Week 5 @ Bills

Mike Prisuta and Bob Labriola are back for another edition of Agree 2 Disagree, the show with the motto, I'm Right and He's Wrong!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Agree to Disagree with Mike Presuda and Bob Labriola.
Hello everyone, and welcome to UH what should be another
should be award winning edition of Agree to Disagree, the
show with the motto I'm right, he's he's Bob Labriola,
I'm Mike Pursuita and UH things are happening here at

(00:22):
Agree to Disagree Headquarters. I am recording from beautiful Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.
Labs is out in the weeds wherever he resides when
he comes up with these things. But I gotta tell
you the word is out. The people have spoken. When
I showed up to work today and this beautiful facility
where I record from Bridgeley, you have to drive up

(00:42):
a long, winding hill to get here. And when I
showed up at about five fifty five this morning in
advance of the DV Morning show, the people were already
lining both sides of the road. They were chanting my name,
Mike E Mike hi Key. They wanted to change. They
heard Labs do the open last week. They had heard enough,

(01:05):
They had seated. They wanted change. They wanted the next
big thing. They wanted to turn the page and move
forward and begin the next phase of agree to disagree history. So, Labs,
I am opening the show this week, and it's up
to you to be a good teammate and contribute anyway
you can. Well, um, I'll do, I'll do the best

(01:28):
I can. I mean, when they were changing your name,
those weren't people that you owe money to? Are they not?
To my knowledge? But I was driving pretty quickly just
in case. We've got a lot to unpack today, because
things are happening, not just here in Bridgeville, but with
your favorite football team one and three and they got
there by beating the Bengals in Cincinnati in the opener

(01:49):
and losing the next three in succession, including a twenty
come from a head loss at home on Sunday against
the j E. T S Jets Jets Jets. Labs. After
all that, admitted or don't, but the Steelers are in
a rebuild mode. It's going to be more than a
one year job. I agree. I know that. Uh. You know,

(02:12):
Dan Rooney was always a firm believer of never giving
up on a season, never giving up on a game
even uh. And he once told me that he saw
things like setting the goal of you know, finishing five
hundred or playing young guys during the regular season to
see what they can do, or using terms like rebuilding season.
He saw all of that stuff is making excuses, or

(02:34):
maybe from his view it was more like setting up
the players and the coaches to make excuses. Are to
be satisfied, was something less than legitimately competing for a championship.
And I get that, but I also think that within,
you know, the decision makers, there has to be a
realistic approach to things because the reality is is that

(02:58):
you in the NFL and the it's set up, you
cannot really be a legitimate championship contender year after year
after year, one decade to the next. I mean, the
system is just set up to discourage that kind of thing.
And you know, looking back on the Steelers now for
a little bit, you know, I think in a lot

(03:19):
of ways, Ben Roethlisberger was a blessing and a curse
at the same time. You know, he was a guy
whose presence always gave the Steelers a chance. But I
think his presence also maybe mass some deficiencies that weren't
addressed as soon as they should have been. You know,
you look back, um, and I know I'm going back
here a little bit, but looked at two thousand and

(03:40):
eight defense, the one that was on the last Super
Bowl championship team, Troy Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Kiesel Farrier,
and then a little bit couple of years later with
James Harrison. I mean, those guys all got old together
and that that's a huge rebuilding job. But I believe
it was put off because the Steelers had been And now,

(04:02):
you know, I love Kevin Colbert to death and I
got two super Bowl rings thanks to a But I
remember when he said publicly after the loss to Green
Bay and Super Bowl forty five, we were good enough
for second, but second isn't good enough. Now you know,
that's an admirable, you know. And then it's a catchy
slogan and it rhymes and everything or whatever. Um. But

(04:23):
it created an unreal expectation that lives to this day.
I mean, the reality is players get old and need
to be replaced, and if they're great players, replacing them
as hard so um with a quick spin around the roster.
You know, I was looking at young guys like Nausea
and Pickens and Pickett and Friar Muth and what high Smith, Minka,

(04:44):
the Marvin Leal, there's some others to build around, but
I mean, you know, you look at that offensive line.
There's no hall of famers on there like there were
was when Alan Fanka played or first team All pros
on it, when you had to Castro and and um
the center Harding's um, you know so. And it takes

(05:07):
time to accumulate those guys. So, yeah, they're in a rebuild.
Whether they want to say it out loud or not, Uh,
they are. I disagree with the gonna be more than
a one year job aspect of the subject for discussion.
They are in a rebuild, retool, whatever you wanna call it.
I don't really care about the semantic descriptions. But I

(05:29):
look at that offense and you mentioned some of those names, uh,
Nagy Harris, Pat Fryar Move, Deonte Johnson, George Pickens. We
haven't seen Calvin austin the third yet. I still think
Chase Claypool can be an impact player. And uh, as
of Sunday, at least Kenny Pickett was inserted at quarterback.
I think your offense is in place, and now it's

(05:51):
just a matter of getting those guys experience and letting
them build cohesion and chemistry and figure out how to
work together get better individual to get better collectively. The
nice coincidence is you can play the guy if you
so choose that gives you the best chance to win.
A quarterback, I personally think that's Kenny Pickett right now,

(06:11):
and still build for the future while not giving up
on this season, even at one and three. The defense,
I think it's got some issues. That's why you have
free agency, That's why you have the draft. That's why
you have a quarterback on a rookie contract. Or you
don't have to spend thirty five million a year on
to screw up your salary cap. Go get yourself a

(06:32):
d lineman, an inside linebacker in a cornerback, and show
up next year ready for bear. Well, let me just
make my my own self clear. I'm not giving up
on anything either. I mean, I'm not in favor of um.
You know, let's see what the young guys can do
as an example the rest of the season. I didn't

(06:54):
get that impression, okay, but I just want for the listeners. Yeah,
they're not the sharpest. It's probably a good right correction.
The hundreds of thousands of listeners, you know, and when
this is uh played for the Emmy Committee. You know,
I want them to understand, uh that you know exactly
what I mean and some of the things you just
mentioned a quarterback, having a quarterback on a rookie contract,

(07:16):
go out and get this, go out and get that,
you know what they call that rebuilding. Yeah, but I
think that stuff can all be done or a lot
of it can be done next offseason, and uh we'll
see in what position uh they wind up working from
to get it done. Okay, statement number two, after what
you saw on Sunday, would you be sticking with Pickett? Yeah? Absolutely.

(07:37):
I think we covered that a little bit just a
minute ago. But uh, what I have seen from this
guy and uh full disclosure hair labs. He played it
pitt for thirteen years. But I don't do a lot
of coverage of pit football, so I watched him on TV.
So I think I was at a press conference where
he was interviewed maybe one time. I really didn't know
much about Canny Pickett. I listened, uh and starting with

(08:02):
uh the draft, Art Rooney the second came on our
coverage on s n R and ESPN Pittsburgh and talked
about not only that they liked his game, but his maturity,
his humility, just the kind of guy you want to
represent your team. I believes how Art put it on
paraphrasing that, but not. It wasn't just the performance, it

(08:24):
was the person as well as the player. And I've
seen nothing but the verification of that, including Sunday. I
know the idea isn't to win the press conference, but
I thought he won the press conference after the game
in part by trying to take every question back to
we lost. That's that's all that matters. I mean, here's
a guy that made his NFL debut and had the

(08:46):
stadium chanting his name, and he scores two rushing touchdowns,
and he makes some back shoulder throws on third down,
and uh, he didn't want to hear any of that
or discuss a whole lot of that. He wanted to
focus on we gotta be better next time and win
the game. I think he plays with fire. I think
he plays with enthusiasm. I think he plays with emotion.

(09:07):
I think all those things are infectious on his teammates.
I think he's willing to take chances, and I think
he has skills. Is he gonna make more mistakes like
the two catastrophic ones he made that helped lose the
Jets game that he had helped put the Steelers in
position to win. I'm talking about the bad pitch to
Jalen Warren, and I'm talking about a past to Pat
Friarmouth that should have been thrown into the club level

(09:30):
on that side of the stadium, and instead it ends
up being a tip pick that helps change the game. Yeah,
there's gonna be some more bumps in the road, but
I think he will learn from them, grow from them,
be better for them. And yeah, I'm full speed ahead
with KP eight. Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you in
the statement. I'm gonna look at it from a little
bit of a different uh vantage point. However, you know,

(09:53):
we're of the same mind in terms of, you know,
what should be done moving forward. You know, I still
don't believe that the Steelers are one in three only
because of quarterback played. But that said, you know that
to me, that argument now is is a moot point
because head coach ma Yeah right, um, But after Mike

(10:15):
Tomlin made the move for the second half of the
Jets game last weekend, Okay, then I'm looking at how
can you pick it um reacted to that the reality
of the situation that was his first appearance in an
NFL regular season game. UM, at no point did I
detect from where, you know, my vantage point in the

(10:36):
press box, that that that the situation was too big
for him. It was not okay. And um, the way
the team responded to him, I think is a UM
an important characteristic for a quarterback to have and to
be able to mobilize in future appearances. But mobilize, yeah,

