Does Aaron Rodgers elevate the Steelers' Super Bowl aspirations?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Underground, The steel City Underground, the black
and gold standard for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage. Now here's your hoes.
Joe Kuzma and Brian E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steels
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzba. I'm joined
here by my good colleague, pal and friend of one,
mister Brian E. Roach. Brian, how's going it?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
So lovely, lovely day?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's ten million degrees, the sun has scorched the earth
to a baron husk, and yet we survive.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I think I've mentioned this before. I don't know if
you were much of an original Nintendo player Super Mario
three and they had that level with the sun that
would chase you in the desert and it would float around,
and yeah, that's where we're at right now. The sun
is trying to kill us all. So I saw that
at a meme and that's always stuck with me. So

(01:03):
we're gonna be kind of brief and to the point
with this because we have really been broken records with
Aaron Rodgers. But before we start, apologies in advance, we've
gotten some technical issues.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
I think squared.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Away with the show finally, like there's been some audio
issues and all new equipment and stuff on my end,
and then Brian may have some other issues because he
has a new dog that's trying to get coexist in
a new environment, so apologies and events.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
She may get a little Barkie A little.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Barkie is that always? That's a good rap name. Actually,
little Barkie.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
They call me little Barkie.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yo yo yo, Yeah, I think that it's mumble wrap now, Brian,
it's no longer. It's not the hip hop that we grow.
It's one of them, something like that.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Buddha.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Okay, if we hadn't turned everybody off already, what can
we say about so from from our perspective, we've talked
about Aaron Rodgers signing pros and cons, did he have
a better team with the Jets last year, and what
he's going to have now. I have a little more
of a twist on this from things that have been
listening to, you know, over the last day or so.
He was just on Pat McAfee the very Big well

(02:19):
of course the other news too. We have big news.
Did you know about the big news? Steelers had a
big signing, huge signing. You don't typically get long Snapper
news this time of the year, So.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's you know, that's hey that you know, forget it
put instead of does Aaron Rodgers elevate, it's does the
new long Snapper elevate?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I was actually trying to look up his name. He
was front he was with the Patriots last year. Is
it official? It's not on the official wave, it's not
on an official wire yet. It was like adding ten
or something like that. But anyways, yeah, long Snapper news,
like really really big. Sorry, folks, that's about all there's

(03:04):
been going on.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
You have a good night. We'll be yeah. Yeah, I
don't forget.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Don't forget to try the veal Tucker Addington, that's who
it was who was with Patriots. So yeah, I don't
know my cousin. My cousin has this strange thing with
like Christian kots going on. And I know that might
sound weird just on the onset, but it's like if
he's in the Giant Eagle or the Igle, the Giant

(03:30):
Egle and just randomly shopping in the Pittsburgh area, he's
bumped into this guy just randomly, like about a half
dozen or you know, so times over the last year
or two that you know, how many people would spot
Christian Kots to know who it is in public, let alone,
you probably don't even know who he is on the
football field. It's like, off top of your head, what

(03:52):
number does Christian Kots wear? Well, I'm cheating right now.
Actually I'm trying to forty or Man.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
I was gonna be one off.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I was actually gonna say forty seven, but then I
realized that was wrong because I know who wears forty seven,
and so then I was like, well I think it's
a forty though.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, yeah, So anyways, my friend, Yeah, let me just
say this, Okay, I don't want anybody named Tucker on
the team, Can we just I don't want any Tuckers.
I don't Tucker is a name that annoys me. I
don't want I have bad I have bad experiences with
people named Tucker. Okay, probably I'm not going to go

(04:33):
there either more than goodly.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
So it's a good idea not to go there.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, back on the Aaron Rodgers stuff, Well, like I said,
you know, we've beaten the dead horse some but this
could be a different perspective because of what he said
on Pat McAfee. Basically, he said, you know, he could
picture this scene his last year, his last year in
the NFL. Right, so it bangs the wonder or there's
a lot of questions here, why did you come back?
It took him forever to se for, you know, if

(05:01):
you were going to commit to the team. A lot
of people said, oh, well he had a handshake agreement.
Well those aren't necessarily binding, you know what I mean,
That doesn't guarantee anything.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
And it took him forever.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Whatever else he had going on in his life, we
speculated maybe a sick friend, a marriage, all these other
things have surfaced, right, and then finally makes his decision.
He comes, he's there at mini camp, and he's been
working with DK Metcalfe the offseason, and you thought it
was pretty much going to happen six hours or so
at the Steelers' facilities, leaning his case as to, you know,

(05:35):
whether he should probably be involved in some off season
programs and everything else. But now he's here, Now he's signed,
and we've had the you know, pros and cons what's
he do for this or that? But number one overall
is the Steelers are probably in this same position next
year unless Aaron Rodgers were to win it all, so
he decides he's going to play football, right, Aaron Glenn

(05:59):
goes to Jets new head coach. They try and meet,
They didn't get the right vibe with him. You've got
all these other stories to surface, but lo and behold
him and Mike Tomlin apparently like have mutual respect for
one another. And he's gonna come and he's gonna play
for the Steelers and he's gonna maybe solve some of
their quarterback issues maybe for one season. Where does that

(06:20):
get the Steelers? Like, where do we see the Steelers?
Because some people are saying, well, this makes them more
of a contender than if they just had Mason, Rudolph
Skyler Thompson, Will Howard, Well maybe maybe not. We don't know.
Rogers will be forty two in December. But does it
does it make them a playoff team? Does it make
them a favorite even in the AFC North or the

(06:43):
AFC to even try and get as high as to
a Super Bowl where all of Rogers' incentives really kick
in a few meal here female there. If he plays
in these postseason games and wins, I.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Mean, I give you a short answer, no, as the
short end. So the answer is no.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Do they have a better chance of success in the
playoffs with Aaron Rodgers versus what they had with just
Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Skyla Thompson?

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Maybe? Maybe, But I really still think the answers no.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
You know, you never want to say never, right because
I mean, who's the guy from the Ravens that won
a Super Bowl that you know was not a good quarterback?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Trent Dolphin, Yeah, Trent Dilfer. And who was it somebody
else Johnson that was with the Buccaneers too?

Speaker 4 (07:39):
Is it Brad Johnson?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Brad Johnson was with the Buccaneers. I mean, you never
say never, could never. But if the defense really goes crazy, right,
what if it's impossible to score on this team and
they win game seven to three and fourteen to ten
and managed to get through you know, the defense actually
finally plays up to the money that we're spending on it,

(08:01):
and they maintain that hold on teams like the Ravens
and the Bills and the Chiefs and get there, right.
You know, that's there's scenarios where it could happen.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
But does it.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Really make it more likely with Aaron Rodgers No, I
don't think it does.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, it's tough for me to say exactly where the
bar is set for the Steelers here. You mentioned the
teams they're chasing. Does it make them better in the
Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills are such an enigma to me.
You've got Josh Allen, he could play, but he turns
the ball over just as much as anybody else. Sometimes

(08:42):
there's always questions of you know, he has those like
kind of preseason jitters in September, and folks just aren't
on the same page with them. Then by the time
you get to December, it's like, holy cow, look at
this guy is the MVP, and you have Lamar Jackson,
the previous MVP, and both of these guys actually could
have flip flopped him. Maybe Allen should have won the
year before and Lamar should have won last year because

(09:04):
their numbers were way better. It was almost like an
apology maybe for Josh Allen from the previous year. But
they're both in the same conference. And then you know,
for the Steelers, the Ravens are in the same division.
And that's not counting a team that's come out of
the AFC and played in the last three Super Bowls,
the Kansas City Chiefs, I have a pretty decent coach,

(09:25):
and Andie Reid, Patrick Mahomes and all, you know, the
whole bottle of wax. So there's already three teams that
you've got to overcome with forty one going on, forty
two year old quarterback. I mean, that's it's a tough
one for me just to put them up against those teams. Now,
who else do you have to look at around the AFC? Well,

(09:46):
look within the division. Cleveland Browns. Yeah, the Bengals are
the Bengals are the Bengals, I don't know, then Cleveland,
so maybe you could put them. It's hard to say
that they'd be better on paper than the Baltimore Ravens.
Right now, I don't have the Bengals. No, no, no,
the Steelers. The Steelers.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
Oh yeah, it's no. You can't say that, right, Yeah,
I can't say that.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I can't say that. Bengals man Joe Burrow has those
same September October jitters. They can off to another slow start,
they'll be in the same spot they were in last season,
trying to chase the playoff spot. The bad defense.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Here's the thing about the Bengals, you cannot you can't
reliably assume that their defense will be as crappy as
it was last year. But you can fairly well assume,
with T Higgins under contract, the Jamar Chase under contract,
that their offense.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Is going to be just as robust. Right, so you.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Would have to expect the Bengals have a better season
this year than they had last year. I think that's
just reliably you know, that's a reasonable expectation. It doesn't
mean it'll happen, but it's a reasonable expectation. And if
you assume their defense is slightly improved and their offense
no longer certain question marks about longevity and whether these

