October 14, 2025 • 42 mins
Tim plays some Tomlin soundbites from yesterday's presser. We also welcome Mike DeFabo to the show for his weekly hit to talk about Steelers
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hard Badge Show brought to you by d for Lumber
Dynasty partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tim Benson from Mark Today,
Mark under the Weather, hopefully back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I know Mark is going to London.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Paul will be in on Thursday before the Steelers game
against the Cincinnati Bengals. I'll be in on Friday wrapping
up the Bengal game. If Mark's out tomorrow, I'll try
to navigate things until Tommy Radio and I go on
the air on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy at six
o'clock for our usual show at Park's Social countdown to
kick off. But yesterday, Mike Tomlin told media members that
(00:42):
he was annoyed by some of our questions during his
weekly press conference.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And my response to that is, ah, why should this
week be any different?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm not sure if any of my questions in particular
contributed to Tomlin's level of agitation. If so, certainly it
would not be the first time. Now that said, Tomlin
didn't seem to be put off when I asked him
about the state of the Steelers passing game, And like
I told you, that's what twenty fifth in the NFL
right now? And overall the offense and the running game
(01:16):
are twenty ninth. But he didn't seem put off when
I asked him about the state of the passing game
and whether it's meeting his level of expectation. When the
franchise decided to sign Aaron Rodgers this summer, In fact, he.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Was downright philosophical about it. Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I certainly had an overall vision of what it could
look like when it wasn't so detailed that I can
compare to our present state. I think sometimes when you're
inflexible from a planning perspective in that way, you're not
adaptable enough to be what you need to be. A
(01:55):
lot of ideas, certainly that we had about what it
would look like, have been firms, but you really don't
know what you got until you get it now.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Toma said.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Part of his analysis has been learning more about Rogers
individually and what he is going to look like throughout
the entirety of this season, being around him day.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
To day and that component of it, his experience, what's
natural and fluid for him, the relationships that he's able
to develop with others. All of that's a component of
the equation that could alter the vision component, and so
I'm never too married to a vision. It's certainly moving
into general direction that I anticipated at doing, but it's
(02:41):
also reasonable to expect that to continue as we push forward.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
When Tomlin mentioned adaptability and flexibility there, I followed up
by asking what that meant in terms of where the
ball should go. If DK Metcalf is covered and Calvin
Austin is still unavailable because of injury, Calvin does come back,
how would you like to see the ball distributed when
it's not going to DK two ovid people. Oh, okay,
(03:09):
maybe that was one of the questions that annoyed him then.
Not to be fair, I think a lot of us
in the Pittsburgh media are annoyed that we keep having
asked about the lack.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Of a number two wide receiver as well. I mean, like,
when you play sixty minutes of football against the last
place Cleveland Browns and wide receivers not named DK Metcalf
total one catch for twelve yards.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Thanks for that, Roman Wilson. It seems to be a
legitimate question, though, doesn't it. The Steelers don't seem to
think so. Tomlin, Rogers, omar Con, Arthur Smith, and pretty
much any player who has offered up a comment since
Mini Camp, they've insisted.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That the Steelers current wide receiver depth is just fine.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, maybe it is unless Metcalf gets hurt like George
Pickens did last year. Maybe it is until they start
playing tea teams that are above five hundred again, as
they will starting after Thursday's game against the Bengals, Because
if Austin isn't one hundred percent by the time the
Steelers played Green Bay, Indie and the Chargers with a
combined record of twelve four and one, by the way,
(04:15):
the Steelers are going to need to score a little
bit against those teams, and Metcalf can't be rogers only
receiving threat down the field outside the numbers. Now, to
the point of the original question, when the Steelers pursued
Rogers in the first place, they couldn't have possibly done
so with the intent of Rogers averaging an NFL low
five point four intended air yards five weeks of the
(04:39):
season per row isn't now is that because of a
lack of options when Metcalf is covered, or because the
coaches don't trust the pass protection, or because they've deployed
Darnell Washington and Spencer Anderson and Jumbo look so often.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, it's probably all that again.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Though, the conversation about bolstering receiving options isn't always reduced
to critical commentary about Austin's ability to be a true
number two or Wilson's continued ability to emerge. At what
are we looking at now five games into a second season.
We're still waiting for me to do much of anything
or any sort of thought about Scotty Miller or Ben's scronic?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Can they be anything more than good special teamers? Like,
we don't always have to be negative about it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We don't always have to look at it from the
framework of Austin isn't this Roman, Wilson isn't that Scotty
Miller and ben'skronic can only be this? We don't have
to be negative about it. Have the conversation a different
way if you want, have the conversation like this, like
how much better the offense can potentially be if they
have a compliment to Dkay and what if they have
(05:47):
at least somebody to fall back on if DK has
ever heard the conversation should be more about who the
Steelers can add from the outside, now that they're four
to one and the rest of this division appears crippled.
So step, but his throat eye levels should be changing
hoarding picks in hopes of landing a quarterback in an
(06:08):
increasingly less attractive draft class, by the way, for a
franchise that now could be drafting later than expected, by
the way, that should be less of a priority. If
asking about these topics is annoying to Tomlin, well then
I apologize.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
But I'd also imagine that trying.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
To win by throwing the ball four point sorry five
point four yards at a time through the air, that
should be pretty annoying too. I'm sure it's annoying to Rogers,
even though he's not saying it out loud. I'm sure
it's annoying to some of the fans from the stands
who are saying, boy, it's hard to keep doing things
right eleven times in a row on scoring drives, which
(06:48):
they didn't do in the first half against Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
That's why they kept stalling out. There is a need there.
For as much as they.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Want to deny that there is a need personnel wives
at wide receiver, and as much so they tried to
sell us that that need didn't exist, it still does exist.
And to tie this all together to the point that
we started out beginning the whole show about the Pro
Football Talk saying that the fifth best team in the league, well,
the fifth best team in the league should have a
(07:15):
second wide receiver that's better than Calvin Austin, even when
Austin is healthy, because then Austin could be a really
good third wide receiver in theory, or at the very least,
if you can't do better than Austin, find somebody who's
a better number three then, because obviously it still can't
be Roman Wilson a third of the way into his
second season eight three, three four one two ninety nine,
(07:38):
thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Or we can just.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Talk big pictures still about where the Steelers really are.
Like my eyes popped and I said, my god, are
the Steelers really the fifth best.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Team in football?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
When I read that Pro Football Talk story today, I said,
they're not the fifth best team in football? Until my
eyes kept going up and I said, the Colts are
the second best team in football.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Like, you know, I tend to.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Have a critical view of the Steelers because well that's
my job. A but B I'm constantly told all the
time by the national media that we're too hard on
the Steelers around here in Pittsburgh, that we pick on
the Steelers too much, that our expectations are too high. Well,
you're the ones that are putting them fifth in the
(08:24):
NFL right now, at least one national media outlet is.
And you can kind of say they're fifth based on
projections because the AFC North is so bad that it's
gonna be hard for them to lose. Okay, that'll listen to.
