It’d take a meteor hitting the Earth to prevent the Steelers from making the playoffs this season.
Or just a bad flashback to 2018? Hmm.
The Steelers were hoping for a little help from the Las Vegas Raiders against the Kansas City Chiefs this week. That’s looking like a long shot right now.
The Penguins need a hard sell promoting their new alternate jersey. And Robert Morris hockey has its new team captains.
All that in Thursday’s “First Call.”
There’s absolutely no way that…uh, oh
Believe it or not, there’s one other team that has better odds of making the playoffs than the 9-0 Pittsburgh Steelers.
I’m not sure how the math works out on this. Maybe it’s projected schedules, with the Steelers still having to face the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts. But NFL.com projects the 8-1 Kansas City Chiefs as having a 98% chance of making the playoffs at this point.
The Steelers and Green Bay Packers are next at 97%.
But, hey, that’s just splitting hairs. The Steelers are a lock. There’s no way they are missing the playoffs. Like, for instance, in 2018 when they were 7-2-1 and had a 93.3% chance of qualifying as the AFC North Champ…
Oh. Right.
OK. Well, maybe that new AFC seventh seed this season will come in handy after all.
Perfect timing
It looks like the entire Las Vegas Raiders defense is going to be absent from the team facility this week because of covid-19 protocol.
This is wild: Nearly the entire #Raiders starting defense is going on the COVID-19 list because of high-risk close contacts, but all are eligible to play in the game if they continue to test negatively, sources tell me and @TomPelissero.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 18, 2020
Vegas defensive end Clelin Ferrell tested positive. So it appears many defensive starters must’ve been in close contact with Ferrell based on the social distance monitors.
But it’s not a big deal. They are only preparing to play Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The Chiefs are coming in ticked off after the Raiders gave the defending champs their only loss of the season thus far.
Is it time to crank up the Chiefs’ playoff chances to 99% yet?
Power of persuasion
The Penguins released the reverse-retro jersey for this season.
A Pittsburgh classic.
Introducing the Penguins adidas #ReverseRetro jersey.
Hitting the ice in 2021. pic.twitter.com/iWnquuKprO
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 16, 2020
The response was a bit … tepid.
Yeaaaaa, not a fan of the look. I get that it’s reverse… and retro… but I think the @NHL @adidas and @penguins missed on this one. My least favorite off all jerseys so far tbh
— Bill Cummings (@cummingswj) November 16, 2020
The Penguins Reverse Retro Jersey is definitely one of the worst ones in my opinion.
— John Kalichuk (@Kalibunga) November 16, 2020
Don’t lie to yourself. The Penguins retro reverse jersey is one of the least impressive in the entire league. So many great concepts to pick from and they chose the copycat Rangers jersey. If it wasn’t for the Gin N Juice video that jersey would be irrelevant.
— Travis (@pghTRAV) November 16, 2020
Penguins bringing the Gin and Juice jerseys back. It's a solid design but really lacking compared to what the rest of the NHL teams did with the new reverse retro jerseys. pic.twitter.com/s6teeRJe5R
— Bob Morris Jr (@BobMorrisJr) November 16, 2020
Honestly, how many times do you see a Pens fan wearing their white jerseys? It’s just a generic look to me. Since they’re doing reverse retro, I would be down for a black version of these. Robo or skating penguin pic.twitter.com/mC34OaqSDL
— Mike Ference (@ArnCityPounder) November 15, 2020
Perhaps sensing that, the Penguins asked a certain someone to model the new sweater.
The embodiment of a classic jersey. pic.twitter.com/XJtw3oHWJs
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 18, 2020
I figured once Mario Lemieux draped it on his Hall of Fame frame, opinions would change. I was mistaken.
Didn’t like them then, don’t like them now.
— Ellis (@Ellis92311472) November 18, 2020
Even 66 can’t make that jersey look good
— Matt Light (@MattLight) November 18, 2020
Yeah…its was garbage the first time and the color change and little tweaks don't make it any better
— Loki Lesnar (@Triplebake88) November 18, 2020
Mario can make anything look good but this resembles a bad college jersey. A rare miss by the Pens!
— Aaron Klueber (@AKlueber) November 18, 2020
Doesn’t do it Mario. You need the blue. This is just the same old same old. Nothing retro about it.
— Studs Efram Pobicki 3rd and 4th (@DaveHammer14) November 18, 2020
I guess I’m in the minority here. I think the jersey is pretty decent, actually.
O Captain! Our Captains!
The Robert Morris men’s hockey team named its captains for the 2020-21 season.
Senior forward Nick Prkusic and senior defenseman Nick Jenny have the honors. Prkusic is the team’s top returning scorer from last year with 28 points. Jenny had seven goals to lead all of the team’s blue liners.
Juniors Brendon Michaelian (D) and Aidan Spellacy (F) will serve as alternate captains.
The Colonials start their season at 7 p.m. Saturday when they host Alabama-Huntsville at Clearview Arena.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz
November 19, 2020 at 06:36PM
https://triblive.com/sports/first-call-steelers-playoff-lock-jinx-penguins-get-mario-lemieuxs-hard-sell-on-alternate-jersey/
First Call: Steelers' playoff lock jinx? Penguins get Mario Lemieux's hard sell on alternate jersey - TribLIVE
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