First Call: Joey Porter Jr. dismisses Tyler Boyd's criticism; Bill Cowher encourages 1 specific Steelers change

In our final “First Call” before Christmas weekend, Pittsburgh Steelers corner Joey Porter Jr. didn’t have a lot of holiday cheer after hearing Tyler Boyd’s comments this week. Bill Cowher has some advice for the Steelers offense. We look at the full slate of games that impact the AFC wild-card chase.

Jordan Staal applauds the continued connection of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. And we look at Duquesne’s final matchup during an early-winter trip to Las Vegas.

Joey jabs back

Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd took a swipe at the Steelers earlier this week. In the wake of all the controversy surrounding George Pickens’ lack of effort during Saturday’s game in Indianapolis, the former Pitt Panther and Clairton Bear said Pickens’ attitude is a bad sign for his hometown team.

“It just shows the lack of camaraderie that’s over there,” Boyd said via a video posted by ESPN.com’s Ben Baby. “I can’t really talk for anybody, but when things ain’t going well, you’ve still got to perform at a high level and do what you can to help your team. … When things ain’t going good, that’s when your true colors show. I like to be the same player week in, week out, whether it’s going good or bad for me.”

When alerted to that quote Thursday, Porter dismissed Boyd’s assessment.

“He wouldn’t know. He’s not in the locker room. So his opinion really doesn’t matter,” Porter said. “He’s got a misread on the whole situation. He’s not in the locker room. It’s all outside.”

With no Ja’Marr Chase on the field in this game, Porter is likely to see mostly Tee Higgins across from him. But at times, he could be locked up with Boyd. Both players love to talk. So that could get interesting.

Cowher’s call

The idea that Bill Cowher wants to see the Steelers get back to good, old-fashioned, “smashmouth” football is about the least surprising thing of all time.

But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

The ex-Steelers coach appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday, and he encouraged his former team to rededicate itself to the run game. In particular, he wants to see more snaps under center.

“If I was them right now, I would be putting whoever they wanna put out there (at quarterback). Put him under center. You have Najee Harris, who’s a downhill runner. He’s not a side, boxcar runner. (Jaylen) Warren, all the big runs, they’re downhill,” Cowher said. “It also sets up the play-action. Everything else you want to do. You’ve got a young quarterback. And that helps the offensive line. There’s nothing that’s negative about going back there.”

Whether it’s out of the shotgun or under center, the Steelers should be run-heavy on Saturday against the Bengals. Defensive lineman D.J. Reader is out for the year now. Via my ESPN Radio Pittsburgh co-host Matt Williamson, Cincinnati has allowed 5.6 yards per carry (109 attempts), with 28.4% of those carries going for a first down or touchdown this season with Reader off the field. Both of those numbers track at a league-worst rate.

The Steelers had 153 yards rushing the last time they faced the Bengals, the last of a four-game stretch that saw them average 174 yards per game during the month of November.

In the three games this month, the Steelers are only averaging 95.3 yards per contest.

More sports

• A top rookie CB, Steelers’ Joey Porter Jr. unwilling to alter play that tends to draw flags
• U mad, bro?: Plenty of Christmas jeer for George Pickens, Steelers coaches and yours truly
• T.J. Watt explains Rich Eisen’s version of his comments on Steelers practice habits

Keeping an eye out

If you are one who is holding out hope for the 10th-place Steelers (7-7) in the AFC wild-card race, here’s a look at the other contenders and their schedules for this week.

• The Cleveland Browns (9-5) are currently the top seed among wild-card contenders, fifth overall in the AFC. They visit the eighth-place Houston Texans (8-6). Cleveland is a 2.5-point favorite (according to BetRivers.com) as quarterback Joe Flacco returned to practice Thursday despite a calf injury. Houston QB C.J. Stroud (concussion) and edge rusher Will Anderson (ankle) sat out practice Thursday. Wide receivers Noah Brown (knee) and Nico Collins (calf) were limited. That’s a 1 p.m. Sunday start.

• The seventh-place Indianapolis Colts (8-6) are visiting Atlanta (6-8) at 1 p.m. Sunday as well. The Colts are 2.5-point underdogs. Star running back Jonathan Taylor was a full participant in practice on Thursday as he tries to return from a multi-week absence because of thumb surgery. Standout receiver Michael Pittman practiced in full as well after being knocked out of last Saturday’s game by Steelers safety Damontae Kazee.

• After the Steelers play the Bengals on Saturday, the ninth-place Buffalo Bills (8-6) are at the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bills are a massive 12.5-point road favorite. They may have finally found their stride, having beaten the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys in consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, the Chargers are 5-9 and just smoked by the similarly rudderless Las Vegas Raiders (6-8) 63-21 last week.

• The 11th-pace Denver Broncos are 7-7, just like the Steelers. They play at home Sunday night against the 3-11 New England Patriots. Denver is favored by seven points. It’s their first home game in three weeks.

As mentioned above, the sixth-place Bengals (8-6) are at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday afternoon against the Steelers. Cincy has won each of its last two contests in Pittsburgh and is a 2.5-point favorite.

Appreciation down the hall

It’s hard to have this sink in, but Jordan Staal has now been with the Carolina Hurricanes twice as long as he was ever a Pittsburgh Penguin.

After playing here his first six seasons (including winning the 2009 Stanley Cup), the Penguins traded Staal to Carolina prior to the 2012-13 campaign. He has been in Raleigh ever since.

Meanwhile, his former teammates Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin are still here playing together.

The Pens beat Staal and the Canes 2-1 in a shootout Thursday night. Now in the midst of his 12th season away from Pittsburgh, Staal spoke with admiration for the core three that is still carrying the team.

“It’s really cool. They are elite talents,” Staal said. “Rightfully so, they should be together. They have done it all. Shown it all, and they are still doing it.”

Crosby had the lone Penguins goals in regulation and in the shootout, making him the No. 1 star for the night. Crosby has four goals and six points in the past four games. Staal was held without a point after scoring in two of his previous four games.

Back between breaks

The Duquesne men’s basketball team plays its last game before Christmas on Friday evening. The Dukes are in Las Vegas to play Santa Clara for a neutral site contest. It’s a 5 p.m. tipoff.

Keith Dambrot’s club is coming off a buzzer-beating win over Bradley on Monday night, courtesy of a layup from David Dixon with less than a second remaining.

DAVID DIXON FOR THE LEAD‼️

69-67 Dukes with 0.2 seconds left#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/icwZfqrXRo

— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) December 19, 2023

That win elevated the Dukes to 8-2. After the game in Vegas, they don’t play again until Dec. 30 against Cleary, an NAIA school out of Michigan.

NC State transfer Dusan Mahorcic may make his debut with the team Friday after working his way back from knee surgery last year. The 6-foot-10 Serbian forward has career averages of 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds in a total of 45 games between Illinois State, Utah and N.C. State.

The Broncos (West Coast Conference) are 8-5 with three wins over PAC-12 schools (Stanford, Oregon and Washington State). They were 23-10 last year and went to the NIT.

The Duquesne women’s team lost 63-52 to Arkansas Little Rock on Thursday at the Tulane Holiday Tournament in New Orleans.

Listen: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh talk hockey after the Penguins’ shootout win over Carolina Thursday night