First Call: Mike Vrabel shares fond memories of Steelers days; Chiefs offense flashes; RMU hockey's decision day is here

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel shares his fond memories of being a Steeler in advance of his team’s game at Heinz Field Sunday afternoon. The Steelers game next week against the Kansas City Chiefs looks like it will be a monumental task. The Penguins are catching the Buffalo Sabres as they are rebounding a bit.

And it is decision day for the Robert Morris hockey teams.

All that in Friday’s “First Call.”

Welcome back

When the Steelers welcome the Tennessee Titans, a familiar face will be coaching on the other sideline. It’ll be former Steeler Mike Vrabel.

Drafted out of Ohio State in 1997, Vrabel spent his first four years in the NFL in Pittsburgh before going to New England and winning three Super Bowls over seven years with the Patriots.

This will be Vrabel’s fourth season coaching the Titans. He’s been to the playoffs twice. And while he’s never coached against the Steelers in Pittsburgh before, he has played against them here and lost against them as the Titans coach in Nashville last season.

So, this week I asked Vrabel if returning to Western Pa. is still special.

“It has to be,” Vrabel responded. “You start your career with an unbelievable organization. It starts at the top with the Rooney family and everybody involved all the way to the coaches. John Mitchell was my first position coach, and ‘Mitch’ is still with the team.”

Vrabel said he went on to absorb a lot about the NFL during the infancy of his pro career while wearing Black and Gold.

“Coach Bill Cowher and the entire Rooney family, I learned a lot about professional football and what it should be from all those people that were there,” Vrabel continued. “A lot of people have come and gone. But the one constant has been the Rooney family. And Mike (Tomlin) has done an unbelievable job to represent them on and off the field.”

Vrabel finished with seven of his 57 career sacks in Pittsburgh.

Well, eight in Pittsburgh. That’s if you count his fourth quarter playoff strip sack of Drew Bledsoe that helped save a 7-6 win over the Patriots at Three Rivers Stadium in 1997.

This should go well

You know what the Steelers should wish for on Christmas Day? A blizzard.

Maybe they’ll get snowed in and the NFL will just cancel their game against the Kansas City Chiefs the next day.

Eh, who am I kidding. It’s December in Pittsburgh. These days that means it’s likely to be warmer on Christmas than it is on Easter.

But, seriously, do the Steelers really have to make the trip out to Arrowhead to play the Chiefs next week? I mean, it’s the day after Christmas. Jet fuel is so expensive these days. They’ve got games against the Ravens and Browns coming up…

Oh! You think I’m kidding? Did any of you watch the Thursday night game between K.C. and the Los Angeles Chargers?

How is the Steelers defense supposed to keep up with that offense? K.C. beat the Los Angeles Chargers 34-28 in overtime Thursday. Along the way, coach Andy Reid’s offense totaled 496 yards. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 410 and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill put on a show with 12 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown.

But tight end Travis Kelce was the real star. He had 191 receiving yards and two touchdowns, including a 34-yard score in overtime to end it.

WALK OFF WINNER!!! pic.twitter.com/lN2EljNALi

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 17, 2021

He also had a 69-yard catch and run earlier in the game.

Travis Kelce. YAC KING. #ChiefsKingdom

: #KCvsLAC on NFLN/FOX/PRIME VIDEO
: https://t.co/yEB6Ii5nMh pic.twitter.com/cUxgglPxBx

— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2021

We’ve seen the Steelers defense this year against offenses much worse than that, right?

Remember all that talk that the Chiefs were done at 3-4? Yeah. That was fun. They haven’t lost since. Their win streak is up to seven in a row now. They have the most wins in the AFC, with a half-game lead on the Patriots and the Titans in the conference standings.

Buffalo bounces back

Speaking of upcoming opponents, the Penguins next face the Buffalo Sabres. That game is Friday night at PPG Paints Arena.

After losing seven straight games, the Sabres have busted out two straight wins. On Tuesday night, they beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2. And Thursday night, they got a shootout victory, outlasting Minnesota 3-2. Tage Thompson got the game winner.

Thompson with the shootout winner for the @BuffaloSabres! pic.twitter.com/HfY3W9ztkB

— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) December 17, 2021

That … was … silky.

The Wild entered that game with 40 points, the most in the Western Conference. Buffalo has just 24 points, good for only sixth in the Atlantic Division.

The Penguins have 35, which has them fourth in the Metropolitan Division and currently in possession of the Eastern Conference’s top wild-card position, four points in front of the Detroit Red Wings.

The Pens have won five in a row.

Decision day

Robert Morris University is holding a news conference Friday morning to announce the future of its men’s and women’s hockey teams.

In May, university president Christopher Howard stunned the campus by announcing that the successful programs would be cut immediately. Since then, the teams have been raising money in advance of what was a Dec. 15 deadline to gain financial footing for possible reinstatement.

As of Monday, fundraisers for the team suggested they had raised roughly $2.5 million of a $2.8 million goal.

Based on RMU’s track record of avoiding in-person media availability ever since the programs were cut, it seems unlikely that they’d call a press conference to only say that the teams remain eliminated. But when that may happen, or to what degree they may return, and under what financial conditions they might get put back on the ice remains unclear.

No one from the university, the teams, or the Pittsburgh College Hockey Foundation — a group of RMU hockey supporters and alumni organized to get the teams back — have been willing to comment.

Something noteworthy, the Pittsburgh College Hockey Foundation pushed back a previously scheduled RMU hockey appreciation event from Thursday to Friday.

Perhaps for a celebration of sorts? Maybe. Or the most depressing hockey version of an Irish wake one could imagine.