HR 1 - Broderick Jones, Protecting Rodgers

Tom Opferman and Chris Adamski talk about Broderick Jones and how he must play better. They also look around the NFL briefly and discuss San Fran's injury issues and if this could be Russ Wilson's last NFL game Sunday

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Well, the subject of much consternation and Steelers Nation. Chris
after the week one victory against the Jets is number
seventy seven left tackle Broderick Jones.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
He's a great interview, huh.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I mean he is an open book and I love
the accountability coming from him and the fact that you
guys asked him what he needs to do to.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Get better and he said everything.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's good answer, man, because it honestly looked like that
on tape. It looked like there were a lot of
things that needed to be corrected.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Man, here's the thing with him.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
We were talking about this Tim Bens, myself and Matt
Williamson on Countdown to Kickoff last night. By the way,
this is the Steelers Blitz with Tom Offerman and Chris Damski.
You know that by now though we're so crazy popular
at this point, we're.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
A week in.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I mean, come on, But we were talking about kind
of that at the show last night, where Broderick Jones
is a great interview. You know, he seems to have
his head on straight. He's got a really strong work ethic,
he's got all the skills in the world. Seems like
a genuinely smart dude. Like it seems like he's really,

(01:13):
you know, intelligent as well, and it just for some
reason he can't put it together. And I was like,
that's a little worrisome to me because he's got literally
every other box checked. Like he's not a non hard worker,
Like he shows up every day. He recognizes what he
has to do better. That's a huge thing in self
evaluation and making yourself better at an NFL level is

(01:34):
at least recognizing it admitting, yeah, I screwed this and
this and this up. I need to get a lot
better at that. Like he checks all those boxes that
you want out of that first round guy that you
traded up for just hasn't played very well. And so
that's kind of making me pull my hair out a
little bit. It's kind of making me worried a little bit.
It's like, is this just a matter of maybe this
guy just doesn't have it to not be an NFL player,

(01:55):
but maybe not the starter caliber almost all pro that
you were hoping you'd yet when you trade it up
for him.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, like I said, he's not he's out of runway
yet here, But you're three, right.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Can he be out of runway? That's the other thing
like they don't really have much.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well that's true too. Yes, I guess the runway keeps
perpetually built, uh going on? Yes, but so yes, you're right,
because you could see why when you talk to him,
he would win an interview like like as much as
these we talked to yesterday about Mike Tomlin like you
to go in these pro days and everything, and how
much the Steelers I think value that relationship aspect of

(02:31):
the of the draft process. They trade up to get him.
Obviously they obviously were enamored with him. They made a
trade up to get him in the draft, and you
could see why his demeanor would be like, oh, this
kid got it right. And and you saw the physical
skill set and everybody agrees the physical skill set is there,
so yes, what is what is exactly wrong there? That's

(02:51):
kind of it's almost as if maybe he's two And
that's what we wanted to see, was the interview. The
same thing with Aaron Rodgers, you know, fell on the
sword himself and said the old line, I did well,
I ran into those sacks. And I don't know if
you could really you know, we could parts it back
and forth and one of them maybe maybe I'll say
that for maybe toot this out. I try to look
at him. I don't know, I don't I don't feel

(03:11):
like they were on the quarterback of certainly all four of.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Them, that felt to me like a classic QB one
franchise quarterback.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I'm gonna take the blame for this one.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
So, and this is right after Broaderick took accountability with
his like I need to be he said, yeah, I
need to be better. I can't put that on film.
I putrong everything. I need to fix everything. So he
has that demeanor or has that mindset, I'm sure. So yeah,
now it's like, okay, we need to identify what it is.
You know, I'm not an old lineman. You know, I
saw a Trey Astick talking about the punch and you know,

(03:41):
quote unquote punch. Hopefully not a literal punch because when
he left tackles ejected early in games. But there's whatever,
you know, the skill set's still there. He's still young enough.
I guess he's still in experience enough. But at the
same time, you know, on the job training ain't gonna
get the job done. And you know, week two, three, four,
whatever it is. So and you're right, I don't know.

(04:03):
You know, what would it take to if the Steelers
got to the point where they did make a change
to Calvin Erson. I think it would take an awful
awful lot before they would do that, especially considering what
they've you know, the investment of the sunk costs and
all that. But they still believe. I believe they've still
believed in Broderick. But the same time I say that,
and remember they he lost his job last year. Yeah right,
we forget what.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean when they had a chance, yes to move
off of him when they felt.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Like he needed a little bit more marinating a lot,
maybe they did, and then I Fatana got hurt like
four plays later and they had to go right back
to him.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, so that's there's already precedent for it, right, So
maybe you know my I said, read on, you know
what they feel with him, and the situation is a
little bit off. But but again, but then you could
say organizationally, they didn't go. We talked about yesterday sign
a you know, a more higher caliber former starter type
in free agency in March to a guy that swing tackle,

(04:52):
that type of thing. And then Calvin Erson has listen,
he's he started games in the NFL. I almost like
feel bad, I'm poop pooting Calvin Anderson's He's not that guy. Yeah,
just some body they throw out there or whatever. He's
been a starter for multiple years in the NFL at
different times, so he's cap he played. He remember he
played in the playoff game. Now although maybe it's a
good example, but happened in the Ravens in the playoff game.
But he played on most of that game because the

(05:14):
injury what Dan Morgan injured. So he's there. But I
you know, I still think Broderick. I'm not saying it'll
be fine, but I'm I'm not ready to give up
on him yet.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
But no me neither.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, you can't stack that, man. You can't stack games.
It's just a simple factor matter, right. If if you
do that every week, it's it's it's it ain't gonna
last all season.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
I'm not ready to give up on him either.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
And you know, to your point about how you go
out and you signs maybe somebody like a veteran, Yeah,
that would have been a nice maybe insurance policy or
you know, you have a Calvin Anderson, but like no
one that would have been out there on the market.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
No One, Calvin Anderson.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
They're not the same type of player that Proderick Jones
could become.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
The ceiling is still crazy high on Roderick Jones. It
might be dropping down.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
A little bit then where it was when you initially
moved up to pick number fourteen and drafted him in
the first round, but it's still a pretty damn impressively
high ceiling that he could still reach in this league.
So you can't give up on him because a you
don't really have a better option behind him, but b
also because this is still maybe something there. You know,

