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HR1: Mike McCarthy · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

0:03
Speaker 1: And thank you very much for being with us on
0:06
Speaker 1: a monumental Monday following the Conference Championships with Max Starks.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm Rob King and Max announced yesterday that the Steelers
0:18
Speaker 1: have a new head football coach, just their fourth since
0:22
Speaker 1: Chuck Nole was hired in nineteen sixty nine. Chuck Noll,
0:26
Speaker 1: Bill Cower, Mike Tomlin, and now Mike McCarthy.
0:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, do you think about a action
0:36
Speaker 2: pack weekend? This was first kind of leaked a report
0:39
Speaker 2: it on Saturday, right Adam Schefter dropped the news on
0:44
Speaker 2: Twitter or x and the world has been in a
0:48
Speaker 2: frenzy ever since.
0:50
Speaker 3: Steeler Nation and the NFL world in general.
0:53
Speaker 2: Just the surprise, the speed or expediency of the entire
0:59
Speaker 2: sit situation kind of came quick because you only had
1:04
Speaker 2: three coaches come in for in person interviews, had a
1:06
Speaker 2: lot of zoom calls with a lot of different head coaches.
1:11
Speaker 2: You know, everybody had their odds out, and Vegas probably
1:14
Speaker 2: had some betty go on trying to figure out, you
1:18
Speaker 2: know what, or as you say, who the next Steelers
1:21
Speaker 2: head coach was going to be. It was believed after
1:25
Speaker 2: Brian Flores, Anthony Weaver and Mike McCarthy came in like, oh,
1:29
Speaker 2: they're gonna wait till the championship games and then they're
1:31
Speaker 2: gonna try and interview the Rams coaches, right, you know
1:34
Speaker 2: it was it was Sheiel House and Shula, We're gonna
1:36
Speaker 2: come for their in persons. And then all of a sudden,
1:38
Speaker 2: Saturday morning we wake up and nope, the Steelers have
1:42
Speaker 2: their guy, and they picked coach Mike McCarthy, obviously longtime
1:45
Speaker 2: coach at the Green Bay Packers, also coach for you know,
1:49
Speaker 2: head coach of the Dallas Cowboys more recently, and you know,
1:54
Speaker 2: it's definitely one of those that you kind of take
1:56
Speaker 2: a take a step back, Kinger, and you know, you
1:58
Speaker 2: start to peel a way the layers of the onion
2:02
Speaker 2: and you're like, okay, all.
2:04
Speaker 3: Right, I see what you did there. I see what
2:06
Speaker 3: you did there.
2:07
Speaker 2: So now very cool, very cool to now kind of
2:11
Speaker 2: know who the next headed coach is going to be.
2:14
Speaker 1: I think it's an excellent way of putting that. And
2:16
Speaker 1: we're going to talk for folks listening in here today.
2:20
Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Bob Labriola. Bob Labriola, talk
2:24
Speaker 1: to Art Rooney, and we're going to hear from Art
2:27
Speaker 1: Rooney in the coming days when the Twoers have their
2:29
Speaker 1: press conference announcing the head coach. But Bob Labriola has
2:32
Speaker 1: already talked to him and he is going to share
2:35
Speaker 1: some of that insight with us. Coming up at ten
2:37
Speaker 1: twenty at ten forty, Jerry Dulac will be joining us
2:41
Speaker 1: to give you his thoughts on this head coach hiring. So,
2:44
Speaker 1: just so you know, that's where we stand here in
2:46
Speaker 1: the locker room today. Now, Max, I think that you
2:49
Speaker 1: the way you put that is absolutely perfect because I
2:54
Speaker 1: think all of us, myself included, you know, even though
2:57
Speaker 1: I cautioned many times in these airways, said three times
3:01
Speaker 1: in fifty six years is not a trend necessarily, right,
3:04
Speaker 1: you know, it's not like they're hiring a coach a
3:07
Speaker 1: year that's a trend. Three in more than half a century,
3:11
Speaker 1: it's hard to hard to say that's a trend.
3:13
Speaker 4: For sure.
3:14
Speaker 3: There more US presidents elected than that have been head way,
3:18
Speaker 3: more Steelers.
3:19
Speaker 4: Has it even been close, you know?
3:21
Speaker 1: So yeah, So I think that I think a lot
3:24
Speaker 1: of us expected the Steelers with that. With that being said,
3:28
Speaker 1: a lot of us expected the Steelers to go out
3:30
Speaker 1: and once again get a young head coach, somebody who
3:35
Speaker 1: had not been a head coach before, somebody they could
3:37
Speaker 1: come in and, you know, provide that youthful energy or
3:41
Speaker 1: whatever whatever you expect you're getting out of youth, a
3:43
Speaker 1: different way of looking at things, whatever it is that
3:46
Speaker 1: you expect to get out of youth. Longevity, you know,
3:49
Speaker 1: fifteen a year's for Bill Cower, you know, and then
3:53
Speaker 1: we saw Mike Tomlin and Chuck Noll. Those are the
3:56
Speaker 1: they went longer in that order, a longer head coaching
3:59
Speaker 1: ten year for each of those guys, bill Cowers being
4:01
Speaker 1: the shortest.
4:02
Speaker 4: So you'd figure, okay, so we're gonna get a young guy.
4:05
Speaker 1: So when you step away from those preconceived expectations of
4:11
Speaker 1: what the dealers would do, you are left with a
4:16
Speaker 1: sixty two year old head coach, same age as a
4:20
Speaker 1: lot of people were pointing out defending this move. As
4:23
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, I believe it's a year younger than John Harbaugh,
4:27
Speaker 1: allotted higher by the New York Giants. And yet for
4:31
Speaker 1: some reason, this I think, because it comes with the
4:35
Speaker 1: preconceived notion that they were going to do something different
4:39
Speaker 1: than this, there has been some concern for this hire.
4:44
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way on Twitter or social media,
4:48
Speaker 1: what have you. By the same token, you're looking at
4:50
Speaker 1: a guy who's coached eighteen seasons, has been to the
4:53
Speaker 1: playoffs twelve times, has won eight division titles, as we
4:59
Speaker 1: no doubt remember, has a Super Bowl championship, has a
5:03
Speaker 1: history developing quarterbacks, you know, for people whose main concern
5:08
Speaker 1: was who's going to come in and handle the next quarterback? Well,
5:12
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy's got a long track record of doing exactly that.
5:16
Speaker 1: And he's also got a very good coordinator tree. That
5:19
Speaker 1: was a criticism. You know where the coordinators are, how
5:22
Speaker 1: come there's no coaching tree. Well, you know he's got that.
5:25
Speaker 1: So I think you're right. I think that when you
5:27
Speaker 1: step away, when you peel as you said, peel back
5:30
Speaker 1: the onion, when you step away from your own preconceived
5:33
Speaker 1: notions of what this dealers were going to do, and
5:36
Speaker 1: look at this resume. If it was a blind resume,
5:39
Speaker 1: you'd say to yourself, Wow, this is a this is
5:42
Speaker 1: a really really good NFL head coach. Actually, you don't
5:45
Speaker 1: even need a blind resume. Anybody who watches football knows
5:48
Speaker 1: that Mike McCarthy's a really really good head coach.
5:51
Speaker 4: Well, you know, and.
5:53
Speaker 2: It's not like you haven't heard who he is right now.
5:56
Speaker 2: I think that's the other thing. He's not a relative unknown.
5:58
Speaker 2: He is a known commodity. Like you said, I mean,
6:00
Speaker 2: if you're a Steeler fan, you remember Super Bowl forty five,
6:03
Speaker 2: don't act like you don't. And and if you're looking
6:07
Speaker 2: at any type of history with Aaron Rodgers, you know that, Hey,
6:10
Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy's intertwined in that history as well.
6:13
Speaker 3: So I think this is something.
6:15
Speaker 2: And then let's not forget his last three years in Dallas,
6:20
Speaker 2: twelve and five, twelve and five, twelve.
6:21
Speaker 1: And five, in case nonybody was wondering, right then, Dast.
6:25
Speaker 2: Gets hurt, Kenny Kenny Win, Yeah, yeah, Dak Prescott gets hurt.
6:28
Speaker 4: I mean, by the way, four and four with Cooper Rush,
6:31
Speaker 4: you know, I think one of this.
6:32
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say, Cooper Rush came in and played and
6:34
Speaker 2: played really well for him.
6:36
Speaker 4: You know, one of the things.
6:37
Speaker 1: And then and then remind me of how they did
6:40
Speaker 1: this year without Mike McCarthy. Oh yeah, seven and ten, Yeah,
6:44
Speaker 1: with a healthy with a healthy Dak Pray.
6:46
Speaker 2: With a healthy Dack and the George Pickens going crazy. Right, So,
6:51
Speaker 2: and I'm not still couldn't do it.
6:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't need Mike McCarthy doesn't need a negative comparison.
6:59
Speaker 4: Uh like that.
7:00
Speaker 1: Although I do think it's worth pointing out, you know
7:02
Speaker 1: what happened after he left Dallas, Well nothing good so far.
7:05
Speaker 1: It is worth pointing that out because he really got
7:08
Speaker 1: to You know, look, sometimes a coach coaches, and for
7:12
Speaker 1: whatever reason, a lot of organizations, not the Steelers, but
7:18
Speaker 1: some organizations just feel like, Okay, it's time for a
7:21
Speaker 1: mutual parting of ways, or it's time to kind of
7:24
Speaker 1: move on. And maybe that was the case in Green Bay.
7:27
Speaker 1: You know, Look the Bills thought that was Sean McDermott.
7:29
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens thought that with John Harbaugh. Just hey,
7:33
Speaker 1: we need it, we need it. Maybe it's time for change.
7:36
Speaker 1: Dallas was man five years and and you go to
7:40
Speaker 1: the playoffs three times and a big, big seasons and
7:43
Speaker 1: your offense is leading the league in points and that's
7:48
Speaker 1: what you get ushered out the door. So look, I
7:52
Speaker 1: think he's going to come in fired up and ready
7:54
Speaker 1: to go as well. But he's look this guy, Mike
7:57
Speaker 1: McCarthy again, just look at it his record, and again
8:02
Speaker 1: it's I think for a lot of us, Max, Max,
8:05
Speaker 1: I keep going back to the way you said it.
8:06
Speaker 1: I do think that that's what we have to step
8:09
Speaker 1: away from our preconceived notions. I mean, it's easy to
8:13
Speaker 1: get excited about a young coach because he's never done
8:16
Speaker 1: anything right. The palette is clean. You know, Hey, this
8:19
Speaker 1: is gonna be great, and we can graft our expectations
8:22
Speaker 1: onto this. It's a little once you step away from
8:26
Speaker 1: that and look at what Mike McCarthy has accomplished. This
8:29
Speaker 1: man has accomplished a lot as a head football coach.
8:32
Speaker 3: A lot. No, he absolutely hasn't.
8:36
Speaker 2: And if you're wondering, hey, you know what type of
8:40
Speaker 2: offensive prowess does Mike McCarthy bring to this.
8:44
Speaker 3: Mind? You thirteen years as a head coach, right, he.
8:49
Speaker 2: Finished in the top ten and scoring nine of those
8:52
Speaker 2: thirteen years.
8:53
Speaker 3: I think we could use that in Pittsburgh. I think so.
8:57
Speaker 2: And he was first in scoring in two of those
8:59
Speaker 2: nine Dallas had a negative seventy eight point differential in
9:05
Speaker 2: his first season and then it went to plus one
9:08
Speaker 2: seventy two in the very next year.
9:10
Speaker 3: Do you think we could use that in Pittsburgh?
9:12
Speaker 4: Yeah?
9:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely so.
9:14
Speaker 2: When we're talking about this there's so many things that
9:17
Speaker 2: make sense. And like you said, he had an unceremonious
9:21
Speaker 2: exit from Dallas, but it wasn't because of.
9:25
Speaker 3: What he did as a coach.
9:26
Speaker 2: It was more so for the team's performance and health
9:28
Speaker 2: issues than even with that. Taking got Cooper Rush as
9:32
Speaker 2: a glorified Taysom Hill. Okay, it's Taysom Hill with a
9:35
Speaker 2: little bit more, a little bit more throwing power, and
9:38
Speaker 2: he got to you got him to five hundred.
9:40
Speaker 3: Right.
9:41
Speaker 2: So these are the things that you kind of look
9:43
Speaker 2: at when you're trying to develop and trying to find
9:45
Speaker 2: that identity offensively. I mean, we talked about it for
9:47
Speaker 2: majority of the season, what is the offensive identity? Didn't
9:52
Speaker 2: quite know that with Arthur Smith, And every time we
9:54
Speaker 2: thought we did, you know, it proved to be you know,
9:58
Speaker 2: futile in our attempts to try put a finger on it.
10:01
Speaker 2: You'll know what this identity is early and often with
10:04
Speaker 2: this team, And think about this. You're giving Mike McCarthy
10:06
Speaker 2: a young, healthy, tenacious offensive line.
10:10
Speaker 3: To work around.
10:11
Speaker 2: That leads to a lot of possibilities for what you're
10:14
Speaker 2: going to get in the production aspect. You give him
10:18
Speaker 2: all these different tight ends. Now, obviously, you know, running
10:20
Speaker 2: back will have to be retooled. We still have Caleb
10:22
Speaker 2: Johnson and Jalen Warren, but obviously probably gonna lose a
10:24
Speaker 2: Kenneth gain Well. So you have to figure out who
10:27
Speaker 2: the third of that committee's gonna be. And then you
10:29
Speaker 2: got to go find a number two receiver. You know
10:31
Speaker 2: who DK metcalf Is is your number one. You got a
10:33
Speaker 2: great number three and kl Austin and you have some
10:36
Speaker 2: other pieces to work with, but that's probably gonna be
10:39
Speaker 2: one of the projects is going to be figuring out, hey,
10:41
Speaker 2: what do we do for another receiver? And then you know,
10:45
Speaker 2: continue to bolster the offensive line, right, you just can't
10:47
Speaker 2: be happy that your mind's young and youthful.
10:49
Speaker 3: You've got to have other options.
10:51
Speaker 2: Isaac c Amalu, one of those older guys, figure how
10:55
Speaker 2: that's gonna work out at the left guard position. So,
10:57
Speaker 2: I mean, there are some offensive things to fix, and
10:59
Speaker 2: of course the biggest one and the crown jewel of
11:02
Speaker 2: it all quarterback.
11:03
Speaker 3: But you have some good pieces to work around that.
11:06
Speaker 2: If you insert said quarterback or you develop set quarterback
11:10
Speaker 2: already on this roster, you have some places in some
11:13
Speaker 2: smaller gaps to fill the defense has gotten a lot
11:16
Speaker 2: of attention over the last couple of years, so that
11:18
Speaker 2: position grouping is continuing to be on the rise of
11:21
Speaker 2: front seven looks good And I think you just worry
11:24
Speaker 2: about your secondary will probably be your next concern defensively,
11:28
Speaker 2: So I mean, not as.
11:28
Speaker 3: Many holes as people want to think.
11:31
Speaker 2: But like you said, retooling and went through this process
11:35
Speaker 2: rather rather quickly. You know, we never called it a rebuild.
11:39
Speaker 2: It was always a retool and Omar Khan and Andy
11:41
Speaker 2: Widel did a great job of really putting those pieces together.
11:44
Speaker 2: And also the relationship that Mike McCarthy has with Omar Khan,
11:47
Speaker 2: I think that's also another key key cog in this,
11:50
Speaker 2: in this in the in this kind of decision and
11:53
Speaker 2: now reformation is that you know, he worked with Omar
11:57
Speaker 2: and Andy down down in New Orleans, uh and for
12:00
Speaker 2: a while. So there's a relationship there. So when you
12:03
Speaker 2: talk about head coach with GM, relationship, there's a good
12:06
Speaker 2: one there. So that also gives you another sticking point
12:10
Speaker 2: when we talk about the hire for Mike McCarthy.
12:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again you know, we'll go over a lot
12:15
Speaker 1: of his numbers. I do think Max, and this is
12:18
Speaker 1: one thing and we're going to try to go over
12:20
Speaker 1: a lot of what Mike McCarthy has accomplished throughout the
12:24
Speaker 1: course of his career to bring everybody up to speed
12:27
Speaker 1: on that, because you do have to step away. And
12:33
Speaker 1: I think, as you said, as you put so eloquently
12:36
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of this program, and something we're
12:38
Speaker 1: going to do over the course of this hour and
12:41
Speaker 1: of the course of this week is step away from
12:44
Speaker 1: the preconceived notions of what you wanted to hire and
12:47
Speaker 1: look at the man that they did hire, and look
12:50
Speaker 1: at the way it would match up with what the
12:55
Speaker 1: Steelers want to do, where they are, where they're headed.
