Thursday’s “First Call” illustrates the love the national media still has for Mike Tomlin. James Harrison applauds T.J. Watt while J.J. Watt discusses the scrutiny of Matt Canada.

Also, Connor Bedard scores his first NHL goal, and an ex-Pittsburgh Penguin gets off on the right foot.

Laying it on a little thick?

For those who think there is a chasm between how the national media perceives Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and how those in Pittsburgh view him, here’s another example.

Locally, many in Pittsburgh are fed up with a third straight year of anemic offense, .500-level football, maddening inconsistency and six years of failure to win a playoff game.

Yet Fox Sports just conducted a poll of their NFL analysts, and they have Mike Tomlin third among current NFL coaches.

Our FOX NFL staff ranked the Top 10 head coaches in the NFL in 2023 ✍️ pic.twitter.com/w4UAVPD7dD

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 11, 2023

As you can see, only Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan are ranked in front of Tomlin. Reid has won two of the past four Super Bowls. Shanahan just went to the NFC Championship game with a third-string quarterback and beat Tomlin’s team this year in Pittsburgh 30-7.

Tomlin is immediately ahead of Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams (who has been to two of the last five Super Bowls) and Mike McDaniel, who went to the playoffs in his first season leading the Miami Dolphins and currently has the highest scoring team in the sport.

Now, you might be inclined to say, “Well, Tomlin’s career resume has to be part of this equation.”

It might be. But Patriots coach Bill Belichick is … wait for it … 10th.

Who has a better resume than him?

The other four coaches in the top 10 behind Tomlin are Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson, Seattle’s Pete Carroll, and Philadelphia’s Nick Siriani. Like Belichick and McVay, they have all been to a Super Bowl more recently than Tomlin. In the case of Belichick, McVay and Carroll it’s actually more than one.

But, sure. Tomlin is the third-best coach in the NFL. If we keep saying stuff like that often enough, maybe we can speak it into existence.

Taking notice

It wasn’t just folks in Pittsburgh who heard the “Fire Canada” chants at the Penguins game Wednesday night.

Future NFL Hall of Famer J.J. Watt took notice too. Appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Watt talked about how thick the criticism for Canada has gotten in Pittsburgh and how much the burden of overcoming the offense has fallen on his brother, T.J., and the rest of the defense.

WE'VE GOT FIRE CANADA CHANTS HAPPENING AT PENGUINS GAMES #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/m4pSKUeX6p

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 11, 2023

“It’s crazy that, even after a win against your division rival (Baltimore Ravens), going into a bye week, top of the division, you still have that going on in this city,” Watt said. “That just speaks to the frustration of everybody there with the offense.

“As a defensive player, you do what you can to go out there and win games. That’s truthfully what they’ve done. Highsmith has a pick-six. T.J. has a touchdown. You go get strip sacks, you go do anything humanly possible. Joey Porter, Jr. gets an interception in the endzone. Anything you can possibly do out there and win that game. Then you just hope (the offense) finds a rhythm at some point.”

J.J. Watt said that, potentially, the connection between Kenny Picket and George Pickens at the end of the 17-10 win over the Ravens on Sunday will make a difference.

“You’re hoping for more of that, and you’re hoping for some of those big plays to hit,” Watt said. “But right now, all you can do is just go out there and play (darn) good defense.”

At 15.8 points per game, only the New York Giants (12.4) and New England Patriots (11.0) are averaging fewer points per contest than the Steelers.

Happy Harrison

Speaking of T.J. Watt, James Harrison seems plenty content with Watt breaking his Steelers career quarterback sack record.

Watt tied Harrison’s record of 80.5 sacks in Week 1 with a hat trick against the San Francisco 49ers. Then he broke it the next week against the Cleveland Browns.

Big sack on Deshaun Watson by T.J. Watt sack.

Now he's the all-time leader in sacks for the #Steelers pic.twitter.com/kflccd4KGJhttps://t.co/g5c7uI5k9u

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 19, 2023

Speaking on Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast, Harrison said he was passed by a worthy heir to the Black and Gold defensive throne.

“It’s a different era now. Records are made to be broken,” Harrison said. “It’s just guys wanting to see other guys do better than the previous guys and hold up to that Steeler lore.”

With eight sacks this year, Watt is up to 85.5 for his career, and Harrison sees him posting a huge number before he leaves Pittsburgh.

“He ain’t done yet,” Harrison continued. “He’s got a long way to go. He can put that record up there real high to where it’ll be sitting there for a long time again.”

Watt also broke Harrison’s franchise single-season-sack record of 16 (2008) when he totaled 22.5 in 2021. That tied Michael Strahan’s NFL record.

More sports

• Matt Canada: ‘There's a good vibe from the guys’ on the Steelers offense as it seeks turnaround • New Pitt starting quarterback Christian Veilleux (Vay-er) sounds like he's ready to lead • Steelers QB coach impressed with Kenny Pickett's pre-snap communication, pocket awareness vs. Ravens

Didn’t take long

Connor Bedard didn’t score Tuesday in his NHL debut against the Penguins. But the highly touted Chicago Blackhawks rookie still displayed his skills by riffling five shots on goal and picking up an assist en route to a 4-2 win.

Then, in Game 2 at Boston on Wednesday, Bedard found the back of the net on a wraparound to beat goaltender Linus Ullmark.

THERE IT IS‼️

Connor Bedard's first NHL goal! #NHLFaceOff

????: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/W9mpYG1lMO pic.twitter.com/zV2Y1XEs6M

— NHL (@NHL) October 11, 2023

That was the first goal of the game. However, the Bruins scored the next three and won 3-1. David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins.

Bedard played over 21 minutes, tallied six shots on goal, but walked away a minus-1.

A star for Staal

Carolina Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal got the first star in his team’s 5-3 opening night win over the Ottawa Senators. The ex-Penguin finished this beauty of a backhand to give the Canes a 3-1 lead.

A great start to the third as The Captain makes it 3-1 Carolina!@Canes | #CauseChaos pic.twitter.com/MkQ7qrkrHF

— Bally Sports: Canes (@CanesOnBally) October 12, 2023

Staal added an assist as well. He now has 647 points in his career. This is Staal’s 18th season, his 12th since leaving the Penguins after the 2012 campaign.

For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Penguins’ core three of Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin sticking together this long, it’s worth noting that Staal was also on that 2006-07 team that first brought those three together.

So was goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. His Minnesota Wild opens its 2023-24 season on Thursday night at home against Florida. This will be Fleury’s 20th NHL season.

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