answers for anything on offense.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, the defense wasn't good, but to me, uh like I said, you hold Josh Allen to two touchdowns, that at least gives you a chance.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: But but it was apparent by really the middle of the third quarter.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: The offense was just had no answers, no new ideas.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like Buffalo has like a tremendous like they have a decent defense, but their defense isn't that good.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and they and they just had no answer.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so anyway, back to Renegade.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: When they got stuffed on fourth and two, everybody's booing because people had booed all the three and outs.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: People people then they got stuffed on fourth and two, and then they like dim the lights near and and you know you can tell they're getting ready to play Renegade, and people just lost it.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I actually walked out at that point, Steve.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I left.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm done.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you're gonna insult our intelligence this badly.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm done.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was it was insulting.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I hate to say like playing a song is insulting, but really what it's saying, it's it's like it's like when your kids were were two years old, right?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they were upset because they they dropped their ice cream cone, and you're like, oh wait, here, tear up, sport.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the your favorite toy, right?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're trying to do that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's like what it was.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was just it was it was insulting.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: People boot people were so mad when they played that song because it was just saying to the crowd, hey, we think you're stupid.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how else, how else could you I don't know.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't there, so I'm not sure.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why would you play why would you play it after getting stuffed on fourth and two?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we were getting three defense, Tim.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: They need a defense or deep in Buffalo Territory.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: They can make a play and get the Steelers right back in the game.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: The game was beyond over at that point.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And for them to play that song, it it it it to me it said, we think you're stupid, we think you're trained seals who are really dejected about this game, but oh, it's our song, go stealers, now we feel good again.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: It it that's the state of the team.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: It like I said, people were angry and miserable.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think that's the end of Renegade?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I don't.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was just very tone deaf and and and ridiculous.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I will say I'm glad they're playing on the road this week.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that'll be really good for them because they cannot be home right now.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: People are real, real upset, and I don't blame them.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is getting so old, Steve.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's just getting so old, you know, every season we're oh, we look maybe we look good.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the Mike Tomlin checklist.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, I thought we were off the Mike Tomlin checklist at this game because it's so bad.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is the worst.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I I've seen some Tomlin clunkers, but this one, I don't know what it is.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: It just has a different feel to it.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like I can't put my finger on it.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say this that have you noticed the national media has turned on Mike Tomlin.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's a lot of people saying what you know, we've I've been saying that Tomlin should leave like two or three years ago.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people that are saying that.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people that don't think he's a even a good coach.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're going into the Terry Bradshaw camp saying, Well, I don't even think you know Mike Tomlin's a good coach.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even think of him.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I wonder.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I I wonder if Mike Tomlin's gonna retire or take another job, or I honestly thought if he could somehow pull out a Super Bowl win this year, that he was going to retire for like a year or two and then, you know, come back somewhere else.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: He was gonna just try and write off into the sunset because he seems like he would have been smart enough to pull that off, but He he might maybe he'll retire.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he'll just go, Oh, I'm gonna retire.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And may maybe they'll give him that because you know, the Steelers don't want to look like they're firing a coach.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: They the I you asked if I was there for the fire Tomlin can.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I wasn't.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: But to me that's pointless.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you may as well can't.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: You might may as well can't win the Powerball because that's a meaning of the Middle East.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, exactly.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're they're not gonna fire they're not gonna fire Tomlin, so you can stop with that ridiculousness.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, could they nudge him out the door the way that the way that they kind of did Chuck Knoll?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's possible.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Could could he elect to leave?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: That like you said, that's possible.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I could like I think like for both parties to say face, maybe like, and he's so good with the media and the media likes him still.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you could say, Oh, I'm just gonna retire and take a year or two off.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or I think it would have been a lot easier to do, even if he would make the playoffs and win a playoff game, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: It would be easier to do, but I don't think they make the playoffs.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I thought before last week they were gonna make the playoffs.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now I don't know.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: You remember earlier in maybe like in the halfway through the season, you're like you you wondered if it was just gonna completely fall apart.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, No, I think they'll like win one, lose one, win two, lose two.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm starting to now wonder if this will turn into this reminds me a lot of those coward teams in the late 90s.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah where it just wasn't good enough, yeah.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, and and like people forget like like night like 1999, I think we finished um six and ten that year.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we were like five and three at one point.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: We were like kind of in the race, kind of like battling for first place, and then it just fell apart real, real bad.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I could see that happening with this team because, like you said, it's not good.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're an older team.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's a shame.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is, and I've been thinking this for years now, and I think I've said this to you before like I don't know what the it is with this generation of Steelers.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like they don't have now.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I knew what the it was with the Bell Brown Brock, like the killer bees.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was just total attitude, selfish, me, me, me.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: They just would never win a championship with those guys, and they were good, they were a lot better than the talent that's on this team.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But this team, it's just it it's not even like even when they still had some talent, it's just like it's the it factor, whatever that it factor is, it's just this team just doesn't seem to have it.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're just missing something to put them over the top.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and and I they've also had years and years.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I in the offseason, I want to do an episode of our podcast.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I I I'm gonna pull like a Doc Brown from Back to the Future 2 where he where he's like, I traced everything back to this one event and started a chain reaction that destroyed everything.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably a series of events.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think it's probably a series of well, well, stay tuned for that episode because I have one event.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna make the argument that it we can trace it all back to one event.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm not gonna spoil what that was.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: But but um but Or it could just be a huge coincidence.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's been years and years of um not having a good plan um for for what to do after that era that you you just talked about, after that Killer B era.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and it's all kind of culminating now late in this 2025 season.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: When when did Antonio Brown leave the team?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: What year was that?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: 2018.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: 2018.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because they really haven't been a competitor since.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like a legit competitor, yeah.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had that COVID year where they went undefeated.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, it wasn't really legit, though.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, everybody knew that that was sort of a house of cards.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is the worst team, like this is the biggest I've seen Mike Toddman be in trouble since the Mason saves Christmas season of 2023.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that really, I mean, he really like this could have happened in 2023 if it wasn't for Mason Rudolph.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's a very good point, actually.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because they were heading to like be really bad that season.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: But once again, who did they have to?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I said this before, Deontay Johnson, for all his you know, drops and stuff, when he was on, he opened up that offense for everything for for Pat Firemouth, for the other wise for Pickens, and now they don't have him, and they just can't open like Calvin Austin.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he was supposed to be this like great guy.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: He he's like a slot receiver at best.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing with Roman Wilson.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's slot receivers like third or fourth guys in.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have a true number two to open up the field for DK Metcalf or the tight ends.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we kind of that's been a problem the whole season.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the offensive line is mediocre on a good day.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that's really been the problems on offense is they can't run the ball effectively, and they can't really throw the ball effectively because they don't have a deep threat, and they can't run the ball effectively because they don't really have a really good running back and they don't really have any kind of offensive line.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I I'm like mostly agree with you on all that.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: My only caveat is remember like a month ago, they were they were doing these nifty little, you know, outs to the tight ends, and they were moving the ball and they were scoring 27 points a game.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I think teams caught on to that.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think as the season went on, I think teams have slowly moved everybody within 15, and you're back to like the Matt Canada days where everything's like, oh my god, everything is so painful with this offense.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like to get any kind of offense, it takes like 20 plays, and then you watch another team's highlights, and it took them like three or four, because they can hit bigger pass plays.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I just I don't think it's it's necessarily a scheme.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I think it's just they don't have a speed wide receiver or the offensive line to really run the ball.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't think any of it's fixable this season.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I think they're in trouble this year.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then in in terms of Tomlin, I mean I don't really know what happens there.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to predict because you just don't know like what's the ownership gonna do.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Are they just gonna sit by and let this happen in in turn it?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because like I I think it's just gonna get worse for Tomlin.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just he's gonna probably have have a bad season this year, maybe miss the playoffs.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it feels like like they had they have the Ravens twice and then Dolphins, Lions, Browns.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So they have to beat the Dolphins and Browns to have any chance.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that gives them what eight wins, right, Tim?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that's not gonna beat be.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: the Ravens once to get the nine wins.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: They can do that.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not out of the realm of possibility.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like the Ravens are all that good.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's gonna go one of two directions.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna go the, like you said, the Mason Saves Christmas direction, where they figure something out and they salvage a season and then they probably lose the first playoff game if they get that far, or it's just gonna totally collapse, like those late 90s coward teams.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then it's gonna go one of two directions after that, because either you said the Rooneys or they're gonna sit by and do nothing.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's kind of what they did at it during that cower era.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they they got rid of Donahoe was about the the biggest change that they made, but they kept Cower.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that all those years.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was the choice was you keep Donahoe or Cower.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right, because they both kept basically resigned and they they accepted Donahoe's and not Cowers.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: And but but but that was a different, that was a power struggle.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: I the we don't have that here, but but my point this being they stuck with the coach and it eventually worked out, but people you know people never want to remember this.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wanted Cower at that point either.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, Cower wouldn't go get gas in his car.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it was bad.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: There were all kinds of like crazy rumors about Cower and stuff.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Although I haven't heard any crazy rumors about Tomlin, have you?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean surprisingly not, but I mean, but there's a lot of people.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe they'll start now because he's not winning.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Or I don't know.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: He seems like he doesn't get a lot of heat from the media, and I I'm surprised the national media has really turned on him after that.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's amazing what one game did to him.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: But that's that's typical of the national media.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's just whatever's because the because there was the chant.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: So uh if if you didn't have the chant to draw, and now it's but then normally like they would scold the fans and be like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about, another team will pick him up, the Giants.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only rumor I heard today was oh, he's gonna go to the Giants.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I think, I think, I think, again, if you want to talk about Tomlin, to me, I I always like I said this a couple weeks ago.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't enjoy conversations where people aren't aren't even remotely objective.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're gonna say he's a fraud, he was always a fraud, the rest of the rest of the league plays uh chess, well, he plays checkers, okay, well, that's not even factual because if he was such a fraud and he was such a bad coach, he wouldn't have won two-thirds of his games over the last two decades.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't say he's just a terrible coach.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you want to say conversely, that he's gotten stale, that they haven't won anything of significance in quite a while, almost a decade, if since they won a playoff game, and then it's time for a change, just like it was at the tail end of the Null era, now that's where you've got a legitimate conversation, right?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it also doesn't mean he's a bad coach.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Look at what Philly did with Andy Reid.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Was Andy Reed a bad coach?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Clearly not.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's won three Super Bowls since they fired since they moved on from him, but then Philly's won two Super Bowls since they moved on from him.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that was maybe just the right thing for both parties.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just needed a change.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Sullivan, we had this whole conversation a few months ago with Mike Sullivan.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Was Mike Sullivan a bad coach?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen with the Rangers' standings.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they're doing all that great.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't, again, yeah, it doesn't he's he's a good coach.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Rangers could stink this year.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's I he's you can't say he's a I don't think you can say he's a bad coach.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: He won two Stanley Cups, he did a lot of good things, and it was time to move on.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Two things can be true at the same time.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: People don't do people don't do nuance anymore.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's either he's a fraud, he sucks, he was never good, either he's the greatest or the worst, yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what I mean.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I I hate that.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like just be objective.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was a good coach, he did good things, and maybe it's time for him to move on.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Two things can be true at the same time, and I don't maybe that's true.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it's not, maybe this is late 90s cower where he turns it around.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I really don't know.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's why you know the owner of the team and you know, uh has to, you know, it really has to come down to you know, Art Rooney the second.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think Art the Second doesn't have much of a legacy right now either, because everything that they won was when his dad was still there.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: So he's gotta be thinking about that.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, or maybe he's just gonna stick with hey, the way my dad did it, the way my the way that the chief did it.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't know what they're thinking.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be it'll be interesting to see what happens.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to see like a business go to like a third generation and be successful.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Never mind a fourth generation.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, we'll we'll we'll see what happens.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, I mean I don't say the Rooneys are gonna sell the team or anything.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that would be a disaster.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now that would be a disaster.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: That would be interesting as well.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: But that that's not gonna happen.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think I think that um again, I I I criticize people for not being objective about Tomlin.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: However, I I just want to say again, I I get why people are just ticked off right now, and I felt that at that game on Sunday night.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: I felt it too.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sitting out there in the freezing cold watching a 42-year-old quarterback with a broken hand not be able to move the ball at all with a totally unimaginative.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he can't take snaps under center, he can't hand the ball off a certain way.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's just it's it's a mess.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like I said, it's a culmination of a lot of bad decisions over a lot of a lot of time.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's just where we're at.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see what happens.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, doesn't feel good going into the rest of the season, though.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's get ready to make some more bad decisions on the way to our new year here.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I tell you what, isn't a bad decision is uh liking this podcast on your favorite podcast service and uh following us on Facebook and adding comments on whether you think, yay, Tomlin should stay forever.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Boo, fire Tomlin, boo, renegade, oh Pat Narduzi's a bum, and he should get you know thrown out with yesterday's you know turkey leftovers.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I I want to thank everybody for listening in and uh checking in with us on Facebook.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Tim and I always appreciate that.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of fun doing these, and uh we'll hang in there until at least the end of the season, which you know, we might only have to do like two or three more of these, Tim.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: They might put us out of our misery here, huh?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, well, thanks for listening.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we'll catch you next time.