(06:17):
this is just gonna be game two of his third
season in the NFL. Maybe something does click as he
continues through this season.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Maybe playing for a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers is going
to help his development. You know, there is.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Such a symbiotic relationship between the quarterbacks and the offensive
line on any team, and Rogers is someone that you know,
he's played with great tackles his entire career, David Becchari
in Green Bay, like he knows.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
He knows everything.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Like really, that's all you have to really say is
Rogers just knows everything about the sport of football, especially
on the offensive side of the ball, so maybe he
can be a nice guiding light towards him. You know,
there's not really a tackle in the room that can
kind of show him the way at his exact position,
but see him all as a veteran, you know, he
can maybe offer up some tips here or there or
be a really nice sidecar for him. And then on

(07:10):
top of it all, if things continue to happen this
way with Broderick Jones, I know this takes away from
what you want to do with your offense somewhat, but
you just got to put Darnell there. And I think
he might have got a little banged up in the
Jets game and that might not have been an option
later in the game. But when he's healthy, I mean
like that, if things are playing out the same way
they did against New York, you just have to do that.

(07:32):
I know that it kind of puts you in a box,
might take a receiver off the field that you want
out there, might limit the packages that you can do.
But above all else, you got to keep number eight
upright and healthy. And if it takes Broderick Jones kind
of being a sixth offensive lineman most of the time
and constantly doubling Broderick's assignment.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's what it takes.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Broderick think about it. He was the fourteenth overall pick.
The Steelers only picked higher than that twice in the
last twenty five years. Or to head a draft pick
that was higher than that. One was Devin Bush they
trade off for a bad example, and the other one
was Ben Roethlisberg for example.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yes, okay, we're one, we're one for one for two.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, in terms of that, but it just in terms
of the if you go by straight pedigree, it's not
that simple, of course, but if you go by straight pedigree,
he should be one of the best, you know, draft
incoming draft picks they've had in our lifetimes practically, I
mean it goes back that far, the fourteenth overall. The Steelers,
as Mike tom referred to on Tuesday, don't like drafting
that high because that means they had a bad season
generally unless they make a trade up or whatever. So

(08:28):
that's there. And again I don't think they necessarily buy
in the sunk costor but I think that you do
buy in this kid. This guy has all the tools,
as we know, he has everything there. What can we do?
What is missing? And I don't know if somebody has
the exact answer of what is missing, I don't. He
doesn't come across at all as you know, uncoachable. He

(08:49):
doesn't come across as all as nons just sort of
you know that he seems to have a good enough
football IQ and things like that, and again, the physical
tools are there, so you would you would think it's
like one of those things where you feel like it's
gonna click at some point. And this is one of
the situations where you see it in different positions and
things like that, and different sports even for that matter.
But a guy who was a high draft pick and

(09:11):
really high pedigo whatever reason, and then you know, the
team gives up on him whatever, and he goes to
become the star somewhere else becomes and you hate to
see that.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
And they call that the pirate way.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yes, that's what that's the other side of then orth shore,
I guess for that. So and again it's only one game.
So one game left tackle, and I guess the end
of another game was a rookie right at left tackle.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I believe so.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
But one game in this iteration of it in this
season is good front, but a lot of eyes are
going to be on him against Seattle.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Including the eleven Seahawk eyes on the other side of
the ball.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, that's gonnair coordinator.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, that's gonna be a They're head coach. Mike McDonald's
a big defensive guy as well. You know, Chris it
it It can get better.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Like I want to stress that, like.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
I don't want to be this doom and gloom like
it's done for Roger to No, it's not. He can
be a very serviceable He can still be a very
good left tackle in this league. One of the knocks
on him coming out of Georgia was how raw he is.
You know, he barely played in two full seasons at Georgia.
Now they won the national championship both times he was there,

(10:17):
but still like he was a very raw prospect. Everybody
across the board, from the Kuipers to the mcshay's to
the whoever's had that on their right up for him
is that this guy's kind of like a ball of clay.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
You're gonna have to mold him a little bit.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
And the Steelers, since they had somebody at left tackle,
they put him at right tackle.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
He was actually pretty good his rookie year.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
I think he was just going out there and playing,
you know, and he was really good in run blocking too,
just like guy across Fromham is gonna blow him off
the ball. And I think that gave a lot of
promise for his second year. And then things just kind
of started to sputter out a little bit as far
as his developments concerned.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
But so he's a right tackle. He's learning.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
You take a raw left tackle, you put him at
right tackle out of necessity. So he's learning that position
even though he would have been raw at the position
that he prefers. Now two years later he has switched
back to his preferred position, but he hasn't played it
in over two years, and he was raw coming out
of college of that position to begin with. So maybe
we shouldn't be that surprised at what's going on.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, and I do. I think people forget that. There
was no reason. I don't think people were saying his
rookie year or watching him his rookie year. There was
just like, oh, this first round pick, isn't it or
something right. I think everybody thought they were. The trajectory
was fine, and then the Steelers draft for Atanu last
April year and a half ago now, and that was
just sort of, oh, there's the second tackle. Okay, everything's

(11:35):
this is going to broke out really well. Can you
imagine at the two bookend tackles, Now, everything's great. I
don't think anybody was down on him at that point. Now,
then you had Patanu was so good during training camp
they wanted to put him in the lineup and he
sort of son. Then you're this raw rookie. You had
a you know, a passable at bet best or worst,
I mean, adequate rookie season, and then all of a

(11:56):
sudden you lose your job, not necessarily because of your play.
I mean Dan Moore had been at that point a
three year, four year starter, and you had the first
round pick, the new first round pick come in just
as well everybody. So it was more the way I
took that is he was just passed. Or now we
could go and relitigate the dann Moore things. Should they
have just bench Dan Moore?

Speaker 1 (12:14):
You know, we can talk about that, sure, but I
get where you're going with that, Chris, And honestly, they
I think had the luxury for a brief moment in
time of saying we need to say whoa a little
bit to Broderi Jones, we need to pull back on
him a little bit, and he needs to work with
Pat Meyer kind of to the side some and he
needs to get a lot of a lot of practice
reps under his belt. Like maybe that's more of what

(12:34):
happened there, not like this guy stinks, let's bench him.
It was he needs a little more seasoning, And now
we actually have the chance to give him that seasoning
because of Futanu coming in and then oopsie he got
hurt right away.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
And then you had that game where they split reps.
Remember they started to split split series, that's right, and
he took all the penalties. Now, is it'sych a logical
at that point? I mean, you would think any rookie
doesn't matter. Back up, I don't know that a preseason
it doesn't matter. To take that many penalties in a
row on one drive, you almost think it had to
be in the head at that point, right, that doesn't

(13:08):
really happen at all. So was it the fact that
he was at the sharing time thing? Was it that
he essentially got the moted thing? Was it? I don't know,
has that still affecting him? But then it goes back
to we talked about and we believe I believe that
he seems to have It's not a mental thing with him.
It seems like he has a good demeanor. He seems
like he has a good mindset. So that would be
counter that.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
I'm telling you, Like every other aspect is good. Like
he's head on straight, great work ethic, knows what he's
doing wrong, knows how to correct it. Honestly, very coachable.
Smart guy just hasn't been able to have success on
the football field yet.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, and so I still, you know, let it run
this week. And I guess if you get through two weeks,
and I mean if it's another four sack game, three sack,
you know, penned on himwever you want to say it,
then maybe you started thinking about I don't know, I man.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Calvin Anderson be worse, you know, like maybe that starts
creeping into your head.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, you know, do you do you help him more?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
I think that's the first step.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, I mean you to putting Darnell Washington on that
side and that but that you know, you were hoping
this year you see more dynasism, dynamicism, dynamicism, Can I
speak dynamicism. Is that a word? I don't even know?
Am I making it is now?

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Because it sounds beautiful. You like that for websters? All right,
we'll figure it out.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
We'll do some research during the break dynamicism in the
passing game from Darnell Washington. And if you can't, then
obviously you x that.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Out if you keep exactly That's what sucks about that.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's like you're taking away from your offense for an
in an area that you wanted to utilize this year.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
And I don't know how cool I am with that.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
But then again, I don't know how cool I am
with the forty one year old quarterback getting hit like
crazy who apparently has a bad back now too. So
I mean, Lock Rogers is gonna get hurt this year.
Maybe he plays through it like he apparently did in
Week one.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Maybe he doesn't.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
But he's forty one years old and he's getting hit
by twenty five year old men. He's gonna get hurt,
especially if you open him up to a lot of hits.
That's what Mike Tomlin said in his press conference when
he was talking about Broderick Jones summed it up by
saying quarterback got hit way too much and that's just
a big problem.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Can't have that happen.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
And I thought it was also funny that Broderick said
in his availability yesterday that they were asking about how
you know, last year Russell Wilson he could kind of
move out of the way, not like he used to,
but he could still get out of there.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Fields is good at getting out of there. What about Rogers?

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Now it's different, And Proderick Jones was like, oh, yeah,
he ain't going nowhere. He's a mobile.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Back there caught him a mobile.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
I'd missed that. It must have been must have turned
away and I listened to it. But that's kind of funny.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
It's true too, he can't move anymore.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Rogers himself admitted he can't move like he used to,
said he has to do better, but that's just the
quarterback being the quarterback. He's forty one years old. Yeah,
you got a statue back there now.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
He led the league or however you want to put it,
the quickest time to.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Throw in the first and he still got sacked the
third most.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, so that is a and you wonder the sacks
and beyond that, you wonder if remember last year Ben
I always think about that and how the offense was
just there were so many bubble screens and just get
rid of it quickly out of necessity. In Ben's mind
and in the offensive mind was that Ifekner's still the
mind that you didn't want him getting head. He was

(16:17):
at that point thirty nine years old, and he wasn't
mobile enough at that point. So what I'm saying is
you don't want this to have to affect Aaron Rodgers'
ability to make plays downfield, where he's thinking, I gotta
get rid of it, where Arthur Smith's thinking I got
to cook things up, so he's getting rid of it quickly.
So therefore you don't let things develop, You don't take
advantage of the weapons, you don't take care of advantage
of about Colvin Austin and DK Metcalf down the field,

(16:39):
and you're just worried about getting rid of the ball quickly,
and then you're really hamstringing your offense in a big way.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Completely agree. That's a huge worry for me is that
you start to see this offense look a lot like
Ben's twenty twenty twenty twenty one offense, where it works early,
a lot of yak right, like, it's pretty much all
about the yak, and then teams start to pick up
on it a little bit, and you play the Washington

(17:07):
Commanders or I think it was at Baltimore the week before.
Baltimore the week before kind of figures it out, but
you still beat them. You just squeak it by, and
then Washington beats you and ends your undefeated. Starts the
season and they're coming off the field saying, Baltimore showed us. Baltimore,
we saw how to play them, and then the season
starts to go downhill because the book was out. I

(17:27):
have a worry about that happening right now, a very
similar kind of arc playing out where it's like from
weeks one through seven or eight, it's like, wow, Rogers
is playing kind of like an MVP, and we kind
of ignore the fact that his you know, pass attempts
are only traveling three or four yards in the air
and focusing more on the like two hundred and fifty
yards and three touchdowns even though DK had like one

(17:48):
hundred yards after the catch. And then week nine, ten
eleven rolls around and teams start to get a little
wise to that, and all of a sudden things start
to slow down offensively because they're really keying on that
short stuff. Don't have the time to drop back there
and hit them deep.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, you're obviously, it just goes It makes common sense
that you don't want to you'd rather have things developed downfield.
You'd rather have your receivers get open now, I will say,
but you still don't want it no matter what. But
I would think we saw dk DK after the catch,
especially in week one, is really really good. So and
there was I mean, we talked about that third and
ten early in the game that was essentially a bubble

(18:23):
screen that he just took or you know, a quick
throw that he took the in the in the old
you know, the last year Bend model of offense. So
maybe you're set up a little bit better then you
might otherwise be. But still it's certainly not ideal. And
I don't know if it was just you know, if
this is going to be what it is the aberration

(18:43):
in terms of that, but it's more the overall mindset
of that we're worried about Aaron getting hit limiting things
than Aaron and Eric getting hit obviously is a is
a problem if it happens too much, as as we talked,
from various reasons, you don't want that, but it's also
it's just bigger than that. If you have to devote
not only the resource of having one of your players

(19:04):
a tight end there or a chip of somebody, whatever
it might be, and you have to worry about that
every single play, that limits you. But if you're also
worried about the time to throw that, obviously he's gonna
limit you too in terms of what you can down
the field.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Patience isn't really a luxury that the Steelers have when
it comes to Broderick Jones and him playing better. I'll
explain what I mean when we come back. It's Tom
Opferman and Kris Dampski on the Steelers Blitz on the
Steelers Audio Network. Tom Off and Chris Dampski on the

(19:36):
Steelers Blitz. We're talking about Broderick Jones in the first
segment gotta be better and Chris, it really has to
be a lot better this week. I know that we're
both not, by any stretch of the imagination giving up
on this young man. By the way, I love now
that I'm like thirty one years old, I can start
calling these guys young men and it doesn't sound weird.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Is a young man out there?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Wait until all the players are younger than you, Like,
I'm not quite there yet. I know rod Rodgers is
like tied with you. Yeah, Rodgers there. I had Brady
for the longest time. I was like, oh, I get
you know, look at I still a whole life ahead
of me. Look at it. That's when it's Super Bowl.
He's lower than me. I can win a super Bowl someday.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Right, great hit show, the same thing, basically the same
arts as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
But we're not giving up on him at all.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
There's still something there, we both think. But patience is
something that they really can't afford. And even this week,
because Seattle is one of the best pass rushes you're
going to face in the NFL. We talked yesterday about
how it's kind of a nameless defense. There's not a
huge superstar out there that it's like, ah, that's Bobby
Wagner's defense or Richard Sherman's defense back when the old

(20:43):
Legion of Boom days.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
But I don't see a real weakness on that defense.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
And listen to these stats that are really going to
make you concern for the efforts to slow down their
pass rush. The Seahawks defense returns each of their top
four pressure leaders from last year. Derek Hall had fifty,
Leonard William had fifty, Boye Mafe had forty.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
One, and Jaren Reid had forty.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
They are just one of three teams, along with the
Rams and Broncos, to return four players that generated forty
plus pressures. Seattle also finished Week one with the NFL's
highest pressure rate, pressuring brock Party on sixty percent of
his dropbacks, significantly more than half the time brock Party

(21:26):
dropped back to pass.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
His ass was on fire because of that Seahawk pass rush.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
So and he's injured now, which might right not beat
a coincident.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
He got turf toe, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
S yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Stepped on his toe or something like that.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
He only got sacked once, but he threw two interceptions.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
He got pressured into scramble in a little bit and
maybe forcing a throw that he shouldn't have. It's a problem, okay,
when you face Seattle. That might be the thing that they.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Do best is get pressure on the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
And they are licking their chops in the film room
this week after seeing how much pressure and sacks the
Jets were able to get. I mean, Seattle's going brock party.
I mean he he can't move that great, but at
least he can get out of there sometimes, Like we're
going up against the forty one year old this week
and they can't block for him. So this is a big,
big pressure spot for Jones in that offensive line. And

(22:18):
you don't want to like go to Roderick Jones like, hey,
get it into gear now, but got to be a
lot better this week. It's a it's a it was
a tough test against the Jets last week. It gets
tough for this week.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah. And and I don't say life in the NFL,
And maybe you're very persuasive. I'll say that talk every
time you have a case to make or a point,
like would you talk me into one of the teams
in the pole Jackson and Jacksonville. Yes, I'm really high
in Jacksonville. Now, now you got me scared to death
of the Seahawks, Like I'm just like, oh my god,
it's a good defense they're gonna do on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
So that is, don't worry about the offense. I'll persuade
you into being not scared of the Seahawks offense.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Okay, yeah, but that defense, would you could persuade me
that I'd be really impressed. That would be the But
and you wonder, then again how much it's going to
be schemed in now. I don't know. Like I said,
it's one week with Broderick. I mean, but the old line,
now that was more of the run game with the
interior part of the line. You wonder about that and
see where it is. But it has to be, I guess,

(23:14):
a priority, right, I mean, if you have an older
quarterback like this now, if it's whatever is back, whatever
soreness in his back or whatever, it's got to be
a priority. And it's always a priority for obviously to
protect your quarterback. But you wonder how much that will
could affect a game plan. I didn't realize that Seattle
had had that strong of a Week one in the
in the past rush the league that's in the league.

(23:37):
Guess that that that is definitely alarming for the for
the Steelers and going into Week two, you know, I
what else would would you schematic wise? I mean other
than the ball, I mean, is there that they're using
your Jalen Warren and Kenneth gain Well, who are adept
at at pass blog or have a lot of experience
each of each of their main running backs Steeerd's main

(23:58):
running backs right now, that what they they've always done,
or they've been asked to do quite often. I don't
know if that's ideal either, but you know, maybe that's
part of the answer too.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
You're getting close. You're very warm because you're right on
with the players. That are part of the answer. But
I think you're a little off on the roll. They
got to run the ball. They just have to have
success running the football. How do you avoid your quarterback
getting pressured. He doesn't drop back to pass that much,
and when he does, they're all selling out to stop
the run or they're worried about the run. And then
there's that play action bootleg and any easy pass to

(24:29):
Calvin Austin or an easy pass the DKMATCLF down the field.
So you got to be better in the run game.
I mean, that's the simplest thing. You're right, they're good
at pass protection too. If they have to be sidecar
if Rogers has to call Warren or Gainwell in particularly Warren,
I think is a little bit better than gainwell at
this just a bigger person.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think he's more willing to do it.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
But you have that ability to get a little extra
protection from those guys.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
But they just got to run the ball better.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, that is I think the key here against Seattle
is you need to have have to be like the
Jets were running like eighteen yards of carry at some
point in that game, but you got to have four
or five yards a clip going fairly consistently in this game.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
You have to make them worried about that running attack
because if not, if they get a lead, if you
can't generate anything on the ground, then what I just
illustrated is maybe the greatest pass rush in the league
at least to this point. You could argue that is
going to have a field day.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
I feel like our word of the day yesterday was sustainability.
Sustainable and that's fit fitting for week one because we
see what is lying, what is and what what do
you see teams the one Maybe that's just a blip
on something, yeah, something like that. And the sustainability of
not of having the running what was the seawards yards
per carry on Sunday, that's not very sustainable to keep
winning games or keep some warn thirty four points probably
a week after week after week, so that you're right,

(25:46):
I kind of missed the force for the trees there
or whatever other analogy I wanted to use that talking
about the running backs. And yes, the running game would
would solve a lot of this or at least help
a lot of this. And the play action, I mean,
that's what it's set up for. If there's that much
play action and Aaron Rodgers is buying in the play action,
and you know that he's buying into it, and that's
what Arthur Smith envisions, and we know that's what Arthur
Smith's history is and everything. Now the Stewards don't have

(26:07):
a Derek Henry in his prime like he had and
when he was the co on plays from Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
But yeah, that made things easier for him.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
It's kind of amazing. Yeah, he's like, wait, have a
good running game. Wow, it's kind of how that happens.
Whatever you have that, So nobody's gonna the Stewards don't
have that. But there's no reason they can't have a
good running game, or at least even just you know,
it doesn't have to be an elite running game for
three hundred yards on the ground or something.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
No, it has to be better. Yes, it has to
be a factor.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Yes the defense has to worry about. It has to
be an option, has to be productive to a level that. Yes,
it has to be honored by respected by the by
the Seahawks defense. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
I think that's just such a clear way to victory,
path to victory, not just against the team like Seattle,
but really against any team. That's a good way to
go about winning a football game. And I'm not putting
it on the running backs completely. I'm not saying, you know,
one game, well, need to do better hitting holes, need
to show a little bit more burst, a little more athleticism,
be better runners.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
You know, this is on the offen line too.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
I think I think that there was a struggle to
get a lot of push in that running game up front,
and Chris, I worry that that outside runs, that outside
zone scheme that Arthur Smith loves to run, you know,
kind of like the fire drill. Everybody goes to one
side of the field and the running back runs over
and tries to find his spot to cut it up.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Well, last year, Nause was really bad.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
At it, and I think that was a lot of
people saying he's just not that type of running back,
doesn't have the speed to get to that edge. He's
not good for outside zone scheme. Warren's better. We signed game, well,
he's better. Caleb Johnson did this a ton at Iowa.
He should be a better fit, and we thought that
you would see it start to yield a little bit
more production this year.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
It was terrible against the Jets.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
It looked exactly the same that did with nausea, were
he just kind of runs to the sideline, tries to
cut it up, but they're right there and it gets
like a yard or two max. I wonder if it's
more so predictability and that we know Arthur Smith loves
to do this, and if you know that it's coming,
if you can addicted the other, you're just going to
flow your entire defense over there.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
There's not enough linemen to stop them.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
So and I don't think that you have you know,
the exact you know, speed demons at running back still
even with nauge moving on. So I just wonder if
maybe defenses are kind of wise to that they're looking
for that they are expecting it. But it looked bad
against the Jets, And one thing about Arthur Smith is
that is a non negotiable part of the offense. Like

(28:25):
all year long, Chris, we saw those type of runs,
maybe not to the volume that he wanted to do
them at, but we saw those runs all the way
up until Week eighteen with Najie Harris. We saw those
runs throughout that Jets game, even though they weren't working early,
like that is a part of it, Like you have
to execute these outside zones or else you're not going
to be running the Arthur Smith offense.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
That's it, and everything's a symbiotic relationship. Of course that
the passing game, if it's can be respected, and we
saw Aaron Rodgers, you think that there would be for
some of the film from that, you know, even thrown
over the middle of the field, which was something that
has been missing with that was a big talking point
for a lot of the last couple of years, is
the Steelers offense and not be able to use in

(29:03):
the passing game use the middle of the field. So
if that's available some of the play action, it can
work almost both ways in terms of that. So I'm
sure there's there's longer term plans for that season long
in terms of how that can work, and it still
can work. But you're right, we're working on here a
long time now. And if the problem was you instinctally
you say, well, they let the running back one go

(29:25):
in free agency without much effort to keep them. They've
identified that's part of the issue. And then then you
gave the second guy a contract, uh that Jalen Warren,
and that brought in another running back, drafted a high
running back too. And now but it's only one week.
You know, everything lies after one week, ready to not
say it's it's a total bust at this point. So

(29:46):
there's another week there, but it would, it would everything
would start to fit together better, piece together, get better.
We're talking about in terms of even the pass rush
having to worry about that and everything would it would
be very comforting and very hardening for the Steelers to
be able to see that click a little bit better
in the outside in his own run game.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
I'll take anything clicking a little bit better this week
in the running game, because that's just going to be
such a key I think against this Seattle defense is
being able to run the ball and being able to
avoid that high pressure rate victimizing you, just like it
did San Francisco, even though San Francisco was able to
pull out the win against Seattle. Aaron Rodgers spoke yesterday too,

