Will Steelers run it back in 2025 following Rooney's recent remarks?

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 steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma and joining
me today my good colleague Palace always one, mister Brian.
He roach, Brian, what's going on, my friend?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Nothing?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Nothing? Well, you know, we we're gonna go a different path.
We We're gonna go a different path with this particular
show today. But we had an art Erney the second
press conference that is riling some of the in's up.
So we're gonna discuss some of the things that we're
mentioned little sound bites that they are being pulled from

(00:56):
Rooney's presser. Is a little sit down with Rob King
in the Steeler studios. You can find this on Steelers
dot com. It's about a seven or eight minute long
clip if you choose to do so so well. Without
further ado, though, we have some other breaking news in
the Steelers sphere, and it kind of we were having

(01:18):
some technical difficulties trying to get on here. Brian, you're
in like CPA. You look like you're in the old
Wild West here for those gus watching on YouTube or
the next day on Spotify. So Brian had to replace
a web camera here. But we've got him. He's here
and during that time, Brian, I imagine you didn't hear this.
I'm gonna get your raw reaction. We have some Pro

(01:39):
Bowl al alternates. I can't even say it Pro Bowl. Yeah, no, no, no,
no no. Russell Wilson's now in the Pro Bowl too,
is he's So you've got who about out. It's gonna
be Joe Burrow, Russell Wilson, and Drake May from the
New England Patriots. Uh he replaces Josh Allen.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
You just call it a game, just like this is
just games. This is the fun and fun and games games.
Because I'm sorry, Drake May is not a Pro Bowl
caliber player. But Mack Jones probably last year neither was.
Neither was Russell Wilson, and no, neither was Mac Jones,
the backup quarterback for the Ravens, the one.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I know it was also not I was gonna mention
him Trevor Simeon also with the Broncos. The one year
I will say it tuggy cheap. But now now I
could throw it in everyone's faces because we're gonna talk
about quarterback. You gotta bring the Pro bowler back? Why not?
He made the Pro Bowl. He made the That's the
reason everybody wanted Mitch Trubisky a few years ago. He
was in the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
From now on, I'm calling it the guys who we
can get to play Bowl? That's so true.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Could they even get them? Because you know, I was
thinking about going down to Buy Week at the Beach, right,
I'll give them a little shout out here real quick. Uh,
the public events, folks, if you're in Florida, you're a
Steelers fan, you can make it down to Saint Pete
Beach this weekend. Check out bye Week at the Beach
dot com. You can also stay there at the Trade
Winds Resort using a promo code bye Week all on

(03:11):
caps that's bye W double e K. And there's plenty
of perks there. You could save off of some of
the raids valid for stays between well actually starting on
the twenty ninth here through February fifth, and there's swag
bags there, discounts on breakfast. There's a Q and a
section session, you can meet Rob King's supposed to be

(03:32):
down there. You're gonna have Ernie Mills and Darren Perry.
So speaking of getting down to Florida, it's like Russ
Hop on a plane real quick. Let's see if you
can participate in these Pro Bowl games, right. I was
thinking about maybe doing the same thing, Brian, but alas like,
everything seems to be scheduled for this weekend and I've
just got so much stuff going on. But if you

(03:53):
don't and you want to make it down there, bye
week at the beach dot com code, Bye week though.
Much success to them, and thank them for presenting this
episode of steel City Underground podcast where we now have
two extra Pro Bowlers joining. Now TJ. Watt won't be
playing in the Pro Bowl Game due to injury, but

(04:16):
he joins. Let's see Sam Blow and Russell Wilson joined.
Chris Boswell, Mick Fitzpatrick, Cam Hayward, let's see TJ. Watt,
who's out? And then Miles killer Brew was also an
injury alternate and Steelers director of player Development Daryl Young
is part of the AFC staff whatever his capacity means
for that.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
So enjoy you know, flag football and throwing balls at
circles or whatever the hell the skills challenges are. I
won't I won't be watching, I won't be attending.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
I've had a curiosity to go and I just don't know.
It seems like it's it's such a poorly I think
it's such a poorly edited product for the skills. When
you see it on like ESPN, there was like, it
just seems like it's so choppy, right, and it moves through,
and I don't mind them cutting out some of the
dead space and it being like on a like a
time delay pre recorded whatever be the case, right, but

(05:11):
then something just seems off with that entire thing, and
then you get like, I'll admit, it's better than what
we got with the water down Pro Bowl where they
don't touch anybody, but not by much, you know, not
by much.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
But is it is it?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, the next thing they're gonna end up doing, they're
gonna do that was like football sort of sort of,
I mean, like, what was that was that Sean Taylor
back in the day, that that knocked somebody out of
their shoes. But it's not like that anymore, not like
that anymore. You got too many guys making millions of
dollars that don't want to get hurt participating in this stuff.
I understand. I don't want to be labored. The Pro

(05:45):
Bowl we got aren't ready a second said words and
things and stuff. None of it really clear about anything.
But there's things you could pick out of it. One
of them has to do with Russell Wilson, right. And
I've been I've been yammering here. If you're on YouTube
on the show, or it's Facebook on the reels, Instagram reels,
wherever you get your little TikTok, follow us at all
these places. Subscribe. The little icons are right here down

(06:09):
at the bottom of the screen. And I've been just
yammering on about Justin Fields. And it's the same stuff
I said last year. I've had changed my position. I
feel maybe a little better, but I'm not that great
about it. I feel like, Okay, Justin Fields is not
the guy that I want to be the starting quarterback.
I was cool with that being the backup quarterback, but
the Steelers have no quarterbacks under contract. And some people

(06:29):
have viewed this little i'd say skewed, not just from
the way that the season the ebbs and flows, but
starting right out the gate. In contracts and why these
guys are free agents. Number one, Justin Fields was on
a rookie contract. He had one year remaining. Steelers did not.
They declined with your option. Being an original first round

(06:49):
pick of the Bears would have paid him what like
twenty three million dollars if I remember correctly, twenty five
somewhere in that neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Would have been a nice for Justin Fields.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Nice for Justin Fields, who no doubt has an agent
in his ear telling them he can get some kitching.
We don't know how many of those jobs are out there.
I don't even know if that job's with the Steelers
for that kind of kitching. Right now, Russe Wilson, he
signs for one year because if he signs for anything
more than that, at impacts his thirty eight to almost
thirty nine million dollars he receives from the Denver Broncos.

