July 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Jason Fitz and Buck Reising (in for Jonas and LaVar) open hour 3 of the show looking ahead to the NFL season, specifically through a Steelers lense... How far can a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers take them? What do they think of the decision to trade Minkah Fitzpatrick for Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith? Are fans appreciative enough of Mike Tomlin? Plus, more fun with a new edition of 'Would You Rather?'
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe Podcast with LaVar Arrington, Brady Quinn, and
myself Jonas Knox. Make sure you catch us live weekdays
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(00:22):
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
Let's give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We live in a sports world where everything has to
be a massive deal. It has to be absolutely this
team is all in, or absolutely this team is all out.
Where everything has to be clearly good or bad and
there's no in between. And I guess this week I
want to challenge that because as much as we want
to talk about the names involved with the Pittsburgh Steelers,
(01:00):
isn't it at least possible that the Steelers are not
doing anything revolutionary, that the Steelers aren't doing anything that
mortgage is their future, and in fact, the Steelers are
just doing what they have to do to make it
through this year. It's not a sexy take, but sometimes
the right take is maybe it works out Stuo Broson
a cup of Joe.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
He's Buck rising on Jason Fitzen.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Like I just push back sometimes to hot take culture,
which we're all part of because we sit here in
front of microphones every single day, and you don't get
to the point that you sit in front of a
microphone unless you're opinionated. I feel like Buck and I
share a common trait in that we're both the type
of person that in a bar you can say almost anything,
and we're gonna say, well, yeah, Bud, have you thought
(01:41):
about it this way?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Like I think you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Have to be at some point argumentative to get into
radio in general or sports media in general. But that
being said, book, the Pittsburgh Steelers make a trade Jayalen
Ramsey for making Fats and Fitzpatrick, and they also acquire
John Newsmith. This is shortly after signing Aaron Roddy, and I've.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Just heard all sorts of takes.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I've heard everybody yelling and screaming, even we've played on
Fox Sports Radio. To be completely fair, this morning, we've
been playing some of Colin Cowherd saying, oh this is
all in?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like why is this all in?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I guess my whole thing is like, look, the Steelers
are who they are, and yes, they've acquired some big names.
They've given up a big name in the process of
doing it. But what if in doing this, what they've
really done is they've brought some people in for this year.
They haven't mortgaged their future to do it. They haven't
sold off future draft picks to do any of this,
they haven't screwed up their salary cap. In the process
(02:34):
of trying to figure it all out. They put themselves
in a situation where, knowing that they don't have short
term solutions to wanting to be more competitive, they've gone
out and done the best they can to put in
short term solutions to wanting to be more competitive.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Is it gonna work? Maybe? Is it going to be meaningful?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Are the Steelers actually going to be much better? I
don't think so.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
It makes them a conversation piece, and that to me
is really just what the Steelers are. They're not a
terrible football team. They're not a great football team. They're
just a football team that, because of name recognition, brand recognition,
they're coaching the quarterback. We're going to talk a lot
about this year but I think that takes have gotten
out of control this week about what all of it means.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Which is always the case, right, somebody's gonna fly off
it Only you mentioned cities that would take an NFL
team off in other city's hands if they weren't willing
to pony up the cash for a new stadium. It
only takes one person to have the extreme opinion before
everybody starts flying off the handle. The reason why the
Steelers are interesting in this specific situation, and I would
(03:35):
describe them as the most interesting team in the NFL
offseason because of the moves that they've made, but not
necessarily just because of the moves that they've made, but
because it's so uncharacteristic of how the Steelers typically.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Go about roster building.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Now, I know Omar Khan has been in that job
for a couple of years now at this point, and
I'm banking on the name of the former Steelers general
manager who was in that role for a very very
long long time. Perhaps Fitz, he can use the internet
to assist me there. But this is a different approach
that we are seeing them take. It doesn't mean that
(04:10):
it will be a bad approach or a good approach.
It's just not the typical behavior that we're accustomed to
seeing from them, which is they don't have a long
term quarterback solution. They are going in maybe not all in,
but they're going in on forty one year old Aaron Rodgers, who.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Still has something. The biggest detriment to.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Aaron Rodgers game right now versus who Aaron Rodgers used
to be is his mobility. And he was behind a
bad offensive line last year in New York and that
was a contributing factor. And also he's got his own
he's got his own baggage that he comes with on
and off the field, specifically as to who he'll favor
as far as his targets and who he'll try to
get you to acquire if he doesn't like who you've
(04:52):
already acquired, which is also an interesting component to this.
But it's because like they they don't make moves like
trading for Jalen Ramsey, who's still a good player, right
but Mega Fitzpatrick is also a good player. So if
it's if it's a push as far as what they
gain versus what they lose in this trade with Miami,
(05:16):
and they also pick up a tight end in John U. Smith,
who Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator there is familiar with
that could be of benefit. And you look at the
Steelers tight end depth chart and you think, okay, Darryl
Daryl Washington and out of Georgia a couple of or
is it Darnell or Darryl Washington, I can't remember again,
darn Darnell, Darnell, Thank you. Darnell Washington out of Georgia
(05:36):
a couple of years ago, one of the physically freakiest
athletes you've ever seen. And Pat Fryarmouth who's going to
be their obvious tight end one. And JOHNU Who's an
interesting move tight end type of piece. And then I
kind of look around and say, well that that would
be a fun schematic thing for Arthur Smith to work
with if Aaron Rodgers was willing to go along with
(05:57):
Arthur Smith's scheme. Like, there's just they we have created
here more questions from my standpoint than answers, which is
why I think people are are either interested or confused
by what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing. And then it
leads you down the rabbit hole of the hot take.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Okay, so I'm going to create an imaginary scenario follow me.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Okay, choice, but we're here now, that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, Buck Rising and I are cogms of our new team,
the Indiana Risings. All right, it's a I put them
in Indiana just for you. The Indiana Risings. They play like,
I don't know, in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, very
small stadium, not a great team.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That's basically the entire state.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
But okay, yeah, so it's not Indianapolis, but you know
it's the Indiana Risings. I'm gonna paint paint a scenario,
okay for the way round?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Fort Wayne good, Yeah, that's good. Fort Wayne Risings. We
look around at our roster and we say, okay, we've
looked around into the roster. We got some good pieces
on defense. We feel pretty good about where we are.
I've got a really good pass rusher wants to get paid,
but I'm not sure what we can do on that
right now. We're under contracts, so we're not going to
worry too much about that. We feel good about where
things are overall. But man, we don't have a quarterback.
(07:12):
We know we don't have a quarterback. Okay, well, what
are we gonna do? I mean, there's no real option.
We couldn't draft one. We didn't like any of them
in the draft, so none of them were worth mortgaging
a draft pickover. And the free agent pool is pretty minimal.
But there's this one guy over here that might be
pretty good. We can do him for a one year deal.
If he's got anything left in the tank, then we
can get something out of him for fourteen million dollars,
(07:34):
right Like, if there's nothing left in the tank, it's
a one year deal, doesn't cost us anything. Okay. We're
also going to acquire this tight end, this tight end
that you know, we know, but may or may not
have been a one year wonder last year based on
the production compared to other years of his career. And
to do that, it's a pick swap of a seventh
and a fifth round pick. Like, we're not talking a
lot about a lot there, Okay, I feel pretty good
(07:55):
about that. As you go up and down the list,
I think if you take the Steelers brand off of it,
if you make them the Indiana Risings, what we see
is that Pittsburgh just looked around and said, Okay, there
are no options right now that truly go all in
for the future. That fix our problems and we don't
want to just walk into this season and suck, So
why not at least roll the dice on a couple
(08:16):
of things and see if it can make us more
competitive this year while we continue how to try and
figure out how to fix our long term problems. Like
that's me is the most reasonable explanation what the Steelers
are doing.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But that's not a roll of the dice organization.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That's a very thoughtful planned out and to your point
about taking the brand off of it, that's the thing
that I'm having the most difficulty overcoming is that this
is not what I have come to know as the
Pittsburgh Steelers in the way that they go about doing
their business. It also makes me wonder, Fitsie, and you
can tell me if I'm unfair about this, but it
also makes me wonder about the future of Mike Tomlin
(08:53):
that that's not an organization that makes rass decisions. They
are going to be They are going to try and
be competitive as humanly possible, and they've probably identified a
window where they're gonna have some limitations, but that's not
going to keep them from being outright competitive. Right They're
not going to NFL organizations don't tank, and when they
try to, like the Dolphins did, they get fined and
(09:14):
they lose first round draft picks over it. Like there
are things to keep teams from doing this blatantly, And
I don't think the Pittsburgh Steelers would ever, It's not
in their DNA. The fan base would riot if they
thought that there was anything close to that. But the
fan base is always also pretty agitated about the Mike
Tomlin situation.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
If fitsy, how.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Long has it been since the Pittsburgh Steelers under Mike
Tomlin won a playoff game?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
A very long time?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Eight years? Eight years is how long it has been
since the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
The Pittsburgh Steelers a championship caliber organization. They think you're
in and year out, but more often than not, has
not won a playoff game in eight years. They get
in there, they get into the wild card, they got
dusted by the Chiefs or whichever wildcard opponent that they face,
which ever higher seed, and then Steelers fans go back
to the drawing board and be like, all right, how
(10:04):
are we going to break through this Tom Brady ceiling
or this Patrick Mahomes ceiling, whichever fire breathing dragon at
that particular point in time exists in the AFC, where
now two of them exist in their very own division
in Cleveland, just because they're you know, they're the Dunce
cap of the AFC North. They can't figure it out.
But you still have to figure out a way not
just around Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, but around Lamar
(10:25):
Jackson and Joe Burrow, which is a difficult enough thing.
And they're doing it well enough to get by the Bengals, right.
The Bengals nuked themselves because their defense was terrible last year,
even though Burrow and Chase arguably both playing at MVP
caliber levels.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I just I don't know how you.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Feel it about it as a fan, and we could
only Steelers fans could be the only ones to answer this.
If your team is doing enough to be competitive, but
it's just competitive enough, right, it's not meaningfully competitive, Like,
I don't think nobody. Are you looking at the Steelers
with Aaron Rodgers, yes or no? As a Super Bowl
contender in twenty twenty five, No, not at all.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
No.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
I think most people would probably take that tech. But
they are going to be competitive enough, one would think
to mess around and win eight, potentially nine games if
they surprise.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Us ten, that's not good enough.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
That's just going to keep you in this weird purgatory
that they've been existing in for the last eight years.
And I'm not saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers should either
blow it up or go all in, but I just
it's neither of those things. And I could argue that
that's worse.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I there's a lot on this.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
There's a lot on this.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Well, we have forty five more minutes. You don't have
to do it all, now, you're.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Right, I'll ever say there. Look, I'll say this.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I believe that this is going to go off the rails.
You and I have talked about this. I believe the
Steelers are going to have a tough seasons. You and
I have talked about this. I believe that that is
going to lead to the separation of Mike Tomlin and
the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of the season.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And I also believe that is a terrible, terrible thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And I'll tell everybody why after we take a break.
He's Buck Rising, I'm Jason fitz We're sitting in on
two pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:13):
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(12:36):
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Speaker 8 (12:43):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
He's buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It's a Bucket Fits takeover of Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe hanging out with you on Fox Sports Radio.
I believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
a more interesting conversation piece than they will be a
football team this year. I believe that we will spend
more time talking about the beginning of the season the
incredible success, and then by the end of the season
(13:18):
the incredible failure because of the expectations that are on
the Steelers all the time. And I believe that that's
going to lead to the Steelers and Mike Tomlin possibly
parting ways after the season because there's just so much
noise on it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I also think that's a terrible idea.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Okay, so I'm qualifying all of this buck because this
is not what I'm rooting for.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But I want to point something out here, and this is.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Sounds like you are sounds like you're praying on Why
do you hate Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
It's weird.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Look look no, because Mike Tomlins. By the way, Mike
Tomlin is fifty three years old. Fifty three years old.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Mike Tomlin gets fired, it's nuts. If Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Gets fired, it'll be just like Andy Reid getting fired
by the Eagles and then hi by the Chiefs like
a day later.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Right, He's only fifty three, He's fifty three years, doing
the job for eighteen.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Years, and he's got twenty years to give somebody else
if he wants not like he has got twenty.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Years to give somebody else.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
So, but here's the thing. This is the part that
I just I'm screamed from the mountaintops. Your ears are
gonna gloss over for a second. But just amuse me. Okay,
this is a I won't go through all of them,
but there's most of the coaches that have been hired
in the NFL in the last five years. I got
the full list in front of me, right, Stefanski, Fine,
(14:36):
Ron Rivera, Matt Rule, Mike McCarthy okay, Joe Judge, David Cully,
Robert Salah, Arthur Smith, Dan Campbell okay, Fine, Nick Sirianna Fine,
Sirianni Fine, urban Meyer, Brandon Staley, Todd Bowles, Josh McDaniels,
Dennis Allen, Nathaniel Hackett, Mike McDaniel, Brian Dable, Doug Peterson,
Kevin O'Connell, Matt Eberfluse, Lovey Smith, Shane Steichen, who knows
(14:59):
to mark O'Ryan's pretty good, Sean Payton, okay, Frank Reich,
Jonathan Gannon, let's keep going, Raheem Morris, Dave Canalis, Antonio Pierce,
Mike McDonald, Brian Callahan, dan Quinn Like, okay, dan Quinn,
maybe I'll give you and maybe we'll give you harball
of all I just listed like twenty something names. Of
all of those names, how many of them would you
(15:20):
really feel better?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Like today?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Would you feel better if you were having an introductory
press conference knowing what we know about that entire list
of most of those people out of over twenty names,
maybe three or four, maybe you would say, or maybe
or even on the same shelf as Mike Tomlin. Not
better than on the same shelf. Like this is what
I screamed from the mountaintops to Steelers fans. You didn't
(15:42):
understand how difficult it would be to replace Ben Roethlisberger,
because when you have a quarterback, you never understand how
difficult it will be to find another one. But you
also don't understand how difficult it will be to replace
Mike Tomlin. If you are not sitting here saying, oh
my God, somehow, some way we have to keep this
coach within the organization.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Nobody has managed more difficult situations over the course of
the last almost two decades than Mike Tomlin and done
it while continuing to win and maintaining a standard of
excellence and a culture that you can bank on. Like
people throw that word around a lot, especially in sports culture,
but like there is a definitive tone set by the leader,
(16:26):
the CEO of that program, of that franchise, and I
know there's ownership that's obviously above him, and maybe the
general manager is technically his boss, though I don't think
anybody really looks at it that way. Mike Tomlin is
the person responsible. And by the way, the Steelers ownership
is a very patient, very very astute, very just i
(16:49):
think unconventional in the sense that they don't need jerk,
they don't meddle, They hire good people to do the jobs,
and then they let them do their jobs.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Even though I'm sure.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
That the Rooney family is as passionate as any ownership
group in professional sports right now about how it is
that they go about it. I'm sure they don't love
the fact that they haven't won a playoff game in
eight years, but they know that the answer to that
is not firing Mike Tomlin the way that so many
of these other owners would do, or worse right of
(17:19):
the of the twenty names that you ran through, man
I would I would struggle to even pick one. Kevin
Stefanski's a two time Coach of the Year. I think,
you know, I think he's just been saddled by bad
ownership and a losing organization. But even then I would probably, like,
I don't know if I would want to swap out
(17:40):
Mike Tomlin for Kevin Stefanski. He's just such a such
a grounding force, such a legitimate force of nature in
the landscape of the NFL.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
But then again, what is what is.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
The situation currently dictated by in Pittsburgh. They don't have
a quarterback that they need an offensive minded head coach
to maximize the way that so many other of these
places do. They haven't need that needed that really under
Mike Tomlin. Kenny Pickett was a failing proposition anyway, that
was never going to work out the way that they
that they might have at least, you know, taken a
(18:16):
flyer on a guy who maybe in another year wouldn't
have been a first round pick and was the only
first round pick in that twenty twenty two draft, which
was pretty weak as far as quarterbacks go. So the
Steelers haven't had to go through or haven't had to
face the problem that a lot of these NFL organizations
are facing right now, which is the attrition of losing
(18:38):
a coordinator who is going to go on to become
a play calling head coach elsewhere. The way that so
many of those names on that list that you ran
through have been bright. That's what Brian Callahan's entire existence
is predicated on. Here in Tennessee. They hired him to
come in here and fix Will Levis, or to get
the most out of Will Levis. Now, ironically enough, Will
(18:59):
Levis play the worst professional football of any quarterback that
play that started a game, I would argue in twenty
twenty four, maybe save Deshaun Watson. And even still there
are metrics that show you Levis was worse than Watson
in a great many categories. Now they're banking on Brian Callahan,
or they're at least giving Callahan enough rope with the
number one overall pick to be like, all right, you
(19:20):
didn't draft that guy, We'll give you a mulligan. But
it's still about getting everything that the Titans do this
year is going to be defined by is cam Ward
a success or failure? Brian Callahan goes as cam Ward
goes and vice versa in.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
This particular situation.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
So many NFL franchises are faced with that problem, and
that's not a problem that the Steelers have had to
confront just yet.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
If the Steelers hire a different coach a year from
now because everything went off the reels with Aaron Rodgers,
it will not change the fact that they.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Still don't have a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Like that, the variable for the Steelers next year will
be who is their quarterback? And if you're telling me
that the variable is going to be answer in the
free agent market, well, nine times out of ten you
don't answer the question well in the free agent market.
So if the Steelers end up sitting here in a
year with a new head coach and a new quarterback,
my question is, are they really going to be getting
anything out of that combo that they wouldn't have gotten
(20:15):
with Mike Tomlin remaining to take a quarterback? Like let's
presume that they're drafting because I think they're going to
miss the playoffs. Let's presume they're drafting in the first
you know, at that point, the first whatever sixteen around.
So let's say they're drafting around twelve or thirteen. Are
they able to acquire a quarterback. It next year's draft
too early to know that if they get a quarterback, okay, great,
Then if you suddenly gotch quarterback, then that answer exists
(20:36):
for Tomlin. If you don't have a quarterback, then whoever
comes in and succeeds Tomlin doesn't have any easier path,
especially in a division where you're taking on two teams
that have two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
It's just that that's real.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And I keep looking back at this list and over
the course of five years, I mean doing the quick
count here, seventeen coaches that I just listed that were
hired over the last five years have all ready he
been fired from those jobs. Like seventeen, I can only
find nine over the last five years that still have
their job. And that includes names that are coming in
on the hot seat like that when we start talking about, well,
(21:12):
there's still nine left, okay, I mean we're also walking
into a year where we're saying, is Mike McDaniel on.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
The hot seat? Should he be on the hot seat?
Is Brian Dable on the hot seat? Should he be
on the hot seat?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I certainly don't think Kevin Stefanski is on the hot
seat in any way, shape or form, But might he
be I don't know, Like those are three of the
nine that have actually managed.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To keep their job due this time.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
So it just shows you how wildly inexact all of
this hiring process is. And when you acknowledge how difficult
it is to have a guy, I think maybe it
makes you appreciate the guy a little bit more, or
at least it should make you appreciate the guy a
little bit more. The problem for the Steelers are Steelers
fans are stuck in upper middle class and they feel
(21:54):
like that's the worst.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Look anybody, anybody that's living.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Right now paycheck to paycheck, Like there's nobody that has
it worse anywhere in the world. And then you talk
to somebody that's homeless, and you realize that, hey, it
gets worse in paycheck to paycheck, and there are people
that you know, only have five thousand dollars in the
bank and they're like, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I can't get any worse than this.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Then they talk to somebody to live in paycheck to paycheck,
Like that's a very real life example of what's happening
in the NFL. Like you think that the worst thing
possible is that all you ever do is nine wins
and you don't make the playoffs until you suddenly wake
up one day and you realize that, I don't know,
Urban Meyer's your head coach, and you've wasted a quarterback
and your entire franchise sucks until you go through year
(22:34):
after year after year of terrible, terrible, terrible football, like
Browns fans have, like Raiders fans have, like Jags fans have,
Like they're just you forget what it's like to actually
have a team that you root for that sucks when
your team's just okay, and you think that's the worst
thing that can ever happen.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
And it's ironic that you bring up Urban because that
was obviously a disaster in Jacksonville.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
But like that's one of the more patient ownership groups.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Seoan con maybe be good at this, but like he
gives his people time to you know, play themselves out
or coach themselves out or in the case of oh
who was the general manager, that they waited way too
long to fire, like in the middle of their coaching
search this offseason. Former forty nine Ers general manager, it's
going to drive me crazy anyway, I'll find you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Get my point. I think there's there's an example of
this in Trent Pulki.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, Trent Water's going to drive me crazy.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
There's a there's a perfect example of this.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
And I feel like I've brought a lot of things
back here locally to where you're in Connecticut. I'm in Nashville,
and by nature of covering an NFL team, I have
a purview of of one team and a lot of
these situations, and it happens to be a team that
I believe to be poorly run in the Tennessee Titans.
When they fired Mike Vrabel here, the Titans won six
games that season, and they had they were coming off
(23:51):
a season where they were they were seven and three
uh in the off season that they traded the after
after trading A. J. Brown away, they started seven and three,
They went to Philadelphia, they got their asses kicked by
AJ Brown and they ended up losing seven straight. And
then Mike Rabel's final year here in Nashville, they won
six games and they were competitive enough, but the roster
(24:11):
was a nightmare. And when ownership let go of Mike Rabel,
there were disagreements with Rabel in the building and Mike
now has everything that he wants in New England because
he is Robert Craft's second favorite son after Tom Brady.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
I do truly believe that.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So he's gotten everything that he wanted in Tennessee in
New England and we'll see how that plays out. It
may not work for Mike, but when ownership in Tennessee
fired Mike Frable, they decided, well, it's not good enough
to win more games than you lose, and Titans fans
bought in on that. But anybody familiar with the history,
and it's not a long history. I mean they are
(24:47):
the Houston Oilers, so it does technically go back to
nineteen sixty, but anybody familiar with like Titans era football,
the last less than thirty years of football, Who the
hell are the Tennessee Titans to say that it's not
good enough to win more games you lose? Like where
do you get off the franchise that drafted Jake Locker
and made a mess of Vince Young that is perpetually
(25:09):
the butt of the Jeff Fisher eight and eight jokes, Like,
who the hell are you to not want to win
more games than you lose? Because what have they done
lately since firing Mike Rabel. I'm not saying it's the
only reason that that's happened that way, but they've been
they've been the worst. They were the worst team in
football last year. You would sell your soul to win
more games than you lose right now, in that situation,
(25:31):
it's one of those classic examples. And we'll get to
see this head to head. The Patriots are coming to
Nashville this year, so it'll be Mike Vrabel's revenge touring
all these different things.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But like the grass is not always greener.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
The Patriots are another living, breathing, eating example of what
you're talking right like, because Patriots fans a few years
ago were just having the raging debate was it Build
or was it Brady? And then they get separated and
it's like, well, Brady went and won a Super Bowl,
so it must have been Brady and Bill sucks. Well,
then all of a sudden they fired. Now guess what
Now they're still they're trying to figure out. Look, I
think Drake May I wish my Belover Raiders to draft
(26:04):
to Drake May.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I hope he turns out to be a superstar quarterback.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I think he has all the potential in the world,
and I happen to like Rabel Alana as a head coach.
But that doesn't change the fact that since Brady left,
the Patriots haven't been able to figure out the quarterback
and position with any stability. And they made it one year,
one year with supposedly the hand chosen. Oh my god,
this is like Gerrod Mayo was supposed to be a
seamless transition into what it's like Like, I just how
(26:30):
often do we see coaching or quarterback changes that actually
work out?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Sometimes, Yeah, you can be the Green Bay.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Packers and you just get it right, and you get
it right, and you get it right, and congratulations man, because.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That's such a special thing. But the Colts fans sat.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
There and said, Okay, we went from Peyton Manning to
Andrew luck Man.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
This quarterback thing's easy until.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You Anthony Richardson, and then you realize ain't so easy,
and now you don't have an answer right. So it's
just I think fans and organizations should be more scared
of the revolving door than they admit that they are,
because once you start that revolving door, My god, I
have watched sixteen coaches if you include bull stints of
John Gruden. I have watched sixteen coaches since two thousand,
(27:13):
from my beloved Raiders sixteen. Think about it, like, now,
that's not just interim, like sixteen head coaches?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
My god, what do you do with that? Right?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
And so when you start talking about, well, the organization
needs to move on from Tomlin, Okay, my god, I
hope you do.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I hope you move on from Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
And I hope Tomlin suddenly turns around and decides he
wants to be the head coach of a team that
will actually appreciate him, and he gives you another twenty
years where all he does is win football games every year.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
And it's not to say like because I don't want
that to be an outright indictment of Steelers fans, because
I do think that they do have a lot of
love and respect for what Mike Tomplin Mike Tomlin has accomplished.
But that wears thin right. It is very much a
what have you done for me lately?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
League?
Speaker 5 (27:55):
So I don't think that the Steelers fan complaint is
complete lely unwarranted. FITZI, I've done multiple games in Pittsburgh
over the last couple of years, be they primetime games
or regular season games, whatever the case may be. Without fail,
every time I land in Pittsburgh get in an Uber.
The first thing that the ube end because the Uber
drivers always want to talk, and that's fine, we enjoy that.
(28:17):
But the thing that they immediately start doing is bitching
about Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And it's one of the most bizarre.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Things in the world because I'm like, I will take
the Mike Tomlin if you don't want to Mike Tomlin, Like,
are you crazy? That the idea that of all the
different quantities that Mike Tomlin understands how to orchestrate a
winning culture, the thing that is the most discussed but
the hardest to actually attain among these organizations. To make
sure that all the different pieces and parts can move
(28:46):
in the same direction. Fitzy in today's day and age,
to be able to capture the attention of fifty three
individuals who range from anywhere from twenty years old to
thirty one or thirty five or whatever the oldest NFL
I mean, I guess what is Rogers forty one now, so.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
He'd be the So think about that.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
To keep a everybody's attention fifty three different individuals, all
paying attention to you, all moving in the same direction
with a twenty year span. The way that Mike Tomlin
is going to have to do, knowing that you're going
to have to deal with all of those individuals in
completely different ways, but still have to get them all
on the collective same page to accomplish one goal the
(29:25):
way that he is an expert in. That is not
something that you can find. And I mean, hell again,
I'm looking around. I cover an organization that has fired
two general managers and a head coach in each of
the last offseason, and I don't think Brian Callahan is
safe by any stretch of the imagination. So with that,
(29:45):
I think that you have to continue to consider all
of the different things that that can befall your football team,
your football organization when you decide that you've had enough,
or you decide that the grass might actually be greener
in these circumstances, because the question to well, who are
(30:08):
you going to get?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
You don't have an answer to that.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
You just want blood, And that's such a natural reaction
for a lot of fans to have. And I'm not
saying that you can't ever have that feeling, but at
the end of the day, you have to come to
some level of rationalization that you have to have a
plan in place.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
We were talking earlier in the show.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
If you missed it, you can check out the podcast
about the New York Knicks and the hiring of Mike
Brown and how the Knicks organization fired Tom Thibodeaux after
getting them to the conference finals for the first time
in twenty five years and understanding that he might have
a ceiling as a coach.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
But when you go through the hiring process.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
The way that they did, only to come out with
several different entities turning you down, or several different organizations
to denying you the opportunity to interview the candidate that
you thought would be a showing that would absolutely take
that job and run with it without a second thought.
You put yourself in a circumstance where you hire Mike
(31:14):
Brown and Mike Brown is fine, but fine was not
what you were looking for. That's such an egregious error
in that particular spot. And I think that's what that's
what Steelers fans have to think about the full picture.
At the end of the day, you back with me,
did I stall well enough? Did I do a good
enough job? I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
No, I can't hear FITZI.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So we are going to we are going to take
a quick break. Perhaps we will be able to execute.
Would you rather? Maybe Ian and Mary will just have
to do it with me. Well, he gets his connection right.
You're listening to Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. I'm back Buck Rising. Tried to get rid
of me and wanted it to be a solo show.
Not so lucky. I'm Jason Fitz hanging out with you.
Right after the show, our podcast goes up. If you
missed any of today's show, be sure to listen to
the pod. Just search two Pros wherever you get your podcasts,
and be sure to follow and review the pod. Give
(32:10):
it five stars, especially like even if you hated us, like,
don't take that out on the guys, just give them
to give them five stars again. Just search two Pros
wherever you get your podcast. You'll find today's show and
a best STU version potus posted right after we get
off the air.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Absolute shout out to Ian and Mary who had put
up with us now for three hours this morning. I
don't know how they do it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
They do it, but we appreciate that it's brutal.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Do it. Well, it's okay, rude, I mean it's brutal.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Not rude enough, man.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
No, they're still angry about the fireworks takes. That's what
it really comes to me.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
No, they're not angry about the fireworks.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Well, that's because I just I fundamentally misunderstood what FITZI
was trying to say there, and I did not realize
that Big Time Rush was of our generation more than
it is of Fitzi's generation. Now they're taking out my
my lack of interest in dealing with people in crowds
around big events like Fourth of July, not.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
My hate for fireworks.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
They're they're they're angry at me because I've misdirected my
own anger.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
That's that's what you do.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
You just walk.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
You're a Tasmanian devil of anger. When you walk into
the room. It just it just gets everybody, you know,
everybody gets all like I'm a test effect of joy
and energy, like I'm walking in full jazz hands, like
it's a you know, just an explosive moment of heart
to heartwarming happiness, and you're in here crushing.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
I don't want your hugs. He threatened to hug me
after the Pacers lost. Guys, that I was just like
the worst thing that you could do.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Hug is a guy that can't get no go ahead, So.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
No proceed if you you you want to, you want
to sing to the national audience, that's what you want
to do with the with the remainings that we.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Have here minutes fits look, thank you, thank you. Look,
let's let's do America's favorite game show. It's we screwed
this up every time, but this time it's gonna be perfect.
Buck you're feeling good, you're feeling ready. No, but do
it anyway, it's time for woold you.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's not clear?
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Are you slow down?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
I was watching your face?
Speaker 4 (34:20):
No good?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Or fix it?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Oh you get it very clear, Bucket or fits it.
We don't want to screw any letters up there. Ian
give us the wind.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
Yeah, you gotta really enunciate there, just to make sure.
But all right, let's jump right in, guys. This act,
this first one I actually saw on TikTok like a
week ago, and I just had to write it down
to make sure that I got it to you guys,
because it made me laugh. Anyway, here we go. So,
would you rather object to every wedding that you attend
(34:49):
or have to take a selfie with the deceased at
every funeral you attend?
Speaker 5 (34:56):
What the hell is your TikTok algan? What are you
doing in your free time?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Huh?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I would rather object at every wedding, I think, you know,
not just because it would be weird to take a
selfie with the deceased at a funeral, but because you know,
the divorce rate would tell us that the vast majority
of you probably don't need to be doing this anyway.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
And I would.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
Probably be doing a service if I decided that I'm
just going to be an objector a wedding objector for hire.
You can pay me, and I will come object to
a wedding that you don't think is going to work out,
and I will probably save both of you in the
process a great deal of money, because there's a good
percentage chance.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
That you weren't going to be right for one another anyway.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Is that a too pessimistic of a look at things?
I don't know, maybe, But it feels like it feels
like a more productive use of time.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
So here's the thing I think Age pauls into this too, Like,
as I get older, I'm going to go to more
funerals than I am weddings, Like, so, god, you know,
I'm the number of times that I'm gonna have to
to selfie gets bigger and bigger as I get older,
And that looks weird, like when you're seventy, if you're
doing this for the rest of time. When you're seventy,
if you're taking selfie's at a funeral, that that comes
(36:11):
off weird. But if you're objecting in a wedding, now
you're just the funny old guy in the back of
the wedding, right, So it comes like a or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, it's a bit. Everybody knows it's a bit.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
So I'm gonna object at every wedding as long as
I get to decide the objections. Like this gets really
tricky if you know somebody else gives me the reason
I'm objecting.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That feels like an.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Impractical Jokers episode that needs to happen, Like, you know,
I want I want to I want Buck to have
to stand up in the back of the room and
say I object because your wife's not hot enough. Just
to see what happens.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
Did you see, just quickly before we move on to
the next one, did you see that somebody in Vegas
and you're part of the world, hired one of their
buddies to prank the couple at a wedding by being
like doing this whole WWE promo of an objection, like
making it very, very uncomfortable and playing it out for
several minutes until they realized, oh no, this is a joke.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
I'm just kidding. Continue with your wedding. It was very
comfort No, I love this.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
This is that talk about a memorable wedding, all right?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
And what's you got next for us?
Speaker 6 (37:05):
All right, we're gonna go ahead and spin the wheel
for this next one. It was.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
No production costs will be spared, all right.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It landed on this one.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
So would you rather always get stuck behind slow walkers
or always hit every red light in the car?
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So anyone that's listening in Nashville will know that there's
an area around Rivergate, all right, And when you go
through this area of Rivergate, there's a traffic light like
every I don't know mile met the most and none
of but but everybody knows what it's like to have
one every mile there's a light and none of them
are timed right, And so you know that you're just
(37:44):
like you're arbitrarily gonna hit the red over and over
and over again. That is I mean, that is my
personal hell. I'll set a slow walker. I'll mosey if
I have to the red light over and over and
over again, rage by the fourth one in a row.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
We could not disagree more on this, I will I have.
It's as close as I've been to physically assaulting another
human being. Walk with a purpose, have somewhere to be.
What do you mean you're gonna take your time strolling down.
You don't have anywhere to be, You don't have anything
going on in your life that requires some level of urgency.
I swear to God, I hope you stub your toe
on every curve that you come across. If you are
(38:20):
somebody that does not move with a purpose, there is
nothing that pisses me off more than people that cannot
keep a reasonable pace. I don't care what your age is,
I don't care what you're looking at. If you're there to.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
See the sites get out of the way or get
to the.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
Side of the sidewalk to allow the rest of us
to keep moving. It's like the people that just stand
there on the moving walkways in the airport as opposed
to utilizing the moving walkway to move yet faster towards
their destination.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Why the hell don't you have somewhere to be move.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
There's a guy on social media who just like, literally,
that's the whole stick is just bad walkers, And he
just commentates people that he gets stuck behind walking on
the streets.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
It's all I'm so when.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I did not get to that, that that uh, that
opportunity first, because that I would have made so much money.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
You next time I see one.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
When I was a little kid in Vegas, the airport
McCarron Airport had the voice of fat Albert. H'm telling everybody,
so he always went, it's fat Albert reminding you if
you're not gonna move quick, stay to the right. It's
still stuck in my mind every time you hear the
voice of fat Albert, the cartoon version of fat Albert.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Not good, go ahead, not a problematic.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Problematic, Let's find the wheel again. Spin the wheel quickly fast?
Speaker 6 (39:32):
All right? Would you rather have a nose that hawks
when you laugh or ears that flap when you get excited?
Speaker 4 (39:38):
What are we dumble?
Speaker 3 (39:40):
You can't have the ears that flap when you get excited,
because if you're going to do the hibbited dibity and
your ears start flapping, she's not going to be into
it anymore. And if you're not excited when you're doing
the hibbiting, like did you imagine late night you're like
hey baby, and all of a sudden your ears just
start going.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Can't do it?
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Of all these different things that could move out of excitement,
I don't, but yeah, ears would be tough. I'd go
with the nose honk. I feel like I already honk
when I laugh.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Anyway, If your ears wiggle, you're never having the sex.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
That's just the way it's going.
Speaker 6 (40:09):
You never have it.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Can we get on more?
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Can we talk with us sex?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
All right? No wheel this time?
Speaker 6 (40:13):
But would you rather be followed around by a mariachi
band for a week or have to narrate everything you
do out loud for a day?
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Narrate everything out loud I do for a day. I
feel like I already do it.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
That sounds easier anyway.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, well, I don't want to listen to you narrate
go to the bathroom, so give me the mariachi man.
At least it's a good performance. Hopefully this was a
good performance. We'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Thanks for hanging out with those bucking fits.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
See you
Hey, thanks for listening to the Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe Podcast with LaVar Arrington, Brady Quinn, and
myself Jonas Knox. Make sure you catch us live weekdays
six to nine am Eastern Time three to six am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. You can find your local
station for the Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
Show over at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us
(00:22):
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Let's give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We live in a sports world where everything has to
be a massive deal. It has to be absolutely this
team is all in, or absolutely this team is all out.
Where everything has to be clearly good or bad and
there's no in between. And I guess this week I
want to challenge that because as much as we want
to talk about the names involved with the Pittsburgh Steelers,
(01:00):
isn't it at least possible that the Steelers are not
doing anything revolutionary, that the Steelers aren't doing anything that
mortgage is their future, and in fact, the Steelers are
just doing what they have to do to make it
through this year. It's not a sexy take, but sometimes
the right take is maybe it works out Stuo Broson
a cup of Joe.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
He's Buck rising on Jason Fitzen.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Like I just push back sometimes to hot take culture,
which we're all part of because we sit here in
front of microphones every single day, and you don't get
to the point that you sit in front of a
microphone unless you're opinionated. I feel like Buck and I
share a common trait in that we're both the type
of person that in a bar you can say almost anything,
and we're gonna say, well, yeah, Bud, have you thought
(01:41):
about it this way?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Like I think you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Have to be at some point argumentative to get into
radio in general or sports media in general. But that
being said, book, the Pittsburgh Steelers make a trade Jayalen
Ramsey for making Fats and Fitzpatrick, and they also acquire
John Newsmith. This is shortly after signing Aaron Roddy, and I've.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Just heard all sorts of takes.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I've heard everybody yelling and screaming, even we've played on
Fox Sports Radio. To be completely fair, this morning, we've
been playing some of Colin Cowherd saying, oh this is
all in?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like why is this all in?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I guess my whole thing is like, look, the Steelers
are who they are, and yes, they've acquired some big names.
They've given up a big name in the process of
doing it. But what if in doing this, what they've
really done is they've brought some people in for this year.
They haven't mortgaged their future to do it. They haven't
sold off future draft picks to do any of this,
they haven't screwed up their salary cap. In the process
(02:34):
of trying to figure it all out. They put themselves
in a situation where, knowing that they don't have short
term solutions to wanting to be more competitive, they've gone
out and done the best they can to put in
short term solutions to wanting to be more competitive.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Is it gonna work? Maybe? Is it going to be meaningful?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Are the Steelers actually going to be much better? I
don't think so.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
It makes them a conversation piece, and that to me
is really just what the Steelers are. They're not a
terrible football team. They're not a great football team. They're
just a football team that, because of name recognition, brand recognition,
they're coaching the quarterback. We're going to talk a lot
about this year but I think that takes have gotten
out of control this week about what all of it means.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Which is always the case, right, somebody's gonna fly off
it Only you mentioned cities that would take an NFL
team off in other city's hands if they weren't willing
to pony up the cash for a new stadium. It
only takes one person to have the extreme opinion before
everybody starts flying off the handle. The reason why the
Steelers are interesting in this specific situation, and I would
(03:35):
describe them as the most interesting team in the NFL
offseason because of the moves that they've made, but not
necessarily just because of the moves that they've made, but
because it's so uncharacteristic of how the Steelers typically.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Go about roster building.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Now, I know Omar Khan has been in that job
for a couple of years now at this point, and
I'm banking on the name of the former Steelers general
manager who was in that role for a very very
long long time. Perhaps Fitz, he can use the internet
to assist me there. But this is a different approach
that we are seeing them take. It doesn't mean that
(04:10):
it will be a bad approach or a good approach.
It's just not the typical behavior that we're accustomed to
seeing from them, which is they don't have a long
term quarterback solution. They are going in maybe not all in,
but they're going in on forty one year old Aaron Rodgers, who.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Still has something. The biggest detriment to.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Aaron Rodgers game right now versus who Aaron Rodgers used
to be is his mobility. And he was behind a
bad offensive line last year in New York and that
was a contributing factor. And also he's got his own
he's got his own baggage that he comes with on
and off the field, specifically as to who he'll favor
as far as his targets and who he'll try to
get you to acquire if he doesn't like who you've
(04:52):
already acquired, which is also an interesting component to this.
But it's because like they they don't make moves like
trading for Jalen Ramsey, who's still a good player, right
but Mega Fitzpatrick is also a good player. So if
it's if it's a push as far as what they
gain versus what they lose in this trade with Miami,
(05:16):
and they also pick up a tight end in John U. Smith,
who Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator there is familiar with
that could be of benefit. And you look at the
Steelers tight end depth chart and you think, okay, Darryl
Daryl Washington and out of Georgia a couple of or
is it Darnell or Darryl Washington, I can't remember again,
darn Darnell, Darnell, Thank you. Darnell Washington out of Georgia
(05:36):
a couple of years ago, one of the physically freakiest
athletes you've ever seen. And Pat Fryarmouth who's going to
be their obvious tight end one. And JOHNU Who's an
interesting move tight end type of piece. And then I
kind of look around and say, well that that would
be a fun schematic thing for Arthur Smith to work
with if Aaron Rodgers was willing to go along with
(05:57):
Arthur Smith's scheme. Like, there's just they we have created
here more questions from my standpoint than answers, which is
why I think people are are either interested or confused
by what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing. And then it
leads you down the rabbit hole of the hot take.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Okay, so I'm going to create an imaginary scenario follow me.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Okay, choice, but we're here now, that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, Buck Rising and I are cogms of our new team,
the Indiana Risings. All right, it's a I put them
in Indiana just for you. The Indiana Risings. They play like,
I don't know, in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, very
small stadium, not a great team.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That's basically the entire state.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
But okay, yeah, so it's not Indianapolis, but you know
it's the Indiana Risings. I'm gonna paint paint a scenario,
okay for the way round?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Fort Wayne good, Yeah, that's good. Fort Wayne Risings. We
look around at our roster and we say, okay, we've
looked around into the roster. We got some good pieces
on defense. We feel pretty good about where we are.
I've got a really good pass rusher wants to get paid,
but I'm not sure what we can do on that
right now. We're under contracts, so we're not going to
worry too much about that. We feel good about where
things are overall. But man, we don't have a quarterback.
(07:12):
We know we don't have a quarterback. Okay, well, what
are we gonna do? I mean, there's no real option.
We couldn't draft one. We didn't like any of them
in the draft, so none of them were worth mortgaging
a draft pickover. And the free agent pool is pretty minimal.
But there's this one guy over here that might be
pretty good. We can do him for a one year deal.
If he's got anything left in the tank, then we
can get something out of him for fourteen million dollars,
(07:34):
right Like, if there's nothing left in the tank, it's
a one year deal, doesn't cost us anything. Okay. We're
also going to acquire this tight end, this tight end
that you know, we know, but may or may not
have been a one year wonder last year based on
the production compared to other years of his career. And
to do that, it's a pick swap of a seventh
and a fifth round pick. Like, we're not talking a
lot about a lot there, Okay, I feel pretty good
(07:55):
about that. As you go up and down the list,
I think if you take the Steelers brand off of it,
if you make them the Indiana Risings, what we see
is that Pittsburgh just looked around and said, Okay, there
are no options right now that truly go all in
for the future. That fix our problems and we don't
want to just walk into this season and suck, So
why not at least roll the dice on a couple
(08:16):
of things and see if it can make us more
competitive this year while we continue how to try and
figure out how to fix our long term problems. Like
that's me is the most reasonable explanation what the Steelers
are doing.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But that's not a roll of the dice organization.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That's a very thoughtful planned out and to your point
about taking the brand off of it, that's the thing
that I'm having the most difficulty overcoming is that this
is not what I have come to know as the
Pittsburgh Steelers in the way that they go about doing
their business. It also makes me wonder, Fitsie, and you
can tell me if I'm unfair about this, but it
also makes me wonder about the future of Mike Tomlin
(08:53):
that that's not an organization that makes rass decisions. They
are going to be They are going to try and
be competitive as humanly possible, and they've probably identified a
window where they're gonna have some limitations, but that's not
going to keep them from being outright competitive. Right They're
not going to NFL organizations don't tank, and when they
try to, like the Dolphins did, they get fined and
(09:14):
they lose first round draft picks over it. Like there
are things to keep teams from doing this blatantly, And
I don't think the Pittsburgh Steelers would ever, It's not
in their DNA. The fan base would riot if they
thought that there was anything close to that. But the
fan base is always also pretty agitated about the Mike
Tomlin situation.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
If fitsy, how.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Long has it been since the Pittsburgh Steelers under Mike
Tomlin won a playoff game?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
A very long time?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Eight years? Eight years is how long it has been
since the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
The Pittsburgh Steelers a championship caliber organization. They think you're
in and year out, but more often than not, has
not won a playoff game in eight years. They get
in there, they get into the wild card, they got
dusted by the Chiefs or whichever wildcard opponent that they face,
which ever higher seed, and then Steelers fans go back
to the drawing board and be like, all right, how
(10:04):
are we going to break through this Tom Brady ceiling
or this Patrick Mahomes ceiling, whichever fire breathing dragon at
that particular point in time exists in the AFC, where
now two of them exist in their very own division
in Cleveland, just because they're you know, they're the Dunce
cap of the AFC North. They can't figure it out.