(10:59):
good one. And UM, you know the the other thing
about it is, you know this to me was this
was inevitable. Uh from the moment Roger Goodell said Kenny
pick It at the podium into the microphone at NFL Draft.
I mean, you just don't pick a guy a quarterback
in the first round, you know, to have him stand

(11:20):
around on the sideline with a you know, an earpiece
in his ear listening to you know, the play calls
come in, just so he can you know, be up
to the what's going on in the game. And so UM,
once it happens, then you see the way the guy
reacted the way he played. And I will agree with
you too. There were some good but those that that

(11:41):
interception to fire move. Yeah, it should have been thrown
in the into the club level, you know. Um, it
should have knocked drinks along the bar well, um, which
would have been a shame, but you know, short term misery,
long term benefit. But yeah, but let me let me

(12:01):
make this point as well. Um, you know, those are
the kind of throws. In my opinion, Kenny Pickett has
to understand he doesn't have the arm for those lake
throws all the way across the field and the sideline.
You know, throwing it into the stands is one thing,
but when you're trying to make a throw outside the
hash mark across the field to the sideline in an

(12:24):
NFL game, not in an A C C game, you
can't do that. You can never do that unless you're Ben.
Ben can do that. Um. You know, maybe the guy, um,
you know who's being investigated for fraud down Mississippi, he
could do that when he played, Um, the guy who's

(12:45):
you know, messing up the Broncos. Uh thinking he as
a team president, he could do that when he played Um.
But that's not Pickett's game. And I really just think
that that's one of the things that I would like
to see him except maybe because you know, trying to
write checks that your right arm camp cash. That's no

(13:06):
way to go about life in the NFL sun. The
quote Dean Warmer, the paraphrase Dean Warmer so um but
still so way too much to like. Uh. And the
commitment to him was made back in April. And so
let's go here we go. See it's the Kenny Pickett
here until in my opinion, he stays in there even

(13:29):
through a bad performance or a couple in a row. Uh.
And as long as he's healthy enough to play, he's
he should be the starter. Now would you be opposed
to him entertaining you while he uh starts these games? Well,
i'll tell you what. Unlike you, I am most entertained
when the club wins. That is my entertainment if um,

(13:53):
you know, because and I am of the same mindset
as young Kenny Pickett. It all comes act too winning
as he won the as you mentioned, he won the
post game by continually going back to that. That's that's
another reason that I'm so much on board with moving
forward with this guy. Because if he was down in

(14:15):
that press room or the interview room, you know, giving it,
and he didn't do any of this. Let me say
this in advance. He didn't do any of this, but
if he was going back the boola boola college stuff
and you know, all of that kind of stuff that
you can get away with, um when you're a college player,
then I would say, maybe he's not mature enough for this.

(14:36):
Maybe he's it is too big for him. Maybe maybe maybe,
but you know, he gave it that. That was one
of the things I always liked abuy Ben right from
the beginning. You know, how do you measure yourself Ben against? Well?
How many Super Bowls did I win? That? I like that.
I like that attitude. I like that perspective. Uh in

(14:56):
my in the guy who's going to be the quarterback. So, um, yeah,
I can be entertained, but I'm with I'm with picking
on this. I am most entertained. Um when I'm on
the right end. I'm on the correct end of the scoreboard. Yeah.
And just to beat the dead horse a little bit more,
because he really did impress me with the way he

(15:17):
handled himself. The context was, this is a first round
pick who played his college ball in the city where
he's now playing professional football, and he came into a
game and rallied the team and scored two rushing touchdowns
and did some things and there was no oh we lost,
but man, the dream come true. I made it to
the NFL. Or scored a touchdown him and send that

(15:40):
ball to mom or right, And the media was continuing
to try to get that type of emotion out of him,
and he just didn't want to go there. He didn't
want to offend the fans who were changing his name,
but he wanted everyone to be clear that what he
will remember most from his NFL debut as they lost,
And I thought that was pretty cool stuff. Uh. Last,
but certainly not Slabs. The most disappointing aspect of the

(16:02):
overall performance through four games has been the play of
the defense. Agree or disagree? Uh, I'm gonna disagree. UM.
I like the choice of the word disappointing because um
that that would be UM the the adjective that I
would use for the unit UM that has the most

(16:26):
collection of first team all pros. So to me, that's
a a good measure of talent. Uh. It also has
I believe the highest um coaching i Q for lack
of a better phrase, in Tarall Austin and Brian floores
kind of at the at the top or one and
one A at the top of the defenseive coaching staff.

