Pregame Show - Tim Benz in for Mark, Latest Rodgers "deadline"

TIm Benz in for Mark, and talks to Tommy Radio about the Steelers and Rodgers, the Penguins and more in the first hour.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Post today at Postcazette dot Com, Jerry Dulac said that
the Pittsburgh Steelers have illustrated saint like patients with Aaron Rodgers.
Here's the other thing that is saint like with the
Steelers their playoff records. Neither team has won a playoff
game since the pandemic ended. In the case of the Steelers,

(00:21):
they haven't won one since twenty sixteen. Perhaps a willingness
to chase around a forty two year old quarterback and
constantly extend thirty something defensive players is a big reason
for that similarity. I'm Tim Benson from Mark mad Today.
This is one oh five nine the X Glad that
you are with us. Marcu is in Florida today. We'll

(00:42):
hear from him in the five o'clock hour, but before
we bring Tommy Radio to the program here in the
two o'clock hour, let's take a different look at the
Jerry Dulac story that posted today in the Baltimore Postcar
excuse me, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Jerry Wright, the Steelers
have displayed saint like patients waiting for Aaron Rodgers to

(01:05):
say he's coming back for the twenty twenty sixth season,
even though a large portion of their fan base doesn't
agree with their approach, but that patients could be starting
to wear thin after watching two of their expected deadlines
come and go and insisting this isn't the same situation.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
As it was last year.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
The Steelers might not be so understanding of this drags
on for two more weeks. If Rogers hasn't given them
a decision by the start of organized team activities on
May the eighteenth, their latest deadline, that's Jerry adding the
not me, their patients will start to turn into frustration

(01:47):
and maybe something more. I wonder what the Steelers consider
to be something more? What is something more than frustration?
Is it double secret frustration?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Then, as of this moment, they're on double secret probation
in terms of their effectiveness.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I think Artwordy the Second and Dean Warmer are becoming
more and more alike than any Steelers fan truly wants
to admit. Let's bring in Tommy Radio right now. Tom
what do you make of what Jerry Dulac posted today
in the PG and what do.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
You make of double secret frustration for the Steelers?

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, I mean it seems like it's a third line
in the sand right that is being drawn by the
Steelers now, and Rogers has gone over the other two
lines in the sands that have been drawn. So I mean,
people will see that and I think they'll say, oh,
there's some weight to it, and I guess there is,
and they'll say, here we go. We've got a couple
weeks for him to decide. But it just seems like

(02:47):
there's obviously a track record now most recently, of him
just blowing by these benchmarks. But I will say this,
he did show up to that stage of the offseason
last year. It's just a little bit earlier this year
as far as the actual calendar is concerned under Mike
McCarthy's regime. So I guess it would make sense that
he would then show up for official OTAs. But I

(03:07):
mean that, then, Tim, that would be it playing out
exactly the same way as it did last year, which
they promised it would not.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I mean, Dean Warmer got cucked in Animal House, and
certainly r Rudy the Second and Omar Connor having the
same thing happen to them right now. And I think
that's it, Tom, is that this is starting to become
an embarrassment this, and they also have options now because
they got alor they feel like they have options. I
don't know if they have options, and maybe in their

(03:37):
heart of hearts they realized they don't.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
But there is something to be said for.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
A team going into a rebuilding phase organically. And I
know what our Rundy the Second has said in the
past about why would any team want to try to
lose on purpose?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Like why would you want to tank? Basically? But this
wouldn't be tanking.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
This would be a forty two year old quarterback that
you had last year deciding he doesn't want to play
football anymore, and you having three different quarterbacks to choose
from and see in which one works out the best,
and if it doesn't work out, then you have the
opportunity to draft high organically.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
This is what I've been calling for forever.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
This is why they never should have been afraid of
this in the first place.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
If it happens, it happens, and it just might happen.
That's a great point and a great way of looking
at it.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
You know, it just removed the fact that Rogers only
played for the Steelers for a year. Just imagine he's
like some forty two year old stalwart that has always
been here and then he just decides to retire it.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Oh, big Ben Roethlisberger, Right.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
And then you have to reevaluate where you're at as
an organization. Take a swing at a rookie. Maybe that
rookie doesn't hit. Maybe some young player that you had
on the bench comes off the bench and doesn't hit,
and you organically end up picking in the top ten.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Then and you hit then because you're a good organization.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Right, if you're the Steelers, you believe you're a good organization,
So then you'll hit that pick when you at a
premium position for the quarterback, and then that'll lead you
to another decade long of success. Like, I don't understand
this notion that, oh, if you finish at the bottom
of the league, you could end up staying there for
a while like the Browns and the Jets, Like it's

(05:16):
a tough purgatory once you get down there.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
No, it's not.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
Not.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
If you're a good organization. The Chiefs picked in the
top ten this year and trade it up, even they'll
bounce right back. They'll be in the playoffs this year.
Dallas got Zeke Elliott at number four. They went on
to always be in the playoffs with him, Like, it's
not like some purgatory death sentence if you're a truly
good organization like the Steelers should be.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
It's the same thing as the coaching change. It's the
same argument I used to make all the time before
they finally moved away from Mike Tomlin by his own choosing. Ironically,
but if there was any team in the National Football
League who shouldn't be afraid to make a change at coach,
it should be the Steelers, because relatively speaking, they got
it right three times in a row and for the

(05:57):
better part of fifty years. Yet you know, they seem
so paranoid about getting away from Tomlin. They kind of
scared themselves into this purgatory that they're in right now.
A different kind of purgatory, a higher level one than
what you're talking about. But similarly, tom if anybody should
understand what it's like to be down for a short

(06:17):
time and how you can turn it around, it is
the Steelers. I mean, the longest stretch of time where
they've been bad since they won their first Super Bowl
was five years in the eighties. Now they've had a
longer stretch without a playoff win since then. But I'm
talking about bad, like not making the playoffs or below
five hundred for a number of years in a row.