12:58
Speaker 1: All of that, I think that you brought up another
13:01
Speaker 1: great point, the fact that he has a working relationship
13:04
Speaker 1: with Omar Khan and you know, and with Andy Widel.
13:09
Speaker 1: You know, they were they've both been with him in
13:11
Speaker 1: the past, and I do think that that's important. Are
13:14
Speaker 1: you on the same wavelength as the team?
13:18
Speaker 4: You know?
13:19
Speaker 1: Again, just to say this quickly, and I don't want
13:21
Speaker 1: to you know, we're gonna have Bob Labriola coming up
13:22
Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes, so you're gonna hear from him.
13:24
Speaker 4: As he talked to h to Art Rooney.
13:27
Speaker 1: If you bring in a guy who has a different
13:29
Speaker 1: philosophy than what you have, then if you have drafted,
13:33
Speaker 1: say offensive lineman that play a particular style, okay, well
13:37
Speaker 1: they have to be replaced. If you, you know, are
13:41
Speaker 1: adamant about playing a four to three defense, well how
13:44
Speaker 1: many pieces do you have for that four to three defense? Now,
13:46
Speaker 1: all those guys have to be replaced, or some of
13:48
Speaker 1: them are redrafted, or what have you. It shakes up
13:51
Speaker 1: your entire roster. So when you have somebody that's gonna
13:55
Speaker 1: be able to share a vision, and I'm assuming that's
13:58
Speaker 1: part of the conversations, then that should make the transition
14:01
Speaker 1: and the ability to work with guys that should make
14:04
Speaker 1: the transition smoother as well.
14:05
Speaker 4: We'll get into all of that stuff.
14:07
Speaker 1: There's a ton, as Max said, to peel back here,
14:11
Speaker 1: but Bob Labriola talked to Art Rooney, and Bob Labriola
14:16
Speaker 1: is going to be joining us next when we continue
14:18
Speaker 1: in the Locker Room presented by our neighborhood Ford Store
14:21
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14:23
Speaker 1: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
14:28
Speaker 5: This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
14:32
Speaker 5: on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
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14:50
Speaker 1: And a Tuesday with Lab is actually a Monday with
14:52
Speaker 1: Labs presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider and help
14:55
Speaker 1: plan in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bob Labriola joins us Now
15:00
Speaker 1: Bob a monumental decision for the Steelers, as they don't
15:05
Speaker 1: do this very often. Just for the fourth time in
15:07
Speaker 1: more than half a century, they have named a new
15:10
Speaker 1: head football coach. I know that you talked to Art
15:15
Speaker 1: Rooney the second and would love to get your perceptions
15:19
Speaker 1: on how the process went or your thoughts on how
15:21
Speaker 1: the process went and the hiring of Mike McCarthy's head coach.
15:27
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, you're right, I mean, this isn't something that
15:30
Speaker 6: the Steelers do often, and you know, I mean I
15:36
Speaker 6: don't I don't really have a lot of thoughts on
15:44
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy and the job he's going to do, or
15:47
Speaker 6: predictions or you know, a lot of the stuff that's
15:51
Speaker 6: rattling around out there in cyberspace right now. But you know,
15:56
Speaker 6: talking to Art about it, you know, mates, he he
16:01
Speaker 6: brought up some things that you know, kind of separated
16:07
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy from you know, the other candidates, and I'll
16:12
Speaker 6: mention two of them, one of them being that, you know,
16:15
Speaker 6: he does have a winning track record. And you know,
16:18
Speaker 6: unlike the previous three coaches that the Steelers have hired,
16:23
Speaker 6: if none of them had any NFL head coaching experience,
16:27
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy comes with that. Uh, he coached. He was
16:32
Speaker 6: the head coach at both the Green Bay Packers and
16:35
Speaker 6: the Dallas Cowboys. He has one hundred and seventy four
16:37
Speaker 6: regular season wins. He owns a Super Bowl ring, And
16:43
Speaker 6: so there was that, and then the other thing is
16:47
Speaker 6: the other the previous three candidates who turned into coaches,
16:52
Speaker 6: turned into their choice to be coaches, had defensive backgrounds.
16:58
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy is a offensive guy, and he has a
17:03
Speaker 6: reputation as a developer of quarterbacks. And you know, I
17:10
Speaker 6: think if you look at the recent history of the
17:12
Speaker 6: Pittsburgh Steelers, especially focusing on the time since Ben Roethlisberger
17:17
Speaker 6: retired after the twenty twenty one season, you know, quarterback
17:23
Speaker 6: has been an issue. You know, the franchise has tried
17:26
Speaker 6: a lot of different ways to fix it, Spend a
17:30
Speaker 6: number one pick, traded for a former number one pick,
17:35
Speaker 6: re signed one of their own guys that they had
17:37
Speaker 6: picked in the third round once and signed some you know,
17:42
Speaker 6: free agent unrestricted free agents. None of it really led
17:46
Speaker 6: to them winning playoff games. And so you know, I'm
17:53
Speaker 6: not saying that Mike McCarthy's well, aren't even said this.
17:57
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy's history of fixing quarterbacks was not the number
18:07
Speaker 6: one thing that kind of put him over the top,
18:12
Speaker 6: but it was up there. And you know, I think
18:16
Speaker 6: that everybody kind of understands that at some point the
18:21
Speaker 6: Steelers are going to have to try and develop a
18:25
Speaker 6: young a young guy at that position for their own
18:28
Speaker 6: and you know that's gonna be Mike McCarthy's job, one
18:33
Speaker 6: of them. Anyway, is that the most important job he has?
18:37
Speaker 6: You know what Art said was, you know his most
18:40
Speaker 6: important job is to you know, lead the team win games,
18:44
Speaker 6: you know, and try to win a championship. But maybe
18:47
Speaker 6: right after that, you know, developing the quarterback is going
18:51
Speaker 6: to be up there. So you know, here we go,
18:56
Speaker 6: let's let's see how this works out.
19:00
Speaker 2: And you know, labs to kind of piggyback on that. Uh,
19:03
Speaker 2: you put one specific specific phrase in the in your article,
19:09
Speaker 2: which is a phenomenal one. Ip I appreciate it as
19:13
Speaker 2: as as a consumer of of your articulations, but one
19:17
Speaker 2: that I wanted to point just I wanted to get
19:18
Speaker 2: your thoughts on it because I felt like it was
19:20
Speaker 2: a very powerful and dramatic.
19:23
Speaker 3: Statement.
19:23
Speaker 2: It said, we decided to bring Mike on because we
19:26
Speaker 2: believe that he's the right coach for us at this
19:29
Speaker 2: point to help lead us.
19:31
Speaker 3: To a championship. And you said that was, of course,
19:34
Speaker 3: you know, part of rule number one.
19:36
Speaker 2: Just how powerful the statement was that to hear that
19:38
Speaker 2: from Art Rooney and to make that statement like in
19:42
Speaker 2: that concrete sentence, What did that mean?
19:45
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, you know again, it's it's what it's
19:48
Speaker 6: it's just really reiterating, you know, some of the things
19:52
Speaker 6: that you know or has said from the beginning. I mean,
19:57
Speaker 6: his dad always said, uh, you know, at the at
20:01
Speaker 6: the Tuesday news conference at Akroscher Stadium a couple of
20:07
Speaker 6: weeks ago. Now, I think a lot of stuff has
20:10
Speaker 6: been happening really fast and furious, Uh, you know, talking
20:14
Speaker 6: about Mike Mike Tollman's decision to step back. You know,
20:19
Speaker 6: Art was saying that he doesn't see any reason why
20:22
Speaker 6: you would want to waste a year, you know, not
20:25
Speaker 6: trying to compete. And sometimes you have the players and
20:29
Speaker 6: sometimes you don't. But you know, the idea is you
20:33
Speaker 6: go into every season, you know, trying to be, uh,
20:37
Speaker 6: you know, the best you can be and compete. And so,
20:41
Speaker 6: you know, because I remember this was I think it
20:46
Speaker 6: was two thousand or something like that talking to the
20:49
Speaker 6: ambassador about you know, the Steelers slow start or in
20:55
Speaker 6: two thousand and three was another you know, kind of
20:58
Speaker 6: bad year in that and you know, the whole idea
21:02
Speaker 6: of tanking or you know, something less than that, trying
21:09
Speaker 6: to enhance your position, you know, for the draft, is
21:13
Speaker 6: just totally foreign to that family. And that goes back
21:18
Speaker 6: to Art Rooney Senior. I mean, you know, the Rooneys
21:22
Speaker 6: went into football. Art Rooney Senior went into football in
21:26
Speaker 6: nineteen thirty three, you know, and his I don't know
21:31
Speaker 6: what you would call it, his his job before that
21:35
Speaker 6: was he was a sportsman. You know, he's the Rooney
21:39
Speaker 6: family is unlike a lot of the other ownership families
21:44
Speaker 6: in the NFL in that they didn't come from some
21:48
Speaker 6: other industry, you know, like the Fords with cars, the
21:54
Speaker 6: Hunts with the oil. You know a lot of these
21:57
Speaker 6: owners you look around the league, they made their money, uh,
22:02
Speaker 6: doing something else and then got into football. The Rooneys
22:07
Speaker 6: were always into sports. You know, Dan Rooney was born
22:13
Speaker 6: into the same kind of life lifestyle. You know that
22:18
Speaker 6: his father lived and R. Rooney the second is is
22:22
Speaker 6: the same.
22:23
Speaker 7: You know when R.
22:23
Speaker 6: Rooney the second was born. You know, the Rooney families
22:27
Speaker 6: primarily business. Primary business was sports, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and
22:34
Speaker 6: so that whole concept of anything other than trying to
22:39
Speaker 6: win every game every year is just not They don't
22:43
Speaker 6: understand it. It's it's anathema to their DNA. So you know,
22:51
Speaker 6: that's the way it's going to be here as long
22:54
Speaker 6: as they own this team. And that's you know, I
23:00
Speaker 6: think that in every every move that they make, every
23:04
Speaker 6: conversation they have about this kind of thing that we're
23:08
Speaker 6: talking about now, that's always at the basis for the
23:11
Speaker 6: decision and every decision they make is you know, that
23:15
Speaker 6: was one of the things when I was first hired,
23:19
Speaker 6: you know, is this in the best you know what
23:22
Speaker 6: you're writing, what you're doing or what we are all doing.
23:25
Speaker 6: Is this in the best interest of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
23:29
Speaker 6: And so that's that's kind of little marching orders, I
23:36
Speaker 6: guess you could say. And it's not just for me, really,
23:39
Speaker 6: it's for everyone who works there.
