About an hour ago
Our first 2021 “First Call” addresses a familiar Steelers theme: opposing teams mocking JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The Browns seemed to do this after their victory over the Steelers on Sunday.
Meanwhile, TJ Watt receives high praise from another NFL legend. The line of play for Sunday’s Browns-Steelers rematch is out. And the Robert Morris hockey team started well.
First favorites
The odds have already been posted for the Steelers-Browns game on Sunday night.
Oddsshark has the Steelers as a 3.5-point favorite for round 3 at Heinz Field.
The Steelers made up the difference both times against the Browns, defeating them 38-7 when they were 3-point favorites in Pittsburgh on 18 October. Then, on Sunday, the Steelers were a 10-point underdog in Cleveland. But they did, losing 24-22.
The Steelers have already covered two consecutive weeks, after failing to do so four weeks in a row before last week’s frustrating victory at home against the Indianapolis Colts.
Meanwhile, William Hill’s Caesars Sportsbook has the Steelers at +2000 to win the Super Bowl. Browns are at +5000. Kansas City chiefs are +180.
Jabbing JuJu
After the Browns defeated the Steelers on Sunday, some members of their team scoffed at the Steelers’ maskless celebration in the locker room last week.
Specifically, with a shot at the wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Cleveland linebacker Mack Wilson went to Instagram Live with his teammates dancing to Smith-Schuster’s “Corvette Corvette”.
OH NO . THEY DID THIS.
CORVETTE CORVETTE #Browns pic.twitter.com/r27DBsvVxg
– MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) January 3, 2021
Keep in mind that the Steelers raised some league eyebrows when Smith-Schuster and Ray-Ray McCloud posted a maskless dance celebration for that song after beating the Indianapolis Colts to win AFC North last week. Coach Mike Tomlin said the franchise heard about it from the league due to possible violations of the covid-19, but did not specifically mention any discipline at the time.
Wilson went out of his way to show himself putting on his mask before celebrating.
TJ Tabbing
NFL layoff record holder Bruce Smith thinks TJ Watt has the best chance of any active player when it comes to tracking his layoff record.
He made comments to TMZ Sports, saying that Watt is “the one we want to watch now because he is young”.
Watt has 49.5 bags in his first four years as a professional. That’s five more than Smith (44.5) in his first four years in the NFL (1985-88).
Smith ended up with 200 bags over 19 years. Former Steeler Kevin Greene – third on the sack list of all time – praised Watt in the final interview before his untimely death last month.
Sad Saquon
The running back of the New York Giants, Saquon Barkley, was like many watching Sunday night’s soccer game.
The Penn State product wanted to know why the Philadelphia Eagle inserted Nate Sudfeld – usually the third quarterback in the series – into a tough game against Washington.
Can anyone make sense of what is happening to me …?
– Saquon Barkley (@saquon) January 4, 2021
This was Sudfeld’s first game action since week 17 of the 2018 season.
The Eagles lost just 17 to 14 to Washington in the fourth period at the time. And the Eagles needed to win for the Giants to win the division. Otherwise, if Washington won, they would claim NFC East 7-9.
What is eventually what happened with a final score of 20-14.
And New York fans were angry at the decision to put Jalen Hurts on the bench. He only had 7 of 20 passes for 72 yards with an interception, but had 34 yards on eight loads with a pair of touchdowns.
Sudfeld was no better, being fired twice and throwing an interception with just five submissions in 12 attempts.
So you can see why Barkley and the rest of the greater New York metropolitan area were so attractive.
Tame the Tigers
The Robert Morris men’s hockey team is continuing its early career.
The colonials swept the RIT over the weekend. They won Saturday’s game 3-1. Then they doubled and beat the Tigers 4-3 on Sunday.
THAT’S BABY HOCKEY! #RMUnite | 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/ImIm3UvGHn
– RMU Men’s Hockey (@RMUMHockey) January 3, 2021
RMU is now 8-3, and two of those defeats are for Bowling Green, seventh. Coach Derek Schooley’s club plays against Niagara three times over the course of four days this week on Thursday in New York, then on Saturday and Sunday on Neville Island. This is the best start for the colonials, as they were 7-1-3 in 2014-15.
Tim Benz is an editor on the Tribune-Review team. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets can be posted again. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
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Sports | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz