Browns–Steelers TNF Preview & Tomlin's Minecraft City — Afternoon Drive with the Coach Thursday 10/1/26

News of the day starts in Dallas, where the Cowboys traded for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. after his contract standoff in Pittsburgh, and he could debut Sunday in Houston (Athlon Sports). Sonny Gray is unhappy after being pulled at 70 pitches as the Red Sox were swept out of the Wild Card round by the Yankees, and Coach says he has a right to be (MLB.com). San Diego State is dealing with a mumps outbreak days before its Pac-12 opener against Texas State (SDSU).

Then Thursday Night Football: Steelers at Browns (SI). Coach calls it the best storyline game of the year. He says Browns fans have to move on at some point, that Deshaun Watson has shown up, and that all he has to do now is win; when he returned from a big hit last week, the crowd cheered him back onto the field. On the other side, 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers is playing his final season. Coach shares two trends that lean Cleveland: the Browns have won seven straight on Thursday Night Football, and the Steelers are winless in divisional road Thursday games. He says fading the public has never made sense to him and makes the Browns his official pick.

Coach's three biggest games of Week 4: Patriots at Bills, where he calls the Patriots fool's gold after Drake Maye looked visibly emotional in a 35-6 loss to Jacksonville (SI) and says Josh Allen is chasing Jim Kelly's shadow; Jaguars at Bengals, plus the AFC quarterbacks still chasing a ring (SI); and Broncos at 49ers, where Bo Nix drives him insane and the 49ers are "becoming likable" (SI). He also says J.J. McCarthy will be the Giants' starter by October 15 after Minnesota traded him to New York (MPR News), and has fun with Jameis Winston's "6 x 2" dedication (Yahoo Sports). To close, Mike Tomlin, now at NBC, has released a tour of the Minecraft city he has been building since 2014 (NBC Washington). Coach compares Tomlin's playoff record before and after Minecraft, tells the story of his night at the Steelers' Super Bowl ring party, and says every coach needs an outlet. Mayce Tomlin's PlayStation tweet gets the last laugh (X). Picks are Coach's opinion, and lines move.

Housekeeping: Today's show is brought to you by Betya and BlueChew Gold. All seven BTT shows are at one video link and one audio link. Coach and Company has more best bets Friday at 10 AM ET, and a VOD segment with picks drops Sunday morning. Coach and Bro now has a Friday episode at 2 PM ET. BlueChew: buy two months of BlueChew Gold and get the third free with promo code COACH at bluechew.com, plus 10% off and free overnight shipping on your first order.

Episode Timestamps Time Segment 00:00 Cold open: today's rundown 01:00 News of the day: Dallas lands Joey Porter Jr. 01:52 Sonny Gray isn't happy about being pulled 02:24 San Diego State's mumps outbreak 03:15 Presented by Betya and BlueChew Gold 03:26 TNF: Deshaun Watson's redemption story 05:57 Aaron Rodgers and the 2-1 Steelers 07:18 Coach's two nuggets: lean Browns 09:01 Why "fade the public" never made sense 09:48 What Watson has to do, and the crew's TNF bets 11:13 Rodgers' last ride and a watch-along tease 11:38 Coach's 3 biggest games of Week 4 12:11 Game 1: Patriots at Bills 13:48 Josh Allen and the Jim Kelly shadow 15:02 Game 2: Jaguars at Bengals 16:27 AFC quarterbacks still chasing a ring 17:53 Game 3: Broncos at 49ers 20:38 Cowboys fans' bubble, plus Rams–Eagles 21:53 The QB injury story: Caleb Williams, J.J. McCarthy, Jameis Winston 23:14 Last topic: Mike Tomlin's Minecraft city 24:06 Tomlin in his own words 25:55 Coach: "spawn topography" <