January 16, 2026 • 31 mins
Mark takes your calls and is joined by Tim Benz to talk about the Steelers coaching search.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The best fits.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It'll come down to who interviews best, which is how
Tom got hired. Like at the last minute they thought
it was going to be Russ Grimm.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
They just about had given him the job.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In fact, depending on what story you believe, and I
believe the story Mike pursued A wrote in the Beaver
Connie Times at the time, which is that Grim got
hired and the Steelers were nicked, but Tom went impressed
at the last minute. I think there was some pressure
put on the Steelers by themselves, by mister Rooney to
(00:31):
hire an African America because the Rooney rule about interviewing
and hiring minorities had just been put in place thet
But it's going to come down the interview process. I'm
surprised Clint Kubiak isn't on the list of interviews Seattle's
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
But I don't know. Maybe just one Kubiak's as good
as the next.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Maybe the Steelers are mixed up and they think there
is only one Kubiak.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Kevin's Stefanski. Boy, this gets me hot. Kevin Stefanski should
be interviewed, should be given great consideration to.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Get the job. But he's not on the list. He's
not going to get considered.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Like I said, Flores was a bummy head coach in Miami,
but he's in the mix. Here's my hunch, Like I
said yesterday, I think I did I my memory fades?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
What am I doing? What's this microphone for?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
My hunch is that the Steelers would like to hire
Schule and shehas from the Rams. Shula is head coach
and shehas is the offensive coordinator. That makes sense to
me anyway, I'd want to do that, But why would she,
ohas want to make what's essentially a lateral move to
a worst team and a worst quarterback. Keep that in mind,
(01:50):
chances are that the quarterback the Steelers get, whoever they use,
ain't going to be Matthew Stafford unless it's Matthew Stafford,
who if you believe the the talk and I don't.
But people say they had a chance to get him
this in the prior offseason. But Shielhaus, like Tom said,
a moment Ago, is better off just staying in LA
you know, you know, strengthen his learning under McVeigh and
(02:15):
get a better job than the Steelers are going to offer.
If indeed it's offensive coordinator. But if it's head coach,
well that's a horse of a different calorie and a color.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
What is say calorie?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh, a horse of a different color and a much
bigger salary.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I hammered together.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Color and salary because I'm going into florid dimension and
I try to talk too fast.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Too Now again, I don't know who they're going to hire.
Neither do you. Neither does anybody who says they know.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Because the Steelers really do defend depend a lot, as
the Tomlin hire indicates, they depend an awful lot on
the interview process. So it's whoever interviews best, whoever makes
the best dempression on Art, on Danny and on Omar Kah.
And you never know if a coordinator is going to
turn out to be a good head coach. Josh McDaniels
case in point, one of the best offensive coordinators ever ever,
(03:16):
but LOSSI head coach and now doing what he should
be doing, which is offensive coordinator for New England from
whence he came with a great quarterback in Drake May,
and they're getting things done. The coordinator actually coaches football.
The head coach has to be more of a CEO
(03:37):
and a couple of tomas weaknesses is that he wasn't
a good CEO. He didn't like to delegate responsibility, and
the other is that he took on too much responsibility.
We got a Stephen A. Smith's SoundBite talking about how
Omar Khan should be fired because you look at all
the quarterbacks Toman had to work with. Tomlin picked all
those quarterbacks he signed. I wanted to get Rogers, wanted
(04:01):
to get ross Uh, There's no doubt about that. But
that's Steven ignoring the facts because it's easier for him
to blame Omar Kahn for a number of agendas. But
when we talk about who we think the Steeler should
hire to be the head coach, when we talk about
who they who we think they will hires the head coach, we're.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Just throwing crap at the wall.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Period. That is all we're doing. You can call now
for calls on the fifteens.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
For one two.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know it's fun. I got to text with Dave
from Dave maul and Airy, the Penguins writer. I almost
set his number for the number to call. It's better
that that didn't happen. Number to call is eight three,
three four one two WXDX that's a three three four
one two w xdx or the super secret number to
call where you get on quicker four one two three
three three w xdx. Another couple of topics we can discuss.
(04:59):
Rayfa Apolo said, it's fifty to fifty Cam comes back.
What would be best for the Steelers. I think it'd
be best to bring Cam back as that locker room
leader for the transition and trade TJ.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You got enough edge rushers and want ain't orts what
you're paying him, and I doubt anybody would want to
trade for that contract, let alone give up much at all.
But I trade Wat for like a fourth or fifth
round pick if somebody would take the contract, because you
still got her big and high smith and of course
the modern day warrior Jack Sawyer, and I would like
(05:34):
to see a big move like that, mate, I'd like
to see him trade.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
What maybe cut Jalen.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I don't know what you do with DK if you
would get rid of him somehow cut him, trade and whatever.
And they re guaranteed the money, so there's that. But
with DK, if you get rid of him, you're starting
the passing game all over. And with this team needs
more than anything is a better passing game and a
better emphasis thereof Heck, I'm even hoping they might do
(05:59):
something out rageou and get a legitimate number two wide out,
which they haven't had for the last two years. But
but I think they're not going to organizationally reset the
philosophy of the kind of head coach they hire, nor
the kind of emphasis they put regarding defensive football sector.
They're not going to change that. But they are clearing
(06:20):
out the coaching staff. That's a big change. I think
if they traded Watt and cut Ramsey, that would indicate
that they they are doing more than just changing coaches,
that they really are going to do a bigger reset
than that for next year. You know, you know what
the terrorists always say, if you want to get their attention,
shoot a hostage and this would be that. Up next
(06:44):
calls on the fifteens, Get your calls in now, and
I'll give you a Dave mull and Airey's number right
after that, one oh five nine x the ex at one.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
You know what's coming up? That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Penn State's playing that outdoor hockey game on the thirtieth,
which I can't go to because I'll be in Niagara Falls,
Ontario to see the guests who reunion with Burton Cummings
and Randy Backman. But maybe we'll get Guy Gdowski and
the coach, or better yet, I'll call my buddy Riz
who works for Pat Prison the agent, and get his guy,
(07:22):
Gavin mckennahon, the heralded.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Freshman of Penn State, who is just I know his productions.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Not with with with the so called experts in the media. Boy,
I'm criticizing my own kind. But you know, he's seventeen
years old. He's playing against twenty year old freshmen at
Penn State and he's doing fine, and he'll be the
first player picked.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
He went there to improve, not run up stats.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
McKenna could have scored a billion points in juniors, but
he went to Penn State to play D one to
get better and more power to him.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I really respect that.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Riz represents a lot of great players like McKenna, Sid
Taves and Kine back when fan Tilly, who's going to
be in toime tomorrow with the comas Blue Jackson.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
By the way, we'll be talking to.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Jody Shelley, blue Jackets color analyst, former NHL player in
the five o'clock hour but right now it's time for
calls on the fifteenths still not sponsored. Let's go to
Dave Dave run with double M.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Hey, Mark, I just wanted to ask you real quick,
why do you think Joe Brady, who has a kind
of a tie to the area, he spent some time
at Penn State and a great offense in Buffalo, why
he's not being considered for the job in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Probably because he's an offensive coordinator. They're just looking, you know,
like I said, of the eight known interviewees, six are
defensive coordinators.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And also because.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I mean, how good's that Buffalo offense been and how
much of it is X's and O's and and Joe Brady?
How much is just having Superman a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
You know, I didn't really take that into consideration, but
you know, I just thought he might at least get
a chance.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He might.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yet, let's see how the interview process goes for the
eight guys they have scheduled.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Let's go to Eric, Hey, super genius. Have you said
it a couple of times that if arch Manning were
to be drafted by the Steelers, he would refuse to
play here. Why do you think that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Is well, No, I didn't say he would. I said
I would if I were him. I think that's because
Uncle Eli, you know, did it when he got drafted
by San Diego and finagled his way to the Giants.
But that's still okay if you draft arts, because san
Diego got Philip Rivers in return in that deal to
send Eli to New York, and that worked out pretty
good for the Chargers, although Eli won a couple Super
(09:48):
Bowls in New York. I mean it worked out fine
both ways. Also, I mean depending on who they hire
as coach. Put it this way, if I were Arch
and Tomill were still the coach, I would not have
wanted to come here any circumstances. Tomlin did not know
what to do with quarterbacks, not how to draft and
how to develop, and really ultimately as much as anything, Eric,
(10:08):
don't you think that was his undoing?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I have absolutely agree.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He drafted Kenny Pickett in the first rot Lets you
keep emphasizing that, how could a ma's a permanent stain?
How could it not be?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Let's go to Nick in the truck.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Hey, Mark, don't forget we made out pretty well in
that deal too. We would have never gotten Roethlisberger. If
that didn't occur with Eli and Philip Rivers.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, no, that's that's not true because they were both
drafted above Ben. I think Ben would have still been
there when the Steelers picked that up number eleven.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
I think it was according to Ben in some interviews
in like those NFL shows or whatever, he said specifically,
I would have never ended up with the Steelers. But
I'm just going off by that.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
But what I did call for is I don't know.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Who I want, but I know what I want.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Do you know, out of all the options, if there
are anybody that are proven winners with developing talent or
even being able to scout the proper talent, because that
is what we are extremely lacking in.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Well, I don't want them to scout the talent. I
want the coach to receive the talent given to him
by the general manager. Although I would hire a better
general manager, or I would get Andy widelmore involved, but
this coach needs to trust the scouting and the evaluation
done by his staff who were hired specifically to do
those duties, as opposed to try to just bigfoot everything,
(11:27):
which Tomlin definitely did.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
I would assume that the ones that were head coaches,
they would have had the staff that scouted.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
That's what I'm pretty much asking like they.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Were smart enough to make sure that they had the
proper avenue.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, but Flores is the only guy with prior head
coaching experience and it wasn't good for him in Miami.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Let's go to Ron.
Speaker 7 (11:53):
Hey, though, Mark, I know you're you're active on Twitter.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
I'm just wondering if you've seen the rumors.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
About good bye bye, good bye, goodbye. Let's go to
the Hebrew hammer hammer, yuck, shamash.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
I think that last caller was Ron art Test. Okay, hey,
real quick, what's your beef with Danny Smith?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I just think he's a gum chewing clown who keeps
his job because he's Pittsburgh and Central Catholic and because
he's a gum chewing clown.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
That's a fair enough beef. H Now, if I was
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who hires seventy two year old
special teams coaches, isn't it time to go in a
different direction? If you're them, I.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Think you're seventy two, It's time to go to in
a different direction to make sure you don't make a
wrong turn to the graveyard.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Hey, true, true, true, Dad. Hey, Now back to the Steelers. Now,
if the owners aren't willing to change the way they
run things, does it even matter who the coach is?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It depends.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That's a really good question, and I don't think they
are willing to change the way they run things. Although
clearing out the whole coaching staff is a step in
the right direction, because they didn't do that. You'll recall
when when Tom Win replaced Cower and these Rooneyes ain't
those Rooneyes. I see what you're getting at. But but
I like clearing out the coaching staff, and if they
trade Watt and cut Ramsey, I think those will be
(13:20):
steps in a better direction as well.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Hey, in last question, I have a neighbor I sometimes
get his mail. His name is Stan Kubiak. Do you
think there's any relation to the Kubiak?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's a true Kubiaks as.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Much way up next, we're gonna talk to Tim Benz.
What a great show this is as far as you know,
one O five nine the X It's The Woody Show
weekday morning, six ten.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
The X pop sitting here staying connected to your to.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Talk to Tim Benz.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Tim, it's a few days after the fact now, But
were you surprised by Tom when quitting. I was not
until it actually happened, And if that makes any.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Sense, well it was the same way. I'll just say, yeah,
I was surprised because I didn't think that enough had
transpired negatively for him to feel the need to walk away,
which is part of the reason, until or unless he
ever talks about this and convinces me and all of
(14:21):
us otherwise that you know, the contract might have been
a part of this. Mark. You know, I get it.
It's entirely possible he's burned out, he was sick of
people chanting for him to be fired and all those
other things.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, but if that's the case, any's soft because that
happens to every coach in every city, with every team.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Well, that's my takeaway from what de Fabo wrote is
I don't know how thrilled Tomlin was for those details
to come out. In one sense, I'm sure he loves
it because it makes him look like the most loved
guy in the history of football by his players. But
on the other side, you know, the quotes coming from
the players made it sound like there was no other
reason given for walking away aside from you know, ah,
(14:59):
I can't be I wanted to get you there, Guys,
I can't be the one to finish this for you.
You need somebody else to do it. Like it kind
of sound like he was defeated and given up. And
yet on the other end of the spectrum, we've got
the owner a couple hours earlier saying I wanted to
run it back one more year with them. So what
else is there that the public should glean from that? Then?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And then you've got the factors which remain unspoken now
moving forward, Who is your choice to replace Tomlin?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
And who do you predict they'll actually pick, and what
type of coach?
Speaker 7 (15:32):
I wrote about this today in the trim. You know,
I don't want to see them follow their own ethos
and just do the Steeler thing, which is the mid
to late thirties defensive coordinator who's never been a head
coach before, so we could claim him as ours and
look at how good we were for finding him by
the way mark. There is a lot of evidence that
(15:54):
would suggest that the fact that Nol and Cower and
all fit that mold it's more coincidence than it is
them drawing that up as their box to fit people in.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think what they rely on most is the interview process.
We know for sure Tom and got hired at the
last minute over Russ Grimm because he just knocked him
down in the interview.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
And who fits that mold a defensive guy normally, the raw, raw,
enthusiastic football, blood and guts defensive guy who's probably in
his mid thirties who desperately wants a head coaching job
for the first time. It's almost a self fulfilling prophecy,
is it not. Oh?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
No, no question, And I'm sure you, like me, would
prefer an offensive minded coach, like the shieldhouse guy, the
passing coordinator from the Rams, because that would be more
of an organizational reset. It would indicate they want to
do things different. I think letting the entire coaching staff
go does that to a degree. And they could trade
Watt cut Ramsey that would do that to a degree.
(16:57):
But nothing would say reset like a different in type
of coaching higher. Well, I want an.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
Offensive guy more than anything right now, because it's a
different kettle of fish than it was when Tomlin stepped
in and Roethlisberger was already here because I want an
offensive guy who has a clear vision of what his
quarterback is supposed to look like as opposed to a
new defensive guy maybe trying to squeeze that square peg
(17:26):
into a round hole. So that's why I'm leaning more
towards an offensive guy. And if there are assistant coaches
that are available who are on the McVeigh tree, and
there are, and if there are some koobiaks out there
off the Shanahan tree, and there are, then yeah, I'd
go down that path. You know, I've heard you talk
about this. I've heard this speculated a lot. I'm gonna deviate.
(17:48):
I don't want the Los Angeles Rams stack though. I
don't want Schula being the head coach and Sieldhouse being
the offensive coordinator. I think that's a very slippery, dynamic.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Viewpoint right off the bat.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Well, not only that, but I just feel like you're
almost hiring to split the job at that point. You're
basically bringing in your defensive head coach and your offensive
head coach, and you're doing it without saying it. And
I think that's a weird vibe. Especially if the team
gets off to a rocky start and one side of
the ball is much better than the other side of
the ball. I think that could immediately create a strange divide.
(18:27):
I just I don't like that notion. And honestly, maybe
I'm alone on this one guy that I really don't
want to see get it is Shoe Love, because I
don't like what the Rams defense is done down the stretch. Now,
they've got some good players in the front seven. They
don't have as much in the secondary. But you know,
that's a really good team, and I feel like over
the last month or so, it's gonna be the defense
(18:49):
that might prevent him from winning the Super Bowl. So
then again, I guess Tomlin came in which side of
the ball was it was ranked thirty personally, Get it
might have been against the pass and he was here
for nineteen So maybe it means nothing good. If they're
gonna go Ram, give me somebody on the offensive side
of the of the ball. And then if they're gonna
go defense, you know, Mintor is more interesting to me
(19:09):
than anybody else.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
We're talking to Tim Bench from the trib here on
the Mark Madden Show. This segment brought to us by
Calusi Chevrolet serving the Pittsburgh area.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
For one hundred and seven years.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Tim, I would like to see them get an offensive
minded head coach simply because they're gonna draft the quarterback,
presumably this year or next. They've got to attract another
quarterback to come in play. I don't want to see
him recycling old bum But I think an offensive minded
coach would would just dovetail with what they need to do.
It at really a position that's more important than the
(19:40):
head coach job.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
I think that an offensive minded coach could do more
with less until they are really able to strike with
a hotter iron, you know, like I think they could
get more out of Malik Willis or Mason Rudolph or
Will Howard with an offensive minded guy who could take
the skills of that quarterback and adjust the offense accordingly
(20:03):
if there's no path to getting a real starter for
the first year of this new coach. And that's also
a very different dynamic than what Tomlin walked into. You know,
Tomlin had the quarterback, and Tomlin had the basis of
a good team. Even Cower when he took over for
Chuck Noll, had quite a few good players that Knowle
(20:26):
had brought in that became his I'm thinking like Pro
Bowlers and Hall of famers like Dawson and Woodson and
Lloyd and I think Eric Green was there. I'm trying
to remember exactly who bled over, but.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
There was enough.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Right now, you're talking about a bunch of players who
are the best players are very much aging on the decent,
not the ascent in a lot of cases. Aside from
the line, the two lines, you've got young and up
and comers. I would say, the middle and back third
of the defense aside from porters, not that and the
skill position guys are a hodgepodge right now of either
overpriced or just not good enough. So it's a tougher
(21:03):
putt for this quarter this coach coming in without the quarterback,
especially than what we've seen in past iterations of what
the Steelers have gone through, at least going back to
when Noel took over and they were terrible, but that
was nineteen sixty nine and you were allowed to have
a little bit more patience with your coach and grow
it back. Then.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Who's going to be the quarterback next season? Because without Tomlin,
Rodgers is obviously not coming back. And I think that's good.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not as sold
on Willis as everybody else is. I also think that
there's enough room cap wise, and enough options are being
soaked up in other places that they might have to
overpay for him. I think you could really overpay for
a guy like that, as opposed to the minimal overpaying
that they did for I don't know, a Fields, a Trubisky,
(21:51):
or you know, even a Russ, Well, Russ was not
paid for at all, even Rogers, you know, they didn't
pay much of anything for him. So I want to
see who is there in the draft and how overvalued
some of these quarterbacks are and who gets pushed down.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, but Tim, if they draft somebody, he won't start
as a rookie. That's just not their way, unless, of course,
Tommy Maddox helps out and gets hurt.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
Yeah, so I guess that they're gonna do that. Then
my prediction would be probably probably Howard, because I don't
I don't think a new coach is gonna want to
come in and just go with Rudolph since he's more
of a known commodity. I think they try to make
that guy work, But it could be QBX in the draft.
(22:34):
I just don't know who that's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Do you think.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
They're gonna do what I suggest, stuff like trade Watt,
cut Ramsey? How will they adjust that roster because it
makes sense to shave some money, even at the expense
of some dead cap. Yeah. Does the guy the one
guy you can't cut is Metcalf, And they stupidly re
guaranteed that money after he smacked the fan in Detroit
(23:01):
in the the NFL policy with with code of conduct
unguaranteed for like fifty minutes, it seems like, but you
can't totally restart the passing game over. But you got
a lot of Ed's rusher behind what and h and
Ramsey won dead good. He clearly ran out of gas
about four or five games.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Left, and safety is not his natural position. It might
be his best position now, and it's not his natural position.
You know, I would say with Metcalf, the route to
go there is you just Grinn and Barrett. You've got
probably the most expensive and overpriced number two wide receiver
(23:39):
in football. But if you're not gonna go quarterback, go
out and draft your Jackson Smith and Jigba, you know,
draft your guy who came in to make it clear
that DK was a number two like they did in
Seattle with JSN and just let him be the number two.
And at this point he's just gonna have to realize it.
He could get he's paid like a number one, so great,
he'll be happy there, but then he a clear number
(24:01):
one in the draft and displaced DK to what he
should be, which is a very good number two. I
heard you talking earlier about guys who are probably most
happy or at least happy that Tomlin is gone. And
I'm sure Friar Muth Friar with always talked positively about Tomlin.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh yeah, but he always going to be overjoyed for
the sake of his career, no matter how much of
a team guy and unselfish Moth is. This has to
be just just heaven for him that that he, you know,
is going to get a new start at the very.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
Least, because if Tomlin didn't go, they would have come
back with Arthur Smith. They may not have come back
with Tera Austin, but I don't think they were gonna
reboot the.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I want to come back with Rogers too.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
If Rogers wanted in between Smith and Rogers and you know,
Rogers basically hijacking the offense.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
That's what happened to Friarmouth.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
Oh agreed. Yeah, Now you your question about what if
somebody out there looks at what and thinks that they
can rejuvenate what he had, or you know, he's gonna
the next stop going to be his second stop like
a von Miller or Tim.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Put him in a role where he's the number two
pass rusher and that might get you over the top.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
You know, there were some games even right before and
maybe right after the lung thing, where I was wondering
if he was the number two fast rusher because I thought.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
No, no, hey, hey, what suck this year? Sorry?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I know he got stabbed in the lung by his
own team, but he had seven sacks to him and
only one multi sack game.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
You know, it's funny to hear in the defable story
that you referenced in Good Job out of Mike. That
was a really interesting read. But when he was talking
about all the players who were reacting the way that
they were reacting, and TJ, you know, had that no no, no,
no no reaction that he quoted, but anonymously through another player.
I mean, like TJ was the one after the game
(25:45):
against Houston who seemed the most disillusioned to me, Like,
you know, she said, what answer could I have? I've
been here for nine years and I haven't had one yet,
you know. And that's him talking about him and trying
to put it at his own seat. I get it,
But it's also talking about the coach, you know, Like
he was the one that was practically saying out loud,
it's this. He used it over the same Steelers, same stuff,
(26:08):
same stuff, same stuff. He kept saying that over and
over again. So he was the one that sounded so
disillusioned to me, and then to hear him being like
one of the most revolted at the idea of Tomlin
leaving is a very push pull kind of emotional reaction
from him.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Ur Rooney too wants to contend every year. He sees
no point in wasting a year. Is that possible next
year with all this upheaval, And would eight and nine
or nine and eight be the worst possible outcome.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
We'll make it really really hard for the second year
head coach to be in a better position to eventually
dropt his quarterback. Yes, absolutely, you know where I was
gonna go with that thought. Initially, when we're talking about
who's gonna be shed for cap purposes. They don't need to,
they have space, and I think now we're talking.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
About shedding for rebuilding and resetting purposes.
Speaker 7 (26:58):
Well, you know, Rooney was specific asked about that and
he said, I never see the reason to go into
a season thinking you can't compete. So well, I was
going with the thought is for as much sense as
it might make, and U circumstances to not have a quarterback,
not have a head coach, not have two coordinators, it
screams rebuild opportunity. But the way Rooney thinks, that's the
(27:21):
most dire situation to hold on to everybody because you
gotta have a nest in place for the quarterback to
get into and for the new coach to come into.
Because and I will well, no.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
No, I agree that you can build everything to the
point where when you bring the quarterback in it's an
easy fit and you can content legitimately right away.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
But the thing is, if they go eight, nine, nine
and eight, they're not.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Going to get that quarterback they desperately need, I don't
know what four and thirteen whatever to finish with a
bad record, because one in thirteen Bradshaw six and ten Rothelisberger.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
What don't they get.
Speaker 7 (27:59):
No I hear that, and here I'll just give you
the devil's advocate. The way Rooney is thinking about this,
I'm sure, which is when Noel took over, he was
just hopefully not gonna suck as bad as the last
guy as the last guy, as the last guy as
the last guy. Because they had won playoff appearance with Cower,
I think everybody was pretty much clear that it was
(28:23):
done with nol so he was gonna have some runway
and the team wasn't all that bad as it turned
out anyway, because of some of those players we just
talked about. Foster was another one that I left off
that list, by the way, and then you get to Tomlin,
and Tomlin had basically a Super Bowl roster still there.
(28:44):
So I think what Rooney is looking at and saying,
we've never been in a position a situation in this
franchise's memory history. For most people followed it, can't remember
a time where a coach took over in a bad situation.
And I think he's petrified of that, which is why
he wanted to give it one more run with Mike.
(29:05):
So I don't think he wants to strip the roster
bear because I don't think he knows what it looks
like when a first year coach goes five and eleven
in Pittsburgh, and I think that terrifies.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Him Tim real quick.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Why not Stefanski because that would be my higher And
I can't believe they're not interviewing him.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
Well. I think they've seen Stefanski at his worst in
some games. Mark. I think they saw him blow a
lot of games that you know, for as many games
as they beat the Steelers up there, there were games
that were also winnable with him as the head coach
in Cleveland. He got away from the run too quick,
outthought himself. There were some down moments for Stefanski against
(29:41):
the Steelers over the years that I can think of.
That's probably why. But if you're talking more big picture Florees,
maybe some other guys who are going on their second
job as a head coach, Yeah, talk to him. Bill
Belichick and Andy Reid of nine Super Bowl rings on
their fingers his second time head coaches. You know it
(30:02):
doesn't have to be Again, there's Steeler ethos of we
don't want this coach tainted by any other organization. But
the Holy Black and Gold. I think that gets into
war of thinking, and that's why they are allergic to
thinking strongly about coaches who have coached elsewhere. I mean,
before this situation, like, it was the guys that they
(30:22):
talked to, you know, it was their own guys. It
was Wasn't Hunt before it took the cardinal job. It
was Russ you know. I think the first time they
talked to Wantstat he had not gotten a coaching gig yet.
I think when it came down to him and Cowers,
So you know what I'm saying, Like the Steelers have
this image of themselves that if you've been through the
ringer with one of their teams, then you're not fit
(30:42):
to be with us, and I think that's thinning the
candidate pool too much.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Tim, great stuff.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
We'll talk to again next week, now, you gotta mark.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That's Tim Ben's don't forget.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I do a podcast with him for the trip and
a Facebook live thing with him for the trip as well.
That's the podcast on Sunday evening, the Facebook live Monday morning.
Uh this just in, James Harrison said on his podcast
of Mike Tomlin's not a Hall of Fame coach. I
(31:12):
agree with James Harrison again except Tom Win is gonna
be even if he shouldn't be.
The best fits.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It'll come down to who interviews best, which is how
Tom got hired. Like at the last minute they thought
it was going to be Russ Grimm.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
They just about had given him the job.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In fact, depending on what story you believe, and I
believe the story Mike pursued A wrote in the Beaver
Connie Times at the time, which is that Grim got
hired and the Steelers were nicked, but Tom went impressed
at the last minute. I think there was some pressure
put on the Steelers by themselves, by mister Rooney to
(00:31):
hire an African America because the Rooney rule about interviewing
and hiring minorities had just been put in place thet
But it's going to come down the interview process. I'm
surprised Clint Kubiak isn't on the list of interviews Seattle's
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
But I don't know. Maybe just one Kubiak's as good
as the next.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Maybe the Steelers are mixed up and they think there
is only one Kubiak.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Kevin's Stefanski. Boy, this gets me hot. Kevin Stefanski should
be interviewed, should be given great consideration to.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Get the job. But he's not on the list. He's
not going to get considered.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Like I said, Flores was a bummy head coach in Miami,
but he's in the mix. Here's my hunch, Like I
said yesterday, I think I did I my memory fades?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
What am I doing? What's this microphone for?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
My hunch is that the Steelers would like to hire
Schule and shehas from the Rams. Shula is head coach
and shehas is the offensive coordinator. That makes sense to
me anyway, I'd want to do that, But why would she,
ohas want to make what's essentially a lateral move to
a worst team and a worst quarterback. Keep that in mind,
(01:50):
chances are that the quarterback the Steelers get, whoever they use,
ain't going to be Matthew Stafford unless it's Matthew Stafford,
who if you believe the the talk and I don't.
But people say they had a chance to get him
this in the prior offseason. But Shielhaus, like Tom said,
a moment Ago, is better off just staying in LA
you know, you know, strengthen his learning under McVeigh and
(02:15):
get a better job than the Steelers are going to offer.
If indeed it's offensive coordinator. But if it's head coach,
well that's a horse of a different calorie and a color.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
What is say calorie?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh, a horse of a different color and a much
bigger salary.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I hammered together.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Color and salary because I'm going into florid dimension and
I try to talk too fast.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Too Now again, I don't know who they're going to hire.
Neither do you. Neither does anybody who says they know.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Because the Steelers really do defend depend a lot, as
the Tomlin hire indicates, they depend an awful lot on
the interview process. So it's whoever interviews best, whoever makes
the best dempression on Art, on Danny and on Omar Kah.
And you never know if a coordinator is going to
turn out to be a good head coach. Josh McDaniels
case in point, one of the best offensive coordinators ever ever,
(03:16):
but LOSSI head coach and now doing what he should
be doing, which is offensive coordinator for New England from
whence he came with a great quarterback in Drake May,
and they're getting things done. The coordinator actually coaches football.
The head coach has to be more of a CEO
(03:37):
and a couple of tomas weaknesses is that he wasn't
a good CEO. He didn't like to delegate responsibility, and
the other is that he took on too much responsibility.
We got a Stephen A. Smith's SoundBite talking about how
Omar Khan should be fired because you look at all
the quarterbacks Toman had to work with. Tomlin picked all
those quarterbacks he signed. I wanted to get Rogers, wanted
(04:01):
to get ross Uh, There's no doubt about that. But
that's Steven ignoring the facts because it's easier for him
to blame Omar Kahn for a number of agendas. But
when we talk about who we think the Steeler should
hire to be the head coach, when we talk about
who they who we think they will hires the head coach, we're.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Just throwing crap at the wall.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Period. That is all we're doing. You can call now
for calls on the fifteens.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
For one two.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know it's fun. I got to text with Dave
from Dave maul and Airy, the Penguins writer. I almost
set his number for the number to call. It's better
that that didn't happen. Number to call is eight three,
three four one two WXDX that's a three three four
one two w xdx or the super secret number to
call where you get on quicker four one two three
three three w xdx. Another couple of topics we can discuss.
(04:59):
Rayfa Apolo said, it's fifty to fifty Cam comes back.
What would be best for the Steelers. I think it'd
be best to bring Cam back as that locker room
leader for the transition and trade TJ.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You got enough edge rushers and want ain't orts what
you're paying him, and I doubt anybody would want to
trade for that contract, let alone give up much at all.
But I trade Wat for like a fourth or fifth
round pick if somebody would take the contract, because you
still got her big and high smith and of course
the modern day warrior Jack Sawyer, and I would like
(05:34):
to see a big move like that, mate, I'd like
to see him trade.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
What maybe cut Jalen.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I don't know what you do with DK if you
would get rid of him somehow cut him, trade and whatever.
And they re guaranteed the money, so there's that. But
with DK, if you get rid of him, you're starting
the passing game all over. And with this team needs
more than anything is a better passing game and a
better emphasis thereof Heck, I'm even hoping they might do
(05:59):
something out rageou and get a legitimate number two wide out,
which they haven't had for the last two years. But
but I think they're not going to organizationally reset the
philosophy of the kind of head coach they hire, nor
the kind of emphasis they put regarding defensive football sector.
They're not going to change that. But they are clearing
(06:20):
out the coaching staff. That's a big change. I think
if they traded Watt and cut Ramsey, that would indicate
that they they are doing more than just changing coaches,
that they really are going to do a bigger reset
than that for next year. You know, you know what
the terrorists always say, if you want to get their attention,
shoot a hostage and this would be that. Up next
(06:44):
calls on the fifteens, Get your calls in now, and
I'll give you a Dave mull and Airey's number right
after that, one oh five nine x the ex at one.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
You know what's coming up? That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Penn State's playing that outdoor hockey game on the thirtieth,
which I can't go to because I'll be in Niagara Falls,
Ontario to see the guests who reunion with Burton Cummings
and Randy Backman. But maybe we'll get Guy Gdowski and
the coach, or better yet, I'll call my buddy Riz
who works for Pat Prison the agent, and get his guy,
(07:22):
Gavin mckennahon, the heralded.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Freshman of Penn State, who is just I know his productions.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Not with with with the so called experts in the media. Boy,
I'm criticizing my own kind. But you know, he's seventeen
years old. He's playing against twenty year old freshmen at
Penn State and he's doing fine, and he'll be the
first player picked.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
He went there to improve, not run up stats.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
McKenna could have scored a billion points in juniors, but
he went to Penn State to play D one to
get better and more power to him.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I really respect that.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Riz represents a lot of great players like McKenna, Sid
Taves and Kine back when fan Tilly, who's going to
be in toime tomorrow with the comas Blue Jackson.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
By the way, we'll be talking to.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Jody Shelley, blue Jackets color analyst, former NHL player in
the five o'clock hour but right now it's time for
calls on the fifteenths still not sponsored. Let's go to
Dave Dave run with double M.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Hey, Mark, I just wanted to ask you real quick,
why do you think Joe Brady, who has a kind
of a tie to the area, he spent some time
at Penn State and a great offense in Buffalo, why
he's not being considered for the job in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Probably because he's an offensive coordinator. They're just looking, you know,
like I said, of the eight known interviewees, six are
defensive coordinators.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And also because.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I mean, how good's that Buffalo offense been and how
much of it is X's and O's and and Joe Brady?
How much is just having Superman a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
You know, I didn't really take that into consideration, but
you know, I just thought he might at least get
a chance.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He might.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yet, let's see how the interview process goes for the
eight guys they have scheduled.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Let's go to Eric, Hey, super genius. Have you said
it a couple of times that if arch Manning were
to be drafted by the Steelers, he would refuse to
play here. Why do you think that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Is well, No, I didn't say he would. I said
I would if I were him. I think that's because
Uncle Eli, you know, did it when he got drafted
by San Diego and finagled his way to the Giants.
But that's still okay if you draft arts, because san
Diego got Philip Rivers in return in that deal to
send Eli to New York, and that worked out pretty
good for the Chargers, although Eli won a couple Super
(09:48):
Bowls in New York. I mean it worked out fine
both ways. Also, I mean depending on who they hire
as coach. Put it this way, if I were Arch
and Tomill were still the coach, I would not have
wanted to come here any circumstances. Tomlin did not know
what to do with quarterbacks, not how to draft and
how to develop, and really ultimately as much as anything, Eric,
(10:08):
don't you think that was his undoing?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I have absolutely agree.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He drafted Kenny Pickett in the first rot Lets you
keep emphasizing that, how could a ma's a permanent stain?
How could it not be?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Let's go to Nick in the truck.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Hey, Mark, don't forget we made out pretty well in
that deal too. We would have never gotten Roethlisberger. If
that didn't occur with Eli and Philip Rivers.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, no, that's that's not true because they were both
drafted above Ben. I think Ben would have still been
there when the Steelers picked that up number eleven.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
I think it was according to Ben in some interviews
in like those NFL shows or whatever, he said specifically,
I would have never ended up with the Steelers. But
I'm just going off by that.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
But what I did call for is I don't know.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Who I want, but I know what I want.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Do you know, out of all the options, if there
are anybody that are proven winners with developing talent or
even being able to scout the proper talent, because that
is what we are extremely lacking in.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Well, I don't want them to scout the talent. I
want the coach to receive the talent given to him
by the general manager. Although I would hire a better
general manager, or I would get Andy widelmore involved, but
this coach needs to trust the scouting and the evaluation
done by his staff who were hired specifically to do
those duties, as opposed to try to just bigfoot everything,
(11:27):
which Tomlin definitely did.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
I would assume that the ones that were head coaches,
they would have had the staff that scouted.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
That's what I'm pretty much asking like they.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Were smart enough to make sure that they had the
proper avenue.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, but Flores is the only guy with prior head
coaching experience and it wasn't good for him in Miami.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Let's go to Ron.
Speaker 7 (11:53):
Hey, though, Mark, I know you're you're active on Twitter.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
I'm just wondering if you've seen the rumors.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
About good bye bye, good bye, goodbye. Let's go to
the Hebrew hammer hammer, yuck, shamash.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
I think that last caller was Ron art Test. Okay, hey,
real quick, what's your beef with Danny Smith?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I just think he's a gum chewing clown who keeps
his job because he's Pittsburgh and Central Catholic and because
he's a gum chewing clown.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
That's a fair enough beef. H Now, if I was
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who hires seventy two year old
special teams coaches, isn't it time to go in a
different direction? If you're them, I.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Think you're seventy two, It's time to go to in
a different direction to make sure you don't make a
wrong turn to the graveyard.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Hey, true, true, true, Dad. Hey, Now back to the Steelers. Now,
if the owners aren't willing to change the way they
run things, does it even matter who the coach is?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It depends.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That's a really good question, and I don't think they
are willing to change the way they run things. Although
clearing out the whole coaching staff is a step in
the right direction, because they didn't do that. You'll recall
when when Tom Win replaced Cower and these Rooneyes ain't
those Rooneyes. I see what you're getting at. But but
I like clearing out the coaching staff, and if they
trade Watt and cut Ramsey, I think those will be
(13:20):
steps in a better direction as well.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Hey, in last question, I have a neighbor I sometimes
get his mail. His name is Stan Kubiak. Do you
think there's any relation to the Kubiak?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's a true Kubiaks as.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Much way up next, we're gonna talk to Tim Benz.
What a great show this is as far as you know,
one O five nine the X It's The Woody Show
weekday morning, six ten.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
The X pop sitting here staying connected to your to.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Talk to Tim Benz.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Tim, it's a few days after the fact now, But
were you surprised by Tom when quitting. I was not
until it actually happened, And if that makes any.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Sense, well it was the same way. I'll just say, yeah,
I was surprised because I didn't think that enough had
transpired negatively for him to feel the need to walk away,
which is part of the reason, until or unless he
ever talks about this and convinces me and all of
(14:21):
us otherwise that you know, the contract might have been
a part of this. Mark. You know, I get it.
It's entirely possible he's burned out, he was sick of
people chanting for him to be fired and all those
other things.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, but if that's the case, any's soft because that
happens to every coach in every city, with every team.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Well, that's my takeaway from what de Fabo wrote is
I don't know how thrilled Tomlin was for those details
to come out. In one sense, I'm sure he loves
it because it makes him look like the most loved
guy in the history of football by his players. But
on the other side, you know, the quotes coming from
the players made it sound like there was no other
reason given for walking away aside from you know, ah,
(14:59):
I can't be I wanted to get you there, Guys,
I can't be the one to finish this for you.
You need somebody else to do it. Like it kind
of sound like he was defeated and given up. And
yet on the other end of the spectrum, we've got
the owner a couple hours earlier saying I wanted to
run it back one more year with them. So what
else is there that the public should glean from that? Then?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And then you've got the factors which remain unspoken now
moving forward, Who is your choice to replace Tomlin?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
And who do you predict they'll actually pick, and what
type of coach?
Speaker 7 (15:32):
I wrote about this today in the trim. You know,
I don't want to see them follow their own ethos
and just do the Steeler thing, which is the mid
to late thirties defensive coordinator who's never been a head
coach before, so we could claim him as ours and
look at how good we were for finding him by
the way mark. There is a lot of evidence that
(15:54):
would suggest that the fact that Nol and Cower and
all fit that mold it's more coincidence than it is
them drawing that up as their box to fit people in.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think what they rely on most is the interview process.
We know for sure Tom and got hired at the
last minute over Russ Grimm because he just knocked him
down in the interview.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
And who fits that mold a defensive guy normally, the raw, raw,
enthusiastic football, blood and guts defensive guy who's probably in
his mid thirties who desperately wants a head coaching job
for the first time. It's almost a self fulfilling prophecy,
is it not. Oh?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
No, no question, And I'm sure you, like me, would
prefer an offensive minded coach, like the shieldhouse guy, the
passing coordinator from the Rams, because that would be more
of an organizational reset. It would indicate they want to
do things different. I think letting the entire coaching staff
go does that to a degree. And they could trade
Watt cut Ramsey that would do that to a degree.
(16:57):
But nothing would say reset like a different in type
of coaching higher. Well, I want an.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
Offensive guy more than anything right now, because it's a
different kettle of fish than it was when Tomlin stepped
in and Roethlisberger was already here because I want an
offensive guy who has a clear vision of what his
quarterback is supposed to look like as opposed to a
new defensive guy maybe trying to squeeze that square peg
(17:26):
into a round hole. So that's why I'm leaning more
towards an offensive guy. And if there are assistant coaches
that are available who are on the McVeigh tree, and
there are, and if there are some koobiaks out there
off the Shanahan tree, and there are, then yeah, I'd
go down that path. You know, I've heard you talk
about this. I've heard this speculated a lot. I'm gonna deviate.
(17:48):
I don't want the Los Angeles Rams stack though. I
don't want Schula being the head coach and Sieldhouse being
the offensive coordinator. I think that's a very slippery, dynamic.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Viewpoint right off the bat.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Well, not only that, but I just feel like you're
almost hiring to split the job at that point. You're
basically bringing in your defensive head coach and your offensive
head coach, and you're doing it without saying it. And
I think that's a weird vibe. Especially if the team
gets off to a rocky start and one side of
the ball is much better than the other side of
the ball. I think that could immediately create a strange divide.
(18:27):
I just I don't like that notion. And honestly, maybe
I'm alone on this one guy that I really don't
want to see get it is Shoe Love, because I
don't like what the Rams defense is done down the stretch. Now,
they've got some good players in the front seven. They
don't have as much in the secondary. But you know,
that's a really good team, and I feel like over
the last month or so, it's gonna be the defense
(18:49):
that might prevent him from winning the Super Bowl. So
then again, I guess Tomlin came in which side of
the ball was it was ranked thirty personally, Get it
might have been against the pass and he was here
for nineteen So maybe it means nothing good. If they're
gonna go Ram, give me somebody on the offensive side
of the of the ball. And then if they're gonna
go defense, you know, Mintor is more interesting to me
(19:09):
than anybody else.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
We're talking to Tim Bench from the trib here on
the Mark Madden Show. This segment brought to us by
Calusi Chevrolet serving the Pittsburgh area.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
For one hundred and seven years.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Tim, I would like to see them get an offensive
minded head coach simply because they're gonna draft the quarterback,
presumably this year or next. They've got to attract another
quarterback to come in play. I don't want to see
him recycling old bum But I think an offensive minded
coach would would just dovetail with what they need to do.
It at really a position that's more important than the
(19:40):
head coach job.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
I think that an offensive minded coach could do more
with less until they are really able to strike with
a hotter iron, you know, like I think they could
get more out of Malik Willis or Mason Rudolph or
Will Howard with an offensive minded guy who could take
the skills of that quarterback and adjust the offense accordingly
(20:03):
if there's no path to getting a real starter for
the first year of this new coach. And that's also
a very different dynamic than what Tomlin walked into. You know,
Tomlin had the quarterback, and Tomlin had the basis of
a good team. Even Cower when he took over for
Chuck Noll, had quite a few good players that Knowle
(20:26):
had brought in that became his I'm thinking like Pro
Bowlers and Hall of famers like Dawson and Woodson and
Lloyd and I think Eric Green was there. I'm trying
to remember exactly who bled over, but.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
There was enough.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Right now, you're talking about a bunch of players who
are the best players are very much aging on the decent,
not the ascent in a lot of cases. Aside from
the line, the two lines, you've got young and up
and comers. I would say, the middle and back third
of the defense aside from porters, not that and the
skill position guys are a hodgepodge right now of either
overpriced or just not good enough. So it's a tougher
(21:03):
putt for this quarter this coach coming in without the quarterback,
especially than what we've seen in past iterations of what
the Steelers have gone through, at least going back to
when Noel took over and they were terrible, but that
was nineteen sixty nine and you were allowed to have
a little bit more patience with your coach and grow
it back. Then.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Who's going to be the quarterback next season? Because without Tomlin,
Rodgers is obviously not coming back. And I think that's good.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not as sold
on Willis as everybody else is. I also think that
there's enough room cap wise, and enough options are being
soaked up in other places that they might have to
overpay for him. I think you could really overpay for
a guy like that, as opposed to the minimal overpaying
that they did for I don't know, a Fields, a Trubisky,
(21:51):
or you know, even a Russ, Well, Russ was not
paid for at all, even Rogers, you know, they didn't
pay much of anything for him. So I want to
see who is there in the draft and how overvalued
some of these quarterbacks are and who gets pushed down.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, but Tim, if they draft somebody, he won't start
as a rookie. That's just not their way, unless, of course,
Tommy Maddox helps out and gets hurt.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
Yeah, so I guess that they're gonna do that. Then
my prediction would be probably probably Howard, because I don't
I don't think a new coach is gonna want to
come in and just go with Rudolph since he's more
of a known commodity. I think they try to make
that guy work, But it could be QBX in the draft.
(22:34):
I just don't know who that's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Do you think.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
They're gonna do what I suggest, stuff like trade Watt,
cut Ramsey? How will they adjust that roster because it
makes sense to shave some money, even at the expense
of some dead cap. Yeah. Does the guy the one
guy you can't cut is Metcalf, And they stupidly re
guaranteed that money after he smacked the fan in Detroit
(23:01):
in the the NFL policy with with code of conduct
unguaranteed for like fifty minutes, it seems like, but you
can't totally restart the passing game over. But you got
a lot of Ed's rusher behind what and h and
Ramsey won dead good. He clearly ran out of gas
about four or five games.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Left, and safety is not his natural position. It might
be his best position now, and it's not his natural position.
You know, I would say with Metcalf, the route to
go there is you just Grinn and Barrett. You've got
probably the most expensive and overpriced number two wide receiver
(23:39):
in football. But if you're not gonna go quarterback, go
out and draft your Jackson Smith and Jigba, you know,
draft your guy who came in to make it clear
that DK was a number two like they did in
Seattle with JSN and just let him be the number two.
