November 8, 2022 • 28 mins
Mike Prisuta and Bob Labriola entertain a few Steelers related topics and either agree or disagree on the podcast with the motto I'm right, he's wrong!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is agreed to disagree with Mike Presuda and Bob
Lebriola rested and rejuvenated by the Steelers by week. Welcome
to another should be award winning edition of agree to Disagree,
the show with the motto I'm right, and you know,
since the bye is kind of a time for reflection,
(00:24):
let's do a little reflecting. Okay. NFL season is half over,
and for me, it brings to mind a famous Vince
Lombardi quote. Mikey, I know you are a big Lombardi fan.
This is this is not the quote about winning isn't everything.
It's the only thing. It's not the Lombardi quote about
when he's at the blackboard and he says, what we
(00:44):
want to do is get a seal here and a
seal here, and run this up the alley. By the way,
wait a minute, wait for it, Wait for it. This
is the Lombardi quote where, uh, he's stomping up and
down the sidelines at old Metropolitan Stadium in Minne Minneapolis,
(01:04):
and he's screaming at his team on the field, what
the hell is going on out there? Okay, indeed, indeed,
what the hell is going on at MetLife Stadium? Where
the Jets. Yes, you heard me correctly, the j E
T S Jets. Jet Jets are in the running for
the top seed in the a f C. After exposing
Buffalo by sacking Josh Allen five times, intercepting him twice,
(01:29):
and punishing the Bill's defense with a hundred seventy four
yards rushing the Jets. The Jets are six and three.
They have wins over the two teams ahead of them
in the a f C East, and two of their
remaining games are against the two and six Lions and
the three and six Jaguars. Speaking of the lines, what
the hell is going on at Ford Field? Or maybe
(01:49):
the better question is what the hell is going on
with Aaron Rodgers three red zone interceptions against the Lions defense?
That all not all that long ago, was a long
points in a historic rate, and those three red zone
interceptions came in Sunday's fifteen and nine defeat drops the
Packers to three and six. Fear not, Packers fans, You're
(02:11):
still your team is still in the thick of the
playoff hunt, provided the NFL expands the format from seven
teams per conference to twelve teams per conference, and you
can also rest assured that your quarterback will figure out
a way in no time to blame someone else for
those interceptions. Okay. Also, what the hell is going on
(02:32):
with the concept of owners tripping all over themselves to
hire alleged offensive geniuses to be head coaches. You know,
Josh McDaniels, not all that long ago, was a guy
who was riding the cotails of a couple of people
named Brady and Belichick. Now he's someone who's looking like
he's closing in on being fired from his second head
coaching gig in the last dozen years. After losing in Jacksonville.
(02:56):
On Sunday, the Raiders are two and six their four
teen in the sixteen team a FC, which brings me
to this, what the hell is going on with Sean
McVeigh in the Los Angeles Rams? The Rams one of
Lombardi Trophy within the calendar year. Give him his due,
But the Rams Super Bowl hangover is a sixties era
(03:16):
Keith Richard's bad version, and not on that long ago
NFL owners were interviewing guys who had even had a
cup of coffee with McVeigh because he was seen as
such a genius innovator. But on Sunday, these innovatively uh
innovative Rams finished with two hundred and six yards of
total offense and lost to Tampa Bay. Okay, I'm gonna
(03:38):
give you a little bit of perspective on this, Mike,
because I know you're a big perspective guy. The Steelers
had two hundred and seventy yards of total offense in
a win of that same Tampa Bay team a couple
three weeks ago. That would be more, but we save
our loudest what the hell is going on out there
for the Indianapolis Colts. We should have that clip of
(03:59):
aible for this tremendous One of these days, we're gonna
start pre planning this podcast, and really, yeah, you do, okay,
because you know, if if you're looking for a head
coach because you just fired yours midway through the season,
and you don't have to happen to have an alleged
(04:20):
offensive genius in your contacts list, you can always go
and take a guy off the set of one of
the many ESPN NFL shows, because hey, who knows the
NFL better than the people who blab about it on
cable TV? You know, Robert or Say picked Jeff's Saturday
to coach his team, and then he actually said into
(04:40):
a live microphone that he was glad Jeff Saturday didn't
have any previous NFL coaching experience because he was happy. Quote,
he doesn't have the fear that's in this league. I
wonder if Ersay would use that same thought process if
he had to pick a heart surgeon for himself and hey,
for coach fans, I got two words for you to
(05:01):
remember as you can embark on this journey. Shut those
two words. No, that's that's from one of my favorite movies.
But two words to remember as you embark on this
journey with a TV guy running your favorite team Matt Millan. Okay,
now we got that all figured out, and stead of
(05:22):
let's get on with the bulk of today's program. Actually,
are you sure you have invented enough about perceived offensive geniuses?
Because I sensed a trend as you went down the
results from the bye week. No, that's you know, the
horse is dead. I've hit it again. Anyway, seventeen points
(05:44):
in regulation, only needed six tries at the two point
conversion going going against the quarterback who I don't know.
He has passing stats like I'd say they were high
school lesque. But that's a up in the face to
high school quarterbacks everywhere. Statement number one, the Claypool Trade
(06:05):
confirmed the Steelers are pet playing for as for this
is pretty creative here, tanks for the memories. Yeah, I agree,
and particularly since I wrote that, Uh, that was that
was a little you know shot, They're not I don't
know shot, a little wise wise acre comment. I'm not.
(06:26):
I'm not. Yeah, every once in a while it comes
out lab Uh, I'm not saying they are trying to lose.
Let's get that clear. You know, it's not tanking. They're
not tanking for two or or stinking for Stroud or
you know, however you want to catch phrase it this year.
But I don't see any way you can disagree with this,
and maybe you'll try to argue with me anyway, because
(06:47):
you're that kind of guy. Laughs. But you took a
guy off your current roster who was playing a lot
of snaps for you, and no, Chase Claypool had not
been Fred Blitnikov or Jerry right. But you know, he's
caught a touchdown past, and he's throwing a touchdown past,
and he's playing a lot and you remove that from
an offense that oh, by the way, he's very good,
(07:09):
and you've brought back something for next year and beyond.
So it is a deletion. Yeah, you you wanted the
draft pick, higher draft pick, more draft picks. Let's get
more stuff so next year they're not looking at two
and six after eight games. Well, I am going to
disagree because I am that kind of a guy. Um.
But see the way I look at the Chase Claypool deal,
(07:32):
and this is something also that I think you can
relate to. It's a Vito cor Leone offer. The Bears
made them an offer they couldn't refuse. And until that,
until the Vito cor Leone offer came, I believe the
Steelers would have been perfectly content with keeping Chase Claypool
not only this season, but then through the rest of
(07:53):
his rookie contract, which is set to expire after the
three season. Um. So you know, I just think that
you have to be Yeah, you you still want to win,
and you're playing to win, and you're playing to win
with the guys that you have. But but I also think,
but but let me, but you also have to um
(08:16):
manage your assets in a in a savvy way. And
you know, I don't think, and I don't even think
you believe that there's any realistic scenario in which the
Steelers rout would have resigned, been able to resign Claypool
after his rookie contract expired. And so I just don't
(08:37):
think they would have well, um, okay, yeah, the ability,
you know what I mean, Yeah, they would not have.
They would have decided, no, we can move on from
this guy. Yeah. As I said, realistic, Okay, there's that's
that's a huge word, um in the English language. So
(08:57):
you know you're you're you're only gonna have this guy
for a short period anyway, And I believe that looking
at it realistically, again, you're not going to be a
legitimate super Bowl contender by the well, let me say this,
by the time you're a legitimate super Bowl contender, Chase
Claypool's gone one way or the other. So let's get
(09:20):
something for well not see, I'll give you a bonus
disagree on that, because I think in the NFL you
can change quickly, and I think the Claypool trade will
help the Steelers change quickly if they if they do
the right thing with the draft pick. But you know,
he was on a contract for next year too. I mean,
I'm not writing off next year because this year sucks. No,
(09:41):
I get it. But what I'm saying is, I mean,
you can hope to contend next year. Um, But the
way this team looks right now and the way you
can change, you can, Um, you can turn it around.
But I don't think you go from two and six
halfway through a season two, you know, playing in a
(10:02):
conference championship game the next year. I understand that it happens. Okay,
somebody's going to hit the powerball, Okay, the two billion
dollar power ball, but if you're planning a retirement around that,
that's not a really savvy way to go about it.
By the way, that's gonna be me. And we're not
doing this anymore. After I do next Tuesday, you might
(10:28):
have some time to kill. Well, I'll tell you what
back at you. Let me tell you that U thing is.
We're all in the game, baby, Just keep feeding that
machine bucks at a time and your local convenience story. Um.
But anyway, I do believe. Let me just close with this, Um,
(10:52):
the last time the Steelers were two and six, you
know at this point of the season, was two thousand
and three. Okay, now they went four and four of
the red to the way they finished six and ten.
And I believe that how they handled that those last
eight weeks, um, kind of made things clearer for them
in terms of what they needed to do and who
(11:14):
they would they were going to be able to do
that with. And um, you know things turned around fourteen
fifteen and then the rest of that decade the Steelers
enjoyed some pretty good success. So, um, you know, in
terms of the tanking thing, um, And again I get
how you're describing it, but Mike Thomlin isn't that kind
(11:37):
of a coach. He wouldn't have gotten hired if he
was not by this franchise. Bill Coward wasn't that kind
of a guy in twenty o three either, UM, And
aren't Rooney the second has spent way too much time
learning from his father to be that kind of an owner.
So you know, I think this could be two thousand
and three over again. You know, it could be bad,
it can be painful, it can be something that. UM,
(12:00):
it's very illuminating and instructive, but you know what you
gotta do is you gotta use it, um and get
what you can out of it point very well Taken.
I think, weren't they two and six also and ended
up eighting eight? Um? I don't. I didn't. Maybe I didn't. Um,
(12:21):
I didn't approach it those ways that way. Um, because Taken,
they stayed with it and they you know, they got
better and they were right further ahead because of that.
I get all that. I just don't. To me, it's
a it's a mathematical thing. You had more and now
you have less. So maybe this leads to George Pickens
(12:44):
getting a whole lot more balls. Maybe at least Pat
Fryarman was getting a whole lot more balls. Uh, maybe
they get the ball to Deonte Johnson with some more regularity.
I don't think whoever replaces Claypool is going to replace Claypool.
I think his his contributions will be spread out throughout
the rest of the skill position people. But that that
that is speculation to me. Okay, Well, I think what
(13:08):
we're down to again is, um, you know, maybe nitpicking
over what terms me because I look at his at
it as savvy asset management. Um, you know, could be
both and and that's okay. Statement number two that horse
(13:28):
is officially dead A statement number two nausea. Harris is
still RB one and he should be RB one. Don't
demote him, fix him. I agree very strongly on this,
and I know there's little evidence to suggest that. But
if you listen to Eddie Faulkner last week, the running
backs coach, he said that very thing. He said he
(13:49):
he's getting a lot of heat because his performance isn't
there and because he's high profiled. He's RB one and
that's what comes with that job. And I specifically, word
for word, asked him, is he still firmly entrenched as
RB one? And Faulkner said yes. And to me, there's
a lot that needs to be fixed with Najy Harris.
Some of it's his fault, some of it is stuff
(14:10):
that he can't control. But to me, the long term answer,
if the Steelers, whenever they get back into contention in
their current configuration, I believe Najy Harris has to be
a significant part of that. And I look at Naji
Harris from last year to this year. He impressed me
to no end last year under what I thought was
tremendous to rest and very difficult circumstances, and he's still
(14:34):
battled and you look at the way he's put together physically.
You don't have a problem with that. You look at
the way he works at practice, you don't have a
problem with that. You look at how much he cares.
My God, if you're in the locker room after some
of these losses Buffalo and Philadelphia, it appears as if
Najy harris world is ending. He really cares, he really
wants to win. You gotta fix this guy. Some of
(14:56):
it is getting him in better places, But I really
think Labs what's happened to Nagy Harris is similar to
what happens to quarterbacks when they're young and they come
into the league and they get sacked seventy five times
in a season and a half, they start getting a
little uncertain between the years and and they start overthinking it,
and they start maybe seeing stuff that isn't there. And
(15:17):
I think they need to find a way to reboot
Nagy Harris and get him to be the player that
I still believe he can be. I don't think you
do that by benching him. I think you work through
this and if the rest of this year is about
getting Kenny Pickett developed, and it should be, then getting
Najy Harris back should be just maybe one A on
(15:37):
the list of priorities. Yeah. I agree with the statement
wholeheartedly as well. And you made a very compelling case.
I'm just gonna you know, I believe Nagy Harris is special, um.
And you know, I think that you can go back
to his college career, uh and and see the kinds
of things that made him special. You you referenced his
(16:01):
work ethic, you know, his leadership qualities. The guy was
voted a team captain. Um. You know, and I've seen
this kind of misrepresented a little bit um in the
media named captain. No, he wasn't named. They voted for him.
His teammates voted for him. So you know, Naji Harris
(16:22):
at Alabama was a big part of winning trophies there
and his his contributions were both on the field and
in the locker room. I mean, you know, Nick Saban
is their coach. He's no day at the beach. I mean,
he doesn't throw compliments around, you know, as they used
to say about Chuck Nol. You know, he throws compliments
(16:42):
around like uh manhole covers with George Allie. It was Nichols. Yeah, um,
and Art Roundey senior and George Alliss almost got into
a fist fight over a few of those nickels um
one time. But you know, Nausea Harris, based on where
(17:05):
he went to college, he understands expectations. He understands the
pressure that comes with those expectations, and he understands what
you have to do, you know, as an individual player
to deal with those and meet those. You know, he's
having a bad year, no no argument. Maybe it's some injuries,
maybe it's the old line, maybe it's the scheme, or
(17:27):
you know, here's something else I thought about. Maybe he
needs to learn what Levan Bell learned that football at
the NFL level is not necessarily for the biggest and
the strongest. You know, Levan he built himself up and
then after his rookie year, he lost a lot of
weight and that was the key for him. He became
(17:49):
he became more able to access his skills, the things
that made him special on the field at a lighter weight.
And maybe that's what Nausey has to do now. I
don't know that, you know, his box season bulk up
program was done under the team's um orders or guidance,
(18:10):
or whether he just thought it was a good idea,
but maybe he needs to go backwards and spend this
off coming off season losing weight and getting more um
you know, I don't know, quickness and speed or back
to the things that made him the best running back
coming out of that draft. Yeah, it's an interesting point.
(18:31):
I think he's only up about four or five pounds,
but he was big when he got here. And that
was Mike Tomlin thing with Levy on Bell. Uh. He
was the motivator on that. Hey drop about twenty pounds
and and look what you can be. And Uh, I
think you're onto something with that. I also think the
leadership thing and the captaincy is weighing very heavily on
(18:53):
Nigy Harris because he feels compelled to be that guy.
It's not something that he Okay, they're calling me a
captain now, so I'm a captain. He's trying to act
in a captain like fashion. He's trying to be accountable
in the media and be available and say the right thing.
And I don't think he knows what to say yet
a lot of the time. And he kind of acknowledged
(19:13):
that last week when he said I'm in my second year,
eight games in I don't have all the answers. Uh.
He's trying to come up with answers there as well
as what's wrong with his game, and I just think
it's it's a little overwhelming all of that right about now,
right fix him as as as the statement says, fix
him because I think he's he's worth he's worth fixing.
(19:35):
And once you do, you know you're gonna be happy
with what you have. Because I think um nausea is
special and Jalen Warren is a really nice number two guys,
and you can that's good. He can be that. That's
that's fine, That's what he was supposed to be. That's good.
They got that figured out, what I mean. They wanted
to get him complimentary back. Okay, you got him. He's that.
(19:55):
Don't try to make him into Gail Sayers because we
hit in the sixties references hard here, aren't we? Well,
we're all okay. Statement number three William Jackson the third
isn't a long term answer at cornerback, not yet. He's
trying out to become that eventually. Yeah, I agree. Um,
(20:17):
you know a one time highly coveted first round pick
who's now on his third team and he hasn't had
a lot of success lately. He hasn't been healthy lately. Yeah,
maybe this was a fine you know, maybe they're their
due diligence paid off here and what they remember about
him when he was coming out of Houston. Uh, and
(20:38):
maybe it'll be a fit in Pittsburgh. But all maybe
he's spend the rest of this year trying to figure
that out as well, because, uh, you know, cornerback is
a spot that they'll be looking at, I would assume
in the draft. And uh, you gotta get some information
on William Jackson. Yeah, former first round pick, that's him.