(07:20):
So he signs market basement one million dollars for one year.
I breed all of these things everywhere you got art Ronnie.
First of all, let's say what he said, and I
agree with this. He would like to bring both guys back.
Both players have expressed desires to want to return to
the Steelers for twenty twenty five. There's a lot of
people who would desire to not have them. To those folks,

(07:44):
I ask who we'll get back to that? Who else
you've got art ready basically said we're gonna pick it.
Probably would like to have both guys back, probably more
realistic that we only get one. So that's gonna split
every buddy. It's going to be more of a controversy.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Now.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I have to remind everyone that the way the offseason
played out, Russell Wilson, they said pole position, he was hurt,
he didn't participate in camp. Whether that was a bunch
of bologny or not, we'll never know. That could have
just been to give more of an audition to justin fields.
We'll never know. Including the first six games of the season,
Russ comes in, he lights everything on fire, that everything
burns to the ground. After like six seven games that

(08:25):
it burns all in the ground, and you're wondering, g
I don't know, but Roney says they have to get
this fixed. Absolutely, they do have to get it fixed.
And I do agree with them that you want at
least one of those two back because you don't want
to start all over with a new quarterback. Usually, as
Rob King mentioned, with Arthur Smith being offensive coordinator, offensive

(08:45):
coordinators see a little bit of a leap or maybe
a bigger leap in year two just because of the continuity.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I think. So here's the thing Art said, we have
to fix the quarterback position this year or sometime by
at least by next year. What that tells you is
the draft is a viable conduit either in twenty twenty
five or twenty twenty six. Okay, that's all it says.

(09:13):
It's it's a option. They're not going to draft top
quarterback in twenty twenty five. If anything, they're gonna draft
somebody in the later rounds. If they do that, if right, if,
if I will, I will state this unequivocally, no matter
which one of those two guys you bring back, you
are not going to win a championship with either one

(09:36):
of them. Right now. You're just not There's I don't
believe it. I don't believe you know Justin I don't
know that Justin Fields has what it takes to be
the dynamic quarterback at this level that wins championships. And
Russ will be one year older, and the warts that
are there are will be a little war tier with

(09:58):
some more big dark growing out of them, So I,
you know, buckle up, settle in. I agree that continuity
is going to be important because you probably aren't one
hundred percent fixing the problem this off season, and so
having somebody there to get you through until maybe twenty

(10:23):
twenty six and see where you're drafting, then see what
falls to you this year. Who knows well. But I
agree with the statement that only one of them likely
is to come back because I do think both of
them think they can start in the NFL. I think
both of them would have an opportunity in a quarterback
starved league to start somewhere else, and you're not gonna

(10:45):
be able to pay enough to keep them both.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. I agree with
Rooney on that too, because I don't think you're gonna sink.
Let's just say Justin wants fifteen million Russ. We said
maybe thirty five is probably as low as it'll go. There.
You're gonna put fifty fifty million dollars into your quarterback room,
and you're not gonna do that in just one year.
That will absorb everything that you've got left at least

(11:11):
estimated for your salary cap right now. So then they
have to impact that with void years and that. And
neither of these guys are going to sign just a
one year deal at this point. I don't believe. And
there's not a lot of opportunities out there, but you
look around, there could be some. There's a lot of
you know, smoke signals going up now that oh well,
Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson are you know? Now they're

(11:32):
chummy again because Pete Carroll's going to the Raiders and
they need a quarterback. But what happens when they that
happens and then they go and they draft somebody, just
like the Falcons did with Cousins and Michael Pennix. Now,
I don't think that the Raiders are gonna well, I
can't say that because that Mike Davis is just a
fool as far as an owner, you know what I mean.

(11:52):
At least we're listening to Art Rooney and his state
of whatever, and it seems I listen to some of
these guys. Woody Johnson's sitting there, for example, talking about
hiring Aaron Glenn and he's like, oh, I would have
taken this same path. This is such an intriguing path
it is for Aaron Glenn to go from player to
co assistant positions assistant defensive quarter are now head coach.

(12:12):
But he said this same stuff about every single guy,
every single Like a couple of years, Adam Gase was
like his big you know catch and Robert Salah and
it's like, come on, guy. So I don't buy all that.
I don't necessarily know that. I buy Russell Wilson and
Pete Carroll patching up. I think that's a little bit
of agent speak, throwing that out there to drive up

(12:33):
a little bit of Russell Wilson market asking price. I
will say, though a lot of people have given me
flack about what I've said with Fields. If you have Field,
we know Fields is I said? Fields is very similar
to Trubisky, very similar to Kenny Pickett. No, no, no,
he's not. No, he's not. Well. Trubisky had four rushing
touchdowns too as a Steelers quarterback, and Fields had five.

(12:55):
I throw the rushing stats out because in forty four starts, yeah,
Fields had fifteen rushing touchdowns. Sometimes design plays, but he's
not Lamar Jackson. He's not Josh Allen, He's not Jalen Hurts,
He's not any of these other guys. He's only had
five of those games of forty four with one hundred
yards rushing or more, and two of those five hundred
yard games no rushing touchdown. Not the same breed a player,

(13:17):
all right. He's been sacked three or more times, and
thirty of forty four starts, in eighteen of those thirty
he's been sacked four or more times eighteen of forty
four thirty overall, three or more three is enough in
a game to bed to have a negative impact when
you take eight, like CJ. Stroud, did you see what

(13:38):
ends up happening? You know, Kansas City well on their way,
and by the way, Kansas City and the Eagles, like
we're saying right here, both of these quarterbacks, Yeah, tough sledding.
We already saw what that looked like this year. Probably
have looked the same playing against those same teams next year.
But with Fields only two games in his career forty
four starts, two games with three hundred or more passing yards,

(13:59):
three games where he's actually had three or more touchdown passes.
The passing aspect of it. Isn't there for being as
mobile as he is. The turnovers twenty three games, but
at least one interception over half. Don't have to pull
up the math graphic here, just the turnovers, the negative plays.
I mean, being mobile is one thing, but holding on

(14:19):
to the football and making some more key mistakes is
it like the mobility? Is it being properly used?

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Now?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Rooney said this, He said that there was He would
like to have two quarterbacks that share the same aspects,
and these two were not. They're like a Yin and
a yang And that didn't do the Steelers any favors either.
So that's the reason why it's got to be one
or the other. I don't know that I agree with
some people though, when they say that maybe Arthur Smith

(14:48):
and his play calling or his style tilted or leaned
or worked better, or he preferred justin fields. I'm just
not buying that part of it, though.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
You know. Look, I don't who knows, I don't know.
Everybody's speculating about it.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, I mean, I just don't buy it. It's just
that you build. I think you build the offense for
Russell Wilson. I think he was supposed to be the starter.
That's who you had.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
They were supposed to be the starter. And I think
you built the offense for Russell Wilson. Doesn't mean that
the offense that they built was built was actually built
for Russell Wilson, right, It just means that's what they
should have done. But Arthur Smith could have clearly come
in here with the idea of this is my offense,
this is how I'd like it to play. Yeah, it
works better, you know, maybe it was. Maybe it was

(15:32):
designed in such a way that Justin Fields fits better
than Russ does, and you should make adjustments as time
goes on. Here's to me, here's what it boils down to. Right,
You've got here's the pluses for Justin Wilson. He's younger
by a lot, right he is. He is a more
mobile guy, that's it, right, Russ more experienced, probably a

(15:54):
better passer overall, not as mobile. I question both of
their decision making, especially over the you know, Russ is
over the last five games, but both of them also
suffer from the same problem and that the offensive line
wasn't protecting anybody worth worth a crap. You know, they
were under pressure, under duress, Russ didn't escape very well.

(16:15):
Maybe Justin escapes a little better. But he's he's trying
to be a quarterback, which means he's trying to keep
his eyes downfield, trying to do that thing that all
the quarterbacks on TV say, Oh, look at him. He's
never just looking to run. Maybe he should just look
to run sometimes. But the other thing that is is

(16:39):
probably here, you got one guy who might cost you
thirty five plus mil, might cost you more. You got
another guy who isn't gonna cost you that much. I
don't know where they're gonna lean. I don't know that.
I think either one of them gives them a heads up,
you know, a huge gap in an ability to win
next year. So that's why part of it to me

(16:59):
is I don't think you've got you don't have your
long term solution in either one of.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh no, absolutely not, no long term solution. But you're
gonna have to sign these guys to a two or
three year deal. I think either one of them, Yeah,
that's the only way you're.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Gonna get their best. Seventy to one hundred million dollars
in Russell Wilson, I mean that's thirty to thirty to
forty five million potentially in justin fields. That's I mean,
it's a legitimate question, right you want a guy to
carry you through the next three or four years. You
hope you can continue to improve. Maybe you find a

(17:35):
guy that in year two is able to take the
mantle right in the draft somehow that they're not going
to find a quarterback outside of the draft. They're just
not right now, that's probably not the way goes.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
We've done this exercise so many times when everybody wanted
to replace Ben Roethlisberger. I want to I want to
swing to that and then come back around to you know,
quarterbacks not necessarily who's in a draft, but just oh,
quarterbacks fail coming out of the draft. It's the hardest position.
It's also the most important position. That's why everybody's gunning
for one. And we see lots of failure where we're like,

(18:09):
yucking it up right now about Drake May you know,
with the Patriots, we don't know what his future holds.
Mac Jones a pro bowler, and we've seen them all.
We can name all of them, the Marcus mariotas you
see where Jamis Winston is. They bounce around from team
to team, somebody's gonna come to me, and they're like
Sam Donald. Sam Donald's throwing to let's see as Christian
denisaw as one of his tackles, He's throwing to Justin Jefferson,

(18:32):
who might be the best maybe with Jamar Chase one
a and b of the best wide receivers in the league.
With Jordan Addison there and Aaron Jones is a running
back and in an offensive minded head coach, and he
only gets to play because JJ McCarthy, who was drafted there,
got injured. Baker Mayfield had to bounce around. But Baker
Mayfield was breaking the rookie record. I always had Baker

(18:55):
Mayfield with a pretty pretty high floor. As far as
coming into the league. Donald, I wasn't so sure about
coming out of USC. Josh Allen, nobody knew about. It
was just like, oh what about this guy? Well, the
team that got Josh Rosen wrong. And I don't want
to go through all these names again. But when you
get start getting into the middle rounds, you have very
few exceptions of guys who succeed. It's usually somebody like
Russell Wilson and you're like, oh, well, Derek Carr is

(19:17):
like a second round, former second round pick. You do
have Jalen Hurts, who was found in the second round,
but he's I believe still was a top fifty pick.
And I want to make let's stop there for a second. Yes,
is Jalen Hurts on a team that's dependent on Jalen Hurts?

Speaker 3 (19:30):
No? No, So there you go. That's like that's a
second round quarterback? Serviceable? Good? Is he elite? I don't
think so, Sorry Eagles fans, I don't think Jalen Hurts
is an elite quarterback. I think he's a good fit
for the system that you guys are running, especially when
you got Sakuon Barkley breaking off sixty yard runs left

(19:51):
and right.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know what, I'm glad you brought this up because
it's exactly where I was going to go. You had
all I have a lot of insurs in the feed.
They were talking about, you know what, take Terrell Edmonds
over Lamar Jackson and then Chase Claypool instead of Jalen Hurts.
All right, let's talk about this like real quick too,
because you've got Okay Hurts the tush push. He's scored

(20:14):
twenty nine. Actually, you can go back to he's had
double digit rushing touchdowns, and four of the five years
you go back, excluding his rookie season, right, he's ran
for like seven hundred, seven hundred and six hundred six hundred.
Again different breed of quarterback, but he's only taken thirty
eight sacks, thirty six sacks, another thirty eight this season.

(20:36):
The difference now is last year they counted on him.
The previous two seasons, he had in twenty twenty one
four hundred and thirty two attempts and then four hundred
and sixty attempts he threw for like three thousand shards,
three thousand of shards. Then he went and threw five
hundred and thirty eight attempts and only had about one
hundred and fifty yards more per like overall. And when

(20:59):
you go there and see through twenty three touchdowns to
fifteen interceptions, I'm sorry, twenty three touchdowns to fifteen interceptions.
That's why they went out and got Saquon Barkley. It's
never as though the Eagles have actually had a poor
offensive line. They seem to be an offensive line factory there,
and Hurts has had the same just one of two

(21:20):
centers over this whole time. Jurgens I think was a
pro bowler again or was going to be, and then
before him the other Kelsey brother. Right, but you go
from five hundred and thirty eight attempts, he only throws
the ball three sixty one this year, three sixty one.
That's the point and for twenty nine and three yards,
eighteen touchdowns, five interceptions. They're not relying on him. And

(21:41):
he has a J. Brown, and he has Devontae Smith,
and he has Dallas Goddard, and he has an all
pro offensive line.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Don't get me wrong. I like because somebody's gonna snap
up in the comments, Oh Jalen it hurts. It not
a late you guys did not What are you crak?
He's very good. He's not elite, all right, and you
can tell that by what you just said. The year
that they put it on his shoulders, they failed, right,
they succeed when Jalen Hurts is complimented because you know

(22:08):
they're multiple things that they have to stop. Then it's
not all on him. Right. They didn't have a running
back or running game last year. They went back out
and they got a better running back and in a
running game this year. All of a sudden they're in
the Super Bowl, right, Yeah, and all the things you said.
Their offensive line is better, Their receiving room is way better,
Their tight end room is better, right, their defensive.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Line, very single thing that got Yeah, their secondary is
probably better too, Like they're a compleet team. Yep.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
But is Jalen Hurts? Was Jalen Hurts gonna be the
answer to put us over the top? No? Sorry, he wasn't.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
No, And he probably never gets on the field over
Ben Roethlisberger, nor does Lamar Jackson. I mean you count
that twenty nineteen year where Rudolph ends up playing. Maybe
Lamar gets in there. What's he do with Randy Fickner?
Then he probably find a seat back on the bench.
Young man. Well, we let Ben future Hall of Famer
right his career. But Steelers quarterbacks combined attempted more passes. Now,

(23:05):
I know Hurts missed two games, so it's a little skewed,
But if you take the average of him throwing maybe
twenty five or thirty passes, still it still works out.
The matt still checks out. He's still threw for more yards.
And nineteen I'm sorry you had twenty one touchdowns by
Steelers quarterbacks to Hurts his eighteen and just one more

(23:29):
interception among the Steelers quarterbacks. I mean, you combine them together,
what's that tell you? The rest of the team around
them has to be better. So running it back with
them probably isn't the worst idea. I do prefer Russell
Wilson because they were scoring ten more points per game,
they were having one hundred yards more per offense those
first seven games. Where he goes six to one, it
goes all in the toilet, he loses George Pickens. I

(23:51):
think that's a viable excuse. We have Runey talking about
fixing the ay wide receiver room or adding some talent.
Some people are like, oh, I was told that it's
the worst kept secret, that it was not the best
room anywhere, one of the worst maybe in the league.
And then you have Pickens maybe acting like a bonehead,
and you've really got to figure out can you even
afford to move him or replace him? And that's a

(24:12):
topic for another show, But you got to put the
talent around these quarterbacks. If you don't secure at least
one of these two quarterbacks, and what really is your option,
you're not gonna move up from what twenty one in
the draft. I think twenty two in the draft. You're
not gonna be in arms Lake. Yeah, you're gonna be
lucky to get another Kenny Pickett at that point, and
you're just gonna be getting the same And it didn't.

(24:34):
And that's what I'm saying about Fields too. I mean,
Fields gives you a little bit more rushing, but the
passing is like right there with pickets. So you got
to eke out these games with defense. And the defense
disappeared in the latter half of the season with Russell
Wilson as the starter. But everyone's placing that one Wilson
because he had an interception here, he had the one
fumble against the Ravens. The offense didn't do Diddley squad,

(24:55):
They didn't protect them. You had other defenses starting to
play zone figured out that the receivers just they didn't
do anything, but didn't move. Yeah, they come back to
him when he's running, they sit there and go will
I mean that holds true to also just Fields. I'm
not just making this excuse for Wilson, but I don't

(25:17):
envision Fields doing any better there. And I don't even
know that he wins some of those other games like
the shootout against the Bengals, for example, maybe he does
some of it with his feet, but he's not going
to beat the Chiefs, he's not going to beat the Eagles,
he's not going to beat the Ravens on the road.
I kind of doubt it. He had the opportunity to
make that play of the game against the Browns and
the Snow. They put it in his hands. It didn't work.

(25:39):
They gave him all the confidence. A lot of people
will say, well, they had him handcuffed at the beginning
of the season. Wolf. What we were saying and what
we're assuming a playbook is designed and they expect Russell
Wilson to be the starter, then yeah, you kind of
have a shell of an offense to start. But then
as you get through, you've already installed things. You find out,
if you're a good coordinator, what what bets fits these players,
and you work.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
With the So let's talk a little bit about handcuffed
right right, you know Justin Fields's handcuffed. They didn't let
him go dipe, they didn't let him go along. There
is a difference, and this is it, like, here's what
Justin Fields can do. It's not that he has a
bad arm, right, But the way he throws the ball
is more on the line. Right, Russ can throw the

(26:21):
ball on an arc, and the way he arcs that ball,
the moon ball is good for the fact that our
receivers are never completely wide open right there, They're always
somewhat covered. The catches are generally contested, you know, very
rarely is it like wow, that's just wow, there's nobody
near it. Right, Justin could hit those receivers fine with

(26:42):
the ball he throws, but trying to get it in
you actually are putting the ball in a better position
for the defender to get at it or knock it
away because it's not arked up over them. He just
has a different style, right. And the bottom line to
all this is is whoever they pick, right, they need
to build a team that can support that individual's strengths
versus some arbitrary other thing. Right. I think Justin Fields

(27:06):
can operate and succeed in a system much like the
system the Eagles have. Right, he is not the predominant factor.
He is not the thing that's going to cause you
to win or lose. He simply has to get you
the couple passes you need to get when it's time,
and the team is so focused on other aspects that

(27:29):
they're not as at all worried about that. Right, that's
not the primary you know, they're not just saying daring
you to throw, right, because we've got everything else covered.
The Steelers wanted to be a running team this last year.
We talked about this a couple times during the end
of the season, that they had an identity that they
thought was who they were and it just wasn't because
their offensive line wasn't good enough for them to be

(27:51):
that person. Maybe Nasee and Jalen Warren weren't good enough
for them to be that team. Right. They were not
a bully rushing team. They were not a top rushing
team other than in attempts. Right, They attempted it in
the top three four five, but their output was in
the bottom twenty five, So they were not a top

(28:11):
rushing team. They have to figure out who they are,
is what I'm getting at, and then they have to
decide to make those decisions in the draft, in free
agency and who they're going to retain.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, and there's some talk about whether Najie comes back
or not. I don't think that's their top priority. I
think he's a reliable player. He usually doesn't turn the
football over, et cetera, et cetera. But I think you
hit the nail on the head too. It's like in
this team sixth seed with Justin Fields, well they did
until they didn't. I mean, you saw the defense. They
did their job with Justin Fields. They were giving up

(28:42):
about sixteen points per game, eighteen points per game. They
end up he goes four and two as the starter.
They continue that, They carry it on on through until
you get to about that Bengals game that was on
the road. You have the Bengals and Browns, and then
the wheels fall off and you end up losing five
straight where the Steelers defense is giving up thirty eight, fourteen,
twenty seven, thirty four, twenty nine, nineteen and twenty eight

(29:06):
just wild numbers. It's somewhere in the average of anywhere
from twenty seven to twenty nine points per game, at
least ten more per game, and the offense just goes
ew And you're playing against better defenses too, right, So.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Defense is better offenses. They're turning the ball over more. Yes,
they're not the biggest thing. They're not sustaining drives. They're
not playing complimentary football. Look, is it all that the
defense went south one hundred percent? Oh? Yes? Did they
play worse than they had in the early part of
the year, Yeah, absolutely, But balls didn't bounce their way, right,
they didn't get fumbles. We kept talking about it. Wow,

(29:39):
there was three balls on the ground. How many do
we get? Zero? Right? We'd go through games where where
we were getting those breaks and all of a sudden
they're not. The defense is not predicated to be a
bullying defense. It's predicated on turnovers, right, That's what it's
built on. It's built to be a defense that is
opportunistic and takes and takes the game by turning the

(29:59):
b and if they don't get those turnovers, they don't
hold up. And that was very evident over the last
six games. Right, So that needs to be addressed. That
needs to be fixed. How is it fixed? You know,
there's there's probably more than I can analyze in that,
but that needs to be addressed or you got to
figure out how you're gonna be better and how you're

(30:20):
gonna cover for it. They don't have the offense that
can keep them in games where it's a shootout, they
just don't. And and the defense, like I said, the
defense hangs its hat on being able to turn the
ball over, and if they don't turn the ball over,
probably not gonna win the game.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah, I got a lot to say about defense. Just
so you know, I'm not blowing smoke, I'm gonna try
and get this all on the screen so you can
see a extrapolated Justin Fields and Russell Wilson's stats. This
is maybe a little crude here, but this is Russell
Wilson's six starts versus I'm sorry, Justin Fields is six
starts versus Russell Wilson's seven first games and then final five.

(31:01):
Sorry for some reason, I'm like, I can't speak today, right,
But you'll see the numbers are very close. A little
hard if you're just listening to this, So if you
tune in on our video feed over YouTube or on Spotify,
you might get a better look at this. But Wilson
with more attempts obviously more yards over six hundred more yards.
Completion percentage is pretty close. The yards per attempt though

(31:24):
in those first seven games, eight point four the Fields
is six point nine Russ with twelve touchdowns at three
interceptions to fields is five and one. Yes, I know
the fields ran for a handful five. There you have
the one interception from fields to Wilson's three right sacks.
You're getting You're almost running away with this. Wilson took nineteen.

(31:46):
He had an extra game played versus sixteen taken by
fields close enough for me. No rushing touchdowns from Wilson,
I think there you had six fumbles from fields. Now,
I know those aren't all fumbles lost, but it's still
a negative play, especially if you're losing yards on it,
just the same way a sack as a negative play.
You go to eliminate the negative plays. But Russell Wilson
had seventy six first down plays in a one oh

(32:08):
three nine rating to forty five first downs in a
ninety three point three rating to fields. When you go
over to the last five final five games and Wilson
has five starts, you have fewer attempts, nine fewer attempts.
He has lesser yards by about one hundred and fifty.
Could he make that up with another start and maybe
ten more attempts. George Picktt's actually holds on the football

(32:30):
on a few of those. I think he does completion percentage,
it's still high enough above sixty sixty three point one.
At eight sixty five point eight. I'm really trying to
show here is six point four yards per play six
point nine. You're talking about a half yard. The touchdowns
and interceptions are pretty close there. Six to two back
to fields is five to one, eighteen sacks to sixteen

(32:51):
Russ with the three fumbles there and the same ithentical
amount of first downs, it really tells me a pience
of portrait that it doesn't matter which of those two
guys that you would have had in there, because you
may have had the same, similar performance. And that's what
Field's playing at the top of his game at this point.
So I don't want to I don't want to make
this all about just quarterback, because there's a few other
things to talk about, obviously, but I do want to

(33:13):
say I saw I saw some bad takes. They deserve
to be shot upon. Somebody said, what do you think
about Kirk Cousins, What do you think about Joe Flacco?
What I think is is, if you're anti either of
these two guys coming back, what what on earth makes
you think it's gonna be any better with Kirk Cousins

(33:35):
or Joe Flacco or I don't even want like Darnold
or any of these other guys out there. Yes, really
i've seen Joe is gonna be lucky to have a
job next year. I can sort of like not get behind,
but I can sort of at least go all right.
I get the kirk Cousins ac get like because he
at least was still a starter this year successful at

(33:58):
some point.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
And Flackham with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Dude, you've got people trying to float Aaron Rodgers coming here.
Aaron Rodgers is done. He's gonna go in a dark cave, meditate,
and right retire.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Unless you're gonna pull off some amazing chicanery to get
to grab a young court. You know, Houston decides to
give up on CJ. Stroud, so somehow we get him
or you know who knows something like that. Forget it.
There's nothing out there that is available. There simply isn't

(34:32):
anything available that is going to change the dynamic of
this team in such a way that they simply they
suddenly become super Bowl level champions again. To recount, Sam
Darnold is put in a position to win. He's got
better receiving corps. He's got a better running back Cory,
He's probably got a better offensive line. Right. There are

(34:54):
reasons that that that team plays as to the level
they have, Right, So just don't don't don't think that
there's a there's a magic pacifier out there that you
know you're gonna you're gonna insert into the Steelers' roster
that suddenly turns them into super Bowl champions. It's not there.
They have work to do in a lot more areas

(35:15):
before they're there.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah, And that's the same thing I keep saying about
the Steelers uniform being Superman's cape. Lamar Jackson Jalen hurts
revisionist history. People forget, as much as you might hate
the Terrell Edmunds pick and see it didn't pan out
or whatever, safety was the overwhelming glaring must gotta have
it position to draft for in that draft. For the
Pittsburgh Steelers, they had they absolutely had to get a

(35:39):
safety and maybe they reached for Edmunds there. But if
they would have took a quarterback in the first round,
everyone would just bitch to complain about how the guy
isn't playing, or it would have been Ben needs to
be oh Ben's old need to get rid of him,
play the other guy, and then you don't know, like
Jalen Hurts, wasn't Jalen Hurts just to start either And
when it with Matt Canada as an offensive coordinator, by
the time they go to play, it's bad. All the

(36:01):
other options are bad. So Rooney saying he'll run it
back with Arthur Smith. I have absolutely zero problem with
was the offense better? It was hard to be worse
than what Meccanada did. I mean, we finally got some
games where they scored, you know, twenty points at least
over half of the year, they at least scored twenty
points with twenty seven to twenty eight, thirty two, thirty seven,

(36:21):
forty four. He actually scored some points. You had some
stinky ones toward the end. But we saw that these
teams that are in the Super Bowl right now getting
it done with defense, right everybody getting done with defense.
All four of the teams in the conference championships. You
have to look at is almost kind of like a blueprint.
I don't know, people are gonna be like, oh, a
mobile quarterback this and that. It's like, you know, mobility

(36:43):
only gets you so far with some of that. You
gotta have guys to catch the ball too. It also
helps them with Buffalo. But I'm okay bring Arthur Smith back.
There's some speculation about the staff, mostly on the offensive side,
reported by Mark Cabali. I think Alfredo Roberts, Eddie Faulkner,
and Mike Sullivan the Titans coach, running back coach, and
an offensive assistant who was the quarterbacks coach prior and

