January 13, 2026 • 48 mins
Gene Steratore shares his frustrations of the Steelers lack of offensive production in the playoff loss to the Texans.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
W DDE, Pittsburgh, an iHeart radio station, guaranteed human.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Gamee will to his left, gets a snap back to
past four man rush. Rogers pumps throws and it's intercepted,
picked off and running back the other way. It's Bullock
and Bullock down the left sideline. Rogers tries to pump him.
Bullock knocks off of Rogers and sprints him to the
end zone. The coup de gras a fifty one yard
interception return, and the Texans have turned this game into
(00:36):
a route.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Will that be the last throw that Aaron Rodgers ever
attempts in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Will that be the end of a Hall of Fame
career for mister Rogers.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Mason Rudolph went in after that and cleaned up, So
that was it.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
For I thought he would have tried to get him
a Bullock out of bounds a little bit more, you know, Well,
he would have tried harder to tackle him, and he
just kind of olaid him. And I know, I don't
think that changes the outcome of the game. Just his
career doesn't have to end on that ugly of a note.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
We'll find out if this is it for Rogers. Minutes
before the draft. That's really how it feels. He's gonna
it's gonna be Rogers Watch all over again.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And I like.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
The idea that like he's like because he said last night, like, oh,
you know, I'm not gonna make any emotional decisions.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
I'm just gonna those are the only decisions he makes,
you know, exclusively makes emotional decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
And then like him just like walking on the beach
with the sad Hulk music playing behind him, or y
with a with a blanket and that dog that follows
him around that it might not be his dog.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I don't know on his dog, it's not his wife.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I don't want to make fun of his wife's situation
because I.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Don't think she was at that game. Maybe she's at
all of them, and you just don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Here's my My take has always been, she wears the
Steely mcbeam costume so that she can freely move him
on Steeler Nation. Oh my god, yeah, exactly, so that
he knew he could always look over to Steely and
tug his ear and she would, you know, wwind right
back to.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
I have to tell you that raised Alwadney and I
when we were off Mike yesterday kept saying that like,
if the result of last night's game didn't go well,
that we were going to pull the uh.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I never liked him.
Speaker 6 (02:44):
Like whenever your friend is dating somebody, Yeah, and kind
of have like a side eye about.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
If it doesn't go well, then be like, I always
hated the kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
And then if you get back together with him, be.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Like, no, no, I hated the way he treated you. Yeah,
that's what I meant.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I think He's far from the biggest problem the Steelers
have right now. Running this back again next year is
going to be tough. Oh, it's gonna be tough. Like
with the Buckos, you just you're completely immune to their futility.
I mean, what they've done in this postseason makes me think, hey,
maybe this will be a fun Bucko season. But we've
(03:23):
just been beaten down by them so much that the
belief that they would actually change anything long exited. So
seeing it get run back the same way each and
every year.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Was like, yeah, they go again. What a shame.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But there was this belief that the Steelers could turn
it around for those for four or five years.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
In the last two or three it's been hey, what
the what are we doing here? What is going on?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And then there was something this year about Okay, maybe
we're making the right steps and moving forward and we're
getting the right talent because Mike Tomlin came on this
radio show and said this defense would be historic, and
he was right for all the wrong reason because they
were historically bad at points and offensively, You're like, all right,
(04:05):
Aaron Rodgers. We didn't know if he was going to
be going on McAfee and causing the distraction each week
and then lit and behold, he didn't do any of that,
and he made it just about football, and he became
exactly the guy they needed in the locker room because
they needed a daddy in there.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
They desperately did.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
And you just saw everybody gravitate to him, like, well,
he's the best. You know, there's a celebrity component to it,
and all his NFL success, it makes sense that everyone
gravitated toward him, and like he did the opposite of
what he did in New York. He seemed to really
embrace that and make it all about football. And maybe
that's just a little bit because Pittsburgh is that special
(04:40):
of an environment. So I thought, Okay, this is going
to be good enough. But my god, Arthur Smith's offense
and lack of realization that the two best components you
have are gain Well and Warren and why we're not
going through them all f and day. Actually, in a
game like that last night, live to fight another day,
(05:03):
punt if you have to.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
CJ.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Stroud wanted to lose that game. It was a battle
of who is going to lose this game? Now who's
gonna win it?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
CJ.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Stroud looked like he had never played football for stakes
before ever, And just like the eye off the ball,
the snaps that he was dropping, Oh yeah, that's not
the It's like a bock in baseball, like you.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Get one in ten games, and he had three last night.
Offense couldn't capitalize on any of it. I mean, I
can't remember what our our points on turnovers were. I
think I think it was three. I'm not sure if
it was all six of our six points at Tji
Pumper recovery, it's three points. Yeah, So Aaron Rodgers and
the offense couldn't do anything. DK Metcalf. Doesn't matter if
(05:49):
DK's there, if they don't have a Number two gross
negligence on Omar and Mike Tomlin to not come up
with a number two for.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
The second year in a row.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I don't know how you watched that last year with
George Pickins and thought, now we can do it again.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
If it's Decay, it doesn't matter who it is.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I mean Jerry Rice in his prime, he had an
offensive line that was work in progress, but got enough
done up until that game last night in which they
got absolutely manhandled. But without Darnell Washington there, they'd seemed
to be okay with letting the line fen from themselves
and not giving the Edges any help. They started to
in the beginning of the game, and then they got
(06:25):
away from it. And when did they look good?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
In the beginning of the game.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
They were first drive, it looked like they were gonna
roll right down and score, and then they did on
the second one, oh so aggravating it just it felt
like they had an opportunity to understand what was working
and stick with that kind of game plan.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And I'm not sure what Arthur Smith thought.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Why he thought dropping his forty two year old quarterback
back without you know, help enough times and then empty
set on third and long and just let them get
teed off on I think terrible job by the coaches
last night. Number one game plan, bad execution by the
offensive line. Well, the old John McKay line. I'm in
favor of it. They were bad last night, really bad,
(07:09):
and they weren't doing anything special. There was just four
guys who were beating the hell out of them. So
the Steel season comes to an end, and I hate
to say that You're probably going to see a lot
of the same people in charge next year, but I
cannot see them making a change as a business. This
is a successful formula for now. But I know they
(07:30):
were the fire Tomlin chance again last night. Do you
want to go through another season of that? If things
go wrong? What do you do to ensure that they
get off to a good start and stay there next year?
If you stayed the course with Mike Tomlin. Who is
it in the draft that you think you're gonna jump
up and get You're a playoff team, You're not gonna
have a high draft position. You're gonna have to trade
away all of those picks you have to try and
(07:51):
move up.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
What if you can't? And do you take someone just
because who do you love? Right now?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
A lot of people have Mendozo's the heisman Trophy winner
as a third or fourth round guy, who's the NFL
quarterbow I don't know about it was number one man,
there's there was there's guys saying like, I'm not saying
he won't go in that round.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I'm saying he's kind of like the Kenny Pickett thing. Yeah, exactly,
he's made jump the gun yet, right, Yeah, uh no,
he'll go in the first round.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
But they're grading him like, you know, actually if you
take the hype away, which I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I never understood that part. Like the reason there's hype
is because he's good. But is the NFL good? I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Aaron Rodgers definitely was, but he lost a step and
was vulnerable last night.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He was pissed off. He didn't have anybody open. What
are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Adam Thielen was running in quicksand and Roman Wilson couldn't
even get a helmet.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Feeling was like our, you know, most productive guy, most
productive receiver last night. I'm terrified at what might have
happened with quarterback next year? What if it's Aaron Rodgers.
I feel like it's Aaron Rodgers or Mac Jones right
now or some Mac Jones equivalent, and I'm not pumped
(09:11):
about that either. I don't know if it's Aaron Rodgers,
and I guess it would depend who's behind him.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Kyler Murray.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Kyler Murray is the antithesis of what Tomlin thinks of
when he thinks about a quarterback. Right, yes, Kyler Murray
would be his all time favorite receiver. Nice short, right,
how are they going to bring Kyler Murray? And and
Calvin Austin is just towering over. He's like Calvin Austen, like, hey,
can you get the tape off the top shelf for me?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Please?
Speaker 6 (09:43):
If it is Aaron Rodgers but it's not Arthur Smith,
are you excited?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It depends who it is.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Mike McDaniel and Aaron Rodgers with an actual, legitimate receiving
corps fine, But John Smith was a joke. They didn't
throw the ball to frar Mouth all year after paying him.
And you know, Moose was the most exciting tight end
they had, and that was largely a component of what
he was doing in the running game.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
We had all these tight ends and no Number two
and we never used them.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Johnny Smith's abject failure just an absolute joke all year
wasn't even blocking what he was supposed to. I mean,
there were one or two times where he came through
and they used him interestingly on some enda rounds and
things like that, but by and large.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Failure their free agent pickups were a disaster.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Darius Slay was watching the game in Philadelphia on the
sidelines this weekend as a member of the Buffalo Bills.
It's not coaching that's the biggest problem. It's talent assessment.
They're awful at it. They are terrible at it is
does Peyton Wilson make you think he's gonna be the
second Coming?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
He can't play on rundowns.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
The hype around Peyton Wilson in the offseason and in
camp was crazy.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Patrick Wilson probably led and tackles this year Patrick Patrick Queen. Yeah,
but is he worth the biggest free agent contract that
we've ever given anybody before? DK Eckles made more plays
on defense than a lot of the big name guys.
Jalen Ramsey ended up using its safety all year. You
(11:18):
thought he was going to be another shutdown corner. Joey
Porter Junior awesome and another awesome game last night. Yeah,
But defensively, like Harmon. Okay, he's great. Cam had an
unbelievable year again, you know, second team All Pro. The
edge rushers are great. There's a lot of holes on
defense that I think also with TJ Watt, I'm not
(11:41):
sure that they ever utilize him in a way that
gets him from being chipped and rendered ineffective too often
in a game. The Browns do things to get Miles
Garrett freed up, and I don't think defensively the Steelers
did anything interesting to do that for TJ Watt. I
don't know if it's a Sydney Crosby thing, like I
(12:01):
don't want to play there now this is how I
do it, or if it's just Tara Austin going no,
he'll be okay.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
And he'll take two or three guys and then everyone
else will do their job. Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Pat Meyer I used to bash all the time, but
I thought that offensive line came pretty far this year
until last night, and they were terrible. Jalen Warren revelation
Kenny Gainwell best pickup they've had, and I mean there's
a reason he's the team MVP and on special teams.
Weightment over Cam Johnson. Great decision. Yeah, but they never
(12:35):
had a threat as a returner.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They don't have any.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Explosive players on offense. I don't understand what's gonna change
if we move forward with the same regime. I just
don't unless you think, like, well, it's there's a percentage
of a chance that you need to have. You need
a lottery ticket, and Mike Tomlin gets you that lottery
(13:01):
ticket every year, and then it's anybody's ballgame. And that
seems to be their mo o. We're good enough to
get to the dance and then maybe we'll get laid.
But they forgot there's more to it. Yeah, you more
likely to be back next year, Arthur Smith or Terrell Austin.
(13:23):
I feel like Terall Austin is more likely to be
back than Arthur Smith because of opportunity for Arthur Smithy
and I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps ship if
given a parallel opportunity, if able. But he's not like
getting interviewed by every team, right he interviewed by the Titans.
(13:44):
It's not like he's on the coaching carousel unless people
were waiting to find out.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
But I don't think. I don't think anything's gonna change.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I think they're just gonna say, no, all right, we
know what we did wrong last year and we got
to try to do better. And it just boils down
a talent assessment. Way too many misses in the draft,
way too many. You look at some of these teams
that are being effective in the postseason, and they are
loaded for bear, with solid players all over the board.
The Steelers have guys who you're like, wow, hopefully he'll
be able to figure it out. You know, they're thirty
(14:14):
five years old, and Sante Samuel trying to avoid any
contact in the secondary last night, driving me absolutely nuts.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's only so much you can do about injury.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
But their talent assessment has just been so garbage for
a couple of years. And I hate to keep harping
on it, but I'm pissed, just like everybody else who
didn't sleep and stay up and watch that last night.
I don't want Aaron Rodgers to return because it's just
there's a ceiling on this, I agree, And how he
made it through this year, I don't know. It's a
(14:44):
miracle to me. He's not the kind of forty two
that you're like Tom Brady, like, oh, he can come back,
and I think he could come back and still throw
the ball. And even though he was a little more
mobile than I thought he would be in the last
couple weeks especially, I think he's gonna get better at it.
He's just you're just waiting to put your backup in
(15:07):
with Aaron Rodgers next next year. Somehow you survived this year.
And he wasn't great when he did have open receivers
last night and a few times this year.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
You know that the Browns game, the Browns game, the
Chargers game, when he was off the entire time. This
was another set, huge second half let down. And like
when I think about the scoring chart of last night's game,
down seven to six, Okay, we can manufacture a bs
Field goal here, down ten to six, well, still totally possible.
(15:41):
When they went down eleven, it felt like they were
down by a thousand points.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
No scoring in the third quarter. They gave up twenty
three to the Texans in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Last night, it collapse to equavius marks one hundred and
twelve yards rushing. Christian Kirk destroyed them one hundred and
forty four yards receiving, And the defense wasn't really the problem.
The offense never made you think they were going to
be a threat. That's a very good defense. They should
(16:11):
have been able to do more than that. Where was Mouth?
How do you not work him into the equation a
little bit more? Just a very unevent un un uh
inventive offense from Arthur Smith. See some of the plays
that Houston running and you're like, yeah, that got that
guy open right there. It's a nice uh nice route
(16:34):
Like what routes was was John new Smith running all
year long.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Free yard out in the flat turn around and wait,
what the why did why did we get this guy?
Why did we spend all this money on this dude?
Wait and never look ready miss blocks?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah, false start, critical false start last night, absolute joke.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
But Mike Tomlin is a Hey, he's a Hall of
Fame coach and he's coming back if he wants to.
Everybody knows that. The question is does he want to?
With how many firings we've seen?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
And this little like you know, spin the lazy season
in the AFC, like I mean, other coaches that are available,
like has your mind been running at all?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Here?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
They missed the big chance for the coach that their
next chuck No was Mike Ramble, and when he was available,
it was like bad timing because you knew that Tomlin
hadn't done enough to get fired yet. But he was
headed in that direction and they had a guy who
could have been the perfect Steeler coach, and uh, it
(17:47):
was not to be. Now, Like Damashek was saying, Ben
Johnson was.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I'm not so sure.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
I and what Ben Johnson is doing in Chicago's remarkable
and with that team it works. I'm not so sure
if he is going to be the guy long term.
I don't know about his style yet. You know, like
there's not I'm not sure if that works when there's
less talent.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
On the team. I feel like he could lose a team.
I don't know yet. He might be the second coming.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
But Rabel is a guy who gets teams who aren't
that great to play way above their talent level, I think.
And he gets guys to believe that that Patriots team
is pretty well coached. And what he's done with Drake
May in terms of developing a quarterback, which.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is what you're gonna need someone to do. Who is
Tomlin developed?
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Not Mason?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Hey, he was one for one last night. He's got
a QBR seventy one.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Don't you besmirch Mason, I'm not, and his mustache and
all the mirth that he brought to that locker room.
Mason and his mirth were one of the few bright
spots this year.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
When he went in the game, I opened Twitter out
of boredom and was immediately comforted by the picture of
him holding the jackfruit in overalls.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
With penny loafers on. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I didn't even
know people wear penny loafers. And do you put the
penny in the penny loafer? Mason does and that's all
that matters. Thank God for Mason's mirth.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
The Steelers with another disappointing one and done in the postseason.
This was a winnable game for them, and that was
the frustrating part. When it was seven to six. Pat muldowney,
who's pittsburgher who's been working for Fox, had worked for
Fox Sports for many year, tweeted out last night, I
don't know how to explain this to somebody who's not watching,
(19:38):
but the Steelers are currently getting their ass kicked seven
to six, and I thought that was the perfect description
of that game.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
At no point did you believe that they were going
to start rolling on that Houston defense. There was exposing us.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
If I was Demiko Ryan, in fact, I would have
been way more conservative with the Houston offense because the
only trouble they were getting in with CJ. Stroud making
colossal mistakes. I think they simplified when when CJ. Stroud
was starting to get the yips there, they you know,
they shortened the playbook and did things that he was
absolutely going to complete. I mean never, we never go downfield.
(20:18):
Never the end of the game. They did out of desperation.
At that point, it's too late. There's no weapons, the
team is poorly constructed. They got to figure this out,
and I'm sure they will. And I feel really good
about this year.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Guys.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I'm just saying, you know, we'll be back and we'll
feel good about whatever the hell they're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And at the time we're idiots. Everything they did seemed
like it was great.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Darius lay was on a Super Bowl champion last year,
our secondary and now we got Ramsey back there too.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Dude, it's gonna be nuts. Wan Thornhill was just banged
up exactly, and it was it was a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
They're free agents that I mean they batted what probably
like five hundred on free agent pickups.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, what which isn't good enough?
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I mean, I mean five hundred played, you know what
I mean, not like five hundred like they were great
and you know the other half weren't count.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Dugger is a hit. Dougger is a hit. They couldn't
even get on the field though, the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I don't know if something was up with him or not,
but I thought the first couple of weeks he made
his blash. Yeah, I think that. You know, not having
Elliott was big. Oh man, Yes, that really screwed things up.
But at no point going into the season.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Where you're like the corner stone on this defense is
going to be Elliott no impact player though Yep, Ecles
was the same way.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Eckles would always make a big play, came up with
another big one last night, and then he would get
hurt and be out for two weeks every single time.
The problem is it's going to be super annoying to
listen to the Mike Tomlin discourse for another year.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
If he's coming back. I I'm marrible.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's just going to be overwhelming because I don't if
there's any Steeler fans who are super excited to see
Mike Tomlin come back right.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Now, and that's a problem. But he's got another year.
Yeah he's not. I mean, so it would have to
be him choosing at this point. It's him choosing, and
your fan base is not excited about it. They were.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
There was a smattering of fire Tomlin going on again
last night, but not as bad as the Bills game.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
No, okay, And that's a tough position to be in.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
You have to really put together an incredible squad, and
last year that was the predicament they were in and
their end result did not bear out.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Again.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
This year was a failure the Aaron Rodgers experiment. I
guess you could call it a failure because they didn't
win a playoff game. And if they had Mason Rudolph
as their starting quarterback this year, how much different would
it have been.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They might not even made the postseason, but they would
have had a better draft position. So it's this constant
purgatory of never good enough to do anything substantial in
the postseason and never bad enough to make wholesale changes.
And that's what it's like to be a Pittsburgh Steeler
(23:15):
fan for an entire generation of Steeler fans. Now at
this point, we're coming up on ten frickin' years. That
is a lot and part of what I think the
elation of what last week was. Certainly it was knocking
the Ravens out. Like I said, the manner in which
that game unfolded, it was just so drama filled, got
(23:37):
Harbaugh fired. Felt like a playoff game because it's winning.
In part of it was just remembering that we used
to have that feeling all the time, but forgetting what
it was like in the whole town remembered.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
We used to feel like this every year for years.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
We'd go into the playoffs and we were gonna win one,
maybe two games, and it was just get to the
championship game and then you know, that is your lottery ticket.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Now it's like we might sneak into.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
The wild card if Houston can beat Indianapolis with their
backup quarterback, and then if the Chargers, you know, all
of these scenarios have to play out for us to
even sniff the postseason a. Winning the AFC North this
year atop the division, taking the AFC North crown felt
(24:30):
like finally Okay, we determined our own destiny.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
This year is gonna be different. Notes notes not so frustrating. Yeah,
how do you run that back again? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I mean you have to look at it without emotion
and from a business standpoint, were their butts in the
seats all year? Of course, stadium's packed. They win enough
games that plenty of people go. Television ratings pretty igh.
(25:07):
People love the Steelers, put them in primetime quite a bit.
It's the bob nutting thing. At some point, Well, we're
making a lot of money doing this, but at some
point it's going to turn around.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
It's the slow creep into the vibe and energy that
they have now. It's like if you zapped yourself back
to ten years ago when they beat the Chiefs, which
they had to do because Alex Smith was the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
That's a must win play. Yeah yeah, and then you.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Know, comparing that feeling to now, Yeah, the slow just
the amount of Tomlin detractors, the everything going on, Oh no,
franchise quarterback Steelers.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Twitter is going to be unbearable for another year.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
But this three week peer read here going into the
super Bowl is going to be I might have to
mute eight hundred accounts.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, this is going to be the same thing.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Get rid of them doing the same thing over and
over and expecting a different result is a definition of insanity.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
I yet news stories when podcasters hire skyriders to do
fire Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, well that's what I thought it had been funny,
is you know how the controversy over Liam Cohen having
that woman from the Jacksonville Free Press and there going.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
You did good baby, you know whatever?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
She was like, you know, yeah, she was like, you know,
a hilariously sort of comforting woman in the press room,
which created that whole you know, kerfuffle online, which I
think is insane. But the Steelers version of that would
have been like Kevin Adams and Jersey Jerry going, hey,
just why to let you know that we put together
(26:55):
a go fund me to buy billboards to say you sucking,
you should be fired all overf hang your head low,
and just we just want to let you know that
we are fomenting a movement to get you out of town.
So just so you know that, I don't have a question. Actually,
this is what the pressure room is now. We just
(27:16):
tell you whether you're good or bad. In your bad
and you suck and we hate you. And there's getting
to be t shirts that we're selling right now on
our website that say tire Fomlin.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
My quick announcement for you just not engaging him in
a question. My quick announcement. We're going to buy the
Pondla Hockey billboard and we're going to defame you. We're
going to come after you pretty hard. Nothing's off limits,
so just you know, keep an eye out. Early next
week is what it's looking like it and that's my time.
(27:49):
I'll turn it over to you, coach.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yeah yeah, Steelers round Table dot com over here, just
want to let you know we are praying for your
demise as a coach and hoping that you're really deciding
to go into TV this year. I have no question,
this is comments, this is what people want. I just
want to let you know that we're tired of your
bs and that you play old old people who aren't
(28:13):
good anymore because they're they like you because you hired them,
like collecting old dogs that nobody wants to adopt. No
question at this time. It's just that you're terrible. Thank you,
Mike Steeler Arsenal dot blogspot dot com. I just want
to say, I actually we held a seance last night.
(28:37):
I paid a few Wiccan priestesses to curse you and
a family again.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Not a question, not a question, just a bad job.
Just wanted to say, bad job. That's it.
Speaker 8 (28:53):
Live from the Don's Appliances Studios, where Pittsburgh shops for appliances.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
This is WTV.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Can you played the greatest foll in the world for me.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Only if you can dick it.
Speaker 8 (29:06):
Let us know your lunch requests on our socials phone
or the talkback button on the iHeartRadio app that one
you picked this songs on the Electric Lunch at noon
on DV.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
From the Seedon Hill University Weather Center. Schedule your campus
visit today. This report is sponsored by Mattress Firm.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Gonna be partly clouding to mostly okay, all right, yeah,
look we're we're calming down it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It'd be fine. No, No, we're not.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
The more I see online, the angry I'm getting Mike
pursuit of joining us. Now for postgame reaction from last night,
Steelers lost to the Houston Texas thirty to six at
Acriscuer Stadium, and uh, the crowd was never really into
it in the second half and who could blame.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Them, didn't have a reason to get into it. Yeah,
it did feel like they were a million miles behind
when it was seven to six. Yeah, and ten six,
but the potential was there to deal the game, and
they just couldn't even again like the Cleveland game, couldn't
come up with one touchdown.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Hard to win that way. I just don't know what
you how do you say, Okay, Arthur Smith, let's do
that again.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Yeah, I think there are going to be changes. I
don't think it'll be the head coach unless he wants
to change. And Mike Tomlin, well, in the midst of
his or an immediate aftermath, I should say, of his
seventh straight playoff disappointment, he wasn't really interested in contemplating
his future.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
I'm not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight.
I'm more in a mindset of what transpired in this stadium,
and you know, certainly what we did and didn't do.
Not a big picture mentality is sit here tonight.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
Aaron Rodgers wasn't much interested in contemplating his future either,
but Rodgers was adamant and extensive and insisting there shouldn't
be any question about Tomlin.
Speaker 10 (30:58):
I mean, this league has changed my twenty one years.
You know, when you hear conversation about the the Mike
Tomlins of the world, Matt Lafleur's of the world, those
are just two that kind of played for And when
I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation
about whether those guys were on the hot seat, you know.
(31:21):
But the way that the league is covered now and
the way that there's snap decisions and the validally given
to the you know, the Twitter experts and all the
you know experts on TV now who who you make
it seem like they know what the hell they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
To me, that's an absolute joke.
Speaker 10 (31:40):
And for either of those two guys to be on
the hot seat is is really apropos of where we're
at the society in the league.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Because.
Speaker 10 (31:51):
Obviously Matt's done a lot of great things in Green
Bay and we had a lot of success. Mike t
He's had more success, and damn there anybody in the
league you know, from for the last nineteen twenty years
and more than that, though, when you have the right
guy and the culture is right, you don't think about
making a change. But there's a lot of pressure that
(32:13):
comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from
time to time, but it's not how I would do things,
and not how the league used to be.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
Rogers apparently had set his piece regarding Mike Tomlin at
that juncture, because another thing he wasn't interested in entertaining
was a follow up question about Tomlin.
Speaker 10 (32:34):
And I've answered that a number of times. I've talked
extensively about I feel about Mike and I and I
just did not an answer.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
So ool sassy, I keep that woman from Jacksonville up here. Yeah,
Jack the Jacksonville love FETs right. He was right the
hot seat.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Maybe you do all the drugs now, you take all
the time you need, you get in the darkness and
you do whatever you need.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
You tribute fun with that in the press box before
the game. I'm sure the contests of the press is society.
People are defending it, particularly people in the media.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
I just have well, I think that, uh, I think
that it's a lot of people arguing different points that
you know that. I think people are genuinely okay with
positivity and any sort of kindness sentiment being expressed. It's
(33:42):
just context, that's all. And people's misunderstanding what context is
or is Like McAfee and those guys were like, this
is the greatest thing ever, but that is that well.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
I mean I like all those clowns.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I like all those guys, but like I think they
do a job print of what the job is being
done in there, do you know what I mean? Like
it would be like if somebody burst into a an
operating room and they were like, you know what, just
want to let the patient know before he goes under.
You're doing great and everything's fine. It's like, okay, this
(34:19):
that that's a nice sentiment, but we're actually doing something
different in here than what you're doing. And the difference
is is that the old media and this the newer
media have been sort of melded together in a way
like that in a way that the old media is
not really okay.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
With and they're kind of getting the bed together.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Yeah no, I agree, level, but it's it's not just sports, yes,
and this is the minor And that's where people I
think were so outraged on your nose, right, I mean yeah,
but if you have a no goiter, I just want
to say, uh, you know, I had mine removed from
the doctor will up in Wexford.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Descriptive enough, Yes, now I get it. With the paint picture,
I get it.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
It's a very frustrating morning, frustrating day, frustrating to be
a Stealer fan right now, losing in a valiant effort.
I would have been okay with Now. You wouldn't more
than this because it's not actually easier now. It doesn't
point to like we've never learned our lesson.
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yeah, it's a Randy's point.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
It makes it so that.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
We don't have any assurances that anything will change exactly
we went.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Those are enough? How many of those do you have
in life? Heavy?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
My assurance? You stopped trying to trust me.
Speaker 9 (35:55):
If they got beat twenty seven to twenty six on
a fifty nine yard field goal at the gun, you'd
feel worse and you're to be picking three or four plays.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Why did they do this?
Speaker 4 (36:05):
They do that?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Oh my god, we're so close?
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Well, okay, we were so close is not something I
uttered at all last night and we were down by
one point for most of the game, and I was like,
we're getting our ass kicked. Yeah, and we're down by
a point. How is Houston not up by twenty asked
Meat belt. All right, do you have to do phrase
now something like that?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Look now it's a belt to ask belt to ask
not ask meat belt. It is now and now it's
asked meat belt. Now that's kinky wrestling in Lawrence film.
Ass wet belt belt as screwed.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
That up because Moe Man gave me a lot of
experience with that. Jeans Sterotor joining us when we come
back here on.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
DV, we get it.
Speaker 8 (36:51):
Some of you tune in at one O two point
five and others listened to their smart device.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
No matter how you listen, it's burg to Rocker is DV.
He's always rocked and always will rocked.
Speaker 6 (37:02):
DV Playoff Football hits different Thaners.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
One two point five DV.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Our next guest is brought to you by Schneider Down
see what big thinking with a personal focus can do
for you.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
From the NFL on CBS, it's Geneing the Reviewing the
geez Rator Morning Gino, how are you.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Going, buddy?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I mean, I'm miserable. That was awful.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
It doesn't give me any hope that anything's ever going
to change, and it just seems like I'm rooting for
you know, two of the three teams I'm rooting for
won't learn anything from their mistakes, and I'm doomed to
be in this Sissifian uh fan experience the.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Rest of my life. Other than that, so rare. I mean,
how things going, Yeah, yeah, pretty good? I mean New
Year's man, can't can't really complain. Well, let me let me,
let me let me ask you this.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
You know, the first one I want to ask you
about is the Calvin Austin play where you know, Aaron
and Calvin were trying to get a p I call
there and who was.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
The It was a Dean Blanding. Who's on the I
don't know, is that the game? I don't know who's
the official DFP last night? I think is Russell York Russe.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Kay he said oh yeah, He's like, oh yeah, no, no,
this is not pass interference. Their feet got tangled, no interference.
But you can see the dB kind of yanking his shoulder,
passed down his shoulder, grabbing a turn. What's the Eugene.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I think that the ball was two and a half
yards in front of Calvin Austin, and I'm just perplexed
from a football standpoint that he.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Slowed down at that point. Might be on agreed, and to.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Me it appeared that he was looking to play that
make a play for a foul instead to make it
a play on a ball when you had a step
on your d back and the ball was thrown ahead
of you to accelerate. Why are you decelerating five yards
before the catchpoint to try to draw something when the
football is in front of you and your defensive back
(39:16):
is behind you.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 9 (39:18):
You try to say that it's not always the official
screwed up, that sometimes the players aren't good enough that
it's their own fault.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Can't both be true?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah? I think sometimes we make these slip second decisions
and then we get to watch them over and over
again and ask the big whyse I thought there's some
contact there? I quite honestly, I really didn't think there
was a lot of pass interference situation on that play.
I think the football is in front of him, and
I think they're trying to I think they're trying to
play for a penalty on the play, like I said, on.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
A route where he beat he beat his d back.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
I mean he had a step on him and you
got a quarterback at that point that's letting this rock
go knowing your speed, knowing your timing, and knowing where
that's football should be provided you continue to finish your route.
And I think he pulls up, and I think that's
the difference in the yard and a half. Now, whether
he makes the player or not, I can't tell you that,
but it was rather perplexing that he pulled up five
(40:12):
yards before that football got to where it got and
that football was a yard and a half in front
of him.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
That's one of those things like winners want the ball,
you know, and and well, look, the fear gets gets
into you sometimes, and I think you think you can
kind of weasele your way into a big play like
Limas Swede. But I I like Calvin Austin a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
I agree with you there. Also I think he's interference.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Okay, so this the other thing, the fumble, stripsack touchdown,
the big man touchdown for the Houston Texans last night,
Aaron Rodgers appeared to take a shot to the head.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Jean, what's say you?
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, but you're also now at that place where you're
kind of tucking it away and there's a lot of
bodies that that's a really hard play. The ref rand
because it's he did. Yeah, it's it is a hard play,
you know, I don't. I don't know that that's a
roughing the passer play when that, when that pocket collapses
like that, an arms start failing in there, and you're
you're you don't feel as much like a defenseless player
(41:14):
passer in that moment, I would say, But again looking
back as their contact to his head, Yes, I don't
know though that it didn't feel like it jumped off.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
Let's put it.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
This one didn't feel like it jumped off the screen
at me.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
As you watched that.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Collapse, you know, it looked like a football play, you know, Yeah?
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Gee none.
Speaker 9 (41:33):
Still a related question, have you ever had an analyst
situation such as the one you had at the end
of the first half in Jacksonville?
Speaker 3 (41:43):
And what's your regard like she witch?
Speaker 9 (41:46):
You mean, yeah, did they get the snap off and
we're the guys off side?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Now that was wild. I was watching that.
Speaker 9 (41:53):
Yes, do you have access to anything that we don't see?
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Or is it just because we don't go to tents, Mike?
You know, I just started to rewind feverishly trying to
put the play in its proper bucket, because when the
defense on a hurry up situation is behind the offensive
line and trying to get between tackles or guards to
get back online, and they end up because the offense
is legally set and a defensive players either try to
(42:18):
wiggle through like he's in a crowd of people and
get between a tackle and a guard or something. But
he's on the offensive side of the ball. It is
a dead ball file that immediately is blown dead as
soon as the censor starts to move the football because
he basically by rule is kind of what we would
call unabated because he's on the wrong side of the football.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
So it has nothing to do with the ball being spiked.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It has nothing to do with how long it takes
him to.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Snap the rocket.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
It's all down to as soon as that center starts
to move the football, it's over. It's a dead play.
And it is really like that was a frame by
frame play and the center does just start to hitch
even kind of what would be an illegal snap, right
I mean or something, and the defenses on the other side,
and again all the great technology does it mean now
(43:03):
every stadium gets retrofitted with tens of a second inside
of one second, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Because is there one, there is there zero?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
There we in that space in between and what does
that mean?
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Thing?
Speaker 1 (43:15):
I think most times more than not, probably in the past,
just because you know, we don't die sick things are happening.
Back then, this was just a half overplay, you know,
and then you didn't go all the way down the
rabbit hole. But we know how we live in this
day and age with every hundredth of a second as
a light year. So it was really close, and I
really thought that the center kind of flinched before I
(43:35):
could see a full zero, you know, where it sat
in between there. I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
How did you feel the weekends officiating went? Like?
Speaker 4 (43:46):
From a grade standpoint, yeah, there, you know, there was
you know, Mike just reference one of the questionable scenarios.
That was a bald don't lie moment though with Kim
Little missing the field goal after it was you know,
but yeah, what did you think in large of the
Zebra's job this weekend?
Speaker 1 (44:03):
I thought it was you know, look, I talked to
a good bit of them, not that it meant that much,
but I really did think that this week was played
where they kind of fished for the whales and not
the minnos overall, you know, it didn't feel like a
bunch of ticky tag stuff. I thought they let d
Bachs play and I thought they refereed and got big
plays right and manage games, and I thought it was
(44:25):
just this was maybe the most exciting I thought outside
of really the last two games where the points spread
changed after three quarters of football and the score maybe
wasn't a reflection of the majority of the game, which
was one possession games, and then the other ones were
just unbelievable wild card games. And no one is really
talking about officiating today, right, like nobody impacted the outcome
(44:50):
of the game this week. That's kind of the space
you live in right now for the next couple of weeks,
is you know, be anonymous, get your stuff right. Yep,
there's gonna be a couple hiccups. Let's mister big wins,
get the big ones, leave the little stuff alone. And
I thought they did that this week.
Speaker 4 (45:06):
First four games pretty good, last two not so great.
But man, the entertainment value of those first four games
pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yes, one hundred percent. I think we've got good matchups
going ahead. And you know, last night's a hard game. Man,
It's seven to six and it's a you know, it's
an ass kicking kind of game and nasty game, and
it makes every little play. I thought the DK drop
early in the game looking back now naturally right, Like
it's like when you have games like that, it's that
one drive where that one scenario and CJ. Stroud looked
(45:38):
as shook as you could see a quarterback look. And
that wasn't just because he was nervous about being in
the playoffs. It's because he was looking to see where TJ. Hausmitt,
that someone was as the ball was being snapped.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
You know he was. He was that concerned.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
You can see that human element kind of creeping in
those zoom and plays in his eyes, wondering where the
next threat was coming from. And a table set in
so many ways, you just needed to get over the hump.
But I don't know what point, Mikey, you would know
the stats, but third down conversions, right, and games like that,
it's extended to drive. It's one more possession, maybe one
(46:13):
more series, so I can punt the football from the
forty and not my own twenty, which flips a game
like that, you know, it's it's a different type of game.
And at the end, that defense just created turnovers that
we're used to seeing our defense create when we may
not have a great offensive day, which they did early.
You know, Houston's defense did it and did what we
(46:35):
normally do too and get points out of it, Like
if you guys can't score it, tonight will score for you.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
And I thought Houston did that.
Speaker 9 (46:43):
Jean, I'm glad you used the plural and third down
conversions because they did get two of them.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
There were two of them, Like is that what the funds?
Speaker 1 (46:54):
There?
Speaker 4 (46:54):
You go? When they got one in it, it was
like in the second half to Scanlon, like it felt
like a glass of water in the desert, and it
was like a way late in the game, like, oh my.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
God, I never thought that was gonna happen. We converted.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Yes, That's why I described the Steelers offense last night
as a fish flopping around on the deck of a
boat with no chance of getting back in the waters.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Were trying nothing, just ge't get over the side of
the boat.
Speaker 9 (47:27):
I would describe it as a fish that you told
before the game, don't bite the hole.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
And then it was all bloody and dead. Gina Gino
the Steelers, I know it looks like a nice worm.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
But there really is a hook in there, don't I.
Speaker 4 (47:52):
Hope a couple of guys around here get the hook
going in the next year, Jean. But but you're not
getting the hook where you're You're not off the hook.
We're getting you back on next week for more analysis
as we had in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Good Lady Games, Bill's.
Speaker 4 (48:05):
Broncos forty nine or Seahawks, Texans, Patriots and Rams Bears
this week and Jean's Territor brought to you by Schneider Downs.
Speaker 3 (48:13):
This morning on DV Thanks Geno, Thanks fellas, take care.
We'll see you all right on the way for you.
Abby's got a news update. We're a little prickly this morning.
