Unfiltered: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss Steelers ‘bye’ week, NFL covid issues, Penguins moves

Tim Benz and Mark Madden return for this week’s edition of “Unfiltered” on TribLive’s Facebook page to talk about the Steelers unexpected bye week and their upcoming games. The guys also preview Monday night’s football doubleheader, the NFL’s handling of covid, the Penguins goaltending situation and more.

The Steelers were off this weekend, but now will face the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday and have a chance to go 4-0. They follow that with a chance to go 5-0 when they play the Cleveland Browns. After that the schedule gets tougher, but there still a chance to build momentum going into the middle of the season, according to Madden and Benz.

As far as having the bye week so early, Benz doesn’t think the Steelers should have a issue playing 13 straight weeks.

Madden reminds everyone that there’s a global pandemic happening so there will be some issues as the NFL tries to steam through a full season. But he goes off on the NFL and says basically everyone in the league is terrible.

But back to football, Madden and Benz look at the rest of AFC and talk about which teams are for real and how the Steelers stack up against the rest of the field.

Madden and Benz also talk about Tristan Jarry’s contract extension with the Penguins and what that means for the team’s goaltending and if they can move Matt Murray. Madden thinks Murray will be one of the top goalies on the market, but he comes with some restrictions. Benz sees a lot of parallel with the careers of Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury.

The guys also talk about Pitt football’s bad loss this weekend. Madden rails against coach Pat Narduzzi, saying he’s a “blowhard” and has turned off people to the program.

They also talk about the playoff format in Major League Baseball -Madden loves the two-out-of-three format.

They also respond to some reader comments about Pitt, the Steelers schedule and hockey.

Watch the show here: