February 26, 2025 • 23 mins
Labs and Tom talk about Omar Khan's comments at the combine, and then get to this week's questions
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The combine is officially upon us. The NFL's eyes have
turned to Indianapolis to see a bunch of athletes run
and jump really high and really fast and spandex and
shorts labs. You've been there many of times. I've been
there once before in my life. Are you regretting it
right now? Are you sitting at home doing this podcast
with me?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Thinking, damn, I wish I was in my indie hotel.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Room the underwear Olympics, because it's known, yes, you know,
I was there a lot. And let me say this
for anyone who is interested in this, it's it's better
to watch it on TV because I mean I've sat
(00:52):
in the dome and watched, and you know, without the
perspective that the announcers give you, because players aren't wearing
anything that really distinguishes them. Like, for example, let's say
there's like there was a video on Steelers dot Com
of Ben Roethlisberger's combine workout in twenty in two thousand
(01:16):
and four. Now all he's wearing that the only shirt
he's wearing it says QB and then it says number
twenty four or whatever it was, because they list them alphabetically,
so it's not like the guy has his name on
the back of his jersey. So there's really no way
(01:37):
to distinguish these people, you know, for the you know,
casual fans slash observer, and you also don't a lot
of times things are going on at the same time
in different areas of the field. NFL network, I always thought,
did a decent job of, you know, compartmentalizing things for you,
(01:57):
and then the commentators you know, tell you what's going
on and who it is and you know, those kind
of things, because it's tough trying to make it out
and you know, that's why so much of it it's
all videoed and sent to the teams. So a lot
of times NFL teams, you know, they kind of watch
(02:21):
watch it, but they really study it often once they
get back to their home cities and get the video
because then you can stop it and rewind it and
if you want to see, you know, the quarterback's feet
when he lets go of the ball, you know, all
those things that scouts and those kind of people do.
You got a better shot at that that way. So
(02:42):
the thing I miss about ind is you know the fun,
the you know, when the when the sun goes down,
because you know, there are some places there that NFL
people hang out, uh. And I was able to run
into some you know, you know where to go, when
to go, uh, and you know, I caught up with
(03:05):
some people who either I had known uh previously, or
you know, people that you'd like to know or maybe
you can just chat with. I mean, you're not gonna
pump them for information or anything. I mean, it's not
like you're going to run into a Steeler scout and
he's going to tell you, Hey, this is the this
(03:25):
is who we're picking in the first round, you know
that kind of stuff. So except for the you know,
the steakhouses and you know some of the other places,
I don't really miss Indy. And let me tell you
there's a lot of good steakhouses in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Oh no question.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And for me, you know, you were able to know
go up to those people and engage with them.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Some of them you knew.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
For me and know, I was just like, who's who
walking past me? Just in awe, like, oh my god,
look at that NFL guy. Look at this NFL guy.
It's really a fun atmosphere. It's grown too recently. Radio
row has really exploded to almost like a super Bowl
like atmosphere at the Combine. We have great coverage all
week long on Steelers Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio
Network live from the Combine and labs perhaps maybe the
(04:10):
most significant thing that happens there as far as the
Steelers are concerned. Omar Kahn spoke to the media yesterday
and shared a lot of insight on George Pickens, what
they're going to do with the quarterback situation, a good
check in with the GM.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, you know, for the Steelers, and it has always
been this way. The coach doesn't talk. The GM is
the is the representative and he that's the GMS. I
don't know, podium so to speak. And you know, before
Omar was Kevin Colbert and so yeah, Omar said some things,
(04:50):
but he didn't say a lot of things either. I mean, again,
it's not like he's going to get up there and say, yeah,
we want to sign justin fields before free agency starts
on March twelfth. You know, it always cracks me up
that people think that he's going to get up there
and just lay all his cards out on the table. Yeah,
we want to do this. We're trying to trade for
(05:12):
this guy. We're talking to this team about this trade.
You know, none of that, that's just that just doesn't happen.
I mean, none of those guys do that, because what
they do is they bring them. There's about three or
four podiums and interviews are going on at the same time,
(05:33):
so you have a chance to if you want to
hear other teams or other coaches or gms or who's
ever talking for those teams, you have an opportunity to
do that. It's in one gigantic room in the Indianapolis
Convention Center. But you know, none of those guys are
really giving you anything. For example, whoever I think was
(05:57):
Eric DaCosta was the Ravens representative was asked about Justin
Tucker in the situation that he is in with the
allegations from the massage therapists. Now you know, he called
it serious and you know, didn't avoid the question or anything,
but he didn't give you any specifics, like, you know,
(06:19):
the investigation is here. If it if it shows this,
we're going to do that. You know, those kind of things.