But I don't know, man, I get it. Therefore, and one,
I don't know if I would have moved them five
(08:44):
spots up because they lost to the brown or they
beat the Browns.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
If you lose the Browns, where would you put them
twenty fifth?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I mean, you beat the Browns, you go up five
spots and like you're better than the Eagles, You're better
than the Bills, You're better than the Chiefs. No, you
just have a better record. It kind of goes to
the Colts thing too. Are the Colts really the second
best team in football? Or do they just have a
good record?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Because I think the Steelers are more in the latter
pool than the former pool, Like they belong with Casey
Philly and Buffalo, who might have warts, but obviously everybody
has warts.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Like maybe that's where the expectations are too high. Yeah,
Buffalo can't stop the run. We sure saw that last
night against a really good running back. Philly's offense is
really flawed. Just look at the overall stats. They're below
the Steelers in a lot of places. Put those teams
in a neutral field against the Steelers who you're picking
fro case sce into that nex too, Denny Collin from
(09:40):
Rhde Island.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You're on one oh five nine the X.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh hey, Jim Wow, I can't disagree at all. In fact,
everything he said is true. I want to look at
it from a different angle, and I want to see
what you think. I remember back in the seventies when
the Steelers won their first two in a row, and
(10:06):
they started that the third season after that, hoping to be.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, three time champs, and they could have been,
but they started one and four and then they rather
this is when they played ten fourteen games.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, you're looking at it from the other end of
the spectrum because they were one and four and then
and they had injuries and then the defense really came
together and they were, you know, the best hit defense
in the history of football for the rest of the season.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Right, Not only yeah, not only that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I think they pitched fight shutouts.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Or something like that. And then Franco and Rocky got
hurt in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So, like where you're going with it, Denny, is, there's
no way that Steelers team was as bad as it's
one and four record, to the same extent that there's
really no suggestion that the Steelers are a top five
teams just because they started four and one this year.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Right, absolutely, And but you know, I guess my point is.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
That everybody's getting better.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
It's not still there.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I can't can't say that, But I get your point.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Thanks to the call for eight three three four ninety
nine thirty nine, that was an accident, I get it.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
But it just can't go all the air.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You don't have to go back to.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Nineteen seventy six, though, you can just go back to
twenty twenty, like we had this conversation. We had this
exact conversation throughout most of twenty twenty when the Steelers
got off to that eleven and oh star and I
know it was COVID and everything was wonky that year
with the NFL.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
But you know one thing that wasn't was we knew
the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Were really good, and we knew that Patrick Mahomes was
who Patrick Mahomes was going to be and who he
had been.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
So like.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
When we were doing that week by week analysis of
how real is this Steelers undefeated start, and we were
constantly comping to the Chiefs, so I believe we're ten
and one when they were eleven and one, all things
being equal, we knew that they weren't. That the Chiefs
were going to be a team that if the Steelers
played them in the plaoffs, was probably gonna beat their
tails off. Well, reality sunk in and the Steelers fell
(12:14):
off a cliff and they kind of ended up being
where they should have been more at that point as
a team that was vulnerable enough to lose at home
to the Cleveland Browns with the special teams coach and
the sideline running the show that day, Like that's who that.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Steeler team really was in the end.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Now, I'm not saying that it's gonna go that far
down like it did last year, even which is another
good example.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
You don't even have to go back to twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You can go back to last year when they lost
five in a row after starting ten and three. It
doesn't have to be that bad. But the difference is
now with the division being as boiled as it is already,
that the Steelers, should they beat Cincinnati on Thursday, have
five wins, and it's tough for me to navigate through
(12:58):
the rest of the schedule without seeing them get.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
At least five more.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That would put them in a position where they're probably
gonna win this It should not take eleven wins to
win the North. It just shouldn't. So then you're in
a top four spot. Then you've got a home playoff game,
and this time, at least there'll be human beings in
the building and it'll actually sound like a real place,
and maybe the Browns won't come in and beat your
ass and get up like twenty eight to nothing in
the first ten minutes eight three, three, four, one, two,
(13:25):
nine thirty nine. When we come back, I'm gonna get
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
More into this conversation.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That we were having before about James Franklin, and I'll
get back into some of the commentary because I do
think there's a parallel track to some of the Steelers
talk that we've had in recent years.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
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Speaker 7 (13:44):
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Speaker 3 (14:30):
He don't do nothing but win. He just goes how
to win prize.
Speaker 7 (14:34):
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Speaker 1 (14:43):
Tim Benzen from Mark Mark Sick hopefully back tomorrow. If
he's not back tomorrow, then either myself or Tommy or
somebody will be here tomorrow. And I will definitely be
in on Friday when Mark's in England wrapping up the
Bengals game. But I've been doing this now, and a
lot of it in concert with Mark, our same place
with Mark, various stations at various times in our careers.
(15:03):
But we've all overlapped most of my time here, which
now goes back twenty four years, all right, And my
first year here in.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Pittsburgh was two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I got here right before Penn State went on its
run to the Sweet sixteen, So you know, it was
a couple months after Mario came back. It was before
the stadium's opened. The Penguins were about to go on
the run to the Eastern Conference Finals. There's all sorts
of controversy about like what was gonna happen with Cordell
(15:37):
and what the Steelers are going to do.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So things are off to a pretty good start.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I was doing the show after Mark on twelve to
fifty back in the day, and you know, I was like,
all right, well, now Penn State's making this run in
March madness, that that should get some people talking.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Those are gonna be some pretty good shows.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And I just remember going on in like crickets, I
couldn't get anybody to talk about it, and I'm like,
I have no affiliation to Penn State whatsoever, none, but
I was pumped up about it, you know, the year
the Crispin's gone to the Sweet sixteen. And I also remember, like,
for instance, when they got the Orange Bowl that one year.
Is that with Michael Robinson maybe and nothing like, you know,
(16:16):
just it's a weird fan base in the talk radio
columnist circuit in this part of the state to get
much of a reaction out of the only times that
I really remember getting tons of Penn State feedback as
to what was going on with any part of the
athletic department was of course the Sandusky Paterno stuff. And ironically,
(16:39):
anytime you talk Penn State Pitt, that's when Penn State
fans will call the show to tell you how little
they care about Pitt, which is of course revealing how
much they actually do care about Pitt, whether or not
they want to admit it or not, whether or not
it bothers them or not somewhere deep in their souls,
especially in this part of the state, if you're a
Penn State fan, Pit bothers you to some degree or another,
(17:01):
even if you think they're just an annoyance.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It bothers you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You don't call or send an email or send a
tweet to somebody in the sports media like me to
tell me how.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Little you care, unless you care a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But anyway, this Franklin thing has moved the needle like
pretty much nothing I've seen since the Sandusky stuff. And
for at least now it's football reasons, and there still
might be some fallout from what happened way back then
to this.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You know just how burned the whole fan base was, and.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
To get it all the way back to at least
being on the cusp of winning a championship and then
just having that coach gets you so close but always
feeling so far because he was never going to win
the big one. And that's why so many people are
board with the firing, because, like I said before, if
you never ever win the games that you're fifty to
fifty to win, you can never allow yourself to lose
(17:55):
the game that you should win one hundred percent of
the time. And they did it two weeks in a row.
It was untenable. They couldn't keep them. I stand by that,
and I'm reading a lot of national outlets and even
some blogs that have some Penn State ties. And I
can't tell if some of these blogs are, you know,
from State College, or if they're from Philadelphia, if they're
from the Pittsburgh region or what. But I've heard some
(18:18):
people saying in the Penn States and I'll turn this
over to Penn State fans eight three three four one
two ninety nine thirty nine, if you feel like there's
a disconnect between how the national media is interpreting the
Franklin decision and how you the Penn State fan base
feels about it, because there is a sense that I
(18:40):
get that it is similar to how a lot of
people in Pittsburgh interpret national media reaction to how we
talk about Tomlin with the Steelers. I think that's apparent
to you eight three three four one two ninety nine
thirty nine, because I'm constantly told that those of us
in Pittsburgh are too hard on Tomlin that were spoiled,
(19:00):
that we should have more appreciation for what he's done.
And I've heard some Penn State fans complain that they're
getting some of that from the national medium and national
media outlets and people on social media that is that
knows no borders that you know you Penn State fans
should understand that you have it better, and why you're
reacting this way to a coach that just had your
(19:21):
team at number two in the country, and like just
the lack of understanding the disconnect that exists between how
a team is covered nationally and how a team is
covered and perceived within its own fan base. I think
it's really a kin Now, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm
misinterpreting this, but that's the sense that I've gotten, and
(19:43):
I actually side with the Penn State fans that are
on board with the move to fire Franklin. I understand
where you're coming from, Like there's a point that it
gets to where that point never changes, and there was
a sense out there that was really tangible from Penn
State fans that this was just never gonna change and
(20:03):
we're stuck.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Not that we're stuck, but now we're regressing.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And if you're gonna lose recruits based on recruits seeing
what's happening and saying it's stuck, the emergency break is
on the program it's not gonna move forward, then I'd
rather have the uncertainty of a coaching vacancy and then
maybe you hire a coach that I like, and I'll
stay and I'll come and play anyway because I like
(20:30):
the campus, I like the program and all that other stuff.
But if this is as good as gonna get and
now it's gonna go backwards, then I don't want to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Again. Eight three three, four thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
But I've gotten that sense that the mood and the
tone is very similar between how Penn State fans perceive
their program is viewed outside of the fan base itself
to how they view it within the walls of their
own community. And I think there's some merit to those
(21:04):
people who believe that they're being misinterpreted outside of their region,
because I think it's it's very similar to why people
in Pittsburgh push back where they're told that they're spoiled
and they should understand better where the rest of the
world is coming from when we talk about Tomlin, because
Tomlin's kind of been in the same way, never had
(21:25):
a losing season, just hasn't won the playoffs in eight years.
And we'll take calls on you can tweet me as well.
At Tim Ben's PGH. We do have Mike de Fabel
coming up next on The Athletic. We'll talk to him
when we come back. One O five to nine The X.
Speaker 7 (21:37):
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Speaker 8 (21:39):
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Speaker 2 (21:45):
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Speaker 2 (21:55):
Just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Talking a lot about the Steelers and the Penn State
situation will give you the odds on who's going to
take over for James Franklin in Happy Valley and where
he might wind up. In just a little bit, we'll
get back into our Franklin conversation, but now let's return
to Steelers conversation with Mike de Fabo covers the Steelers
for The Athletic. Mike the Coordinator spoke today. Did anybody
ask Arthur Smith about his impending departure to go take
(22:18):
over to become the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
No one asked him that last year. Last asked him
about UNC though, and it was interesting his comments at
those times. I remember him saying there was a time
in his life where he would walk to North Carolina
just to take that head coaching job. So while college
wasn't the right move for him, I think very much
he does desire at some point in his life to
return to being a head coach, and so whether that's
(22:44):
in Tennessee or somewhere else, I think that he would
jump at an opportunity. And so if he's a candidate
there in Tennessee Titans decides that he's their guy, it
would not surprise me if he decided to move on.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oh, I think he'd love that job.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I think he'd go in a hard You've got a
number one quarterback there. I don't know why Tennessee would
entrust him with some of the passing game lines on
his resume over the years exactly, but if it were
to come to pass, I think he'd leave in a heartbeat.
I think it might be regardless of which head coaching
job opens up. But it is interesting to me, Mike
that he does keep getting looks or at least talked about,
(23:22):
in head coaching circles after going seven to ten all
three years with the Falcons, and he got two interviews
this offseason, it didn't seem to curtail him from getting
the Steelers job as an offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Either he's his.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Own best agent or he's got a real good one
to get people continuing to talk about him despite not
having a ton of really good offensive results.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Yeah, I agree with you that his style of offense
wouldn't fit everywhere. But you know, to Arthur Smith's credit,
I think the best thing you can say about him
is he's worked with three very different quarterbacks. I mean,
Russell Wilson was moonball or nothing, and then he gets
you know, justin fields who I mean, his athleticism is
(24:04):
so elite and that's his best quality. And versus Russ
where he was like, you know, a statue back there
and could barely move at this stage of his career.
And now this year with Aaron Rodgers, he's finding ways
to work around Rogers' limitation. And so he went from
this offense that was all relying on the big play,
the moon ball, now it's the complete opposite, the short
(24:26):
foot passing. So as much as I think everyone kind
of gives Arthur Smith a hard time, I'll stick up
up for him just for a second and acknowledge the
fact that he's taken three dramatically different quarterbacks and all
three of them have had success, and I think played
up to or higher than expectations, especially given what we've
(24:48):
seen from Russ and Denver and now in New York,
or what we saw from Aaron Rodgers in New York,
or what we're now seeing from Justin Fields with the Jets.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
To that point, do you think maybe they try to
take a few more deep shots now that they saw
the offensive line hold up against the Browns and Aaron
Rodgers not getting squashed, do you think that gives them
the confidence to do so.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
I looked at the last game as a really a
big step forward because we've seen here in Pittsburgh what
a short, quick passing game when you only have that,
what it means later in the year. And obviously I'm
alluding to the eleven zho start with Ben Roethlisberger, and
then once teams realized that was the only trick that
(25:33):
aging Ben Roethlisberger had, then they started shutting it down
and then the whole thing fell apart. So you know,
Rogers has throughout the season his excuse or his explanation
for why they haven't thrown the ball deep is because
he said they've been seeing a lot of too high
fafeties and this was the game against the Browns proved
that that was the case. They were a heavy single
(25:54):
high team and Aaron Rodgers did prove it. He was
able to air the ball out take his yeap shots
to DK Metcalf and it was kind of funny. I
asked him. I'm like, okay, so what do you do
when you see single high to try it and take
advantage of it? And he said, throw the ball at
DK and when you've got a guy did It's that
kind of a physical specimen that can win in such
(26:14):
a variety of ways, including downfield. You know, it really
opens things up for the offense. And so like to me,
what the what the offense was able to do against
a very good Browns defense. I think that really caught
my attention and I gave me a little bit of
optimism that maybe this could be the year the Steelers
(26:34):
make a little bit of noise. In December and January.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Mike de Fable brought to us by Armstrong the Internet.
You can count on people trust Armstrong one wire dot
com to that point than Mike uh pro Football Talk
had the Steelers rated in their you know, most recent
power rankings or whatever they call them, number five in
the NFL. That still seems high to me, how about you?
Speaker 6 (26:59):
Yeah, I think it's a little bit high. But the
one thing that's I guess making it hard for me
to figure out where the Steelers stand is no one
really looks great within the AFC.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
No one looks good in the NFL. So I mean,
like from that standpoint, I get it. I think when
you do stuff like this, and I drew the analogy
to it's kind of like college basketball polls at Thanksgiving
or it's college football poles on Labor Day, it's perspective
based on early results week one, week two kind of
results and where teams have shown their most wards. And
(27:33):
that's hurt the rest of the league more than it
has the Steelers. But like, I don't know, I don't
know how to see the Steelers as number five.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
In the NFL.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Then again, I don't know how to see.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
The Colts is number two.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Like the Colts really can't be the second best team
in football, can they?
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (27:47):
I mean I believe in Shane Steichen. I've seen him
out scheme out smart Trol Austin and Mike Tomlin numerous times,
including with Joe Clackett last year, and so I always
had faith in him, and he's really proving that it
was the quarterback that was holding him back. With a
guy like Daniel Jones that I think it's kind of mad,
kind of average. But when you have an elite play
(28:10):
caller like that and Shane Stike and he's able to
work around it, I guess to your point, Tim, I
think you could look at the Steelers in two dramatically
different ways. You could say their wins have come. You
could be the pessimists the ins there and say, well,
you know, they beat the winless Jets, and what are
the Jets right now? Then the Patriots gave the game
(28:30):
away with five turnovers. Then they beat Carson Wentz and
the Carson Wentz led Vikings with a backup quarterback and
a quarterback who's going to throw the ball to you
all the time and get sacked and try to extend
to play, and then they beat the brown who is
the Browns. Or you could look at it on the
flip side and be an optimist and say Week one,
crazy things happened and Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes
(28:51):
and they beat the Jets. Then this defense took the
ball away five times from a team that's now a
top its division and the Patriots and beat back and
beat that team on the road. Then you could say
they played against the Vikings and Brian Flores and one
of the best defensive minds in the game, and Artur
Smith basically outstemed him with some of the extra linement
(29:12):
stuff that he did to put the Steelers in good position,
and then they beat one of the NFL's top defenses
in the offenseive's best game. So it's just a matter
of perspective and how you want to see things. The
truth probably lies right there in the middle. With this team,
I think that there's still a playoff team, just as
I thought they were to start the season, and you know,
given what's going on around them, I think they have
(29:33):
a realistic shot to win the division. Whether they're the
top the stiff best team and they have in the NFL,
I don't know. I think they're probably somewhere within that
five to ten range.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Mike yesterday during the press conference, Mike Tomlin said that
some of us in the media were annoying him yesterday
with our questions, who do you think annoyed him the
most and with what question?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
I think that's just all of us at all times. Unfortunately,
that is part of our job. Unfortunately, we're not supposed
to be his friend. We're supposed to ask the questions
that need to be asked. Let me think he didn't
particularly like the question about Caleb Johnson and the kick returns.
That seemed to irritate him a bit. Will Graves, who's
(30:17):
a great guy, kind of began a question by consinuating
that they had players in the past that didn't care
about winning, that cared more about their individual results. That
seemed to tick Tom went off pretty good. And then
Brian Backo my buddy who I'm actually going to drive
to Cincinnati. He needled him a little bit about his
(30:38):
own sex record within divisional games on Thursday night football
on the road. So I think those would be some
of the leading candidates in the clubhouse. But I don't worry.
By the end of the season, we'll all annoy him
in some form or fashion.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Do you think I annoyed him when I asked him
where the ball should go if DK is covered?
Speaker 6 (30:56):
That was kind of funny. His answer was like to
the open guy.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
But I think it's a very legitimate question because you know,
when especially you can take the group of tight ends
and say, okay, those four guys added up to one
hundred and three yards.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yes, But then the wide receivers not named Metcalf had
one catch for twelve yards that was Roman Wilson once
at the end of the game.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, that's I think a byproduct to a degree of
how this offense has been built in what they have
at the wide receiver position. I mean, I think a
lot of people were hoping that this was going to
be the Roman Wilson game with Calvin Austin out, but
as you saw, it was not a one for one
Calvin's down to Romans up situation. Scotty Miller still got
a ton of run, Vince Goronic got a ton of run.
(31:41):
Pat Freidmuth actually got think twenty one snaps after playing
just fifteen in Dublin. And so I think that when
you have a guy like the good thing about this
offense is they have a very legitimate number one wide
receiver who can beat you in so many different ways.
And I think it's fair that that's it's just their strategy.
Like DK is going to be the number one. He's
(32:03):
going to be the first read in a lot of
situation and if he's covered, you just find the other guy.
And I think I'm okay with that just because of
the fact that DK is such a beast and he
can like I'm like I said earlier, with the passes downfield.
If he can beat you on screens, he can beat
you on slants, he can beat you on quick out.
Then you try to go to single high and he
(32:24):
can burn you deep. I mean, that is a hell
of a weapon to have when the Steelers aburn.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
How much do you think mikeel again Mike to favor
with us, How much do you think of what Mike
Tomlin had to say about Andrew Berry and the Cleveland
Brown's decision to trade Joe Flacco? Was that truly rooted
in I can't believe a division rival swapped a quarterback.
And how much of it is he's really concerned about
(32:49):
Joe Flacco Because there are some of the national media
they're suggesting, boy, Mike Tomlin's really afraid of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Why is he that afraid of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Well, you only have to look back a year to
have your answer that question. I think. I mean last
year when Flacco came in for Anthony Richardson, he diced
up the defense and put up two touchdowns and ended
up upsetting the Steelers in a game that no one,
I think or very few people thought that the Colts
would win. So when I know that Joe Flacca was
(33:22):
not successful with the Browns, but what quarterback has been
successful with the Browns? He now steps onto a team
that has Jamar Chase T. Higgins, a ton of talented
tight ends. You know, I think that very much he
could be at least a productive passer, and I think
it's qualm or at least the way that I look
(33:42):
at it, the Browns are a dumpster fire and they
have no plan at quarterback and no clear vision. And
now their neptitude is one thing, but when their ineptitude
now leaks into the rest of the division and you're
basically just giving the other team a quarterback that knows
how to beat the Steelers defense knows Tarroll Austin and
(34:05):
Mike Tomlins skiing very well. I could see his frustrations.
I really, I really can. I can see perfectly why
the Sincentti Bengals wanted to make that trade. I don't
really think that getting a fifth round pick for a
sixth is a great return for the Browns, and maybe
they'll end up drafting another mid round quarterback with that
(34:25):
pick that but then who knows where that guy fits
into their depth chart.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Who's driving you r back? Though I always drive, it's
just like a for you or what.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
I'm the one that rents the car. Actually, Brian just
sticks with me to give me a little bit of company,
which I appreciate because he was my buddy back in
my old post because that day when I covered the Pens.
And he's a guy my age who you know, likes
to go out on the road before games and stuff
like that. So he's a pretty good road trip companion.
(35:01):
Good choice of music and good with the directions, which
are two of the biggest keys when you're in that
shotgun roll.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, Cincinnati is pretty easy. You just got to go
seventy seventy one. You'll see it eventually. You don't need
backo for that, do you.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Well? Somehow we always also end up at like the
sketchiest gas stations and Brian's always buying his kid some
like weird drinket toy, so.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
From a gas station, from a gas.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Station, that's how he tells his kid that he loves
and when he's on the road, it's by bringing him
back some weird, weird toy from a gas station. So
we'll have to definitely make our annual or I guess
like eight times a year trip to a random ass loud.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
You can find sketchy outside of Cincinnati pretty easy.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
That's not going to be hard to do.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
If you want to find sketchy that you're not gonna
have to roll the dice and come up with something.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
It'll just hitch in the face.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Yeah, that's very true.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
All Right, Mike, appreciate it. We'll talk soon. Enjoy the trip, right,
sounds good.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
All Right, Mike de Fable here from the athletics when
we come back. Yeah, I committed a talk show sin before.
You're not supposed to like roll out a brand new topic.
Then I have a guest after it. But I just
I kind of got rolling on the James Franklin things,
so I know there are people call him. We had
Mike lined up to talk Steelers. If you want to
get back into the James Franklin conversation, we can uh
eight three three four one two ninety nine thirty nine
(36:15):
might get to some tweets on it.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I will reset that for you.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Also, before we get too far along into the five
o'clock hour, I will give you the odds on who's
going to replace Franklin at Penn State, the odds that
where Franklin's gonna go.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And if you missed it when I was talking with
tom I've got.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
An alternative view on why Mike Tomlin might have been
as ticked off with Barry in Cleveland as he was,
and it wasn't just.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
About the Flacco thing. One oh five nine The X
every weekday.
Speaker 7 (36:44):
At ten am is Travis starting your workday commercial freight
On one o five nine, We're.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Adding another show to the Ex's concert calendar.
Speaker 9 (36:52):
We Kick Murphies for the people in the Saint Tap
Flix Day twenty twenty six two's Frock Kick Murphy's Don't
tell Us.
Speaker 8 (37:06):
February twelfth, Stage May with the abro. Like said Haywire, Tessa.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Gets this Friday Today dass dot com.
Speaker 8 (37:16):
Tell us trough Kick Murphy's brought to you by Tolo, West,
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This hour the Mark Madden Shows brought to you by
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Speaker 3 (37:29):
Thank you for making my day.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, what you said?
Speaker 7 (37:33):
The X at one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Brought to us by People's Natural People's Natural Gas Peoples
an essential utilities company, Safe Reliable natural Gas Energy, People's
Hyphengas dot Com. Here are your odds for who will
take over as Penn State's coach Matt Rule. According to
covers dot com plus two hundred, he's the favorite, followed
by Syracuse Fran Brown and Boston College's Bill O'Brien, former
(38:04):
Penn State coach plus five hundred each. They can do
better than both those guys, Oh, miss coach Lane Kiff
and next that's a bigger fish for sure, plus eight hundred.
Kurt Signetti of Indiana, frequently mentioned, is a fan favorite.
He has longer odds at plus twelve hundred, probably because
most folks are assuming Indiana's gonna throw huge money at
him to stay. Bet Online has Arkansas as the favorite
(38:28):
to hire Franklin at plus three hundred. Vanderbilt Virginia Tech Nebraska, UCLA,
and Florida are all on the board as well. I
would have to throw North Carolina in there too, just
in case they get rid of Bill Belichick. Please please,
please somewhere for Franklin in the ACC so I can
have Franklin versus Nardozzi in my life. I need that
(38:52):
eight three, three, four one two ninety nine thirty nine.
Before we got to RB with Mike de Fable. Like
I said, we were getting a bunch of calls in
and I kind of had to jam myself up against
the clock that was ill prepared by me. But I
do like the conversation we were having because it's not
(39:14):
often I get to have a lot of conversations with
Penn State fans, because I don't think they're just inspired
to call a lot kind of feeling like, you know,
they're not in their own land, so to speak, to
a degree when it comes to Penn State topics of
conversation in the Pittsburgh sports realm, because pitt is the
local college, even though there's a lot of Penn State
(39:34):
fans here, and as it relates to how your decision
of your school to fire your coach was interpreted by
those outside of State College. I wonder if you feel
like a lot of Steelers fans, or if there's penn
State fans who are also Steelers fans, do you feel
the same way, because it used to drive me crazy.
(39:54):
It's not so much prominent this year, but it has
been in recent years where we're scolded, finger wagged at
the rich eisends of the world, the Mike Greenbergs of
the world, telling us in Pittsburgh that we're wrong to
have higher expectations for what the Steelers should be than
just never having a losing season. I think it's akin
to what has happened here because I'm not sure if
(40:16):
people outside of Pennsylvania understand the stagnation that has felt
and the regression that has been felt this year based
on how things have gone under Franklin. I understand why
people wanted him gone despite what the numbers might suggest otherwise,
and what some of the scolding blogs and columns have
come from outside of Pennsylvania to say, well, this is
(40:38):
just an indication of how sullied of a product college
football is, and there's just so much money involved.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
This is bad for college football. Now.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
It's bad as four and twenty one against the entire
top ten. That's what's bad. Let's go to Jerry's on
sixty five. Jerry, you're on one of five nine the X.
Speaker 10 (40:54):
Hey, Hi, Tim, he'll fall as well. Getting back to
Tomlin and being annoyed with Cleveland. What's Cleveland's are what's
Cincinnati and Cleveland? So was dude chuck with Pomblin before
they make any type of trades to make sure that
he doesn't get mad. I mean, it seems like the
trade might have benefited both teams. Cincinnati gets the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It was an odd hill to die on, wasn't it was?
It was an odd fight to pick.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
And can I give you a theory, Jerry, as to
why I think he's as rubbed raw by this as
he is. I don't think it's just about the Flacco thing.
I think he looks at Cleveland says, you're the jack
wagons that signed to Shaan Watson to that paradigm shifting
quarterback deal. You're the jack wagons that gave all that
(41:46):
money to Miles Garrett and now we've got to lock
up TJ for all this money that's gonna be huge
on the back end.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I think he was ticked at Barry and Cleveland before this,
and this is just what pushed him over the edge.
What do you think.
Speaker 10 (42:00):
I would agree with that? And I will even throw in, uh,
we lost to you in the playoffs, So maybe there's
a little bit of uh.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Unwarthed in inks from that.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I mean, it could be for the organization at large.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, maybe, but hey, there's a long list of teams
lately that have beaten Tomlin in the playoffs, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Back in thirty seconds, one, five, nine the X. Now
it's your chance to wait
Hard Badge Show brought to you by d for Lumber
Dynasty partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tim Benson from Mark Today,
Mark under the Weather, hopefully back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I know Mark is going to London.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Paul will be in on Thursday before the Steelers game
against the Cincinnati Bengals. I'll be in on Friday wrapping
up the Bengal game. If Mark's out tomorrow, I'll try
to navigate things until Tommy Radio and I go on
the air on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy at six
o'clock for our usual show at Park's Social countdown to
kick off. But yesterday, Mike Tomlin told media members that
(00:42):
he was annoyed by some of our questions during his
weekly press conference.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And my response to that is, ah, why should this
week be any different?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm not sure if any of my questions in particular
contributed to Tomlin's level of agitation. If so, certainly it
would not be the first time. Now that said, Tomlin
didn't seem to be put off when I asked him
about the state of the Steelers passing game, And like
I told you, that's what twenty fifth in the NFL
right now? And overall the offense and the running game
(01:16):
are twenty ninth. But he didn't seem put off when
I asked him about the state of the passing game
and whether it's meeting his level of expectation. When the
franchise decided to sign Aaron Rodgers this summer, In fact, he.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Was downright philosophical about it. Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I certainly had an overall vision of what it could
look like when it wasn't so detailed that I can
compare to our present state. I think sometimes when you're
inflexible from a planning perspective in that way, you're not
adaptable enough to be what you need to be. A
(01:55):
lot of ideas, certainly that we had about what it
would look like, have been firms, but you really don't
know what you got until you get it now.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Toma said.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Part of his analysis has been learning more about Rogers
individually and what he is going to look like throughout
the entirety of this season, being around him day.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
To day and that component of it, his experience, what's
natural and fluid for him, the relationships that he's able
to develop with others. All of that's a component of
the equation that could alter the vision component, and so
I'm never too married to a vision. It's certainly moving
into general direction that I anticipated at doing, but it's
(02:41):
also reasonable to expect that to continue as we push forward.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
When Tomlin mentioned adaptability and flexibility there, I followed up
by asking what that meant in terms of where the
ball should go. If DK Metcalf is covered and Calvin
Austin is still unavailable because of injury, Calvin does come back,
how would you like to see the ball distributed when
it's not going to DK two ovid people. Oh, okay,
(03:09):
maybe that was one of the questions that annoyed him then.
Not to be fair, I think a lot of us
in the Pittsburgh media are annoyed that we keep having
asked about the lack.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Of a number two wide receiver as well. I mean, like,
when you play sixty minutes of football against the last
place Cleveland Browns and wide receivers not named DK Metcalf
total one catch for twelve yards.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Thanks for that, Roman Wilson. It seems to be a
legitimate question, though, doesn't it. The Steelers don't seem to
think so. Tomlin, Rogers, omar Con, Arthur Smith, and pretty
much any player who has offered up a comment since
Mini Camp, they've insisted.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That the Steelers current wide receiver depth is just fine.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, maybe it is unless Metcalf gets hurt like George
Pickens did last year. Maybe it is until they start
playing tea teams that are above five hundred again, as
they will starting after Thursday's game against the Bengals, Because
if Austin isn't one hundred percent by the time the
Steelers played Green Bay, Indie and the Chargers with a
combined record of twelve four and one, by the way,
(04:15):
the Steelers are going to need to score a little
bit against those teams, and Metcalf can't be rogers only
receiving threat down the field outside the numbers. Now, to
the point of the original question, when the Steelers pursued
Rogers in the first place, they couldn't have possibly done
so with the intent of Rogers averaging an NFL low
five point four intended air yards five weeks of the
(04:39):
season per row isn't now is that because of a
lack of options when Metcalf is covered, or because the
coaches don't trust the pass protection, or because they've deployed
Darnell Washington and Spencer Anderson and Jumbo look so often.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, it's probably all that again.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Though, the conversation about bolstering receiving options isn't always reduced
to critical commentary about Austin's ability to be a true
number two or Wilson's continued ability to emerge. At what
are we looking at now five games into a second season.
We're still waiting for me to do much of anything
or any sort of thought about Scotty Miller or Ben's scronic?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Can they be anything more than good special teamers? Like,
we don't always have to be negative about it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We don't always have to look at it from the
framework of Austin isn't this Roman, Wilson isn't that Scotty
Miller and ben'skronic can only be this? We don't have
to be negative about it. Have the conversation a different
way if you want, have the conversation like this, like
how much better the offense can potentially be if they
have a compliment to Dkay and what if they have
(05:47):
at least somebody to fall back on if DK has
ever heard the conversation should be more about who the
Steelers can add from the outside, now that they're four
to one and the rest of this division appears crippled.
So step, but his throat eye levels should be changing
hoarding picks in hopes of landing a quarterback in an
(06:08):
increasingly less attractive draft class, by the way, for a
franchise that now could be drafting later than expected, by
the way, that should be less of a priority. If
asking about these topics is annoying to Tomlin, well then
I apologize.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
But I'd also imagine that trying.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
To win by throwing the ball four point sorry five
point four yards at a time through the air, that
should be pretty annoying too. I'm sure it's annoying to Rogers,
even though he's not saying it out loud. I'm sure
it's annoying to some of the fans from the stands
who are saying, boy, it's hard to keep doing things
right eleven times in a row on scoring drives, which
(06:48):
they didn't do in the first half against Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
That's why they kept stalling out. There is a need there.
For as much as they.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Want to deny that there is a need personnel wives
at wide receiver, and as much so they tried to
sell us that that need didn't exist, it still does exist.
And to tie this all together to the point that
we started out beginning the whole show about the Pro
Football Talk saying that the fifth best team in the league, well,
the fifth best team in the league should have a
(07:15):
second wide receiver that's better than Calvin Austin, even when
Austin is healthy, because then Austin could be a really
good third wide receiver in theory, or at the very least,
if you can't do better than Austin, find somebody who's
a better number three then, because obviously it still can't
be Roman Wilson a third of the way into his
second season eight three, three four one two ninety nine,
(07:38):
thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Or we can just.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Talk big pictures still about where the Steelers really are.
Like my eyes popped and I said, my god, are
the Steelers really the fifth best.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Team in football?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
When I read that Pro Football Talk story today, I said,
they're not the fifth best team in football? Until my
eyes kept going up and I said, the Colts are
the second best team in football.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Like, you know, I tend to.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Have a critical view of the Steelers because well that's
my job. A but B I'm constantly told all the
time by the national media that we're too hard on
the Steelers around here in Pittsburgh, that we pick on
the Steelers too much, that our expectations are too high. Well,
you're the ones that are putting them fifth in the
(08:24):
NFL right now, at least one national media outlet is.
And you can kind of say they're fifth based on
projections because the AFC North is so bad that it's
gonna be hard for them to lose. Okay, that'll listen to.
But I don't know, man, I get it. Therefore, and one,
I don't know if I would have moved them five
(08:44):
spots up because they lost to the brown or they
beat the Browns.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
If you lose the Browns, where would you put them
twenty fifth?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I mean, you beat the Browns, you go up five
spots and like you're better than the Eagles, You're better
than the Bills, You're better than the Chiefs. No, you
just have a better record. It kind of goes to
the Colts thing too. Are the Colts really the second
best team in football? Or do they just have a
good record?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Because I think the Steelers are more in the latter
pool than the former pool, Like they belong with Casey
Philly and Buffalo, who might have warts, but obviously everybody
has warts.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Like maybe that's where the expectations are too high. Yeah,
Buffalo can't stop the run. We sure saw that last
night against a really good running back. Philly's offense is
really flawed. Just look at the overall stats. They're below
the Steelers in a lot of places. Put those teams
in a neutral field against the Steelers who you're picking
fro case sce into that nex too, Denny Collin from
(09:40):
Rhde Island.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You're on one oh five nine the X.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh hey, Jim Wow, I can't disagree at all. In fact,
everything he said is true. I want to look at
it from a different angle, and I want to see
what you think. I remember back in the seventies when
the Steelers won their first two in a row, and
(10:06):
they started that the third season after that, hoping to be.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, three time champs, and they could have been,
but they started one and four and then they rather
this is when they played ten fourteen games.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, you're looking at it from the other end of
the spectrum because they were one and four and then
and they had injuries and then the defense really came
together and they were, you know, the best hit defense
in the history of football for the rest of the season.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Right, Not only yeah, not only that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I think they pitched fight shutouts.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Or something like that. And then Franco and Rocky got
hurt in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So, like where you're going with it, Denny, is, there's
no way that Steelers team was as bad as it's
one and four record, to the same extent that there's
really no suggestion that the Steelers are a top five
teams just because they started four and one this year.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Right, absolutely, And but you know, I guess my point is.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
That everybody's getting better.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
It's not still there.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I can't can't say that, But I get your point.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Thanks to the call for eight three three four ninety
nine thirty nine, that was an accident, I get it.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
But it just can't go all the air.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You don't have to go back to.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Nineteen seventy six, though, you can just go back to
twenty twenty, like we had this conversation. We had this
exact conversation throughout most of twenty twenty when the Steelers
got off to that eleven and oh star and I
know it was COVID and everything was wonky that year
with the NFL.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
But you know one thing that wasn't was we knew
the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Were really good, and we knew that Patrick Mahomes was
who Patrick Mahomes was going to be and who he
had been.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
So like.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
When we were doing that week by week analysis of
how real is this Steelers undefeated start, and we were
constantly comping to the Chiefs, so I believe we're ten
and one when they were eleven and one, all things
being equal, we knew that they weren't. That the Chiefs
were going to be a team that if the Steelers
played them in the plaoffs, was probably gonna beat their
tails off. Well, reality sunk in and the Steelers fell
(12:14):
off a cliff and they kind of ended up being
where they should have been more at that point as
a team that was vulnerable enough to lose at home
to the Cleveland Browns with the special teams coach and
the sideline running the show that day, Like that's who that.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Steeler team really was in the end.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Now, I'm not saying that it's gonna go that far
down like it did last year, even which is another
good example.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
You don't even have to go back to twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You can go back to last year when they lost
five in a row after starting ten and three. It
doesn't have to be that bad. But the difference is
now with the division being as boiled as it is already,
that the Steelers, should they beat Cincinnati on Thursday, have
five wins, and it's tough for me to navigate through
(12:58):
the rest of the schedule without seeing them get.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
At least five more.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That would put them in a position where they're probably
gonna win this It should not take eleven wins to
win the North. It just shouldn't. So then you're in
a top four spot. Then you've got a home playoff game,
and this time, at least there'll be human beings in
the building and it'll actually sound like a real place,
and maybe the Browns won't come in and beat your
ass and get up like twenty eight to nothing in
the first ten minutes eight three, three, four, one, two,
(13:25):
nine thirty nine. When we come back, I'm gonna get
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
More into this conversation.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That we were having before about James Franklin, and I'll
get back into some of the commentary because I do
think there's a parallel track to some of the Steelers
talk that we've had in recent years.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
One of five nine The X.
Speaker 7 (13:44):
The Spirits Summer News to join us for the Xxers
Halloweek Cruse on Thursday, October thirtieth. The crew says, sail
at eight pm, which lie He's it from the Klinton.
It's playing all your nineties favorite ten dollars and fifty
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Foundation or your cue for this twenty one or older
(14:08):
event and dressing your Halloween best to score prizes all night.
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The X is Halloway on the Gateway Clipper, sponsored by
Disaster Restoration Services. We'll see you one October thirty Hit
Bunny dives super genius Mark Madden.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
He don't do nothing but win. He just goes how
to win prize.
Speaker 7 (14:34):
Just horrible, fus terrible The X at one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Tim Benzen from Mark Mark Sick hopefully back tomorrow. If
he's not back tomorrow, then either myself or Tommy or
somebody will be here tomorrow. And I will definitely be
in on Friday when Mark's in England wrapping up the
Bengals game. But I've been doing this now, and a
lot of it in concert with Mark, our same place
with Mark, various stations at various times in our careers.
(15:03):
But we've all overlapped most of my time here, which
now goes back twenty four years, all right, And my
first year here in.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Pittsburgh was two thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I got here right before Penn State went on its
run to the Sweet sixteen, So you know, it was
a couple months after Mario came back. It was before
the stadium's opened. The Penguins were about to go on
the run to the Eastern Conference Finals. There's all sorts
of controversy about like what was gonna happen with Cordell
(15:37):
and what the Steelers are going to do.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So things are off to a pretty good start.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I was doing the show after Mark on twelve to
fifty back in the day, and you know, I was like,
all right, well, now Penn State's making this run in
March madness, that that should get some people talking.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Those are gonna be some pretty good shows.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And I just remember going on in like crickets, I
couldn't get anybody to talk about it, and I'm like,
I have no affiliation to Penn State whatsoever, none, but
I was pumped up about it, you know, the year
the Crispin's gone to the Sweet sixteen. And I also remember, like,
for instance, when they got the Orange Bowl that one year.
Is that with Michael Robinson maybe and nothing like, you know,
(16:16):
just it's a weird fan base in the talk radio
columnist circuit in this part of the state to get
much of a reaction out of the only times that
I really remember getting tons of Penn State feedback as
to what was going on with any part of the
athletic department was of course the Sandusky Paterno stuff. And ironically,
(16:39):
anytime you talk Penn State Pitt, that's when Penn State
fans will call the show to tell you how little
they care about Pitt, which is of course revealing how
much they actually do care about Pitt, whether or not
they want to admit it or not, whether or not
it bothers them or not somewhere deep in their souls,
especially in this part of the state, if you're a
Penn State fan, Pit bothers you to some degree or another,
(17:01):
even if you think they're just an annoyance.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It bothers you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You don't call or send an email or send a
tweet to somebody in the sports media like me to
tell me how.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Little you care, unless you care a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But anyway, this Franklin thing has moved the needle like
pretty much nothing I've seen since the Sandusky stuff. And
for at least now it's football reasons, and there still
might be some fallout from what happened way back then
to this.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You know just how burned the whole fan base was, and.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
To get it all the way back to at least
being on the cusp of winning a championship and then
just having that coach gets you so close but always
feeling so far because he was never going to win
the big one. And that's why so many people are
board with the firing, because, like I said before, if
you never ever win the games that you're fifty to
fifty to win, you can never allow yourself to lose
(17:55):
the game that you should win one hundred percent of
the time. And they did it two weeks in a row.
It was untenable. They couldn't keep them. I stand by that,
and I'm reading a lot of national outlets and even
some blogs that have some Penn State ties. And I
can't tell if some of these blogs are, you know,
from State College, or if they're from Philadelphia, if they're
from the Pittsburgh region or what. But I've heard some
(18:18):
people saying in the Penn States and I'll turn this
over to Penn State fans eight three three four one
two ninety nine thirty nine, if you feel like there's
a disconnect between how the national media is interpreting the
Franklin decision and how you the Penn State fan base
feels about it, because there is a sense that I
(18:40):
get that it is similar to how a lot of
people in Pittsburgh interpret national media reaction to how we
talk about Tomlin with the Steelers. I think that's apparent
to you eight three three four one two ninety nine
thirty nine, because I'm constantly told that those of us
in Pittsburgh are too hard on Tomlin that were spoiled,
(19:00):
that we should have more appreciation for what he's done.
And I've heard some Penn State fans complain that they're
getting some of that from the national medium and national
media outlets and people on social media that is that
knows no borders that you know you Penn State fans
should understand that you have it better, and why you're
reacting this way to a coach that just had your
(19:21):
team at number two in the country, and like just
the lack of understanding the disconnect that exists between how
a team is covered nationally and how a team is
covered and perceived within its own fan base. I think
it's really a kin Now, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm
misinterpreting this, but that's the sense that I've gotten, and
(19:43):
I actually side with the Penn State fans that are
on board with the move to fire Franklin. I understand
where you're coming from, Like there's a point that it
gets to where that point never changes, and there was
a sense out there that was really tangible from Penn
State fans that this was just never gonna change and
(20:03):
we're stuck.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Not that we're stuck, but now we're regressing.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And if you're gonna lose recruits based on recruits seeing
what's happening and saying it's stuck, the emergency break is
on the program it's not gonna move forward, then I'd
rather have the uncertainty of a coaching vacancy and then
maybe you hire a coach that I like, and I'll
stay and I'll come and play anyway because I like
(20:30):
the campus, I like the program and all that other stuff.
But if this is as good as gonna get and
now it's gonna go backwards, then I don't want to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Again. Eight three three, four thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
But I've gotten that sense that the mood and the
tone is very similar between how Penn State fans perceive
their program is viewed outside of the fan base itself
to how they view it within the walls of their
own community. And I think there's some merit to those
(21:04):
people who believe that they're being misinterpreted outside of their region,
because I think it's it's very similar to why people
in Pittsburgh push back where they're told that they're spoiled
and they should understand better where the rest of the
world is coming from when we talk about Tomlin, because
Tomlin's kind of been in the same way, never had
(21:25):
a losing season, just hasn't won the playoffs in eight years.
And we'll take calls on you can tweet me as well.
At Tim Ben's PGH. We do have Mike de Fabel
coming up next on The Athletic. We'll talk to him
when we come back. One O five to nine The X.
Speaker 7 (21:37):
It's the Footy Show weekday mornings at six.
Speaker 8 (21:39):
Listen to the AX at home, at work, anytime on
the iHeartRadio app one oh five nine The X.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
If you can't get enough, if you're Pittsburgh's over.
Speaker 7 (21:48):
By hitting Dusted Road, Domican Dream, so be it baby
The X at one O five nine.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Just tuning in.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Talking a lot about the Steelers and the Penn State
situation will give you the odds on who's going to
take over for James Franklin in Happy Valley and where
he might wind up. In just a little bit, we'll
get back into our Franklin conversation, but now let's return
to Steelers conversation with Mike de Fabo covers the Steelers
for The Athletic. Mike the Coordinator spoke today. Did anybody
ask Arthur Smith about his impending departure to go take
(22:18):
over to become the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
No one asked him that last year. Last asked him
about UNC though, and it was interesting his comments at
those times. I remember him saying there was a time
in his life where he would walk to North Carolina
just to take that head coaching job. So while college
wasn't the right move for him, I think very much
he does desire at some point in his life to
return to being a head coach, and so whether that's
(22:44):
in Tennessee or somewhere else, I think that he would
jump at an opportunity. And so if he's a candidate
there in Tennessee Titans decides that he's their guy, it
would not surprise me if he decided to move on.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oh, I think he'd love that job.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I think he'd go in a hard You've got a
number one quarterback there. I don't know why Tennessee would
entrust him with some of the passing game lines on
his resume over the years exactly, but if it were
to come to pass, I think he'd leave in a heartbeat.
I think it might be regardless of which head coaching
job opens up. But it is interesting to me, Mike
that he does keep getting looks or at least talked about,
(23:22):
in head coaching circles after going seven to ten all
three years with the Falcons, and he got two interviews
this offseason, it didn't seem to curtail him from getting
the Steelers job as an offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Either he's his.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Own best agent or he's got a real good one
to get people continuing to talk about him despite not
having a ton of really good offensive results.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Yeah, I agree with you that his style of offense
wouldn't fit everywhere. But you know, to Arthur Smith's credit,
I think the best thing you can say about him
is he's worked with three very different quarterbacks. I mean,
Russell Wilson was moonball or nothing, and then he gets
you know, justin fields who I mean, his athleticism is
(24:04):
so elite and that's his best quality. And versus Russ
where he was like, you know, a statue back there
and could barely move at this stage of his career.
And now this year with Aaron Rodgers, he's finding ways
to work around Rogers' limitation. And so he went from
this offense that was all relying on the big play,
the moon ball, now it's the complete opposite, the short
(24:26):
foot passing. So as much as I think everyone kind
of gives Arthur Smith a hard time, I'll stick up
up for him just for a second and acknowledge the
fact that he's taken three dramatically different quarterbacks and all
three of them have had success, and I think played
up to or higher than expectations, especially given what we've
(24:48):
seen from Russ and Denver and now in New York,
or what we saw from Aaron Rodgers in New York,
or what we're now seeing from Justin Fields with the Jets.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
To that point, do you think maybe they try to
take a few more deep shots now that they saw
the offensive line hold up against the Browns and Aaron
Rodgers not getting squashed, do you think that gives them
the confidence to do so.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
I looked at the last game as a really a
big step forward because we've seen here in Pittsburgh what
a short, quick passing game when you only have that,
what it means later in the year. And obviously I'm
alluding to the eleven zho start with Ben Roethlisberger, and
then once teams realized that was the only trick that
(25:33):
aging Ben Roethlisberger had, then they started shutting it down
and then the whole thing fell apart. So you know,
Rogers has throughout the season his excuse or his explanation
for why they haven't thrown the ball deep is because
he said they've been seeing a lot of too high
fafeties and this was the game against the Browns proved
that that was the case. They were a heavy single
(25:54):
high team and Aaron Rodgers did prove it. He was
able to air the ball out take his yeap shots
to DK Metcalf and it was kind of funny. I
asked him. I'm like, okay, so what do you do
when you see single high to try it and take
advantage of it? And he said, throw the ball at
DK and when you've got a guy did It's that
kind of a physical specimen that can win in such
(26:14):
a variety of ways, including downfield. You know, it really
opens things up for the offense. And so like to me,
what the what the offense was able to do against
a very good Browns defense. I think that really caught
my attention and I gave me a little bit of
optimism that maybe this could be the year the Steelers
(26:34):
make a little bit of noise. In December and January.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Mike de Fable brought to us by Armstrong the Internet.
You can count on people trust Armstrong one wire dot
com to that point than Mike uh pro Football Talk
had the Steelers rated in their you know, most recent
power rankings or whatever they call them, number five in
the NFL. That still seems high to me, how about you?
Speaker 6 (26:59):
Yeah, I think it's a little bit high. But the
one thing that's I guess making it hard for me
to figure out where the Steelers stand is no one
really looks great within the AFC.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
No one looks good in the NFL. So I mean,
like from that standpoint, I get it. I think when
you do stuff like this, and I drew the analogy
to it's kind of like college basketball polls at Thanksgiving
or it's college football poles on Labor Day, it's perspective
based on early results week one, week two kind of
results and where teams have shown their most wards. And
(27:33):
that's hurt the rest of the league more than it
has the Steelers. But like, I don't know, I don't
know how to see the Steelers as number five.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
In the NFL.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Then again, I don't know how to see.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
The Colts is number two.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Like the Colts really can't be the second best team
in football, can they?
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (27:47):
I mean I believe in Shane Steichen. I've seen him
out scheme out smart Trol Austin and Mike Tomlin numerous times,
including with Joe Clackett last year, and so I always
had faith in him, and he's really proving that it
was the quarterback that was holding him back. With a
guy like Daniel Jones that I think it's kind of mad,
kind of average. But when you have an elite play
(28:10):
caller like that and Shane Stike and he's able to
work around it, I guess to your point, Tim, I
think you could look at the Steelers in two dramatically
different ways. You could say their wins have come. You
could be the pessimists the ins there and say, well,
you know, they beat the winless Jets, and what are
the Jets right now? Then the Patriots gave the game
(28:30):
away with five turnovers. Then they beat Carson Wentz and
the Carson Wentz led Vikings with a backup quarterback and
a quarterback who's going to throw the ball to you
all the time and get sacked and try to extend
to play, and then they beat the brown who is
the Browns. Or you could look at it on the
flip side and be an optimist and say Week one,
crazy things happened and Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes
(28:51):
and they beat the Jets. Then this defense took the
ball away five times from a team that's now a
top its division and the Patriots and beat back and
beat that team on the road. Then you could say
they played against the Vikings and Brian Flores and one
of the best defensive minds in the game, and Artur
Smith basically outstemed him with some of the extra linement
(29:12):
stuff that he did to put the Steelers in good position,
and then they beat one of the NFL's top defenses
in the offenseive's best game. So it's just a matter
of perspective and how you want to see things. The
truth probably lies right there in the middle. With this team,
I think that there's still a playoff team, just as
I thought they were to start the season, and you know,
given what's going on around them, I think they have
(29:33):
a realistic shot to win the division. Whether they're the
top the stiff best team and they have in the NFL,
I don't know. I think they're probably somewhere within that
five to ten range.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Mike yesterday during the press conference, Mike Tomlin said that
some of us in the media were annoying him yesterday
with our questions, who do you think annoyed him the
most and with what question?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
I think that's just all of us at all times. Unfortunately,
that is part of our job. Unfortunately, we're not supposed
to be his friend. We're supposed to ask the questions
that need to be asked. Let me think he didn't
particularly like the question about Caleb Johnson and the kick returns.
That seemed to irritate him a bit. Will Graves, who's
(30:17):
a great guy, kind of began a question by consinuating
that they had players in the past that didn't care
about winning, that cared more about their individual results. That
seemed to tick Tom went off pretty good. And then
Brian Backo my buddy who I'm actually going to drive
to Cincinnati. He needled him a little bit about his
(30:38):
own sex record within divisional games on Thursday night football
on the road. So I think those would be some
of the leading candidates in the clubhouse. But I don't worry.
By the end of the season, we'll all annoy him
in some form or fashion.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Do you think I annoyed him when I asked him
where the ball should go if DK is covered?
Speaker 6 (30:56):
That was kind of funny. His answer was like to
the open guy.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
But I think it's a very legitimate question because you know,
when especially you can take the group of tight ends
and say, okay, those four guys added up to one
hundred and three yards.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yes, But then the wide receivers not named Metcalf had
one catch for twelve yards that was Roman Wilson once
at the end of the game.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, that's I think a byproduct to a degree of
how this offense has been built in what they have
at the wide receiver position. I mean, I think a
lot of people were hoping that this was going to
be the Roman Wilson game with Calvin Austin out, but
as you saw, it was not a one for one
Calvin's down to Romans up situation. Scotty Miller still got
a ton of run, Vince Goronic got a ton of run.
(31:41):
Pat Freidmuth actually got think twenty one snaps after playing
just fifteen in Dublin. And so I think that when
you have a guy like the good thing about this
offense is they have a very legitimate number one wide
receiver who can beat you in so many different ways.
And I think it's fair that that's it's just their strategy.
Like DK is going to be the number one. He's
(32:03):
going to be the first read in a lot of
situation and if he's covered, you just find the other guy.
And I think I'm okay with that just because of
the fact that DK is such a beast and he
can like I'm like I said earlier, with the passes downfield.
If he can beat you on screens, he can beat
you on slants, he can beat you on quick out.
Then you try to go to single high and he
(32:24):
can burn you deep. I mean, that is a hell
of a weapon to have when the Steelers aburn.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
How much do you think mikeel again Mike to favor
with us, How much do you think of what Mike
Tomlin had to say about Andrew Berry and the Cleveland
Brown's decision to trade Joe Flacco? Was that truly rooted
in I can't believe a division rival swapped a quarterback.
And how much of it is he's really concerned about
(32:49):
Joe Flacco Because there are some of the national media
they're suggesting, boy, Mike Tomlin's really afraid of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Why is he that afraid of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Well, you only have to look back a year to
have your answer that question. I think. I mean last
year when Flacco came in for Anthony Richardson, he diced
up the defense and put up two touchdowns and ended
up upsetting the Steelers in a game that no one,
I think or very few people thought that the Colts
would win. So when I know that Joe Flacca was
(33:22):
not successful with the Browns, but what quarterback has been
successful with the Browns? He now steps onto a team
that has Jamar Chase T. Higgins, a ton of talented
tight ends. You know, I think that very much he
could be at least a productive passer, and I think
it's qualm or at least the way that I look
(33:42):
at it, the Browns are a dumpster fire and they
have no plan at quarterback and no clear vision. And
now their neptitude is one thing, but when their ineptitude
now leaks into the rest of the division and you're
basically just giving the other team a quarterback that knows
how to beat the Steelers defense knows Tarroll Austin and
(34:05):
Mike Tomlins skiing very well. I could see his frustrations.
I really, I really can. I can see perfectly why
the Sincentti Bengals wanted to make that trade. I don't
really think that getting a fifth round pick for a
sixth is a great return for the Browns, and maybe
they'll end up drafting another mid round quarterback with that
(34:25):
pick that but then who knows where that guy fits
into their depth chart.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Who's driving you r back? Though I always drive, it's
just like a for you or what.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
I'm the one that rents the car. Actually, Brian just
sticks with me to give me a little bit of company,
which I appreciate because he was my buddy back in
my old post because that day when I covered the Pens.
And he's a guy my age who you know, likes
to go out on the road before games and stuff
like that. So he's a pretty good road trip companion.
(35:01):
Good choice of music and good with the directions, which
are two of the biggest keys when you're in that
shotgun roll.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, Cincinnati is pretty easy. You just got to go
seventy seventy one. You'll see it eventually. You don't need
backo for that, do you.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Well? Somehow we always also end up at like the
sketchiest gas stations and Brian's always buying his kid some
like weird drinket toy, so.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
From a gas station, from a gas.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Station, that's how he tells his kid that he loves
and when he's on the road, it's by bringing him
back some weird, weird toy from a gas station. So
we'll have to definitely make our annual or I guess
like eight times a year trip to a random ass loud.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
You can find sketchy outside of Cincinnati pretty easy.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
That's not going to be hard to do.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
If you want to find sketchy that you're not gonna
have to roll the dice and come up with something.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
It'll just hitch in the face.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Yeah, that's very true.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
All Right, Mike, appreciate it. We'll talk soon. Enjoy the trip, right,
sounds good.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
All Right, Mike de Fable here from the athletics when
we come back. Yeah, I committed a talk show sin before.
You're not supposed to like roll out a brand new topic.
Then I have a guest after it. But I just
I kind of got rolling on the James Franklin things,
so I know there are people call him. We had
Mike lined up to talk Steelers. If you want to
get back into the James Franklin conversation, we can uh
eight three three four one two ninety nine thirty nine
(36:15):
might get to some tweets on it.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I will reset that for you.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Also, before we get too far along into the five
o'clock hour, I will give you the odds on who's
going to replace Franklin at Penn State, the odds that
where Franklin's gonna go.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And if you missed it when I was talking with
tom I've got.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
An alternative view on why Mike Tomlin might have been
as ticked off with Barry in Cleveland as he was,
and it wasn't just.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
About the Flacco thing. One oh five nine The X
every weekday.
Speaker 7 (36:44):
At ten am is Travis starting your workday commercial freight
On one o five nine, We're.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Adding another show to the Ex's concert calendar.
Speaker 9 (36:52):
We Kick Murphies for the people in the Saint Tap
Flix Day twenty twenty six two's Frock Kick Murphy's Don't
tell Us.
Speaker 8 (37:06):
February twelfth, Stage May with the abro. Like said Haywire, Tessa.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Gets this Friday Today dass dot com.
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Tell us trough Kick Murphy's brought to you by Tolo, West,
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This hour the Mark Madden Shows brought to you by
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Speaker 3 (37:29):
Thank you for making my day.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, what you said?
Speaker 7 (37:33):
The X at one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Brought to us by People's Natural People's Natural Gas Peoples
an essential utilities company, Safe Reliable natural Gas Energy, People's
Hyphengas dot Com. Here are your odds for who will
take over as Penn State's coach Matt Rule. According to
covers dot com plus two hundred, he's the favorite, followed
by Syracuse Fran Brown and Boston College's Bill O'Brien, former
(38:04):
Penn State coach plus five hundred each. They can do
better than both those guys, Oh, miss coach Lane Kiff
and next that's a bigger fish for sure, plus eight hundred.
Kurt Signetti of Indiana, frequently mentioned, is a fan favorite.
He has longer odds at plus twelve hundred, probably because
most folks are assuming Indiana's gonna throw huge money at
him to stay. Bet Online has Arkansas as the favorite
(38:28):
to hire Franklin at plus three hundred. Vanderbilt Virginia Tech Nebraska, UCLA,
and Florida are all on the board as well. I
would have to throw North Carolina in there too, just
in case they get rid of Bill Belichick. Please please,
please somewhere for Franklin in the ACC so I can
have Franklin versus Nardozzi in my life. I need that
(38:52):
eight three, three, four one two ninety nine thirty nine.
Before we got to RB with Mike de Fable. Like
I said, we were getting a bunch of calls in
and I kind of had to jam myself up against
the clock that was ill prepared by me. But I
do like the conversation we were having because it's not
(39:14):
often I get to have a lot of conversations with
Penn State fans, because I don't think they're just inspired
to call a lot kind of feeling like, you know,
they're not in their own land, so to speak, to
a degree when it comes to Penn State topics of
conversation in the Pittsburgh sports realm, because pitt is the
local college, even though there's a lot of Penn State
(39:34):
fans here, and as it relates to how your decision
of your school to fire your coach was interpreted by
those outside of State College. I wonder if you feel
like a lot of Steelers fans, or if there's penn
State fans who are also Steelers fans, do you feel
the same way, because it used to drive me crazy.
(39:54):
It's not so much prominent this year, but it has
been in recent years where we're scolded, finger wagged at
the rich eisends of the world, the Mike Greenbergs of
the world, telling us in Pittsburgh that we're wrong to
have higher expectations for what the Steelers should be than
just never having a losing season. I think it's akin
to what has happened here because I'm not sure if
(40:16):
people outside of Pennsylvania understand the stagnation that has felt
and the regression that has been felt this year based
on how things have gone under Franklin. I understand why
people wanted him gone despite what the numbers might suggest otherwise,
and what some of the scolding blogs and columns have
come from outside of Pennsylvania to say, well, this is
(40:38):
just an indication of how sullied of a product college
football is, and there's just so much money involved.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
This is bad for college football. Now.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
It's bad as four and twenty one against the entire
top ten. That's what's bad. Let's go to Jerry's on
sixty five. Jerry, you're on one of five nine the X.
Speaker 10 (40:54):
Hey, Hi, Tim, he'll fall as well. Getting back to
Tomlin and being annoyed with Cleveland. What's Cleveland's are what's
Cincinnati and Cleveland? So was dude chuck with Pomblin before
they make any type of trades to make sure that
he doesn't get mad. I mean, it seems like the
trade might have benefited both teams. Cincinnati gets the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It was an odd hill to die on, wasn't it was?
It was an odd fight to pick.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
And can I give you a theory, Jerry, as to
why I think he's as rubbed raw by this as
he is. I don't think it's just about the Flacco thing.
I think he looks at Cleveland says, you're the jack
wagons that signed to Shaan Watson to that paradigm shifting
quarterback deal. You're the jack wagons that gave all that
(41:46):
money to Miles Garrett and now we've got to lock
up TJ for all this money that's gonna be huge
on the back end.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I think he was ticked at Barry and Cleveland before this,
and this is just what pushed him over the edge.
What do you think.
Speaker 10 (42:00):
I would agree with that? And I will even throw in, uh,
we lost to you in the playoffs, So maybe there's
a little bit of uh.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Unwarthed in inks from that.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I mean, it could be for the organization at large.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, maybe, but hey, there's a long list of teams
lately that have beaten Tomlin in the playoffs, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Back in thirty seconds, one, five, nine the X. Now
it's your chance to wait
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