The Pomp And Joe Show
12 PM: Should Will Howard get a chance to start, the Pens need a new plan for the shootout
19 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the NFL playoff games this weekend?
Rolling right along on a wintry day in Pittsburgh. Bob Pompeiani here. Joe Starkey will be back tomorrow. Austin Bechtel will be on the air tonight. Sean Myers is in behind the glass taking your calls at 412-928-9370. We've reached the 12 o'clock hour. Fan Twitter is brought to you by South Hills Key and Peters Township. Visit them at southhillskey.net.
The text line brought to you by Edgar Snyder and Associates, a personal injury law firm where they always say there's never a fee unless they get money for you. Call that number. Let's chat. There are a lot of great games. Divisional, Sean, I'll say this before we go back to the phone lines. Divisional playoff games, to me, are always the best. Conference championships, yeah, here and there.
Sometimes there are blowouts that you don't expect. But, man, there were some really good games here this weekend. Seattle-San Francisco was not one of them. I was a little surprised by how that got out of hand so quickly, starting with the opening kickoff.
But man, when you look at these games, specifically Denver, Buffalo, specifically Rams, Chicago, unbelievable games, some spectacular plays that I think we're always going to remember.
That Caleb Williams touchdown, if they win that game, that's an all-timer. Now, it's still going to be remembered for a while, but the fact that they lose the game kind of takes a little bit of luster off of it. But that was played horribly by the defensive player. But my goodness, that was one of the ā and that's the second straight week he's done something like that.
Yeah, I thought that fourth and eighth play that he had the week before, who was it, Loveland? I think it was him, sideline. Whatever it was, I thought that play, it led to their win. I said that was as good a throw because he was in the air. He, like, jumped up, threw the ball on a rifle down to him.
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Chapter 2: Why do callers want Will Howard as the Steelers' starting QB?
And then yesterday, going backwards ā It was a 14 ā when you look at a box score, it'll say 14-yard touchdown pass.
It was like 35 yards it felt like, right?
He just kept going backwards. I'm thinking, what's he going to do here? But the arm strength not to be denied. So they're in a pretty good spot. I thought they lost that game because I think Ben Johnson got a little too cute with his fourth-down metrics. And I understand why people are doing it. And the success rate in most cases is okay. But in a playoff game against a team ā
that, you know, possessions are important. They got inside the red zone, and they passed on field goals multiple times. That could have changed the way that game ended. So instead of needing Caleb Williams to throw a Hail Mary type of touchdown, they may have needed a field goal just to win the game. It would never have gone to overtime.
Do you agree with that, or are you a fourth down guy that goes for it all the time?
No. I, I like points and it's weird because you would think with kickers being better than ever, that it would actually be swinging the other way where you take the points. Cause it feels like if you're within 50, it's almost automatic, right? We obviously, we saw the end of Steelers Ravens, nothing's automatic, but, The kickers are better than ever before.
So I would be taking those points, especially early in the game. I also am like an extra point instead of a two-point conversion guy until you have to go for two.
So teams that early in the third quarter go for two because of the score, I would much rather take that extra point because you know once you get down to mid to late fourth quarter, sometimes that extra point would have made all the difference in how you approach the final drive of a game. So having said all that...
And while I disagree with Ben Johnson going for it on fourth down in red zones, I would have taken field goals, which would have made my life a little easier at the end. How about this? They throw the touchdown pass, make it 17-16. They could have gone for two and tried to win the game right then and there.
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Chapter 3: Could Sean McVay retire if the Rams win the Super Bowl?
That's the same kind of fourth down mentality, right? You have metrics that tell you go for it. They decide to kick the extra point. They end up losing. Would you have made that call? And if you're a Chicago fan, would you have wanted him to make that call?
I mean, I would say typically when you're at home, You're okay going to overtime there? Is that fair? Does that factor in?
Yeah. I mean, I understand both sides of that argument. If you had a play that you thought was good, that you could win it right there so that Matt Stafford doesn't have a chance, that Puka Nakua doesn't have a chance to beat you.