(30:29):
and he had nothing but the right things to say.
That's been a trend for him since arriving here in Pittsburgh.
And I'll be honest, Chris, I think sometimes people are
blowing things like this out of proportion a little bit.
Like he had the right quote. When it came to
Broderick Jones still said he had a lot of confidence
in his guy. And I see some people being like,

(30:50):
oh man, it's great to see that. You know, me
as a fan, get on Broderick Jones a lot. I'm
sure the coaches in the film room can get on
him sometimes and rightfully. So it's just been such a
tough start to his career. And it's like, now he's
got a quarterback that believes in him. Now he's got
a quarterback that is saying the right things. It's like,
that's just how quarterbacks should talk. I mean, you don't
blame your lineman. You don't come out and say he's

(31:13):
stunk and that's why I got sacked. You're not a
franchise quarterback. If you do that, you say that rabbit
ears are going up in your front office, Like, what
the hell did our dude just say?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Like you can say that to me behind the closed doors,
but not in the media, man, and so like, I
feel like people blow that out of port. Like Russ
said same things last year. Russ was like our lineman's great.
I love Proderck Jones. Like so, I think that can
be a little bit selective, but it is the right
thing to say, and it is good to have Rogers
publicly show that vote of confidence in Broderick Jones. My

(31:42):
favorite thing that he did, though, when it came to
the offensive line as a whole.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Was my back.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Oh, it's a little tight, it's a little sore. I
might not have been able to move as well as
even me at an old age because.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
In my back, Oh it's so bad. Excuse me, You
didn't say anything about your backhading Ah, no, my back, Yeah,
it's so bad. It's been for weeks now, been terrible.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
And I think that that was a little bit of
an excuse on behalf of the offensive line. It's like, hey,
put it on me, put it on my shoulders. Those
guys didn't have a problem. It's me and the old
man back here. You can't move, that's the problem. And
I think that's savvy. I think that's well done. I
think that's that's leadership playing out. People want to say, oh,
Rogers brings a lot of leadership to the table.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
There it is. There's your evidence of the leadership playing out.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
Chris. I also have a.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Little bit of a this little old Ben Roethlisberger trick here, Like, ah,
my elbow really hurt in that game. I threw for
four hundred and fifty yards and five touchdowns in like
a little convenient No.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
The old cowboy still has a little lifting. I guess.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
So, oh man, what I threw for four touchdowns? That's
crazy because my back was on fire the whole time.
I don't know if you noticed, but you see I
got a wrap here.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
This well one thing. Now, this is a lot of
stuff with Aaron Rodgers. If you asked me in February,
would say, before it was even a you know, much
of a realistic thought to be a Steeler, what his
reputation was. What on face vavou you what you know?
I'm not gonna sit here. I wasn't reading Jets clips
every week. Last year, I know he's he was a
major story to New York team. He was Aaron Rodgers

(33:07):
and that the way that season went last year. But
he was starting at the reputation of I remember specifically
it was Mike Williams. Oddly enough, after that, there's a
Monday night game or a prime time I think it
was a Monday night game and there was an interception
late where he went deep to Mike Williams and he
called out he citially said the red line. Yes, yes, yes,
that's right now. It was that just anicelyatedn incident. I

(33:28):
don't know if that was that that became because I
feel like Aaron Rodgers persona took on this life of
its own, and he's been nothing like that for my
what I've seen here and even what I think publicly
he's been since he's been here. Now, did he make
a conscious effort to, you know, change his image. He's
had to happy to be here now, that is he
is he the point where he's like, I'm forty one,
this might be my last ride. I'm going to enjoy it.
I'm not going to, you know, stress on things, whatever

(33:49):
it might be. I don't know, but there was that
in him me. And he's even going back to we
talked about yesterday. He said, Roman Wilson, he's that this
guy can be a special receiver in the NFL. Did
he really believe that? I don't know if he believes
or not, but he did say it, and that's sort
of his along the same lines of like, oh, I
didn't move very well. I ran into a couple of sacks.
Broaderick's great the o line, the sacks, I'm gonna put

(34:10):
the sacks on me, that kind of thing. He said
all those things, right, and you're right, that's what you
pretty much have to say. It's all it's my life, Tom,
it's all a big game. Everybody knows what they have
to say. I know what they're I'm trying to get
them to say the thing that they're gonna say, and
like if they say something, it's different, like oh my god,
he didn't say what we thought he was gonna say.
It's like, oh he actually, you know, spoke the truth
or something like that. But that's the whole thing. But
he did. It was still good to see it, I think,

(34:34):
because I you know, there could have if they were
not if they would have lost the game. Maybe maybe
things are different they maybe maybe it's only one loss,
but maybe there's a little more anngst. It's it's lot
easier to just what everybody falls on the sword themselves
whenever you come out want to know, and you know,
and he you know, I'm not out for the next
game or whatever it might be. So yeah, we'll see
how it goes. Still and h but it was still

(34:55):
it's like complaining about, you know, a streak of non
losing it like it's it's better than not right. It's
good that he did it. Yeah, Okay, he didn't have
to do it. It's like, okay, we're supposed to do
but you know, he could have went the other way
and criticized his own line.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
We'll just not say anything at all.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yet, Yes, you're right, he didn't have to use the
words like I have a lot of confidence in Broderick
still looking at my or having my back. Like he
didn't have to put it that way he did. He
could have just said something like, yeah, Broders's a good player.
He works really hard, you know what I mean. But
he seemed to go went a little extra mile there,
and that is well done. Of course, here's some positive
on the offensive line, so we don't have to be
the negative Nancy Show today. I thought Fatana was good,

(35:30):
you know, going back and looking at it again, and
I think that maybe his mistakes, because there were mistakes.
There wasn't perfect overshadowed by Broderick. But I thought Fatana
was really good, and I thought the rest of the
offensive line was fine. I mean, Quinn Williams is going
to do Quinn Williams things, and Chris, you go back
and you look, they started cheating Quinn Williams over towards

(35:50):
Broderick Jones too, and that side of the line him
and Siamalow and Jones were doing doing battle a lot
more when he was having a lot of damage. So
you know, I think Fraser, McCormick and Futon did a
good job. I think they did fine. So it's not
like this is five guys running around like chickens with
their head cut off out there. I don't even mean
to imply that Proderc's running around like a chicken with

(36:10):
his head cut off out there.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
But it's good to see that there was.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Positives to be taken from that O line and that
it wasn't just a train wreck all the way around
the board, Like at least your first round pick last
year had a really good showing. And his you want
to call it his first game, I mean kind of right,
like not really, but it kind of is.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
He finished it. He played the full sixty minutes.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
And if we're going to say, and rightfully, I think
it's not just you know whatever, excuse making or whatever,
that Broderick is still young and still his inexperience. He
has more games and more experience than the other four guys.
There are three guys not Cott, so I'm allow.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
He's the second leading veteran on that line.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah, both in terms of although age he's not. It's
crazy how McCormick was drafted a year later. And I
think Fraser's older than him too, But it's okay because
college it screws it up. He went six year guys
and all that, I mean mcormick, I think six years.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Jones was young when he came out.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, he was young when he came out, and that's
part of his inexperience, and so you still that age
was But if you're going to say that about Broderick,
and I think there's nothing wrong with saying that about Broderick.
The fact that the other three guys are, you know,
in that same at very worse and the same experienced
bracket in terms of where they are in their careers
and everything, and having a season opener bet on the
road and all that stuff. If you get if you

(37:18):
get a passable grade with that, you'll take that at
this point of the season with the young guys like
that in your second year or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I mean, Jones is twenty four years old.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
I mean, you're talking about a guy who if he
was panning out, or if he does pan out in
his seventh or eighth year in the league, Chris, he's
still only going to be twenty seven to twenty eight
years old. Like he had the chance and still has
the chance to be just a rare type of person
that comes in starts when he's like twenty one years old,
and then all of a sudden you're like, wow, Jones

(37:48):
has been around forever. The ten year vet is still
only thirty. Like that's part of the reason why I
think you and I and so many people are like,
you can't just give up. You can't just say it's
over with him. It's just the age, the potential, it's
all still there for him to be a really good
to great player.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Well like, and it's just one example in different positions.
I'm just saying, though, Carson Bruner is a rookie who
was just drafted three months ago and they were born
like two weeks apart, broader knowing that Carson Bruner's for
three years.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah, so it's like that start with Lamar where Lamar
is like younger than Kenny Pickett.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
They were a third quarterback in college last year who
was older than Lamar. Yeah, I know, like it might
be Tyler Schuck for that, I think about it for
all I know, but it was that just shows he
was young. We know he's inexperienced. Okay, so we give
all that, and you know, again, you could do it
the other way around, says a third year it can't
be happening or whatever it might be. I get that too.
It's one game. As a lot of talk about it,

(38:38):
I get it. Steears won game that was I think
objectively the thing in terms of isolating on one individual,
the most obvious thing that needs improvement. So it's rightfully
we talk about especially again he's there. You know, second
highest draft pick in the last twenty years, so he
should be their highest pedigree player, one of the highest
pedigree players on the team, which is why I everybody

(39:00):
sees that. It's it's just so like it's there. It's
like they're doing do you kind of want to root
for him? But like I said, he's fun to talk.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
You do want to root for him.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
I mean, he's a good guy overall. He's a good
teammate and everything. So it's not like he's you know,
there are certain players and might have different mindsets and
things that you might not want to root for, but him,
I think you want to. I think everybody sees it
across the fandom and everything.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
All right, and Chris and I come back, I want
to take a look around the NFL. Just a couple
of headlines that I want to touch on to wrap
up our first hour. It's the Steelers Blitz on the
Steelers Audio Network. Chris and I will get back into
the Seahawks side of things when we come back in
the next segment. I do have one quick Steelers note

(39:43):
that I want to get to in this segment as well,
but before we do, taking a look around the NFL Chris.
The big headline to me today, well, there's two of them. Actually,
one of them is this rumor between the Steelers and
the Dolphins and Tyreek Hill. Maybe we'll get to that
to start the second hour. But the other there is
San Francisco has got to be one of the most
injury riddled teams of this decade and it just keeps

(40:09):
happening to them. Rock Party got hurt against Seattle last week.
He finished the game, but then was just recently ruled
out about two to five weeks with turf toe. That's
a big window as far as an NFL player is
concerned for return, and that's a tough window because two
weeks no ir, four weeks, we need to put you

(40:29):
on IR. So Quar, it's just amazing to me that
San Francisco keeps getting snake bitten like this.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
And do you feel like they were in that pattern
where they were like, make the super Bowl have an
injury real view and go six and ten or sitting whatever,
Make the Super Bowl have a you know, five and
twelve seat whatever it is, because they get everybody get
injured and they're in that cycle that this it wouldn't
be an alternating cycle anymore because happened in last year too,
and it is And think about they wouldn't even maybe
be in this situation if at your quarterback they would
even have Rock Perty maybe if oh, I don't know,

(40:58):
they probably would give it up on Jimmy g at
some point, regardless of his injury status at some point.
So maybe that's it, is I right, if they have
Mac Jones back. Remember the forty nine ers trade up
to the third pick. Man gave up a bevy of
assets to get that number three overall pick. And I
always talk about this, People say anybody can succeed in
that offense, and I get at the Kyle Shanahan offense,

(41:18):
and I understand that in the context of Brock Purdy,
but it was like he was saying himself that we
need an elite quarterback at that point that they were.
They went up to the number three pick. Now, that
was a draft of the whole bunch of quarterbacks if
you remember, I think there were six at least five
in the first round that year, and in the initial
speculations they were going to take Mac Jones third overall.
I do remember that, and then and then ended up
taking Trey Lance. Now neither one of them have worked