(37:07):
then just became whatever consultant pass game quarter I don't
know what Sullivan's official title was, but him and Faulkner
shared the duties of offensive coordinator co duties when Canada
got canned. So those guys may have expiring contracts. That's
not always public information. And that's it when it comes
to the entire staff. We didn't even get over the
defense yet because Rooney feels that, you know, there's not

(37:30):
gonna be any changes there. And Tarrell Austin, along with
Arthur Smith are down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl
along with Mike Tomlin. They've been spotted down there the
whole trio scouting people. You're not gonna bring a guy
as a tag along with you if you're gonna end
up firing him, and I know that's gonna probably po
a lot of people. And we talked about how the defense,
you know, they laid an egg. The defenses have been
bad with Terrell Austin as the defensive coordinator. I've called

(37:54):
for him here, but I've also said out the other
side of my mouth it's the same thing where I had, well,
I had cautious optimism about like Russell Wilson. I'm probably
a little more optimistic if they brought Russell Wilson back
for next year or even justin fields than I was
heading in with either one of them during the summer
last year, right because I've seen it and I've seen
some positives and I see, well, if they can maintain

(38:16):
that sure with Terrell Austin, if he's just a scapegoat,
then that means this is all Mike Tomlin's doing. And
we've heard Keith Butler talk about this before in the
past and it makes you wonder. But the drop off
from Butler to Austin has been almost mind blowing. Dude,
I mean, TJ. Watt, Mika Fitzpatrick, these guys are disappearing

(38:37):
on the football field. You have like legitimate Stars. You
had two all pro seasons with Mika in twenty nineteen
and twenty twenty. But I feel like he's just been
regressed some over the last few years. These sacks under
Teraro Austin, they've had forty forty seven and forty sacks
in the last three seasons. You go back to Butler,

(39:00):
who was sacked himself from being a defensive corner. Everybody
had to run him out of town. And he was
here what for like seven seasons, and he had a
five year span where they had at least fifty sacks
in one year. In fact, the dip that they had
they had one with thirty eight. All the other seasons
were forty seven or better. He's doing the best that
Austin had, and Austin has one more game. They're playing

(39:21):
a seventeen game season now and they're just not The pressure,
isn't there. There's no creativity all of it. Yeah, if
you see what Specnola did in the final play to pressure,
Josh Allney sent a corner blitz after not doing it
all day, and it was a balls he play. But
you're playing with the house money, you've got the lead,
and you're forcing the guy to make a bad throw,
of which he did, and you're on your way to
the super Bowl. There's nothing like that. The pressure rates

(39:45):
the Steelers under Butler always got to the quarterback at
least twenty six percent of the time, but they had
higher blitz rates, providing more pressure as high as thirty
five percent. What I'm missing here is something got knocked
off of this because Austin's guys just aren't getting home
nearly as often. The only thing that they have to

(40:07):
hang their hat on. You said it earlier, turnovers, which
they weren't getting at the end of the year is
the only thing masking all this. They tied with the
Vikings Brian Flores's defense in Minnesota with thirty three total
turnovers this year. That's what they had to hang their
hat on.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
The reason that I am out on Trell Austin is
the creativity of the scheme. The schemes they play, right,
they just nothing is surprising. It's telegraphed. You know, they
want to get pressure with four, but when they can't
get pressure with four, what they do is just not creative.
It's not surprising. It seems like it's always covered up.

(40:44):
They're not doing things to spring guys open and to
have that free runner at the quarterback that disrupts things
like I can't even remember, you know, many times at
all this season when there was that free runner, right,
a guy coming completely clean. They just don't scheme it
very well. And that falls on the defensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, I would think so unless it's tam On. If
it's tam and then you got to go. And it's
why you run it back one more year. Are you
wasting a year?

Speaker 3 (41:15):
No?

Speaker 2 (41:15):
No, are you? Or are you?

Speaker 3 (41:17):
The next two years are not going to be a waste.
Here's why you can't waste the years when you don't
have the team to win right now. Right. You can't
fix all the problems with this team in this offseason. Yes,
you can get better, and I anticipate they can get better,
but they can't fix everything. They're not suddenly going to
be in the top tier of teams at the end

(41:38):
of this season because the most important three areas quarterback,
offensive and defensive lines. They can't one hundred percent fix
those in this short span of time. I just don't
believe it. I hope I have to eat my words.
I hope I have to go Holy crap, they fixed
the defensive line, the offensive line, they fixed how they're
getting pressure, and they they got a quarterback who who

(42:00):
can run the offense amazingly.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
And wow.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
But you know, I'm never wrong.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
So I know we try and say that anyway, But
I mean it's TJ. Watt had eleven and a half sacks.
That's the fewest he's head since his rookie season, playing
a full year, and his rookie year. You know, James Harrison,
he he kind of faded out, faded away, but there
were still other guys here that were playing when TJ

(42:28):
was rookie. It's disappointing. And you go for being a
defensive Player of the Year, that would you have twenty
one and a half twenty two and a half.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
What's the record?

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I'm trying to think. Yeah, I mean he's still in
those talks because he had all the tackles for loss,
he had a bunch of forced fumbles. He's not not
going to win this award. I think with eleven and
a half sacks, Trey Hendrickson may have the bragging rights
for the set, even over Miles Garrett. Within just the
AFC north right, so he led the league in he
finished with with he had three on Wilson in that

(42:59):
final game leads and ended up leading the entire league.
But yeah, that was twenty two and a half sex
with TJ. Watt back in twenty twenty one. So I'm like,
I'm looking at this, you know, twenty four, twenty three,
twenty two to three years. Usually a Steelers coaches are
on a three year cycle, but I think Austin was
just extended and he was previously under because he was

(43:20):
a secondary or defensive backs coach. So I don't know
that he's in an expiring contract kind of situation. Him
being down at the Senior Bowl, would you know suggest otherwise?
It's it says that the only time. Like it's weird
because Austin when he was with the Detroit Lions years
ago and Jim Caldwell they took that team and Terrell

(43:43):
Austin was getting head coaching interviews. Now, part of that
maybe being African American and teams needing to per the
Rooney rule interview African American candidates. I understand that, but
he was still getting looks. This was still somebody that
was It wasn't a throwaway candidate. It was like trying
to talk with Aaron Glenn coincidentally also with the Lions,

(44:05):
right and then he fell from grace rather quickly. The team.
They didn't get back to the postseason for a while.
They went seventeen forty six and two over the last
four years in Detroit. Austin leaves. He goes to Cincinnati,
and they gave up more yards than any team in

(44:26):
the league at that point. They were the first team
in NFL history to allow at least five hundred yards
to an opponent in three straight games. I look at
that and say, yeah, this isn't the same kind of
coach like Arthur Smith. You're looking at him and it's like, Okay,
he failed as a head coach, but look what he
did as an offensive coordinatory He made Ryan Tannehill valve
a valuable or valid threat. You had Derrick Henry stampeding

(44:50):
over every one after he was kind of relegated. Look
how long I took Dereck Henry like just arrive on
the scene. And that was like Arthur Smith. And it's
weird because Arthur Smith was there in Tennessee, for goodness,
a good eight nine years or so, maybe even ten,
with different head coaches and everything. He was a tight
ends coach and then moved around. He was a different
assistant blah blah blah, and then became the offensive coordinator.

