Steelers Podcast - The Terrible Podcast

Season 8, Episode 53 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Wednesday show, David Todd and I open things up by talking about a few things that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had to say Tuesday during his weekly press conference. Tomlin talked about the chances of a few injured players returning for the team’s Monday night road game against the Cincinnati Bengals in addition to his defense giving up more big plays to the Green Bay Packers Sunday night. We discuss those two topics in addition to how the Steelers offense played against the Packers minus wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Vance McDonald. David and I travel down a rabbit hole thanks to a discussion about team turnover differentials and we pull up some historical stats related to past Super Bowl winners in addition to great Steelers teams of the past. It makes for an interesting discussion. The New York Giants announced on Tuesday that quarterback Eli Manning will effectively be sat down the remainder of the season so that the team can get a long look at backups Geno Smith and Davis Webb. David and I discuss that decision, how it was handled, and whether or not Manning will be a Giant in 2018. Later in this show David and I are once again joined by Paul Dehner Jr., who covers the Bengals for the Cincinnati Enquirer. As he did back in Week 7, Paul helps us preview the Week 13 Monday night game between the Steelers and Bengals. We talk offense, defense, play of rookies, linebacker Vontaze Burfict and more during this segment and Paul gives us his prediction for the Monday night game. If you are not already doing so, please follow Paul on Twitter at @pauldehnerjr and read his work online here: http://www.cincinnati.com/staff/9573/paul-daugherty/ As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 52 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Monday show, David Todd and I talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night win against the Green Bay Packers but first, we discuss the comments made by head coach Mike Tomlin about his team and the upcoming game against the New England Patriots during an interview with Tony Dungy. David and I quickly discuss the Steelers Sunday night inactive list as well as the few seemingly minor injuries the team suffered Sunday night against the Packers. We finally move on to discuss the Sunday night game and the first half of that conversation revolves around the play of the defense and especially the big touchdown plays they allowed. We discuss several individual performances along the way. After thoroughly breaking down the Steelers defensive play Sunday night, David and I move on to the offense. We both agree that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell, all had a great showing despite the three total turnovers that two of them had. We discuss the drops during the game in addition to a few play calls as well as the game’s final scoring drive. We move on to discuss a few seemingly dubious decisions made in the second half by the Packers to wind down the show. We end things by discussing safety Mike Mitchell winning an appeal of one of the two fines he received in the game earlier this season against the Kansas City Chiefs. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 51 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Friday show, David Todd and I get things rolling by talking briefly about the three games that were played on Thanksgiving. We transition into talking about how emergency kickers have been needed the last two weeks and if the Steelers have a player who could at least kick an extra point should something happen to kicker Chris Boswell during a game. We go over the Steelers Thursday injury report quickly and let you know which players aren’t likely to dress Sunday night. The Steelers will host the Green Bay Packers Sunday night at Heinz Field and with that game now at hand, David and I finish up our preview of it by talking about how both offenses will likely attack each other’s defenses. We spend a lot of time talking about the play of Packers quarterback Brett Hundley since he took over for the injured Aaron Rodgers. Both defenses are also discussed, and we note how the Packers haven’t been awful against the run this year. We discuss the Packers potentially not having defensive tackle Kenny Clark and outside linebacker Clay Matthews Sunday night due to injuries and the impact of that if they don’t. We end this Friday show by giving you the rest of our Week 12 picks against the spread and that includes our final score predictions for the Steelers game against the Packers. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 50 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Wednesday show, David Todd and I get things started by talking about a recent show poll that we ran. We move on to talk about Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert being issued a four-game suspension on Monday for violating the league’s PED policy and the fallout from it. We discuss a few things that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to say about Gilbert’s suspension and throw around a few stats related to Chris Hubbard when he’s filled in at right tackle this season. The Steelers injury report should be short ahead of the team’s Sunday night home game against the Green Bay Packers and David and I recap the players head coach Mike Tomlin discussed during his Tuesday press conference. David and I are next joined by Michael Cohen, who covers the Packers for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the three of us preview the Sunday night game. We talk offense, defense, special teams and injuries during the interview and Michael provides some great insight on the Packers. If you are not already doing so, please follow Michael on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13 and read his work online here: https://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/ David and I close out this show by talking about the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalists that were announced Tuesday night and whether or not we think Alan Faneca or Hines Ward will ever get enshrined in Canton. We also give you our picks for the Thanksgiving Day games to end the show. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 49 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Monday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about what transpired around the NFL ion Sunday as Week 11 of the regular season ends. David and I reset the playoff picture in both the AFC and NFC ahead of Week 12 getting underway and talk briefly about the Steelers next game against the Green Bay Packers that will take place Sunday night at Heinz Field. The Steelers made a practice squad transaction Monday morning and David and I wonder if that move might include a hint as to which player might be released on Tuesday to make room for rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton, who is expected to return from the teams Reserve/Injured list. The Steelers still need to improve several things on offense moving forward into their final six games, so David and I discuss that topic and especially the need for the running game to improve. We move on to check back in on how the Steelers 2017 defense compares to the 2008 unit through 10 games played. We discuss the need of the 2017 defense to start limiting the double and triple passing plays moving forward. Is cornerback Artie Burns currently the weakest link on the Steelers defense after 10 games played? We discuss that topic in addition to talking a little bit about the future of Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 48 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Friday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers big Thursday night home win over the Tennessee Titans. We open with a few notes about the team’s inactive players and then start going drive by drive through the Steelers Thursday night game. We discuss the tale of two halves played by the Steelers offense as well as the turnover-filled defensive showing. David and I focus on the play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the no-huddle usage and go over several big plays that were made and not made during the game. It’s a lengthy walk back through the game but we make sure to try to recap quite a bit and that includes us talking about the use of SkyCam Thursday night. We close out this Friday show by quickly giving you our picks for the rest of the Week 11 NFL games against the spread. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 47 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Wednesday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 11 injury report heading into the day. Who go over which players might be on the inactive list against the Tennessee Titans and talk about a few recent thoughts from a national radio analyst and former player concerning Thursday night games. David and I talk extensively about the future of Steelers tight end Vance McDonald past 2017. We also talk about if tight end Jesse James has regressed quite a bit this season. Is Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell Pro Bowl worthy? We discuss that topic in addition to his regression in 2017. Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley was a main talking point this past week thanks to his Sunday sideline outburst so David and spend some time again talking about if he is hurting the offense as much as most fans thinks he is. We talk about some of the things the New England Patriots do on offense and if the Steelers have the personnel to copy it. Will the Steelers use more no-huddle Thursday night at home? We go over some numbers from this season and previous seasons related to the use of it. The Steelers will play the Titans Thursday night so we welcome David Boclair back to the show again on Wednesday to help preview the game. David covers the Titans for Boclair Sports and the Nashville Post. We discuss both sides of the football ahead of the Thursday night game and get his final score prediction to close out the interview. If you are not already doing so, please follow David on Twitter at @BoclairSports and read his work online here: http://nashvillecitypaper.com/sports As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 46 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Monday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers week 10 win over the Indianapolis Colts and that includes us starting with the key injury suffered during the game. David and I discuss the broken fibula suffered by cornerback Joe Haden and the route we expect the Steelers to take with him. We also discuss if any roster moves will be made ahead of the team’s Thursday night game against the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers offense once again had a few woes against the Colts so David and I discuss the preparedness of the team coming off the bye, the play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger most of the game, as well as the nearly botched two-point conversion that really seemed to get offensive coordinator Todd Haley fired up. We talk about the running game not being up to par Sunday and how Roethlisberger did indeed win the game for the team despite an overall poor showing. We discuss the play of the Steelers defense against the Colts and also talk about how special teams had their issues in Indianapolis. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 45 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Friday show, David Todd and I open with a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers second half schedule as it relates to prime-time games and the chances of any of them being flexed to earlier starting times. The Steelers have released two injury reports since our last show so we review the health of the team ahead of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts. Is outside linebacker James Harrison really hurt, or is the team just trying to save face with him being as he’ll likely be inactive Sunday afternoon? We discuss that topic and go over the projected inactive list for Week 10. We move on to talk a little about the Colts before we are ultimately joined on the show by Zak Keefer, who covers the team for the Indianapolis Star. Zak gives us roughly 25 minutes of insight on the Colts organization as well as what he expects to see from the team’s offense and defense against the Steelers. We talk about several individual matchups we’re likely to see Sunday and Zak closes his first appearance out with a final score prediction for the game. If you are not already doing so, please follow Zak on Twitter at @ZKeefer and read his work online here: https://www.indystar.com/staff/4059/zak-keefer/ David and I close out this Friday show by going over some recent NFL items in addition to giving you all our picks against the spread for the Week 10 games. We both tell you have big we expect the Steelers to win Sunday as well. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 44 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Wednesday show, David Todd and I open with a look at what Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had to say during his Tuesday press conference. We discuss the health of the team ahead of Sunday’s road game against the Indianapolis Colts as well. Tomlin talked some about quarterback Joshua Dobbs and cornerback Cameron Sutton on Tuesday and that results in David and I going down a few rabbit holes as it relates to the future of several players and that includes cornerback Brian Allen, cornerback Joe Haden, safety Mike Mitchell, safety J.J. Wilcox and running back Le’Veon Bell. We move on to look at each defensive positional group of the Steelers at the halfway point of the season and discuss if each has or hasn’t exceeded expectations entering the second half. As you can imagine, this topic eats up quite a bit of time and produces some great discussion to boot. David and I talk about second half expectations and we project some stats for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as well. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 43 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Monday show, David Todd and I open with a look at what happened this weekend in the AFC North division as well as the AFC conference. We attempt to speculate which other three teams in the AFC might make the playoffs and decide that there are really only three teams likely to push to make it to the Super Bowl. The NFC is much wider open nine weeks into the season so David and visit that topic before moving on to talk about the several player skirmishes that took place on the field Sunday. The Steelers made one practice squad move on Monday so David and I recap it and what it means for the team entering Week 10 of the season. We move on to look at each offensive positional group of the Steelers at the halfway point of the season and discuss if each has or hasn’t exceeded expectations entering the second half. We’ll do the same for the defense on Wednesday. We talk quite a bit about the play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger through eight games and that leads to us answering a few more listener emails concerning him. We also get to a few more emails before closing out the Monday show. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 42 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Friday show, David Todd and I open with thanking recent contributors to the show and recap how the podcast came about for any new listeners. As promised, David and I attempt to answer several questions we received via email from our listeners and as you would expect, several are about Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. We don’t get to answer as many as we would like, so look for more listener questions to be answered on Monday. Do either wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster or outside linebacker T.J. Watt have a legitimate shot at winning Rookie of the Year awards this season? We discuss their chances. On the heels of Smith-Schuster being the new franchise record holder of the longest touchdown reception, David and I review a few of the previous record holders and the plays. We move on to talk about the recent key injuries around the NFL and what they mean for the Steelers and the quarterbacks they’ll face during the second half of the season. We quickly talk about the Buffalo Bills Thursday night loss to the New York Jets before giving you our Week 9 picks against the spread for all the games this weekend. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 41 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Wednesday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about Pittsburgh Steelers bye week in addition to giving our closing thoughts on the team’s Sunday win over the Detroit Lions. Steelers rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton resumed practicing on Tuesday so David and I speculate as to what kind of role he might have with the team during the second half of the season assuming he’s ultimately placed on the 53-man roster. The 2017 NFL trade deadline has now passed so David and I discuss all of the deals that were made over the course of the last few days. We also talk about the trade between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns that wasn’t consummated. David and I move on to give our mid-season predictions as to which teams we believe will ultimately make the playoffs this year. David and I close out this bye week episode by going over a few things that Steelers assistant coaches Carnell Lake and Joey Porter said Tuesday about man-coverage and James Harrison, respectively. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 40 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Monday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night road win over the Detroit Lions. We start with going over the team’s inactive list in addition to talking about the fee injuries suffered during the game. We move on to start breaking down the Steelers win over the Lions but pause a little while to look back at the amazing week that rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had. David and I talk about the play of the Steelers offense Sunday night in Detroit and that includes discussing the performance of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the few missed plays that were left on the field. Was not having tight end Vance McDonald Sunday night a big deal? We discuss that topic and point out how the Steelers running game wasn’t up to par against the Lions. While the Steelers defense didn’t allow the Lions to score a touchdown Sunday night, they did give up quite a few passing yards and way too many explosive plays. We try to place blame on a few of those. We discuss several induvial defensive performances from Sunday night and make sure to give Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford some well-deserved praise for his play in the game as well. We discuss several key plays and calls in from that game in addition to everything else. David and I close out this Monday show with a look at the Steelers second half schedule. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ

Season 8, Episode 39 of The Terrible Podcast is now up and in this Friday show, David Todd and I get right to talking about Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday injury report and which players aren’t likely to play Sunday night against the Detroit Lions. The Steelers offense has had problems in their situational football play this season so David and I spend a lot of time looking at short yardage and red zone situations and what may or may not need to be changed moving forward. We talk about the play of the Steelers defense through seven games based on several key statistics and compare them to that of the 2008 defense. We move on to talk about the Steelers Sunday night game against the Lions and what we expect to see both teams do on both sides of the football. We discuss the decision that was made to sit wide receiver Martavis Bryant this week and what that might ultimately mean when it comes to playing time for the other wide receivers. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco took a vicious hit Thursday night in his teams win over the Miami Dolphins so David and I look at that play as well as the rule. We finally close out the show with our picks of all the Week 8 games in the NFL against the spread and that includes us predicting the final score of the Steelers-Lions game. As always, several other smaller talking points are mixed in throughout the show that are not highlighted here in this post. Thanks for listening and don't forget to call or email with questions or comments and please pass us along to your friends! The new message hotline is (814) 429-YINZ