(41:40):
out well at all. Really judge by the fact that
Mac Jones is on what it's at least his third team. Yeah,
he's the backup.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
In Jacksonville, Jacksonville, San fran Yep, you're right.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
So at least now from a Shanahan perspective, he gets
to try try this again with another the elites or
not elite. That probably the wrong but a high Pedigree'll
go back to that in term talked about the Steelers
drafting high that they could have been. It was a
what a top fifteen pick in the in the draft
and could have been was considered to be the third
overall pick in there. But yeah, it is crazy because
San Francisco, I had them a little bit higher, I

(42:11):
think in the QB A B C D E f
G JDQMBC. Yeah. Yeah, I can never get the sound
of like I need to I need to go home
and study, I need to put up put it, you know,
tape it my bathroom mirror, so I know, I know
that acronym at all the time. So I had them
probably higher than anybody because I still kind of believe
in the roster. But it's just like, man, they're they're
there's their team. They are like snake bitting in terms.

(42:31):
Every year they have a division win on the roads.
They bought themselves a little bit of a buffer there
if they get you know, but I don't know, we'll see,
I'm I am you We all off the airline. But
I'm curious to see Mac Jones in that in a
good system like that too. And you know, if Rock
Party was able to succeed in it like he was.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Is he going to be the latest UH quarterback rehab
patient Shanahan rehab Sam Darnold for he was a backup
there to Party for a year, then he goes to Minnesota.
Was supposed to be a backup there too, but then
had to befoced into starting when McCarthy got hurt in
the preseason and he had his career here, got paid
a ton of money from Seattle. Maybe Mac joneskon because
you're right, like he's not good, but he did still

(43:08):
have that pedigree of a first round pick.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
He championship at Alabama.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
I mean, he was a really good quarterback the playoffs
as a rookie year.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Yeah, and then they gave him Matt Patricia as his offensive
coordinator his second year. Do you remember that, Like they
didn't have an offensive coordinator for so Like I'm I'm
willing to entertain that the end of the Belichick era,
the ruins of that dynasty that he tried to keep
going for a little bit, just ate him alive. I mean, like, yeah,
it was a good year's rookie year. He went ten

(43:37):
and seven and he went to the playoffs. Then Belichick,
I think just went off the reservation, like I don't
need an offensive coordinator Matt. Matt could be the offensive coordinator. Like, dude,
you have a second year you have a second year quarterback. Dude,
Like that's just it was very foolish and I think
very detrimental to his development. Obviously, now he's got the
exact opposite, though, Like they pour resources into San Francisco

(43:58):
and teams like that to helping the quarterback and really
the quarterback one of there's like five quarterback coaches out there,
like one official one and then there's like four guys
that are like who are those guys?

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Don't worry about the when we pay them under the
table to help out our quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
He took the nest as you said, great at Sanford, Yes,
and that's where so yes, I'm going to entertain You're right,
I don't. I don't not gonna predict necessarily he'll be
that he'll have this great season, But in terms of
what you have, in terms of the backup situation, in
terms of the the roster situation, in terms of the
drop off from the starter, I think, especially if it

(44:29):
is necessarily shorter term, although I guess I don't know
if you ever con vision a scenario where he does
so well he takes over for Brock Purty.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Actually, I was just gonna say, I'll make a prediction.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
I don't think he takes over for Brock Party, but
I bet you they do pretty well, and I bet
you he does pretty well.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Where that's a topic where people are like, do you
go back to Brock when he's healthy? But I bet
you they ultimately do.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Yeah, you're probably right. I mean how much money they
give Party just a few months ago. Yes, that's a
big part. That would be. It would be hard to
kind of give up on it that quickly and switch gears.
But you know, a season is on the line if
if they are that that good, and maybe it won't
work out all Maybe maybe I'm talking myself into this.
I don't know. I don't know how good mac joke
I guess down the stretch and I didn't even realize this.

(45:08):
I was reading about it, how the Jaguars passing offense
was almost was subjectively better but statistically better whenever Trevor
Lawrence was hurt last season. So, I mean, you know,
is that an outlier? Is that because Brian Thomas Junior
was maturing as I don't know that, but it's.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
There real quick before we hit the brake, do you
think this is Russell Wilson, our old buddy's last start
in the NFL this week coming up? It's always bad
when your head coach has to announce in week two
that you're still the starting.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Quarterback and after after the game week one, not not
announcing it.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
I won't cos there's already questions there.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yeah, and they already supposedly had if it wasn't for apparently,
or at least from the Giants perspective, Jackson Dart h
impressing and having a good preseason. I don't know if necessary,
although Jamis is there. That's the crazy part.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
I was going to say, if this was a true
battle because Dable from the start was like us as
our starter, there was no pole position or anything like that,
like Russ is our starting quarterback. I bet you if
it was an open competition, James probably would have edged
him out or would have made it real close, and
they probably would have been like, we should go with
Jamis to start the year before we go to Jackson.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
I mean, we talk about alternatives that are viable backups
and things like that. The Giants have two that they
could easily turn to and are probably better than their
starter right now. Yeah, so that makes another reason why
Russ is probably on a really short leash.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
And obviously it's a good point that you're bringing up,
like they don't have to ruin the rookie to take
Russ out, they can just both Rits.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Then yeah, yeah, So there's a lot of writing on
the wall here that that the leash is short and
that I mean, it's a rebuilding season. It looks like
again for the Giants, judging by week one, and if
that's the case, then what are you have a thirty seven?
Or yeah, yeah, what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (46:44):
So we'll keep an eye on Russ. He plays Dallas
this week. Great career, Russ. Thanks for the memories last year,
but I think it is coming to the.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
I always have that six and one stretch with Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Your runway is coming to an end here.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
There's no one putting asphalt down there like they are
with Broderick Jones. All Right, when Chris and I com back,
we'll take a look at things from the Seattle Seahawk
perspective and also talk about Steelers and their wide receiver too.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
That's on the way on the Steelers Blitz on the
Steelers Audio Network.