And there's an argument that the Rams are reeling quite a bit after that crazy conversion, that they would have been maybe a little shell-shocked on that subsequent play.
Maybe.
Maybe.
We'll see. I mean, these are the stuff we talk about all the time. One other note before we go back to the Lions. Not only Joe Starkey's miserable day will continue. Not only did they fire Sean McDermott in Buffalo, they have promoted their general manager, Billy Bean. Or Brandon Bean. I got too many Beans.
Maybe they should have brought in Billy Bean. Maybe so.
Brandon Bean goes to president of the organization. So you would think the roster is his problem, not McDermott's. But here we go. Another situation that ends up in a coach firing. Back to the Lions we go.
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Chapter 4: What is the current state of the Penguins in shootouts?
Sean, who we got? We got a lot of people up here, I noticed. Oh, we've got a ton of callers. We're going to go to Harrison City with Dan.
Dan in Harrison City, what's going on today?
Hey, Bob, how you doing? Good, thanks. All right, I have a great suggestion for quarterback for the Steelers. Now, let's just back up for a minute. They've got a new coach coming in, new staff. You know, a lot of the players may or may not be back with the Steelers. It's kind of a fresh start, right? Am I right? Yes. So how about this person here? How about Will Howard? Nobody talks about him.
If you drafted him, if he was this pretty great quarterback in college, why not give him a shot? Why would they want to find retreads and people out there that just aren't ā you're not going to get a Lamar Jackson. You're not going to get somebody that's starting for another team. Why don't you ā this is a fresh start. The team's not going to the Super Bowl next year.
Why don't you give this guy a shot? How come that's never dangled?
Well, if you missed our show at the beginning, Dan, we spent a lot of time talking about it. I missed it, Bob. I totally agree with that, that I would give him every opportunity. I think that's what they wanted to see this past preseason. He was scheduled to play 85% of the preseason snaps, and they would have gotten a better gauge. They never got that opportunity.
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Chapter 5: What potential names are being discussed for Steelers' offensive coordinator?
But I'm with you from this point of view. He played at a major college. He went through a college football playoff. He won every game. He made critical throws when he had to. You know, what's the difference between him and a Fernando Mendoza who's all of a sudden jumped up to number one overall pick in the draft potentially? So, yeah, they have him there.
And I think the new coach, whoever it would be, would do that. Why wouldn't you do that? You want to give a guy a shot and see what he has. They drafted him after all, and we've seen quarterbacks come from different places in rounds, whether it's Dak Prescott in the fourth round, Brady in the sixth, Purdy in the seventh. Others have fallen into that category as well.
So, yeah, I'm not against that. Okay. All right.
Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. We move along. Where to next? I will say I cracked up when he said no one's talking about Will Howard because he seems like the most talked about third string quarterback in the entire NFL.
Without a doubt.
We're going to go to Spencer.
Spencer is on the fan. Hello, Spencer. How are you?
Hey, Bob. Great to get this chance to talk to you. I've been a fan. I turn 70 years old tomorrow, and I've listened to you forever.
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Chapter 6: How does the catch rule impact NFL games?
Well, I thank you, and happy birthday to you. I appreciate you doing that over the years.
Thank you. Really enjoy the show. So I have some ideas as far as who should be the next coach and quarterback. Here's a name that hasn't come up much. What do you think about trading for Jalen Hurts?
Well, Philadelphia's been active to do things. They don't mess around, especially with coaches and GMs. Well, GM, no, they're a GM team. Howie Roseman runs that ship. I don't know about that. I mean, I don't think that would happen. I don't think that's a marriage out there. Sean, what do you think about Jalen Hurst? I mean, he's a winner is what he is, and he makes plays when he has to.
I just don't think Philadelphia wants to get rid of him.
I've heard that there's some frustration potentially with whether it be players or just the organization with Jalen Hurts. But one, I don't see them moving him now whatsoever. They have no backup plan in place. Now, if they were to maybe draft a guy this year and see good things in terms of his development, could that be a year down the road, a discussion? Absolutely.