Speaker 6 (48:21):
We're gonna talk about stressors that folks they are not
bringing into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
Rob came with a power hour stealers talk coming up
to Sometimes the biggest business challenges are the ones you
don't even know you have.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Schneider Downs helps clients solve those challenges. Tax and Accounting,
Digital
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Speaker 2 (00:14):
Gamee will to his left, gets a snap back to
past four man rush. Rogers pumps throws and it's intercepted,
picked off and running back the other way. It's Bullock
and Bullock down the left sideline. Rogers tries to pump him.
Bullock knocks off of Rogers and sprints him to the
end zone. The coup de gras a fifty one yard
interception return, and the Texans have turned this game into
(00:36):
a route.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Will that be the last throw that Aaron Rodgers ever
attempts in the NFL?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Will that be the end of a Hall of Fame
career for mister Rogers.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Mason Rudolph went in after that and cleaned up, So
that was it.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
For I thought he would have tried to get him
a Bullock out of bounds a little bit more, you know, Well,
he would have tried harder to tackle him, and he
just kind of olaid him. And I know, I don't
think that changes the outcome of the game. Just his
career doesn't have to end on that ugly of a note.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
We'll find out if this is it for Rogers. Minutes
before the draft. That's really how it feels. He's gonna
it's gonna be Rogers Watch all over again.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And I like.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
The idea that like he's like because he said last night, like, oh,
you know, I'm not gonna make any emotional decisions.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
I'm just gonna those are the only decisions he makes,
you know, exclusively makes emotional decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
And then like him just like walking on the beach
with the sad Hulk music playing behind him, or y
with a with a blanket and that dog that follows
him around that it might not be his dog.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I don't know on his dog, it's not his wife.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I don't want to make fun of his wife's situation
because I.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Don't think she was at that game. Maybe she's at
all of them, and you just don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Here's my My take has always been, she wears the
Steely mcbeam costume so that she can freely move him
on Steeler Nation. Oh my god, yeah, exactly, so that
he knew he could always look over to Steely and
tug his ear and she would, you know, wwind right
back to.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
I have to tell you that raised Alwadney and I
when we were off Mike yesterday kept saying that like,
if the result of last night's game didn't go well,
that we were going to pull the uh.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I never liked him.
Speaker 6 (02:44):
Like whenever your friend is dating somebody, Yeah, and kind
of have like a side eye about.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
If it doesn't go well, then be like, I always
hated the kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
And then if you get back together with him, be.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Like, no, no, I hated the way he treated you. Yeah,
that's what I meant.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I think He's far from the biggest problem the Steelers
have right now. Running this back again next year is
going to be tough. Oh, it's gonna be tough. Like
with the Buckos, you just you're completely immune to their futility.
I mean, what they've done in this postseason makes me think, hey,
maybe this will be a fun Bucko season. But we've
(03:23):
just been beaten down by them so much that the
belief that they would actually change anything long exited. So
seeing it get run back the same way each and
every year.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Was like, yeah, they go again. What a shame.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But there was this belief that the Steelers could turn
it around for those for four or five years.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
In the last two or three it's been hey, what
the what are we doing here? What is going on?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And then there was something this year about Okay, maybe
we're making the right steps and moving forward and we're
getting the right talent because Mike Tomlin came on this
radio show and said this defense would be historic, and
he was right for all the wrong reason because they
were historically bad at points and offensively, You're like, all right,
(04:05):
Aaron Rodgers. We didn't know if he was going to
be going on McAfee and causing the distraction each week
and then lit and behold, he didn't do any of that,
and he made it just about football, and he became
exactly the guy they needed in the locker room because
they needed a daddy in there.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
They desperately did.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
And you just saw everybody gravitate to him, like, well,
he's the best. You know, there's a celebrity component to it,
and all his NFL success, it makes sense that everyone
gravitated toward him, and like he did the opposite of
what he did in New York. He seemed to really
embrace that and make it all about football. And maybe
that's just a little bit because Pittsburgh is that special
(04:40):
of an environment. So I thought, Okay, this is going
to be good enough. But my god, Arthur Smith's offense
and lack of realization that the two best components you
have are gain Well and Warren and why we're not
going through them all f and day. Actually, in a
game like that last night, live to fight another day,
(05:03):
punt if you have to.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
CJ.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Stroud wanted to lose that game. It was a battle
of who is going to lose this game? Now who's
gonna win it?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
CJ.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Stroud looked like he had never played football for stakes
before ever, And just like the eye off the ball,
the snaps that he was dropping, Oh yeah, that's not
the It's like a bock in baseball, like you.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Get one in ten games, and he had three last night.
Offense couldn't capitalize on any of it. I mean, I
can't remember what our our points on turnovers were. I
think I think it was three. I'm not sure if
it was all six of our six points at Tji
Pumper recovery, it's three points. Yeah, So Aaron Rodgers and
the offense couldn't do anything. DK Metcalf. Doesn't matter if
(05:49):
DK's there, if they don't have a Number two gross
negligence on Omar and Mike Tomlin to not come up
with a number two for.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
The second year in a row.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I don't know how you watched that last year with
George Pickins and thought, now we can do it again.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
If it's Decay, it doesn't matter who it is.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I mean Jerry Rice in his prime, he had an
offensive line that was work in progress, but got enough
done up until that game last night in which they
got absolutely manhandled. But without Darnell Washington there, they'd seemed
to be okay with letting the line fen from themselves
and not giving the Edges any help. They started to
in the beginning of the game, and then they got
(06:25):
away from it. And when did they look good?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
In the beginning of the game.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
They were first drive, it looked like they were gonna
roll right down and score, and then they did on
the second one, oh so aggravating it just it felt
like they had an opportunity to understand what was working
and stick with that kind of game plan.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And I'm not sure what Arthur Smith thought.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Why he thought dropping his forty two year old quarterback
back without you know, help enough times and then empty
set on third and long and just let them get
teed off on I think terrible job by the coaches
last night. Number one game plan, bad execution by the
offensive line. Well, the old John McKay line. I'm in
favor of it. They were bad last night, really bad,
(07:09):
and they weren't doing anything special. There was just four
guys who were beating the hell out of them. So
the Steel season comes to an end, and I hate
to say that You're probably going to see a lot
of the same people in charge next year, but I
cannot see them making a change as a business. This
is a successful formula for now. But I know they
(07:30):
were the fire Tomlin chance again last night. Do you
want to go through another season of that? If things
go wrong? What do you do to ensure that they
get off to a good start and stay there next year?
If you stayed the course with Mike Tomlin. Who is
it in the draft that you think you're gonna jump
up and get You're a playoff team, You're not gonna
have a high draft position. You're gonna have to trade
away all of those picks you have to try and
(07:51):
move up.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
What if you can't? And do you take someone just
because who do you love? Right now?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
A lot of people have Mendozo's the heisman Trophy winner
as a third or fourth round guy, who's the NFL
quarterbow I don't know about it was number one man,
there's there was there's guys saying like, I'm not saying
he won't go in that round.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I'm saying he's kind of like the Kenny Pickett thing. Yeah, exactly,
he's made jump the gun yet, right, Yeah, uh no,
he'll go in the first round.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
But they're grading him like, you know, actually if you
take the hype away, which I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I never understood that part. Like the reason there's hype
is because he's good. But is the NFL good? I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Aaron Rodgers definitely was, but he lost a step and
was vulnerable last night.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He was pissed off. He didn't have anybody open. What
are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Adam Thielen was running in quicksand and Roman Wilson couldn't
even get a helmet.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Feeling was like our, you know, most productive guy, most
productive receiver last night. I'm terrified at what might have
happened with quarterback next year? What if it's Aaron Rodgers.
I feel like it's Aaron Rodgers or Mac Jones right
now or some Mac Jones equivalent, and I'm not pumped
(09:11):
about that either. I don't know if it's Aaron Rodgers,
and I guess it would depend who's behind him.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Kyler Murray.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Kyler Murray is the antithesis of what Tomlin thinks of
when he thinks about a quarterback. Right, yes, Kyler Murray
would be his all time favorite receiver. Nice short, right,
how are they going to bring Kyler Murray? And and
Calvin Austin is just towering over. He's like Calvin Austen, like, hey,
can you get the tape off the top shelf for me?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Please?
Speaker 6 (09:43):
If it is Aaron Rodgers but it's not Arthur Smith,
are you excited?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It depends who it is.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Mike McDaniel and Aaron Rodgers with an actual, legitimate receiving
corps fine, But John Smith was a joke. They didn't
throw the ball to frar Mouth all year after paying him.
And you know, Moose was the most exciting tight end
they had, and that was largely a component of what
he was doing in the running game.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
We had all these tight ends and no Number two
and we never used them.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Johnny Smith's abject failure just an absolute joke all year
wasn't even blocking what he was supposed to. I mean,
there were one or two times where he came through
and they used him interestingly on some enda rounds and
things like that, but by and large.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Failure their free agent pickups were a disaster.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Darius Slay was watching the game in Philadelphia on the
sidelines this weekend as a member of the Buffalo Bills.
It's not coaching that's the biggest problem. It's talent assessment.
They're awful at it. They are terrible at it is
does Peyton Wilson make you think he's gonna be the
second Coming?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
He can't play on rundowns.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
The hype around Peyton Wilson in the offseason and in
camp was crazy.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Patrick Wilson probably led and tackles this year Patrick Patrick Queen. Yeah,
but is he worth the biggest free agent contract that
we've ever given anybody before? DK Eckles made more plays
on defense than a lot of the big name guys.
