About an hour ago
Our first “First Call” of 2021 takes on a familiar Steelers theme: opposing teams mocking JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The Browns appear to be doing so after their win over the Steelers Sunday.
Meanwhile, TJ Watt draws great praise from another NFL legend. The gambling line for Browns-Steelers’ second chance is not available. And the Robert Morris hockey team is starting to warm up.
Early favorites
The odds are already set for the Steelers-Browns game Sunday night.
Oddsshark has the Steelers as 3.5-point favorites for Round 3 at Heinz Field.
The Steelers pushed through the spread both times against the Browns, beating them 38-7 when they were three-point favorites in Pittsburgh on October 18th. Then, on Sunday, the Steelers were in Cleveland with 10 points. But they covered and lost 24-22.
The Steelers have now advanced two weeks in a row after failing to do so for four consecutive weeks before the tumultuous victory over the Indianapolis Colts last week.
Meanwhile, William Hill’s Caesars Sportsbook put the Steelers at +2000 to win the Super Bowl. The Browns stand at +5000. The Chiefs of Kansas City are +180.
Jabbing JuJu
After the Browns beat the Steelers Sunday, some members of their team mocked the Steelers’ maskless celebration in the locker room last week.
Specifically, with a shot to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Cleveland’s linebacker Mack Wilson went with his teammates to Instagram Live and danced to the song by Smith-Schuster’s Corvette Corvette.
OH NO. THEY MADE IT.
CORVETTE CORVETTE #Sources pic.twitter.com/r27DBsvVxg
– MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) January 3, 2021
Remember the Steelers raised a few eyebrows out of the league when Smith-Schuster and Ray-Ray McCloud put a maskless dance celebration on the tune after beating the Indianapolis Colts to clinch AFC North last week. Mike Tomlin, head coach, said the franchise heard about the league because of possible violations of covid-19, but did not specifically refer to any discipline at the time.
Wilson went out of his way to show how he put on his mask before celebrating.
Tap TJ
Bruce Smith, NFL record holder, thinks TJ Watt has the best chance for any active player if he has to track his pocket record.
He made the remarks to TMZ Sports, claiming Watt is “the one we want to see now because he’s young.”
Watt has 49.5 pockets in his first four years as a pro. That’s five more than Smith (44.5) in his first four years in the NFL (1985-88).
Smith finishes with 200 bags over 19 years. Former Steeler Kevin Greene – third on the all-time agenda – praised Watt in the final interview before his untimely death last month.
Hartseer Saquon
The New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley were like many who watched the Sunday Night football game.
The Penn State product wanted to know why the Philadelphia Eagle inserted Nate Sudfeld, usually the third series, in a close game against Washington.
Can anyone make sense of what’s going on …?
– Saquon Barkley (@saquon) 4 January 2021
It was Sudfeld’s first match action since week 17 of the 2018 season.
The Eagles were 17-14 to Washington at the time in the fourth quarter. And the Eagles had to win for the Giants to win the division. Otherwise, Washington would win, they would claim the NFC East at 7-9.
Which eventually happened with a final score of 20-14.
And New York fans were furious at the decision to place Jalen Hurts. He was only 7 out of 20 who passed 72 yards with an interception, but he carried 34 yards on eight carries a few times.
Sudfeld was no better, he fired twice and threw an interception with just five completes on 12 attempts.
So you can see why Barkley and the rest of the larger metropolis of New York were pretty hot.
Tame the Tigers
The Robert Morris men’s hockey team continues its warm start.
The colonials swept RIT over the weekend. They won Saturday’s match 3-1. After that, they doubled and beat the Tigers 4-3 on Sunday.
IT’S HOCKEY BABY! #RMUnite | 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/ImIm3UvGHn
– RMU Men’s Hockey (@RMUMHockey) January 3, 2021
RMU is now 8-3, and two of those losses are for Bowling Green in seventh place. Coach Derek Schooley’s club will play Niagara three times this week in New York, then on Saturday and Sunday on Neville Island. This is the best start for the Colonialists since they were 7-1-3 in 2014-’15.
Tim Benz is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets can be re-posted. Unless otherwise stated, all emails are subject to publication.
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Sport | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz