Madden Monday: Ultimate chaos theory scenario for Steelers-Ravens, pounding Pitt athletics

Of all the doomsday scenarios, hypotheticals, and “what ifs” about what could happen with the oft-delayed Steelers-Ravens matchup, here’s an absolute doozy.

Mark Madden advanced it during our “Madden Monday” podcast. What if the Steelers-Ravens game still can’t be played Tuesday? And, as a result, both teams finish with only 15 games this season, and the league has to end up implementing an expanded eight-team conference playoff format — as has been discussed.

Let’s say that eighth playoff team in the AFC is the Baltimore Ravens. For the sake of argument, let’s then presume they upset the Steelers as the No. 1 seed in the AFC during the playoffs’ first round.

“If that could happen, it would be too sweet,” Madden said. “Pittsburgh would burn. We would talk about it — literally — for years.”

Madden is right. It’d be Spygate, plus Francisco Cabrera, multiplied by Jesse James, to the David Volek power.

“It’d be worse,” Madden insisted. “Because in this case, the Steelers really would’ve gotten screwed. By circumstance. And not any grand plan to screw them. But what if Baltimore made the playoffs, to play the Steelers — and beat the Steelers — because they screwed up covid?!”

Madden and I get into a host of other Steelers-Ravens items, as well as the quagmire the NFL needs to navigate to get around its open flood gate of positive cases and topsy-turvy scheduling situation.

Then, speaking of quagmires, we turn to Pitt athletics. This after a long weekend which saw the Panthers get pummeled by Clemson in football (52-17) and get stunned by St. Francis (80-70) in the men’s basketball season opener.

Mark’s assessment of football coach Pat Narduzzi and basketball coach Jeff Capel is less than kind.

“Narduzzi is a blowhard who can’t really coach. Capel, too, is a blowhard who can’t really coach,” Madden said. “What they have in common is that they don’t understand that they are no longer at Michigan State or Duke, respectively. They are in a pro sports town where nobody cares. And if you can’t win, at least don’t run your big, fat yapper all the time.”

Beyond those topics, Mark and I analyze the prospects for an NHL restart, the latest surrounding Penn State’s program, Jim Nantz’s contract demands, and a new Thanksgiving tradition at the Madden household.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss scenarios around the Steelers-Ravens game