Hr1: Offensive Line Improvement, Around Campus

Matt and Wes discuss the upward trajectory of the Steelers offensive line. They also go around campus to check in on college quarterbacks.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation, and welcome to the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network. West Shouler and Matt Williamson with
you here for the next two hours on a Wednesday,
as we have plenty to get to. As always kind
of the day after a big day across the National
Football League.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
It's a little quiet today.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
It is.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
Yeah, it always is after day like that. Yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Like one of the old cliches is like the worst
day of sports talk radio is in the middle of
the summer, the day after the Major League Baseball Star Game.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
You know, there's nothing going on.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
There's no baseball, there's no nothing. It's like the middle
of July. I guess today is maybe kind of the
equivalent of that for the NFL NFL standards, NFL standards,
which is rarely quiet, and we still have plenty to
get to though. We will talk to our buddy Chris
Hallick here in just a few minutes get his thoughts
on all the moving and shaking around the league yesterday,
and of course any pertinent Steelers injury updates. It is

(01:25):
a Wednesday, so we will also go around campus. We
will also do a little Best of the West plenty
to get to here Matt as we roll along.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
But I wanted to start, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Typically Tuesday we do like a Tuesday rewind where it's
kind of maybe some final observations from the previous game.
You know, he had chance to go back and watch
it and dissect it and all that stuff. We didn't
do Tuesday rewind yesterday because it was such a.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Jam pack today.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
With the NFL trade deadline. So I don't know Wednesday
rewind if you want to call it, or just a
couple minutes here. Of one thing that I did want
to run by you, and that was that I found
it very odd when I went back and watched the
game that if you look on paper, if you just
look at the stat sheet, the Steelers were not successful

(02:10):
at all running the football.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
No like go back like one of the worst rushing
performance is any theme.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
At all year and maybe their worst of the season.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah yeah, but if you go back and watch the tape,
I really liked what I saw from the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Oh yeah, I thought it was a good line day.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
So it's bizarre for me it's hard to kind of
evaluate in that regard. I thought it was a good o'
line day, particularly for that right side of the offensive
line from Fraser, McCormick and Faltanu. Those guys all look
like they're on the same page and playing really well.
They were good in pass protection. Didn't quite translate to
the run game. But that's just kind of what I

(02:46):
wanted to pick your brain about, because, like I said,
it was weird to me because if you just watched
the tape, those guys they're picking up stunts and pass
pro they're moving bodies.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
In the run game.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, but it didn't translate to a successful rushing a
tack for the Steelers.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
No, it didn't, and some of it was volume. They
didn't run the ball as much as I would have liked,
and that goes back to the second half of the
Packers game as well. I have no complaints with him,
but I think everyone shouldn't be immune to criticism. Warren
didn't break as many tackles as he usually does or
make as many guys miss as he usually does, so
be it, you know. I mean that doesn't concern me
at all, But yes, I think the old line's in

(03:23):
a really good spot. Faltaw new to me the more
you watch him. He just jumps off the page. I mean,
he's gonna be a really good player and is really
starting to settle in at right tackle and you know,
playing a lot of games in a row after a
slow start to his career because injury stuff. I think
we know who Frasier is. You're right about McCormick. Jones

(03:48):
is better than he was, you know what I mean,
Like they still do it. So I know we're going
to talk about like O line ranks and things like that,
and I want to but some people rightfully, So we'll say, well,
the Steelers have it easier than most teams pass protection
wise because the ball comes out so quick and Rogers
is so good. And that's one thousand percent true. I

(04:10):
can't argue that one bit. And I will also say
Jones has it a little easier than the rest of
the line because I think they recognize he's the weakest
link and if they're going to help or if they're
going to do anything, that's to make his life easier.
But that's what every team does. Your weaknesses, Yeah, exactly,
you know, yeah, absolutely, Maybe calling it a weakness is

(04:32):
a little bit too much of a stretch, but you
get what I'm saying. The weakest spot.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yes, yeah, you absolutely you. You don't have your you know,
ninth best hitter hitting fourth in your lineup right.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
There's a reason for this, the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Or the Blue Jays or whatever. And yeah, so I
think it makes a lot of sense in that regard.
You did send me Brandon Thorn here mid season offensive
line grades, one of the guys that we like, and
his evaluations in the.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
T out there, I think so too. Yea, yeah, I
think so too.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
He's got the Steelers of the eleventh best offensive line
in football right now with a solid grade is what
he gives. So there's like, there's like elite, there's very good,
there's solid.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Different tiers.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, there's like.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
On below average and yeh, so he's got them eleventh overall.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
I think that's Hey, you'll take it. You will take
that all day.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, because I think if they're gonna go one way
from there, too, it's only gonna be up.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
I think so, assuming health knock on woods, I mean,
and they are fortunate that they, unlike the upcoming opponent,
they've started the same five every game and that's absolutely huge,
as we know, and I do worry about the depth
a little bit more than I do in previous years.
We haven't had it other than Anderson, but you know,
so be it. The other thing that happened today too

(05:46):
is I don't love Pro Football focuses O line stuff.
But when I when Brandon emailed me that his list,
I'm like, I wonder where PFS because I know they
always keep up with it. Two, you said there are
eleventh on elevens on horns. They were ninth and Pro
Football Focus too far off. I mean, if you're in
that ten neighborhood, I think you take that all day

(06:06):
long for considering the age of this group and the
experience of this group, and it's clearly trending the right direction. Now,
since we have that up, I think it's worth noting
the Chargers.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, now you talk about injuries.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
It's not their fault.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's not their fault, right, but they are way scrolling,
keep scrolling.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Min goodness, they've got them all the way down in
Tier five, thirty seventy second out of thirty two teams
in the National Football League. The Chargers line has been
decimated by injuries and now Joe all is out for
the season due to an ankle injury. This in addition
to Makai Beck, then Trey Pipkins, and even Bobby Hart
dealing with injuries. Yeah, of course we all know where

(06:51):
Sean Slater went down before the season, before it even started.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
And PFF added in like thirtieth or something.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Right, if they're healthy, they might be third.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
Oh, ye might be fir. They build it right. It's
just I always feel for GMS from that way because
the perfectly laid plans and it's like that should be
the strength of the team besides the quarterback, and it's
lasting the lead.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's like a glaring weakness right now.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, they're down there with the Raiders and the Texans
and the Titans and just company company.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
You do not want to keep No, Like, the Herbert
under pressure numbers are crazy this year. I dug up
some things about Herbert's numbers with and without Joe Alt
on the field this year. Dramatically better when he's out there. Sure,
I mean dramatically, I'm sure, yeah, I mean yards for
attempt all those type of things. So I mean we're Wednesday,

(07:41):
can start talking about the opponent a little bit here,
I mean, to me, I would be very worried from
a Chargers perspective, Chargers OH line versus Steeler D line,
especially coming off the game that Steelers just had. But
I think the real story, like you opened the show with, is, guys,
it seems always happening throw line two and Dale and
I used to joke because the average Steeler fan, I'm

(08:05):
gonna give you guys a hard time, but can't comments.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
The average NFL fan in general, right right right, They're
not going to talk about thirty one other lines all
that much.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I've always said that's something I like to bring
to the table, like, boy, you think your low line's bad,
let me show you these ten. Go watch the rain,
right exactly. So, I think there's a lot of people
around here that are like man, so lines okay, below average.
I'm not saying it's superstars, but it's good. I mean,
it's an above average line. It's gotten better and it's improving.

(08:35):
It's it's it was better in October than it was
in September. Hopefully it's gonna be better in November. It
was in October, better in twenty twenty six, absolute twenty
seven right right.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
This line at the end says it all for the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
The Chargers are going to simply have to gut it
out for the rest of the season without with multiple
backups and no clear avenue for stability.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Right, that's it.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
This is what you got, Max Stars, Barbecue, barbecue chicken,
those boys on Sunday Night Football. We'll talk about all
that and more with our buddy Chris Halleck when we return.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
On the other side. Just getting started, Wes Matt Williamson.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
It is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Back on the Drive here on a Wednesday and joining
us now. It's our regular Wednesday guest to the program.
Of course, Chris Halleck covers the Steelers for dk Pittsburgh Sports.
Chris partner a lot that we want to discuss with
you with the Steeler with the trade deadline, let's jump
right into it. Thank you for taking the time. As always,
Matt and I were kind of talking some offensive line

(10:08):
units to start the show today, and you know, talking
about the Steelers and how much they've improved since the
start of the season and Matt had a list of
best offensive lines in the National Football League.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
They were ranked eleventh on that.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Pro Football Focus has them ranked ninth in terms of
the NFL offensive lines right now. Is that something that
you feel is tangible that you've seen. Does it really
feel like this group was better in October than they
were in September?

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (10:35):
Yeah, they're definitely on an upward trajectory. To kind of
use a Mike Tomlin ism right there, or at least
a turn of phrase. Yeah, I think they're definitely a
unit that's improving. There's definitely room to grow. Like when
you look at you know, the totality of what they're doing,
and they still ranked thirtieth in the NFL and rushing

(10:56):
that's not where you want to be. They don't want
to be averaging less than ninety yards on the ground now.
They've played some tough run defenses, for sure, but they've
also performed pretty well against some of those. They had
one hundred yards on the ground against the Browns. For
the most part, they've kept Aaron Rodgers clean and most importantly,
they've kept Aaron Rodgers healthy. But you know they're still

(11:17):
going to face some really tough defenses. The Chargers are
another one here coming up on Sunday Night. But yeah,
I think they've definitely taken a step forward, and it's
definitely something that's encouraging for not just the Steelers in
twenty twenty five, but also I mean a huge part
of what they're doing in terms of their future plans
is making sure that this offensive line continues to grow,

(11:40):
not just individually, like seeing guys like Zach Frazier and
Mason McCormick and Troy Faltanu and Broder Jones all taking
steps forward individually, but also collectively as well, to make
sure that they're growing together as a unit.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
Couldn't agree more And I do think they are growing
as a unit. But Faltanu to me, is turning into
a star.

Speaker 6 (12:00):
Yeah, I mean he is. He's I mean that that
that tape was so much fun to watch against the Colts.
I mean, I I think it was Grover Stewart or
he just ran him over, I mean completely flat back
type of a hit.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
I mean.

Speaker 6 (12:22):
It was that he handled stunts perfectly. I don't I
didn't see one rep that was really bad. It might
have been his best game as a pro, to be
completely honest, But yeah, he is so technically sound, he's
so strong, he.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
Was so well balanced all the time.

Speaker 6 (12:40):
He's quick, he's out of his stands quick, his footwork
is impeccable. I mean, he's Yeah, he might end up
and I think in the season it wouldn't surprise me
if he ended up being the best offensive lineman on
this team from the end of the season. Now that's
you know, Zach Frazer is a pretty pretty good guy too,
but Satan was really turning into something special.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, and it really stands out when you do that
out on the end by yourself, you know, the tackles,
And I think you're right. I think I think Zach
has been outstanding. I think Mason McCormick is really coming
into his own. But yeah, when you're when you're doing
it at the tackle position, it just looks different. It
just feels different. And man, these last couple of weeks,
Falton who feels like the game's really slowing down for him,

(13:23):
And I think that that Colts game was a was
an outstanding example. Chris, speaking of the Colts crazy trade
deadline across the National Football League yesterday, who are you?

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Who are you? More surprised by the Colts or the
Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 6 (13:40):
Uh. I mean the Colts, I understand that, you know,
there there's rationale behind what they're doing. Because they're the
top team in the AFC. It's a great opportunity to
try to go forward. They shored up a weakness on
their roster, even though the roster doesn't have a lot
of true weaknesses, it's still you know, solidified something with

(14:03):
a good player. Now, granted, I don't think Sauce Gardner
has been as good as he's been in the past.
Uh So maybe he ends up thriving in their defense
instead of you know, in you know, I don't know
how anybody thrives in New Jersey, but I mean, it's
it's it's but the Cowboys. I mean, it almost seems

(14:25):
like that's the kind of thing that Jerry Jones is
going to do. You know, the Cowboys are not in
a great position right now. They're in a really tough
divisional race. I understand that like the rest of the
like the Giants and the Commanders aren't necessarily you know,
banging down the door to try to win that division.
But the Eagles aren't aren't going to be an easy
team to beat. But it doesn't surprise me that Jerry

(14:48):
Jones is going to be pulling off these kind of moves.
But now he's putting himself into a situation which, you know,
you give away those assets, are you going to pay them?
And if you pay them or are you gonna what are
you going to do with Dak Prescott. I mean that
there's a like legitimate questions to be asked in Dallas,
and so I don't know. I would say the Colts
might be a little bit more surprising, just because I

(15:10):
kind of expect the big moves from the Cowboys because
that's just kind of what they That's kind of what
they do. The Cowboys are are the type of team
to kind of chase headlines. And if the Cowboys are
being talked about, then then things are I guess ayre
going going well in Dallas.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
So there's three Steelers. I'm just not quite sure what
the short term plan is And I wonder what your
thoughts are, Valdez Scantling, Jabrill Pepper's Corey Trice, what do
you think that the plan is here in the coming
weeks for those guys?