And at this point he's just gonna have to realize it.
He could get he's paid like a number one, so great,
he'll be happy there, but then he a clear number
(24:01):
one in the draft and displaced DK to what he
should be, which is a very good number two. I
heard you talking earlier about guys who are probably most
happy or at least happy that Tomlin is gone. And
I'm sure Friar Muth Friar with always talked positively about Tomlin.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh yeah, but he always going to be overjoyed for
the sake of his career, no matter how much of
a team guy and unselfish Moth is. This has to
be just just heaven for him that that he, you know,
is going to get a new start at the very.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
Least, because if Tomlin didn't go, they would have come
back with Arthur Smith. They may not have come back
with Tera Austin, but I don't think they were gonna
reboot the.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I want to come back with Rogers too.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
If Rogers wanted in between Smith and Rogers and you know,
Rogers basically hijacking the offense.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
That's what happened to Friarmouth.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
Oh agreed. Yeah, Now you your question about what if
somebody out there looks at what and thinks that they
can rejuvenate what he had, or you know, he's gonna
the next stop going to be his second stop like
a von Miller or Tim.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Put him in a role where he's the number two
pass rusher and that might get you over the top.
Speaker 7 (25:08):
You know, there were some games even right before and
maybe right after the lung thing, where I was wondering
if he was the number two fast rusher because I thought.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
No, no, hey, hey, what suck this year? Sorry?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I know he got stabbed in the lung by his
own team, but he had seven sacks to him and
only one multi sack game.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
You know, it's funny to hear in the defable story
that you referenced in Good Job out of Mike. That
was a really interesting read. But when he was talking
about all the players who were reacting the way that
they were reacting, and TJ, you know, had that no no, no,
no no reaction that he quoted, but anonymously through another player.
I mean, like TJ was the one after the game
(25:45):
against Houston who seemed the most disillusioned to me, Like,
you know, she said, what answer could I have? I've
been here for nine years and I haven't had one yet,
you know. And that's him talking about him and trying
to put it at his own seat. I get it,
But it's also talking about the coach, you know, Like
he was the one that was practically saying out loud,
it's this. He used it over the same Steelers, same stuff,
(26:08):
same stuff, same stuff. He kept saying that over and
over again. So he was the one that sounded so
disillusioned to me, and then to hear him being like
one of the most revolted at the idea of Tomlin
leaving is a very push pull kind of emotional reaction
from him.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Ur Rooney too wants to contend every year. He sees
no point in wasting a year. Is that possible next
year with all this upheaval, And would eight and nine
or nine and eight be the worst possible outcome.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
We'll make it really really hard for the second year
head coach to be in a better position to eventually
dropt his quarterback. Yes, absolutely, you know where I was
gonna go with that thought. Initially, when we're talking about
who's gonna be shed for cap purposes. They don't need to,
they have space, and I think now we're talking.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
About shedding for rebuilding and resetting purposes.
Speaker 7 (26:58):
Well, you know, Rooney was specific asked about that and
he said, I never see the reason to go into
a season thinking you can't compete. So well, I was
going with the thought is for as much sense as
it might make, and U circumstances to not have a quarterback,
not have a head coach, not have two coordinators, it
screams rebuild opportunity. But the way Rooney thinks, that's the
(27:21):
most dire situation to hold on to everybody because you
gotta have a nest in place for the quarterback to
get into and for the new coach to come into.
Because and I will well, no.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
No, I agree that you can build everything to the
point where when you bring the quarterback in it's an
easy fit and you can content legitimately right away.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
But the thing is, if they go eight, nine, nine
and eight, they're not.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Going to get that quarterback they desperately need, I don't
know what four and thirteen whatever to finish with a
bad record, because one in thirteen Bradshaw six and ten Rothelisberger.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
What don't they get.
Speaker 7 (27:59):
No I hear that, and here I'll just give you
the devil's advocate. The way Rooney is thinking about this,
I'm sure, which is when Noel took over, he was
just hopefully not gonna suck as bad as the last
guy as the last guy, as the last guy as
the last guy. Because they had won playoff appearance with Cower,
I think everybody was pretty much clear that it was
(28:23):
done with nol so he was gonna have some runway
and the team wasn't all that bad as it turned
out anyway, because of some of those players we just
talked about. Foster was another one that I left off
that list, by the way, and then you get to Tomlin,
and Tomlin had basically a Super Bowl roster still there.
(28:44):
So I think what Rooney is looking at and saying,
we've never been in a position a situation in this
franchise's memory history. For most people followed it, can't remember
a time where a coach took over in a bad situation.
And I think he's petrified of that, which is why
he wanted to give it one more run with Mike.
(29:05):
So I don't think he wants to strip the roster
bear because I don't think he knows what it looks
like when a first year coach goes five and eleven
in Pittsburgh, and I think that terrifies.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Him Tim real quick.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Why not Stefanski because that would be my higher And
I can't believe they're not interviewing him.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
Well. I think they've seen Stefanski at his worst in
some games. Mark. I think they saw him blow a
lot of games that you know, for as many games
as they beat the Steelers up there, there were games
that were also winnable with him as the head coach
in Cleveland. He got away from the run too quick,
outthought himself. There were some down moments for Stefanski against
(29:41):
the Steelers over the years that I can think of.
That's probably why. But if you're talking more big picture Florees,
maybe some other guys who are going on their second
job as a head coach, Yeah, talk to him. Bill
Belichick and Andy Reid of nine Super Bowl rings on
their fingers his second time head coaches. You know it
(30:02):
doesn't have to be Again, there's Steeler ethos of we
don't want this coach tainted by any other organization. But
the Holy Black and Gold. I think that gets into
war of thinking, and that's why they are allergic to
thinking strongly about coaches who have coached elsewhere. I mean,
before this situation, like, it was the guys that they
(30:22):
talked to, you know, it was their own guys. It
was Wasn't Hunt before it took the cardinal job. It
was Russ you know. I think the first time they
talked to Wantstat he had not gotten a coaching gig yet.
I think when it came down to him and Cowers,
So you know what I'm saying, Like the Steelers have
this image of themselves that if you've been through the
ringer with one of their teams, then you're not fit
(30:42):
to be with us, and I think that's thinning the
candidate pool too much.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Tim, great stuff.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
We'll talk to again next week, now, you gotta mark.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That's Tim Ben's don't forget.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I do a podcast with him for the trip and
a Facebook live thing with him for the trip as well.
That's the podcast on Sunday evening, the Facebook live Monday morning.
Uh this just in, James Harrison said on his podcast
of Mike Tomlin's not a Hall of Fame coach. I
(31:12):
agree with James Harrison again except Tom Win is gonna
be even if he shouldn't be.
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