June 25, 2025 • 40 mins
Matt and Dale discuss which divisions have the strongest quarterback clusters, which returning head coaches sit atop the coaching ranks, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And Welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lollly. He
is the Matt Williamson and uh, well, let's see spicy.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hot, pretty toasty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, it is warm out there, heat wave it in the.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Whole Eastern coast from.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
What I understand, right, Yeah, absolutely, But I did before
we get started here into the show, I want to
offer a point of clarification on something we talked about
on Monday with Governor Josh Shapiro. Oh yeah, in Pennsylvania.
Apparently the AP wrote a story about this, which is
what everybody picked up. Yeah, yeah, it's the Associated Press
(00:54):
and didn't accurately express us what Shapiro had said regard
he kind of screwed it up a little bit. Now
while he did say that right now, he's probably probably
can't think about any kind of money being used for
(01:17):
sports dadium. There's budget situations, there's you know, just some uncertainty.
He said. What he actually said after that, trying to
find the right spot here. It's always a balance where
We've got a great communication with Jeffrey Jeffrey Lori and
Art Rooney, and we're going to continue dialogue with them
(01:40):
about what they need and what's possible.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Okay. So that's completely different, a lot different than what
we're talking about there. Yeah right, So it sounds like
they're open to helping. Yeah, yeah, okay, So that's the
juxta of it all. So I didn't want to I'm glad.
I mean, it doesn't apply to the Steelers the next
year or two or whatever, but.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Nor are they asking for anything, right, right, right, right.
But I do know, for example, like the state in
the city are working with the Steelers for the draft stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Oh okay, I'm so out of the loop on all
those type of things, you know, football, football, football, But
I would imagine it's massive. I mean, because of the Steelers,
a great amount of revenue is coming to town next April,
you know, so they certainly should be very helpful in
that regard, I would think.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So, you know, there's a lot going on there, a
lot of moving parts.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Okay, but the ap got it wrong, Okay, So that's good,
cleared it up. It might come into play a decade
from now, who knows.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You just don't know. In terms of the league itself.
Not a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
There, really, is it. I Mean, there's like no news,
like the lead story is Aaron Rodgers on McAfee says,
this is probably my last year. That's not even like
hardly news, you know what I mean. It's like casually
talking to his friend like this is maybe my last year.
That's like the headline on ESPN dot com right now
or NFL.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Do more than likely this was it?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, you signed a one.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Year deal and you're not young. Yeah, yeah, I think
we all kind of knew that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And the Steelers want to draft.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Quarterback right right right? I mean I can't what would
it take that you think team and player would both
be like, let's run it back. Have to be a
pretty darn good year, you know, and an injury for
a year, I mean run to the sc chance if
you were a Super Bowl contender or boll you lost
(03:43):
the heartbreaker in the divisional round or something like that.
Not that he's an MVP, but playing at a high level,
better than he ever played with the Jets. Bodies feeling good, maybe,
you know, and you still probably draft one, right, you know,
I don't know what could change the draft plan. I
guess it's the better way. And that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, you know, you can look at this and say, well,
it's news because he said it, which I get because
she's a big name guy said yeah, yeah, yeah, But
at the same time, it's not really news news no.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I mean, if he would have said that in training camp,
it would have been a blurb somewhere. Now there's just
nothing else to talk about, so it's a headline, you know,
you know, but no, I think that'd be expected. Yeah,
if you guys were all huddled around him in his
tenth practice at training camp, he's like, that's probably will
be my last year. Okay, it'd make stories, but it
wouldn't break break though.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It's kind of like Ben's last year. Everybody kind of
knew it was Ben's last year. He just he never
came out and said it until he like the very end.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's no reason they have to
say it either if they know deep down to take that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
One way or the other. Right, right, right, But this
is it for me or you know, it just depends
on the player.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
One thing I dislike that I do think has changed
over the years and kind of shows our age. It
used to you know, there used to be a players
thinking about retirement. He's already out the door. And that's
that's like thirty years ago, you know what I mean.
But there's definitely listeners who still think that, you know,
because I've gotten tweets about it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, because Chuck Nole said it.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Because Chuck Nole said it, right, And I understand the logic,
especially then, Okay, if their heart's not in it, in
their habit, but that doesn't the world's changed so much
since then too. They have so much more money. They's
so many more options. You know that, they've brands.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah. The difference to me is that back then, if
you were thinking about retirement, you were already doing your
other off season job.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Because you had to, right right, Yeah, these guys already
are doing stuff anyways. Or yeah, they could pick it
up in two seconds and get hired work or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They've got their network in place, their training is in place.
It's not that big of a deal, right right, right,
Whereas back then, if you their.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Off seasons are so much different. Every player compared to
nows too. You know, they came to training camp to
get in shape, right, I mean, now someone's got five
extra pounds in training camp. Oh you know, I mean
it's a there is just a I have gotten some
of those tweets. So if he's thinking about it now,
I wish you would just hung it out. No, you don't. Yeah,
he's just thinking about his career, right.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's Ben used to think about retirement basically every year
once he turned thirty four.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I say, I bet almost all players do, and probably
all the basketball players do too, and the Sydney Crosby
think about it every year.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I want to put your body through that once again,
knowing what you need to do to get ready and
knowing what's the season entails.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And I think that's the biggest part for most athletes
is do I want to do the not fun stuff?
You know, like game days cool? Even practice week is cool?
But do I want to do all this stuff eating
up to that to prepare me for the season. I've
got this scope. I need to get up my knee.
I mean they all have something that's you know, yeah,
medical as well. Let alone if it's a big injury,
(07:11):
like I want to rehab all that and then be
in a hole when I try to get ready for
the season. And you know, so, no, I think all
these guys think about it often and maybe earlier than
you think.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean you have to, especially there's so much money
in the bank, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, you got millions in the bank. You know, if
you're a guy like Aaron Rodgers, you've got He probably
thought about it before he went to New York. You're
going to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, you're cemented, right, They're an all time great.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, which is why you know, he said, Look, I'm
doing this for the love of the game. You know,
this is why I'm still doing this. I still get
joy out of the game.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah. Yeah. Kind of remind me of the Arthur Smith
conversation we were two days ago, you know, like unfortunately
we brought it up because his father passed away. But
his father is also a icon in America, you know,
and Arthur Smith doesn't need the money. I mean, I'm
sure the Steelers pay him just fine, but he makes
more than most people listening. But that's a drop in
the bucket for the Smith wealth. You know, he's doing
(08:11):
it for the love of the game. Yeah, right right,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So that's the that's the difference. I do think it's
much much different than it used to be, yes, thirty
forty years ago.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I mean a lot of those guys sold insurance and
stuff in the office. Yeah right, you know, or lifted
some weights here and there, camps a week two away,
I should start jogging, right.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Not he went to camp for eight weeks get ready
for the season.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah yeah, yeah, absolutely completely different, completely different. But no,
it shocked me how many tweets and things I got
in the last twenty four hours of Well, if he's
thinking about that means he's already got one foot out
the door. I don't think so right now.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
He wouldn't have signed up to play if he wasn't
invested in playing.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To me, it's the other opposite,
like he jumped in with two feet for one more year. Yeah,
most likely, you know, great, Yeah, I'm sure they had
this conversation when he visited three months.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Ago or whatever, right right, And I think the big
difference there is, you know, some of the stuff that
he said when he talked about that particularly was that
I don't think he wanted to go out on a
five and twelve record.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'm sure, Yeah, I bet that has a lot to
do with I mean, we talked a lot about these
athletes in general, and but pride is so much of
it and legacy, and like I bet, Russell Wilson's really
struggling with post Seattle life. Yeah, you know what I mean.
You don't want to be that guy. You don't want
to be Franco and Seattle. You know that type of thing.
(09:40):
And I would expect, I do expect a better version
of Rogers than the Jets got. I do too, not
necessarily more dedicated, because that implies it he didn't care,
blah blah blah. But I also think that a guy
like that Brady with the box or whatever, is not
going to go out. Man. Not sure if I can
(10:00):
do it or not. It's I'm sure I can do it,
but I can only do it for one more year,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I mean the Jets ran the ball. I think it
was like one hundred and ten times.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It's the fewest in the league.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Was rushing passes all one hundred It was actually more
than one hundred and ten, like one hundred and forty
fewer times than the Steelers did. I bet, I bet
that's that's almost ten rushes per game.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean, just think about to wear and tear
on your arm and drop backs, let alone the hits
things like that too. Now, they didn't have a rushing quarterback, right,
and the Steelers did for most of the part of
the year. You know, you got more quarterback rushes from
Pittsburgh for.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Part of them though, they were telling fields not to
run because he was hurt, right.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Right, And I don't think they wanted to get to Allen.
You know, when Wilson was hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
There was just a high volume rushing team, which.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They will be.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
The Jets were not right right right, which takes me
to the next point. The Jets said Rogers he threw
like five hundred and eighty nine passes last year. Steelers
quarterbacks through four hundred and ninety something.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Wow, So it was like one hundred difference, like one
hundred difference.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And yet Steeler quarterbacks were sacked forty nine times.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Oh the sack thing.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Je's quarter Rogers was sacked.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Forty Yes, I think that is if there's any big
change I would stand on this table right now that
will definitely change this upcoming year at the quarterback position
is sacks will drop dramatically. Yeah, even if they have
all kinds Z line injuries, and they're playing Calvin Anderson,
both Anderson's and McCollum and all those guys. Sacks are
(11:42):
gonna go down. Yeah, no question in my mind, the
ball's gonna come out yeap. The other thing is Rogers
got rid of the ball.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I think it was like two point It was quick,
two point six four seconds along those lines. Russell Wilson
was at like two point eighty nine, which doesn't sound.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Like much, but over the course of three hundred throws
or five hundred throws, it's a ton.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Justin Fields was at three point oh four, which is
really high, really high.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
And scramblers are going to have some snaps where it's
five seconds or whatever too. But those guys take sacks
their whole career. Yeah, Rogers never does. And he gets
the ball out quicker and crisper than ever too, you know.
And he doesn't love getting hit either, I mean years older, right, yeah, right,
So no, I'll bet everything I have sacks go down dramatically. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So let's get to a break. I guess the Matt
Williamson I'm Dale LOLLI. You're listening to the drive. You're
on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt and I'll be back
with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lallie. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt on the NFL dot Com. Today,
Nick Shook put together a ranking of each division by quarterback.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Interesting, okay, NFL dot Com, Not that anyone cares, but
there's like ten websites I go to as soon as
I open my laptop, and NFL dot Com is not
usually one of them. So I missed that. But okay,
so let's roll through these and weakest the strongest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, it's weakest the strongest. So number eight nor it's
a weird one.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they won't be eight, but it's
a weird one.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Eight is the AFC South.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Okay, the average quarterback ranking is twenty five twenty six
point five.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There's obviously a lot of youth in that conference because
they've been bad and they've been picked high. Yeah, I
mean that's part of it. You got to put the
colts near the bottom, yeah, I mean, or if it's
or even in the bottom tier completely.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So he's got CJ. Stroud at number fifteen. The combo
of Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones come in at thirty six.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I don't understand that. I thought it was like a
one out of thirty.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Two, right, he right. What he did was he took
his quarterback rankings and then put them together and put
them on. Okay, here's where they I had them ranked at. Yeah,
he's added it up and he averages it out for
a team like that. Okay, So he had Richardson at
thirty five Jones at thirty seven. Therefore their average ranking
(14:42):
is thirty six.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Okay. I guess I would do it differently. I mean,
if you had the worst quarterback in the room in
the league, I would give it thirty two, like I would.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
But there are some backup quarterback situations, yeah, that are
better than those.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Guys, especially like a high pick. Yeah, and obviously I'm
not giving Shook a hard time, but the Titans would
be really hard to rank. Yeah, you know, I mean,
you're excited about the kid, but he's a kid, and
I would have Stroud higher than fifteen. Had a bad
year last year, had a bad year, But I don't.
I'm not quibbling that they're the worst quarterback division, but
(15:16):
there's hope there. I'm a bigger Lawrence fan than you are.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Too, Trevor. Lawrence came in at twenty six.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Okay, but his rankings have to be weird. He's not
saying there's twenty five better quarterbacks than Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That's exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I think he's insane. I don't think there's probably the
last couple of years. I mean, you get twenty six,
it's a whole time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
If there were a one year situation, yeah, I'd be like, Okay,
I get it. Yeah, it's been two years and he's
been garbage and.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
He's been bad, But he's not the twenty six best
quarterback out there.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Eh. Okay. Yeah, he has Kim Ward at twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Okay, and Ward's a hard one. It's probably still the
worst division. But let's go through the NFC.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
South is at number seven. Their average ranking twenty point
twenty five, okay. Michael Pennix in Atlanta is thirty.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Okay. He has to carry more weight than Cousins. Cousins
doesn't fast, okay. It is the fast starter. Okay, because
Indya too. I thought they might care about the.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Which one's a starter? Yeah, right, nobody.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It really looks like Jones at this point with injuries.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But Carolina with Bryce Young is sixteen.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Okay. I'm not gonna fight you there.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Tyler Shuck he has at twenty nine. Maybe he just
ranked all the rookies at twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Okay, which I wouldn't mind. Could have one that ranks rookies.
I kind of think is fullhearted to be anyway, So
if you put them all together.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's the same ranking.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Africam Wart yeah okay, and Baker I bet it scores well.
Baker's number six ooh, okay. I think I'd take the
AFC South over the NFC South. I understand Baker being
the highest, but you can't tell me he's sure.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
It might be the worst of the group.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I say, I'm not out of the woods on Young
either or pen.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
X shock in the draft right right, right right, not
to start right out of the gate.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
You're right. I like him as a second round pick.
I have no problem with the choice, but compared to
thirty one other starters, I don't know if i'd take
him over. I mean him and the Colts are probably
cancel each other out at this point. But I would
still take Stroud over Baker, but Baker had a much better,
much better year. I'm taking Lawrence over Young and who
(17:27):
am I missing? Awards a hard one to but I'd
take Ward over Pennix. He did, yeah, yeah, but he
gave I think Baker being that high is what influenced
that one.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
At number six is the NFC North Their average ranking
seventeen point seventy five. Caleb Williams at twenty eight. Okay,
Jared Goff it't four. His ranking is weird though, the
fact that he's four, Jordan Love at ten and j J.
(18:02):
McCarthy at twenty nine, so obviously, I mean there's two unknowns,
the guys who haven't played.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
He's putting it, which I'm cool, twenty nine I'm cool with.
I mean, he has them almost like rookies. Yeah, although
I'd take Caleb Williams over Shock as much as I
like Shock. I mean, they hate a bad year, but
who would you rather go to battle with this year?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, he did take Caleb Williams over Shock.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But they were all like right next to each other,
so like, yeah, yeah, okay, I think Love will be
higher than that when it's said and done. But I
can't fight him on recency bias. There, ten's fair, then's fair,
that's fair.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
At five is the AFC North.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Browns have to kill it.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Lamar's number one, okay, Burrow's number three okay. The combination
of Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco comes in at forty
three point five.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Yeah, I mean it's terrible. I'd rather roll with the
Colts guys.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And Aaron Rodgers is twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Okay, and he's a tough one to rank too, obviously,
but the Browns are an anchor. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I mean, well, here's what he says about it. I
live in Cleveland. This is Nick Chuck. Yet I'm granting
all of you permission to pelt the Browns with rotten
tomatoes for what they've done to the AFC Norse ranking.
This should be the NFL's best division. As for him
to a two time MVP, yeah, they're perennial MVP contender
(19:34):
and Burrow in the arrival of a late career four
time MVP.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It definitely has the strongest pairing. Yeah, I mean, without question.
I mean I think there's four elite guys and two
of them are in this division.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I mean, the Browns have to carry a lot of
weight there and it's only four guy. Four teams get
ranked and they're the worst quarterback situational league without a doubt.
I'd rather roll a shock.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
At least he has some upside.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Four is the FC East. Okay, average ranking seventeen, all right,
Josh Allen is two. Cool, that's fine, Tua is eighteen.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
It might be a little rough on two, but okay.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Uh, Drake may is twenty one. I'm a big fan,
and Justin Fields twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Okay, take that over. The North. To me, Alan and
Lamar are the same, bro.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
The North is better, but the Browns down brutal.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right, it's some way worse than Fields. Yeah for seven
verse eight, Yeah, okay, they just they're an anchor. Yeah,
they're an anchor. They're the biggest anchor in the league.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Three is the NFC East. Jack Prescott is nineteen, Russell
Wilson twenty three, Jalen Hurts nine, Jayden Daniels five.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I think that's all pretty fair. I would have Dak
higher than that, but it's been a rough stint here lately.
There's no, no killer, right, how long do you think
Dart will start this year?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
At some point?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I do too. Yeah, I mean you can't factor that
in as you for this equation now, and I don't.
And I think I actually think the Giants room is
better than their starter. Like Winston's a good two and
you have a number one there, But that's not what
he's doing, you know. I mean Wilson's going to open
the season as a starter. Yeah, he's better what they played.
(21:43):
The point is a good two, I do, But I
also I think there's a good argument can give me
the reliable guy.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
It can also be a bad two.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It's a dice roll every time he says it is.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I mean, I I think teams look at a lot
of teams look at this differently. Give me Mason Rudolph,
who I know and can trust. That best day isn't
as good as Winston's best day or but his worst
day is nine close right, right, He's not gonna light
my whole game plan on fire, you know, right, throw
seven interceptions right right. I think a lot of it
depends on your starter is Yeah, if you have been
(22:17):
I want grad Kowski year left Witch or Batch or
you know that. I know what I'm getting.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Two is the NFC West, Kyler Murray is seventeen.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Kyler Murray be a tough guy for me to rank
right now.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Stafford is eight, Yeah, Purdy is fourteen, Sam Donald thirteen.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I'm not there on Donald, I'm not either, right like
I'm Donald will be my fourth guy in that division. Yeah,
he needs to show me at least another year.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yes, he's number two.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, I mean I'm definitely taking Purdy Ann Murray over him.
But I don't know if there's a noticeable weak link.
They're all solid yeah, yeah, yeah, and Stafford might even
be higher on my list than that.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And one is the AFC West.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Malmes is a monster.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Bon Nicks comes in at twenty. Yes, if you remember
when we did these rankings earlier in the year. Mahomes
comes in at seven, okay, Geno Smith at twelve, justin
Herbert at eleven.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I would even have Herbert higher, But again, there's no weakness.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
He's too low on Mahomes, too high on Geno Smith probably. Yeah,
he's not the twelfth best quarter he was twelve.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I didn't up trying to think what number you just said,
and Nix is like seventeen ish twenty. I think we're
out of the woods, but that he's a quality player.
But that's a whole different conversation. Like, if you look
at all six of those dudes that were drafted last year,
who are you most confident will be a starter five
years from now? Daniels of course, may would be my
(23:54):
second choice. Nicks versus Williams is a question to me.
Williams is more ability, but Nick's had a better year
and anything, he's got a higher floor.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I don't know. I just Nix's rock party system quarterback,
but I think.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
He's still a starter for a decade. He's in the
right system. Yeah, yeah, no doubt Williams could hit big, bigger.
And I think PENNICX and McCarthy, you don't know that's fair.
I'm interested, I'm interested, but I mean they're not out
of the woods yet.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
No, they haven't seen McCarthy at all at all.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Right, so I don't hate his rankings. Browns are obviously
huge screwed by the Browns, by the Browns, I mean,
even if they just had trying to think, I mean Joe,
I mean, the twentieth best guy just don't stink there. Yeah,
they're probably number one, yeah, one and three right right,
right right? Or who's the top three? I mean they
(24:50):
definitely the best too. Who is the top three?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Might still be the North Yeah you know, yeah, so interesting.
It gets a different way, and I think you know
when you look at the quarterback position, this is why,
excuse me, when the Steelers do go take that swinging quarterback,
(25:15):
they can't just settle.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
No, no, it needs to be a big swing.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
He needs to be a big swing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited. I've done very little, but
more than I usually do this time of year. On
next year's class, the guys that are he's safe. Coaches,
Son works hard, not a great arm, little undersize that
doesn't do it for me, right, it doesn't do it
for me. That's a second round player to me. Now yeah,
now do I want the next Richardson? That's a total
(25:43):
wild card. You know, he better play some football. He experience,
to me is going to be really important. Not Richardson.
Maybe he's a bad example, but his variance I could
live with if it kept getting better start eight to
eighteen to twenty eight. But if you come in here
(26:04):
and I'm like, yeah, I've played seven games. I mean
that's like Trey Lance too.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah yeah, same thing.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
You gotta play a lot of football now. Yeah, I
think that's it was lost there for a while.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
He is Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lolly. You're listening to
The Driver and the Steelers Audio Network, Matt and I'll
be back with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
As he is The Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolly. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt is the list time of the year.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
No, it is. We'll be doing a lot of lists
the next couple of weeks. Yeah, dude, trading camps like
a month from now right, I mean it's we talk
about this downtime. It's not that far away too. We'll
be in the troupe.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah. But Pro Football Focus put together. They've ranked their
top ten returning NFL head coaches entering in twenty twenty
five season.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Okay, returning, I guess is an important one. Yeah, Like
I don't want to rank Ben Johnson.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Well they only did ten, so yeah, yeah, so at
number ten. Boy, I might disagree with this one. Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Part of me feels for him.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I'll have to see the rest of the list.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, I mean the fact that he's a two time
Coach of the Year. I don't care about you know
what I mean? Now, okay, you got more.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
What you've had is two good seasons for two good seasons,
and Cleveland, you want ten goods, right, and expectations are low,
and coach of the Year is usually the guy that
they expect.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
To win seven the Wine or something like that. Great.
I do think he's a really good offensive mind. I
think he's in a tough environment to win. But there
are only nine head coaches in the league that are better.
I bet i'd have more than that, Yeah, I think so. Yeah,
I could see it like twelve to fourteen. Yeah, yeah,
(28:10):
I think that would be fair.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Number nine.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Dan Campbell he's another one. I'm impressed, everybody's impressed. He's
easy to root for. He's great at the podium, big,
strong blocking tight end. But this is a really important
season for him. Yeah, Because here's my doubts about the guy.
Is I think players respect We're gonna put the pedal
(28:34):
to the medal all the time, we're going forward on
fourth down, we're playing fast. We're gonna be the most
physical team. It's hard to do that for twenty games.
You know. Sometimes you've got to kind of know when
to hold him and when to fold them and put
it in neutral for a minute or down shift. I mean,
their defense is got the crap beat out of them
and people just falling left and right. So I do
(28:55):
think it wouldn't be. This is a marathon, not a sprint,
I guess, is my point. Yeah, I don't know if
he knows that. And now he lost two schemers. You know,
like a lot of the great coaches, Belichick didn't need
defensive coordinator, Walsh didn't need an offensive coordinator. I think
Campbell needs strong coordinators and he has lost them both. Yeah,
so it'll be and they have a difficult schedule, so
(29:15):
we'll see what he is as a head coach.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Eight is Nick Sirianni with the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
He's a tough one too. I mean he's a super champion.
That's does it say? Like, is he tremendous? If he
was a Browns coach, would he be in the top ten? No?
I don't think so, you know what I mean, Like,
he is the best roster in the league. Front office
completely supplies him with great players. His offensive coordinator was
(29:44):
thought of well enough to become a head coach this year.
His defensive coordinator is one of the best of recent memory.
But how do you keep him off this list? I mean,
he's a Super Bowl champ seven.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I have some issues with Kyle shann him with the
forty nine ers, he.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Would be on my list. I probably would have him
ahead of those three names. But I also think he's
an overrated head coach. Yeah, he's not an overrated offensive mine,
quarterback developer, play caller. He might be number one, but.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
The numbers are inarguable. They either win and do well
where they have a losing record, bad bad losing record.
Picking in a top ten losing.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Right Nick Nick Bosa second overall type of year. You know,
just because Jimmy Garoppolo gets hurt, right, that shouldn't derail
your shoes and season.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That much happened.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Like, I'm not sure our listeners know this, but he's
been a head coach of nine ers for eight years.
Eight of those years he's won double digit games and
done well the other eight. He's lost double digit games,
right amidst all or nothing.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
That's why you can't. That's why you can't. I can't
have him at seven. Yeah, I can't. I also know
too much variance he has, and if we're just talking
head coaches, I guess this doesn't apply. But he is
more juice in that room or in that building than
Lynch or anybody else.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Fine, he's earned it. But they have weird drafts too. Yeah.
I mean he drafts a kicker in the third round
and backup tight ends and there's always a running back
he loves in round four that should go in round
seven that never hits, and they don't reinforce the line,
you know, like I don't know, but he'd be on
the list.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah. Six is Jim Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Chargers Harbors. Yeah, I still get you, Jim. I still
get him mixed up. That's why, which is terrible. I
have a lot of respect. I wouldn't say he outkicked
his coverage last year, though I thought they would be
a little worse than they were. But as the season
we're on, they couldn't run the ball like they thought.
(31:51):
They didn't really have a lot of weapons. But I
think his track record when you if you factor in
Michigan and Stanford and what was it San Jose date
before there wasn't there was something smaller than that and
his nine or tenure. I very much believe he's a
very very good football coach.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Weird dude, Yeah, yeah, five Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Okay, I don't think that's crazy at all.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
There are people screaming right now.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Oh, I'm sure what people are like. Boy, I hope
Tomlin's not on this list. There's probably some people saying
I think it's a pivotal point of his career too.
You know, you've you've gone this weird quarterback route year
after year, and you're gonna have to balance and they're
they're they're walking this tight rope of winning now and
(32:42):
balancing the future.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Some of that though, if you look at the way
things have lined up. Roethlisberger retires after the twenty twenty
one season. You take Kenny Pickett, you think he's your guy, Yeah,
and then he turns out to not be the guy.
(33:05):
But you gave him two years. You gave him two years, right,
so you get rid of him for twenty twenty four season,
you bring your rustle, did you love like bo Nix
and Pittsburgh to me, wouldn't have worked.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I'm not sure. You're a lot better off, right, you know, right?
And plus you would have given up a second round
pick to do it, right, I mean, he wasn't free. Yeah,
you had to get it, Kirthy. I didn't like at all,
and you'd got to give up a lot to go
go right, So you know, I hear you. I mean
over the last couple of drafts, it just hasn't aligned.
(33:44):
It hasn't aligned, and but it needs to soon. You
can't just go eight years saying well, we don't like anybody.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
You can't continue to do that, right right, right now,
everybody wants to say, and this is complete and outter hindsight,
Well they should have taken Lamar in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, they should have, So should everybody, right, right right?
Everybody else passed on him too, right now. You've talked
about this a lot. You actually mocked him to the Steelers, right.
I got crushed and people hated every second of it
because Ben was not post surgery, hanging on, was coming
(34:18):
off maybe his best season, right, right. So it's that
that hindsight bothers me because it would look great.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
He led the league in passing yards, and you.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Could have incorporated Lamar here and there. Maybe he would
haven't even like ran routes here. I mean, but that's
that's not what you needed. Yeah, that's so. Here's one
thing I urge people to think about with Tomlin is
let's say, and we don't have crystal balls, but let's
say this season goes a little better than last year.
(34:53):
You got a better quarterback, you still win about the
same amount of games, your defense is pretty darn good,
running games getting better, maybe win a playoff game. Okay,
I mean, I don't think that's a crazy story to write.
At the end of June, the plan remains the same.
Still gonna go be aggressive to get a quarterback next year,
assuming that this class is what it's cracked up to be.
(35:16):
Do you want Tomlin leading that ship? And the answer
isn't yes or no, it's do you want Tomlin leading
that ship? Or do you want a total unknown? You
know what I mean? Like, maybe you have your faults
with Tomlin. Fine, he's been here long enough. You all
have your opinion, and you should and we both have
our opinions too, But wouldn't it be terrible to hit
(35:41):
on that quarterback in next year's draft and then be like, yeah,
but now our head coach takes that would be bad, guys, Yeah,
that would be bad. Like maybe you don't love Tomlin,
maybe you think he should be tenth on this list
and not fifth. Okay, strong argument, great, but you don't
(36:02):
want the twenty eighth guy with your new quarterback, right,
I mean that's part of it too. Plus I want
a leader of men who understands his team to navigate
the rookie quarterback waters you know what I mean? Right
that I know he can do.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Four is John Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
That's fair.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I will say this. The Steelers won three playoff games
since twenty fifteen. The Ravens have won three playoff games. Yeah,
since twenty fifteen with a two time MVP.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
With two time MVP. Yeah, playoff success is not going
to be in his positive column.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
It's very difficult to win playoff game.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
It's really difficult to play now, Yeah, and then you
know you lose a battle to Josh Allen or Mahomes
or Borough or whatever. Right, but they've had a lot
of success lately. He's a Hall of fame coach.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
To me, Three Sean McVay, he'd be two.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
But I'm splitting hairs. I'm super impressed with McVeigh.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Two is Sean Payton with the Broncos. Disagree with that,
so I guess we can't do new guys.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I was gonna lump Pete Carroll in this conversation just
because of lifetime achievements awards.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I'll take Tom and Harball over Sean Payton. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
I mean he's done a lot of good stuff with Denver,
more than I expected. I'll be honest, Like the Walmart
family bought the Broncos gave him like a blank check,
and he came out of the booth and I thought,
this is just a money grab. Good for him, you know.
And they had a bad roster including Wilson, and they
(37:50):
won more games than they lost for two years. And
now he's kind of turning it around in his likeness.
But I still Harbor and Tom.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
One three consecutive losing seasons. Right, he is his quarterback.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
There was a bad stretch there, yeah, right, I think
his floor is lower. Yeah, And I definitely a McVeigh again.
To me, McVeigh is two or maybe even one, and
one is Andy Reid. I get it how you knock
him off the list?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Now, I don't know how you leave Minnesota's coach off.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Oh I wouldn't either. That's a great call for Green
Bay to be honest with.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Kevin O'Connell Matt lafleur are better coaches than Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
They'd be like six and seven on my list. Yeah,
with arrow pointing up, just keep showing me more and more. Yeah,
I think they're dynamite. That's a great call. I'm sure.
I bet I could come with one or two others.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Too, But I think Jonathan Gannon and Ay John is
a pretty damn good coach.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
His roster was so bad inherited too, and he's getting
a lot out of it. I mean he never goes
to playoffs and things like that, but they're and then
every year gets better and better and better.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Ye.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
It's a pretty strong statement, you know, Like, I'm not
sure you can leave the Eagles head coach off there,
but the Eagles win the Super Bowl with lafleur or O'Connell, Yeah,
and maybe even it might be in better shape. Those
two would be really high for me. The more I
think about it.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, I have one over Shanahan. Yeah, and Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Lafloor's got a big body of work now too, right.
They also have a low floor or a high floor.
He doesn't have a superstar roster, No, he had to
bring love along. Those guys are high quality coaches.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, I agree. That was the Pro Football Focus list
of the top ten returning head coaches in the NFL.
He is Carol.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
I would have kind of put on the list just
because I know enough, you know, like I'm putt Ben
Johnson on the list, but Carol would be right there
with like Peyton. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, let's get to a break. That's gonna do it
for hour number one, he's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lully
will be back with our number two right after this
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And Welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lollly. He
is the Matt Williamson and uh, well, let's see spicy.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hot, pretty toasty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, it is warm out there, heat wave it in the.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Whole Eastern coast from.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
What I understand, right, Yeah, absolutely, But I did before
we get started here into the show, I want to
offer a point of clarification on something we talked about
on Monday with Governor Josh Shapiro. Oh yeah, in Pennsylvania.
Apparently the AP wrote a story about this, which is
what everybody picked up. Yeah, yeah, it's the Associated Press
(00:54):
and didn't accurately express us what Shapiro had said regard
he kind of screwed it up a little bit. Now
while he did say that right now, he's probably probably
can't think about any kind of money being used for
(01:17):
sports dadium. There's budget situations, there's you know, just some uncertainty.
He said. What he actually said after that, trying to
find the right spot here. It's always a balance where
We've got a great communication with Jeffrey Jeffrey Lori and
Art Rooney, and we're going to continue dialogue with them
(01:40):
about what they need and what's possible.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Okay. So that's completely different, a lot different than what
we're talking about there. Yeah right, So it sounds like
they're open to helping. Yeah, yeah, okay, So that's the
juxta of it all. So I didn't want to I'm glad.
I mean, it doesn't apply to the Steelers the next
year or two or whatever, but.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Nor are they asking for anything, right, right, right, right.
But I do know, for example, like the state in
the city are working with the Steelers for the draft stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Oh okay, I'm so out of the loop on all
those type of things, you know, football, football, football, But
I would imagine it's massive. I mean, because of the Steelers,
a great amount of revenue is coming to town next April,
you know, so they certainly should be very helpful in
that regard, I would think.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So, you know, there's a lot going on there, a
lot of moving parts.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Okay, but the ap got it wrong, Okay, So that's good,
cleared it up. It might come into play a decade
from now, who knows.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You just don't know. In terms of the league itself.
Not a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
There, really, is it. I Mean, there's like no news,
like the lead story is Aaron Rodgers on McAfee says,
this is probably my last year. That's not even like
hardly news, you know what I mean. It's like casually
talking to his friend like this is maybe my last year.
That's like the headline on ESPN dot com right now
or NFL.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Do more than likely this was it?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, you signed a one.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Year deal and you're not young. Yeah, yeah, I think
we all kind of knew that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And the Steelers want to draft.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Quarterback right right right? I mean I can't what would
it take that you think team and player would both
be like, let's run it back. Have to be a
pretty darn good year, you know, and an injury for
a year, I mean run to the sc chance if
you were a Super Bowl contender or boll you lost
(03:43):
the heartbreaker in the divisional round or something like that.
Not that he's an MVP, but playing at a high level,
better than he ever played with the Jets. Bodies feeling good, maybe,
you know, and you still probably draft one, right, you know,
I don't know what could change the draft plan. I
guess it's the better way. And that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, you know, you can look at this and say, well,
it's news because he said it, which I get because
she's a big name guy said yeah, yeah, yeah, But
at the same time, it's not really news news no.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I mean, if he would have said that in training camp,
it would have been a blurb somewhere. Now there's just
nothing else to talk about, so it's a headline, you know,
you know, but no, I think that'd be expected. Yeah,
if you guys were all huddled around him in his
tenth practice at training camp, he's like, that's probably will
be my last year. Okay, it'd make stories, but it
wouldn't break break though.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It's kind of like Ben's last year. Everybody kind of
knew it was Ben's last year. He just he never
came out and said it until he like the very end.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's no reason they have to
say it either if they know deep down to take that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
One way or the other. Right, right, right, But this
is it for me or you know, it just depends
on the player.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
One thing I dislike that I do think has changed
over the years and kind of shows our age. It
used to you know, there used to be a players
thinking about retirement. He's already out the door. And that's
that's like thirty years ago, you know what I mean.
But there's definitely listeners who still think that, you know,
because I've gotten tweets about it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, because Chuck Nole said it.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Because Chuck Nole said it, right, And I understand the logic,
especially then, Okay, if their heart's not in it, in
their habit, but that doesn't the world's changed so much
since then too. They have so much more money. They's
so many more options. You know that, they've brands.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah. The difference to me is that back then, if
you were thinking about retirement, you were already doing your
other off season job.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Because you had to, right right, Yeah, these guys already
are doing stuff anyways. Or yeah, they could pick it
up in two seconds and get hired work or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They've got their network in place, their training is in place.
It's not that big of a deal, right right, right,
Whereas back then, if you their.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Off seasons are so much different. Every player compared to
nows too. You know, they came to training camp to
get in shape, right, I mean, now someone's got five
extra pounds in training camp. Oh you know, I mean
it's a there is just a I have gotten some
of those tweets. So if he's thinking about it now,
I wish you would just hung it out. No, you don't. Yeah,
he's just thinking about his career, right.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's Ben used to think about retirement basically every year
once he turned thirty four.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I say, I bet almost all players do, and probably
all the basketball players do too, and the Sydney Crosby
think about it every year.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I want to put your body through that once again,
knowing what you need to do to get ready and
knowing what's the season entails.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And I think that's the biggest part for most athletes
is do I want to do the not fun stuff?
You know, like game days cool? Even practice week is cool?
But do I want to do all this stuff eating
up to that to prepare me for the season. I've
got this scope. I need to get up my knee.
I mean they all have something that's you know, yeah,
medical as well. Let alone if it's a big injury,
(07:11):
like I want to rehab all that and then be
in a hole when I try to get ready for
the season. And you know, so, no, I think all
these guys think about it often and maybe earlier than
you think.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean you have to, especially there's so much money
in the bank, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, you got millions in the bank. You know, if
you're a guy like Aaron Rodgers, you've got He probably
thought about it before he went to New York. You're
going to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, you're cemented, right, They're an all time great.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, which is why you know, he said, Look, I'm
doing this for the love of the game. You know,
this is why I'm still doing this. I still get
joy out of the game.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah. Yeah. Kind of remind me of the Arthur Smith
conversation we were two days ago, you know, like unfortunately
we brought it up because his father passed away. But
his father is also a icon in America, you know,
and Arthur Smith doesn't need the money. I mean, I'm
sure the Steelers pay him just fine, but he makes
more than most people listening. But that's a drop in
the bucket for the Smith wealth. You know, he's doing
(08:11):
it for the love of the game. Yeah, right right,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So that's the that's the difference. I do think it's
much much different than it used to be, yes, thirty
forty years ago.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I mean a lot of those guys sold insurance and
stuff in the office. Yeah right, you know, or lifted
some weights here and there, camps a week two away,
I should start jogging, right.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Not he went to camp for eight weeks get ready
for the season.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah yeah, yeah, absolutely completely different, completely different. But no,
it shocked me how many tweets and things I got
in the last twenty four hours of Well, if he's
thinking about that means he's already got one foot out
the door. I don't think so right now.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
He wouldn't have signed up to play if he wasn't
invested in playing.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To me, it's the other opposite,
like he jumped in with two feet for one more year. Yeah,
most likely, you know, great, Yeah, I'm sure they had
this conversation when he visited three months.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Ago or whatever, right right, And I think the big
difference there is, you know, some of the stuff that
he said when he talked about that particularly was that
I don't think he wanted to go out on a
five and twelve record.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'm sure, Yeah, I bet that has a lot to
do with I mean, we talked a lot about these
athletes in general, and but pride is so much of
it and legacy, and like I bet, Russell Wilson's really
struggling with post Seattle life. Yeah, you know what I mean.
You don't want to be that guy. You don't want
to be Franco and Seattle. You know that type of thing.
(09:40):
And I would expect, I do expect a better version
of Rogers than the Jets got. I do too, not
necessarily more dedicated, because that implies it he didn't care,
blah blah blah. But I also think that a guy
like that Brady with the box or whatever, is not
going to go out. Man. Not sure if I can
(10:00):
do it or not. It's I'm sure I can do it,
but I can only do it for one more year,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I mean the Jets ran the ball. I think it
was like one hundred and ten times.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It's the fewest in the league.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Was rushing passes all one hundred It was actually more
than one hundred and ten, like one hundred and forty
fewer times than the Steelers did. I bet, I bet
that's that's almost ten rushes per game.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean, just think about to wear and tear
on your arm and drop backs, let alone the hits
things like that too. Now, they didn't have a rushing quarterback, right,
and the Steelers did for most of the part of
the year. You know, you got more quarterback rushes from
Pittsburgh for.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Part of them though, they were telling fields not to
run because he was hurt, right.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Right, And I don't think they wanted to get to Allen.
You know, when Wilson was hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
There was just a high volume rushing team, which.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They will be.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
The Jets were not right right right, which takes me
to the next point. The Jets said Rogers he threw
like five hundred and eighty nine passes last year. Steelers
quarterbacks through four hundred and ninety something.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Wow, So it was like one hundred difference, like one
hundred difference.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And yet Steeler quarterbacks were sacked forty nine times.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Oh the sack thing.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Je's quarter Rogers was sacked.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Forty Yes, I think that is if there's any big
change I would stand on this table right now that
will definitely change this upcoming year at the quarterback position
is sacks will drop dramatically. Yeah, even if they have
all kinds Z line injuries, and they're playing Calvin Anderson,
both Anderson's and McCollum and all those guys. Sacks are
(11:42):
gonna go down. Yeah, no question in my mind, the
ball's gonna come out yeap. The other thing is Rogers
got rid of the ball.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I think it was like two point It was quick,
two point six four seconds along those lines. Russell Wilson
was at like two point eighty nine, which doesn't sound.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Like much, but over the course of three hundred throws
or five hundred throws, it's a ton.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Justin Fields was at three point oh four, which is
really high, really high.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
And scramblers are going to have some snaps where it's
five seconds or whatever too. But those guys take sacks
their whole career. Yeah, Rogers never does. And he gets
the ball out quicker and crisper than ever too, you know.
And he doesn't love getting hit either, I mean years older, right, yeah, right,
So no, I'll bet everything I have sacks go down dramatically. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So let's get to a break. I guess the Matt
Williamson I'm Dale LOLLI. You're listening to the drive. You're
on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt and I'll be back
with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lallie. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt on the NFL dot Com. Today,
Nick Shook put together a ranking of each division by quarterback.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Interesting, okay, NFL dot Com, Not that anyone cares, but
there's like ten websites I go to as soon as
I open my laptop, and NFL dot Com is not
usually one of them. So I missed that. But okay,
so let's roll through these and weakest the strongest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, it's weakest the strongest. So number eight nor it's
a weird one.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they won't be eight, but it's
a weird one.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Eight is the AFC South.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Okay, the average quarterback ranking is twenty five twenty six
point five.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There's obviously a lot of youth in that conference because
they've been bad and they've been picked high. Yeah, I
mean that's part of it. You got to put the
colts near the bottom, yeah, I mean, or if it's
or even in the bottom tier completely.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So he's got CJ. Stroud at number fifteen. The combo
of Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones come in at thirty six.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I don't understand that. I thought it was like a
one out of thirty.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Two, right, he right. What he did was he took
his quarterback rankings and then put them together and put
them on. Okay, here's where they I had them ranked at. Yeah,
he's added it up and he averages it out for
a team like that. Okay, So he had Richardson at
thirty five Jones at thirty seven. Therefore their average ranking
(14:42):
is thirty six.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Okay. I guess I would do it differently. I mean,
if you had the worst quarterback in the room in
the league, I would give it thirty two, like I would.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
But there are some backup quarterback situations, yeah, that are
better than those.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Guys, especially like a high pick. Yeah, and obviously I'm
not giving Shook a hard time, but the Titans would
be really hard to rank. Yeah, you know, I mean,
you're excited about the kid, but he's a kid, and
I would have Stroud higher than fifteen. Had a bad
year last year, had a bad year, But I don't.
I'm not quibbling that they're the worst quarterback division, but
(15:16):
there's hope there. I'm a bigger Lawrence fan than you are.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Too, Trevor. Lawrence came in at twenty six.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Okay, but his rankings have to be weird. He's not
saying there's twenty five better quarterbacks than Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That's exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I think he's insane. I don't think there's probably the
last couple of years. I mean, you get twenty six,
it's a whole time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
If there were a one year situation, yeah, I'd be like, Okay,
I get it. Yeah, it's been two years and he's
been garbage and.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
He's been bad, But he's not the twenty six best
quarterback out there.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Eh. Okay. Yeah, he has Kim Ward at twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Okay, and Ward's a hard one. It's probably still the
worst division. But let's go through the NFC.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
South is at number seven. Their average ranking twenty point
twenty five, okay. Michael Pennix in Atlanta is thirty.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Okay. He has to carry more weight than Cousins. Cousins
doesn't fast, okay. It is the fast starter. Okay, because
Indya too. I thought they might care about the.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Which one's a starter? Yeah, right, nobody.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It really looks like Jones at this point with injuries.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But Carolina with Bryce Young is sixteen.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Okay. I'm not gonna fight you there.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Tyler Shuck he has at twenty nine. Maybe he just
ranked all the rookies at twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Okay, which I wouldn't mind. Could have one that ranks rookies.
I kind of think is fullhearted to be anyway, So
if you put them all together.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's the same ranking.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Africam Wart yeah okay, and Baker I bet it scores well.
Baker's number six ooh, okay. I think I'd take the
AFC South over the NFC South. I understand Baker being
the highest, but you can't tell me he's sure.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
It might be the worst of the group.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I say, I'm not out of the woods on Young
either or pen.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
X shock in the draft right right, right right, not
to start right out of the gate.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
You're right. I like him as a second round pick.
I have no problem with the choice, but compared to
thirty one other starters, I don't know if i'd take
him over. I mean him and the Colts are probably
cancel each other out at this point. But I would
still take Stroud over Baker, but Baker had a much better,
much better year. I'm taking Lawrence over Young and who
(17:27):
am I missing? Awards a hard one to but I'd
take Ward over Pennix. He did, yeah, yeah, but he
gave I think Baker being that high is what influenced
that one.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
At number six is the NFC North Their average ranking
seventeen point seventy five. Caleb Williams at twenty eight. Okay,
Jared Goff it't four. His ranking is weird though, the
fact that he's four, Jordan Love at ten and j J.
(18:02):
McCarthy at twenty nine, so obviously, I mean there's two unknowns,
the guys who haven't played.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
He's putting it, which I'm cool, twenty nine I'm cool with.
I mean, he has them almost like rookies. Yeah, although
I'd take Caleb Williams over Shock as much as I
like Shock. I mean, they hate a bad year, but
who would you rather go to battle with this year?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, he did take Caleb Williams over Shock.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But they were all like right next to each other,
so like, yeah, yeah, okay, I think Love will be
higher than that when it's said and done. But I
can't fight him on recency bias. There, ten's fair, then's fair,
that's fair.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
At five is the AFC North.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Browns have to kill it.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Lamar's number one, okay, Burrow's number three okay. The combination
of Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco comes in at forty
three point five.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Yeah, I mean it's terrible. I'd rather roll with the
Colts guys.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And Aaron Rodgers is twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Okay, and he's a tough one to rank too, obviously,
but the Browns are an anchor. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I mean, well, here's what he says about it. I
live in Cleveland. This is Nick Chuck. Yet I'm granting
all of you permission to pelt the Browns with rotten
tomatoes for what they've done to the AFC Norse ranking.
This should be the NFL's best division. As for him
to a two time MVP, yeah, they're perennial MVP contender
(19:34):
and Burrow in the arrival of a late career four
time MVP.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It definitely has the strongest pairing. Yeah, I mean, without question.
I mean I think there's four elite guys and two
of them are in this division.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I mean, the Browns have to carry a lot of
weight there and it's only four guy. Four teams get
ranked and they're the worst quarterback situational league without a doubt.
I'd rather roll a shock.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
At least he has some upside.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Four is the FC East. Okay, average ranking seventeen, all right,
Josh Allen is two. Cool, that's fine, Tua is eighteen.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
It might be a little rough on two, but okay.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Uh, Drake may is twenty one. I'm a big fan,
and Justin Fields twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Okay, take that over. The North. To me, Alan and
Lamar are the same, bro.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
The North is better, but the Browns down brutal.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right, it's some way worse than Fields. Yeah for seven
verse eight, Yeah, okay, they just they're an anchor. Yeah,
they're an anchor. They're the biggest anchor in the league.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Three is the NFC East. Jack Prescott is nineteen, Russell
Wilson twenty three, Jalen Hurts nine, Jayden Daniels five.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I think that's all pretty fair. I would have Dak
higher than that, but it's been a rough stint here lately.
There's no, no killer, right, how long do you think
Dart will start this year?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
At some point?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I do too. Yeah, I mean you can't factor that
in as you for this equation now, and I don't.
And I think I actually think the Giants room is
better than their starter. Like Winston's a good two and
you have a number one there, But that's not what
he's doing, you know. I mean Wilson's going to open
the season as a starter. Yeah, he's better what they played.
(21:43):
The point is a good two, I do, But I
also I think there's a good argument can give me
the reliable guy.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
It can also be a bad two.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It's a dice roll every time he says it is.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I mean, I I think teams look at a lot
of teams look at this differently. Give me Mason Rudolph,
who I know and can trust. That best day isn't
as good as Winston's best day or but his worst
day is nine close right, right, He's not gonna light
my whole game plan on fire, you know, right, throw
seven interceptions right right. I think a lot of it
depends on your starter is Yeah, if you have been
(22:17):
I want grad Kowski year left Witch or Batch or
you know that. I know what I'm getting.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Two is the NFC West, Kyler Murray is seventeen.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Kyler Murray be a tough guy for me to rank
right now.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Stafford is eight, Yeah, Purdy is fourteen, Sam Donald thirteen.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I'm not there on Donald, I'm not either, right like
I'm Donald will be my fourth guy in that division. Yeah,
he needs to show me at least another year.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yes, he's number two.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, I mean I'm definitely taking Purdy Ann Murray over him.
But I don't know if there's a noticeable weak link.
They're all solid yeah, yeah, yeah, and Stafford might even
be higher on my list than that.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And one is the AFC West.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Malmes is a monster.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Bon Nicks comes in at twenty. Yes, if you remember
when we did these rankings earlier in the year. Mahomes
comes in at seven, okay, Geno Smith at twelve, justin
Herbert at eleven.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I would even have Herbert higher, But again, there's no weakness.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
He's too low on Mahomes, too high on Geno Smith probably. Yeah,
he's not the twelfth best quarter he was twelve.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I didn't up trying to think what number you just said,
and Nix is like seventeen ish twenty. I think we're
out of the woods, but that he's a quality player.
But that's a whole different conversation. Like, if you look
at all six of those dudes that were drafted last year,
who are you most confident will be a starter five
years from now? Daniels of course, may would be my
(23:54):
second choice. Nicks versus Williams is a question to me.
Williams is more ability, but Nick's had a better year
and anything, he's got a higher floor.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I don't know. I just Nix's rock party system quarterback,
but I think.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
He's still a starter for a decade. He's in the
right system. Yeah, yeah, no doubt Williams could hit big, bigger.
And I think PENNICX and McCarthy, you don't know that's fair.
I'm interested, I'm interested, but I mean they're not out
of the woods yet.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
No, they haven't seen McCarthy at all at all.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Right, so I don't hate his rankings. Browns are obviously
huge screwed by the Browns, by the Browns, I mean,
even if they just had trying to think, I mean Joe,
I mean, the twentieth best guy just don't stink there. Yeah,
they're probably number one, yeah, one and three right right,
right right? Or who's the top three? I mean they
(24:50):
definitely the best too. Who is the top three?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Might still be the North Yeah you know, yeah, so interesting.
It gets a different way, and I think you know
when you look at the quarterback position, this is why,
excuse me, when the Steelers do go take that swinging quarterback,
(25:15):
they can't just settle.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
No, no, it needs to be a big swing.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
He needs to be a big swing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited. I've done very little, but
more than I usually do this time of year. On
next year's class, the guys that are he's safe. Coaches,
Son works hard, not a great arm, little undersize that
doesn't do it for me, right, it doesn't do it
for me. That's a second round player to me. Now yeah,
now do I want the next Richardson? That's a total
(25:43):
wild card. You know, he better play some football. He experience,
to me is going to be really important. Not Richardson.
Maybe he's a bad example, but his variance I could
live with if it kept getting better start eight to
eighteen to twenty eight. But if you come in here
(26:04):
and I'm like, yeah, I've played seven games. I mean
that's like Trey Lance too.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah yeah, same thing.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
You gotta play a lot of football now. Yeah, I
think that's it was lost there for a while.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
He is Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lolly. You're listening to
The Driver and the Steelers Audio Network, Matt and I'll
be back with more right after this.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
As he is The Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolly. He is the
Matt Williamson and Matt is the list time of the year.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
No, it is. We'll be doing a lot of lists
the next couple of weeks. Yeah, dude, trading camps like
a month from now right, I mean it's we talk
about this downtime. It's not that far away too. We'll
be in the troupe.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah. But Pro Football Focus put together. They've ranked their
top ten returning NFL head coaches entering in twenty twenty
five season.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Okay, returning, I guess is an important one. Yeah, Like
I don't want to rank Ben Johnson.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Well they only did ten, so yeah, yeah, so at
number ten. Boy, I might disagree with this one. Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Part of me feels for him.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I'll have to see the rest of the list.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, I mean the fact that he's a two time
Coach of the Year. I don't care about you know
what I mean? Now, okay, you got more.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
What you've had is two good seasons for two good seasons,
and Cleveland, you want ten goods, right, and expectations are low,
and coach of the Year is usually the guy that
they expect.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
To win seven the Wine or something like that. Great.
I do think he's a really good offensive mind. I
think he's in a tough environment to win. But there
are only nine head coaches in the league that are better.
I bet i'd have more than that, Yeah, I think so. Yeah,
I could see it like twelve to fourteen. Yeah, yeah,
(28:10):
I think that would be fair.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Number nine.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Dan Campbell he's another one. I'm impressed, everybody's impressed. He's
easy to root for. He's great at the podium, big,
strong blocking tight end. But this is a really important
season for him. Yeah, Because here's my doubts about the guy.
Is I think players respect We're gonna put the pedal
(28:34):
to the medal all the time, we're going forward on
fourth down, we're playing fast. We're gonna be the most
physical team. It's hard to do that for twenty games.
You know. Sometimes you've got to kind of know when
to hold him and when to fold them and put
it in neutral for a minute or down shift. I mean,
their defense is got the crap beat out of them
and people just falling left and right. So I do
(28:55):
think it wouldn't be. This is a marathon, not a sprint,
I guess, is my point. Yeah, I don't know if
he knows that. And now he lost two schemers. You know,
like a lot of the great coaches, Belichick didn't need
defensive coordinator, Walsh didn't need an offensive coordinator. I think
Campbell needs strong coordinators and he has lost them both. Yeah,
so it'll be and they have a difficult schedule, so
(29:15):
we'll see what he is as a head coach.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Eight is Nick Sirianni with the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
He's a tough one too. I mean he's a super champion.
That's does it say? Like, is he tremendous? If he
was a Browns coach, would he be in the top ten? No?
I don't think so, you know what I mean, Like,
he is the best roster in the league. Front office
completely supplies him with great players. His offensive coordinator was
(29:44):
thought of well enough to become a head coach this year.
His defensive coordinator is one of the best of recent memory.
But how do you keep him off this list? I mean,
he's a Super Bowl champ seven.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I have some issues with Kyle shann him with the
forty nine ers, he.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Would be on my list. I probably would have him
ahead of those three names. But I also think he's
an overrated head coach. Yeah, he's not an overrated offensive mine,
quarterback developer, play caller. He might be number one, but.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
The numbers are inarguable. They either win and do well
where they have a losing record, bad bad losing record.
Picking in a top ten losing.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Right Nick Nick Bosa second overall type of year. You know,
just because Jimmy Garoppolo gets hurt, right, that shouldn't derail
your shoes and season.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That much happened.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Like, I'm not sure our listeners know this, but he's
been a head coach of nine ers for eight years.
Eight of those years he's won double digit games and
done well the other eight. He's lost double digit games,
right amidst all or nothing.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
That's why you can't. That's why you can't. I can't
have him at seven. Yeah, I can't. I also know
too much variance he has, and if we're just talking
head coaches, I guess this doesn't apply. But he is
more juice in that room or in that building than
Lynch or anybody else.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Fine, he's earned it. But they have weird drafts too. Yeah.
I mean he drafts a kicker in the third round
and backup tight ends and there's always a running back
he loves in round four that should go in round
seven that never hits, and they don't reinforce the line,
you know, like I don't know, but he'd be on
the list.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah. Six is Jim Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Chargers Harbors. Yeah, I still get you, Jim. I still
get him mixed up. That's why, which is terrible. I
have a lot of respect. I wouldn't say he outkicked
his coverage last year, though I thought they would be
a little worse than they were. But as the season
we're on, they couldn't run the ball like they thought.
(31:51):
They didn't really have a lot of weapons. But I
think his track record when you if you factor in
Michigan and Stanford and what was it San Jose date
before there wasn't there was something smaller than that and
his nine or tenure. I very much believe he's a
very very good football coach.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Weird dude, Yeah, yeah, five Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Okay, I don't think that's crazy at all.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
There are people screaming right now.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Oh, I'm sure what people are like. Boy, I hope
Tomlin's not on this list. There's probably some people saying
I think it's a pivotal point of his career too.
You know, you've you've gone this weird quarterback route year
after year, and you're gonna have to balance and they're
they're they're walking this tight rope of winning now and
(32:42):
balancing the future.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Some of that though, if you look at the way
things have lined up. Roethlisberger retires after the twenty twenty
one season. You take Kenny Pickett, you think he's your guy, Yeah,
and then he turns out to not be the guy.
(33:05):
But you gave him two years. You gave him two years, right,
so you get rid of him for twenty twenty four season,
you bring your rustle, did you love like bo Nix
and Pittsburgh to me, wouldn't have worked.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I'm not sure. You're a lot better off, right, you know, right?
And plus you would have given up a second round
pick to do it, right, I mean, he wasn't free. Yeah,
you had to get it, Kirthy. I didn't like at all,
and you'd got to give up a lot to go
go right, So you know, I hear you. I mean
over the last couple of drafts, it just hasn't aligned.
(33:44):
It hasn't aligned, and but it needs to soon. You
can't just go eight years saying well, we don't like anybody.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
You can't continue to do that, right right, right now,
everybody wants to say, and this is complete and outter hindsight,
Well they should have taken Lamar in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, they should have, So should everybody, right, right right?
Everybody else passed on him too, right now. You've talked
about this a lot. You actually mocked him to the Steelers, right.
I got crushed and people hated every second of it
because Ben was not post surgery, hanging on, was coming
(34:18):
off maybe his best season, right, right. So it's that
that hindsight bothers me because it would look great.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
He led the league in passing yards, and you.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Could have incorporated Lamar here and there. Maybe he would
haven't even like ran routes here. I mean, but that's
that's not what you needed. Yeah, that's so. Here's one
thing I urge people to think about with Tomlin is
let's say, and we don't have crystal balls, but let's
say this season goes a little better than last year.
(34:53):
You got a better quarterback, you still win about the
same amount of games, your defense is pretty darn good,
running games getting better, maybe win a playoff game. Okay,
I mean, I don't think that's a crazy story to write.
At the end of June, the plan remains the same.
Still gonna go be aggressive to get a quarterback next year,
assuming that this class is what it's cracked up to be.
(35:16):
Do you want Tomlin leading that ship? And the answer
isn't yes or no, it's do you want Tomlin leading
that ship? Or do you want a total unknown? You
know what I mean? Like, maybe you have your faults
with Tomlin. Fine, he's been here long enough. You all
have your opinion, and you should and we both have
our opinions too, But wouldn't it be terrible to hit
(35:41):
on that quarterback in next year's draft and then be like, yeah,
but now our head coach takes that would be bad, guys, Yeah,
that would be bad. Like maybe you don't love Tomlin,
maybe you think he should be tenth on this list
and not fifth. Okay, strong argument, great, but you don't
(36:02):
want the twenty eighth guy with your new quarterback, right,
I mean that's part of it too. Plus I want
a leader of men who understands his team to navigate
the rookie quarterback waters you know what I mean? Right
that I know he can do.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Four is John Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
That's fair.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I will say this. The Steelers won three playoff games
since twenty fifteen. The Ravens have won three playoff games. Yeah,
since twenty fifteen with a two time MVP.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
With two time MVP. Yeah, playoff success is not going
to be in his positive column.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
It's very difficult to win playoff game.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
It's really difficult to play now, Yeah, and then you
know you lose a battle to Josh Allen or Mahomes
or Borough or whatever. Right, but they've had a lot
of success lately. He's a Hall of fame coach.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
To me, Three Sean McVay, he'd be two.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
But I'm splitting hairs. I'm super impressed with McVeigh.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Two is Sean Payton with the Broncos. Disagree with that,
so I guess we can't do new guys.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I was gonna lump Pete Carroll in this conversation just
because of lifetime achievements awards.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I'll take Tom and Harball over Sean Payton. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
I mean he's done a lot of good stuff with Denver,
more than I expected. I'll be honest, Like the Walmart
family bought the Broncos gave him like a blank check,
and he came out of the booth and I thought,
this is just a money grab. Good for him, you know.
And they had a bad roster including Wilson, and they
(37:50):
won more games than they lost for two years. And
now he's kind of turning it around in his likeness.
But I still Harbor and Tom.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
One three consecutive losing seasons. Right, he is his quarterback.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
There was a bad stretch there, yeah, right, I think
his floor is lower. Yeah, And I definitely a McVeigh again.
To me, McVeigh is two or maybe even one, and
one is Andy Reid. I get it how you knock
him off the list?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Now, I don't know how you leave Minnesota's coach off.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Oh I wouldn't either. That's a great call for Green
Bay to be honest with.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Kevin O'Connell Matt lafleur are better coaches than Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
They'd be like six and seven on my list. Yeah,
with arrow pointing up, just keep showing me more and more. Yeah,
I think they're dynamite. That's a great call. I'm sure.
I bet I could come with one or two others.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Too, But I think Jonathan Gannon and Ay John is
a pretty damn good coach.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
His roster was so bad inherited too, and he's getting
a lot out of it. I mean he never goes
to playoffs and things like that, but they're and then
every year gets better and better and better.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Ye.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
It's a pretty strong statement, you know, Like, I'm not
sure you can leave the Eagles head coach off there,
but the Eagles win the Super Bowl with lafleur or O'Connell, Yeah,
and maybe even it might be in better shape. Those
two would be really high for me. The more I
think about it.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, I have one over Shanahan. Yeah, and Stefanski.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Lafloor's got a big body of work now too, right.
They also have a low floor or a high floor.
He doesn't have a superstar roster, No, he had to
bring love along. Those guys are high quality coaches.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, I agree. That was the Pro Football Focus list
of the top ten returning head coaches in the NFL.
He is Carol.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
I would have kind of put on the list just
because I know enough, you know, like I'm putt Ben
Johnson on the list, but Carol would be right there
with like Peyton. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, let's get to a break. That's gonna do it
for hour number one, he's Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lully
will be back with our number two right after this
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