July 24, 2025 • 33 mins
Hour Two of the Good Morning Football Podcast begins with hosts Sara Walsh, Manti Te’o, Mitch Morse and Willie Colon answering several questions - is it Super Bowl or bust for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Will Eagles face Super Bowl hangover? Can Dolphins and Tyreek Hill mend relationships? FOR BETTER OR MORSE - BLANK will define the Cleveland Browns season? BLANK will define Cam Ward’s season?
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good Morning Football is the production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Good Morning Football.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
I'm grateful to be here here, That's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
This is what it looks like.
Speaker 5 (00:19):
July twenty four, just shows trying of like what's going
on over here. I'm Sarah Walls, joined by a guy
who's grateful to be here in Los Angeles, Mantaitea. We've
got a pair of offensive linemen in New York with
Mitch Morse and Willie Cologne holding it down out there.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Feeling good?
Speaker 6 (00:35):
Rocket and rolland happened to be with you on It's
fine mornings, good and it's going about to get better
because of GMFP.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Let's row to tape.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Good Morning, Good Morning on this Thursday from Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sarah here along with Mantai Tao out in New York.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
We got a lot of alignment over there on the
desk in New York. We've got a Super Bowl winner
and Willie Cologe. We've got a segment winner of name
that quarterback with Mitch Morse, both equally as prestigious.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Mitch, No they or not. I was just trying to sell.
Speaker 7 (01:27):
To show you're such an advocate and thank you. I know,
I know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I know it is.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Timed out for the lead block. Let's go for some
quotes on quotes on quotes, because Mitch doesn't want to
give us any apparently. Yeah, Pittsburgh general manager Omar Cohn
has been very busy acquiring veteran talent like Aaron Rodgers,
Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Dk Metcalf.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
The Steelers have not won a playoff game since twenty sixteens.
Con is making it clear as to what the mission
is this season.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Our goals win Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (01:57):
So we're building this team to win a Super Bowl
this year.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, that's our goal. At the same time, I
have to my job.
Speaker 8 (02:03):
Part of my job is to manage make sure we
don't sacrifice or do things that'll hurt us in the future,
you know, because our goal is to obviously sustain success
over time. You know, we traded for Jalen and John
new Smith, and you guys have heard me several times
talk about how important position flexibility is for me.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And that's what those those guys are.
Speaker 8 (02:21):
Those guys are both Pro Bowl players that in my opinion,
in our opinion, can line up in different places on
the field and do some exciting things and.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know, we'll see how it all shakes out.
Speaker 8 (02:31):
You know, it's a training camps for we'll figure out
the roles and but just really really excited to have
those guys on board.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Willie, we know that you know a lot about the
Steelers organization. So what do you make of Omar's comments
and what they've done this offseason.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Well, yeah, I definitely believe Omar. But that's the standard,
and I don't need to be cliche because when you
talk about Pittsburgh, you always hear the comments saying that
Mike Tomlin likes to use it the standard, and the standard, well,
the standard is always to pursue a Super Bowl and
bring home a stickular Barty, as Mike Tomlin would say.
But Omar's right, you don't make the moves they did
in the offseason, you feel like you're not if you
don't have.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
A chance to win Super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
You get Aaron Rodgers, you get John new Smith, you
got Jalen Ramsey, got Darius Slay. They plan on competing
and making a run in the playoffs. That's the goal
right now. Now we are the only issue. We have
to worry about the Steelers is how much are they
going to have left in it take. I think this
is going to be important for this team to win
early and win fast because the back half of that
season gets rough for them, just like it was last year.
(03:28):
Both of those last games they're going to be playing
teams that are predicted to have ten or more wins.
So this team is gonna have to be ready for
the fight in the fourth quarter. And can they stay
injury free? Can they remain playing high football playing football
at a high level. We know what Aaron Rodgers could do.
Can he manifest that energy on Sundays? I believe in
this defense, I think that's going to be the strong
strength of this team. But overall, man I believe Omar.
(03:51):
Their perception in the Standard is that this team is
going to be competing for a super Bowl this coming season.
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Omar Con is exceptionally impressive to me. Of course, every
team that's going to sit up there at the beginning
of the season, managers are going to say that. That
being said, I think it is time for the Steelers
to make that next progression. You bring an influx of
talent in, like Willie at attested too. You have Aaron
Rodgers coming in, who of course there's always talk around
(04:19):
Aaron Rodgers. I truly think he's going to be the
best version of himself as a Pittsburgh Steeler entering the
twilight of his career. There's so many variables that come
into this, whether it's injury, like WILLI had talked about
just starting out hot, you know, going through the ebbs
and flows of a season that's natural. The defense is
solid and the offense is going to follow suit. I
(04:40):
would just love to see Cam Hayward win a Super Bowl.
That would make me happy. He's been a stalwarth for
the Steelers, He's been a Stalworth in this NFL and
it would be the perfect kind of cherry on top
for a Hall of Fame career for an amazing player.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah. I agree with everything you guys said.
Speaker 9 (04:57):
I do think and we've all been there, and Sarah,
you've heard the news clippings and the interviews. It's that
time of year where players and gms and coaches they
seem to regurgitate the same lines.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I mean, earlier in the week.
Speaker 9 (05:11):
We taught we heard r Ray McLeod and what he
said about the Falcons and Michael Pennix and how he
thinks that they can win a Super Bowl or believes
that they'll win a Super Bowl. With Michael Penix, it's
the same thing. Matter of fact, I think we have
the clip of Omar Khan in twenty twenty three saying
the exact same lines or to a certain degree.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Can we throw that up?
Speaker 8 (05:31):
You know, it's been a dream come true for me
since I was a kid to the opportunity to build
a Super Bowl roster and win win a few Super Bowls.
Speaker 9 (05:41):
So again, that was in twenty twenty three, guys, So
this is again, it's the same stuff every single time.
And I think we all just have to ask a
question is when are we not playing for Super Bowl?
Besides the Steelers, Like you can talk to the Tennessee Titans,
you can talk to the Keennesse City Chiefs. Why wouldn't
you draft? Are you drafting for any other reason than
(06:02):
to win a Super Bowl? So that's when I hear
those types of things, that's just like, I mean, what
else do you expect them to say with it?
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Well, at the bottom line is yeah, it's easy to say,
but it's nothing to do. You don't get a four
year old quarterback in a four time MVP in Aaron Rodgers,
if you feel like he's not doesn't have enough left
in the take and get the job done. But one
of the dynamics that I'm excited to see is Office
Smith and Aaron Rodgers because there was a big buggle
between Russell Russell Wilson and Office Smith and that offense
and him and that relation never really click. So I'm
(06:30):
intered to see if these two can really coexist and
really get this offensive office moving in the right direction.
The thing about still a football it always it always
comes down to the defense. It would always start with
the defense, and with the defense. When you have when
you signed TJ. Watt, when you brought in Jalen Ramsey,
when you have Daris Slay. Now you've got Joey Porter Junior,
who I think is a great talent, is going to
be better in this coming year. There's expectation that you're
(06:52):
going to be able to make a run into the playoff,
especially because you're in a division that has two MVP
candidates and Joe Burrow Lamar Jackson. So I believe what
the defense they currently have and hopefully Aaron Rodgers comes
in to the fold and being the guy we know
he can be. Because, like I said before, and I
think I stated this on the show, Aaron Rodgers doesn't
have to come to Pittsburgh and reset a culture or
(07:14):
be a leader. All he has to do is come
into Pittsburgh and be a quarterback. Be a quarterback they
need him to be. Everything else is set in place.
They have an office line, they have a run game,
they have weapons on the outside, they have a defense
to back them up. Now you just got to go
win and compete in the division that's very competitive. So
I have a lot of faith in the Steelers, and
I have a lot of faith that Aaron Rodgers can
go back and be the magical quarterback we know you
(07:35):
can be.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Well, you talked about the fact that they need to
start fast. Their schedule opened at the Jets, which you
know the attention that's going to be on that one
with Aaron Rodgers going back there, and then they've got Seattle,
then they've got New England. As for the other team
in Pennsylvania, well, they're obviously coming off a Super Bowl victory.
Their quarterback Jalen Hurts, was asked about the experience of
receiving that Championship ring.