But I think we're at least a year away from Jalen Hurts being moved. And if he has a good year and the Eagles bounce back, which I certainly would not be surprised if that happens, I don't think he's going anywhere.
Too soon for that to happen, I agree. And the contract's a big one, too. I think the Steelers don't want to get involved in that sort of contract right off the bat. With a new coach, you want to bring in guys that he can work with and develop. Thanks, Spencer, for the call. Appreciate that.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Indiana vs. Miami game tonight?
Next, Sean. We will head out to Blairsville with Dave. Dave, what's going on? You're on the fan. Thank you for calling.
Thank you. Just driving in the snow here. Just wanted to congratulate you on the Marconi and what has to be the best sports show I've ever heard.
I'll pass that along to the troops. Thank you.
Thank you. Dan sort of stole my thunder there because I was going to talk about Will Howard, too, and why he seems to be like stale bread. I think he ought to be given a legitimate shot at being our number one quarterback.
Well, don't you think he's going to get a legitimate shot? I would think, right? No matter who they bring in here, unless it's Fernando Mendoza, for example, if they get a quarterback in the third round, I don't think that guy's going to come in here with a guarantee of anything. So I think the play to be made for them probably here is a veteran to come in
Well, first of all, we haven't talked about this at all, and we should talk about Aaron Rodgers because there's conflicting reports coming out of this that Aaron Rodgers may still want to be back. Maybe not. He hasn't said a word. Players seem to want him back on their exit interviews. We've gone back and forth about this.
Dave, if you saw Aaron Rodgers coming back, would you want him back for one more year?
Depending upon what the other options were.
My personal feeling on that is he won't come back, nor would they want him back. That's just me. Thank you, Dave. Now, having said that, if he should want to, and they don't have much of anyone else in mind, would that be a bad move for the team next year, knowing how the players have responded to him?
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Chapter 8: What are the expectations for the Penguins' upcoming road trip?
If you have a rough season because you're using a young quarterback like a Will Howard, I think that ultimately that's for the better long-term anyway. I wouldn't want another stopgap. And I don't know why Rodgers would necessarily want to be here. Although I do wonder if he's thinking about playing another season. It seemed like for a while there was some smoke around Minnesota.
And there still is. Because they want to bring in another veteran all of a sudden after McCarthy struggled, right? So, I mean, that's something he can consider. But I agree with you, and I've said all along, since the season ended, I don't think he's coming back. And I also think, you know, if it's a young coach who wants to mold quarterbacks, have an opportunity, maybe expand ā
the quarterbacks you already have based on good philosophical play and strategic play, maybe some of these guys respond. Maybe it's Will Howard. And I'm not ruling out Mason Rudolph either. If he gets a fresh start with somebody who likes what he does and they scheme it up so that he can be successful, I mean, we've seen these stories all throughout the NFL. All right, Sean, who's next?
Troy in Mount Washington. Hello, Troy. What's up on Mount Washington?
What's going on, Sean? How you going? I got two points. One is the coaching landscape, and then another thought is on the Steelers. The first one is I've been really thinking about this, and it's kind of crazy. Sean McVay, a couple years back when Aaron Donald was leaving, was kind of thinking about either going to TV or retiring. There were some talks. He got a contract extension.
That was back then. I think if the Rams win the Super Bowl that Matt Stafford retires, and there's a possibility that McVay walks off too, and I think that job right there is actually going to become ā The best job to get, and I could see Shula and Sheil House wanting to stay there and continue with the building that they're already in.
So I think there's a longer wait that we're going to have this time on whether a coach makes a decision to come here. I would think by the end of January originally. But I'm probably thinking more towards into February now, and I'm just curious on your thoughts of that before I get to my seal.
First of all, what I think, Troy, is that I thought that whole thing about Sean McVay talking about retirement was done as a contract ploy, as something that he was using to try to improve his status and get more money. That was my read on it. I know it came out there while people were talking about television. I thought, man, he's too young. He's still one of the youngest guys going here.
You know, in the game.
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