In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden and I talk about the Steelers outlook in 2020, the Penguins looming offseason, and the Pirates at the Major League trade deadline.
Mark isn’t lacking for opinions on any front.
“I see the Steelers as a 9-7 team. 10-6 at best,” Madden tells us. “I just don’t think they are going to get the takeaways they did (in 2019). I don’t think they are quite going to get the sacks they did. I think Ben (Roethlisberger) is going to overestimate his gun-slinging ability at his age and with the reconstructed elbow.”
That’s despite the fact that Madden thinks ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum is nuts for suggesting that Roethlisberger is going to be the fourth-best quarterback in the AFC and that the Baltimore Ravens may backslide a bit.
Madden and I also delve into how we think the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals may influence the top half of the division. And, the way Madden tells it, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow may have as much of an impact as Browns’ signal caller Baker Mayfield does.
On the hockey front, Madden and I look at the fallout of the Penguins trading to reacquire Kasperi Kapanen. As Madden tells us, that won’t be the biggest move the Pens make this offseason.
“The (Matt) Murray trade will be bigger than the Kapanen trade because you are trading your two-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie,” Madden says. “Although I don’t believe they are going to get much for him. I think they’ll be lucky to get a third-round pick given the glut of goaltending on the market.”
Then there are the Pirates …
They probably want to trade everybody. But they can’t. Because they don’t have a lot of talent to trade in the first place.
Furthermore, the reality exists that teams interested in acquiring players don’t want to give much away because of covid-19 concerns, revenue worries in 2021, and a general lack of willingness to shoot for the moon in a year that some may consider a tainted season anyway.
“When you’ve got 16 teams making the playoffs and the first round is a best of three, the playoffs are a total crap-shoot,” Madden explains. “You don’t want to give away assets for a rental and then lose in a best of three. And you also don’t want to get a big-time rental and then he gets covid and he can’t play at all. I don’t expect there will be a bunch of moves.”
Madden and I also theorize what the Steelers are losing in terms of preseason games being eliminated, the prospect of an NFL boycott in Week 1, and the notion of a new Pittsburgh-oriented sports holiday.
Well not Pittsburgh sports-oriented exactly. But listen, and you’ll get the drift.
And you’ll agree.
