Like the snowflakes that clog your driveway, no two refreshing sports notes are exactly alike! I also use a shovel.
• Will Howard will not start at quarterback for the Steelers. Zero chance. He’s a sixth-round pick with all the attached limitations. When new coach Mike McCarthy praises Howard, he’s just saying what the citizens want to hear. It’s lip service. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t start, it will be somebody else. Not Howard.
• McCarthy’s offense often utilizes three wideouts. Which means the Steelers need to get a whole bunch of wideouts, including one that’s better than DK Metcalf. Metcalf isn’t a true No. 1 wide receiver.
• Among the players, the biggest winner in the McCarthy hire might be Pat Freiermuth. McCarthy is likely to prefer a legit tight end to some fat-kid novelty act. (Subject to Rodgers’ approval, of course.)
• McCarthy is a solid coach. But the Steelers mostly hired the best story, a local feel-good narrative designed to placate fans after a ninth straight year of disappointment. Any skepticism over employing McCarthy has been brief. Winning hearts and minds is a priority. Did you know he’s from Greenfield?
• The toughest job among McCarthy’s staff belongs to defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. He inherits a high-paid, underachieving and aging defense set in its ways despite not performing to its salary level. T.J. Watt is obviously in decline, yet won’t change one thing about how he plays. Good luck with that.
• Mike Tomlin has totally disappeared since he quit. No farewell press conference. No discussion of his future, whether in coaching or TV. He hasn’t talked to anyone, not even media cronies like Rich Eisen and Jay Glazer. Why?
• Nobody local will investigate that. Everybody in Pittsburgh that covers the Steelers is labeled an “insider.” But they never break stories about the team. That’s left to national media like Adam Schefter. Then the locals pick up the crumbs. Why is that? Are they insiders, or under the tent?
• Nobody ever screwed up worse than Geno Smith. He bolted Seattle for Las Vegas. The Raiders finished dead last in the NFL and will draft his replacement, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Seattle is in the Super Bowl without Smith. (With Smith, they wouldn’t be. Sam Darnold is way better.)
• The best Super Bowl snack is wings. The best beverage is beer. The best Super Bowl TV ad ever is the Mean Joe Greene commercial for Coke. All of those evaluations are cut and dried. But I will nonetheless indulge cliched sports radio by debating each for at least 45 minutes apiece this week.
• Eli Manning didn’t get in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the second attempt. Maybe he shouldn’t get in at all. Manning won two Super Bowls, but so did Jim Plunkett. Manning’s career record is 117-117. He never made All-Pro. If his last name wasn’t Manning and he played in a small market instead of New York, he’d have zero chance. (But Manning beat Tom Brady in both his Super Bowls.)
• Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel scored 11 seconds into Sunday’s NHL Stadium Series outdoor game vs. Boston. But that’s just another outdoor game. It’s not a Winter Classic. The Penguins’ Colby Armstrong scored 21 seconds into the first-ever Winter Classic in 2008. He’s the speed king of the only outdoor game that matters. Accept no substitutes. Don’t compare caviar to horse manure.
• Tampa Bay’s 6-5 shootout victory was an instant classic. But all people will remember is the goalie fight. The NHL can’t get out of its own way.
• It was great to see Sidney Crosby shed a tear while watching a video honoring the 2016 Stanley Cup champions before Saturday’s Penguins home game. Crosby always looks ahead and very rarely back. It was nice to see him go against his own grain, if only for a moment, and appreciate what he helped do.
• The Penguins’ resurgence is easy to dissect: Nearly every acquisition made by president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas has been a home run, and the Penguins adhere to common sense tactically: Defensemen pinching is much less haphazard. The F3 (high forward) errs on the side of defense. One size doesn’t fit all. Dan Muse, as a first-year NHL head coach, isn’t mired in his own resume.
• The Olympics break is tailor-made for the Penguins: Kris Letang gets to heal, 18-year-old phenom Ben Kindel gets to rest, Evgeni Malkin gets to do both.
• Penguins prospect Tanner Howe made his pro debut with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday. The 20-year-old winger had been out since undergoing major knee surgery last season. Howe, a second-round draft pick in 2024, is mean, feisty and stirs the pot. Another piece in the puzzle.
• Washington winger Tom Wilson took a foe’s head off with his shoulder in a game vs. Carolina on Saturday. No penalty, let alone supplementary discipline. This while the Penguins’ Bryan Rust sits three games for a similar hit. Wilson has received six suspensions. This is Rust’s first. The usual excuses were made for Wilson: “takes an angle legally, unavoidable head contact,” blah, blah, blah. It’s like Wilson gets a break because he’s a repeat offender. It’s just part of his game. With Rust, it seems like a dirty play. That’s what you get when a former goon — George Parros — is inexplicably in charge of player safety.
• The Pirates failed to sign power-hitting third baseman Eugenio Suarez. He committed instead to NL Central rival Cincinnati for one year, $15 million with a $16 million mutual option for 2027. The Pirates were said to have “just missed.” Aw, shucks. But $15 million is chump change in MLB. The Pirates should have offered $20 million. If they’re serious. Which they aren’t. The Pirates have improved just enough to fool you.
• Undisputed WWE champion Drew McIntyre is the real thing, a behemoth who looks the part. It rings true when he said, “85% of our guys don’t look like they should be in WWE. My buddies contact me, say these other guys look like they should be serving my food at McDonald’s. Get in the gym.” He’s right. Pro wrestling is supposed to be larger than life. I saw a backstage promo in AEW that featured what appeared to be a bunch of zany homeless guys. They were wrestlers, but look like they woke up on a park bench.