I mean, teams, uh, and the officials from those teams
just do not, uh give a lot of specifics. Now.
For example, Omar did say that, you know, they would
(06:41):
like to get a quarterback signed before the start of
free agency. And he did say that, you know, signing
one of the guys that one of the two, well,
one of the one of the three veterans that they
had on their roster at the end of the season,
those three being obviously Russell Wilson, Justin Field and Kyle Allen,
(07:03):
you know, is a priority and the quarterback position is
a priority kind of you know, reinforcing what Art Rooney
the Second had said January twenty seventh, So I did
talk about he said he had a thing with George Pickens.
He said that, you know, getting in a contract extension
for t J. Watt is on the docket, you know.
(07:27):
But he didn't say we're looking to trade Pickens. He
didn't say we're definitely not going to re sign him
because he's a you know, he's a head case or
whatever here on that front. You know, I think the
only definitive thing he said was, and I forget exactly
how he worded it, but Broderick Jones is going to
(07:47):
be moved to left tackle, and that means Troy Filetano
will be the right tackle. And I don't know that
that's a secret or that's a surprise anyone, but that
to me was pretty much the only definitive thing you
could take from what he said.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, the combine continues all week long, and as I said,
we've got Dale Lawley, Matt Williamson, Rob King, Max Stucks,
a bunch of people from Steelers Nation Radio out there,
boots on the ground in Indianapolis, giving you great interviews,
giving you great insights. So please do listen to all
of our coverage starting at nine in the morning, goes
all the way to five pm, So it's great stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It's a marathon of coverage.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of course, after you listen to this podcast, though, you
have to listen to this podcast first, and then you
can run over to the live coverage.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
They're all listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right exactly before they go on the air, right and
then they steal all of our stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Our first question today comes from Bradley Collins from Lincoln,
Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
As much as I.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Want Ben Roethlisberger in the Hall of Fame and have
little doubt he'll make it there. Watching people get passed
over makes me wonder, do you think he's a first
ballot Hall of Famer or do you think that phrase
is overused?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I do think that people are losing a little bit
of perspective on the whole concept of first ballot Hall
of Famer. I mean, there's a lot of legends in
Shrine and Canton who are not inducted in their first
year of eligibility. Vince Lombardi and Paul Brown probably heard
of them. You know, players Mike Ditka, Auto Graham, Uh,
(09:23):
you know one of the winningest quarterbacks in franchise history,
Wellington Mayor the guy who's got his name on the football,
the Duke, Pete Roselle. None of them were elected in
their first year of eligibility. So now social media gives
everybody a voice, so there's a rush to label someone,
(09:45):
you know, a first ballot Hall of Famer. Okay, let's
bring it into the current time. It's assumed that Travis
Kelcey and Jason Kelsey are both first ballot Hall of Famers. Okay,
Travis Kelsey's is still an active player. Jason Kelsey was
a center and in the history of the NFL. There
(10:06):
are twelve pure centers enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Ten of them were not elected in their first year
of eligibility. So the assumption about Jason Kelsey, I think
is really an assumption. Now the new voting rules require
eighty percent approval by the board to get elected, and
just to show you how that has impacted it, only
(10:30):
in twenty twenty five, only three of the fifteen modern
era finalists survived the process and were elected. And by
the way, the ones who were elected were none of
them were in their first year of eligibility. So I
think the Ben Roethlisberger question has its genesis is in
that one of those first ballot possibilities in twenty twenty
(10:52):
five who did not get in was Eli Manning. Okay,
so Eli Manning and Ben were both drafted in the
same year two thousand and four. Manning was first overall,
Roethlisberger was eleventh overall. Another similarity between the two players
is they both won two Super Bowls, but Manning was
(11:13):
voted MVP in both of those Giants wins. But Roethlisberger
has superior statistics in about every possible category of quarterback play.
I'll give you some examples. Manning's regular season record was
five hundred one to seventeen wins, one seventeen losses, no ties.