23:41
Speaker 1: So labs a couple of things. I want to square
23:44
Speaker 1: up with you if I can. First of all, and
23:46
Speaker 1: I think you alluded to this in the article and
23:49
Speaker 1: Max mentioned the quote, you know, My assumption is that
23:55
Speaker 1: he came in and impressed him, you know, so you know,
23:58
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's okay for Mike Tomlin to have
24:02
Speaker 1: come in and impressed them because he's a young guy
24:04
Speaker 1: and he kind of fits this mold of what the
24:06
Speaker 1: what the Steelers have hired young coaches and and that
24:10
Speaker 1: sort of thing. My assumption is that Mike McCarthy impressed
24:14
Speaker 1: them in the interview process or he wouldn't.
24:15
Speaker 4: Be the head coach. Uh. And maybe you can clear
24:18
Speaker 4: that up for me too.
24:19
Speaker 1: Bill Cower was before my time, and I don't know
24:23
Speaker 1: if there was any you know, eyebrows raised because he
24:27
Speaker 1: was a local guy. But I feel like maybe there's
24:30
Speaker 1: some eyebrows being raised again by some fans. This is
24:33
Speaker 1: you know, you know, speculation about what fans might think.
24:36
Speaker 1: And I understand your your you know, your aversion to
24:40
Speaker 1: to weighing in on that. But I don't remember when
24:44
Speaker 1: Bill Cowerr was hired, if anybody held that against him
24:46
Speaker 1: or not. That was before my time. But I do
24:49
Speaker 1: think that Mike McCarthy clearly showed up, interviewed. The Steelers
24:53
Speaker 1: did interviews with all the candidates out there. They brought
24:56
Speaker 1: some guys in in person, and I think my guess
24:59
Speaker 1: is he just wowed him. He just said I'm the guy,
25:02
Speaker 1: and they were like, yep, you're the guy. No reason
25:04
Speaker 1: to you know, no reason to drag this out. You're
25:06
Speaker 1: the man we need.
25:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, and you know, specifically, you know what he how
25:15
Speaker 6: he wiled them. You know, I'm not sure I wasn't
25:19
Speaker 6: in any of those and meetings, and you know, that's
25:22
Speaker 6: not something that has ever been discussed at the conclusion
25:25
Speaker 6: of any of these coaching searches that the Steelers have done,
25:28
Speaker 6: you know, since nineteen sixty nine. One of the things
25:33
Speaker 6: I pointed out, you know, was that this quote unquote
25:37
Speaker 6: template that they allegedly have, you know, a young guy
25:41
Speaker 6: with no previous head coaching, NFL head coaching experience, defensive background.
25:47
Speaker 6: I mean, that wasn't a template. I mean, if Joe
25:51
Speaker 6: Paterno accepts the job that Dan Rooney offered him before
25:54
Speaker 6: they turned to KNOWL, then this whole template thing is different.
26:02
Speaker 6: You know, Paterno was a college head coach, no NFL experience.
26:07
Speaker 6: His defenses, his top defenses at Penn State were you know,
26:12
Speaker 6: put together and and uh you know, schemed and called
26:16
Speaker 6: and all that stuff by his by assistants, and so
26:20
Speaker 6: you know, he was more of a kind of a
26:22
Speaker 6: CEO figure at Penn State. And so you know, none
26:29
Speaker 6: of this, you know, the the the narrative that you know,
26:33
Speaker 6: they have this thing in mind that they tried to
26:36
Speaker 6: adhere to every time they do this really isn't necessarily true.
26:42
Speaker 6: It has happened that way. But you know, the other
26:48
Speaker 6: two people in uh and were finalists when Mike Tomlin
26:52
Speaker 6: was hired, they weren't They didn't have defensive backgrounds. Ken
26:58
Speaker 6: Wi wasn't hunt and Russ Grimm and and along with
27:03
Speaker 6: you know when Bill Kauer, you know, there was day
27:06
Speaker 6: once that Kevin Gilbride was involved in that close to
27:11
Speaker 6: the end in that search and once again, it wasn't
27:16
Speaker 6: that quote unquote template. It so happened that once they
27:20
Speaker 6: woudled the the field down, got to the quote unquote finalists,
27:26
Speaker 6: and then made the choice that the guy that they
27:28
Speaker 6: ended up picking fell into this category. But that was
27:32
Speaker 6: not the intent when the process started.
27:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that, Bob.
27:38
Speaker 1: I've been saying that since I've been bluing the face
27:40
Speaker 1: since this process began. Three hires in fifty six years
27:44
Speaker 1: is not a trend, you know what I mean, it's
27:46
Speaker 1: hard to we want to graft that onto these decisions,
27:49
Speaker 1: but you're laying it out beautifully, and thank you for
27:53
Speaker 1: doing that, because it's right. Every every every hiring is different.
27:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, and you know, and hey, I'm not gonna you know,
28:03
Speaker 6: run anybody down here, That's not my purpose on this
28:07
Speaker 6: call or you know whatever. But to watch the Seattle
28:10
Speaker 6: Rams game yesterday, what did you think of that crack
28:13
Speaker 6: Rams defense? You know? I mean, and again, I'm that
28:19
Speaker 6: has nothing to do with Chris Shule's prospects to become
28:29
Speaker 6: a top NFL coach or anything, but people think that,
28:33
Speaker 6: you know, this guy is you know, he's it. Uh,
28:39
Speaker 6: you know, with five minutes left in the third quarter
28:41
Speaker 6: Seattle had thirty one points on the board. I mean,
28:44
Speaker 6: just imagine if that was a Mike Tomlin defense, with
28:48
Speaker 6: the same fans who are screaming for Chris Schuler would
28:52
Speaker 6: have been yelling about Mike Tomlin. So you know, I
28:56
Speaker 6: you know, people I don't understand and uh some of
29:02
Speaker 6: the things that motivate them or lead them to believe
29:06
Speaker 6: certain things. You know, this this hire being portrayed as
29:11
Speaker 6: you know, the Steelers doing the same old, same old.