(45:12):
So there's loads of experience. But Tara Austin, I'm just
trying to think to myself, when he's like a positions coach,
what input does he have? Tomlin, I believe has been
calling plays. You do see you don't see him hold
the play sheet like the waffle house menu. What the
Andy Reid lookalikes? But he's got one in his hand.
Austin has one in his hand. I would like to

(45:34):
know where the real accountability lies, because you know, for
being the quote Tomlin ball lickers, I'm starting to point
my finger at even if you get rid of Terrell Austin,
you know now what happens. But there's also no denying
that this was different with Butler, it was different with
coach Dad Dick lebou And the common theme here is

(45:54):
is the amount of points and yards that were given up.
Both of those guys had really shit final seasons and
were shown the door at that time. Austin's shit season
was just now they were good and then they were
just terrible. We know they had some injuries. We thought
they had some depth. But is he a scapegoat or

(46:17):
can they actually run this back, improve, get back to
where they were. I don't know, Brian, I have just
as many question marks as anyone else.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
I'm gonna tell you that, reading between the lines of
what Art Rooney two said, if twenty twenty five, twenty six,
if that season plays out the same way as this
previous season, we will be in We'll be looking for
a new head coach. I just I believe that. I

(46:47):
think he's he will have run out of patients at
that point in time. Here's here's like again, you know,
let me let me take my wait here, let me
put my my Mike Tomlin ball lickor hat on. Yeah.
So here's the thing. If Mike Tomlin's calling the defenses,

(47:07):
he's not good enough at it. Okay, And what I
think Mike Tomlin is good at is getting people ready
to play, getting people excited about what they're going to do,
getting people motivated to go out and play. I think
he can get the team and that's all head coach
needs to do. In theory, the head coach shouldn't be
calling the plays right they got to they're they're a

(47:28):
manager of the team. And if that's the case, then
go get a defensive coordinator who can be creative and
do some cool things. The problem is, where are they
going to get that guy? Right now? Right you've already
lost the opportunity to hire certain defensive coordinators.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Like Aberflus just went to Dallas. Yeah, you know, you're you're, you're,
you're you.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
You have to make the decision that that's what you're
going to do. And it means that you know, aren't
really the second has to flat outside. You look, get
somebody to run the defense, get somebody to run the offense,
and you run the team. Right. I think that's a
scenario that works. But if I will one hundred percent
agree with everybody, if Mike Tomlin right now is running

(48:12):
that defense and calling the defenses, then Mike Tomlin is
not doing a good enough job. And I do believe
at the end of this upcoming season, when it starts
and when it finishes, if they go if they don't
make the playoffs, or if they go one and done again,
that Art Rooney's patience will have run out.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Yeah, and it's gotta be I agree with that. I mean,
I've given enough credit where it's due. I think Mike
Tomlin gets some things done with some players where other
coaches wouldn't, even with the quarterback play being substandard in
lots of ways. But when you have the defense play
like this, how do you get only forty sex with
TJ Watt, Alex Heismith, Nick Herbick, Cam Hayward, Larry Okenjobi,

(48:56):
Keanu Bent and Patrick Queen added to this roster, Eyton
Wilson supposed to be this gem that you drafted. You
got Mika Fitzpatrick, like, where was he, Deshaun Elliott, Joey Porter,
Dante Jackson, You've got all of these, You've got so
many guys. This defense was pretty much loaded, and I
know you didn't have all of them in that final streak,

(49:19):
but you had them, I think against the Bengals, and
you definitely had these guys against the Ravens and they
got embarrassed pretty badly. So I could see where there's
a lot of disappointment. It's hard to It's hard to
go from We're gonna be going this whole time into
August and even into September on these shows and tak
trying to have some sort of optimism where there can't

(49:40):
be because you have this terrible taste in your mouth
about how that final game of the season ended. It's
you know, how are you? You can't defend any of it,
and you're watching the Steelers. You wait for Art Rooney
to have a special seven to eight minute clip to see, Hey,
what are what are they thinking? Are what kind of

(50:01):
impactful changes as I'm not saying they should be out
there like you know, the Cowboys or the jet the
Jaguars hiring a coach before they even have a GM
just and then getting rid of a GM in the
middle of their coach search. Talk about dysfunctional. It's why
they've been perpetual losers for the last ten fifteen years.
Dallas Cowboys. You want to talk about mediocrity, playoffs and
everything else. They can't agree on what the guy who

(50:24):
pays obscene money to all of his star players can't
get out of his own way as an owner slash
GM can't agree on money for a head coach. I mean,
I make excuses for McCarthy. I don't think he was
the problem there. They're missing defensive players, the injury or
missing Dak Prescott, whatever, And I'm not saying Dak Prescott
walks on water either. But I'm pretty sure they're at
least a playoff team if you have your starting court

(50:46):
not with Cooper Rush they or not. And then you know,
you look at the other teams what they're doing, like
the Jets and this and that. But you're watching other
teams higher coordinators, and the Steelers are just sitting there
on their hands and they're not doing anything. And I
don't know, I don't know if this is enough. I
don't think that the Cleveland Browns probably aren't just running
it back. They're looking at the second pick. They're either
gonna move down and acquire more more young players, more young,

(51:10):
cheap players, and maybe they run it back with Watson.
Maybe they draft a quarterback at two and just say script,
we're done with this. Stefanski's taking over to play calling
again there, because that was supposed to be a challenge.
They were supposed to do something that was better for Watson.
I guarantee you Zach Taylor is not just sitting on
his hands. They already fired their defensive coordinator there and
brought in somebody else, So you know, Robert salaw Is

(51:31):
another guy would have looked at went back to San Francisco,
going back to his roots. I bet you San Francisco
is looking at We had a lot of problems this year,
including injuries, and you know, at least there's something there
where you're like, hey, we're running it back, we're reloading.
I don't know where the Steelers run this back fields
or Wilson's gonna cost more money this year. It means
you're probably not gonna take big dips into free agency.