Roethlisberger's record was one hundred and sixty five wins, eighty
(11:35):
one losses and one tie. Okay for people who don't
believe a lot in one loss records in football. For
going to the quarterbacks, Roethlisberger retired with eight thousand more
passing yards in Eli Manning, one hundred and seventy four
more touchdown passes than Eli Manning, thirty three fewer interceptions
(11:58):
than Eli Manning. You know, I could give you a
whole lot of other statistics that separate Ben from Eli,
but here I'll just pick out a couple. Okay. Ben Roethlisberger,
Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks in
NFL history to throw for sixty thousand or more yards
(12:19):
and win at least two Super Bowls in In in
his eighteen year career, two hundred and forty nine regular
season games, two hundred and forty seven starts, Roethlisberger was
one of the best passers in NFL history in the
fourth quarter in overtime. Okay, just in the fourth quarter
(12:43):
in overtime, Roethlisberger completed fourteen hundred and twenty one passes.
That's a sixty four point seven percent completion percentage, sixteen
eight hundred and sixty yards, one hundred and twenty touchdowns,
sixty two interceptions. His rating was ninety four point four. Now,
those sixteen eight hundred and sixty yards passing in the
(13:04):
fourth quarter and overtime alone almost put him among the
top one hundred overall passes passers in NFL history. Only
Peyton Manning has more. Has rallied his team from a
tire deficit in the fourth quarter more often than Ben
ben has fifty three. That ties him with second with
(13:28):
Tom Brady and Drew Brees. So, you know, I think
Roethlisberger should be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He can go in as part of the Class of
twenty twenty seven. If he does that, it will be
his first year of eligibility. But if he doesn't go
in in his first year of eligibility, in my opinion,
that in no way diminishes the greatness of his career.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Now, that's really out by you as always, and we
always like to point this out to the ballots just
get more crowded, right, And a couple of guys that
you just mentioned at the end there, Drew Brees is
on next year's ballot, and Tom Brady he's coming on
the ballot real soon too. And those guys have first
ballot cases too, obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yes, And you very rarely, if ever lately see two
players at the same position in the same class.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Jim Anderson from Toledo, Ohio in this year's draft. Well,
the Steelers keep to their policy of drafting the best
player available or do they need to concentrate on position?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, okay, the whole best player versus need draft debate
I think has evolved a little bit now into a
more nuanced It's you try and draft the best player
at a position of need. That's because free agency, you know,
teams have control over players they draft four years or
maybe five if the player is a number one pick
(14:48):
and the team elects to exercise his fifty year option.
So there's just isn't a lot of time for long
term development. You know, the whole concept of having a quarterback,
you know, like the the Packers did with you know,
they had a succession plan for Brett Farvan, then a
(15:08):
succession plan for Aaron Rodgers. You know you can't. You can't.
You can't really do that anymore. You know you can't
go if you draft, you draft a guy number one
like they did with Aaron Rodgers, you can't go three
years without him playing because you know after his fourth
year or fifth year, he's going to be into a
(15:30):
second contract and you have to make a decision on
whether you're pay this guy a lot of money, and
you'd like to have some kind of idea if he's
the real dealer or not. And so that's why I
don't think you can look too far ahead when you're
drafting nowadays in terms of best player available. You need
to pick the best player available who can help your
(15:53):
team right now. So it's best player at a position
of need. I think is the philosophy.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Todd Gooding from Portage, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So the dynamic kickoff is a success limited number of collisions,
but the NFL still has live punts and wants.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
To go to an eighteen game season.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Are the lower concussion dynamic kickoff numbers to help sell
the eighteen games?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Okay, just to you need to understand this, any expansion
of the regular season to eighteen games must be approved
by a vote of the players, and I'm not saying
their union representatives can approve it in a negotiation with
the management council. This is a everybody gets a vote.
(16:41):
Every player who's in the union gets to vote yay
or nay on eighteen games in the regular season. So
I think everybody has to understand that in terms of
if and or when the league goes to an eighteen
game regular season, it's not it's got to be something
(17:05):
that the players vote were And as I said, everybody's vote.
So I don't think, you know, any limited amount of
concussions in the kickoffs is necessarily going to be used
to push through this eighteen game regular season. I mean,
there's gonna be a lot of a lot of factors
involved in this, And as I said, everybody gets a vote.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think they'll probably lean more on the money as
far as convincing players for that java, don't you a
little bit more of a Spotify?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah? Because and hey, and I if that's fine with me.
I mean, if players want to approve that because they
make more money, that's fine. That's it's up to them.
And that's why I'm saying if they vote for it,
then you know it's what they want. By definition.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
William Heights from Sumter, South Carolina. How many good players
might the Steelers have lost out on if the draft
was only seven rounds before nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, let's just I'm gonna expand this a little bit,
starting in nineteen sixty nine and continuing through the seventies,
which encompasses the four Super Bowls during that decade. Elsie
Greenwood was a tenth round pick in nineteen sixty nine,
Ernie Holmes was an eighth round pick in nineteen seventy one.
(18:33):
Safety Mike Wagner was an eleventh round pick in nineteen
seventy one, Joe Gillim was an eleventh round pick in
nineteen seventy two, and Lauren Taves was an eighth round
pick in nineteen seventy three. You add up all those
Super Bowl rings of those guys at sixteen super Bowl
rings that were added after the seventh round of the draft,
(18:55):
and again that doesn't even take into account Donnie Shell
and Randy Grossman, both of whom were undrafted in nineteen
seventy four. That's eight more Super Bowl rings in terms
of undrafted rookies. So yeah, the Steelers did themselves a
lot of good during the seventies. After the seventh round
(19:19):
of drafts.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Christopher Winkler from Franklin, Pennsylvania a recent submission got me
wondering about field setup for international games. Obviously, most of
the venues where the games are played are actually soccer
fields repurposed for football. Who sets up the field and
goalposts and make sure it is all done correctly?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Okay, international games are now regular season games, and you
know everybody knows that means they count the standings. So
the NFL takes everything over everything the quality of the
playing surface, setting up the field, putting in the goal post,
hooking up the in helmet, communications systems, video replay equipment,
(20:05):
distribution of tickets, pricing of tickets, everything. So again this
you know, the Steelers may be the designated home team
for their game in Dublin in twenty twenty five, but
pretty much all that means is they get to pick
what color jersey they want to wear. Everything else the
(20:28):
NFL does.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And our final question today comes from Will McIntosh from Bellevue, Florida.
My questions has to do with the helmet radio and
play calling, who can talk to the quarterback? Is it
just the offensive coordinator or just the head coach or
a combination of both. And what about a defensive coordinator
if they see a weakness in the opponent's alignment?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Okay. One person is allowed to communicate directly with the quarterback.
Who's the guy in the green dot on offense? And
usually it's the play caller okay. As an example, if
the authensive coordinator is calling the plays, he's talking to
the quarterback. If the head coach is calling the plays,
(21:14):
as is the case with Andy Reid and Sean McVay,
he's the one with the direct line to the quarterback. Okay.
That communication is cut off of fifteen seconds left on
the play clock. So you know, again there's nobody else
who's talking to the quarterback except the guy who's getting
(21:35):
him the play, because there's not a lot of time,
you know, if it's a if it's a forty second
you know, if it's a running clock and everything, and
that's after the previous play, forty seconds goes on the
play clock and the play clock starts. Okay, So the
whoever's calling the play has twenty five seconds to communicate
(21:56):
whatever he needs to communicate to the quarterback. So it's
not a lot of time, so there's not a lot
of debate or discussion. It's pretty much who is who's
ever called the play has to know what he wants
to call and get that communicated right away because fifteen
seconds left. Again, the league is in charge of this.
It's turned off. That's it. And that's why you see
(22:17):
a lot of times, you know, because the verbiage in
a play call is oft and long and complicated. So
a lot of times you'll see the quarterback have one
of those like riskband things with a looks like he's
got almost a play sheet on it, you know, and
they'll flip the thing up because what the play caller
(22:39):
does is say number three and call him two and
he just looks down and that's and then he knows
what the play is, rather than the play caller doing
the whole thing split right, double X, blah blah blah,
you know, all of that stuff. So they just say,
you know, it's like ordering it a Chinese restaurant, you know,
which call him no obstitutions, as they often say, or
(23:02):
they used to do in the Seinfeld show about you know,
ordering Chinese food when they would, you know, all go
to a Chinese restaurant. But yeah, it's quick, and it's
it's shortened as much as possible, because twenty five seconds
goes pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Enjoy the rest of the combine, Enjoy all of our
great coverage on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It goes for the rest of this week.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Labs and I will be back next week with another
edition of Asked an Answer. You can get your questions
in now and maybe they will be read and answered
on a future episode for Bob Labriel. I'm Tom Opframan
and thanks as always forgiving us a listen.
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The combine is officially upon us. The NFL's eyes have
turned to Indianapolis to see a bunch of athletes run
and jump really high and really fast and spandex and
shorts labs. You've been there many of times. I've been
there once before in my life. Are you regretting it
right now? Are you sitting at home doing this podcast
with me?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Thinking, damn, I wish I was in my indie hotel.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Room the underwear Olympics, because it's known, yes, you know,
I was there a lot. And let me say this
for anyone who is interested in this, it's it's better
to watch it on TV because I mean I've sat
(00:52):
in the dome and watched, and you know, without the
perspective that the announcers give you, because players aren't wearing
anything that really distinguishes them. Like, for example, let's say
there's like there was a video on Steelers dot Com
of Ben Roethlisberger's combine workout in twenty in two thousand
(01:16):
and four. Now all he's wearing that the only shirt
he's wearing it says QB and then it says number
twenty four or whatever it was, because they list them alphabetically,
so it's not like the guy has his name on
the back of his jersey. So there's really no way
(01:37):
to distinguish these people, you know, for the you know,
casual fans slash observer, and you also don't a lot
of times things are going on at the same time
in different areas of the field. NFL network, I always thought,
did a decent job of, you know, compartmentalizing things for you,
(01:57):
and then the commentators you know, tell you what's going
on and who it is and you know, those kind
of things, because it's tough trying to make it out
and you know, that's why so much of it it's
all videoed and sent to the teams. So a lot
of times NFL teams, you know, they kind of watch
(02:21):
watch it, but they really study it often once they
get back to their home cities and get the video
because then you can stop it and rewind it and
if you want to see, you know, the quarterback's feet
when he lets go of the ball, you know, all
those things that scouts and those kind of people do.
You got a better shot at that that way. So
(02:42):
the thing I miss about ind is you know the fun,
the you know, when the when the sun goes down,
because you know, there are some places there that NFL
people hang out, uh. And I was able to run
into some you know, you know where to go, when
to go, uh, and you know, I caught up with
(03:05):
some people who either I had known uh previously, or
you know, people that you'd like to know or maybe
you can just chat with. I mean, you're not gonna
pump them for information or anything. I mean, it's not
like you're going to run into a Steeler scout and
he's going to tell you, Hey, this is the this
(03:25):
is who we're picking in the first round, you know
that kind of stuff. So except for the you know,
the steakhouses and you know some of the other places,
I don't really miss Indy. And let me tell you
there's a lot of good steakhouses in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Oh no question.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And for me, you know, you were able to know
go up to those people and engage with them.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Some of them you knew.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
For me and know, I was just like, who's who
walking past me? Just in awe, like, oh my god,
look at that NFL guy. Look at this NFL guy.
It's really a fun atmosphere. It's grown too recently. Radio
row has really exploded to almost like a super Bowl
like atmosphere at the Combine. We have great coverage all
week long on Steelers Nation Radio and the Steelers Audio
Network live from the Combine and labs perhaps maybe the
(04:10):
most significant thing that happens there as far as the
Steelers are concerned. Omar Kahn spoke to the media yesterday
and shared a lot of insight on George Pickens, what
they're going to do with the quarterback situation, a good
check in with the GM.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, you know, for the Steelers, and it has always
been this way. The coach doesn't talk. The GM is
the is the representative and he that's the GMS. I
don't know, podium so to speak. And you know, before
Omar was Kevin Colbert and so yeah, Omar said some things,
(04:50):
but he didn't say a lot of things either. I mean, again,
it's not like he's going to get up there and say, yeah,
we want to sign justin fields before free agency starts
on March twelfth. You know, it always cracks me up
that people think that he's going to get up there
and just lay all his cards out on the table. Yeah,
we want to do this. We're trying to trade for
(05:12):
this guy. We're talking to this team about this trade.
You know, none of that, that's just that just doesn't happen.
I mean, none of those guys do that, because what
they do is they bring them. There's about three or
four podiums and interviews are going on at the same time,
(05:33):
so you have a chance to if you want to
hear other teams or other coaches or gms or who's
ever talking for those teams, you have an opportunity to
do that. It's in one gigantic room in the Indianapolis
Convention Center. But you know, none of those guys are
really giving you anything. For example, whoever I think was
(05:57):
Eric DaCosta was the Ravens representative was asked about Justin
Tucker in the situation that he is in with the
allegations from the massage therapists. Now you know, he called
it serious and you know, didn't avoid the question or anything,
but he didn't give you any specifics, like, you know,
(06:19):
the investigation is here. If it if it shows this,
we're going to do that. You know, those kind of things.
I mean, teams, uh, and the officials from those teams
just do not, uh give a lot of specifics. Now.
For example, Omar did say that, you know, they would
(06:41):
like to get a quarterback signed before the start of
free agency. And he did say that, you know, signing
one of the guys that one of the two, well,
one of the one of the three veterans that they
had on their roster at the end of the season,
those three being obviously Russell Wilson, Justin Field and Kyle Allen,
(07:03):
you know, is a priority and the quarterback position is
a priority kind of you know, reinforcing what Art Rooney
the Second had said January twenty seventh, So I did
talk about he said he had a thing with George Pickens.
He said that, you know, getting in a contract extension
for t J. Watt is on the docket, you know.
(07:27):
But he didn't say we're looking to trade Pickens. He
didn't say we're definitely not going to re sign him
because he's a you know, he's a head case or
whatever here on that front. You know, I think the
only definitive thing he said was, and I forget exactly
how he worded it, but Broderick Jones is going to
(07:47):
be moved to left tackle, and that means Troy Filetano
will be the right tackle. And I don't know that
that's a secret or that's a surprise anyone, but that
to me was pretty much the only definitive thing you
could take from what he said.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, the combine continues all week long, and as I said,
we've got Dale Lawley, Matt Williamson, Rob King, Max Stucks,
a bunch of people from Steelers Nation Radio out there,
boots on the ground in Indianapolis, giving you great interviews,
giving you great insights. So please do listen to all
of our coverage starting at nine in the morning, goes
all the way to five pm, So it's great stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It's a marathon of coverage.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of course, after you listen to this podcast, though, you
have to listen to this podcast first, and then you
can run over to the live coverage.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
They're all listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right exactly before they go on the air, right and
then they steal all of our stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Our first question today comes from Bradley Collins from Lincoln,
Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
As much as I.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Want Ben Roethlisberger in the Hall of Fame and have
little doubt he'll make it there. Watching people get passed
over makes me wonder, do you think he's a first
ballot Hall of Famer or do you think that phrase
is overused?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I do think that people are losing a little bit
of perspective on the whole concept of first ballot Hall
of Famer. I mean, there's a lot of legends in
Shrine and Canton who are not inducted in their first
year of eligibility. Vince Lombardi and Paul Brown probably heard
of them. You know, players Mike Ditka, Auto Graham, Uh,
(09:23):
you know one of the winningest quarterbacks in franchise history,
Wellington Mayor the guy who's got his name on the football,
the Duke, Pete Roselle. None of them were elected in
their first year of eligibility. So now social media gives
everybody a voice, so there's a rush to label someone,
(09:45):
you know, a first ballot Hall of Famer. Okay, let's
bring it into the current time. It's assumed that Travis
Kelcey and Jason Kelsey are both first ballot Hall of Famers. Okay,
Travis Kelsey's is still an active player. Jason Kelsey was
a center and in the history of the NFL. There
(10:06):
are twelve pure centers enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Ten of them were not elected in their first year
of eligibility. So the assumption about Jason Kelsey, I think
is really an assumption. Now the new voting rules require
eighty percent approval by the board to get elected, and
just to show you how that has impacted it, only
(10:30):
in twenty twenty five, only three of the fifteen modern
era finalists survived the process and were elected. And by
the way, the ones who were elected were none of
them were in their first year of eligibility. So I
think the Ben Roethlisberger question has its genesis is in
that one of those first ballot possibilities in twenty twenty
(10:52):
five who did not get in was Eli Manning. Okay,
so Eli Manning and Ben were both drafted in the
same year two thousand and four. Manning was first overall,
Roethlisberger was eleventh overall. Another similarity between the two players
is they both won two Super Bowls, but Manning was
(11:13):
voted MVP in both of those Giants wins. But Roethlisberger
has superior statistics in about every possible category of quarterback play.
I'll give you some examples. Manning's regular season record was
five hundred one to seventeen wins, one seventeen losses, no ties.
Roethlisberger's record was one hundred and sixty five wins, eighty
(11:35):
one losses and one tie. Okay for people who don't
believe a lot in one loss records in football. For
going to the quarterbacks, Roethlisberger retired with eight thousand more
passing yards in Eli Manning, one hundred and seventy four
more touchdown passes than Eli Manning, thirty three fewer interceptions
(11:58):
than Eli Manning. You know, I could give you a
whole lot of other statistics that separate Ben from Eli,
but here I'll just pick out a couple. Okay. Ben Roethlisberger,
Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks in
NFL history to throw for sixty thousand or more yards
(12:19):
and win at least two Super Bowls in In in
his eighteen year career, two hundred and forty nine regular
season games, two hundred and forty seven starts, Roethlisberger was
one of the best passers in NFL history in the
fourth quarter in overtime. Okay, just in the fourth quarter
(12:43):
in overtime, Roethlisberger completed fourteen hundred and twenty one passes.
That's a sixty four point seven percent completion percentage, sixteen
eight hundred and sixty yards, one hundred and twenty touchdowns,
sixty two interceptions. His rating was ninety four point four. Now,
those sixteen eight hundred and sixty yards passing in the
(13:04):
fourth quarter and overtime alone almost put him among the
top one hundred overall passes passers in NFL history. Only
Peyton Manning has more. Has rallied his team from a
tire deficit in the fourth quarter more often than Ben
ben has fifty three. That ties him with second with
(13:28):
Tom Brady and Drew Brees. So, you know, I think
Roethlisberger should be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He can go in as part of the Class of
twenty twenty seven. If he does that, it will be
his first year of eligibility. But if he doesn't go
in in his first year of eligibility, in my opinion,
that in no way diminishes the greatness of his career.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Now, that's really out by you as always, and we
always like to point this out to the ballots just
get more crowded, right, And a couple of guys that
you just mentioned at the end there, Drew Brees is
on next year's ballot, and Tom Brady he's coming on
the ballot real soon too. And those guys have first
ballot cases too, obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yes, And you very rarely, if ever lately see two
players at the same position in the same class.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Jim Anderson from Toledo, Ohio in this year's draft. Well,
the Steelers keep to their policy of drafting the best
player available or do they need to concentrate on position?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, okay, the whole best player versus need draft debate
I think has evolved a little bit now into a
more nuanced It's you try and draft the best player
at a position of need. That's because free agency, you know,
teams have control over players they draft four years or
maybe five if the player is a number one pick
(14:48):
and the team elects to exercise his fifty year option.
So there's just isn't a lot of time for long
term development. You know, the whole concept of having a quarterback,
you know, like the the Packers did with you know,
they had a succession plan for Brett Farvan, then a
(15:08):
succession plan for Aaron Rodgers. You know you can't. You can't.
You can't really do that anymore. You know you can't
go if you draft, you draft a guy number one
like they did with Aaron Rodgers, you can't go three
years without him playing because you know after his fourth
year or fifth year, he's going to be into a
(15:30):
second contract and you have to make a decision on
whether you're pay this guy a lot of money, and
you'd like to have some kind of idea if he's
the real dealer or not. And so that's why I
don't think you can look too far ahead when you're
drafting nowadays in terms of best player available. You need
to pick the best player available who can help your
(15:53):
team right now. So it's best player at a position
of need. I think is the philosophy.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Todd Gooding from Portage, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So the dynamic kickoff is a success limited number of collisions,
but the NFL still has live punts and wants.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
To go to an eighteen game season.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Are the lower concussion dynamic kickoff numbers to help sell
the eighteen games?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Okay, just to you need to understand this, any expansion
of the regular season to eighteen games must be approved
by a vote of the players, and I'm not saying
their union representatives can approve it in a negotiation with
the management council. This is a everybody gets a vote.
(16:41):
Every player who's in the union gets to vote yay
or nay on eighteen games in the regular season. So
I think everybody has to understand that in terms of
if and or when the league goes to an eighteen
game regular season, it's not it's got to be something
(17:05):
that the players vote were And as I said, everybody's vote.
So I don't think, you know, any limited amount of
concussions in the kickoffs is necessarily going to be used
to push through this eighteen game regular season. I mean,
there's gonna be a lot of a lot of factors
involved in this, And as I said, everybody gets a vote.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think they'll probably lean more on the money as
far as convincing players for that java, don't you a
little bit more of a Spotify?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah? Because and hey, and I if that's fine with me.
I mean, if players want to approve that because they
make more money, that's fine. That's it's up to them.
And that's why I'm saying if they vote for it,
then you know it's what they want. By definition.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
William Heights from Sumter, South Carolina. How many good players
might the Steelers have lost out on if the draft
was only seven rounds before nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, let's just I'm gonna expand this a little bit,
starting in nineteen sixty nine and continuing through the seventies,
which encompasses the four Super Bowls during that decade. Elsie
Greenwood was a tenth round pick in nineteen sixty nine,
Ernie Holmes was an eighth round pick in nineteen seventy one.
(18:33):
Safety Mike Wagner was an eleventh round pick in nineteen
seventy one, Joe Gillim was an eleventh round pick in
nineteen seventy two, and Lauren Taves was an eighth round
pick in nineteen seventy three. You add up all those
Super Bowl rings of those guys at sixteen super Bowl
rings that were added after the seventh round of the draft,
(18:55):
and again that doesn't even take into account Donnie Shell
and Randy Grossman, both of whom were undrafted in nineteen
seventy four. That's eight more Super Bowl rings in terms
of undrafted rookies. So yeah, the Steelers did themselves a
lot of good during the seventies. After the seventh round
(19:19):
of drafts.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Christopher Winkler from Franklin, Pennsylvania a recent submission got me
wondering about field setup for international games. Obviously, most of
the venues where the games are played are actually soccer
fields repurposed for football. Who sets up the field and
goalposts and make sure it is all done correctly?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Okay, international games are now regular season games, and you
know everybody knows that means they count the standings. So
the NFL takes everything over everything the quality of the
playing surface, setting up the field, putting in the goal post,
hooking up the in helmet, communications systems, video replay equipment,
(20:05):
distribution of tickets, pricing of tickets, everything. So again this
you know, the Steelers may be the designated home team
for their game in Dublin in twenty twenty five, but
pretty much all that means is they get to pick
what color jersey they want to wear. Everything else the
(20:28):
NFL does.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And our final question today comes from Will McIntosh from Bellevue, Florida.
My questions has to do with the helmet radio and
play calling, who can talk to the quarterback? Is it
just the offensive coordinator or just the head coach or
a combination of both. And what about a defensive coordinator
if they see a weakness in the opponent's alignment?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Okay. One person is allowed to communicate directly with the quarterback.
Who's the guy in the green dot on offense? And
usually it's the play caller okay. As an example, if
the authensive coordinator is calling the plays, he's talking to
the quarterback. If the head coach is calling the plays,
(21:14):
as is the case with Andy Reid and Sean McVay,
he's the one with the direct line to the quarterback. Okay.
That communication is cut off of fifteen seconds left on
the play clock. So you know, again there's nobody else
who's talking to the quarterback except the guy who's getting
(21:35):
him the play, because there's not a lot of time,
you know, if it's a if it's a forty second
you know, if it's a running clock and everything, and
that's after the previous play, forty seconds goes on the
play clock and the play clock starts. Okay, So the
whoever's calling the play has twenty five seconds to communicate
(21:56):
whatever he needs to communicate to the quarterback. So it's
not a lot of time, so there's not a lot
of debate or discussion. It's pretty much who is who's
ever called the play has to know what he wants
to call and get that communicated right away because fifteen
seconds left. Again, the league is in charge of this.
It's turned off. That's it. And that's why you see
(22:17):
a lot of times, you know, because the verbiage in
a play call is oft and long and complicated. So
a lot of times you'll see the quarterback have one
of those like riskband things with a looks like he's
got almost a play sheet on it, you know, and
they'll flip the thing up because what the play caller
(22:39):
does is say number three and call him two and
he just looks down and that's and then he knows
what the play is, rather than the play caller doing
the whole thing split right, double X, blah blah blah,
you know, all of that stuff. So they just say,
you know, it's like ordering it a Chinese restaurant, you know,
which call him no obstitutions, as they often say, or
(23:02):
they used to do in the Seinfeld show about you know,
ordering Chinese food when they would, you know, all go
to a Chinese restaurant. But yeah, it's quick, and it's
it's shortened as much as possible, because twenty five seconds
goes pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Enjoy the rest of the combine, Enjoy all of our
great coverage on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It goes for the rest of this week.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Labs and I will be back next week with another
edition of Asked an Answer. You can get your questions
in now and maybe they will be read and answered
on a future episode for Bob Labriel. I'm Tom Opframan
and thanks as always forgiving us a listen.
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