But you still have to figure out a way not
just around Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, but around Lamar
(10:25):
Jackson and Joe Burrow, which is a difficult enough thing.
And they're doing it well enough to get by the Bengals, right.
The Bengals nuked themselves because their defense was terrible last year,
even though Burrow and Chase arguably both playing at MVP
caliber levels.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I just I don't know how you.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Feel it about it as a fan, and we could
only Steelers fans could be the only ones to answer this.
If your team is doing enough to be competitive, but
it's just competitive enough, right, it's not meaningfully competitive, Like,
I don't think nobody. Are you looking at the Steelers
with Aaron Rodgers, yes or no? As a Super Bowl
contender in twenty twenty five, No, not at all.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
No.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
I think most people would probably take that tech. But
they are going to be competitive enough, one would think
to mess around and win eight, potentially nine games if
they surprise.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Us ten, that's not good enough.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
That's just going to keep you in this weird purgatory
that they've been existing in for the last eight years.
And I'm not saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers should either
blow it up or go all in, but I just
it's neither of those things. And I could argue that
that's worse.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I there's a lot on this.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
There's a lot on this.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Well, we have forty five more minutes. You don't have
to do it all, now, you're.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Right, I'll ever say there. Look, I'll say this.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I believe that this is going to go off the rails.
You and I have talked about this. I believe the
Steelers are going to have a tough seasons. You and
I have talked about this. I believe that that is
going to lead to the separation of Mike Tomlin and
the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of the season.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And I also believe that is a terrible, terrible thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And I'll tell everybody why after we take a break.
He's Buck Rising, I'm Jason fitz We're sitting in on
two pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:13):
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Would mean a lot to have you join us on
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(12:36):
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Speaker 8 (12:43):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
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on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
He's buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It's a Bucket Fits takeover of Two Pros and a
Cup of Joe hanging out with you on Fox Sports Radio.
I believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
a more interesting conversation piece than they will be a
football team this year. I believe that we will spend
more time talking about the beginning of the season the
incredible success, and then by the end of the season
(13:18):
the incredible failure because of the expectations that are on
the Steelers all the time. And I believe that that's
going to lead to the Steelers and Mike Tomlin possibly
parting ways after the season because there's just so much
noise on it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I also think that's a terrible idea.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Okay, so I'm qualifying all of this buck because this
is not what I'm rooting for.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But I want to point something out here, and this is.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Sounds like you are sounds like you're praying on Why
do you hate Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
It's weird.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Look look no, because Mike Tomlins. By the way, Mike
Tomlin is fifty three years old. Fifty three years old.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Mike Tomlin gets fired, it's nuts. If Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Gets fired, it'll be just like Andy Reid getting fired
by the Eagles and then hi by the Chiefs like
a day later.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Right, He's only fifty three, He's fifty three years, doing
the job for eighteen.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Years, and he's got twenty years to give somebody else
if he wants not like he has got twenty.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Years to give somebody else.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
So, but here's the thing. This is the part that
I just I'm screamed from the mountaintops. Your ears are
gonna gloss over for a second. But just amuse me. Okay,
this is a I won't go through all of them,
but there's most of the coaches that have been hired
in the NFL in the last five years. I got
the full list in front of me, right, Stefanski, Fine,
(14:36):
Ron Rivera, Matt Rule, Mike McCarthy okay, Joe Judge, David Cully,
Robert Salah, Arthur Smith, Dan Campbell okay, Fine, Nick Sirianna Fine,
Sirianni Fine, urban Meyer, Brandon Staley, Todd Bowles, Josh McDaniels,
Dennis Allen, Nathaniel Hackett, Mike McDaniel, Brian Dable, Doug Peterson,
Kevin O'Connell, Matt Eberfluse, Lovey Smith, Shane Steichen, who knows
(14:59):
to mark O'Ryan's pretty good, Sean Payton, okay, Frank Reich,
Jonathan Gannon, let's keep going, Raheem Morris, Dave Canalis, Antonio Pierce,
Mike McDonald, Brian Callahan, dan Quinn Like, okay, dan Quinn,
maybe I'll give you and maybe we'll give you harball
of all I just listed like twenty something names. Of
all of those names, how many of them would you
(15:20):
really feel better?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Like today?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Would you feel better if you were having an introductory
press conference knowing what we know about that entire list
of most of those people out of over twenty names,
maybe three or four, maybe you would say, or maybe
or even on the same shelf as Mike Tomlin. Not
better than on the same shelf. Like this is what
I screamed from the mountaintops to Steelers fans. You didn't
(15:42):
understand how difficult it would be to replace Ben Roethlisberger,
because when you have a quarterback, you never understand how
difficult it will be to find another one. But you
also don't understand how difficult it will be to replace
Mike Tomlin. If you are not sitting here saying, oh
my God, somehow, some way we have to keep this
coach within the organization.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Nobody has managed more difficult situations over the course of
the last almost two decades than Mike Tomlin and done
it while continuing to win and maintaining a standard of
excellence and a culture that you can bank on. Like
people throw that word around a lot, especially in sports culture,
but like there is a definitive tone set by the leader,
(16:26):
the CEO of that program, of that franchise, and I
know there's ownership that's obviously above him, and maybe the
general manager is technically his boss, though I don't think
anybody really looks at it that way. Mike Tomlin is
the person responsible. And by the way, the Steelers ownership
is a very patient, very very astute, very just i
(16:49):
think unconventional in the sense that they don't need jerk,
they don't meddle, They hire good people to do the jobs,
and then they let them do their jobs.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Even though I'm sure.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
That the Rooney family is as passionate as any ownership
group in professional sports right now about how it is
that they go about it. I'm sure they don't love
the fact that they haven't won a playoff game in
eight years, but they know that the answer to that
is not firing Mike Tomlin the way that so many
of these other owners would do, or worse right of
(17:19):
the of the twenty names that you ran through, man
I would I would struggle to even pick one. Kevin
Stefanski's a two time Coach of the Year. I think,
you know, I think he's just been saddled by bad
ownership and a losing organization. But even then I would probably, like,
I don't know if I would want to swap out
(17:40):
Mike Tomlin for Kevin Stefanski. He's just such a such
a grounding force, such a legitimate force of nature in
the landscape of the NFL.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
But then again, what is what is.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
The situation currently dictated by in Pittsburgh. They don't have
a quarterback that they need an offensive minded head coach
to maximize the way that so many other of these
places do. They haven't need that needed that really under
Mike Tomlin. Kenny Pickett was a failing proposition anyway, that
was never going to work out the way that they
that they might have at least, you know, taken a
(18:16):
flyer on a guy who maybe in another year wouldn't
have been a first round pick and was the only
first round pick in that twenty twenty two draft, which
was pretty weak as far as quarterbacks go. So the
Steelers haven't had to go through or haven't had to
face the problem that a lot of these NFL organizations
are facing right now, which is the attrition of losing
(18:38):
a coordinator who is going to go on to become
a play calling head coach elsewhere. The way that so
many of those names on that list that you ran
through have been bright. That's what Brian Callahan's entire existence
is predicated on. Here in Tennessee. They hired him to
come in here and fix Will Levis, or to get
the most out of Will Levis. Now, ironically enough, Will
(18:59):
Levis play the worst professional football of any quarterback that
play that started a game, I would argue in twenty
twenty four, maybe save Deshaun Watson. And even still there
are metrics that show you Levis was worse than Watson
in a great many categories. Now they're banking on Brian Callahan,
or they're at least giving Callahan enough rope with the
number one overall pick to be like, all right, you
(19:20):
didn't draft that guy, We'll give you a mulligan. But
it's still about getting everything that the Titans do this
year is going to be defined by is cam Ward
a success or failure? Brian Callahan goes as cam Ward
goes and vice versa in.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
This particular situation.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
So many NFL franchises are faced with that problem, and
that's not a problem that the Steelers have had to
confront just yet.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
If the Steelers hire a different coach a year from
now because everything went off the reels with Aaron Rodgers,
it will not change the fact that they.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Still don't have a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Like that, the variable for the Steelers next year will
be who is their quarterback? And if you're telling me
that the variable is going to be answer in the
free agent market, well, nine times out of ten you
don't answer the question well in the free agent market.
So if the Steelers end up sitting here in a
year with a new head coach and a new quarterback,
my question is, are they really going to be getting
anything out of that combo that they wouldn't have gotten
(20:15):
with Mike Tomlin remaining to take a quarterback? Like let's
presume that they're drafting because I think they're going to
miss the playoffs. Let's presume they're drafting in the first
you know, at that point, the first whatever sixteen around.
So let's say they're drafting around twelve or thirteen. Are
they able to acquire a quarterback. It next year's draft
too early to know that if they get a quarterback, okay, great,
Then if you suddenly gotch quarterback, then that answer exists
(20:36):
for Tomlin. If you don't have a quarterback, then whoever
comes in and succeeds Tomlin doesn't have any easier path,
especially in a division where you're taking on two teams
that have two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
It's just that that's real.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And I keep looking back at this list and over
the course of five years, I mean doing the quick
count here, seventeen coaches that I just listed that were
hired over the last five years have all ready he
been fired from those jobs. Like seventeen, I can only
find nine over the last five years that still have
their job. And that includes names that are coming in
on the hot seat like that when we start talking about, well,
(21:12):
there's still nine left, okay, I mean we're also walking
into a year where we're saying, is Mike McDaniel on.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
The hot seat? Should he be on the hot seat?
Is Brian Dable on the hot seat? Should he be
on the hot seat?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I certainly don't think Kevin Stefanski is on the hot
seat in any way, shape or form, But might he
be I don't know, Like those are three of the
nine that have actually managed.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To keep their job due this time.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
So it just shows you how wildly inexact all of
this hiring process is. And when you acknowledge how difficult
it is to have a guy, I think maybe it
makes you appreciate the guy a little bit more, or
at least it should make you appreciate the guy a
little bit more. The problem for the Steelers are Steelers
fans are stuck in upper middle class and they feel
(21:54):
like that's the worst.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Look anybody, anybody that's living.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Right now paycheck to paycheck, Like there's nobody that has
it worse anywhere in the world. And then you talk
to somebody that's homeless, and you realize that, hey, it
gets worse in paycheck to paycheck, and there are people
that you know, only have five thousand dollars in the
bank and they're like, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I can't get any worse than this.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Then they talk to somebody to live in paycheck to paycheck,
Like that's a very real life example of what's happening
in the NFL. Like you think that the worst thing
possible is that all you ever do is nine wins
and you don't make the playoffs until you suddenly wake
up one day and you realize that, I don't know,
Urban Meyer's your head coach, and you've wasted a quarterback
and your entire franchise sucks until you go through year
(22:34):
after year after year of terrible, terrible, terrible football, like
Browns fans have, like Raiders fans have, like Jags fans have,
Like they're just you forget what it's like to actually
have a team that you root for that sucks when
your team's just okay, and you think that's the worst
thing that can ever happen.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
And it's ironic that you bring up Urban because that
was obviously a disaster in Jacksonville.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
But like that's one of the more patient ownership groups.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Seoan con maybe be good at this, but like he
gives his people time to you know, play themselves out
or coach themselves out or in the case of oh
who was the general manager, that they waited way too
long to fire, like in the middle of their coaching
search this offseason. Former forty nine Ers general manager, it's
going to drive me crazy anyway, I'll find you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Get my point. I think there's there's an example of
this in Trent Pulki.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, Trent Water's going to drive me crazy.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
There's a there's a perfect example of this.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
And I feel like I've brought a lot of things
back here locally to where you're in Connecticut. I'm in Nashville,
and by nature of covering an NFL team, I have
a purview of of one team and a lot of
these situations, and it happens to be a team that
I believe to be poorly run in the Tennessee Titans.
When they fired Mike Vrabel here, the Titans won six
games that season, and they had they were coming off
(23:51):
a season where they were they were seven and three
uh in the off season that they traded the after
after trading A. J. Brown away, they started seven and three,
They went to Philadelphia, they got their asses kicked by
AJ Brown and they ended up losing seven straight. And
then Mike Rabel's final year here in Nashville, they won
six games and they were competitive enough, but the roster
(24:11):
was a nightmare. And when ownership let go of Mike Rabel,
there were disagreements with Rabel in the building and Mike
now has everything that he wants in New England because
he is Robert Craft's second favorite son after Tom Brady.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
I do truly believe that.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So he's gotten everything that he wanted in Tennessee in
New England and we'll see how that plays out. It
may not work for Mike, but when ownership in Tennessee
fired Mike Frable, they decided, well, it's not good enough
to win more games than you lose, and Titans fans
bought in on that. But anybody familiar with the history,
and it's not a long history. I mean they are
(24:47):
the Houston Oilers, so it does technically go back to
nineteen sixty, but anybody familiar with like Titans era football,
the last less than thirty years of football, Who the
hell are the Tennessee Titans to say that it's not
good enough to win more games you lose? Like where
do you get off the franchise that drafted Jake Locker
and made a mess of Vince Young that is perpetually
(25:09):
the butt of the Jeff Fisher eight and eight jokes, Like,
who the hell are you to not want to win
more games than you lose? Because what have they done
lately since firing Mike Rabel. I'm not saying it's the
only reason that that's happened that way, but they've been
they've been the worst. They were the worst team in
football last year. You would sell your soul to win
more games than you lose right now, in that situation,
(25:31):
it's one of those classic examples. And we'll get to
see this head to head. The Patriots are coming to
Nashville this year, so it'll be Mike Vrabel's revenge touring
all these different things.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But like the grass is not always greener.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
The Patriots are another living, breathing, eating example of what
you're talking right like, because Patriots fans a few years
ago were just having the raging debate was it Build
or was it Brady? And then they get separated and
it's like, well, Brady went and won a Super Bowl,
so it must have been Brady and Bill sucks. Well,
then all of a sudden they fired. Now guess what
Now they're still they're trying to figure out. Look, I
think Drake May I wish my Belover Raiders to draft
(26:04):
to Drake May.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I hope he turns out to be a superstar quarterback.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I think he has all the potential in the world,
and I happen to like Rabel Alana as a head coach.
But that doesn't change the fact that since Brady left,
the Patriots haven't been able to figure out the quarterback
and position with any stability. And they made it one year,
one year with supposedly the hand chosen. Oh my god,
this is like Gerrod Mayo was supposed to be a
seamless transition into what it's like Like, I just how
(26:30):
often do we see coaching or quarterback changes that actually
work out?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Sometimes, Yeah, you can be the Green Bay.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Packers and you just get it right, and you get
it right, and you get it right, and congratulations man, because.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That's such a special thing. But the Colts fans sat.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
There and said, Okay, we went from Peyton Manning to
Andrew luck Man.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
This quarterback thing's easy until.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You Anthony Richardson, and then you realize ain't so easy,
and now you don't have an answer right. So it's
just I think fans and organizations should be more scared
of the revolving door than they admit that they are,
because once you start that revolving door, My god, I
have watched sixteen coaches if you include bull stints of
John Gruden. I have watched sixteen coaches since two thousand,
(27:13):
from my beloved Raiders sixteen. Think about it, like, now,
that's not just interim, like sixteen head coaches?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
My god, what do you do with that? Right?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
And so when you start talking about, well, the organization
needs to move on from Tomlin, Okay, my god, I
hope you do.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I hope you move on from Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
And I hope Tomlin suddenly turns around and decides he
wants to be the head coach of a team that
will actually appreciate him, and he gives you another twenty
years where all he does is win football games every year.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
And it's not to say like because I don't want
that to be an outright indictment of Steelers fans, because
I do think that they do have a lot of
love and respect for what Mike Tomplin Mike Tomlin has accomplished.
But that wears thin right. It is very much a
what have you done for me lately?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
League?
Speaker 5 (27:55):
So I don't think that the Steelers fan complaint is
complete lely unwarranted. FITZI, I've done multiple games in Pittsburgh
over the last couple of years, be they primetime games
or regular season games, whatever the case may be. Without fail,
every time I land in Pittsburgh get in an Uber.
The first thing that the ube end because the Uber
drivers always want to talk, and that's fine, we enjoy that.
(28:17):
But the thing that they immediately start doing is bitching
about Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And it's one of the most bizarre.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Things in the world because I'm like, I will take
the Mike Tomlin if you don't want to Mike Tomlin, Like,
are you crazy? That the idea that of all the
different quantities that Mike Tomlin understands how to orchestrate a
winning culture, the thing that is the most discussed but
the hardest to actually attain among these organizations. To make
sure that all the different pieces and parts can move
(28:46):
in the same direction. Fitzy in today's day and age,
to be able to capture the attention of fifty three
individuals who range from anywhere from twenty years old to
thirty one or thirty five or whatever the oldest NFL
I mean, I guess what is Rogers forty one now, so.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
He'd be the So think about that.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
To keep a everybody's attention fifty three different individuals, all
paying attention to you, all moving in the same direction
with a twenty year span. The way that Mike Tomlin
is going to have to do, knowing that you're going
to have to deal with all of those individuals in
completely different ways, but still have to get them all
on the collective same page to accomplish one goal the
(29:25):
way that he is an expert in. That is not
something that you can find. And I mean, hell again,
I'm looking around. I cover an organization that has fired
two general managers and a head coach in each of
the last offseason, and I don't think Brian Callahan is
safe by any stretch of the imagination. So with that,
(29:45):
I think that you have to continue to consider all
of the different things that that can befall your football team,
your football organization when you decide that you've had enough,
or you decide that the grass might actually be greener
in these circumstances, because the question to well, who are
(30:08):
you going to get?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
You don't have an answer to that.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
You just want blood, And that's such a natural reaction
for a lot of fans to have. And I'm not
saying that you can't ever have that feeling, but at
the end of the day, you have to come to
some level of rationalization that you have to have a
plan in place.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
We were talking earlier in the show.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
If you missed it, you can check out the podcast
about the New York Knicks and the hiring of Mike
Brown and how the Knicks organization fired Tom Thibodeaux after
getting them to the conference finals for the first time
in twenty five years and understanding that he might have
a ceiling as a coach.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
But when you go through the hiring process.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
The way that they did, only to come out with
several different entities turning you down, or several different organizations
to denying you the opportunity to interview the candidate that
you thought would be a showing that would absolutely take
that job and run with it without a second thought.