(11:03):
guys are gonna get paid and all those kinds.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
Of things, I mean, one or two things could happen.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
They can just go to sleep and say, hey, you know,
we don't care, we got our money, or they could
play lights out the same way they did last year,
at which point I don't think that the Steelers are
better than the Bengals right now.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
I think our defense is better. I don't think our
offense is. I think that's a tale of two sides
to a coin. There. It's going to be their offense
can certainly put up points against anybody, as they should.
They returned just about everyone. Chase Brown, We'll see how
he does coming back this season. He got hurt there
near the end of the year. Zach Moss, who's never

(11:40):
been reliable health wise, but still on the roster. They
brought back som j Perne, who's always been a reliable
kind of third down asset to them. You mentioned, you know,
Jamar Chase t Higgins. They're both making a ton of money.
Jo Savage has filled in very nicely. It really wasn't
an AFC North comparison just yet. But they've got a

(12:01):
couple questions. I think both of their guards are up
in the a Marius mems so if they could protect
Burrow and he doesn't get injured as well. But certainly
there's an arms race there because I think the Steelers
defense against the Bengals offense will be the tail of
the tape, rather than does Aaron Rodgers really move the
needle that much? Don't forget Russell Wilson dropped forty plus
points on the Bengals in their place, so well Aaron

(12:24):
Rodgers do that same thing. I mean, those are the
questions that I have. I think more or less what
we're looking at with Aaron Rodgers, I don't even know
that I'm looking within the AFC North. Obviously he's gonna
have to compete against those teams. But when you think
about his motivation to return to football and play with
the Pittsburgh Steelers, it had to be maybe DK Metcalf,

(12:45):
Maybe it was Mike Tomlin. Maybe it's a historic franchise,
you know what I think it was, though, I think
it was right where I was with my hunch of
I thought he would go to the Vikings. He gets
to play those teams, he gets the play, he gets
some revenge games this year, he gets to play a
division that he's been familiar with, although a few years removed,
not exactly the same teams, but the Detroit Lions he

(13:08):
gets to play. He gets to play the Bears, who
he's owned for years. He gets a revenge match with
the Green Bay Packers, and most importantly, right out the gate,
he gets to face the New York Jets, a team
that pretty much, you know, tossed him to the curb,
and I think that might be part.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Of the motivation.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Is also two I'll backtrack on this he might not
have known this, Brian, but here's a fun fact. Lamar
Jackson and Aaron Rodgers have never faced off against one another.
So depending on how this Rogers expoundent goes, maybe twice. Yeah. Yeah,
so you're talking about TV TV contracts, money games. There's

(13:49):
quite a few money games on this Steelers schedule. And
then don't forget the vikings. That game's in Ireland, so
that's got a marquee you know thing to it too. Yeah, buddy,
we're going to talk about that at some point, man, Brian,
or think, well, we're not just thinking with the wheels
are in motion.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
The wheels are in most the money step, my friend,
there's no thinking anymore. You will be on the on
the Irish Isles.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yes, I got a book by flight still so, but
we will be there. Maybe we'll be live from there,
because that's uh, that's quite yeah, why not quite, that'll
be uh well, depending on when we decide to do
a live show from there, it'll be early in the
morning or in the afternoon. Wow, I don't know about live.

Speaker 4 (14:31):
We'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
So and then the.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Same thing Aaron Rodgers and Joe Burrow. I think there's
a rematch that's there. Let me see, I forget often
forget the things that I write sometimes over it's still
City Underground dot com. That's the Thursday night game in
Cincinnati on the short week. That doesn't set the Steelers
up pretty well. But it was an overtime game the
last time those two faced off back at twenty twenty one.
So you know, he gets the face Burrow, he gets

(14:56):
to face Lamar, he gets to face you know, all
the end see North opponents. I'm missing someone, Jordan Love.
He gets the face, you know with the Packers. So
that there's a lot of you know, Aaron Rodgers could
shove it back in you know, someone's face. Whether or
not he's gonna be capable of doing so, is you know,
a limitation of maybe his age, his physical abilities. You've

(15:19):
mentioned you mentioned lesser quarterbacks, but let's talk about some
of the ones that have been veterans that signed Kurt
Warner with the Cardinals, and these guys were younger than
Aaron Rodgers, right. But Tom Brady, Tom Brady is a
different beast. He's got, you know, an animal and he's
got a whole jewelry drawer full of Super Bowl rings.
But makes me vomit even, you know, saying that. But

(15:40):
Peyton Manning was a noodle arm by the time he
got that championship with the Broncos. They had a very
stellar year when he first got there, and he was
coming off that neck injury and a year away from football.
So Rogers is over a year removed from the Achilles deal.
Is not to say that he can't. Peyton was a

(16:00):
little bit younger. He was what thirty eight thirty nine,
Maybe maybe he had forty, maybe he did hit forty,
but he was like Hitt ben Ben's age, But very
few guys that are forty or more. So I hate
to like bring that as a comparison, But a lot
of people forget even though that the Broncos they had
all those guys. They had Manny Sanders, Hadamarius Thomas, they
had Eric Decker there with them too, and it was defense, defense, defense, milfens.

(16:27):
And they had to make that decision too, because remember
they let brock Oswyler go and they didn't and then
then Manning retired and they've been up until last Maybe
maybe they found the guy with bo Nicks, But they've
been in purgatory too finding quarterbacks. They've tried all the
same things.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
True shit, Yeah, I'm sure it was not that big
of a you know, concern to let brock Osweiler go.
But you know what did you hear about him after
he left?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, he signed like a huge three or four year
deal at the time was seventy some million dollars or whatever.
That's why they gave von Miller the contract over him.
So you look at the way the Steelers are handling this.
You have Aaron Rodgers saying this might be his last year.
Where's where's Aaron Rodgers? What's his goal? If he wins
a super Bowl? Does he hang it up on a

(17:13):
high note like Peyton Manning.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Did one guaranteed if he wins, I guarantee you that's
a walk away. That's like, look, Jerome did it. There
are very few people who have done it. Win and
walk right. When you get to this point in your career,
you know, forty one years old, if you walk away
winning the super Bowl like that is I just I

(17:37):
feel like that's it. That's the ultimate, you know, curtain
call for your career. I won and I'm done.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, I mean what else is there to do? Now,
what happens if he gets to like they the Steelers
finally you know, get the chip off their shoulder and
they win a playoff game, maybe they get to the
divisional maybe they get.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
To the AF championship game.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Does he feel like you know? That's those are January
games and we've mentioned the places that if the Steelers
aren't better than the Ravens, the Bills, or the Chiefs,
those are all, you know, aside from playing at home
in Pittsburgh, very cold weather climate kind of places you're
not going to be playing in any dome. Games on
the road like New Orleans, Minnesota, Dallas, right, you know

(18:25):
what I mean? Like the NFC has a lot of that.
So that's that's kind of interesting to me, is where
it ends there. And you're playing these games in January
and you're feeling the cold, you're feeling the arthritis and
your bones and everything. And do you come back if
you just end up short? And how does that delay
the Steelers' progression with their quarterbacks? And if Aaron Rodgers

(18:49):
doesn't come back, does is he really going to be
that mentor is he going to be that teacher? Is
he going to be the guy that a Mason Rudolph
or Will Howard learns from, or the Steelers just wipe
the slate kind of again, I don't think they'll wipe
the slate with Will Howard, but who's to say he
ever gets a chance.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
I mean, you know.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
This is you know, from all reports, Aaron Rodgers is
embracing the role of mentorship with Will Howard. Whether that's
true or not, whether that's just a pr I don't know,
but reporting states that's that's the case, and he seems
to be embracing the idea of that role because you

(19:30):
know what, that's legacy, right if he can, if he
can impart wisdom to Will Howard and Will Howard turns
into a non schlub, Like, that's a legacy statement for
Aaron Rodgers to go to your point, like, it depends
on how it ends. Right, Let's say they get to
the playoffs and they make it to round one and

(19:51):
bail out.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
Forget it. I think he's done.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Get to round you know, get past the first round
of playoff games, get to a divisional round game and
maybe just lose.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Well, now there's some questions.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Get to an AFC championship game, let's say it ends
on a field goal at the end of the game
where you had that much of a like it could
have gone either way in those kinds of circumstances, like
where it was like the taste of it was there.
You know, if you felt like you had the chance.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
I could see him lobbying to come back again. You
know that.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
But you know that's all just imaginary bull crap. As
far as I'm concerned, none of that's going to happen.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
You know, there's there's quite a few folks that think
that Rogers improves this team to being a super Bowl contender.
You have to think that it's got to be in
his mind. I mean, why else would he come back
the aside from opportunity, there weren't a lot of opportunities
for him, but the ones that were there, Like I said, Minnesota,
they just won fourteen games, and there's really nobody else

(20:59):
standing in your way to go there and to take
that starting role really, unless they really wanted to go
with McCarthy, and they were probably set to do that
maybe last season, or at least play Darnald for a
little bit. They weren't expecting Darnald to probably play, you know,
the full season, and then there's Pittsburgh. I mean it
was Pittsburgh and he says it was Pittsburgh or nobody else.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
But why is that?

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Is it because he feels this is a roster that
could win it all. He's got to get that stench
off of him from the New York Jets stint. They
don't want to end your career the way it did there.
And there's just so many things. Oh my goodness. They
just had an interview with one of the guys I
think from the front office or whatever, and was talking
about everything from coaches the players, like an unwillingness of

(21:40):
Rogers to throw the ball to Garrett Wilson, or checking
out of plays that were handoffs to Braylan Allen or
Breise Hall, just continually forcing it maybe to DeVante Adams,
who I think also had some incentives in his contract,
so some of that might not have been too far fetched.
You can take care of your buddy there, but it's also, oh,

(22:01):
you know, Rogers has to get on the same page
with these players. He's got to have the timing down.
Just one small like hiccup in that we saw it happen.
We try to blame maybe Russell Wilson, you try and
blame justin fields. But some of that stuff is clearly on.
Like George Pickens, for example, I saw him. You saw
him run route short, run, wrong route, not go where

(22:22):
the quarterback's expecting. How long does a quarterback have to
throw the ball in the National Football League when you're
playing against the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns defenses,
for example with Miles Garrett, how long do you have
to throw that ball? That ball has got to you anticipate.
That was one of the things that we really like

(22:45):
drug Mitch Drubisky and Kenny Pickett for was when Pickett
first came out there, he was anticipating, but he was
thrown it in the wrong spots. He was, you know,
seeing ghosts. And I liked that he was taking like that,
he had that AGGRESSI but then it slowly turned into
this isn't a good thing. Now you're turning the ball
over too much. But some of that, you know, Aaron

(23:06):
Rodgers is turning the ball over.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
Is he gonna keep going.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Back to that player if you know that player is unreliable,
if the player, like you know, gives like a little
stutter step or trips or stubbles or you know, button
hooks and shitting button hook or whatever might be the case.
They're not where they're supposed to be. And you're a
guy that's been around for twenty some years, you're probably
gonna especially the dumpster fire that you know they've fired

(23:30):
Robert Salah a month into the season and everything else.
Could that happen again in Pittsburgh though, And I mean
it would be disastrous. I mean we're talking about Mike Tomlin,
a guy who hasn't had a losing season, and people say, well,
there's whatever mediocrity at least gets to that point. Yes,
he does. No matter what, what cards he has to play,
whatever's dealt, Mike Tomlin knows how to play his hands,

(23:53):
and that should be you know, a hats off to him.

Speaker 4 (23:55):
And his ability to coach.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
What happens if Aaron Rodgers goes rogue, because last season
we were starting to hear those rumblings with Russell Wilson
and Russell Wilson was not brought back.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, look, I do think this is this is a
this is a short term relationship, man.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
This is a this is a feel good, short term relationship.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
This is a casual booty call football version of the
booty call.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
For a season. That's what this is.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's like, hey, Aaron Rodgers, you know you got kind
of a little magic. Let's let's see what we can do.
And you know, it's a little booty calls. At the
end of the year, it's done. I look, I think
it's highly unlikely to Steelers have a desire to keep Russell,
to keep Aaron Rodgers more than a single season. I
don't think it's likely Aaron Rodgers wants to play more
than one more season. I think what he wants is

(24:45):
the chance to try and go out on a high
as opposed to the ship show that happened in New York.
I do think he wants the opportunity to potentially have
a legacy with a quarterback like Will Howard. Whether Will
Howard has the ability to give him that, I don't know.

(25:06):
You know, I do think that this is, you know,
these are the reasons that he decided to come here.
I think he has a sh I mean, they have
a shot. The Steelers defense is good enough that every
single season they have a shot, right it. You know,
it really depends on whether injuries fall apart, how often,

(25:28):
how long they're on the field, whether the offense can
play complimentary football, all the things that haven't happened consistently
right over the past few seasons. You can't, you know,
you just can't. The unexpected happens, right. But the defense
is solid enough, is good enough that any given season,

(25:52):
they could be on fire and take this team far
into the postseason.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
And I think that's.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
That is attractive to Aaron Rodgers at this point because
it gives him at least a shot, right, and it's
not all on him, right, We just have to wait
and see. I've stated multiple times my expectations very very low.
But it doesn't mean that there is zero chance all

(26:21):
this stuff could happen. I just look at it like
you've got a better chance of hitting a scratcher than
Aaron Rodgers taking this team to the super Bowl. It
just doesn't mean just doesn't mean it can't happen. It
just means it's really not likely.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Does that mean you're not putting any money on the Steelers?

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Don't you know? I don't bet. My money is my money.
I don't give it to other people.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
I love that man. I was trying to look at.
You made it a good point. I was going to
bring up Tom Brady because.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
Brady winning the.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Super Bowl that he did in some of the numbers
that bring you believe this though, Brady in twenty twenty
one seven hundred and nineteen pass attempts in seven hundred
and thirty three. He finished out his last two seasons
thirty four games in the NFL, throwing for almost fourteen
hundred and fifty throws. Holy cow, man, and he's was

(27:20):
forty five years old. Those are like career highs. Tom
was not throwing seven hundred passes in Bruce Arians man.
I'll tell you anyways, Bruce Arians. But you know his
first year there at twenty twenty and then he hung around.
He didn't go out on top me. He had just
been like, oh, you know what, New England, I showed you.
You know I could do this without you. Everybody was

(27:43):
wondering if he could. He was up there in age,
New England kind of got that itch to move on.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
Now.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Robert Kraft is like, you know, crying over spilt milk.
These last two years were the worst in my thirty
years of ownership or whatever, and it's like it's a
little a little bit of hyper believe. There were some
really bad years in New England before Bill Belichick and
you know there. But you know what, that's a good
point too. Let me rewind real quick before I go
to Tom Brady's In a parallel with the Steelers defense,

(28:09):
you mentioned Will Howard in a legacy. What does it
take for Will Howard to get on the field, Because
when I think of somebody like brock Purty, they went
for Trey Lance. He got hurt. If Trey Lance doesn't
get hurt, brock Purty never sees the field. Then they
had to drag Jimmy G back out there. They were
already trying to move on from Jimmy G. They took
Purty as a mister irrelevant. He went over some adjacent

(28:30):
Stidham or somebody that was like that. I don't think
it was Stidham. It was somebody else, like their name
escapes me, but it was like, you know, a guy
it's very firmly like a QB three on the roster,
and if he doesn't have that opportunity where he's not
looking over his shoulder. None of those guys were returning
the rest of the season. I don't know that we
ever know who brock Purty is. Now that's also saying
Kyle Shanahan, and then all the offensive weapons that they

(28:50):
had in San Francisco a little bit different maybe than
what Pittsburgh has Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin and then you're
talking basically DK Metcalf right now. So maybe a little
bit different. If brock Perty goes in at Pittsburgh, he
probably has the same career trajectory as a Mason Rudolph.
Like Mason Rudolph still had to look over his shoulder,
Big Ben's going to return stuff like that, and then

(29:11):
he got knocked out of games, you know, Brooke and
clavicle at the end of that season, concussion, everything like that.
So I think about that too. With Will Howard, I'm like,
what does it take to get that opportunity? And if
you have it, are you gonna let that go?

Speaker 4 (29:24):
Now?

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Tampa Bay Defense pulling up some names here because Tom
Brady didn't just join a team that didn't have players.
They had a player who threw for thirty touchdowns, over
thirty touchdowns and then thirty interceptions in Jameis Winston. He
was losing them games and that's what Tom Brady didn't do,
But I'm not going to discount what Brady did either

(29:47):
forty six hundred plus yards, forty touchdowns to twelve interceptions.
I don't know that Aaron Rodgers has forty touchdowns in
I don't know that the Arthur Smith offense is a
forty touchdown uh pass or forty passing touchdown kind of offense.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
But feels unlikely.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, feels feels a little unlikely. It feels like I
think they would try and run the football if they can.
But when you get to defense and you get to
some of these players, Jason Pierre, Paul, you added some
you added some veterans too, Okay, so some people come
along with the Brady effect. Devin White when he was
still playing pretty good, Shaq Barrett and Doma Kong Sue
shows up there. They already had Antoine Winfield and William Goldston,