(51:51):
On our next show, we're gonna talk about who stays
and who goes, not only free agents, but guys that
are probably cap casualties. We're gonna look deep into that.
We didn't even dig into all the coaching staff for
saying there might not be changes other than the guys expiring.
How on earth can you think that your offensive line
is developed at all, even with somebody like Dan Moore

(52:12):
being a turnstile and you still had to start him.
Roderick Jones, you're turning him into a bust. He's being
forced to play on the wrong side of the field.
The only optimistic thing you've got there maybe going for
you is Troy Fatanu, your first round pick may come
back healthy next year. Hopefully. We still don't know if
he's a good player or not because he didn't get
on the field, but maybe he'll be out there. You

(52:34):
could look at some of the draft class guys that
are like Rumin Wilson, you can get on the field.
Maybe these guys will help supplement an influx to some
other players. Small changes. They got to win within the
AFC North. They went five to one with Kenny Pickett
and Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. They didn't go five
to one this year. And I think the division just
continually gets harder. I think the brown still played them

(52:57):
very tight. The Bengals, you know, they split with them,
They split with the Ravens luckily. It's it's just it's tough, man,
It's tough. I just it's hard for me to justify
at least not some changes. Hopefully by the Friday news dump,
we get something new out there that says, hey, here
it is finally and we'll come back and talk to that,
talk to Orleans about that. After the Pro Bowl games, Bryan,

(53:22):
any closing thoughts, my friend, I'm not going to watch.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
The Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
I know you're not going to watch them.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
I'm not going to watch it.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
I'm not going to I would go to Orlando and
still to the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Here's the most annoying thing to me about this season.
I have to root for the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Yeah, I know, right in the Super Bowl where the
Chiefs sat in Super Bowl count Now, we don't want
the mic up there with se.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
I don't want the Eagles to win a Super Bowl.
I live too close to them, and they're obnoxious people.
I don't like it when they win here because it's hard.
It's hard to be able to talk to people on
the street because you just want to smack them upside
their head. But that being said, I cannot have Patrick
Mahomes win another Super Bowl. I just can't. I can't

(54:09):
deal with that. Right. We used remember we used to
have this dumb show or what we still have. It
sometimes called mock Draft Insanity, and we said, all this played,
the Steelers would win the super Bowl every year, which
is apparently what super Bowl. The Steelers fans want to
win the Super Bowl every year. That's what you get.
You're getting right now with Kansas City. And guess what,
it hurts the league because nobody wants to watch that

(54:32):
crap anymore. But yeah, it becomes when it's inevitable, you're
just like, screw it. I don't want to see this,
So I can't have Patrick Mahomes win, which means I
got a root for the Eagles, and I'm annoyed. So
I'm that's where I'm at. I'm at right now, and
I'm annoyed with the Steelers, even though it's not really
their fault that I'm in this position because they weren't
going to get there. I'm more I'm a little bit

(54:53):
annoyed with the Bills.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Yeah, and there's another one. You've actually got people that
are talking about on McDermott and whether or not whether
or not Sean McDermott he's another guy to kick it over.
I heard the statistic for the Buffalo Bills and their
playoff losses, giving up like you know, thirty eight points,
forty two points. All this that like the Chiefs, they're

(55:16):
in the same boats as Mike Tomlin and the Steelers.
The only way that boat's a little different is that
the Jets stunk. The Dolphins are usually often on stintive.
That's the biggest difference. They have their quarterback that they
don't have to worry about anymore. Yeah, well, we didn't
think that they were going to have They were able
to replace both of their safeties. You didn't know what
they were going to do with wide receiver, but didn't

(55:37):
seem to matter. Losing stuff on Diggs, right, they had
to cook dynamic running back and it's all there, and
it's still not enough the Chiefs. The only reason the
Chiefs will be interesting to watch is like because the
three peat thing across all sports is just it's historic.
It's something that you never never see, should probably never see.

(55:58):
And the Chiefs have an opportunity to do it. I
think every including us they won. They continue to win
these games even though they're close, and they continue to
do it and they're still what like fourteen and two
this year or something like that, right, fifteen to two
something like that. And number one seed and that helps too,
you know what I mean, They would help with Buffalo,
could have gotten the number one seed of Buffalo, maybe

(56:20):
plays that game in Buffalow. Difference, It might have made
a little bit of difference. I mean, kudos Tod Chiefs fan.
I got a buddy that's a big Chiefs fan, you know.
I tell them it's like, hey, I remember, you know,
a decade ago talking with them, they just got Andy Reid.
You know, they got out of the Todd Haley hell.
With Todd Haley being the head coach. It's like, oh, well,
you could deal with him now as your coordinator, which
I would take him back for certain aspects, certain aspects,

(56:43):
maybe not as much Todd. But I don't know, Margo,
but you know, I'm I tell him. It's like you
guys had to wait. I was like, oh my goodness,
that was all the way back when the Steelers played
against Joe Montana and she didn't have a home playoff game.
That's mind blowing. And you just hope, is Steelers fan
that you're not heading for like twenty thirty years of mediocret,
because there's a whole generation of fans just slightly younger

(57:06):
than me, probably flashes age that don't know what it's
like to have any losing seasons.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
Right our our, the gentleman who has you know, christened
us Ballick Tomlin Balllickers. Let me just tell you it
is not a badge of honor to say you lived
through the Mark Malone era. I lived through the Mark Maloney.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Did you see his user name? His username is Mark Malone.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
Mark Like, yeah, I'm sorry, like that you are wallowing
in misery, sir. Just having that as your user name
proves to me you just want to be miserable, that's
all I'm gonna say.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
Well, that'll do it for us. Folks. Of course, don't
forget the like comment and subscribe. We'll be back to
you next week with some more of our opinions. We'll
see if there's any news off the press, maybe we'll
join you a little bit later. Also, make sure you
check out all of our social media channels, including YouTube,
because now we're putting out some other shorter, more format

(58:04):
shows throughout the week too, But our main flagship show
here is still City Underground. Podcast. Will be back to
you sometime early next week. Unless there's some emergency. Maybe
maybe Justin Fields makes the Pro Bowl too. Wouldn't that
be mind blowing? Steelers have two Pro Bowl quarterbacks. That's
just gonna you put that on the line item for
how much more you should be paying them? Right, folks out,

(58:29):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
Using that term anymore. It's now it's it's just I'm
just gonna call it the guys who we can get
to play Bowl.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
I know, and then in other sports too, they have
like you know, they don't even do it by conference,
like I think the NBA has like four teams. Hockey
has like they have teams for divisions, and now they
do like a division and a mini tournament and stuff,
and you just, I don't know, hockey with them breaking
the plates with.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
They just don't do it anymore.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Yeah, maybe just stop that TV money probably is still
something advertisers or whatever, but that'll do it for us folks.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Next time.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
My name is Joe, his name is Brian E.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Roach.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
As always, we encourage everyone out there too, be safe,
be good, and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www dot steel City Underground dot com

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