The Houston Texans stole “Renegade” after their playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. We have a favored candidate for the Baltimore Ravens head coaching job.

The hottest hockey team on the planet is coming to PPG Paints Arena. And the Duquesne Dukes host a conference rival.

All that in “First Call” for Tuesday.

______________________________

Oh, mama

How bad did it get at Acrisure Stadium against the Houston Texans on Monday night? The in-stadium videoboard crew didn’t even play “Renegade.”

Seeing how badly things were going when the second half was going on en route to Houston’s 30-6 win, maybe that was a wise move.

After all, Renegade got booed when it was played during the Buffalo game under similar circumstances earlier this year.

But fret not, “Renegade” was played somewhere in the stadium — Houston’s visiting locker room.

That’s right, the Texans were blasting the Styx anthem for Pittsburgh after their win.

Also, via the Speakeasy podcast, Texans safety Calen Bullock is asking Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to sign his pick-6 ball from the playoff game. It could go down as the last pass of Aaron Rodgers’ career.

Houston is a 3-point underdog at New England next week.

______________________________

Other side of the coin

Former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh is starting his tour of potential head coaching vacancies. He interviewed in Atlanta on Monday.

The team also interviewed ex-Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.

Meanwhile, CBSSports.com assembled a list of the best candidates for each coaching job, and the outlet settled on Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury in Baltimore.

“No other franchise searching for a head coach can offer that level of elite play and stability at quarterback (Lamar Jackson), so Baltimore should have its pick of the litter. Kingsbury is widely viewed as one of the top candidates on the market this cycle, and he appears to be an ideal fit for Jackson and the rest of the Ravens offense,” Tyler Sullivan wrote. “He has previous head-coaching experience after leading the Cardinals from 2019 to 2022, and he most recently worked with Jayden Daniels as Washington’s offensive coordinator. Daniels has a similar skill set to Jackson, and Kingsbury had him operating at a high level during his rookie season, which helped the Commanders reach the NFC Championship game.”

I think Kingsbury is best suited for a coordinator position. However, as a head coach, he could make Lamar Jackson an MVP talent again.

My guess is that fit would work out great for about seven or eight games … maybe a year. Then it would fade quickly.

______________________________

More Steelers coverage

• Mike Tomlin brushes aside talk about his Steelers future after another playoff flop
• Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t ‘make any emotional decisions’ about future
• ‘Sitting up here again, same story’: T.J. Watt frustrated by Steelers’ playoff futility
______________________________

Tampa two-step

The Penguins are looking to do something a little different when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Score.

The Pens dropped two games over the weekend by scores of 2-1 at home against Calgary and 1-0 at Boston.

Now the Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. Tampa comes in riding a heater. The franchise has won 10 in a row.

Their latest victory was a 5-1 defeat of the Flyers in Philadelphia on Monday night. Ex-Penguin Jake Guentzel scored and added an assist.

Guentzel now has 20 goals and 27 assists. The Lightning haven’t dropped a game since a Dec. 18 home contest against Los Angeles. They have posted at least four goals in every one of those 10 straight wins.

Featured Local Businesses

More local businesses

The Bolts have 59 points, good for second-place in the Atlantic Division and second in the Eastern Conference. Guentzel is second on the team in scoring with 47 points. He has scored in every game so far in January for a five-game points streak.

The Penguins have 51 points, one out of a wild card.

______________________________

Dukes vs. Dayton

While those Flyers will be skating at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday, the Dayton Flyers will be across the street at Duquesne on Tuesday night.

Dayton comes in 3-0 in the Atlantic-10 and 12-4 overall. The Dukes are 1-2 in conference play and 9-7 on the season. They lost their most recent game against the St. Joseph’s Hawks 97-90 in overtime.

That was despite 20 points from leading scorer Tarence Guinyard and a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double from David Dixon.

The Flyers won the home contest against Duquesne last year, 82-62. They took out the Dukes 77-76 on the Bluff in the return contest.

Dayton leads the all-time series, 65-26 (.714), including a 43-11 lead in Atlantic 10 games during the regular season. The Dukes are in search of their first win over the Flyers in the regular season since 2021.