Jalen Ramsey ended up using its safety all year. You
(11:18):
thought he was going to be another shutdown corner. Joey
Porter Junior awesome and another awesome game last night. Yeah,
But defensively, like Harmon. Okay, he's great. Cam had an
unbelievable year again, you know, second team All Pro. The
edge rushers are great. There's a lot of holes on
defense that I think also with TJ Watt, I'm not
(11:41):
sure that they ever utilize him in a way that
gets him from being chipped and rendered ineffective too often
in a game. The Browns do things to get Miles
Garrett freed up, and I don't think defensively the Steelers
did anything interesting to do that for TJ Watt. I
don't know if it's a Sydney Crosby thing, like I
(12:01):
don't want to play there now this is how I
do it, or if it's just Tara Austin going no,
he'll be okay.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
And he'll take two or three guys and then everyone
else will do their job. Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Pat Meyer I used to bash all the time, but
I thought that offensive line came pretty far this year
until last night, and they were terrible. Jalen Warren revelation
Kenny Gainwell best pickup they've had, and I mean there's
a reason he's the team MVP and on special teams.
Weightment over Cam Johnson. Great decision. Yeah, but they never
(12:35):
had a threat as a returner.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They don't have any.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Explosive players on offense. I don't understand what's gonna change
if we move forward with the same regime. I just
don't unless you think, like, well, it's there's a percentage
of a chance that you need to have. You need
a lottery ticket, and Mike Tomlin gets you that lottery
(13:01):
ticket every year, and then it's anybody's ballgame. And that
seems to be their mo o. We're good enough to
get to the dance and then maybe we'll get laid.
But they forgot there's more to it. Yeah, you more
likely to be back next year, Arthur Smith or Terrell Austin.
(13:23):
I feel like Terall Austin is more likely to be
back than Arthur Smith because of opportunity for Arthur Smithy
and I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps ship if
given a parallel opportunity, if able. But he's not like
getting interviewed by every team, right he interviewed by the Titans.
(13:44):
It's not like he's on the coaching carousel unless people
were waiting to find out.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
But I don't think. I don't think anything's gonna change.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I think they're just gonna say, no, all right, we
know what we did wrong last year and we got
to try to do better. And it just boils down
a talent assessment. Way too many misses in the draft,
way too many. You look at some of these teams
that are being effective in the postseason, and they are
loaded for bear, with solid players all over the board.
The Steelers have guys who you're like, wow, hopefully he'll
be able to figure it out. You know, they're thirty
(14:14):
five years old, and Sante Samuel trying to avoid any
contact in the secondary last night, driving me absolutely nuts.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's only so much you can do about injury.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
But their talent assessment has just been so garbage for
a couple of years. And I hate to keep harping
on it, but I'm pissed, just like everybody else who
didn't sleep and stay up and watch that last night.
I don't want Aaron Rodgers to return because it's just
there's a ceiling on this, I agree, And how he
made it through this year, I don't know. It's a
(14:44):
miracle to me. He's not the kind of forty two
that you're like Tom Brady, like, oh, he can come back,
and I think he could come back and still throw
the ball. And even though he was a little more
mobile than I thought he would be in the last
couple weeks especially, I think he's gonna get better at it.
He's just you're just waiting to put your backup in
(15:07):
with Aaron Rodgers next next year. Somehow you survived this year.
And he wasn't great when he did have open receivers
last night and a few times this year.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
You know that the Browns game, the Browns game, the
Chargers game, when he was off the entire time. This
was another set, huge second half let down. And like
when I think about the scoring chart of last night's game,
down seven to six, Okay, we can manufacture a bs
Field goal here, down ten to six, well, still totally possible.
(15:41):
When they went down eleven, it felt like they were
down by a thousand points.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
No scoring in the third quarter. They gave up twenty
three to the Texans in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Last night, it collapse to equavius marks one hundred and
twelve yards rushing. Christian Kirk destroyed them one hundred and
forty four yards receiving, And the defense wasn't really the problem.
The offense never made you think they were going to
be a threat. That's a very good defense. They should
(16:11):
have been able to do more than that. Where was Mouth?
How do you not work him into the equation a
little bit more? Just a very unevent un un uh
inventive offense from Arthur Smith. See some of the plays
that Houston running and you're like, yeah, that got that
guy open right there. It's a nice uh nice route
(16:34):
Like what routes was was John new Smith running all
year long.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Free yard out in the flat turn around and wait,
what the why did why did we get this guy?
Why did we spend all this money on this dude?
Wait and never look ready miss blocks?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah, false start, critical false start last night, absolute joke.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
But Mike Tomlin is a Hey, he's a Hall of
Fame coach and he's coming back if he wants to.
Everybody knows that. The question is does he want to?
With how many firings we've seen?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
And this little like you know, spin the lazy season
in the AFC, like I mean, other coaches that are available,
like has your mind been running at all?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Here?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
They missed the big chance for the coach that their
next chuck No was Mike Ramble, and when he was available,
it was like bad timing because you knew that Tomlin
hadn't done enough to get fired yet. But he was
headed in that direction and they had a guy who
could have been the perfect Steeler coach, and uh, it
(17:47):
was not to be. Now, Like Damashek was saying, Ben
Johnson was.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I'm not so sure.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
I and what Ben Johnson is doing in Chicago's remarkable
and with that team it works. I'm not so sure
if he is going to be the guy long term.
I don't know about his style yet. You know, like
there's not I'm not sure if that works when there's
less talent.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
On the team. I feel like he could lose a team.
I don't know yet. He might be the second coming.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
But Rabel is a guy who gets teams who aren't
that great to play way above their talent level, I think.
And he gets guys to believe that that Patriots team
is pretty well coached. And what he's done with Drake
May in terms of developing a quarterback, which.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is what you're gonna need someone to do. Who is
Tomlin developed?
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Not Mason?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Hey, he was one for one last night. He's got
a QBR seventy one.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Don't you besmirch Mason, I'm not, and his mustache and
all the mirth that he brought to that locker room.
Mason and his mirth were one of the few bright
spots this year.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
When he went in the game, I opened Twitter out
of boredom and was immediately comforted by the picture of
him holding the jackfruit in overalls.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
With penny loafers on. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I didn't even
know people wear penny loafers. And do you put the
penny in the penny loafer? Mason does and that's all
that matters. Thank God for Mason's mirth.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
The Steelers with another disappointing one and done in the postseason.
This was a winnable game for them, and that was
the frustrating part. When it was seven to six. Pat muldowney,
who's pittsburgher who's been working for Fox, had worked for
Fox Sports for many year, tweeted out last night, I
don't know how to explain this to somebody who's not watching,
(19:38):
but the Steelers are currently getting their ass kicked seven
to six, and I thought that was the perfect description
of that game.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
At no point did you believe that they were going
to start rolling on that Houston defense. There was exposing us.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
If I was Demiko Ryan, in fact, I would have
been way more conservative with the Houston offense because the
only trouble they were getting in with CJ. Stroud making
colossal mistakes. I think they simplified when when CJ. Stroud
was starting to get the yips there, they you know,
they shortened the playbook and did things that he was
absolutely going to complete. I mean never, we never go downfield.
(20:18):
Never the end of the game. They did out of desperation.
At that point, it's too late. There's no weapons, the
team is poorly constructed. They got to figure this out,
and I'm sure they will. And I feel really good
about this year.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Guys.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I'm just saying, you know, we'll be back and we'll
feel good about whatever the hell they're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And at the time we're idiots. Everything they did seemed
like it was great.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Darius lay was on a Super Bowl champion last year,
our secondary and now we got Ramsey back there too.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Dude, it's gonna be nuts. Wan Thornhill was just banged
up exactly, and it was it was a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
They're free agents that I mean they batted what probably
like five hundred on free agent pickups.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, what which isn't good enough?
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I mean, I mean five hundred played, you know what
I mean, not like five hundred like they were great
and you know the other half weren't count.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Dugger is a hit. Dougger is a hit. They couldn't
even get on the field though, the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I don't know if something was up with him or not,
but I thought the first couple of weeks he made
his blash. Yeah, I think that. You know, not having
Elliott was big. Oh man, Yes, that really screwed things up.
But at no point going into the season.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Where you're like the corner stone on this defense is
going to be Elliott no impact player though Yep, Ecles
was the same way.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Eckles would always make a big play, came up with
another big one last night, and then he would get
hurt and be out for two weeks every single time.
The problem is it's going to be super annoying to
listen to the Mike Tomlin discourse for another year.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
If he's coming back. I I'm marrible.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's just going to be overwhelming because I don't if
there's any Steeler fans who are super excited to see
Mike Tomlin come back right.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Now, and that's a problem. But he's got another year.
Yeah he's not. I mean, so it would have to
be him choosing at this point. It's him choosing, and
your fan base is not excited about it. They were.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
There was a smattering of fire Tomlin going on again
last night, but not as bad as the Bills game.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
No, okay, And that's a tough position to be in.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
You have to really put together an incredible squad, and
last year that was the predicament they were in and
their end result did not bear out.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Again.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
This year was a failure the Aaron Rodgers experiment. I
guess you could call it a failure because they didn't
win a playoff game. And if they had Mason Rudolph
as their starting quarterback this year, how much different would
it have been.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They might not even made the postseason, but they would
have had a better draft position. So it's this constant
purgatory of never good enough to do anything substantial in
the postseason and never bad enough to make wholesale changes.
And that's what it's like to be a Pittsburgh Steeler
(23:15):
fan for an entire generation of Steeler fans. Now at
this point, we're coming up on ten frickin' years. That
is a lot and part of what I think the
elation of what last week was. Certainly it was knocking
the Ravens out. Like I said, the manner in which
that game unfolded, it was just so drama filled, got
(23:37):
Harbaugh fired. Felt like a playoff game because it's winning.
In part of it was just remembering that we used
to have that feeling all the time, but forgetting what
it was like in the whole town remembered.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
We used to feel like this every year for years.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
We'd go into the playoffs and we were gonna win one,
maybe two games, and it was just get to the
championship game and then you know, that is your lottery ticket.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Now it's like we might sneak into.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
The wild card if Houston can beat Indianapolis with their
backup quarterback, and then if the Chargers, you know, all
of these scenarios have to play out for us to
even sniff the postseason a. Winning the AFC North this
year atop the division, taking the AFC North crown felt
(24:30):
like finally Okay, we determined our own destiny.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
This year is gonna be different. Notes notes not so frustrating. Yeah,
how do you run that back again? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I mean you have to look at it without emotion
and from a business standpoint, were their butts in the
seats all year? Of course, stadium's packed. They win enough
games that plenty of people go. Television ratings pretty igh.
(25:07):
People love the Steelers, put them in primetime quite a bit.
It's the bob nutting thing. At some point, Well, we're
making a lot of money doing this, but at some
point it's going to turn around.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
It's the slow creep into the vibe and energy that
they have now. It's like if you zapped yourself back
to ten years ago when they beat the Chiefs, which
they had to do because Alex Smith was the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
That's a must win play. Yeah yeah, and then you.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Know, comparing that feeling to now, Yeah, the slow just
the amount of Tomlin detractors, the everything going on, Oh no,
franchise quarterback Steelers.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Twitter is going to be unbearable for another year.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
But this three week peer read here going into the
super Bowl is going to be I might have to
mute eight hundred accounts.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, this is going to be the same thing.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Get rid of them doing the same thing over and
over and expecting a different result is a definition of insanity.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
I yet news stories when podcasters hire skyriders to do
fire Tomlin.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, well that's what I thought it had been funny,
is you know how the controversy over Liam Cohen having
that woman from the Jacksonville Free Press and there going.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
You did good baby, you know whatever?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
She was like, you know, yeah, she was like, you know,
a hilariously sort of comforting woman in the press room,
which created that whole you know, kerfuffle online, which I
think is insane. But the Steelers version of that would
have been like Kevin Adams and Jersey Jerry going, hey,
just why to let you know that we put together
(26:55):
a go fund me to buy billboards to say you sucking,
you should be fired all overf hang your head low,
and just we just want to let you know that
we are fomenting a movement to get you out of town.
So just so you know that, I don't have a question. Actually,
this is what the pressure room is now. We just
(27:16):
tell you whether you're good or bad. In your bad
and you suck and we hate you. And there's getting
to be t shirts that we're selling right now on
our website that say tire Fomlin.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
My quick announcement for you just not engaging him in
a question. My quick announcement. We're going to buy the
Pondla Hockey billboard and we're going to defame you. We're
going to come after you pretty hard. Nothing's off limits,
so just you know, keep an eye out. Early next
week is what it's looking like it and that's my time.
(27:49):
I'll turn it over to you, coach.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yeah yeah, Steelers round Table dot com over here, just
want to let you know we are praying for your
demise as a coach and hoping that you're really deciding
to go into TV this year. I have no question,
this is comments, this is what people want. I just
want to let you know that we're tired of your
bs and that you play old old people who aren't
(28:13):
good anymore because they're they like you because you hired them,
like collecting old dogs that nobody wants to adopt. No
question at this time. It's just that you're terrible. Thank you,
Mike Steeler Arsenal dot blogspot dot com. I just want
to say, I actually we held a seance last night.
(28:37):
I paid a few Wiccan priestesses to curse you and
a family again.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Not a question, not a question, just a bad job.
Just wanted to say, bad job. That's it.
Speaker 8 (28:53):
Live from the Don's Appliances Studios, where Pittsburgh shops for appliances.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
This is WTV.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Can you played the greatest foll in the world for me.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Only if you can dick it.
Speaker 8 (29:06):
Let us know your lunch requests on our socials phone
or the talkback button on the iHeartRadio app that one
you picked this songs on the Electric Lunch at noon
on DV.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
From the Seedon Hill University Weather Center. Schedule your campus
visit today. This report is sponsored by Mattress Firm.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Gonna be partly clouding to mostly okay, all right, yeah,
look we're we're calming down it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It'd be fine. No, No, we're not.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
The more I see online, the angry I'm getting Mike
pursuit of joining us. Now for postgame reaction from last night,
Steelers lost to the Houston Texas thirty to six at
Acriscuer Stadium, and uh, the crowd was never really into
it in the second half and who could blame.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Them, didn't have a reason to get into it. Yeah,
it did feel like they were a million miles behind
when it was seven to six. Yeah, and ten six,
but the potential was there to deal the game, and
they just couldn't even again like the Cleveland game, couldn't
come up with one touchdown.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Hard to win that way. I just don't know what
you how do you say, Okay, Arthur Smith, let's do
that again.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Yeah, I think there are going to be changes. I
don't think it'll be the head coach unless he wants
to change. And Mike Tomlin, well, in the midst of
his or an immediate aftermath, I should say, of his
seventh straight playoff disappointment, he wasn't really interested in contemplating
his future.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
I'm not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight.
I'm more in a mindset of what transpired in this stadium,
and you know, certainly what we did and didn't do.
Not a big picture mentality is sit here tonight.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
Aaron Rodgers wasn't much interested in contemplating his future either,
but Rodgers was adamant and extensive and insisting there shouldn't
be any question about Tomlin.
Speaker 10 (30:58):
I mean, this league has changed my twenty one years.
You know, when you hear conversation about the the Mike
Tomlins of the world, Matt Lafleur's of the world, those
are just two that kind of played for And when
I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation
about whether those guys were on the hot seat, you know.
(31:21):
But the way that the league is covered now and
the way that there's snap decisions and the validally given
to the you know, the Twitter experts and all the
you know experts on TV now who who you make
it seem like they know what the hell they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
To me, that's an absolute joke.
Speaker 10 (31:40):
And for either of those two guys to be on
the hot seat is is really apropos of where we're
at the society in the league.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Because.
Speaker 10 (31:51):
Obviously Matt's done a lot of great things in Green
Bay and we had a lot of success. Mike t
He's had more success, and damn there anybody in the
league you know, from for the last nineteen twenty years
and more than that, though, when you have the right
guy and the culture is right, you don't think about
making a change. But there's a lot of pressure that
(32:13):
comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from
time to time, but it's not how I would do things,
and not how the league used to be.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
Rogers apparently had set his piece regarding Mike Tomlin at
that juncture, because another thing he wasn't interested in entertaining
was a follow up question about Tomlin.
Speaker 10 (32:34):
And I've answered that a number of times. I've talked
extensively about I feel about Mike and I and I
just did not an answer.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
So ool sassy, I keep that woman from Jacksonville up here. Yeah,
Jack the Jacksonville love FETs right. He was right the
hot seat.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Maybe you do all the drugs now, you take all
the time you need, you get in the darkness and
you do whatever you need.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
You tribute fun with that in the press box before
the game. I'm sure the contests of the press is society.
People are defending it, particularly people in the media.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
I just have well, I think that, uh, I think
that it's a lot of people arguing different points that
you know that. I think people are genuinely okay with
positivity and any sort of kindness sentiment being expressed. It's
(33:42):
just context, that's all. And people's misunderstanding what context is
or is Like McAfee and those guys were like, this
is the greatest thing ever, but that is that well.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
I mean I like all those clowns.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I like all those guys, but like I think they
do a job print of what the job is being
done in there, do you know what I mean? Like
it would be like if somebody burst into a an
operating room and they were like, you know what, just
want to let the patient know before he goes under.
You're doing great and everything's fine. It's like, okay, this
(34:19):
that that's a nice sentiment, but we're actually doing something
different in here than what you're doing. And the difference
is is that the old media and this the newer
media have been sort of melded together in a way
like that in a way that the old media is
not really okay.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
With and they're kind of getting the bed together.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Yeah no, I agree, level, but it's it's not just sports, yes,
and this is the minor And that's where people I
think were so outraged on your nose, right, I mean yeah,
but if you have a no goiter, I just want
to say, uh, you know, I had mine removed from
the doctor will up in Wexford.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Descriptive enough, Yes, now I get it. With the paint picture,
I get it.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
It's a very frustrating morning, frustrating day, frustrating to be
a Stealer fan right now, losing in a valiant effort.
I would have been okay with Now. You wouldn't more
than this because it's not actually easier now. It doesn't
point to like we've never learned our lesson.
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yeah, it's a Randy's point.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
It makes it so that.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
We don't have any assurances that anything will change exactly
we went.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Those are enough? How many of those do you have
in life? Heavy?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
My assurance? You stopped trying to trust me.
Speaker 9 (35:55):
If they got beat twenty seven to twenty six on
a fifty nine yard field goal at the gun, you'd
feel worse and you're to be picking three or four plays.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Why did they do this?
Speaker 4 (36:05):
They do that?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Oh my god, we're so close?
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Well, okay, we were so close is not something I
uttered at all last night and we were down by
one point for most of the game, and I was like,
we're getting our ass kicked. Yeah, and we're down by
a point. How is Houston not up by twenty asked
Meat belt. All right, do you have to do phrase
now something like that?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Look now it's a belt to ask belt to ask
not ask meat belt. It is now and now it's
asked meat belt. Now that's kinky wrestling in Lawrence film.
Ass wet belt belt as screwed.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
That up because Moe Man gave me a lot of
experience with that. Jeans Sterotor joining us when we come
back here on.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
DV, we get it.
Speaker 8 (36:51):
Some of you tune in at one O two point
five and others listened to their smart device.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
No matter how you listen, it's burg to Rocker is DV.
He's always rocked and always will rocked.
Speaker 6 (37:02):
DV Playoff Football hits different Thaners.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
One two point five DV.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Our next guest is brought to you by Schneider Down
see what big thinking with a personal focus can do
for you.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
From the NFL on CBS, it's Geneing the Reviewing the
geez Rator Morning Gino, how are you.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Going, buddy?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I mean, I'm miserable. That was awful.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
It doesn't give me any hope that anything's ever going
to change, and it just seems like I'm rooting for
you know, two of the three teams I'm rooting for
won't learn anything from their mistakes, and I'm doomed to
be in this Sissifian uh fan experience the.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Rest of my life. Other than that, so rare. I mean,
how things going, Yeah, yeah, pretty good? I mean New
Year's man, can't can't really complain. Well, let me let me,
let me let me ask you this.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
You know, the first one I want to ask you
about is the Calvin Austin play where you know, Aaron
and Calvin were trying to get a p I call
there and who was.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
The It was a Dean Blanding. Who's on the I
don't know, is that the game? I don't know who's
the official DFP last night? I think is Russell York Russe.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Kay he said oh yeah, He's like, oh yeah, no, no,
this is not pass interference. Their feet got tangled, no interference.
But you can see the dB kind of yanking his shoulder,
passed down his shoulder, grabbing a turn. What's the Eugene.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I think that the ball was two and a half
yards in front of Calvin Austin, and I'm just perplexed
from a football standpoint that he.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Slowed down at that point. Might be on agreed, and to.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Me it appeared that he was looking to play that
make a play for a foul instead to make it
a play on a ball when you had a step
on your d back and the ball was thrown ahead
of you to accelerate. Why are you decelerating five yards
before the catchpoint to try to draw something when the
football is in front of you and your defensive back
(39:16):
is behind you.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 9 (39:18):
You try to say that it's not always the official
screwed up, that sometimes the players aren't good enough that
it's their own fault.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Can't both be true?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah? I think sometimes we make these slip second decisions
and then we get to watch them over and over
again and ask the big whyse I thought there's some
contact there? I quite honestly, I really didn't think there
was a lot of pass interference situation on that play.
I think the football is in front of him, and
I think they're trying to I think they're trying to
play for a penalty on the play, like I said, on.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
A route where he beat he beat his d back.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
I mean he had a step on him and you
got a quarterback at that point that's letting this rock
go knowing your speed, knowing your timing, and knowing where
that's football should be provided you continue to finish your route.
And I think he pulls up, and I think that's
the difference in the yard and a half. Now, whether
he makes the player or not, I can't tell you that,
but it was rather perplexing that he pulled up five
(40:12):
yards before that football got to where it got and
that football was a yard and a half in front
of him.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
That's one of those things like winners want the ball,
you know, and and well, look, the fear gets gets
into you sometimes, and I think you think you can
kind of weasele your way into a big play like
Limas Swede. But I I like Calvin Austin a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
I agree with you there. Also I think he's interference.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Okay, so this the other thing, the fumble, stripsack touchdown,
the big man touchdown for the Houston Texans last night,
Aaron Rodgers appeared to take a shot to the head.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Jean, what's say you?
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, but you're also now at that place where you're
kind of tucking it away and there's a lot of
bodies that that's a really hard play. The ref rand
because it's he did. Yeah, it's it is a hard play,
you know, I don't. I don't know that that's a
roughing the passer play when that, when that pocket collapses
like that, an arms start failing in there, and you're
you're you don't feel as much like a defenseless player
(41:14):
passer in that moment, I would say, But again looking
back as their contact to his head, Yes, I don't
know though that it didn't feel like it jumped off.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
Let's put it.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
This one didn't feel like it jumped off the screen
at me.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
As you watched that.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Collapse, you know, it looked like a football play, you know, Yeah?
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Gee none.
Speaker 9 (41:33):
Still a related question, have you ever had an analyst
situation such as the one you had at the end
of the first half in Jacksonville?
Speaker 3 (41:43):
And what's your regard like she witch?
Speaker 9 (41:46):
You mean, yeah, did they get the snap off and
we're the guys off side?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Now that was wild. I was watching that.
Speaker 9 (41:53):
Yes, do you have access to anything that we don't see?
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Or is it just because we don't go to tents, Mike?
You know, I just started to rewind feverishly trying to
put the play in its proper bucket, because when the
defense on a hurry up situation is behind the offensive
line and trying to get between tackles or guards to
get back online, and they end up because the offense
is legally set and a defensive players either try to
(42:18):
wiggle through like he's in a crowd of people and
get between a tackle and a guard or something. But
he's on the offensive side of the ball. It is
a dead ball file that immediately is blown dead as
soon as the censor starts to move the football because
he basically by rule is kind of what we would
call unabated because he's on the wrong side of the football.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
So it has nothing to do with the ball being spiked.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It has nothing to do with how long it takes
him to.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Snap the rocket.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
It's all down to as soon as that center starts
to move the football, it's over. It's a dead play.
And it is really like that was a frame by
frame play and the center does just start to hitch
even kind of what would be an illegal snap, right
I mean or something, and the defenses on the other side,
and again all the great technology does it mean now
(43:03):
every stadium gets retrofitted with tens of a second inside
of one second, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Because is there one, there is there zero?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
There we in that space in between and what does
that mean?
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Thing?
Speaker 1 (43:15):
I think most times more than not, probably in the past,
just because you know, we don't die sick things are happening.
Back then, this was just a half overplay, you know,
and then you didn't go all the way down the
rabbit hole. But we know how we live in this
day and age with every hundredth of a second as
a light year. So it was really close, and I
really thought that the center kind of flinched before I
(43:35):
could see a full zero, you know, where it sat
in between there. I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
How did you feel the weekends officiating went? Like?
Speaker 4 (43:46):
From a grade standpoint, yeah, there, you know, there was
you know, Mike just reference one of the questionable scenarios.
That was a bald don't lie moment though with Kim
Little missing the field goal after it was you know,
but yeah, what did you think in large of the
Zebra's job this weekend?
Speaker 1 (44:03):
I thought it was you know, look, I talked to
a good bit of them, not that it meant that much,
but I really did think that this week was played
where they kind of fished for the whales and not
the minnos overall, you know, it didn't feel like a
bunch of ticky tag stuff. I thought they let d
Bachs play and I thought they refereed and got big
plays right and manage games, and I thought it was
(44:25):
just this was maybe the most exciting I thought outside
of really the last two games where the points spread
changed after three quarters of football and the score maybe
wasn't a reflection of the majority of the game, which
was one possession games, and then the other ones were
just unbelievable wild card games. And no one is really
talking about officiating today, right, like nobody impacted the outcome
(44:50):
of the game this week. That's kind of the space
you live in right now for the next couple of weeks,
is you know, be anonymous, get your stuff right. Yep,
there's gonna be a couple hiccups. Let's mister big wins,
get the big ones, leave the little stuff alone. And
I thought they did that this week.
Speaker 4 (45:06):
First four games pretty good, last two not so great.
But man, the entertainment value of those first four games
pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yes, one hundred percent. I think we've got good matchups
going ahead. And you know, last night's a hard game. Man,
It's seven to six and it's a you know, it's
an ass kicking kind of game and nasty game, and
it makes every little play. I thought the DK drop
early in the game looking back now naturally right, Like
it's like when you have games like that, it's that
one drive where that one scenario and CJ. Stroud looked
(45:38):
as shook as you could see a quarterback look. And
that wasn't just because he was nervous about being in
the playoffs. It's because he was looking to see where TJ. Hausmitt,
that someone was as the ball was being snapped.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
You know he was. He was that concerned.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
You can see that human element kind of creeping in
those zoom and plays in his eyes, wondering where the
next threat was coming from. And a table set in
so many ways, you just needed to get over the hump.
But I don't know what point, Mikey, you would know
the stats, but third down conversions, right, and games like that,
it's extended to drive. It's one more possession, maybe one
(46:13):
more series, so I can punt the football from the
forty and not my own twenty, which flips a game
like that, you know, it's it's a different type of game.
And at the end, that defense just created turnovers that
we're used to seeing our defense create when we may
not have a great offensive day, which they did early.
You know, Houston's defense did it and did what we
(46:35):
normally do too and get points out of it, Like
if you guys can't score it, tonight will score for you.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
And I thought Houston did that.
Speaker 9 (46:43):
Jean, I'm glad you used the plural and third down
conversions because they did get two of them.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
There were two of them, Like is that what the funds?
Speaker 1 (46:54):
There?
Speaker 4 (46:54):
You go? When they got one in it, it was
like in the second half to Scanlon, like it felt
like a glass of water in the desert, and it
was like a way late in the game, like, oh my.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
God, I never thought that was gonna happen. We converted.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Yes, That's why I described the Steelers offense last night
as a fish flopping around on the deck of a
boat with no chance of getting back in the waters.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Were trying nothing, just ge't get over the side of
the boat.
Speaker 9 (47:27):
I would describe it as a fish that you told
before the game, don't bite the hole.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
And then it was all bloody and dead. Gina Gino
the Steelers, I know it looks like a nice worm.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
But there really is a hook in there, don't I.
Speaker 4 (47:52):
Hope a couple of guys around here get the hook
going in the next year, Jean. But but you're not
getting the hook where you're You're not off the hook.
We're getting you back on next week for more analysis
as we had in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Good Lady Games, Bill's.
Speaker 4 (48:05):
Broncos forty nine or Seahawks, Texans, Patriots and Rams Bears
this week and Jean's Territor brought to you by Schneider Downs.
Speaker 3 (48:13):
This morning on DV Thanks Geno, Thanks fellas, take care.
We'll see you all right on the way for you.
Abby's got a news update. We're a little prickly this morning.
Speaker 6 (48:21):
We're gonna talk about stressors that folks they are not
bringing into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
Rob came with a power hour stealers talk coming up
to Sometimes the biggest business challenges are the ones you
don't even know you have.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Schneider Downs helps clients solve those challenges. Tax and Accounting,
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