Speaker 10 (07:55):
It was honestly, Shurrell, you know, to see it, I'm
in person, you know, almost not nostalgic, but you know,
to see something that you've earned, have a moment to
appreciate that one last time.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Fire away.
Speaker 10 (08:13):
Yeah, I've moved on and moved on to the new year.
You know. It's it's as simple as.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
That I moved on to the new year. It's as
simple as that.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
I would think that if you're an Eagles fan, you
sort of love to hear that, don't you.
Speaker 7 (08:27):
Mitch, Yeah, I would say so. I want to take
you guys back to what was a fairly one sided
Super Bowl last year, an extraordinary game on all front,
special teams, offense, defense. If I was going to win
a Super Bowl I would be losing my mind. But
then you panned to that locker room. It was stoic.
It was like they had been there before. It was
(08:49):
actually a little bit eerie. And I think that's a
testament to the leadership starting I think with Jalen Hurts
and you have guys like Lane Johnson, but that's felt
through the whole team, young and old. And what that
is is that's going to poise these guys to enter
training camp in the right mindset. You've seen teams before
or go through these Super Bowl slumps. I don't think
you're going to see that in Jalen Hurts and Saquon
(09:10):
Barkley or any of the weapons that they have on
offense and defense. You're going to see a team that's
just as invigorated to go make a push as they
were last year.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
Listen at the bottom line is easy to say it,
but it's harder to do. How can you not reach
back into last year and pull some motivation from a great,
magical run that it literally brought you home? On Lombardi overall, man,
I'm my only concern with the Philadelphia Eagle was how
how can they how can they evolve this season and
not threaten our identity? Right because we understand that the
(09:40):
office goes to Saquon Barkley in this offensive line and
they're going to run the ball. But then we also
heard aj Brown at the ind of the last season say, hey,
we gotta get better and we gotta be able to
pass ball, and we got to involved in that. I'm
curious to see if this offense takes a step back
in any way, does Nick Sirianni now take reins and
pull and to tell Nick Palto the new offensive coordinated, like,
(10:01):
hey man, we got it. We gotta be better. We
got to do better solely because they won a super
Bowl last year. But my another concern that I have
is the defense they had. They lost some significant pieces.
You talk about CJ. Guarden, Johnson, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat,
all guys who were impact players on that defense. How
do they how do they make up those roles? Are
filling those gaps? So I know offensively they're gonna be good,
(10:22):
they're gonna be solid, But defensively for the Eagles, that's
what I worried about.
Speaker 9 (10:27):
I follow you on that Willie, you know, talking about
that offense and who's going to take the rains Nick Sirianni.
I look at the Eagles, and you can say what
you want to say, it's still Nick Sirianni's offense. Even
though you have a different offensive coordinator every single year
past five years or whatever it is, it's still Nick
Sirianni's offense. Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles have been
running the same exact place since she became the head coach.
(10:49):
For the Philadelphia Eagles, but talk about Jalen hurts Man,
I got big. I'm a big fan of Jalen Hurts.
This this this segment is called Quotes on Quotes on Quotes,
Like that guy is a walking quote book. Like you
could have a book of Jalen Hurts quotes and it's arrival.
Some of the quotes that came from Kolbe. He got
that mama mentality to him. I mean, if you are
(11:10):
two weeks after winning the Super Bowl training already and
you're working out and you're not wearing rings because you
moved on to the next that's exactly what you want
as a leader for your Philadelphia Eagles, if you're Nick Siriani.
So I love everything that Jalen hurt stands for. He
stands for somebody who is worried about the process, worried
about winning, and he's willing to do anything and everything
(11:32):
to have that to achieve that for him and his teammates.
So from me too, Jalen hurst Man, I respect that.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Yeah, and a guy that probably has felt discounted it
several times in his career in college and has always
had to prove people wrong, and he finally did that,
and I think when you have that mentality, and we
talked about it yesterday, Manti, that mentality never went away
from Tom and you get the sense that Jalen's sort
of that same guy in terms of it. It's never
going away. And I have to prove myself. I have
to prove myself and obviously Philadelphia is a town that
you feel like you have to do that each and
(11:59):
every year. But yeah, there is no sense we started
this conversation that there is this super Bowl hang over
there in Philadelphia. These guys have turned the page. They
are ready to go. Finally, we've got some quotes from
Dolphins quarterback to a tongue of Ailoa addressing his relationship
with star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Like after last season's finale,
when during that postgame press conference, Hill made the comment
(12:22):
that I'm out.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Here's what two I had to say.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
When you say something like that, it's you don't just
come back from that with hey my bad. Now, you
got you got to work that that relationship up. You
got to build everything up again. And yeah that it's
still a work in progress, not just for me but
for everybody. But like I said, he's he's working on himself.
He's working on the things that he say. You know,
(12:47):
he says he wants to get better with h and
do better on So that's the first step to me,
and so I commend him for.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Doing that some real honesty there with two his answer,
because I think the easy thing to do, especially if
you're in front of that microphone and there's a bunch
of cameras around you as you guys, to.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Say, yeah, we've moved on.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
It'd be easy to say we've moved on in a
situation like that, we're not worried about it. But he
really was addressing the fact that that wasn't okay, that
the guys weren't okay with it, and it's not all
perfect right now, Mitch, how did you take that?
Speaker 7 (13:17):
It was an extremely candid answer. I think it's a
great lesson for everyone, especially the youth. Words carry weight,
and the weight of I'm out is pretty it's biblical, right,
So I really appreciated to coming up and just saying
how it is. This is something that, of course we
(13:39):
understand where he's coming from. I'm sure Tyreek Hill the
night after he uttered those words wished anything he could
take those back. But you can't. It's today's age, So
what does that mean? Time heals all wound? Sure, but
this one's going to take some time, and it's going
to take some effort. And we heard Tyreek Hill yesterday
or maybe a few days ago talk about his his
(14:02):
ability to take a step back, look inwards and intrinsically
look at himself and say, I want to be the
best version of myself. And I'm sure that this is
one of those instances that led to that moment. Admirable
for both guys. But we'll see. Time does heal wounds
and it's something that I'm sure that they're he's trying
to nurture every day.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Yeah, this is this is a tough one, and I
respect to his answer. The bottom line is hard times
pretty much show your true character, who you are and
what you mean that comes.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Out of your mouth.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
It's interesting because I think Tyreek Hill is a great ballplayer, outstanding,
but I think if Tua it feels like a little
bit of a distrust because I remember when Tyrek Hill
stood in front of the cameras and say, hey man,
look out for Tua.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
He's the guy for the future.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
And then when things got hard for this ball club,
and things started to get a little tumoltuous and there
was a lot of toxicity behind the curtain. The same
guy that promoted him was the same guy that said
I'm out. And so Tua is like, baby, if you
love me or you don't, and if you believe him,
and you got to stand by me when things aren't
going good. And I think this is a bigger question
for the co in that locker room because we've heard
multiple guys coming that locker room talk about lateness, guys
(15:09):
not adhering to what the Miami Dolphins want to do
from a big scheme standpoint. If I'm Tyreek Hill and yes,
I'm with everybody here time Hills wounds, you got to
build your trust and love for each other. But if
I'm two in company, man, it's not just about throwing
the football and believing your brother. They got to get
back to running the football. I thought that was the
stability they had within that offense. In twenty twenty three, man,
(15:31):
they were ranked six and running the ball. In twenty
twenty four, they went they dropped only be under twenty first.
So you talk about the offense right now that had
a huge decline. If you want to take some of
the pressure off a quarterback that's injury prone. In to it,
you got to be able to run the ball. You
want to have more stability an offense. You gotta be
able to run the ball. I think that's going to
neutralize that offense, get them back to where they want.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
To be, and hopefully that relationship.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Listen, winning is the ultimate deodorant. When you win, a
lot of people get the hugging and loving and hanging
out with each other. You lose, that's when things start
to unravel. So overall, man, yes, I agree with Tyreek
Hill to it. Time will tell all, but it still
leads a sting because when I need you the most
is when we were at our worst and you wanted
to leave the back and leave out the back door.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And that's tough to swallow.
Speaker 9 (16:14):
Yeah, Wellie, you said you said this term behind the curtain,
and in order for this to move, in order for
them to have progress, and I'm talking Tool and Tyreek
and everybody else that has an issue with this situation
is you're going to have to have these conversations behind
the curtain, behind outside of the cameras. And I liked
how Too went about it. He addressed it, but he
didn't reveal things that Tyreek could be listening to or
(16:38):
or reading and saying, man, why would he say that
about me? I think too will handle it professionally. He
handed it in a very mature way, a very insightful way,
and I'm hopeful that these.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Two figure it out.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
It's going to have to be figured out in the
locker room at the dining hall when you guys ate bro,
I didn't appreciate you saying that, Okay, what did you
what didn't you appreciate it? And having those types of
conversations so that we could see this connection between number
one and number ten. Because when these two are connected, man,
so there are some highlight plays that you're just like, wow.
And I want that for all of us as NFL
(17:11):
fans to be able to experience for years on end.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
But it has to.
Speaker 9 (17:15):
Be corrected, and it starts in the locker room and
those conversations that you have with your teammates of Hey,
how can I help you? What can I do to
make you better? Is there something that you need from me?
Those are the types of conversations that both of them
have to have, and it starts with those two guys
in locker room.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
And we saw Tyreek at the podium yesterday talking about
the fact that he's going to be the best version
of myself and that he feels like he hasn't been
there yet. And I have a feeling that Tua and
the rest of the Dolphins are like, yeah, we would
love to see that. That would be great. And so, Mitch,
you say words have weight, so do actions, right And
at this time of the year, nobody's lost a football game.
Everyone's high on life right now because it's a good
(17:52):
time to be on any team right now. Right Expectations high, optimism,
great for every team out there, and then it's when
that roller coaster of a season begins and you see.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Where you're at.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
We've got much more on this, and we talk about expectations, optimism,
the expectations in Washington sky high right now after the season.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That the Commanders just had.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
We want to bring Tom Pallisero into this conversation because Tom,
yesterday we saw Terry McLaurin at a yoga studio. That's fine,
except the rest of the team is.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
On the field.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Where do things stand right now with the Commander's wide receiver.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Well, here's the good news, Sarah, if you're a Commander's fan.
Terry McLaurin was at a yoga studio in the Virginia area.
He clearly is there because he believes that at some
point they may be able to work out a contract
that gets himitt of training camp. That has not happened
just yet. The commanders made a procedural move on Wednesday
placing him on the reserve did not report list. That
(18:46):
is a temporary status that could be lifted at any time.
If you guessed it. Terry McLaurin reports to training camp.
It just give them short term. They added another wide receiver,
gives them an additional roster spot for Terry McLaurin. He
turns thirty years old in September. Who's coming up five
consecutive one thousand yard seasons, put up a career high
touchdowns in twenty twenty four. He's do a little other
(19:07):
twenty million dollars in the final year of his contract
in twenty twenty five. He signed that deal at a
time that the marketplace simply was different.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
A twenty million dollar receiver.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
A few years ago is now the thirty million dollar
per year receiver. That's the neighborhood that Terry McLaurin wants
to be in. The sides have yet to figure out
a path to get there. All options were made on
the table. He could request a trade, he could agree
to a deal. He could simply show up and play
out his existing contract. It is a very, very fluid
situation and one that we will be keeping tabs on
(19:39):
in the coming days. Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Anthony Richardson was
back on the practice field Wednesday for the first time
since he sat out in voluntary practice back in the
spring and mini camp because of a renewed issue with
his throwing show or the GM Chris ballard, He's hit
every checkpoint. They'll be careful with his volume early on
in camp. In other words, that they got several practices
(20:00):
in a row. He probably won't throw as many passes
in one of those days as he normally would.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
But this is an important time for.
Speaker 11 (20:07):
Anthony Richardson because when he was out in the spring,
it was Daniel Jones getting those opportunities to show the
coaching staff what he can do. This is one of
the short lists of true quarterback competitions we've got in
the NFL. We know that Anthony Richardson has a ton
of physical ability. The issue for him in his career
is a lot of those WOW plays have turned into
(20:28):
owl plays. He's not been able to stay on the
field get the reps that he needs. Now he's getting them.
We'll be tracking this one all the way through the preseason.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Welcome back to GMFB.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
In honor of a veteran NFL offensive lineman, Mitch Morse
co hosting today, we are playing a game called for
Better or Morse. First up, Brown's head coach Kevin Stefanski.
When it comes to the quarterback competition, what is your
ideal timeline to making a decision?
Speaker 12 (21:01):
I think with all things step Shart, certainly quarterback, I
have a plan that's in pencil, and you know, we
have to take in information every single day, taking how
guys are handling certain situations, and then adjust from there.
But we'll get to those type of decisions later on. Listen.
I think the big thing for me is putting our
guys in position where we can evaluate them. I think
(21:23):
they did a great job in the spring. All four
of those guys. Will continue to put them in some situations,
but ultimately we'd love to make a decision.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Sooner than later.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Mantay and I in the commercial break, we were talking
about the conversation we just had with Tom p Cleveland's
got the quarterback battle, Indie's got a quarterback battle.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
New Orleans has.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
The quarterback battle, and then after that.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
That's really it.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
So as for this game, for better or Morse, it's
really filling the blanks. And so I'll give you the statement.
You write it on the whiteboard. For better or Morse
blank will define the Brown season. Since this game is
named after you, Mitch, you have to go first.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Apparently, thank you.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
I'm not going to take the low hanging fruit here,
which is the quarterback room, although it is a topic
of conversation that we'll need to be addressed. I'm going
to go with an efficient run game led by Tommy Reese,
the new thirty two year old offensive coordinator. We all
know Stefanski's still making the play calls. We need these
guys to be just more efficient to give the quarterback
(22:23):
room a little bit of reprieve on the field. We
want those first downs turning into second and six, as
we want those second downs turning into third and shorts.
Just give the opportunity of that offense to have more
variability and give the quarterback whoever it is, an option
to take a deep breath. I'm not a big metrics
guy because pro football focus hurt my feelings. But here's
(22:44):
what I want to say.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I want.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
Last year we were twenty third in yards per carry
in the NFL. Their leading rusher was five hundred and
sixty five yards. I believe now, I'm not going to
let that confuse anyone too much. That's also probably not
too telling with dividing and conquering regards to the room.
We just need an opportunity to take a little bit
off the QBS played and run the ball. We need
(23:07):
to run the ball.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
For me, Kevin Stefanski will determine the Brown season. And
you got to understand, he's the head coach that came
from two seasons where he had eleven wins back to back,
and so now you talk about a team who was
thirty three and fourteen last season and they don't have
a QB one as of now. So he's gonna have
to find a quarterback that's gonna lead this team. He's
gonna have to get a defense that can play back
(23:28):
to playing big time Browns football like they were doing
two years ago, and overall is gonna be stepping Kevin
Stefanski to really deliver, right, because it is what it is.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Your quarterback situation is what it is. The defense took.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Some hits, but can you get back to playing winning
football and survive in a division that's loaded right now?
Baltimore solid, you know, Cincinnati Bengals, they're gonna come back
with revengeance. You see what the Steelers did with an
adding Aaron Rodgers, then a couple boiler pieces on the
defensive side. How can this Brown survive in this division?
And they're gonna have to do it on his shoulders?
And can he manifest a couple of wins on the
(24:01):
schedule that a lot of people don't expect.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Well, can you show your your answer oment times?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
The glare was it WILLI was the glare, the marker,
it was Kevin. You moved around a little. It's the light.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (24:17):
That's perfect, brother, because that segue is great into what
I'm My answer is in this training camp and it
has a lot to do with Chemic Stefanski and that
quarterback room. You guys know, this training camp is a
time where you get to see what you got.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Now, they have a lot of quarterbacks.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
But when you're going into these reps and you have
these long days, you can only you could only split
those reps a certain amount of ways. There's going to
be a quarterback or two that may get a rep,
may get no reps. So I want to see how's
that rotation going to be. Who are they going to cut?
Because you can't keep all of them. And as soon
as they can make that decision in training camp, the
(24:51):
sooner you can get to working on winning. You guys
know this, being on lineman, there's nothing worse than when
you're switching out at the quarterback position. The guy's cadence
is different, the ball is thrown different, the timing, timing
is different, the guy's expectation of how long you need
to block, that's all different. The sooner they can make
that decision in training camp, the more they can, the
(25:12):
sooner they can work towards winning during the season.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So I think that it's for me, it's trending camp Manta.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
That's a great point I want to ask. Then let
me throw this out to you guys. The lineman in
New York, there if you were reporting, if you're a
member of this offensive line there in Cleveland is just
a nightmare of a training camp for you guys.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
To what he was talking about.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
If you are like established on that line there and
you know that this is just going to be all
eyes on this quarterback battle. There's so many guys were
rotating in. What's it like for you guys?
Speaker 6 (25:41):
Well, I think personally it was I've been in this
situation thirteen. I had Geno Smith as a rookie, and
I know me Nick Maygold and de Brigshaw Ferguson. Our
pact amongst each other was like, listen, let's make it
as comfortable as possible for this young quarterback in Geno Smith.
We knew we had a lot on the show. Just
we knew he had a run an office. We knew
he had to get acclimated into the NFL. We wanted
(26:02):
to do our best job up front of being able
to give unicate, keep him up right, and allow him
to do what he does best and throw into football
and everything else will kind of fall into place. When
you have a young quarterback or are you dealing with
a quarterback room that's dealing with competition, Your job up
front guys, is like, all right, we gotta do what
we gotta do. Get these guys comfortable. So when they're comfortable,
then you can see the true talent and patience and
even the moxie come out. And so that was our
(26:23):
goal and that's how we attack that situation. If you're
a part of that office line for the Browns right now,
all you can do is your job. Everything will work
out itself, but you want to make sure these guys
have enough time in the pocket and are efficient enough
where you can really find out who's going to be
a true leader of that offense.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
I couldn't concur with Willie anymore. You have to give
these guys an opportunity to have an even playing field
to show off, to showcase their talents. And I know
we talked about training camp. It's a beast in general, right,
but you need to give these guys an even playing field.
Of course, you also want to garner in a relationship
(26:58):
with each one of these guys. You don't know who's
going to be a quarterback week one or who's going
to step in throughout the season. You want to see
the other timing. Like Manti said, every quarterback's got a
different rhythm. Everyone's got a little tick. You just gotta
it's just time on task and rep after rep after rep.
It's not sexy, but you know, you take these walkthrough seriously,
You take these reps seriously, and honestly, end season and
(27:20):
training camp, they do a pretty good job of rotating
quarterbacks anyways. But right now it is such an open
playing field with this quarterback room, you got to give
these guys a chance.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Yeah, I just think about will you mentioned you Gino Smith.
I mean, they have guys on guys on guys that
are competing for this position out there in Cleveland. We
know who the guy is in Nashville right now. The
Titans added quarterback Cam Ward and this year's draft to
go along with receiver Calvin Ridley running back Tony Pollard.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Ward is very optimistic about their potential.
Speaker 13 (27:49):
Just from an understanding of how they're gonna run their
routes to them understanding, you know, my ball place where
it needs to be allowed them to make plays with
the field. But we got a talented group of receivers
on Titans will and running backs who can you know,
make plays in the chick down game into the run game.
So you know the pieces that we have. You know,
I think we're one of the top. You know where
cab will be on one of the top offensive league.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
Brought up there, cam for better or Morse blank will
define cam Ward season.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
Mitch Bill Callahan's group. And the offensive line. Okay, last
year they had it was a fairly tumultuous season in general.
On the offensive line was no exception. I'm looking at
their offensive line slated for starting right now. You have
Dan Moore, who you brought over from the Steelers. Okay,
you for you have hefty four for eighty million. You
have Peter Scornsky, who I really think stepped in. I
(28:37):
think he's going into year three, really stepped into the
mold as a left guard. You have Lloyd Krushenberry, who
was last year a big free agency signing, unfortunately lost
to season I believe to an achilles. You have Kevin Zeitler,
who knows how to win and he's been doing it
for a very long time as a great veteran presence.
And then you have JC Latham, who is their young
rookie last year who showed huge upside and potential. They're
(29:00):
going to slate him over. I believe on the right tackle.
But you need these, especially with a rookie quarterback, to
give some grace. We were just talking about in the
last segment, what do you want to do? You want
to give your quarterback the opportunity to show his best self,
and as a rookie quarterback slated to start, there's going
to be these growing pains and you have to mitigate
those as much as possible. You're not going to have
(29:21):
perfect throwing lanes. You're not going to protect forever. But
even if it's consistency and communication, just working with these guys.
If Bill Callahan can get this group humming, which I
think he has an opportunity to, you have these guys slated,
it could be taking that next step. I think you're
going to have cam Ward at least have an opportunity
to really put himself out there for his first inaugural
season in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
For me, it's the defense bottom line. These guys field
last year and a lot of different categories. You talk
about being ranked twenty ninth and pressure rate twenty second
at getting after the quarterback. If you want to keep
a young quarterback happy and healthy, well defensively, you got
to be able to get off the field on third
down and give him back the football so he can
grow and mature to the position. If he walks on
(30:03):
to the field, it is already four team hanging on
the board before he even gets his wheels going. Then
that's a lot for the young quarterback to kind of master.
So if I'm this defense man, they now have to
take it on the shoulder and say, hey man, if
we want this quarterback to be the leader of this franchise,
we got to get the ball back. Get him the
ball as many times as possible so he can get
his wheels going. Because I love camp Woarre's moxie, I
(30:23):
love his confidence. I love that he's all about football.
But the bottom line is defense wins games. Defense wins championships.
Offense do what they need to do. Start momental, put
the numbers on the board, but it starts with the defense.
So I know what cam Board is capable of. But
this defense has to have his back, and they weren't very.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Good last year. If I'm keeping my word safe.
Speaker 9 (30:45):
I like that Willie, and I think that going into
this season, in order for Cambore to have a good season,
he's going to have to be resilient. You guys know
this the two longest years in your life as your
rookie year and then the first year of life for
your new born.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Like that's the two longest years of your life.
Speaker 9 (31:00):
Like you talk about being a rookie quarterback, you went
from a bowl game, then you went to combine training,
went to the combined at football training, the OTA summer camp,
training camp, football season.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
You're basically going all year long.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
And for somebody like Camward and to your point, Willy,
he is all about football. He's been going through a
lot of football and he's going to have to continue
that when you're dealing with the Tennessee Titans and what
they're trying to work with over there. So I think
in order for him to have a successful twenty twenty
five campaign, he's going to have to demonstrate a lot
of resilience. And from what we've seen so far and
what we've heard from him and from his teammates that
(31:35):
were on the show earlier in the week, he set
up the right way. He's the right way. So I
think resilience is something that is a part of him.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
He's learning a ton right now, but also the Titans
a year ago, they were just getting used to a
brand new coach in Callahan, and I talked to it.
You brought up Peter Skronsky, their lineman there, Mitch and
I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago when
he talked about just how much more familiar they are
as a whole with the terminology under Callahan and how
much of a difference that's made. And he also talked
about fact that so much of their off season and
(32:06):
this part doesn't include Cam Moore, but so much of
their off season was about fixing the things.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
That were wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
He said, that's what Callahan really hammered him with, or
those guys with over the off season, the things that
they could fix that those were the self inflicted things.
That's what they have really really tried to pay attention
to detail. And then he just said that, you know,
Cam came in and even the early reports on him
were just so much that this guy is such a communicator,
Like the second he was in that building, and I
(32:31):
was there when he got drafted. The second he was
in that building, it was learning every single person's name
across the board.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Just really little.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
Things like that, those details are so important to Cam
and That's what he talked about. His job as a
quarterback is to be such an effective communicator. So, you know,
so many people talk about the confidence with Cam, but
there's a confidence and there's a maturity and those are
sort of combined with him, and I think that's what
could make him, you know, because there's guys that can
be cocky and confident and everyone sort of has that swagger.
He has this confidence with a maturity that just sort
(32:59):
of goes like, this guy has it right or you
think that this guy has it, and you hope that,
certainly for Titans fans who have been clamoring for a quarterback,
that this guy has it. I'm going to be a
Titans camp this Saturday, part of our Back Together, a
weekend
Good Morning Football is the production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Good Morning Football.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
I'm grateful to be here here, That's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
This is what it looks like.
Speaker 5 (00:19):
July twenty four, just shows trying of like what's going
on over here. I'm Sarah Walls, joined by a guy
who's grateful to be here in Los Angeles, Mantaitea. We've
got a pair of offensive linemen in New York with
Mitch Morse and Willie Cologne holding it down out there.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Feeling good?
Speaker 6 (00:35):
Rocket and rolland happened to be with you on It's
fine mornings, good and it's going about to get better
because of GMFP.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Let's row to tape.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Good Morning, Good Morning on this Thursday from Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sarah here along with Mantai Tao out in New York.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
We got a lot of alignment over there on the
desk in New York. We've got a Super Bowl winner
and Willie Cologe. We've got a segment winner of name
that quarterback with Mitch Morse, both equally as prestigious.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Mitch, No they or not. I was just trying to sell.
Speaker 7 (01:27):
To show you're such an advocate and thank you. I know,
I know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I know it is.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Timed out for the lead block. Let's go for some
quotes on quotes on quotes, because Mitch doesn't want to
give us any apparently. Yeah, Pittsburgh general manager Omar Cohn
has been very busy acquiring veteran talent like Aaron Rodgers,
Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Dk Metcalf.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
The Steelers have not won a playoff game since twenty sixteens.
Con is making it clear as to what the mission
is this season.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Our goals win Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (01:57):
So we're building this team to win a Super Bowl
this year.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, that's our goal. At the same time, I
have to my job.
Speaker 8 (02:03):
Part of my job is to manage make sure we
don't sacrifice or do things that'll hurt us in the future,
you know, because our goal is to obviously sustain success
over time. You know, we traded for Jalen and John
new Smith, and you guys have heard me several times
talk about how important position flexibility is for me.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And that's what those those guys are.
Speaker 8 (02:21):
Those guys are both Pro Bowl players that in my opinion,
in our opinion, can line up in different places on
the field and do some exciting things and.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know, we'll see how it all shakes out.
Speaker 8 (02:31):
You know, it's a training camps for we'll figure out
the roles and but just really really excited to have
those guys on board.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Willie, we know that you know a lot about the
Steelers organization. So what do you make of Omar's comments
and what they've done this offseason.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Well, yeah, I definitely believe Omar. But that's the standard,
and I don't need to be cliche because when you
talk about Pittsburgh, you always hear the comments saying that
Mike Tomlin likes to use it the standard, and the standard, well,
the standard is always to pursue a Super Bowl and
bring home a stickular Barty, as Mike Tomlin would say.
But Omar's right, you don't make the moves they did
in the offseason, you feel like you're not if you
don't have.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
A chance to win Super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
You get Aaron Rodgers, you get John new Smith, you
got Jalen Ramsey, got Darius Slay. They plan on competing
and making a run in the playoffs. That's the goal
right now. Now we are the only issue. We have
to worry about the Steelers is how much are they
going to have left in it take. I think this
is going to be important for this team to win
early and win fast because the back half of that
season gets rough for them, just like it was last year.
(03:28):
Both of those last games they're going to be playing
teams that are predicted to have ten or more wins.
So this team is gonna have to be ready for
the fight in the fourth quarter. And can they stay
injury free? Can they remain playing high football playing football
at a high level. We know what Aaron Rodgers could do.
Can he manifest that energy on Sundays? I believe in
this defense, I think that's going to be the strong
strength of this team. But overall, man I believe Omar.
(03:51):
Their perception in the Standard is that this team is
going to be competing for a super Bowl this coming season.
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Omar Con is exceptionally impressive to me. Of course, every
team that's going to sit up there at the beginning
of the season, managers are going to say that. That
being said, I think it is time for the Steelers
to make that next progression. You bring an influx of
talent in, like Willie at attested too. You have Aaron
Rodgers coming in, who of course there's always talk around
(04:19):
Aaron Rodgers. I truly think he's going to be the
best version of himself as a Pittsburgh Steeler entering the
twilight of his career. There's so many variables that come
into this, whether it's injury, like WILLI had talked about
just starting out hot, you know, going through the ebbs
and flows of a season that's natural. The defense is
solid and the offense is going to follow suit. I
(04:40):
would just love to see Cam Hayward win a Super Bowl.
That would make me happy. He's been a stalwarth for
the Steelers, He's been a Stalworth in this NFL and
it would be the perfect kind of cherry on top
for a Hall of Fame career for an amazing player.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah. I agree with everything you guys said.
Speaker 9 (04:57):
I do think and we've all been there, and Sarah,
you've heard the news clippings and the interviews. It's that
time of year where players and gms and coaches they
seem to regurgitate the same lines.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I mean, earlier in the week.
Speaker 9 (05:11):
We taught we heard r Ray McLeod and what he
said about the Falcons and Michael Pennix and how he
thinks that they can win a Super Bowl or believes
that they'll win a Super Bowl. With Michael Penix, it's
the same thing. Matter of fact, I think we have
the clip of Omar Khan in twenty twenty three saying
the exact same lines or to a certain degree.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Can we throw that up?
Speaker 8 (05:31):
You know, it's been a dream come true for me
since I was a kid to the opportunity to build
a Super Bowl roster and win win a few Super Bowls.
Speaker 9 (05:41):
So again, that was in twenty twenty three, guys, So
this is again, it's the same stuff every single time.
And I think we all just have to ask a
question is when are we not playing for Super Bowl?
Besides the Steelers, Like you can talk to the Tennessee Titans,
you can talk to the Keennesse City Chiefs. Why wouldn't
you draft? Are you drafting for any other reason than
(06:02):
to win a Super Bowl? So that's when I hear
those types of things, that's just like, I mean, what
else do you expect them to say with it?
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Well, at the bottom line is yeah, it's easy to say,
but it's nothing to do. You don't get a four
year old quarterback in a four time MVP in Aaron Rodgers,
if you feel like he's not doesn't have enough left
in the take and get the job done. But one
of the dynamics that I'm excited to see is Office
Smith and Aaron Rodgers because there was a big buggle
between Russell Russell Wilson and Office Smith and that offense
and him and that relation never really click. So I'm
(06:30):
intered to see if these two can really coexist and
really get this offensive office moving in the right direction.
The thing about still a football it always it always
comes down to the defense. It would always start with
the defense, and with the defense. When you have when
you signed TJ. Watt, when you brought in Jalen Ramsey,
when you have Daris Slay. Now you've got Joey Porter Junior,
who I think is a great talent, is going to
be better in this coming year. There's expectation that you're
(06:52):
going to be able to make a run into the playoff,
especially because you're in a division that has two MVP
candidates and Joe Burrow Lamar Jackson. So I believe what
the defense they currently have and hopefully Aaron Rodgers comes
in to the fold and being the guy we know
he can be. Because, like I said before, and I
think I stated this on the show, Aaron Rodgers doesn't
have to come to Pittsburgh and reset a culture or
(07:14):
be a leader. All he has to do is come
into Pittsburgh and be a quarterback. Be a quarterback they
need him to be. Everything else is set in place.
They have an office line, they have a run game,
they have weapons on the outside, they have a defense
to back them up. Now you just got to go
win and compete in the division that's very competitive. So
I have a lot of faith in the Steelers, and
I have a lot of faith that Aaron Rodgers can
go back and be the magical quarterback we know you
(07:35):
can be.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Well, you talked about the fact that they need to
start fast. Their schedule opened at the Jets, which you
know the attention that's going to be on that one
with Aaron Rodgers going back there, and then they've got Seattle,
then they've got New England. As for the other team
in Pennsylvania, well, they're obviously coming off a Super Bowl victory.
Their quarterback Jalen Hurts, was asked about the experience of
receiving that Championship ring.
Speaker 10 (07:55):
It was honestly, Shurrell, you know, to see it, I'm
in person, you know, almost not nostalgic, but you know,
to see something that you've earned, have a moment to
appreciate that one last time.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Fire away.
Speaker 10 (08:13):
Yeah, I've moved on and moved on to the new year.
You know. It's it's as simple as.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
That I moved on to the new year. It's as
simple as that.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
I would think that if you're an Eagles fan, you
sort of love to hear that, don't you.
Speaker 7 (08:27):
Mitch, Yeah, I would say so. I want to take
you guys back to what was a fairly one sided
Super Bowl last year, an extraordinary game on all front,
special teams, offense, defense. If I was going to win
a Super Bowl I would be losing my mind. But
then you panned to that locker room. It was stoic.
It was like they had been there before. It was
(08:49):
actually a little bit eerie. And I think that's a
testament to the leadership starting I think with Jalen Hurts
and you have guys like Lane Johnson, but that's felt
through the whole team, young and old. And what that
is is that's going to poise these guys to enter
training camp in the right mindset. You've seen teams before
or go through these Super Bowl slumps. I don't think
you're going to see that in Jalen Hurts and Saquon
(09:10):
Barkley or any of the weapons that they have on
offense and defense. You're going to see a team that's
just as invigorated to go make a push as they
were last year.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
Listen at the bottom line is easy to say it,
but it's harder to do. How can you not reach
back into last year and pull some motivation from a great,
magical run that it literally brought you home? On Lombardi overall, man,
I'm my only concern with the Philadelphia Eagle was how
how can they how can they evolve this season and
not threaten our identity? Right because we understand that the
(09:40):
office goes to Saquon Barkley in this offensive line and
they're going to run the ball. But then we also
heard aj Brown at the ind of the last season say, hey,
we gotta get better and we gotta be able to
pass ball, and we got to involved in that. I'm
curious to see if this offense takes a step back
in any way, does Nick Sirianni now take reins and
pull and to tell Nick Palto the new offensive coordinated, like,
(10:01):
hey man, we got it. We gotta be better. We
got to do better solely because they won a super
Bowl last year. But my another concern that I have
is the defense they had. They lost some significant pieces.
You talk about CJ. Guarden, Johnson, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat,
all guys who were impact players on that defense. How
do they how do they make up those roles? Are
filling those gaps? So I know offensively they're gonna be good,
(10:22):
they're gonna be solid, But defensively for the Eagles, that's
what I worried about.
Speaker 9 (10:27):
I follow you on that Willie, you know, talking about
that offense and who's going to take the rains Nick Sirianni.
I look at the Eagles, and you can say what
you want to say, it's still Nick Sirianni's offense. Even
though you have a different offensive coordinator every single year
past five years or whatever it is, it's still Nick
Sirianni's offense. Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles have been
running the same exact place since she became the head coach.
(10:49):
For the Philadelphia Eagles, but talk about Jalen hurts Man,
I got big. I'm a big fan of Jalen Hurts.
This this this segment is called Quotes on Quotes on Quotes,
Like that guy is a walking quote book. Like you
could have a book of Jalen Hurts quotes and it's arrival.
Some of the quotes that came from Kolbe. He got
that mama mentality to him. I mean, if you are
(11:10):
two weeks after winning the Super Bowl training already and
you're working out and you're not wearing rings because you
moved on to the next that's exactly what you want
as a leader for your Philadelphia Eagles, if you're Nick Siriani.
So I love everything that Jalen hurt stands for. He
stands for somebody who is worried about the process, worried
about winning, and he's willing to do anything and everything
(11:32):
to have that to achieve that for him and his teammates.
So from me too, Jalen hurst Man, I respect that.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Yeah, and a guy that probably has felt discounted it
several times in his career in college and has always
had to prove people wrong, and he finally did that,
and I think when you have that mentality, and we
talked about it yesterday, Manti, that mentality never went away
from Tom and you get the sense that Jalen's sort
of that same guy in terms of it. It's never
going away. And I have to prove myself. I have
to prove myself and obviously Philadelphia is a town that
you feel like you have to do that each and
(11:59):
every year. But yeah, there is no sense we started
this conversation that there is this super Bowl hang over
there in Philadelphia. These guys have turned the page. They
are ready to go. Finally, we've got some quotes from
Dolphins quarterback to a tongue of Ailoa addressing his relationship
with star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Like after last season's finale,
when during that postgame press conference, Hill made the comment
(12:22):
that I'm out.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Here's what two I had to say.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
When you say something like that, it's you don't just
come back from that with hey my bad. Now, you
got you got to work that that relationship up. You
got to build everything up again. And yeah that it's
still a work in progress, not just for me but
for everybody. But like I said, he's he's working on himself.
He's working on the things that he say. You know,
(12:47):
he says he wants to get better with h and
do better on So that's the first step to me,
and so I commend him for.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Doing that some real honesty there with two his answer,
because I think the easy thing to do, especially if
you're in front of that microphone and there's a bunch
of cameras around you as you guys, to.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Say, yeah, we've moved on.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
It'd be easy to say we've moved on in a
situation like that, we're not worried about it. But he
really was addressing the fact that that wasn't okay, that
the guys weren't okay with it, and it's not all
perfect right now, Mitch, how did you take that?
Speaker 7 (13:17):
It was an extremely candid answer. I think it's a
great lesson for everyone, especially the youth. Words carry weight,
and the weight of I'm out is pretty it's biblical, right,
So I really appreciated to coming up and just saying
how it is. This is something that, of course we
(13:39):
understand where he's coming from. I'm sure Tyreek Hill the
night after he uttered those words wished anything he could
take those back. But you can't. It's today's age, So
what does that mean? Time heals all wound? Sure, but
this one's going to take some time, and it's going
to take some effort. And we heard Tyreek Hill yesterday
or maybe a few days ago talk about his his
(14:02):
ability to take a step back, look inwards and intrinsically
look at himself and say, I want to be the
best version of myself. And I'm sure that this is
one of those instances that led to that moment. Admirable
for both guys. But we'll see. Time does heal wounds
and it's something that I'm sure that they're he's trying
to nurture every day.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Yeah, this is this is a tough one, and I
respect to his answer. The bottom line is hard times
pretty much show your true character, who you are and
what you mean that comes.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Out of your mouth.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
It's interesting because I think Tyreek Hill is a great ballplayer, outstanding,
but I think if Tua it feels like a little
bit of a distrust because I remember when Tyrek Hill
stood in front of the cameras and say, hey man,
look out for Tua.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
He's the guy for the future.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
And then when things got hard for this ball club,
and things started to get a little tumoltuous and there
was a lot of toxicity behind the curtain. The same
guy that promoted him was the same guy that said
I'm out. And so Tua is like, baby, if you
love me or you don't, and if you believe him,
and you got to stand by me when things aren't
going good. And I think this is a bigger question
for the co in that locker room because we've heard
multiple guys coming that locker room talk about lateness, guys
(15:09):
not adhering to what the Miami Dolphins want to do
from a big scheme standpoint. If I'm Tyreek Hill and yes,
I'm with everybody here time Hills wounds, you got to
build your trust and love for each other. But if
I'm two in company, man, it's not just about throwing
the football and believing your brother. They got to get
back to running the football. I thought that was the
stability they had within that offense. In twenty twenty three, man,
(15:31):
they were ranked six and running the ball. In twenty
twenty four, they went they dropped only be under twenty first.
So you talk about the offense right now that had
a huge decline. If you want to take some of
the pressure off a quarterback that's injury prone. In to it,
you got to be able to run the ball. You
want to have more stability an offense. You gotta be
able to run the ball. I think that's going to
neutralize that offense, get them back to where they want.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
To be, and hopefully that relationship.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Listen, winning is the ultimate deodorant. When you win, a
lot of people get the hugging and loving and hanging
out with each other. You lose, that's when things start
to unravel. So overall, man, yes, I agree with Tyreek
Hill to it. Time will tell all, but it still
leads a sting because when I need you the most
is when we were at our worst and you wanted
to leave the back and leave out the back door.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And that's tough to swallow.
Speaker 9 (16:14):
Yeah, Wellie, you said you said this term behind the curtain,
and in order for this to move, in order for
them to have progress, and I'm talking Tool and Tyreek
and everybody else that has an issue with this situation
is you're going to have to have these conversations behind
the curtain, behind outside of the cameras. And I liked
how Too went about it. He addressed it, but he
didn't reveal things that Tyreek could be listening to or
(16:38):
or reading and saying, man, why would he say that
about me? I think too will handle it professionally. He
handed it in a very mature way, a very insightful way,
and I'm hopeful that these.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Two figure it out.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
It's going to have to be figured out in the
locker room at the dining hall when you guys ate bro,
I didn't appreciate you saying that, Okay, what did you
what didn't you appreciate it? And having those types of
conversations so that we could see this connection between number
one and number ten. Because when these two are connected, man,
so there are some highlight plays that you're just like, wow.
And I want that for all of us as NFL
(17:11):
fans to be able to experience for years on end.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
But it has to.
Speaker 9 (17:15):
Be corrected, and it starts in the locker room and
those conversations that you have with your teammates of Hey,
how can I help you? What can I do to
make you better? Is there something that you need from me?
Those are the types of conversations that both of them
have to have, and it starts with those two guys
in locker room.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
And we saw Tyreek at the podium yesterday talking about
the fact that he's going to be the best version
of myself and that he feels like he hasn't been
there yet. And I have a feeling that Tua and
the rest of the Dolphins are like, yeah, we would
love to see that. That would be great. And so, Mitch,
you say words have weight, so do actions, right And
at this time of the year, nobody's lost a football game.
Everyone's high on life right now because it's a good
(17:52):
time to be on any team right now. Right Expectations high, optimism,
great for every team out there, and then it's when
that roller coaster of a season begins and you see.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Where you're at.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
We've got much more on this, and we talk about expectations, optimism,
the expectations in Washington sky high right now after the season.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That the Commanders just had.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
We want to bring Tom Pallisero into this conversation because Tom,
yesterday we saw Terry McLaurin at a yoga studio. That's fine,
except the rest of the team is.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
On the field.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Where do things stand right now with the Commander's wide receiver.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Well, here's the good news, Sarah, if you're a Commander's fan.
Terry McLaurin was at a yoga studio in the Virginia area.
He clearly is there because he believes that at some
point they may be able to work out a contract
that gets himitt of training camp. That has not happened
just yet. The commanders made a procedural move on Wednesday
placing him on the reserve did not report list. That
(18:46):
is a temporary status that could be lifted at any time.
If you guessed it. Terry McLaurin reports to training camp.
It just give them short term. They added another wide receiver,
gives them an additional roster spot for Terry McLaurin. He
turns thirty years old in September. Who's coming up five
consecutive one thousand yard seasons, put up a career high
touchdowns in twenty twenty four. He's do a little other
(19:07):
twenty million dollars in the final year of his contract
in twenty twenty five. He signed that deal at a
time that the marketplace simply was different.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
A twenty million dollar receiver.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
A few years ago is now the thirty million dollar
per year receiver. That's the neighborhood that Terry McLaurin wants
to be in. The sides have yet to figure out
a path to get there. All options were made on
the table. He could request a trade, he could agree
to a deal. He could simply show up and play
out his existing contract. It is a very, very fluid
situation and one that we will be keeping tabs on
(19:39):
in the coming days. Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Anthony Richardson was
back on the practice field Wednesday for the first time
since he sat out in voluntary practice back in the
spring and mini camp because of a renewed issue with
his throwing show or the GM Chris ballard, He's hit
every checkpoint. They'll be careful with his volume early on
in camp. In other words, that they got several practices
(20:00):
in a row. He probably won't throw as many passes
in one of those days as he normally would.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
But this is an important time for.
Speaker 11 (20:07):
Anthony Richardson because when he was out in the spring,
it was Daniel Jones getting those opportunities to show the
coaching staff what he can do. This is one of
the short lists of true quarterback competitions we've got in
the NFL. We know that Anthony Richardson has a ton
of physical ability. The issue for him in his career
is a lot of those WOW plays have turned into
(20:28):
owl plays. He's not been able to stay on the
field get the reps that he needs. Now he's getting them.
We'll be tracking this one all the way through the preseason.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Welcome back to GMFB.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
In honor of a veteran NFL offensive lineman, Mitch Morse
co hosting today, we are playing a game called for
Better or Morse. First up, Brown's head coach Kevin Stefanski.
When it comes to the quarterback competition, what is your
ideal timeline to making a decision?
Speaker 12 (21:01):
I think with all things step Shart, certainly quarterback, I
have a plan that's in pencil, and you know, we
have to take in information every single day, taking how
guys are handling certain situations, and then adjust from there.
But we'll get to those type of decisions later on. Listen.
I think the big thing for me is putting our
guys in position where we can evaluate them. I think
(21:23):
they did a great job in the spring. All four
of those guys. Will continue to put them in some situations,
but ultimately we'd love to make a decision.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Sooner than later.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Mantay and I in the commercial break, we were talking
about the conversation we just had with Tom p Cleveland's
got the quarterback battle, Indie's got a quarterback battle.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
New Orleans has.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
The quarterback battle, and then after that.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
That's really it.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
So as for this game, for better or Morse, it's
really filling the blanks. And so I'll give you the statement.
You write it on the whiteboard. For better or Morse
blank will define the Brown season. Since this game is
named after you, Mitch, you have to go first.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Apparently, thank you.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
I'm not going to take the low hanging fruit here,
which is the quarterback room, although it is a topic
of conversation that we'll need to be addressed. I'm going
to go with an efficient run game led by Tommy Reese,
the new thirty two year old offensive coordinator. We all
know Stefanski's still making the play calls. We need these
guys to be just more efficient to give the quarterback
(22:23):
room a little bit of reprieve on the field. We
want those first downs turning into second and six, as
we want those second downs turning into third and shorts.
Just give the opportunity of that offense to have more
variability and give the quarterback whoever it is, an option
to take a deep breath. I'm not a big metrics
guy because pro football focus hurt my feelings. But here's
(22:44):
what I want to say.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I want.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
Last year we were twenty third in yards per carry
in the NFL. Their leading rusher was five hundred and
sixty five yards. I believe now, I'm not going to
let that confuse anyone too much. That's also probably not
too telling with dividing and conquering regards to the room.
We just need an opportunity to take a little bit
off the QBS played and run the ball. We need
(23:07):
to run the ball.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
For me, Kevin Stefanski will determine the Brown season. And
you got to understand, he's the head coach that came
from two seasons where he had eleven wins back to back,
and so now you talk about a team who was
thirty three and fourteen last season and they don't have
a QB one as of now. So he's gonna have
to find a quarterback that's gonna lead this team. He's
gonna have to get a defense that can play back
(23:28):
to playing big time Browns football like they were doing
two years ago, and overall is gonna be stepping Kevin
Stefanski to really deliver, right, because it is what it is.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Your quarterback situation is what it is. The defense took.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Some hits, but can you get back to playing winning
football and survive in a division that's loaded right now?
Baltimore solid, you know, Cincinnati Bengals, they're gonna come back
with revengeance. You see what the Steelers did with an
adding Aaron Rodgers, then a couple boiler pieces on the
defensive side. How can this Brown survive in this division?
And they're gonna have to do it on his shoulders?
And can he manifest a couple of wins on the
(24:01):
schedule that a lot of people don't expect.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Well, can you show your your answer oment times?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
The glare was it WILLI was the glare, the marker,
it was Kevin. You moved around a little. It's the light.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (24:17):
That's perfect, brother, because that segue is great into what
I'm My answer is in this training camp and it
has a lot to do with Chemic Stefanski and that
quarterback room. You guys know, this training camp is a
time where you get to see what you got.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Now, they have a lot of quarterbacks.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
But when you're going into these reps and you have
these long days, you can only you could only split
those reps a certain amount of ways. There's going to
be a quarterback or two that may get a rep,
may get no reps. So I want to see how's
that rotation going to be. Who are they going to cut?
Because you can't keep all of them. And as soon
as they can make that decision in training camp, the
(24:51):
sooner you can get to working on winning. You guys
know this, being on lineman, there's nothing worse than when
you're switching out at the quarterback position. The guy's cadence
is different, the ball is thrown different, the timing, timing
is different, the guy's expectation of how long you need
to block, that's all different. The sooner they can make
that decision in training camp, the more they can, the
(25:12):
sooner they can work towards winning during the season.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So I think that it's for me, it's trending camp Manta.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
That's a great point I want to ask. Then let
me throw this out to you guys. The lineman in
New York, there if you were reporting, if you're a
member of this offensive line there in Cleveland is just
a nightmare of a training camp for you guys.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
To what he was talking about.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
If you are like established on that line there and
you know that this is just going to be all
eyes on this quarterback battle. There's so many guys were
rotating in. What's it like for you guys?
Speaker 6 (25:41):
Well, I think personally it was I've been in this
situation thirteen. I had Geno Smith as a rookie, and
I know me Nick Maygold and de Brigshaw Ferguson. Our
pact amongst each other was like, listen, let's make it
as comfortable as possible for this young quarterback in Geno Smith.
We knew we had a lot on the show. Just
we knew he had a run an office. We knew
he had to get acclimated into the NFL. We wanted
(26:02):
to do our best job up front of being able
to give unicate, keep him up right, and allow him
to do what he does best and throw into football
and everything else will kind of fall into place. When
you have a young quarterback or are you dealing with
a quarterback room that's dealing with competition, Your job up
front guys, is like, all right, we gotta do what
we gotta do. Get these guys comfortable. So when they're comfortable,
then you can see the true talent and patience and
even the moxie come out. And so that was our
(26:23):
goal and that's how we attack that situation. If you're
a part of that office line for the Browns right now,
all you can do is your job. Everything will work
out itself, but you want to make sure these guys
have enough time in the pocket and are efficient enough
where you can really find out who's going to be
a true leader of that offense.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
I couldn't concur with Willie anymore. You have to give
these guys an opportunity to have an even playing field
to show off, to showcase their talents. And I know
we talked about training camp. It's a beast in general, right,
but you need to give these guys an even playing field.
Of course, you also want to garner in a relationship
(26:58):
with each one of these guys. You don't know who's
going to be a quarterback week one or who's going
to step in throughout the season. You want to see
the other timing. Like Manti said, every quarterback's got a
different rhythm. Everyone's got a little tick. You just gotta
it's just time on task and rep after rep after rep.
It's not sexy, but you know, you take these walkthrough seriously,
You take these reps seriously, and honestly, end season and
(27:20):
training camp, they do a pretty good job of rotating
quarterbacks anyways. But right now it is such an open
playing field with this quarterback room, you got to give
these guys a chance.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Yeah, I just think about will you mentioned you Gino Smith.
I mean, they have guys on guys on guys that
are competing for this position out there in Cleveland. We
know who the guy is in Nashville right now. The
Titans added quarterback Cam Ward and this year's draft to
go along with receiver Calvin Ridley running back Tony Pollard.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Ward is very optimistic about their potential.
Speaker 13 (27:49):
Just from an understanding of how they're gonna run their
routes to them understanding, you know, my ball place where
it needs to be allowed them to make plays with
the field. But we got a talented group of receivers
on Titans will and running backs who can you know,
make plays in the chick down game into the run game.
So you know the pieces that we have. You know,
I think we're one of the top. You know where
cab will be on one of the top offensive league.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
Brought up there, cam for better or Morse blank will
define cam Ward season.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
Mitch Bill Callahan's group. And the offensive line. Okay, last
year they had it was a fairly tumultuous season in general.
On the offensive line was no exception. I'm looking at
their offensive line slated for starting right now. You have
Dan Moore, who you brought over from the Steelers. Okay,
you for you have hefty four for eighty million. You
have Peter Scornsky, who I really think stepped in. I
(28:37):
think he's going into year three, really stepped into the
mold as a left guard. You have Lloyd Krushenberry, who
was last year a big free agency signing, unfortunately lost
to season I believe to an achilles. You have Kevin Zeitler,
who knows how to win and he's been doing it
for a very long time as a great veteran presence.
And then you have JC Latham, who is their young
rookie last year who showed huge upside and potential. They're
(29:00):
going to slate him over. I believe on the right tackle.
But you need these, especially with a rookie quarterback, to
give some grace. We were just talking about in the
last segment, what do you want to do? You want
to give your quarterback the opportunity to show his best self,
and as a rookie quarterback slated to start, there's going
to be these growing pains and you have to mitigate
those as much as possible. You're not going to have
(29:21):
perfect throwing lanes. You're not going to protect forever. But
even if it's consistency and communication, just working with these guys.
If Bill Callahan can get this group humming, which I
think he has an opportunity to, you have these guys slated,
it could be taking that next step. I think you're
going to have cam Ward at least have an opportunity
to really put himself out there for his first inaugural
season in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
For me, it's the defense bottom line. These guys field
last year and a lot of different categories. You talk
about being ranked twenty ninth and pressure rate twenty second
at getting after the quarterback. If you want to keep
a young quarterback happy and healthy, well defensively, you got
to be able to get off the field on third
down and give him back the football so he can
grow and mature to the position. If he walks on
(30:03):
to the field, it is already four team hanging on
the board before he even gets his wheels going. Then
that's a lot for the young quarterback to kind of master.
So if I'm this defense man, they now have to
take it on the shoulder and say, hey man, if
we want this quarterback to be the leader of this franchise,
we got to get the ball back. Get him the
ball as many times as possible so he can get
his wheels going. Because I love camp Woarre's moxie, I
(30:23):
love his confidence. I love that he's all about football.
But the bottom line is defense wins games. Defense wins championships.
Offense do what they need to do. Start momental, put
the numbers on the board, but it starts with the defense.
So I know what cam Board is capable of. But
this defense has to have his back, and they weren't very.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Good last year. If I'm keeping my word safe.
Speaker 9 (30:45):
I like that Willie, and I think that going into
this season, in order for Cambore to have a good season,
he's going to have to be resilient. You guys know
this the two longest years in your life as your
rookie year and then the first year of life for
your new born.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Like that's the two longest years of your life.
Speaker 9 (31:00):
Like you talk about being a rookie quarterback, you went
from a bowl game, then you went to combine training,
went to the combined at football training, the OTA summer camp,
training camp, football season.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
You're basically going all year long.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
And for somebody like Camward and to your point, Willy,
he is all about football. He's been going through a
lot of football and he's going to have to continue
that when you're dealing with the Tennessee Titans and what
they're trying to work with over there. So I think
in order for him to have a successful twenty twenty
five campaign, he's going to have to demonstrate a lot
of resilience. And from what we've seen so far and
what we've heard from him and from his teammates that
(31:35):
were on the show earlier in the week, he set
up the right way. He's the right way. So I
think resilience is something that is a part of him.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
He's learning a ton right now, but also the Titans
a year ago, they were just getting used to a
brand new coach in Callahan, and I talked to it.
You brought up Peter Skronsky, their lineman there, Mitch and
I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago when
he talked about just how much more familiar they are
as a whole with the terminology under Callahan and how
much of a difference that's made. And he also talked
about fact that so much of their off season and
(32:06):
this part doesn't include Cam Moore, but so much of
their off season was about fixing the things.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
That were wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
He said, that's what Callahan really hammered him with, or
those guys with over the off season, the things that
they could fix that those were the self inflicted things.
That's what they have really really tried to pay attention
to detail. And then he just said that, you know,
Cam came in and even the early reports on him
were just so much that this guy is such a communicator,
Like the second he was in that building, and I
(32:31):
was there when he got drafted. The second he was
in that building, it was learning every single person's name
across the board.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Just really little.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
Things like that, those details are so important to Cam
and That's what he talked about. His job as a
quarterback is to be such an effective communicator. So, you know,
so many people talk about the confidence with Cam, but
there's a confidence and there's a maturity and those are
sort of combined with him, and I think that's what
could make him, you know, because there's guys that can
be cocky and confident and everyone sort of has that swagger.
He has this confidence with a maturity that just sort
(32:59):
of goes like, this guy has it right or you
think that this guy has it, and you hope that,
certainly for Titans fans who have been clamoring for a quarterback,
that this guy has it. I'm going to be a
Titans camp this Saturday, part of our Back Together, a
weekend
Hosts And Creators
Jamie Erdahl
Jason McCourty
Kyle Brandt
Peter Schrager
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