Speaker 6 (15:42):
Well, MVS is just he's got to learn the offense
number one, now, I mean, that's that's the I mean,
But when it comes to like looking at the rest
of the season right now, I think it's more just
about having that receiver depth, especially with a veteran guy,
somebody who has familiarity with Rogers. You know when we

(16:03):
talk about you know, when you brought up Peppers there,
I think about like when Kyle Dugger comes in, Peppers
can immediately start translating the language from the Patriots defense
to the Steelers defense, and that will help Douger with
the with that, and then Rogers can do the same
because Rogers understands the offense that they ran under Matt
Lafloor in Green Bay, and he can help translate, you know,

(16:24):
what they were doing versus what Arthur Smith is doing,
and that'll help in that regard. And you know, you
have another injury. Scotty Miller's obviously been out with a
with an injury. If they have another injury, Calvin Austin
goes down again, if Roman Wilson goes down, or god
forbid of DK Metcalf goes down, then you have another
guy who can step in uh and possibly fill that

(16:45):
role with with Peppers It's hard to say right now
because I don't know what the what the actual prognosis
is on Deshaun Elliott, but I get the feeling he's
not going to be back anytime soon, and.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
And yeah, he's out of the equation. Do you think
Peppers is ahead of Clark? Could either of them challenge Dougger?
I think Ramsey, we know, is a safety.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
Now I don't think well, I don't think anybody's going
to challenge Dugger, especially coming I mean he came in
and picked it up so fast and be able to
play all but one snap. I don't think anybody's going
to challenge him. I think you're your top two safeties
at least for the time being, are definitely gonna be
a Ramsey and Dugger. But when you're talking about if

(17:30):
you want to go big Nickel, it wouldn't surprise me
if Peppers h leap frogged Clark because number one, I
hope so well, Peppers is more of a more of
a box safety than Clark is. And then number two,
Peppers has chemistry, you know previously in New England with Dougger,
and so again when we talk about you know, the

(17:50):
translating the defenses and everything. You know that that will
help in that regard. You know that they'll be You
would think they'd be on the same page more often
than not.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
I think he's.

Speaker 6 (18:02):
Yeah, and he's he's a little bit more violent, He's
a little bit more physical. Now I'm not saying Clark
can't lay the wood, because I mean that's Chase Brown.
I mean Clark. You know there there's an imprint in
Baker Stadium of Chase Brown's body where Chuck Clark leveled him.
But you know, Peppers can also really lay the wood too.
When it comes to Corey Trice, man, I mean, I

(18:22):
I have you got to see the injury report for today,
but it looks like he he you know, had a setback,
but not a setback with the hamstring, but also got
a new injury with a knee. At this point with Trice,
it's just he's got to get healthy. That's that's the
only hurdle there. They like the kid, they love his
work ethic. For those who have followed my work on

(18:45):
on DK Pitsburgh Sports for for multiple seasons, you will
you will known that how much they really really love
this kid. But man, he's got to stay healthy. He's
got to get on the woot ball field and stay there.
That's really the only concern with Corey Trice.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
But there was something last week, right, you know that
something new happened with like last Wednesday or Thursday.

Speaker 6 (19:06):
Right, Yeah, he he that's.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
Kind of fun.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
He was well, he was designated to return, and then
he comes back and practice and literally the next day
the injury report shows up where he has a new
new knee injury and because the hamstring, because the original
injury that had him on i R in the first
place was a hamstring, and then he ends up getting
a knee injury in practice like the next day, and

(19:30):
like that. That's why that is. That is the hurdle
with Trice is that it's it's been a hamstring for
a while, but it was the torn acl in his
workie year and now it's potentially this knee injury. Is
this gonna keep because I mean his windows open. They
have to make a decision in you know, a total
of twenty one days, and if they decide like no,

(19:51):
like he's not going to be healthy, he's out for
the year, right, right, So he's got to get healthy.
That's that's the main concern.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, it's it's a real shame because you're right, Chris,
They they like him a lot. If you spend kind
of any time around those those conversations, they every time
his name comes up, if you're talking to someone on
the coaching staff, someone in the front office, they rave
about him, about that work ethic, about just all the
things he has that you can't coach, you know, the

(20:19):
body type and the size and the athleticism and all
that stuff.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
But it's one of the oldest claus they think be
a starter.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, yeah, but it's you know, you go back to
you know, you can't can't make the club in the tub, right,
you know which tounch and Wolf used to say all
the time. And unfortunately, Yeah, it's it's tough to trust
him and rely on him. At this point. A couple
more minutes here with our buddy Chris Hallick on the
drive on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Chris, maybe I bury the lead.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
I should have probably just asked you off the top,
but were you surprised that it was a quiet drate
trade deadline Tuesday for the Steelers? They did, you know,
go and get Doug or the week before they did
make some practice squad movements. But were you surprised that
we didn't see any anything, you know, specifically in the
trade market on Tuesday.

Speaker 6 (21:06):
I'm not completely surprised. I did think that Omar was
going to to try to get something done, and he did.
I'll have further details on DK ifits from sports, probably
in a couple of days, as I continue to ask
around and prod around and try to, you know, get

(21:27):
as much information as I.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Can on that.

Speaker 6 (21:28):
But I do know that he did try to get
something done. And fans are gonna hear that and be like, well,
you know, try to find to get something then yeah, exactly,
you know, and and I understand that perspective at the
same time, one.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
Thing that would I do. But I think it was
a real seller's market. I was shocked how much people
got back for everyone. I mean, especially Sauce, but I
mean in general, the teams that sold players got a
better return than they usually do.

Speaker 6 (21:58):
Well, Well, what fans are going to focus on is
it took a fourth and a sixth to get Jacoby
Myers and a fourth and a fifth to get Rashid Jahid,
and you're and then fans are gonna wonder well dealing
an exactly, and especially when you know that the Steelers
could have as many as twelve draft picks in next
year's draft, and so of course the question at that
point is, well, why wasn't he willing to part with that?

(22:22):
And the answer to that question is nothing right now
is more important. Nothing is more important than getting a
future quarterback. Aaron Rodgers has been great. The Steelers absolutely
love everything that he has done for this team so far.
But he's not the long term solution. He's forty one
years old, he's turning forty two in less than a
month or in about a month. He's not the long

(22:44):
term solution a quarterback. And that has absolutely been on
all my I wrote about this on our app on
dk Fitzperth Sports. The quarterback has been and remains the
most important, like a long term solution. Omar is tired
of the one year fixes. He's tired of doing having
to address this every single offseason, and he might have
to do it again in the spring. I mean he

(23:05):
will have to do it again because Aaron Rodgers is
on a one year contract. He's going to have to
deal with it at some point, whether that's in the
draft or whatever. But long term solution. Quarterback is the answer.
And no, you're not going to be able to take
all those compensatory picks and just package them all together
and get some team to take it so that you
can move up to go get the quarterback. But even
if you, let's say they don't even get a quarterback,

(23:25):
they don't get an opportunity because there's so many other
teams that have multiple firsts and they don't get an opportunity.
You might have to wait until twenty twenty seven. Why
not use the draft picks that you have in next
year's draft and get yourself a really great draft class,
a really strong draft class, and further bolster and solidify
that roster so that when that quarterback does come, you're

(23:46):
putting him into a great situation like Ben Roethlisberger had
when he arrived in Pittsburgh, and not like a situation
that Bryce Young had or has in Carolina where he
has literally nothing around him. So that is the I mean,
it's not just getting to quarterback that is paramount, but
it's also making sure that he's in the best situation
possible when that player arrives in Pittsburgh. So no, it

(24:08):
does not surprise me at all that, he's not willing
to just throw away a fourth and a sixth to
go get Jacobe Myers who might not be here past
twenty twenty five if he were to be acquired, or
Shaheed a fourth and a fifth if you give away
those draft picks. And by the way, omar CON's done
pretty darn good with fourth round picks.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
They really their last few fourth round picks have been
pretty good.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah, and you probably give more than that because you
had to beat the offer that was on the table, right,
So what.

Speaker 6 (24:36):
Like the point is, like, why give away those picks
that you've done really well within previous drafts that had
no return past twenty twenty five. Now, of course you
could say, well, what if you just signed Jacobe Myers
to an extension, What if you signed Rashie Jaheed to
an extension? Well, what if they don't want to what
if they want to test to the market. Why take
that chance to literally throw those draft picks away and

(24:58):
if it doesn't produce a Super Bowl degree, then they
literally are wasted draft picks. It's not like trading a
second round pick for DK Metcalf because he turned around
inside a five year contract. He's gonna be here for
a while.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
He's not the Sauce move.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Or the Quinn Williams move. We're They're not going anywhere
right These are Reynolds.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
Exactly, and Omar the Steelers are not in a position
right right now where they're going to be making those
all in moves like we saw the Rams do when
they were trying to build up and try to win
before Aaron Donald right out of time, they made the
moves to go all in, and they went and they
and it worked. They won the Super Bowl back in
twenty twenty one. But that's not what the Steelers are

(25:39):
doing right now because the primary goal for what Omar
is doing in terms of long term stability is doing
whatever he can to figure out the long term solution
to quarterback because he knows, as many people should, that
the best chance you ever have of winning Super Bowls
is to have a franchise quarterback. It's just been proven
over the course of the of the game, and it

(26:01):
is the It's just it's the most important and it
should be. So I commend a more for staying true
to that and not trying to just steal headlines on
trade deadline day so that fans can have a dopamine rush.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean I said it before the deals happened.
You know what I would give up for Myers and Shaheed,
both of whom I'd have a lot of interest in.
But it wasn't the price that those two teams got.
I wouldn't have get that. There was too much for me.
I mean, and I think the Steelers inevitably agreed. I
can't help myself, Chris. But you've mentioned a couple of times,
you know, the future quarterback. And I'm not implying that

(26:35):
Will Howard's the future starter here, but I know a
lot of our listeners. What do you think happens with
his window? I mean, we're churning along through through these
twenty one days pretty quick.

Speaker 6 (26:48):
I mean I would think that he got that. I mean, listen,
they've been only they only have two active quarterbacks. They've
only had two active quarterbacks now for weeks. I mean
you would like to think at some point they're going
to have to put a third on there, just in
case something happens, like what if Aaron Rodgers does get injured,
what if something happens to Mason Rudolph in practice or whatever?

(27:09):
You know, like you have to have like, there's those
quarterbacks have three Yeah, exactly. So the fact that he's
even gone this long without having a real third on
the roster is kind of surprising. So in terms of
this year with Will Howard, I would assume at some
point he's gonna he's gonna, you know, be activated and
become the QB three. He'll continue to run scout team

(27:30):
in practice, and then he'll be there as an emergency
guy just in case something does happen with Rogers and Rudolph.
But I think that was kind of the vision from
the beginning as well. Obviously, the injury, you know, threw
a monkey wrench into that he had to recover from that.
But I think just for this year, I think QB
three is absolutely where he's gonna be in terms of
the future and him possibly being the guy. Uh, that's

(27:53):
very very much TVD. Yeah, he was a six round
pick for a reason.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's funny every time we talk about Will Spark, we
always get some tweets. We got one last night. I
don't know if you saw that, Matt. Why do you
guys hate Will Howard? We do not hate Will Howard.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Yeah, if you're looking for clicks or just want your
podcast to sell or whatever. Say something bad about Will Howard,
I can or something not glowing about Will Howard, and
you can get a lot of attention.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
One guy that I will never say something not glowing
about it's our buddy, Chris Hallick, DK, Pittsburgh Sports, Chris Partner.
Thank you so much for us for taking the time
for us here on a Wednesday. Great stuff as always,
and we'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
All right, thanks for having me, guys. I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
There he goes Chris Hallick. Yes, Fenn tweeted us last
night and said, why do you hate Will Howard? All
you and Matt talk about is drafting a quarterback? But
why do you already know he isn't it? Because I
think he can absolutely be it. You said this so well.
I think it was back during training camp when you
did a podcast about Will Howard and everybody just came.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
After you and it wasn't even negative. It's not like
I hate Will Howard. I mean the hate word's crazy,
do there?

Speaker 2 (28:57):
But anyway you said this, I forget exactly how you
said it, but I think it's it makes a lot
of sense. Is that, like quarterback is a luxury item.
I don't I don't want to go shopping in the
later rounds for a quarterback.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
No, and hope you hit. It happens.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Does it happen, absolutely, But you can also you could
also like list the guys of Tom Brady obviously sixth
round pick, Brockerty Brock Party seventh round pick. Russell Wilson
was a third rounder, Dak Prescott was a fourth rounder.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
But nobody talks about the hundreds that don't make it
from the third to seventh round.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
And there's and there's plenty in the first round that
don't make it either right right right right, But it's
like a.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Poker hand or a blackjackhand or something. You just want
to give yourself the best odds.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, and you know we.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Need a theory that you should draft one every year
in some way, shape.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Or for It worked well for a lot of teams
that yeah, yeah, you have outlined before how the Packers
have always done that, even when they had Brett Farv
and you know they're turning Hassleback and all these other
guys and and and and Brunner and yeah, sorry not
Mark Bruner.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Mark, Now.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Don't cross up your Steelers and Jaguars signals there. Uh,
I want to see more of Will Howard. Oh yeah,
but I also.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
I hate that we were robbed of his preseason reps.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yes, I also want to Uh.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
I'm putting all my ships in that bass.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
I want to go.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
I want to go shopping in the in the in
the luxury aisle as well too. At that position, that's
a that's a big thing for me, like offensive tackle
and and quarterback, I want to I want to swing
for the fences absolutely, you know, and listen that whatever
happens with Will Howard, he's going to have an opportunity

(30:38):
in some capacity. But I don't think I don't also
think that that should stop you from going out and
getting a guy this year or even next year. And
what both feel like are going to be pretty loaded,
pretty sizable quarterback classes out of college football.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Yeah, I mean, I'm glad they drafted him. I projected
him as a long term back, which would be a
very successful pick in the sixth round. Who knows, maybe
he is more if we saw the preseason, we'd have
a different opinion, good or but good bad whatever, you'd
have more information. Sure, and I think he's gonna, you know,
get a ton of work going forward in the preseason

(31:16):
things like that. But you can't just be like, oh,
we got a guy in the sixth round. The rest
of the league totally missed on this, dude, how would
you know?

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, And that's like you said, too, we we wish
we got so you would have gotten so much more
of a sample size, so many more data points on
Will Howard.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
And it might happen and a million people might come
back to me and be like, you don't know what
you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Oh, yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
I hope they do. I hope they do.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
If Will Howard ends up being a top ten quarterback
in the NFL, I put my hand up and be
like I was wrong.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yeah, this is great. And I've never said he can't
be I just said you can't count on that.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Which is a big difference.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
That's a big difference, right, big difference. I'mout writing him
off that he has no chance, you know, it's just
but counting on that guy to be your next Ben
Roethlisberg or.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
Nuts Amazar, both from Ohio.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
A lot of a man, a lot of successful fourth
round picks for the Steelers.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Now that we kind of.

Speaker 4 (32:09):
Kenny thrown away a fourth and not throwing away but
fourth and a fifth or sat or whatever.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Kevin Donson was a fourth round pick. I know didn't
necessarily pan out here, but look at him player, But
Dan Moore fourth round pick, Calvin Austin, fourth round pick,
Nick Herbig fourth round pick, Mason McCormick, fourth round pick.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
And this year Jack Sawyer who you've needed and gotten.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
And all of them don't cost any money in your
salary cap for four years. There's Yeah, there's a lot off.
Mid round picks are really important.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
And when you consider Omar Cohn's background too, right of
cap and money and where to invest your resources into
money makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
It makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
And one thing I want to bring up to Chris
too is let's say they go into next draft with
twelve picks. Well, they very well might take one of
those forces and turn it into a future third, or
a third turns into a future second. That then maybe
does make you let you move up in the first
round a little bit more, you know what I mean? Yeah,
you're not gonna probably make twelve or thirteen picks.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
You want all options on the table, Yes, you want
all options on the table when we come back on
the other side, you know, speaking to Will Howard speaking
of NFL Draft, you want to go around campus, Matt Williamson,
will you return, Let's do it. We'll talk a little
little quarterbacks, little draft when we return on the other side.
And I've got a little bit of an observation, a
bigger picture quarterback observation that I want to run past Matt.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
Two.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
We'll do all that in the bottom half of the hour,
West Juler, Matt Williamson, And is the Drive on Steelers
Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
About drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal. Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Back on the drive here as we come down the
home stretch of the first hour of this Wednesday programming.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
And with that it means it is time to go
around campus.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
Yeah, let's go.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
I know you you look forward to this, don't you.
You could put your feet up and uh and just kind.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Of uet about it too.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
I do love it, yeah, yeah, I just I love
I love college football. I love the draft.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
I love especially that, like we know the Steelers are
this year, next year going to be in the quarterback market.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
I can't stress enough though, and I even't did a
side podcast on this today. It's going to be harder
than ever than we thought to get your first round quarterback.
And the trade deadline didn't do the Steelers any favors. No,
it did not, and some extra picks to the wrong teams.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
It absolutely did not.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
And with that, Matt, let's let's go ahead and start
it before we get into individuals and some of the
names that we've been talking about and all that stuff.
That was my kind of observation that I teased. The
more and more we get into this college football season,
which is now at week eleven.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Yeah, passed the half.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I mean, it's it's it's there's there's just a few
weeks left here in the college football season. I mean
Thanksgiving is kind of the end of the regular season,
and then we'll have conference championship games.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
So when the playoffs start, playoffs will.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Start like New Year's ish, Okay, like late December, Yeah,
holiday holiday bowl season. Yes, I think that there's not
going to be as many quarterbacks coming out of the
out for the draft this year that we might have
assumed back in August and even September. Yeah, I certainly

(35:45):
think some of the names like Fernando Mendoza will yes
after that, though, Matt I, I really don't know, like
someone like Dante Moore.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
I say more in Sellers to me are less than
fifty I think so, yeah, because they're gonna make so
much money.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
They're gonna make so much money if they stay.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
If you're Dante more, I think both of these guys
they're not Ty Simpson from Alabama where they're like single
digit starts in their career, but they don't have a
massive body.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Of work either.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
Experience would be helpful.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Experience would be very helpful. If you're Dante Moore, you
could stay at Oregon. You can make a ton of money.
You can run it back for another year for an
Oregon team that's gonna be loaded next year.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
They're really good. They're really good now and they're so young.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Like if he returns, they're a preseason top five team,
Number one.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, Leonora Sellers, this year hasn't gone the way he
wanted it to. That South Carolina has gone has wanted
it to gone to. They've been banged up on the
offensive line, they can't run the football. He's trying to
do too much. Do you you know, leave and go
play at a program like it's not gonna be Ohio State.

(36:57):
I don't know if you would want to stay in
the SEC, because then he'd have to go up against
old school maybe though, I mean, you know, do you
end up somewhere like an LSU or you know, somewhere
like that an old miss with Lane Kiffin, whatever the
case might be. I think there's a real chance that
that could be the case. You know, guys like Fernanda
Mendoza will come out. Some of these guys Hayes King,
Carson Beck will come out, but they all.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
Will unless they get hurt between now and then.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
They get hurt between now and then too. That's a
that's an absolute great point. Like, Yeah, Sam Levitt, who's
the Arizona State quarterback. I really like him. I think
he's maybe the most underrated guy in this conversation.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
The preseason lists.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
He was on all the.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Preseason lists, got banged up at the beginning of the year,
so kind of faded a little bit, came back and
played really well for a few weeks, and then just
got hurt again last week.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Why would he come out and if.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
His head coach ends up taking a big boy job
there Kenny Daglish, which could absolutely.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
He is an Arizona State guy.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, but you know he won the Big twelve them
last year, had them in the playoff. I think he
could get one of these Auburn type jobs really absolute,
absolutely Auburn Florida, you know, the big something like that. Yeah,
if that happens, does Sam Levitt transfer from Eric does
he do a you know a jayde and Daniels good

(38:20):
few years at Arizona State transferred to a big program
and end up being a you know, a top five,
top ten pick.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
I certainly think that that could be the case.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
So the more and more we get into this thing,
and I think I've a lot of people have said it.
I think I've been guilty of it too. I probably
said it times back in early September when we were
doing this, Matt, there could be six or seven quarterbacks
drafted in the first round.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Oh yeah, yeah, And that seemed very possible then. That
was that was not crazy talk.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Now I think it'll probably be more like two or
three or four.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
And you haven't even mentioned all Er Club, Nick yep
nus Meyer like they were the ones that were in
that mix too.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
That Arch Manning arch Manning.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
I mean, there was at least with him, people weren't
sure if he's coming out or not. You know, right,
the three I mentioned they could they were definitely in
those six or seven potential ones.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Correct.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
I'd be shocked if any ofthing. I mean. And there's
the way all our club Nicks go in the first round.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Right club all are I don't think so, especially with
the injury of an injury, and so again that's a
you know, that's a different than just a underwhelming performance.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
Conversation, all those guys stock has dropped.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
I do wonder though, if some of like like the
Club Knicks for example, the nus Smyers, the names that
we discussed plenty coming into this more than Dante, more
more than Jade Mayava.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
You know, more than even sim.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, I wonder if those guys have strong finishes of
the season, Like Ky Club Nick played probably his best
game of the year Saturday.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
Oh good.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
They lost to Duke in a shootout, but he played
his best game of They lost forty six to forty five.
Duke went for two at the end and won the game.
UH seventy five percent completion percentage three hundred and eighty
five yards, two touchdowns, no turnover.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
You know, some of these guys will gain steam again
at the Senior Bowl, at the Combat.

Speaker 7 (40:07):
So if they declare, maybe we're in a weird middle
area right here where it is a lot of the
preseason darlings haven't lived up to the expectations, the Allurs,
the Mannings, the club Nicks, the nus.

Speaker 4 (40:19):
Myers, even like Matier needs to get healthier again.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
And you know, right, but someone like Mendoza is rockinging
up a list, someone like ty Simpson at Alabama is
rockinging up a list. So maybe Water will find its
level there and a couple of those big names will
perform well down the stretch, and then a couple and
maybe we still do have four or five first round
quarterbacks drafted. I just I don't think it's gonna be
the six or seven like it was looking right maybe

(40:44):
a month two months ago.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
So many people scoff at you, and you say, well,
next year's class is going to be better than this
year's class, you know, And it is funny because there's
so many instances of early picks that we didn't even
know were coming. Burrow I mean, Wentz, Baker, I mean
guys are top two picks.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
In the draft. Cam Ward, I mean sam.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Ward when we weren't talking about him, you know, right.
But from a Steeler perspective, what if Rogers wants to
come back, What if you want to give Howard a
ton of preseason raps Rudolph's under contract? Might you wait a.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Year, especially if if it's Fernando Mendoza in a cast
of unproven right, right? And what if Dante Moore goes
back to school, Leonora Sellers goes back to school, Ty
Simpson goes back to school, and.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
They all come out next year with Arch and Arch.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
And Julian Say and from and then we all get
kind of duped that it ends up being a year
later than we thought.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
That there's six first round quarterbacks.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Now, of course, the same thing could happen to them too.
They could all get hurt or play terrible or or whatever.
I mean again, you're waiting on the None of us
have a crystal.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
Ball exactly right, exactly right.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
But as we get more and more into this, I
think it's so every week I'm thinking it's more and
more likely that like Leonora Sellers isn't looking like himself.
Why would he why would he come out now?

Speaker 4 (41:58):
You know, Dante he's on he's not building the best
resume he possibly can.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Dante more got banged up and is coming off his
bye week, So maybe he'll light it on fire these
last couple of games and we'll end up still getting drafted.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
But someone like ty Simpson.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
I mean they're getting vice. Theyre going go on the
top five overall, they'll come.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
Out right top ten.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Absolutely, But I think a lot of these guys, and
you know even more so now in this nil era,
why would you not Like I know we talked about this, Matt,
I still can't believe that Quinn youers entered the draft
last year.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Yeah, I can't. I mean, like you can't tell me
Peter Rutgers or Wu or somebody who could have said,
come play be our quarterback for.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
A year and you're gonna make five, six, seven times
as much as you would have as a.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Seventh round draft pick. Yeah right, I mean it's yeah,
speaking of Witch.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
I mean I don't want to go through all the teams,
but like Kyler just got benched. I mean Kyler and
Tua or two that we kind of thought that team
could go either way. It's sure looking like they're gonna
be in the quarterback market more. And there's a lot
of them now.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
A lot of them trending in that direction. Maybe the
Vikings are the only ones that we had them as
a maybe.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
They're looking better, maybe they're.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Looking better for being for being set. But a lot
of those other kind of middle ground.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
Middles look like they're in the market.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
And now, granted, I feel like that's the case every year.
Everybody always needs.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Quarterbacks, right, We've kind of said this for five years.
As the Steelers go get a Russell Wilson at Trubisky,
you know, like you can't just wait forever. I mean,
but it's gotta be somebody to get I mean, getting
from twenty three to eight isn't going to be easy.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
No, it's not. And because the.

Speaker 4 (43:31):
Rams were two first round picks, that was jump yeteah whatever.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Whatever, you know, that's where we loved the back in
September when it looked like there was going to be five, six,
seven first round quarterbacks. Great, you don't have to jump
up the six to get one, right, you know, you
can go to thirteen to get one.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Sure ballin and Mahomes and those guys were not top
five picks, you know.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
But all of a sudden, I think it could be different,
Like there could be three first round quarterbacks and they're
all taken in the top ten.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
Yeah, or there's going to be But again, we're crystal
balling it here. But no one thought Knicks was going
to be a first round pick that year, you know,
And he goes right in the middle of the first
round and most people had a second round grade on him.
It's kind of worked out pretty well for Denver. But
if the Raiders are picking twelve and the top three
quarterbacks are off the board, they might just say, we're

(44:14):
taking quarterbacks, right, you know.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
They very well could, They certainly very well.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
Could It's brown, you know what I mean? Right?

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yes, So let's run through a couple of these names,
just to update you on where they're at, how they're doing. Uh.
Fernando Mendoza just another blowout win for Indiana where.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
It was just keeps checking the box.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
He just keeps checking the boxes.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Completed sixty seven percent of his passes over two hundred
yards one touchdown, did throw an interception only his second
of the year. Also had twenty four yards rushing and
a rushing touchdown as well.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
There. I want to see him in the playoff. You
know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Right now, it's just stay healthy, Big Ten Championship game,
playoff he's going to play depending on how far they go, two, three, four,
really big games at the end of the year. If
he continues to check the boxes, he could be the
first overall pick.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
I should know this.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
But well, they they have a chance to be in
the Big Ten Championship. Yes, okay, yes, it's not an
East West thing anymore.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
It is not like so right now.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
You know they beat They beat Oregon in that in
that big match up a couple of weeks ago. So
if Indiana and Ohio State went out, that would be
your Big Ten Championship game, okay, and then start the
Oregon would Oregon would still get into the playoff. It
is like the is the third Big Ten team. Okay,
but yes I do.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
I was hoping to see him against Ohio State. I
mean at a Matt Patricia defense.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Oh it's great, and uh, I don't think they play
in the regular season. Let me let me just double
check this, but I yeah, they do not. So Indiana
has Penn State this weekend, then Wisconsin, then Purdue.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
They should be able to handle business against those three teams.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
Is Penn State scary at all? Yes, I would say
they still have good players. They still have a good player,
you know, aasonably.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Tough they did.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
I think they ended up losing by fourteen or seventeen,
but it was a close game at halftime. They Yeah,
they didn't. They didn't roll over and die, you know.
And they're at home against Penn State this Saturday at noon.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
That'll be a decent name.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Yeah, it won't be one hundred some thousand crazy Penn
State fans going nuts. I'm sure there'll be plenty of
empty seats in the upper decks and everything, but that's
still a team with some pride and.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
A lot of talent.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
NFL player on the team, absolutely, absolutely, the highest paid
defensive coordinator in college football. But yes, I would like
to see him against Ohio State as well too. I am,
I am, I am, I am with you on that.
Dante Moore coming off his bye week, coming off that
injury against Wisconsin, it does look like he will return
to action against Iowa. That bye week came at the

(46:48):
right time. He took a high hit, like a close
line type hit against Wisconsin early in the third quarter
and did not return, but then gets the bye week
to hopefully get healthy. And this is a you know,
I think ore against ranked like seventh or eight right now.
They have to go to Iowa on the road, Matt,
the twentieth ranked team in the country. It's a good
test for Dante more Yeah, okay, good. Iowa is another
one of those like you know what you're getting, and

(47:09):
it's usual. They' usually pretty good in the trenches. They've
got some bunch of Steelers, They've got some good defensive backs.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
This will be a good test for Dante Moore off
the byway.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
Teams aren't easy to play against anyone on their football team.
But I'm sure it's not an easy game.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
No, absolutely not. Never is.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
And uh and so that one. Yeah, ninth ranked Oregon
at number twenty Iowa. That's three point thirty on CBS.
That's one of the ones to watch this weekend for sure.
Leonora sellers rough Saturday for him, Matt. They got smoked
by Old Miss. He completed just fifty three percent of
his passes one hundred and eighty yards, one touchdown, two interceptions.

(47:45):
He did run for a score. I mean, his athleticism
is undeniable. Yeah, yeah, but he was sacked six times.
Crazy and y I've told you he might have the
worst offensive line in the SEC, one of the worst
in power for football. They can't run the ball, they
can't text him.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
I watched him two weeks ago. Every nice play he
had maybe come back from a hold or.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know, right, exactly right. But he also, I mean
six sacks. It's like he's just getting beat up back there.
He is trying to, you know, make magic happen, but
it's it's tough. He's turning the ball over because of that.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
Well that's the thing. Now you get to the point
where I'm all, we got so now I have to
take risks that I usually wouldn't And then you put
that on tape and how do people interpret that as scouts?

Speaker 2 (48:26):
And you know, and you mentioned that that Bama game
that you watched a couple of weeks ago, where it
was like every time he made a play, something negative
would happen.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
Yeah, and they battled him to the very very end too.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
It was kind of similar with Old Miss, like they
didn't battle Old Miss at the very very end. But man,
he made a couple fantastic throws really and his receivers
dropped though, right, you know, tripped over their own feet.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Like illegal procedures. Everything, everything came back and didn't go
the way he should.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Have, exactly right.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
And as much as this has not been the year
that Leonora's sellers wanted at all, same thing for South
Carolina can be said.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
You still see it a couple of times a game
where it's like.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Oh, that's the thing. Quarterback coach would be like, I'll
work with that.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
He can throw the deep ball, yeah, he can move yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Yeah, And it's like a few times a game you're like,
I would still take it.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
I'd still take that guy in the first round.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
So like part of me hopes like he looks bad
or gets beat up. I mean, I'm not rooting bad
for the kid. So he falls to twenty twos behind
Rogers for a year, baby, you know like that, I.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Would sign him blood. I would sign blood for that
right now.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
If you could get him with your first round pick
and not much else or whatever for the Steelers because
it's a down year. Oh baby, oh baby. Yeah. If
he sits behind Rudolph for a year, I mean, whatever
it is, yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Completely agree, completely agree. A couple more names I want
to discuss here with you.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Matt Jada Miava, the USC quarterback who we've started to
talk to about a little bit more. He played poorly
against Nebraska. They had to go to Nebraska night game.
It was a blackout there Memorial Stadium in Nebraska. He
was nine of twenty three for one hundred and thirty
five yards in an interception. I will give him this.
Though he played very poor, he led them down the

(50:01):
field in the fourth quarter to score a touchdown and
take the lead.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Okay, so, and he's got traits.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
He's got traits.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Even in a game where he was frustrated, was probably
his worst performance of the season, he found a way
to lead his team to victory in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 4 (50:14):
I do like that, Okay. I It's not gonna be
smooth sailing for all these guys all the time.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
No, it's not. It's not.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
I'll be honest. As as an evaluator and been around
a lot of really good evaluators, you want to see
these guys struggle. You don't want it to be because
it's gonna it's Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
It's a great point.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
That's a great I remember that day. You didn't have it,
but you figured it out a way.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
You know, absolutely, the picture does his fastball absolutely?

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Uh. Ty Simpson had a bye week with Alabama. We'll
see how he does down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Here. His stock is through the roof.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
One guy I told you this Matt the other day
that I'm out on is Carson Beck.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Now I get it.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Yeah, he is his fifth year in college football and
he still somehow just lacks the leadership and lacks the maturity.
He threw two really bad interceptions in Miami's loss at
at SMU and then blamed his coaches afterwards like he's.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
Got second time in like this month, he's done that
post game.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
He's got the talent, he's got the frame, he's got
all that stuff, but he likes.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
Other worldly talent.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
No, no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
He lacks the leadership, he lacks the maturity, he lacks
like the the IQ. I'm just I think I'm out
on this guy. He's given him so many like grains
of salt. And he's also not nineteen or twenty in
his first year. He's in his fifth year of high
level college football. He should know better. Talk to you

(51:34):
a little bit about Kate Club Nick. I thought he
played his best game of the season and be interested
to see what he does down the stretch.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
Maybe him or not can redeem themselves a little bit here.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Taylor Green, the Arkansas quarterback that we've talked about a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
They lost a tough one to Mississippi State. He's another
one of those guys who it's just like he They
go as he goes, and if he's not playing out
of his they're gonna lose. And Arkansas fired their coach
like a month ago, Sam Pittman. They're kind of reeling.
He still makes a lot of plays, you know, with
his arm and with his legs, but he's just he's

(52:12):
a tough eval for me at this point. He's one
that I'm excited to see get to the Senior Bowl
and all that stuff. That Sawyer Robinson, the Baylor quarterback
who I had kind of soured on for a couple
of weeks. He performed really nicely this week seventy two, sorry,
seventy three percent completion percentage, two hundred and sixty seven yards,
three touchdowns, zero interceptions. On the year, mat He's got

(52:35):
twenty seven hundred yards passing twenty six touchdowns to just
seven interceptions. And one thing that really intrigues me about him,
He's kind of the last specific guy that I want
to talk about here is his offensive coordinator at Baylor
is a guy named Jake Spavital. Okay, he has been

(52:55):
a kind of college football long time quarterback and quarterback coach,
offensive coordinator. He's been at Oklahoma, He's been in Oklahoma State,
He's been at Texas A and M. He's been at WVU.
If you look at the guys that he's coached in college,
Geno Smith, Will Greer, Johnny Manziel, Kyle Allen, Davis Webb,
Brandon Whedon, like he's got a And now I understand

(53:16):
that none of those guys lighting the world on fire
in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
But see my thoughts when you read that list where
none of those guys is JaMarcus Russell. Talent up here
that is well too, though, but they got the most
out of their talent. They must speed well coached, you
know what I mean, absolutely, Josh Allen or mahomes ability,
you know.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Correct, correct, and so that it just intrigues me, like
he knows how to have guys have success, get them
to the league. You know, Kyle Allen played a long
time in the NFL. Will Greer is still in the NFL.
Gino Smith still in the NFL. Intriguing to me one Sawyer.
Robinson's an intriguing one because he's been up and down
this year. But I think he's got some traits. He's

(53:56):
six foot four, he's got the frame. He's another one
of those guys I want to see, you know, in
the in the Senior Bowls and the combine and all
that stuff. He's one that I think, could you know,
come January February March, start to start to move up
in some conversations, I've.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
Kind of thought with him, and again, please don't hold
me to this because I have not broke him down
or there's so much more to be written. But even
like preseason, being exposed to him a little bit, I thought,
and I know this area doesn't usually work out for
starting quarterbacks, but he seems like a second round pick
to me. Yes, you know what I mean, Yes, and

(54:30):
you see and you see what happens, you.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Know, like in the early thirties.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the bad team that didn't get one
in the first round.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Or whatever, you know, like a Tyler Shuck type.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
Yeah, yeah, I mean Derek Carr, was that guy Garoppolo
or I mean like a lot of those type of dudes, right, Kaepernick,
you know.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
A couple games for everybody to keep an eye on.
How about LSU at Alabama. I know LSU is reeling
and they got a lot going on with that program
and they fired Brian Kelly, but I think their defense
is very good. Okay, I want to see how Ty
Simpson perform against them.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
Simpson has a chance to be a very high pick,
very high.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
Yeah, he's been he's been unbelievable. I mean he's he's
been very good.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Uh, Indiana is at Penn State at noon, like we mentioned,
certainly keep an eye on that one. And then what
was the other one that I had highlighted here from
a quarterback Oregon orgon Iowa which we mentioned, which we
mentioned as well too. Nice test for Dante Moore on
the road to see how he responds off of a
bye week.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
So it doesn't sound like there's any game where we're
having head to head.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Yeah, none of those this week, unfortunately, Matt. That'll do
it for our number one. Our number two on the
other side will do a little Best of the West.
We'll talk more about the chargers, and we'll get to
some of your tweets. All of that and more in
the second hour of the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio
on the Steelers Audio Network.