He's also a guy that changed teams in a transaction
(20:59):
and included a additional sixth rounder and a conditional seventh rounder.
That's who he was as a last week laps. Yeah,
I'm gonna disagree only with the I'm gonna nitpick the
wording again as I often do. Um long term answer, No,
he's not young enough to be you know, long term
anything in the NFL. But what he is for me,
(21:22):
he's a starter right now, because, first of all, I'm
not overly excited about what I've seen from either at Color,
Witherspoon and or Levi Wallace as a starting corner. Now,
sometimes they've been injured, I get it, Um, you know,
they've also been victimized by the fact that without t J. Watt,
(21:44):
that they haven't been the beneficiaries of the kind of
pressure that you know, it was part of the defensive
plan from the beginning. You know, I understand all of that, um.
But you know, when we're talking about William Jackson and
he's on his third team, you know, his first team
to a second team was because he was an unrestricted
(22:05):
free agent and somebody threw a lot of money at him.
So that's not the same to me as you know,
you were cut, you went somewhere else, um, you know,
or the other ways of moving from one team to another.
So I wouldn't like throw him into the journeyman category,
which you might be able to do with Montravius Adams
(22:28):
as as an example. You know, he's been with three teams,
but his his movement was because it wasn't because teams
were tripping over themselves throwing big money at him. Um,
that it was. It was for different reasons. So I'm
just making a little bit of a distinction there. The
other thing about Jackson is that I want to see
(22:50):
from him. And that's why I'm making him a starter
is from what I understand, his forte is man cut rich, Okay.
And if you can find a corner with the kind
of speed and you know other skill set that goes
along with that to be a good man coverage corner
(23:11):
in this league, fine, let's put them out there Teams
two and six. UM. See, to me, this is the
kind of thing that you're trying to do at this
part of the of the season, when you're going into
it with this kind of a record that is not tanking.
You're trying to find what you can who you can
win with, and how you can win with them moving forward,
(23:35):
so you're still trying to win UM, and playing this
guy I believe is worth the effort, the experiment, I
don't know, whatever you wanna call it, because of his pedigree,
his experience, UM, and the fact that the Washington Commanders
you know, want to unload him, you know. To me,
(23:57):
I remember getting into an argument back in two thousand
with someone who used to think he was one of
the premier sportswriters in Pittsburgh. Why would the Steelers want
to sign Chemo von ol Offen? He played with the
Bengals and they stink. Well, maybe they think because they
don't know what they're doing with Chemo von all Offen,
(24:20):
who turned out to be a very nice piece of
a team that won a Super Bowl. So, you know, um,
that's the way I kind of look at William Jackson's
departure from the Commanders. Maybe it's not so much that
he is they got rid of him because he was incapable.
(24:40):
Maybe they got rid of him because they're incapable and
so interesting theory. I've heard that as well about the
you know, man and man versus his own thing. But
here's what gives me pause about that. A couple of things.
Ron Rivera is a pretty good defensive coach that's pretty
well established. Right you're to the Commanders. Yes, I have
(25:02):
respect for him. So if William Jackson was really that
good at man cover, isn't that what everybody's looking for? Uh?
You know, the game's all about great receivers and great
quarterbacks and throwing the ball. Wouldn't you find a way
to use that guy if he was that good at it,
and if you were still stubbornly inclined not to do that,
(25:23):
wouldn't you find more takers then including him in a
deal that also includes conditional six and seventh round picks.
I mean with Claypool, they had multiple second round offers
on the table. There's a belief in the league of
Claypool's heightweight, speed potential. Still, I'm William Jackson. I think
(25:44):
it's one of those guys that, hey, uh, if he
proves me wrong, great, they figured out one of the
corner spots and they're not much better for it. Uh
if we're having this conversation, uh in mid January instead
of now. But I just think there would have been
more of a market if the guy was still old,
that first round guy. Well, here, let me just address
(26:04):
the the man to man coverage thing. Uh. If you
have one defensive back who can play man coverage, UM,
you kind of you kind of got to get him
to play with everybody else is capable of handling. Because
even if you want to say, well, let's line him
(26:25):
up on the other team's best receiver, you know, and
play like match up with him, you know, that could
work with him and that receiver, but that also then
puts requirements on everybody else that maybe they are not
capable of handling and so you know you've got to play.
The defense is more of a team thing, um, than
(26:48):
a wide receiver as an offensive weapon, because you can
utilize an individual receiver's heightweight, speed as an asset for
the offense in a much easier and quicker manner then
you can with it. One defensive back who is you know,
(27:08):
a good man to man coverage guy, and everyone else
who is not. And maybe you don't have the pass
rush you know, I don't. I don't know. I don't
know enough about the Commander's defense specifically except to know
that they're not a very good team. So yeah, not
a terrible defense. Okay, Well, um again, maybe I hate
(27:30):
I just can't bring myself to say maybe you're right.
I just can't, So I'm gonna pretend like I just didn't. Um.
But you know, again, this is what the part of
this season is for, in my opinion, to find out
about this guy, and because I do think that it
is a worthwhile he can be a worthwhile piece moving
(27:50):
forward if he is that guy, or if he is
some reasonable version of that guy. I boy that I
still uh, I still think it's a roll of the dice,
but it's one I would throw that then again, you
know me, Mr Vegas, paying anything to roll the dice
(28:11):
just one more time, as the song goes, that's how
it goes. That's not even that's not a sixties two.
We got car here at the end. Good job, good pot.
Don't don't stop believing baby. Okay, that'll do it for disagree.
This edition of Agreed to Disagree the show at the motto,
I'm right. Thanks for finding us. Talk to you next week.
This is agreed to disagree with Mike Presuda and Bob
Lebriola rested and rejuvenated by the Steelers by week. Welcome
to another should be award winning edition of agree to Disagree,
the show with the motto I'm right, and you know,
since the bye is kind of a time for reflection,
(00:24):
let's do a little reflecting. Okay. NFL season is half over,
and for me, it brings to mind a famous Vince
Lombardi quote. Mikey, I know you are a big Lombardi fan.
This is this is not the quote about winning isn't everything.
It's the only thing. It's not the Lombardi quote about
when he's at the blackboard and he says, what we
(00:44):
want to do is get a seal here and a
seal here, and run this up the alley. By the way,
wait a minute, wait for it, Wait for it. This
is the Lombardi quote where, uh, he's stomping up and
down the sidelines at old Metropolitan Stadium in Minne Minneapolis,
(01:04):
and he's screaming at his team on the field, what
the hell is going on out there? Okay, indeed, indeed,
what the hell is going on at MetLife Stadium? Where
the Jets. Yes, you heard me correctly, the j E
T S Jets. Jet Jets are in the running for
the top seed in the a f C. After exposing
Buffalo by sacking Josh Allen five times, intercepting him twice,
(01:29):
and punishing the Bill's defense with a hundred seventy four
yards rushing the Jets. The Jets are six and three.
They have wins over the two teams ahead of them
in the a f C East, and two of their
remaining games are against the two and six Lions and
the three and six Jaguars. Speaking of the lines, what
the hell is going on at Ford Field? Or maybe
(01:49):
the better question is what the hell is going on
with Aaron Rodgers three red zone interceptions against the Lions defense?
That all not all that long ago, was a long
points in a historic rate, and those three red zone
interceptions came in Sunday's fifteen and nine defeat drops the
Packers to three and six. Fear not, Packers fans, You're
(02:11):
still your team is still in the thick of the
playoff hunt, provided the NFL expands the format from seven
teams per conference to twelve teams per conference, and you
can also rest assured that your quarterback will figure out
a way in no time to blame someone else for
those interceptions. Okay. Also, what the hell is going on
(02:32):
with the concept of owners tripping all over themselves to
hire alleged offensive geniuses to be head coaches. You know,
Josh McDaniels, not all that long ago, was a guy
who was riding the cotails of a couple of people
named Brady and Belichick. Now he's someone who's looking like
he's closing in on being fired from his second head
coaching gig in the last dozen years. After losing in Jacksonville.
(02:56):
On Sunday, the Raiders are two and six their four
teen in the sixteen team a FC, which brings me
to this, what the hell is going on with Sean
McVeigh in the Los Angeles Rams? The Rams one of
Lombardi Trophy within the calendar year. Give him his due,
But the Rams Super Bowl hangover is a sixties era
(03:16):
Keith Richard's bad version, and not on that long ago
NFL owners were interviewing guys who had even had a
cup of coffee with McVeigh because he was seen as
such a genius innovator. But on Sunday, these innovatively uh
innovative Rams finished with two hundred and six yards of
total offense and lost to Tampa Bay. Okay, I'm gonna
(03:38):
give you a little bit of perspective on this, Mike,
because I know you're a big perspective guy. The Steelers
had two hundred and seventy yards of total offense in
a win of that same Tampa Bay team a couple
three weeks ago. That would be more, but we save
our loudest what the hell is going on out there
for the Indianapolis Colts. We should have that clip of
(03:59):
aible for this tremendous One of these days, we're gonna
start pre planning this podcast, and really, yeah, you do, okay,
because you know, if if you're looking for a head
coach because you just fired yours midway through the season,
and you don't have to happen to have an alleged
(04:20):
offensive genius in your contacts list, you can always go
and take a guy off the set of one of
the many ESPN NFL shows, because hey, who knows the
NFL better than the people who blab about it on
cable TV? You know, Robert or Say picked Jeff's Saturday
to coach his team, and then he actually said into
(04:40):
a live microphone that he was glad Jeff Saturday didn't
have any previous NFL coaching experience because he was happy. Quote,
he doesn't have the fear that's in this league. I
wonder if Ersay would use that same thought process if
he had to pick a heart surgeon for himself and hey,
for coach fans, I got two words for you to
(05:01):
remember as you can embark on this journey. Shut those
two words. No, that's that's from one of my favorite movies.
But two words to remember as you embark on this
journey with a TV guy running your favorite team Matt Millan. Okay,
now we got that all figured out, and stead of
(05:22):
let's get on with the bulk of today's program. Actually,
are you sure you have invented enough about perceived offensive geniuses?
Because I sensed a trend as you went down the
results from the bye week. No, that's you know, the
horse is dead. I've hit it again. Anyway, seventeen points
(05:44):
in regulation, only needed six tries at the two point
conversion going going against the quarterback who I don't know.
He has passing stats like I'd say they were high
school lesque. But that's a up in the face to
high school quarterbacks everywhere. Statement number one, the Claypool Trade
(06:05):
confirmed the Steelers are pet playing for as for this
is pretty creative here, tanks for the memories. Yeah, I agree,
and particularly since I wrote that, Uh, that was that
was a little you know shot, They're not I don't
know shot, a little wise wise acre comment. I'm not.
(06:26):
I'm not. Yeah, every once in a while it comes
out lab Uh, I'm not saying they are trying to lose.
Let's get that clear. You know, it's not tanking. They're
not tanking for two or or stinking for Stroud or
you know, however you want to catch phrase it this year.
But I don't see any way you can disagree with this,
and maybe you'll try to argue with me anyway, because
(06:47):
you're that kind of guy. Laughs. But you took a
guy off your current roster who was playing a lot
of snaps for you, and no, Chase Claypool had not
been Fred Blitnikov or Jerry right. But you know, he's
caught a touchdown past, and he's throwing a touchdown past,
and he's playing a lot and you remove that from
an offense that oh, by the way, he's very good,
(07:09):
and you've brought back something for next year and beyond.
So it is a deletion. Yeah, you you wanted the
draft pick, higher draft pick, more draft picks. Let's get
more stuff so next year they're not looking at two
and six after eight games. Well, I am going to
disagree because I am that kind of a guy. Um.
But see the way I look at the Chase Claypool deal,
(07:32):
and this is something also that I think you can
relate to. It's a Vito cor Leone offer. The Bears
made them an offer they couldn't refuse. And until that,
until the Vito cor Leone offer came, I believe the
Steelers would have been perfectly content with keeping Chase Claypool
not only this season, but then through the rest of
(07:53):
his rookie contract, which is set to expire after the
three season. Um. So you know, I just think that
you have to be Yeah, you you still want to win,
and you're playing to win, and you're playing to win
with the guys that you have. But but I also think,
but but let me, but you also have to um
(08:16):
manage your assets in a in a savvy way. And
you know, I don't think, and I don't even think
you believe that there's any realistic scenario in which the
Steelers rout would have resigned, been able to resign Claypool
after his rookie contract expired. And so I just don't
(08:37):
think they would have well, um, okay, yeah, the ability,
you know what I mean, Yeah, they would not have.
They would have decided, no, we can move on from
this guy. Yeah. As I said, realistic, Okay, there's that's
that's a huge word, um in the English language. So
(08:57):
you know you're you're you're only gonna have this guy
for a short period anyway, And I believe that looking
at it realistically, again, you're not going to be a
legitimate super Bowl contender by the well, let me say this,
by the time you're a legitimate super Bowl contender, Chase
Claypool's gone one way or the other. So let's get
(09:20):
something for well not see, I'll give you a bonus
disagree on that, because I think in the NFL you
can change quickly, and I think the Claypool trade will
help the Steelers change quickly if they if they do
the right thing with the draft pick. But you know,
he was on a contract for next year too. I mean,
I'm not writing off next year because this year sucks. No,
(09:41):
I get it. But what I'm saying is, I mean,
you can hope to contend next year. Um, But the
way this team looks right now and the way you
can change, you can, Um, you can turn it around.
But I don't think you go from two and six
halfway through a season two, you know, playing in a
(10:02):
conference championship game the next year. I understand that it happens. Okay,
somebody's going to hit the powerball, Okay, the two billion
dollar power ball, but if you're planning a retirement around that,
that's not a really savvy way to go about it.
By the way, that's gonna be me. And we're not
doing this anymore. After I do next Tuesday, you might
(10:28):
have some time to kill. Well, I'll tell you what
back at you. Let me tell you that U thing is.
We're all in the game, baby, Just keep feeding that
machine bucks at a time and your local convenience story. Um.
But anyway, I do believe. Let me just close with this, Um,
(10:52):
the last time the Steelers were two and six, you
know at this point of the season, was two thousand
and three. Okay, now they went four and four of
the red to the way they finished six and ten.
And I believe that how they handled that those last
eight weeks, um, kind of made things clearer for them
in terms of what they needed to do and who
(11:14):
they would they were going to be able to do
that with. And um, you know things turned around fourteen
fifteen and then the rest of that decade the Steelers
enjoyed some pretty good success. So, um, you know, in
terms of the tanking thing, um, And again I get
how you're describing it, but Mike Thomlin isn't that kind
(11:37):
of a coach. He wouldn't have gotten hired if he
was not by this franchise. Bill Coward wasn't that kind
of a guy in twenty o three either, UM, And
aren't Rooney the second has spent way too much time
learning from his father to be that kind of an owner.
So you know, I think this could be two thousand
and three over again. You know, it could be bad,
it can be painful, it can be something that. UM,
(12:00):
it's very illuminating and instructive, but you know what you
gotta do is you gotta use it, um and get
what you can out of it point very well Taken.
I think, weren't they two and six also and ended
up eighting eight? Um? I don't. I didn't. Maybe I didn't. Um,
(12:21):
I didn't approach it those ways that way. Um, because Taken,
they stayed with it and they you know, they got
better and they were right further ahead because of that.
I get all that. I just don't. To me, it's
a it's a mathematical thing. You had more and now
you have less. So maybe this leads to George Pickens
(12:44):
getting a whole lot more balls. Maybe at least Pat
Fryarman was getting a whole lot more balls. Uh, maybe
they get the ball to Deonte Johnson with some more regularity.
I don't think whoever replaces Claypool is going to replace Claypool.
I think his his contributions will be spread out throughout
the rest of the skill position people. But that that
that is speculation to me. Okay, Well, I think what
(13:08):
we're down to again is, um, you know, maybe nitpicking
over what terms me because I look at his at
it as savvy asset management. Um, you know, could be
both and and that's okay. Statement number two that horse
(13:28):
is officially dead A statement number two nausea. Harris is
still RB one and he should be RB one. Don't
demote him, fix him. I agree very strongly on this,
and I know there's little evidence to suggest that. But
if you listen to Eddie Faulkner last week, the running
backs coach, he said that very thing. He said he
(13:49):
he's getting a lot of heat because his performance isn't
there and because he's high profiled. He's RB one and
that's what comes with that job. And I specifically, word
for word, asked him, is he still firmly entrenched as
RB one? And Faulkner said yes. And to me, there's
a lot that needs to be fixed with Najy Harris.
