Thursday’s “First Call” shows us just how big of an underdog the Pittsburgh Steelers truly are this weekend in Kansas City. The Chiefs are getting healthier, too. Fire up the Marc-Andre Fleury trade rumors again. And an honor for a former Robert Morris Colonial.

More truth than you thought?

When Ben Roethlisberger admitted how much of a long shot the Steelers are to beat the Chiefs on Sunday, it sure appears as if the oddsmakers agree.

The Steelers are 12.5-point underdogs. According to Yahoo Sports, that’s “the biggest point spread in wild-card weekend history.”

The site says it hasn’t seen a spread larger than 11.5, via BetMGM. There have been 10 teams who have entered wild-card weekend as double-digit favorites. One of them was the 2016 Steelers who were favored by 11 points to beat the Dolphins. They covered, winning by 18 points (30-12).

The only double-digit underdog to win was the 2010 Seahawks. They made the playoffs at 7-9 and then won in the “Beast Quake” game over a New Orleans Saints team that was a 10-point favorite.

Full go

Not only are the Chiefs heavily favored Sunday, they appear to be getting healthy.

Coach Andy Reid says all of his players were able to practice in advance of Sunday’s playoff game against the Steelers.

That includes the banged up offensive trio of All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill (heel) and running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire (shoulder) and Darrel Williams (toe).

Via ChiefsWire, the coach was asked specifically about those three skill position weapons. Reid felt they “looked good, but cautioned being overly optimistic about their ability to play on Sunday.”

Edwards-Helaire was knocked out of the regular season win over the Steelers. Hill also played that day but was minimized because of his stint on the covid-19 list.

“They worked, and they looked good today,” Reid said. “We’ll just see how it goes here the rest of the week.”

Williams was the leading rusher in Kansas City when the Chiefs beat the Steelers 36-10 on Dec. 26, carrying the ball 11 times for 55 yards.

Related: What does Andy Reid think of the Steelers his team is about to face?

A flower blooms in Denver?

Could former Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury be on the move again?

In a mailbag Q&A post, NHL.com’s Dan Rosen was asked if the Colorado Avalanche would try to bolster their goaltending bench strength prior to the trade deadline. Rosen’s reply was, “The Avalanche need better goaltending depth. They need a better insurance policy than they currently have if (Darcy) Kuemper struggles, slumps, or gets injured or sick.”

He went on to advance Fleury as an option.

“Marc-Andre Fleury, a pending unrestricted free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks, would be the perfect addition if the Avalanche can make it work under the NHL salary cap,” Rosen wrote. “Fleury is a three-time Stanley Cup winner. His experience playing in a tandem with Robin Lehner for the Vegas Golden Knights and Matt Murray for the Pittsburgh Penguins would allow for a seamless transition into playing with Kuemper.”

In his first season with the Blackhawks, Fleury has a 2.88 goals against average. He is 11-11-2 with a save percentage of .910.

Tonge’s time

Knowing that the Robert Morris hockey team is coming back in 2023-24 makes tracking the progress of their alumni more enjoyable.

With that said, congrats to 2019 Colonials alum Alex Tonge. The winger was named to the 2022 ECHL All-Star game. Tonge is the fourth RMU alumni in program history to appear in the game. The others were Cody Wydo, Ryan Cruthers and Aaron Clarke.

Tonge is in his second season with the Norfolk Admirals, the ECHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

During his four years at RMU, Tonge averaged almost a point per game, posting 138 points in 146 career contests, including 56 goals and 82 assists. He led the Colonials in scoring as a senior in 2018-19 with 39 points (19g-20a).

The native of Ontario graduated RMU tied with Nathan Longpre ’11 for fourth all-time in program scoring with 138 career points as well as the eighth-highest scoring active player in all of NCAA Division I hockey.

The ECHL All-Star game will take place Monday in Jacksonville, Fla.

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