You put yourself in a circumstance where you hire Mike
(31:14):
Brown and Mike Brown is fine, but fine was not
what you were looking for. That's such an egregious error
in that particular spot. And I think that's what that's
what Steelers fans have to think about the full picture.
At the end of the day, you back with me,
did I stall well enough? Did I do a good
enough job? I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
No, I can't hear FITZI.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So we are going to we are going to take
a quick break. Perhaps we will be able to execute.
Would you rather? Maybe Ian and Mary will just have
to do it with me. Well, he gets his connection right.
You're listening to Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. I'm back Buck Rising. Tried to get rid
of me and wanted it to be a solo show.
Not so lucky. I'm Jason Fitz hanging out with you.
Right after the show, our podcast goes up. If you
missed any of today's show, be sure to listen to
the pod. Just search two Pros wherever you get your podcasts,
and be sure to follow and review the pod. Give
(32:10):
it five stars, especially like even if you hated us, like,
don't take that out on the guys, just give them
to give them five stars again. Just search two Pros
wherever you get your podcast. You'll find today's show and
a best STU version potus posted right after we get
off the air.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Absolute shout out to Ian and Mary who had put
up with us now for three hours this morning. I
don't know how they do it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
They do it, but we appreciate that it's brutal.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Do it. Well, it's okay, rude, I mean it's brutal.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Not rude enough, man.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
No, they're still angry about the fireworks takes. That's what
it really comes to me.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
No, they're not angry about the fireworks.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Well, that's because I just I fundamentally misunderstood what FITZI
was trying to say there, and I did not realize
that Big Time Rush was of our generation more than
it is of Fitzi's generation. Now they're taking out my
my lack of interest in dealing with people in crowds
around big events like Fourth of July, not.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
My hate for fireworks.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
They're they're they're angry at me because I've misdirected my
own anger.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
That's that's what you do.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
You just walk.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
You're a Tasmanian devil of anger. When you walk into
the room. It just it just gets everybody, you know,
everybody gets all like I'm a test effect of joy
and energy, like I'm walking in full jazz hands, like
it's a you know, just an explosive moment of heart
to heartwarming happiness, and you're in here crushing.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
I don't want your hugs. He threatened to hug me
after the Pacers lost. Guys, that I was just like
the worst thing that you could do.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Hug is a guy that can't get no go ahead, So.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
No proceed if you you you want to, you want
to sing to the national audience, that's what you want
to do with the with the remainings that we.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Have here minutes fits look, thank you, thank you. Look,
let's let's do America's favorite game show. It's we screwed
this up every time, but this time it's gonna be perfect.
Buck you're feeling good, you're feeling ready. No, but do
it anyway, it's time for woold you.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's not clear?
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Are you slow down?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
I was watching your face?
Speaker 4 (34:20):
No good?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Or fix it?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Oh you get it very clear, Bucket or fits it.
We don't want to screw any letters up there. Ian
give us the wind.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
Yeah, you gotta really enunciate there, just to make sure.
But all right, let's jump right in, guys. This act,
this first one I actually saw on TikTok like a
week ago, and I just had to write it down
to make sure that I got it to you guys,
because it made me laugh. Anyway, here we go. So,
would you rather object to every wedding that you attend
(34:49):
or have to take a selfie with the deceased at
every funeral you attend?
Speaker 5 (34:56):
What the hell is your TikTok algan? What are you
doing in your free time?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Huh?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I would rather object at every wedding, I think, you know,
not just because it would be weird to take a
selfie with the deceased at a funeral, but because you know,
the divorce rate would tell us that the vast majority
of you probably don't need to be doing this anyway.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
And I would.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
Probably be doing a service if I decided that I'm
just going to be an objector a wedding objector for hire.
You can pay me, and I will come object to
a wedding that you don't think is going to work out,
and I will probably save both of you in the
process a great deal of money, because there's a good
percentage chance.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
That you weren't going to be right for one another anyway.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Is that a too pessimistic of a look at things?
I don't know, maybe, But it feels like it feels
like a more productive use of time.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
So here's the thing I think Age pauls into this too, Like,
as I get older, I'm going to go to more
funerals than I am weddings, Like, so, god, you know,
I'm the number of times that I'm gonna have to
to selfie gets bigger and bigger as I get older,
And that looks weird, like when you're seventy, if you're
doing this for the rest of time. When you're seventy,
if you're taking selfie's at a funeral, that that comes
(36:11):
off weird. But if you're objecting in a wedding, now
you're just the funny old guy in the back of
the wedding, right, So it comes like a or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, it's a bit. Everybody knows it's a bit.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
So I'm gonna object at every wedding as long as
I get to decide the objections. Like this gets really
tricky if you know somebody else gives me the reason
I'm objecting.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That feels like an.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Impractical Jokers episode that needs to happen, Like, you know,
I want I want to I want Buck to have
to stand up in the back of the room and
say I object because your wife's not hot enough. Just
to see what happens.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
Did you see, just quickly before we move on to
the next one, did you see that somebody in Vegas
and you're part of the world, hired one of their
buddies to prank the couple at a wedding by being
like doing this whole WWE promo of an objection, like
making it very, very uncomfortable and playing it out for
several minutes until they realized, oh no, this is a joke.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
I'm just kidding. Continue with your wedding. It was very
comfort No, I love this.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
This is that talk about a memorable wedding, all right?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
And what's you got next for us?
Speaker 6 (37:05):
All right, we're gonna go ahead and spin the wheel
for this next one. It was.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
No production costs will be spared, all right.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It landed on this one.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
So would you rather always get stuck behind slow walkers
or always hit every red light in the car?
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So anyone that's listening in Nashville will know that there's
an area around Rivergate, all right, And when you go
through this area of Rivergate, there's a traffic light like
every I don't know mile met the most and none
of but but everybody knows what it's like to have
one every mile there's a light and none of them
are timed right, And so you know that you're just
(37:44):
like you're arbitrarily gonna hit the red over and over
and over again. That is I mean, that is my
personal hell. I'll set a slow walker. I'll mosey if
I have to the red light over and over and
over again, rage by the fourth one in a row.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
We could not disagree more on this, I will I have.
It's as close as I've been to physically assaulting another
human being. Walk with a purpose, have somewhere to be.
What do you mean you're gonna take your time strolling down.
You don't have anywhere to be, You don't have anything
going on in your life that requires some level of urgency.
I swear to God, I hope you stub your toe
on every curve that you come across. If you are
(38:20):
somebody that does not move with a purpose, there is
nothing that pisses me off more than people that cannot
keep a reasonable pace. I don't care what your age is,
I don't care what you're looking at. If you're there to.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
See the sites get out of the way or get
to the.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
Side of the sidewalk to allow the rest of us
to keep moving. It's like the people that just stand
there on the moving walkways in the airport as opposed
to utilizing the moving walkway to move yet faster towards
their destination.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Why the hell don't you have somewhere to be move.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
There's a guy on social media who just like, literally,
that's the whole stick is just bad walkers, And he
just commentates people that he gets stuck behind walking on
the streets.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
It's all I'm so when.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I did not get to that, that that uh, that
opportunity first, because that I would have made so much money.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
You next time I see one.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
When I was a little kid in Vegas, the airport
McCarron Airport had the voice of fat Albert. H'm telling everybody,
so he always went, it's fat Albert reminding you if
you're not gonna move quick, stay to the right. It's
still stuck in my mind every time you hear the
voice of fat Albert, the cartoon version of fat Albert.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Not good, go ahead, not a problematic.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Problematic, Let's find the wheel again. Spin the wheel quickly fast?
Speaker 6 (39:32):
All right? Would you rather have a nose that hawks
when you laugh or ears that flap when you get excited?
Speaker 4 (39:38):
What are we dumble?
Speaker 3 (39:40):
You can't have the ears that flap when you get excited,
because if you're going to do the hibbited dibity and
your ears start flapping, she's not going to be into
it anymore. And if you're not excited when you're doing
the hibbiting, like did you imagine late night you're like
hey baby, and all of a sudden your ears just
start going.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Can't do it?
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Of all these different things that could move out of excitement,
I don't, but yeah, ears would be tough. I'd go
with the nose honk. I feel like I already honk
when I laugh.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Anyway, If your ears wiggle, you're never having the sex.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
That's just the way it's going.
Speaker 6 (40:09):
You never have it.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Can we get on more?
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Can we talk with us sex?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
All right? No wheel this time?
Speaker 6 (40:13):
But would you rather be followed around by a mariachi
band for a week or have to narrate everything you
do out loud for a day?
Speaker 5 (40:19):
Narrate everything out loud I do for a day. I
feel like I already do it.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
That sounds easier anyway.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, well, I don't want to listen to you narrate
go to the bathroom, so give me the mariachi man.
At least it's a good performance. Hopefully this was a
good performance. We'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Thanks for hanging out with those bucking fits.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
See you
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Jonas Knox
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