(30:28):
Jordan Whitehead, Videvea, Levonte David. So they I mean, they
had some dudes on their defense. Carlton Davis was there,
Sean Murphy, Bunting. They had some players that were still
young that are more household names now too. But they
really had some nice drafts uh and and a lot
of talent that was there. So that's what you're kind
of hoping that maybe and Aaron Rodgers can bring with

(30:50):
the Steelers. Just somebody who doesn't make those Jamis Winston
kind of mistakes and sinks a team that I think
has had some pretty good drafts. But you know, the
Steelers have been snaked bit. Troy Fatanhuo didn't get on
the field much last year. Rom and Wilson didn't get
on the field much last year. And people are criticizing
Omar Kahn. You just got a quarterback for thirteen million dollars.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
You haven't been like he.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Hasn't sunk the ship with a big, bad quarterback deal.
Are shooting high for somebody in the draft that you
you know, don't forget Kenny Pickett was a Kevin Kolbert pick,
So we can't place that on Omar Kahn. As far
as you know, failure or success. I think he's built
some really nice teams really quietly, and he makes some
really what do you want to say, intelligent trades with

(31:35):
you know, how he got Joey Porter's pick, for example,
trading away Chase Claypool and just knowing when to pull
the trigger at certain points all the draft capital that
they have, the guys that they've signed over the last
couple of years, like Patrick Queen, and now you might
have Aaron Rodgers here just to kind of solidify. Like
I said, give Mike Tomlin the best hand dealt that

(31:58):
he can play with. So I do see some parallels
there with Tampa Bay with Aaron Rodgers. The thing is
Aaron Rodgers stats last year weren't quite where I think
Brady left off in New England. Brady had over four
thousand yards, but he was a little down twenty four touchdowns,
eight interceptions. He has ever been a big interception kind
of guy. He only took twenty seven sacks. Aaron Rodgers

(32:20):
last year with the Jets just shy of thirty nine
hundred yards passing twenty eight touchdowns to eleven interceptions. But
the forty sacks, that's still an upgrade. I think it
tracked some with Russell Wilson's numbers. But as we as
we look into the future, if Aaron Rodgers is able
to bring that to Pittsburgh, I think that that that's

(32:45):
complimentary football. They just can't go three and out. I
think is the biggest thing over the last few years
sustained some damn drives, but I don't see Aaron throwing
five hundred and eighty four passes in Arthur Smith's offense
in seventeen games.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
Either.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
There's been a couple issues that you know, I don't
think we've addressed. Yes, the Steelers defense has been good,
but they've been able to get worn down.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
Why.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Look, Larry Ogunjob was not a top tier talent during
his time here. He was good, but he wasn't blowing
things up right. His production was minimal, So you had
half the line, that half of that front between him,
Keanu and Cam or whoever else was in there was

(33:28):
not as solid as you'd like it to be. Keanu
is still learning. TJ has been hurt during the second
half of seasons. I think they're in a better position
right now. You've got Nick Herbig, you've got Alex Higsmith,
You've got Jack Sawyer, and you got TJ.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
That's a better.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Cycle than they've had depending on how Jack Sawyer comes around.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
And you and I have been able to watch Jack
Sawyer for four years. Right.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
The one thing you can say about Jack Sawyer he
has very TJ Watt like Right, he makes to always.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Win on the first move. But he will never stop ever.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
And you know, it's that kind of stuff that maybe
keeps TJ healthy for the whole season. Because I'm just
gonna tell you, we've we've all said it multiple times.
TJ is a is a game wrecker and a changer
if he's healthy. When he's not healthy, when he's not
one hundred percent, he's not the same guy, right, He's
not the same player.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
So you need that. And I think if if those
changes that.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
They've made, adding Harmon, adding Sawyer, the other changes they
have on defense, you know, I think the safety was
a great addition and extension.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, we didn't talk about that at all. That's a great, great,
great pick. I thought Deshaun Elliott was excellent last year
and so he was showing fantastic when he wasn't there
against like the Eagles and maybe the Chiefs as well.
He missed a game or two or was banged up
to it showed it was night and day.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean the two the risk point, I think
Darius Slay is better. Who who's the old dude that
we had a little well it wasn't too old, but
Dante Jackson, he was in his no, no.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Not that old dude, the old dude before that, Patrick Peterson. Yeah,
Patrick Peterson, that old dude. You think Darius Slay has
more in him than than Patrick Peterson had when he came.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
All Right, the question really is is Joey Porter going
to have a bound I don't want to even say
bounce back. He didn't have a great year last year,
he didn't have a horrible year last year. But is
he going to continue to progress or do is Joey Porter?
Who Joey Porter is right now?

Speaker 4 (35:39):
Right?

Speaker 3 (35:39):
If he elevates his game again, I think Darius Slay
helps out. I think all of a sudden, I think
all the pieces of there, provided they can avoid the bug.
I think they have a tremendous core of inside linebackers
right now. So you know that defense can be a
very scary defense if everything happy path and goes to

(36:01):
plan it right, lose a couple pieces and the depth
is not going to be there to maintain right. So
that's why I said it's you don't want to say
it can't happen, because it can, because the defense can
be good enough to make all this work. But will
they be That's that's for the season to let us.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Find out about.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, and you know all the things you said a
slave's addition, definitely something to help mentor porter. But there's
one more set of intangibles to talk about, and that's
Aaron Rodgers goes on the Pat McAfee show. He's like
a regular guest.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
Like that's a pain in the ass.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
I mean, it's not being the host of Jeopardy or
anything like that right now. So there are some of
those things that do make me wonder about the ego,
the individual, just how he fits into the and you know,
Mike Tomlin, hopefully there's the mutual respect. Mike Tomlin has
kept the lid on some volatile personalities over the years.

(37:08):
So we'll leave it at that. We may not have
anything else to say about mister Rogers until we get
to training camp about one month away from now, about
four weeks from now, So looking forward to that and
just making some more travel plans man hopefully, So trying
to just find just you've got your stuff all set up.

(37:28):
I'm just trying to figure out I'm getting out there. Yeah,
you got it a little easier to me, like otherwise,
let's put it this way. I have no intention of
doing a thirty five hour trip to Ireland on the
way back or on the way back from Ireland. Oh,
it's it's crazy. It was like a two day set
of legs on the trip and I'm just like, so

(37:50):
figuring that out. But folks, that's an aside we're going
to talk about. I think may even have a guest. Brian,
you may get bumped. You almost got bumped yesterday actually
because we were going to do a show and then
mister Rogers decided he was going to talk and then
we went for this. But talk about maybe some travel tips,
some you're coming to a Steelers game kind of tips

(38:13):
and things that we've experienced over the years of traveling
to games both at home and away and stuff like that.
So let us know if you have some interest in that.
I know somebody that's chopping on the bit to be
on the show, believe it or not, is Heather And
you always see her picture back here, and I'm like,
she's not the biggest football knowledge person, but if you

(38:34):
would like somebody that has a little bit of a
different outside the box opinion on some of this. She
came right out the gate. There was something that I forgot,
like one of these talking heads. We were listening to
something radio or otherwise, and she just blurted out and
she was like, well, he's no longer with the Steelers,
so why did they care? And I just thought that
was pretty great. So Brian might get a prettier face

(38:56):
on here for just one show during the summer to
fill the airwaves. We have no other news or anything
to talk about. Pick her brain. Well, you know, all
boats rides with the tide, my friend, So folks, let
us know what you might want us to talk about.
Another one that always comes up frequently is watching games,

(39:18):
particularly if you're not in a Pittsburgh Steelers broadcast area.
Other than that, we're going to leave it at that
for this show. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, leave
a rating or review wherever you may be watching or listening.
If you're watching on YouTube and next day on one
of our Spotify feeds that we do have a video

(39:39):
feed and we also have a audio one, so subscribe
to the appropriate one where necessary. My name's Joe. Thank
you once again to my dude, mister Brian E. Roach
for joining us today. Brian, any last thoughts.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
I don't want to talk about Aaron Rodgers anymore. Man.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
He's the gift that keeps on giving though. He's kind
of like Antonio Brown that one here.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
No, no, let's let's know, you know what, No, slap
that right out of your mouth.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Let's not let it get that right, I don't We
don't need that level of crazy and that level of insanity.
Like he can be a little bit of a drama,
but I know not that level of drama.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
You know.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
That is now my that is That is my request
of mister Rogers, Mister Rogers, don't be mister big checks.
Just don't be that guy and I'll be content.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah wow, And he still ends up making headlines somehow.
But we'll leave it at that, folks, until next time.
My name is Joe, his name is Brian. We encourage
everyone out there to be safe, be good.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
And we'll catch later.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Media and our website www dot steel City Underground dot com.

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