Some of it's his fault, some of it is stuff
(14:10):
that he can't control. But to me, the long term answer,
if the Steelers, whenever they get back into contention in
their current configuration, I believe Najy Harris has to be
a significant part of that. And I look at Naji
Harris from last year to this year. He impressed me
to no end last year under what I thought was
tremendous to rest and very difficult circumstances, and he's still
(14:34):
battled and you look at the way he's put together physically.
You don't have a problem with that. You look at
the way he works at practice, you don't have a
problem with that. You look at how much he cares.
My God, if you're in the locker room after some
of these losses Buffalo and Philadelphia, it appears as if
Najy harris world is ending. He really cares, he really
wants to win. You gotta fix this guy. Some of
(14:56):
it is getting him in better places, But I really
think Labs what's happened to Nagy Harris is similar to
what happens to quarterbacks when they're young and they come
into the league and they get sacked seventy five times
in a season and a half, they start getting a
little uncertain between the years and and they start overthinking it,
and they start maybe seeing stuff that isn't there. And
(15:17):
I think they need to find a way to reboot
Nagy Harris and get him to be the player that
I still believe he can be. I don't think you
do that by benching him. I think you work through
this and if the rest of this year is about
getting Kenny Pickett developed, and it should be, then getting
Najy Harris back should be just maybe one A on
(15:37):
the list of priorities. Yeah. I agree with the statement
wholeheartedly as well. And you made a very compelling case.
I'm just gonna you know, I believe Nagy Harris is special, um.
And you know, I think that you can go back
to his college career, uh and and see the kinds
of things that made him special. You you referenced his
(16:01):
work ethic, you know, his leadership qualities. The guy was
voted a team captain. Um. You know, and I've seen
this kind of misrepresented a little bit um in the
media named captain. No, he wasn't named. They voted for him.
His teammates voted for him. So you know, Naji Harris
(16:22):
at Alabama was a big part of winning trophies there
and his his contributions were both on the field and
in the locker room. I mean, you know, Nick Saban
is their coach. He's no day at the beach. I mean,
he doesn't throw compliments around, you know, as they used
to say about Chuck Nol. You know, he throws compliments
(16:42):
around like uh manhole covers with George Allie. It was Nichols. Yeah, um,
and Art Roundey senior and George Alliss almost got into
a fist fight over a few of those nickels um
one time. But you know, Nausea Harris, based on where
(17:05):
he went to college, he understands expectations. He understands the
pressure that comes with those expectations, and he understands what
you have to do, you know, as an individual player
to deal with those and meet those. You know, he's
having a bad year, no no argument. Maybe it's some injuries,
maybe it's the old line, maybe it's the scheme, or
(17:27):
you know, here's something else I thought about. Maybe he
needs to learn what Levan Bell learned that football at
the NFL level is not necessarily for the biggest and
the strongest. You know, Levan he built himself up and
then after his rookie year, he lost a lot of
weight and that was the key for him. He became
(17:49):
he became more able to access his skills, the things
that made him special on the field at a lighter weight.
And maybe that's what Nausey has to do now. I
don't know that, you know, his box season bulk up
program was done under the team's um orders or guidance,
(18:10):
or whether he just thought it was a good idea,
but maybe he needs to go backwards and spend this
off coming off season losing weight and getting more um
you know, I don't know, quickness and speed or back
to the things that made him the best running back
coming out of that draft. Yeah, it's an interesting point.
(18:31):
I think he's only up about four or five pounds,
but he was big when he got here. And that
was Mike Tomlin thing with Levy on Bell. Uh. He
was the motivator on that. Hey drop about twenty pounds
and and look what you can be. And Uh, I
think you're onto something with that. I also think the
leadership thing and the captaincy is weighing very heavily on
(18:53):
Nigy Harris because he feels compelled to be that guy.
It's not something that he Okay, they're calling me a
captain now, so I'm a captain. He's trying to act
in a captain like fashion. He's trying to be accountable
in the media and be available and say the right thing.
And I don't think he knows what to say yet
a lot of the time. And he kind of acknowledged
(19:13):
that last week when he said I'm in my second year,
eight games in I don't have all the answers. Uh.
He's trying to come up with answers there as well
as what's wrong with his game, and I just think
it's it's a little overwhelming all of that right about now,
right fix him as as as the statement says, fix
him because I think he's he's worth he's worth fixing.
(19:35):
And once you do, you know you're gonna be happy
with what you have. Because I think um nausea is
special and Jalen Warren is a really nice number two guys,
and you can that's good. He can be that. That's
that's fine, That's what he was supposed to be. That's good.
They got that figured out, what I mean. They wanted
to get him complimentary back. Okay, you got him. He's that.
(19:55):
Don't try to make him into Gail Sayers because we
hit in the sixties references hard here, aren't we? Well,
we're all okay. Statement number three William Jackson the third
isn't a long term answer at cornerback, not yet. He's
trying out to become that eventually. Yeah, I agree. Um,
(20:17):
you know a one time highly coveted first round pick
who's now on his third team and he hasn't had
a lot of success lately. He hasn't been healthy lately. Yeah,
maybe this was a fine you know, maybe they're their
due diligence paid off here and what they remember about
him when he was coming out of Houston. Uh, and
(20:38):
maybe it'll be a fit in Pittsburgh. But all maybe
he's spend the rest of this year trying to figure
that out as well, because, uh, you know, cornerback is
a spot that they'll be looking at, I would assume
in the draft. And uh, you gotta get some information
on William Jackson. Yeah, former first round pick, that's him.
He's also a guy that changed teams in a transaction
(20:59):
and included a additional sixth rounder and a conditional seventh rounder.
That's who he was as a last week laps. Yeah,
I'm gonna disagree only with the I'm gonna nitpick the
wording again as I often do. Um long term answer, No,
he's not young enough to be you know, long term
anything in the NFL. But what he is for me,
(21:22):
he's a starter right now, because, first of all, I'm
not overly excited about what I've seen from either at Color,
Witherspoon and or Levi Wallace as a starting corner. Now,
sometimes they've been injured, I get it, Um, you know,
they've also been victimized by the fact that without t J. Watt,
(21:44):
that they haven't been the beneficiaries of the kind of
pressure that you know, it was part of the defensive
plan from the beginning. You know, I understand all of that, um.
But you know, when we're talking about William Jackson and
he's on his third team, you know, his first team
to a second team was because he was an unrestricted
(22:05):
free agent and somebody threw a lot of money at him.
So that's not the same to me as you know,
you were cut, you went somewhere else, um, you know,
or the other ways of moving from one team to another.
So I wouldn't like throw him into the journeyman category,
which you might be able to do with Montravius Adams
(22:28):
as as an example. You know, he's been with three teams,
but his his movement was because it wasn't because teams
were tripping over themselves throwing big money at him. Um,
that it was. It was for different reasons. So I'm
just making a little bit of a distinction there. The
other thing about Jackson is that I want to see
(22:50):
from him. And that's why I'm making him a starter
is from what I understand, his forte is man cut rich, Okay.
And if you can find a corner with the kind
of speed and you know other skill set that goes
along with that to be a good man coverage corner
(23:11):
in this league, fine, let's put them out there Teams
two and six. UM. See, to me, this is the
kind of thing that you're trying to do at this
part of the of the season, when you're going into
it with this kind of a record that is not tanking.
You're trying to find what you can who you can
win with, and how you can win with them moving forward,
(23:35):
so you're still trying to win UM, and playing this
guy I believe is worth the effort, the experiment, I
don't know, whatever you wanna call it, because of his pedigree,
his experience, UM, and the fact that the Washington Commanders
you know, want to unload him, you know. To me,
(23:57):
I remember getting into an argument back in two thousand
with someone who used to think he was one of
the premier sportswriters in Pittsburgh. Why would the Steelers want
to sign Chemo von ol Offen? He played with the
Bengals and they stink. Well, maybe they think because they
don't know what they're doing with Chemo von all Offen,
(24:20):
who turned out to be a very nice piece of
a team that won a Super Bowl. So, you know, um,
that's the way I kind of look at William Jackson's
departure from the Commanders. Maybe it's not so much that
he is they got rid of him because he was incapable.
(24:40):
Maybe they got rid of him because they're incapable and
so interesting theory. I've heard that as well about the
you know, man and man versus his own thing. But
here's what gives me pause about that. A couple of things.
Ron Rivera is a pretty good defensive coach that's pretty
well established. Right you're to the Commanders. Yes, I have
(25:02):
respect for him. So if William Jackson was really that
good at man cover, isn't that what everybody's looking for? Uh?
You know, the game's all about great receivers and great
quarterbacks and throwing the ball. Wouldn't you find a way
to use that guy if he was that good at it,
and if you were still stubbornly inclined not to do that,
(25:23):
wouldn't you find more takers then including him in a
deal that also includes conditional six and seventh round picks.
I mean with Claypool, they had multiple second round offers
on the table. There's a belief in the league of
Claypool's heightweight, speed potential. Still, I'm William Jackson. I think
(25:44):
it's one of those guys that, hey, uh, if he
proves me wrong, great, they figured out one of the
corner spots and they're not much better for it. Uh
if we're having this conversation, uh in mid January instead
of now. But I just think there would have been
more of a market if the guy was still old,
that first round guy. Well, here, let me just address
(26:04):
the the man to man coverage thing. Uh. If you
have one defensive back who can play man coverage, UM,
you kind of you kind of got to get him
to play with everybody else is capable of handling. Because
even if you want to say, well, let's line him
(26:25):
up on the other team's best receiver, you know, and
play like match up with him, you know, that could
work with him and that receiver, but that also then
puts requirements on everybody else that maybe they are not
capable of handling and so you know you've got to play.
The defense is more of a team thing, um, than
(26:48):
a wide receiver as an offensive weapon, because you can
utilize an individual receiver's heightweight, speed as an asset for
the offense in a much easier and quicker manner then
you can with it. One defensive back who is you know,
(27:08):
a good man to man coverage guy, and everyone else
who is not. And maybe you don't have the pass
rush you know, I don't. I don't know. I don't
know enough about the Commander's defense specifically except to know
that they're not a very good team. So yeah, not
a terrible defense. Okay, Well, um again, maybe I hate
(27:30):
I just can't bring myself to say maybe you're right.
I just can't, So I'm gonna pretend like I just didn't. Um.
But you know, again, this is what the part of
this season is for, in my opinion, to find out
about this guy, and because I do think that it
is a worthwhile he can be a worthwhile piece moving
(27:50):
forward if he is that guy, or if he is
some reasonable version of that guy. I boy that I
still uh, I still think it's a roll of the dice,
but it's one I would throw that then again, you
know me, Mr Vegas, paying anything to roll the dice
(28:11):
just one more time, as the song goes, that's how
it goes. That's not even that's not a sixties two.
We got car here at the end. Good job, good pot.
Don't don't stop believing baby. Okay, that'll do it for disagree.
This edition of Agreed to Disagree the show at the motto,
I'm right. Thanks for finding us. Talk to you next week.
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