(06:38):
Even some of those years they were at least eight
and seven or something like that. They had the one
strike year where they lost the game or whatever it was.
But you know, they've never been in a historic rut,
an extended rut. And I'll go back and reader at
the the comp between the quarterback and the coach in
the sense that like they were bad for one year

(07:00):
and they got Roethlisbergers. You know, they missed the playoffs
for three years and then got back in when the
stadium got built under Kawer from the late nineties into
the two thousands. If any team should be acutely aware
of what you're talking about, it's the Steelers themselves, and
this is another example of them being paranoid despite their
own history.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
I just I'm baffled by it exactly. I'm glad you
went to Roethlisberger Oute. That's exactly where I was going.
For a team that loves to call upon their own
history and like, we love to do this the traditional way,
the Pittsburgh Steeler way. You win six Super Bowls when
you have your number one overall pick Terry Bradshaw quarterback,
and then your number eleven overall pick Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback,

(07:40):
like your own history is telling you, there is a
specific blueprint to do this. Yes, some teams will hit
in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounds. It's a very
small hit rate though with those lottery tickets. You gotta
spend a little more to buy these lottery tickets on
the top shelf.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
But they're gonna hit more.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
They're gonna have a bigger return on them, and their
own history shows that they pick in a premium position,
they take the quarterback, they win Super Bowls.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Tom, we're gonna play this audio at the top of
the three o'clock hour, but just to give people a tease.
Tom Pelisero was on with Rich Eisen a couple of
days ago and he said words to the effect of
that Aaron Rodgers didn't have control over the draft, but
the Steelers drafted a lot of players with an eye

(08:26):
towards Aaron Rodgers coming back. And he cites getting an
offensive tackle, getting a wide receiver, getting a guard. I
guess there's the perception out there that the Iowa kid
and the Navy kid from Mount Lebanon. They fit into
the mold too because they're offensive players.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
I don't know if I entirely agree with that.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
I mean, I get where Pelisaro is coming from, because
it looks like an offensive heavy draft playmakers and offensive lineman.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, to that extent, it's.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
True, However, like, do we know if he hanted Shore
is gonna play this year, if he's going to start
this year?

Speaker 2 (09:04):
We don't.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Bernard is good, but he's not one of the top
six wide receivers, and they really only got one they
needed two. The other guys that they got an h
back return specialist and a wing back at Navy who's
going to try to play this slot if he makes
the team at all.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Like, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
If I'm Aaron Rodgers, I guess I'm happy that you
went offense as much as you did, But how many
of those picks are really gonna help me not only
this year but early in this season after I make
my decision to come back allegedly.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, I think it's a pretty safe like kind of
I guess it would be a report from Pallisera to
go out there and say that because it's it's true
on the surface, right at face value, Yeah, it's a
draft that helps the quarterback position, but I also think
that can be with an eye towards the future. Kind
of what you were getting into there with Ihna Chor
is a pick that maybe he hits now and he's
good right away at right tackle, but he could use
a little bit of seasoning two to three years from now,

(10:01):
he could really start to be coming into his own
at that position. So although you were drafting with offense
in mind, and you'd think Aaron Rodgers would be attracted
with are attracted to a lineman coming in, another weapon
at wide receiver, some other weapons in those scat players
like you were discussing. That also helps a young quarterback, right,
Like Matt Williamson always tells us, like it's aught about

(10:22):
building that nest up for your young baby quarterback to
learn to fly in, and you're doing that in that
draft as well. So I could come on NFL Network
as another person named Tom and have a different take
like this was a draft all about building the future
for that quarterback to come in.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Whether it's Aller or the next guy to hit the
ground running, who would you be if you were on
the NFL network, would you be Tommy Network. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
That's a great question. Tommy Network, Tommy Television, Tommy NFL.
I think probably just Tommy NFL. No, no, on Tommy Television.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
I like you like that because yeah thing well yeah,
well not only that, because you're Tommy Radio now to
be all encompassing, So yeah, Tommy Network or Tommy Television
has to be the play there.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
I think Tommy Television would.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Have to be.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
That sounds pretty good to me. Actually, Tim, I'm not
gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
When we come back, we'll switch gears. We'll talk about
the penguins.

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Speaker 3 (11:14):
Oh yeah, here we go guards thirteen times a day,
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The X will give you the keyword at the top
of every hour.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
Enter it at WXTX dot com and you could win
one thousand dollars in non consecutive unmarked bills.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
I don't know he's hear that. In detective shows, listen
all day for your chance at some extra cash, unless
you've gone something better to do. On one oh five nine,
the X. Hey Mom, we.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Are celebrating moms the Right Way at Wright chivro Let
you at GMC and Baden on Saturday May Night from
two to five pm.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Bring the whole in the five o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Today, since Mark isn't on, We're gonna play back part
of the Mad Monday podcast and an extended stretch of
conversation about the Penguins will be featured in that. We
got in depth on every type of move the Penguins
might make and even got into some of the other

(12:17):
series that are going on. Quick sidebar on that topic, Tom,
how about one game ends with Montreal winning with nine
shots on goal and then the Colorado Avalanche win nine
to six? What the hell is happening in the NHL
playoffs with the Penguins being out?

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Now?

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah, I was talking to my colleague on SNR your
colleague at the Trib, Chris Damski today and he said
he saw, you know that famous meme of John Daly
and Tiger Woods staring at each other in the tea
box with Daily ripping the heater and just looking like
an absolute beauty and Tiger Woods looking like Tiger Woods.
And it was the Montreal Canadians as Daily with nine shots,
and the Colorado Avalanches Tiger Woods with nine goals, both wins.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
It was wild to see.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
How those games progress throughout the course of the night,
I believe. When I finally got around to looking through
some of the details on how the Avs mounted that lead,
blown league comeback, whoever you want to phrase it, I
saw a note from OPTA Stats that said the Avs

(13:16):
were the first team in NHL history to win a
playoff game leading by three goals, blowing the lead, and
then winning by three goals again, that had never happened
before in the history of the NHL.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
They're not going to lose, right, I mean, they'rein the COP.
They're gonna win the COP. They're clearly the team.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
I feel better and more secure about saying that, even
though as goofy as that game was, I suppose when
you get a game one like that, it could set
the tone that you have a gong show kind of series,
like the Flyers and Penguins were back in twenty twelve.
But even that goofy series, not every game was like that.
The middle three were, but it was like fourth two

(13:59):
or four three. In the opener of that series, and
then five to one. The Flyers blew him out in
the sixth game, and by the way, that was the
only real difference in how that Game six went for
the Penguins. As they were trying to claw their way
back from three down, I drew a lot of analogies
to the twenty twelve series as it went along, and

(14:19):
my thinking was, you know, once they were down three
nothing if you looked at it, the Penns had not
won four games in a row since mid January, and
the Flyers had not lost three games in a row
since that same stretch of time in mid January.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
They just were never gonna come back. It was not
going to happen.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
And even if they had won Game six, I would
not have been convinced that they would have won Game seven.
Back here. Part of that is, at some point or another,
as great as he was in Game six, Archer she
Loves was gonna have a bad night, and especially we
find out that he was playing with a torn MCL
or whatever it was the injury that he had his knee.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
We don't know what it is.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
He was getting an MRI after he spoke with the media,
So I shouldn't jump to that conclusion. But whatever, whatever
the knee injury that he had to me, like, what
if that got to him in Game seven? Like maybe
it got really worse in Game six, And for as
hard as.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
He played, I kicked overtime right, and.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I can't guarantee that they would have brought that game
back and won it had that last shift not gone
so bad for Penn Kendall, and you know the dominoes
that fell from there. I do want to talk about
the goaltending a little bit, Tom, because we're all very
focused on if Ginea Malkin. I'm going to talk about
Malkin quite a bit throughout the course of the show.
In the three and four o'clock hours of the program,
we'll talk to Peer maguire, we'll talk to Phil Bork.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
But I don't want.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
People to get lulled into a belief that, you know,
Archer Sheilov's here is like what Matt Murray was in
twenty sixteen, you know, like, I don't think they've found
their number one goalie because he played great at the
end of that series against the Flyers. I think they
might have found themselves a number two that they can
keep to Sheila. Sorry not to Murushov, but it doesn't

(16:04):
have to be Skinner. Now that backs up Murushav and
you gotta sign an unrestricted guy like they can keep Silobs.
But I still go with Mushav is the number one.
It's got to be his year next year. It's going
to be his year next year. I'm pretty confident in
that being the case. And yeah, she Loves He didn't
prove to me that he could be, you know, a
guy in that playoff run, but he proved to me
that he could be very reliable when called upon. So

(16:26):
it's makes total sense he's already under contract. This is
exactly how I think the Penguins would want it to
play out. That she Lobs would give them a kind
of a separation point from Skinner where they wouldn't even
have to think about negotiating with him, even honestly giving
him a call.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
I would just let Skinner walk completely cold.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
I mean, if you want to be a nice guy
and talk to him on the way out the door,
but like, I don't think there's any reason to sit
down at a negotiating table with him and work on
a contract. Your tandem is Mushov and she Lov's next year.
If Silovs continues to prove to be a really solid backup,
you try to keep him in the fold, or maybe
he outplays that, and that's a really good trade chip.
You've got a really nice, hell healthy stockpile of goaltending
in the pipeline. And honestly, if Marischov hits like we

(17:05):
all hoped him, aren't you just looking to find backups
for the next ten plus years. I mean, you're just
looking for that guy to be a thirty percent guy
to take on that load throughout a regular season.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
And what you just saw from she Loves is he
can incubate for a while, he can sit for a
while and then coming cold and be great. Those were
three of his best games as a Penguin.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, without question.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
So I love the place that they're at with the goaltending, assuming,
of course, they do go forward with Mahershov and then
she lives as the backup. But I really think that
that has the opportunity to be the backbone for this
kind of next chapter of the Penguins, And since they
don't really have that blue trip chip forward, you know,
prospect Ben Kendall's great, don't get me wrong, but he's
more of like a second line center, two hundred foot guy,

(17:45):
maybe puts in twenty five goals, Like I'm talking like
that superstar nailed on one hundred point kind of player.
Maybe it's goaltending this time around with the Penguins, right Like,
maybe that comes from the goaltending because that's where your
blue chip prospect is.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Here's the other thing about the Penguin you're talking about
them not having the blue chip forward per se. Maybe
it's Horkoff when he gets in.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
But that's fair, he could develop into that. I'm not
even ready to go there. He's not there next year though.
I don't think I.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Feel most secure about what the plan is at goaltender.
She loves behind Miroshov. Okay, that's what I'm expecting. That's
what I think will happen. There's a lot of other
questions up front which we can get into, and the
dominoes fall around what they decide to do with Malkin primarily,
but look at their defense right now, Like Carlson's under

(18:31):
contract for one more year, l Tang's under for two
more years, Gerard's under for one more year.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
My god, Graves is on the books to twenty twenty nine.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Can we can talk him out of the league somehow,
you know what's on the sportsnet somehow, like hey, we
got a nice cushy job for you here.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Oh yeah, because he's really quotable.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Parker Watherspoon is under contract next year for a million.
They got the North Dakota kid Levanovitge or however you
say his name. He's a under contract for almost a million.
Who else am I missing?

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Saint Ivan? He's under contract for almost a million.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
There's not much room to maneuver there on the blue line,
is there? Certainly not to the degree where it's easy
to free up money unless they figure that they can
get something big for Carlson now because he had such
a good year and there might be more of a
belief factor, a buy in factor for another team to
get him. But if they're gonna work to keep Mulkin,
which I think they eventually will, they're not gonna deal

(19:29):
with tang. Girard's here for better or worse. Like you
see what I'm saying, Like there's maybe one spot for
Brunick to crack into, but only one.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I no, I do see what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
You know, it's funny the Carlson kind of off season
now is going to flip completely into it is a complete.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
One eighty from where we're at, where I bet Kyle here,
do you want to extend him? Right?

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Or or I was talking even more from the prospect
or the perspective of Dubis was probably calling other teams,
you know what I mean, trying to send out feelers
to see how you feel about Carlson. Now he's gonna
probably be fielding those calls now from other teams and say, hey,
contract's up, contract year. You're not really extended him, are
You're not at that point with the Pittsburgh Penguins right now?
What do you think you're offloading him to us? So
I'm curious to see what happens with him. I would

(20:12):
keep Carlson. I just think that he is unbelievable still
and clearly there is a disconnect with Mike Sullivan as
the head coach.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Ye. If there's one clear tangible benefit for mus taking
over for Sullivan, it's how it is awakened Eric Carlson.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
He still has stuff in the tank.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
So I would I would consider, honestly, I don't know,
extensions really hard to get it. I'm going ahead of myself,
I'd at least keep him through the off season, let
him start the season with Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, figure out.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Sid's extension first, which might need figuring out Walkin's contract first,
and then you go to Carlson after that. One thing
to keep in mind, Tom and I might revisit this
a little bit later on the program too. And we're
talking to Pierre and we're talking to Phil Bork about this.
I had not realized for all their draft picks that

(20:57):
they have built up like they're only down to five
next year.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Were you aware of that? No, I did not know that.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
So they got a first, they've got their own first. Okay,
they've got the Jets first, and they're sorry, I take
that back. The Jets second, and their own second. They've
got their own third, and then right now, nothing in
the fourth that was part of the shen Novak Bunting deal.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Nothing in the.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Fifth that was a pick swap with the Blues back
in August of twenty twenty four. They've got the Pred's
pick in round six. Their own sixth is gone by
virtue of the Bemstrom deal. And then around seven they

(21:42):
lost their seventh rounders part of the Pustinen Silovaov deal.
So they right now only have five picks for this year.
So I wouldn't be surprised if you see Dubas try
to finagle some ways to get another pick or two
in this draft, be that sacrificing picks from next year

(22:03):
or players from this year to try to get a
few picks this year. Then again, they got thirteen last year,
so they do they really need to do that.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
I don't know, right, and I like being top heavy.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
If you're gonna have, you know, at least it's picks
towards the top of the drafts and not like you're
waiting around for the first three rounds and then you
make your five picks in the draft. I'm just jealous.
I wish we were doing like Penguins Nation Radio, you
were covering the Penguins. Imagine a Steelers drafts when you're
done after just three rounds.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Oh my god, that'd be great.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, they trade away that Predator's pick in round six,
they can go home home.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
I think Kyle's just think about doing that, all right,
will we come back? Oh, I've got a goofy pole up.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
The pall itself is not goofy actually, The results are
what are goofy. It's a very straightforward pole about the
quarterback situation for the Steelers. But wait till you hear
the trickle down from it, and we'll talk some pirates
as well.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
This is one O five nine the X. It's the
Woodie Show weekday mornings at six.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Sweet Get it on years from the one oh five
nine the ex Weather Center in Free Game Show on nine.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Tommy Radio.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Tim Benz here, Mark is out today. Mark will be
back on Thursday, Tom's and tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
I'm back with you on Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I wanted to get you up to date on the
poll results that I posted at X under at Tim
Benz PGH. So right before the show started, I know
I'd be talking a lot about the quarterback situation, tom
what with the news coming out from Jerry Dulac that
these Steelers are approaching double secret frustration with Aaron Rodgers

(23:36):
because he still hasn't signed yet. That's the report from
Jerry Dulac today. But here's what I've got right now.
I put up a very simple poll, who do you
want the Steelers to start at quarterback in twenty twenty six?
And the keyword is want, not Who are you predicting
or you think the Steelers will start or should start?

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Just what do you want?

Speaker 1 (24:00):
And right now everybody is between twenty and thirty percent.
Aaron Rodgers has nineteen percent of the vote, Mason Rudolph
is twenty three point eight percent of the vote, Drew
Aller at twenty six percent, and Will Howard at thirty
point five percent. Is the choice of the masses as

(24:20):
we speak. Does any of that surprise you? Do you
agree with the majority that you would go with Howard?

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I am actually very pleasantly surprised that the minority is
with Aaron Rodgers, Like I like that. There seems to
be a collective growing eye roll right in Steelers Nation
when it comes to the Aaron Rodgers situation. I actually
voted in this, Paul Tim, do you want me to reveal? Yes,
I do it went I went with Drew Aller and
it paying me to do that as a pitman. But

(24:46):
it just seems to me that, since I just said
I love that people are putting Rogers in the minority,
if you're going to turn the page from Rogers, the
best bet this year to get any kind of upside,
at least to me, is alar Now, I think he'll
fail and that gives you that top ten draft pick organically,
but I think he's your best bet honestly, as far

(25:06):
as what I want the Steelers to do for moving forward,
who to start this year.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Because Howard winning?

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Right now, that's ridiculous to me, because like, if you're
gonna vote for Howard, you should honestly just vote for
Aler with the amount of upside potential he has over Howard.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Uh. Okay, Well, here's where I differ from you on that.
Here's why I would go for Howard over Aler because
he's a winner.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
No.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
No, in fact, maybe the opposite, because you've gassed him
up this whole time. You need to follow through on
that hype to some degree or another. And if you
honestly think that Aler is the better long term prospect,
which I do, think they believe that you give Howard

(25:52):
a chance to look bad before you go to Aler.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Okay, So you're basically saying the same thing I am.
Your just strategy is different, and I honestly like your strategy.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Also, you know what, you probably need more time to
make Aler look good.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
Well, that's the sell, right that McCarthy's got to let
this marinate for a little bit, so to have Howard
to kind of be that sacrificial lamb.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yes, exactly. And you know what's gonna happen is, here's
my prediction on how and Mike. Let's say Rogers doesn't
come back. Let's say Rodgers retires, he's pissed off by
this story that Dulac put out there, whatever, and it's
down to Rudolph, Howard and Alur. You know that they're

(26:30):
just their choice, the guy that they're the highest on
his Alur. Right, we know that McCarthy thinks the most
of him, right, or else it wouldn't have taken him.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
It's his pick, it's his first draft.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yeah, So here's how I could see it very easily going,
very easily going. They start with Howard, it doesn't go well. They,
out of desperation to keep the non losing season streak
and try to keep the season of credibility alive, go
to Rudolph and muddle through from there. And Aler still

(27:02):
doesn't seem much of the field because then he's still
a shiny, unwrapped toy at the end of twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
So they try to keep that season non losing season
streak alive, like for what, like at what is the
what is the point of doing that?

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Now?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
That was always Mike Tomlin's thing, right, even though you know,
Ben Roethlisberger as a quarterback didn't have a losing season himself,
but like that was all.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
You know, when that's gonna be mentioned for the first
time ever, what if McCarthy finishes with ten wins or
nine wins, then all of a sudden it becomes a
franchise streak, Steelers streak, Yes, starts at Ben and continues
with McCarthy, probably likely ending with McCarthy Tomlin's just the
meet in the middle of that sandwich precisely was something
that the national media advanced on behalf of Tomlin, and

(27:45):
that little nugget was something that was conveniently never mentioned
that you know, this non losing season streak started in
four which was Ben's rookie year, and there were three
years of Cower at the beginning of it. And if
it extends beyond the first year of Tomlin being gone,
you watch, all of a sudden, it'll be a Steeler streak,
not just a Tomlin streak anymore.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Ye, So I guess that would be the obvious pivot
for them then, and that's why they would want to
keep it going and sustain it. I could see them
doing that with Rudolph, no question. I think they should
just be comfortable with the room that they have right now.
Like however, it plays out whatever iteration hypothetical that you
and I just went through, go through it with these
three guys, and I guess they're not going to just
come out and say, you know what, we're out of

(28:27):
the Aaron Rodgers, you know, waiting game and pull out
completely from him. But maybe cross your fingers if you're
the Steelers, and hope that he just decides to pull
to shoot himself and just you can finally move forward
with the three yacht.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
No, it's funny before the commercial break, maybe you helped
sway the poll Tom because it was everybody was in
the twenties. Rogers was at twenty percent. Nobody else was
higher than twenty seven percent. That's that's how close. So
there's still I knocked Rogers out of the twenties. A fifth, sorry,
well almost a quarter of the fan base. Fifth of
the fan base wants Aaron Rodgers to be the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Where is that coming from?

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Like that, that's got to be people who have just
sold themselves on the Steelers narrative of how important that
streak is, right.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah, I guess so there are I guess there really
are people out there that don't want to even toy
with the notion of potentially having that losing season or
what that would look like. But that could happen very
likely with Aaron Rodgers at the helm as well. Like
it wasn't like they flew past five hundred last year
to a twelve and six record, like it was tedious.
You know that they finished above five hundred last season.

(29:29):
It could very well go the other way.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Last year.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
You know, a missed field goal by Boswell against the
Jets and Tyler Loop makes the field goal in the
final week of the season, you're losing team.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
I think that portion of the fan base and maybe
I'll get into this more in the three o'clock hour,
but I believe that portion of the fan base that
is voting for Rogers.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's one of two things.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
You either believe truly you are a true believer in
Aaron Rodgers, and you think all the shortcomings had nothing
to do with him. It was the lack of offensive
line play, it was the lack of weapons. It was
the bad offensive coordinator. And you think all the changes
that they've made this offseason are going to be better,
and that Rogers is going to have more toys to
play with and McCarthy's going to find the most of them.

(30:12):
Like that, there could be that section of the fan base. Yes,
there also could be the section of the fan base
that thinks Tomlin screwed everything up and Rogers will be
fine now that it's not Tomlin.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Like that could be it too, perhaps, and.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
That McCarthy being the offensive guy who was with Rogers
for a few of his MVPs, a couple of his MVPs,
Well we'll unlock something out of Rogers. But I think
that's foolish, Like you're expecting someone that's now going to
be a year older, forty two years old now, to
who very clearly was shy in the face of pressure
and his biggest weakness was any team that could even

(30:43):
supply a modicum of a pass rush. It just completely
newtered the Steelers offense and what Rogers was willing to do.
You think that's all of a sudden just going to
get better because they got a project right tackle in
the fall now, and I hanachor like, that's still going
to be a big problem when it comes to the
Steelers offense, even if they do have a good offensive
mind at the helm.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Pirates Note here Tom I was asked on Channel four
last night. I was on the desk with Ashley Lootis.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
We brought up a Pirates topic, and she said, who
are the real pirates?

Speaker 1 (31:10):
The pirates who got swept by the Cardinals and the
pirates that swept the Cincinnati Reds. And I said, the
Pirates that have been five and five over the last
ten games, because that's.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
I said they'd be eighty one and eighty one, and here.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
They are there, five and five over the last ten
against all divisional foes.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
I think they're showing us who they are.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Well, I think, and that's what you should root for
it to be honest with you, to be selfish and
say that you nailed that record the entire season long,
Like if they could just float around five hundred all year,
it'd be one of the best predictions ever, honestly. But
I don't know. I kind of lean more towards the
team against the Reds. I don't think they're gonna get
the Cubs for the Central. I think the Cubs are
so clearly the best team they're pitching is their ownly
vulnerability right now in Chicago, But they're gonna do something

(31:48):
to improve that. In fact, I'm already starting to see
some rumors that they're gonna be a team that's heavy
in on Scooble at the deadline if the Tigers are
looking to move him, depending on where they're at in
the standings.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Although they're winning in.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
The how about this the AL Central, like barely anybody's
over five hundred, and then in the NL Central everybody's
over five hundred.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
That's weird.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
But I think the Pirates are slightly better than that
five hundred mark that you have them at. The Cardinals
just have some weird voodoo magic against them, don't they.
It's just such a weird thing, and against part of
the scenes. Part of it is schemes, because they have
the right approach against schemes, so to just guess fastball
and swing away.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, they jump on them early in games, and they
jump on them early in counts. And you know, one
thing that's been talked about a little bit with Skeens is,
you know, for as great as he has been, and
for as low as some of the numbers indicate this
to the contrary, they're still he gets his pitch count
up sometimes and he gets into foul ball wars with guys,
you know, and instead of just blowing them away at

(32:43):
the fastball, sometimes he gets a little cute with all
of his pitches and guys stay alive and counts, and
that's how you walk away. And after a rough inning
with like twenty five pitches in the first inning like
he had against the Cardinals the other.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Day, Oh yeah, I mean, Skis isn't infallible. I mean
there's definitely now been learning curve against him that you're seeing.
I think you're seeing the league respond this year. Right,
that's fair to say, don't you think like there's there's
clearly now at least somewhat of a strategy that you
can use against him.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
He's still the best pitcher in baseball, though, And.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
He had five great starts in between two bad, and
that's the worst he's he's top three at the very
worst as far as the entire league is concerned.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
But he's human, and.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
It's bad start against the Cardinals. He had nine strikeouts
and no walks, so bounce back pretty well. I mean,
look the weather hold.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
The kid was amped up playing in Pittsburgh, guesses fastball
against Skenes and he connects on one that's gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
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Speaker 4 (33:34):
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Speaker 1 (34:02):
D at the top of the hour here on one
I five not nine the x tien bens and from
Mark Matt We're gonna get back into the quarterback conversation
based on something that Tom Pella Sero had to say
about the draft as it relates to Aaron Rodgers on
the Rich Eisend Show. Interesting stuff there, but Tommy Radio

(34:24):
has the trifecta for us on a very important day, Tom.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yes, it's made the fourth mew with You Day, so
Star Wars Day. But instead of just doing that with
your favorite thor Wars moment in the movies or something
like that, I thought I'd do best movies that have
a reference point to Star Wars that aren't exactly you know,
Star Wars movies.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Number three, I cheated a little bit.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
I'm not gonna lie because the movies ethos is pretty
much built around the Star Wars universe. But have you
ever seen the movie fanboys, Tim, I feel like that
would be right up your ass. I've not seen with
Jay Brochelle and Dan Fogler and Kristen Bell is actually
the female lead. You should look into that, Tim. It's
pretty good there, eyeing friend. Their mission is to get
to Lucas Ranch to see a copy of The Phantom

(35:06):
Menace before it hits theaters, so it's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Number two.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
This does Kristen Bell dressed up like Princess Leiah? And
does she have the little like cinnamon buns inside of
her head?

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yes? And yes?

Speaker 1 (35:16):
What about the return of the Jedi outfit when she's
in the bikini does that come into play it all? Yes?

Speaker 3 (35:20):
She's in the entire slave Girl Lea outfit number two.
I'm gonna go with Ted two when they run into
the guys at the crosswalk and it makes no sense
and Ted's like, y'aw his boss and you two guys enemies.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I just got well, I'm not quite done with it,
but I watched all of almost all of season two
of Ted on Peacock.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
You said you're a fan of the show, right, yes,
service to the entire series.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, and I think one of the producers is going
to be part of the DV Comedy Fest if I
remember correct.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
Oh, that's fantastic. Not Seth MacFarland. No Data gold is
I think gonna be part of it.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
But at any rate, the best episode, as far as
I'm concerned, was episode six where their cousin you know
who lives above the garage, right, she gets pregnant and
needs an abortion, and hilarity ensues, as you would figure
would be the case.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
Of course, classic hijinks, of course, but also in this
scene in Ted two and Amanda, Seafred references Star Trek
and they all turn against Seafreed and they're like, we're
sorry about her, guys. She just doesn't know, the guys
in the crosswalk dressed up are like, it's cool man,
don't worry about him.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
So they literally apologize to them.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
They're like, I'm sorry you have to deal with that,
but number one for me, Tim has to be in
Step Brothers, right, chewbaccam asks.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
I mean, come on, it doesn't get any better than that.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
No, that's I think this more about it being a
great movie. What about Spaceballs? Did you not put Spaceballs?

Speaker 2 (36:41):
And this is like a.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Straight parody of Star Wars, so like I didn't do that,
or like you know, put in like some of the
Family Guys stuff with like Blue Harvest or Robot Chicken,
because that's like a strict parody.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, I was actually gonna bring up the Family Guy
if you didn't. The Family Guy remakes of Star Wars
were absolutely fantastic, Like they did one and it was
so good they felt obligated to have to recreate it
over and over again. And they kept going back to
the old gimmick of the power going out at the house,
which was which you know, their whole thing is about

(37:13):
beating a dead horse, like taking the same joke and
beating it over fifteen sixteen seventeen times, and they did
it with everyone. They never got into the new ones, though,
did they. They stopped after the first three, right, which
I think is good? Well, actually did they reference it
because the prequels sucked?

Speaker 2 (37:29):
They didn't want to do it again. They went down
a different path or something.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I also think I heard in an interview there was
like some reluctance from McFarlane and the creative staff from
Blue Harvest being so good the first one, like you
were saying, they was like an obligation where they had
to at least finish off two and then or do
Empire and then do Return of the Jedi. You're talking
about the Power going out gag. I think my favorite
setup that they did when that one. Do you remember
when they were doing the golf one? I forget for

(37:52):
which one it was, but it was Phil Mickelson and
the announcers like, there's Phil Mickelson and there's Phil Micholson's
hot ass wife. Wow, look at her. Keep doing that
for like four minutes, and then Kink powers out.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Well.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
I was kind of busy with some other things last week.
I didn't get to hear much of how you and
Mark handled the news from Boston about Mike Tomlin's name
coming up as a Patriots coaching roomer. Did you guys
dive into that very much? And what did you think
of the response?

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Mark referenced it once kind of in that initial day
when that started to gain some traction, then barely really
touched on it at all. I think that Mike Tomlin
is going to be a name tim that we see
inserted into every single coaching search from here on out,
as long as Mike Tomlin is on TV and quote
unquote available. I mean, I guess Cower had that die

(38:42):
out eventually, like once you kind of picked up that
he was just going to stay in the studio. But
I honestly just think that this is something that is
going to be a thing for every single opening. I
also think that there is legitimate fire to the smoke
in the reporting of it, where someone in the Patriots
probably said that, yeah, he would be on a short
list if we did have to pivot away from Mike Rabel.

(39:03):
But don't you agree with me that every single opening
now from here on out, or at least for the
next few years, is going to have a Mike Tomlin connection.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Almost Yes, absolutely, And this one is kind of funny
to me because aside from Pittsburgh, I think the only
other market in the NFL where people look at Tomlin
and say, ah, that's not going to be an upgrade
is New England, right because New England had beat him
all the time, right exactly, Like nobody in New England,

(39:31):
trust me, I know this, looks at Mike Tomlin and says, well,
that's a good coach.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Right there, they were saying, who did we draw in
the division round?

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Mike Tomlin? Oh, thank god, Okay, we're going to the
championship game. I just I know how Tomlin is perceived
out there.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
And this was before the twenty sixteen AFC Championship game
and when they lost that game at Jillette Stadium to
open the season of what was in sixteen or seventeen,
I can't remember which it was the front end of
that season or coming off the AFC Championship, But like
nobody looked at Tomlin out there and said, oh, that
the coach that we want to have on our team,
like every other market, Does you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Like, no, I do.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
We heard this all the time when Tomlin was the coach,
and people in Pittsburgh would gripe and convetch you over.
Oh god, I haven't had a playoff winning so long,
And people would say, you're so spoiled. How can you
people in Pittsburgh be so spoiled. He's a great coach,
he's a Hall of Fame coach. YadA, YadA. The only
other market that ever agreed with that take was Boston.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
And here they are now. They got a guy who
just went to the Super.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Bowl in his first year with the team, and now
we're talking about replacing him with Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
That's the thing, Like they're getting into a coaching hire reluctantly.
Like if they had a coach that flamed out and
Tomlin was available, then maybe some of the Boston Nights,
the New England Nights would come around a little bit
and be like, oh, maybe we're a little hard on Tomlin.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
We do have Drake May.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Maybe he can make it work like he did for
all those years with Ben Roethlisberg.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Oh that's how they rationalize it for sure. Well, here
he's got a quarterback in May. They don't want to
move on from Vrabel. He's taking took the super Bowl.
That's the problem. Like, you know what, as soon as
we were talking about this, the first thing that jumped
in my was Tomlin has to get this job. So
here in Pittsburgh we can say, yeah, but he only
won with Rabel's players.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
That is actually truly amazing. I would root for that.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
But do you think it plays out to the point
where the Patriots do have to scramble and find a
coach like Rabel's not stepping down?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Is he? I don't think.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
So.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
He seems to have a ton of support, like his team,
if the players seem to be really vocally having his back,
and then he kind of get like a standing over.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, they did some sort of like season was his
first public appearance aside from those canned statements that he
made to the media.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
But you know, look, he was in the Super Bowl. Okay,
they'll look past a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
The only reason I think that you would find him
in a situation where he would have to step down
if it's not just Rassini, Oh.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
My god, could you imagine, like if there was every
beat writer, is that what you're saying?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Like with the Patriots? And I can only think of
what or two?

Speaker 3 (41:56):
So I was thinking more national nashly, like he was
just dipping into ESPN, and well, I was going to.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Say, like more along the lines of somebody in house,
not just a reporter, but you know it's a secretary
or you know, somebody in media relations or public relations,
that's community relations or whatever.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
That's what happened with the current Rockets head coach Imaiadoka
and his time in Boston, Right. It was an affair
with a person that worked on the team in the building,
and that that gets to be a problem.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Yeah, and you know the tron More thing in uh Michigan,
Like there's violence involved in that and this has nothing
to do with that. But also you know, like where
it came into play was it was a human relations
matter first because she worked there, and then you know,
on top of that, it was a criminal matter by
the end because there was a complaint attached to it.
But that's the only thing that I could think would

(42:45):
befall him if there were to find other skeletons in
the closet that were somehow like you know, the whole
outside thing is you know, this was going to happen eventually.
Diana Rushini was going to become a victim, right because
all you know, they're picking on the poor girl, and
the guy isn't getting any backlashes. Well, the reason why
is he's his job isn't being at all compromised. Her

(43:07):
job was compromised. There's a big difference here, Okay, Like
he was using her to get information out that actually
helped the organization and help the team all lah the
whole aj Brown conversation.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
So that's why it's not the same thing.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
But if there's somebody like under the tent that were
to be involved, that's the only thing that I can
think that would force him to step down. Otherwise, like,
how does Robert Kraft fire Mike Rabel with everything that
happened with him publicly?

Speaker 3 (43:35):
I really don't understand how publicly they don't understand that
part of the situation and the difference between what Rassini
did and what Rabel did, and how hers was an
ethical situation and his was a moral situation. And as
far as the backlashes, and I was like, you know,
so we can't we can't get Vrabel. So now everybody's
going after Jake Laser.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
You know, somebody else has to come down for this
besides the poor girl, you know, And people say, oh,
Mike Rabel gets to skate bask for you.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
No backlash, trust me, he's getting plenty of backlash at home. Okay,
it's not fun those nights at the Patriots office. They're
about to get a lot longer for Mike Rabel. Moving forward, all.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Right, we come back in thirty seconds. Have you missed
with Tom Pellisara had to say about the draft and
how it's related to Aaron Rodgers, the backdrop of what
Jerry Doulack wrote today. It's kind of interesting to dovetail
all these stories together.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
We'll do that.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
We come back in thirty seconds zero one O five
nine the X that SZ four one two three three
three ninety nine thirty nine or tweet me acting Ben's PGH.
We'll get to your thoughts on both of those topics
surrounding the Steelers. We'll get to Penguin's talk with Phil
Burk and Pierre Maguire. I've got some thoughts on of
geting Malkin, and we got the bucko round up.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Coming up to one O five nine the X. Now
here's your chance to win one thousand dollars. Just asure
this nationwide keyword on our