The Pomp And Joe Show

Does Chad Brown, someone who played great for the Steelers, see enough for the Steelers to make the playoffs? Does he expect them to win against the Seattle Seahawks this weekend?

Mason Rudolph was brought back to the Pittsburgh Steelers to be their 3rd string quarterback. How close was he to leaving the NFL behind?

Sportsnet Pittsburgh's Jay Caufield joins the show to talk about the Penguins effort against the New York Islanders. Has Jay seen enough to label the Penguins a playoff team?

The Steelers defense was surprising against the Cincinnati Bengals, does the "Next Man Up" mentality still work?

We open the phone lines to listeners who are upset as Ron about the Hines Ward and James Harrison snubs. Are they Hall of Fame worthy?

The Penguins put a hurting on the New York Islanders in Long Island last night by winning 7-0. Ron gives his reaction to the score and the play of Kris Letang. 

(Hour 1 with Cook and Joe)

We open today's show with a sports six pack. Ron goes over current betting favorites for the NFL season. TJ Watt is currently 3rd in betting favorites for DPOTY. He currently sits behind Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett. Kevin Stefanski is currently in the lead for the Coach of the Year. The MVP favorite is Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy fell to 5th after his bad game against Baltimore. Damar Hamlin is the favorite to win the Comeback Player of the Year. Hard to argue with that. There were 29 million people that watched the Chiefs and Raiders game. The Detroit Pistons are very bad. West Virginia is in the Mayo Bowl tonight. Penguins 

Chelsa Messinger joins the show to talk about the betting odds for the weekend. She does not believe that the Steelers will do well on Saturday. They struggle in Seattle and it is a very tough crowd there and does not trust the Steelers there. She is taking the over for Thursday Night football between the Browns and the Jets.

Jeff Patton from the Baseball Card Castle joins the show to talk about his card of the week. Ron then dives into Steelers talk about Mike Tomlin's comments about Mason Rudolph's play over this past weekend. Ron says Tomlin's opening statement leaves no doubt in his mind that Rudolph is starting again on Saturday. They haven't shown much faith in him over the last few years, but one good game he has the ball. 

(Hour 2 with Cook and Joe)

Post Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo joins the show today while the Steelers are doing their walkthrough. Ray is in the camp that Mason Rudolph should start over Kenny Pickett even if he is healthy. George Pickens' performance last week was the 11th best receiving effort of a Steelers wide receiver in their history. Antonio Brown had 3 of the top 10. Ray does not like the Steelers' chances of making the playoffs. He is not worried about the other outside things that could happen. He is thinking about the confidence level of the team going into Seattle and winning, which is what the team has to do to make the playoffs. Seattle is their biggest roadblock to making the playoffs. Ron and Ray talk about TJ Watt and his gambling odds for Defensive Player of the Year. Also a quick look around the league and who will be some of the favorites coming down to the wire in the NFL season. 

Today is the Anniversary of the Terrible Towel. Ron thinks it is the most identifiable object associated with any pro sports team. Myron Cope started a legacy that has lasted for a very long time. Listeners call in to tell us their memories about when the Terrible Towel was brought out and how cool it was back then. Today is also the 24th Anniversary when Mario Lemieux came out of retirement. Mario secretly trained to come back. When he did come back he completely dominated, him coming back possibly saved hockey in Pittsburgh. 

(Hour 3 with Cook and Joe)

Breaking news in the NFL, as Russel Wilson is benched in Dever. Which leaves one less team in the AFC playoff picture for the Steelers to worry about, in theory. We hear more stories from listeners about the Terrible Towel and Mario Lemieux's comeback. Listeners also chime in on the Mason Rudolph situation. 

The Athletic's Mark Kaboly joins the show to preview the upcoming matchup between the Steelers and the Seahawks. Mark thinks Mason Rudolph has earned another start after his play against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mason only came back to Pittsburgh because the Steelers offered him a guaranteed salary, according to Kaboly. Mark talks about the TJ Watt DPOTY betting odds. Myles Garrett has come up big this year and Mark thinks Garrett will get the award. The Steelers do have a shot at winning, however they never do well in Seattle. Mark says the Seahawks will win 27-24 but the Steelers playoff hopes will remain alive. But even if they win both games, there is still a chance a 10-7 season does not get the Steelers in the playoffs. 

(Hour 4 with Cook and Joe)

Former Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawk KJ Wright joins the show to give the Seattle side of things before the game this Sunday. KJ says that this is going to be a tough matchup for both teams, both teams are well coached, and neither team will give up easily with so much on the line. He thinks Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a player to watch for the Seahawks and he expects something "special" to happen with Smith-Njigba. The Seattle faithful will give the Seahawks an advantage over the Steelers, a team who has struggled in Seattle. He says the Seahawks will win, it will be close and he is very interested in Joey Porter Jr vs DK Metcalf. 

Former Seahawk Russell Wilson was benched by the Denver Broncos. KJ gives his immediate reaction to the news but does not seem surprised at the relationship between Russell and head coach Sean Payton. He "knows" Wilson can still play at a high level. Ron brings up the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots, KJ says people have slowly opened up about it. He says it was one of the worst decisions in NFL history and suggests if they had ran the ball to Marshawn they would have went back to the Super Bowl the following season. 

KJ says Christian McCaffrey is his NFL MVP at this point in the year and not Lamar Jackson. But does say that Lamar is the best QB in the league right now and calls him the most dynamic player he has ever faced on the field. As a linebacker, KJ says that his Defensive Player of the Year is Myles Garrett. He suggests that it is not just the stats of the player, but also the performance of the team that affects the award. Finally a look around the rest of the NFL. 

KJ Wright conversation recap and What's Cookin'.