(16:49):
But I also think that, um, I have enough disappointment
to go around with with what has been happening through
the first four games. I'm not like Santa Claus disappointment.
Here's something for you, there's something for you, here's something. Yeah,
you got a big bag of disappointment around right now

(17:10):
because I'm not letting the wide receivers off the hook
this easy. I'm just not, um. You know, Deonte Johnson,
Chase Claypool and gunn Orrolschewsky really to me have not
been what I saw uh this summer, and they have
not been what I thought they could be. I mean,

(17:32):
there are plays every game, every game that should be
made by different wide receivers that are not made by
different wide receivers. And you know, we're going into the
um you know, the whole Mitch Robinsky got benched and
we talked about that and we both agree that, you know,

(17:53):
maybe it was time, maybe it wasn't, but since it
was done, it is now time to move on. But
some of those plays were made by wide receivers in
those first three games, I don't know the word that
Kenny Pickett is now. Uh, the in our mind that
the agree that disagree choice as the starting quarterback moving forward. Um,

(18:16):
you know those guys, you know, combat catches. I mean
we can talk about um and and it's valid point
that you know, Mitch Drabinsky maybe wasn't as aggressive down
the field, um put trusting in some of the receivers
to make plays. But you know what, if I'm him,
I threw enough of those where plays weren't made that

(18:39):
maybe I'm a little gun shy or maybe I'm not
as trusting as um you know you need to be
or should be or ought to be or whatever those things. So, UM, yeah,
I'm disappointed in the defense, but I'm disappointed in the
wide receivers as well. I'm gonna agree with the statement. Uh,

(19:00):
I'm profoundly disappointed in the defense. And I get what
you're saying about the offense. And Trabinsky seems like a
natural candidate, uh to to counter the statement, because hey,
he was the starting quarterback and he got taken out
of the game in the fourth game of the season,
so clearly he wasn't lightening it up. But I wasn't
expecting Mitch Drabinsky to be Josh Allen or Joe Montana.

(19:23):
I was expecting him to be a game managing, place
holding type of guy who just kept things moving while
the defense did the heavy lifting to win. Uh. When
the games, particularly in the early going, I know T. J.
Watt hasn't been playing. I know he is the reigning
NFL Defensive Player of the Year, but uh, boy, it's

(19:44):
gotta be better than this without him, doesn't it. And
if you look at all four of these games, even
the one that they wanted Cincinnati, they gave up a
late game touchdown that should have got him beat if
not for the Bengals being unable to successfully convert the
extra point. And uh, we're seeing uh some run defense
issues resurface, which they spent so much time, effort, energy,

(20:07):
money resources trying to fix. And and you look at
the fourth quarters, Uh what happened against the Jets, Bob,
I'm still scratching my head because, yeah, did they just
remember T. J. Watt wasn't playing in the fourth quarter.
I mean, the Jets did almost nothing for three quarters
and then they were unstoppable. It was like Joe willing

(20:29):
Nameth was back under center. Uh, I don't know what's
going on on the defensive side of the ball. Uh.
They gotta figure that out. Those guys have to be better. Yes,
they do, as do the white as do the wide receivers,
because otherwise, you know, in maybe another four games, UM,

(20:52):
maybe the fans will be chanting macee and macee. May
you know they might they might. You gotta you gotta
be open out the quarterback and make plays. Um, not
only down the field, over the middle, on the sideline. UM,
catch the ball when it hits you in the hands.

(21:12):
Let's start with that. You know, I would give the
citizen resents they were chatting my name at all, little
bonus bonus question or bonus point. Do you do you
agree that it's amazing or disagree that we just went
through this whole thing and didn't mention the offensive line. Uh.
Credit to them, and that's what they like. If they

(21:32):
just do their jobs, they don't get mentioned and nobody complains,
right right. But I'll tell you what, UM not that
there was a lot of complaining maybe uh to be
assigned to them. But I thought that the J E.
T S Jets Jets Jets got too much pressure on

(21:53):
the quarterback. Then there um players slash abilities warrant it.
Oh they're not bucking. The old line is not bucking
for all pro don't get me wrong. But I just
think some progress has been made there and it's sort
of solidified, which gives you a chance moving forward. Yes, yes,
that's a good thing that you just said. That is

(22:15):
gonna do it for us. I want to thank everybody
for lining the streets and chanting my name and facilitating
this change with me as the lead dog. Uh here
on agreed to disagree. It is, of course the show
with the motto I'm right, So you know me being right?
Why wouldn't I be the lead dog? Labs. Thanks for contributing,

(22:35):
Thanks for being a teammate, Thanks for playing a complimentary
role and allowing me to shine, uh the way that
I was brought here to shine, and we'll do it
against it. And to all those people lining the streets,
Mikey will put your checks in the mail real soon
for the money. He owes you. Thanks for finding this.
We'll talk to you next week.