29:14
Speaker 6: I mean, how how is you know, how is that?
29:17
Speaker 6: How is Mike McCarthy the same as the previous three
29:22
Speaker 6: coaches that the Steelers have hired. I mean, you know,
29:27
Speaker 6: there's there's just nothing about it that is that Bill
29:32
Speaker 6: Cower wasn't criticized, you know, for growing up in Crafton
29:39
Speaker 6: and going to Carlington High School when he was introduced,
29:44
Speaker 6: you know, And I don't know why or if Mike
29:47
Speaker 6: McCarthy is going to be criticized, you know, for being
29:51
Speaker 6: a green Field guy. You know. The only thing about that,
29:55
Speaker 6: as far as I'm concerned is, you know, Mike McCarthy,
29:58
Speaker 6: when he crosses the metal Bridge, he knows that you
30:02
Speaker 6: turn right on Second Avenue to go down to Greenfield
30:05
Speaker 6: Avenue and turn right to go back up into Greenfield.
30:08
Speaker 6: He knows that you don't have to you don't have
30:10
Speaker 6: to give him directions. He will not need ways to
30:13
Speaker 6: do that. But outside of that, I don't know that
30:16
Speaker 6: there's anything about how he was raised or where he
30:22
Speaker 6: was raised that either qualified him necessarily for this job
30:26
Speaker 6: or should have eliminated him necessarily for consideration for this job.
30:32
Speaker 6: You know, one of the things that Art said that
30:34
Speaker 6: was icing on the cake, to use arts exact phrase,
30:38
Speaker 6: was Mike McCarthy understands how important football is to this region.
30:44
Speaker 6: Uh that the you know, the most important team in
30:50
Speaker 6: that sport for this region is the Pittsburgh Steelers and
30:55
Speaker 6: what fans have come to expect or demand, you know,
31:01
Speaker 6: from that franchise. And so he's not going to be
31:04
Speaker 6: surprised by, uh, the intensity of the scrutiny or the
31:12
Speaker 6: you know, demands on you know, the expectation of the
31:15
Speaker 6: expectation or whatever that kind of stuff is. He understands,
31:19
Speaker 6: he grew up here, He gets it. That's not gonna
31:22
Speaker 6: help him draft a quarterback. That's not going to help
31:25
Speaker 6: him determine if Will Howard is the guy that uh,
31:28
Speaker 6: this franchise wants to move forward with. That's not gonna
31:31
Speaker 6: have anything to do with uh whether the Steelers end
31:35
Speaker 6: up getting back together with Aaron Rodgers for another year
31:39
Speaker 6: or not. But it is something that you know, is
31:44
Speaker 6: part of who he is and I don't see it
31:47
Speaker 6: as a negative.
31:48
Speaker 1: Bob Labriola spoke without Rooney his his article, fantastic article
31:54
Speaker 1: on Steelers dot com giving you lots of insight, giving
31:57
Speaker 1: us Insight Labs as always, A appreciate your time, my friend,
32:01
Speaker 1: and thank you very much for coming on with us.
32:04
Speaker 6: Hey, appreciate it. Hey Max, where are you.
32:08
Speaker 3: I'm at home in Arizona. I am actually in a
32:11
Speaker 3: stationary place for ones.
32:13
Speaker 6: Before before I said I hated you, I wanted to
32:16
Speaker 6: make sure that you were not like me yesterday shoveling snow,
32:22
Speaker 6: blowing snow. Yeah, I do hate you, Max.
32:27
Speaker 3: Right now, it's all good. Last you know, I love you.
32:33
Speaker 2: I love you, and you know it's in the forties
32:36
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, steadily creeping up to the sixties.
32:39
Speaker 2: So just in case you were wondering about my welfare,
32:42
Speaker 2: I just wanted to make sure you knew I was safe.
32:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, So get on, get on the plane. Max, I
32:47
Speaker 6: got an extra shovel in my garage as your name
32:49
Speaker 6: on it.
32:51
Speaker 3: I'll use mechanized ones. I only use mechanized devices. Will
32:55
Speaker 3: I need a slow blower?
32:58
Speaker 6: All right, guys, take it easy.
33:00
Speaker 1: Thanks Bob Labriola and his insight. After having talked with
33:04
Speaker 1: Art Rooney. Second about the hiring of Mike McCarthy, somebody
33:08
Speaker 1: who knows a lot about Mike Mike McCarthy's career is
33:12
Speaker 1: going to be joining us next.
33:13
Speaker 4: That is Jerry Dulac.
33:14
Speaker 1: When we continue in the locker Room presented by our
33:16
Speaker 1: neighborhood Fordgs, joining the Steeers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
33:19
Speaker 1: part of this Cheeler's Audio network.
33:24
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33:27
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Speaker 5: Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get in direct
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33:41
Speaker 5: dot Steelers dot com.
33:45
Speaker 4: And we thank you for being with us in the
33:47
Speaker 4: locker room.
33:47
Speaker 1: And of course that cool breeze music can only mean
33:52
Speaker 1: one thing, and that is Jerry Dulac, who is presented
33:55
Speaker 1: by your neighborhood Fords Shore. The F one fifty is
33:57
Speaker 1: the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jerry joining Us now, Jerry.
34:05
Speaker 1: A huge decision obviously made with the Steelers hiring head
34:09
Speaker 1: coach Mike McCarthy. And you know, we were just talking
34:12
Speaker 1: with Bob Labriel, who talked to Art Rooney about the hiring,
34:16
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people the preconceived notion
34:19
Speaker 1: was We're going to go in and get a young guy,
34:21
Speaker 1: probably defensive minded guy who's in his mid thirties, who's
34:24
Speaker 1: never been a head coach, and that's the way we're
34:27
Speaker 1: going to roll. And the Steelers did not do that.
34:29
Speaker 1: They went with a veteran coach who's got a lot
34:32
Speaker 1: of experience. I think he's probably headed to Canton and he,
34:37
Speaker 1: you know, is a sixty two year old head coach
34:39
Speaker 1: coming in. So people think it flies in the face
34:42
Speaker 1: of what the Steelers have done traditionally. Your thoughts on
34:45
Speaker 1: the hiring of Mike McCarthy.
34:48
Speaker 7: Well, rom First of all, following Labriel is like following
34:52
Speaker 7: Sinatra deal, as we all know. Sure, Look, I was,
35:00
Speaker 7: you know, I was more surprised at the timing of
35:04
Speaker 7: the announcement by that. I mean, I did not expect
35:07
Speaker 7: it to be Saturday. I expected it to go into
35:12
Speaker 7: this week. And so the simple conclusion is that the
35:19
Speaker 7: Steelers liked what they saw heard from Mike McCarthy on Wednesday,
35:28
Speaker 7: and so they still though went through the interview process
35:31
Speaker 7: with Anthony Weaver. Now I know there's compliance to be
35:34
Speaker 7: had with the Rooney rule. You have to have two
35:37
Speaker 7: in person meetings with a minority candidate, and Anthony Weaver
35:41
Speaker 7: was one of those. Brian Flores was the other that
35:46
Speaker 7: they did not pursue. One of the RAMS assistants tells
35:53
Speaker 7: me also that maybe the RAMS assistance one of them.
35:58
Speaker 7: I don't know about two of them, but at least
36:00
Speaker 7: one of them didn't like the opportunity here, and you know,
36:06
Speaker 7: maybe didn't want the interview. You know, I've had the
36:09
Speaker 7: opportunity in the last couple of days to talk to
36:12
Speaker 7: people around the NFL at least three former head coaches,
36:17
Speaker 7: and I don't say I want to say it was
36:21
Speaker 7: split because there were three of them. But the Steeler
36:24
Speaker 7: job is not viewed around the league as an attractive
36:28
Speaker 7: job because of where they are, mainly because they there's
36:34
Speaker 7: no quarterback in place. But part of that is, you know,
36:37
Speaker 7: the offense, let's face it, it's somewhat bereffed of star power.
36:42
Speaker 7: There's no quarterback in place, and the defenses is old.
36:47
Speaker 7: And so if you're a young assistant, especially one with
36:51
Speaker 7: the Rams for example, and you're with Sean McVeigh, you're
36:56
Speaker 7: sitting pretty good with the opportunity to get another job.
37:01
Speaker 7: And so I think, then, you know, maybe those weren't
37:05
Speaker 7: going to workout. I don't know, I'm not saying that
37:08
Speaker 7: Mike McCarthy was a second choice, but I think maybe
37:11
Speaker 7: part of that, you know, that was the kind of
37:15
Speaker 7: vibe or feel that was out there. Okay, now just
37:23
Speaker 7: going to say four of the five hires are former
37:26
Speaker 7: head coaches, and I get I get Mike. I like
37:30
Speaker 7: Mike personally. I think he's an outstanding coach, and so
37:35
Speaker 7: bringing him back like we've seen after Mike Rabels sitting
37:38
Speaker 7: out a year, Sean Payton, who obviously older, sitting out
37:42
Speaker 7: a year, there's nothing wrong with that. That's probably I'm
37:46
Speaker 7: going to guess what might happen with Mike Tomlin and
37:49
Speaker 7: and and Mike's credentials hit what they are hoping to do.
37:55
Speaker 7: So that part of it, I get as well. That's
37:58
Speaker 7: why I say I was a little more surprised with
38:00
Speaker 7: the timing. And yet everybody, you know, the negative reaction
38:03
Speaker 7: is certainly very palpable, and it's because everybody thought, Okay,
38:08
Speaker 7: after nineteen years with Mike Tomlin, it's time to start anew,
38:13
Speaker 7: let's rewind, reset like we've done in the past, and
38:17
Speaker 7: hire a young thirty something former assistant to be the
38:23
Speaker 7: next Chuck Nobill power Mike Tomlin. And they went opposite
38:28
Speaker 7: of that, but you can understand why they did it,
38:32
Speaker 7: and to me fellas real quickly. And finally, you look
38:36
Speaker 7: at what they've done the last two years personnel wise.
38:39
Speaker 7: What have they done bring in a bunch of thirty
38:41
Speaker 7: something veterans, a thirty six year old quarterback, a forty
38:46
Speaker 7: one who became forty two year old quarterback, all with
38:49
Speaker 7: one purpose and what was that to win a playoff game?
38:53
Speaker 7: And to me, it's the same mentality now with the
38:56
Speaker 7: head coach, bring in a proven guy, a veteran eye,
39:01
Speaker 7: and try to win a playoff game. And to me,
39:05
Speaker 7: it just goes in line with their thinking of where
39:09
Speaker 7: they feel they are. Okay, five, we've had five playoff
39:12
Speaker 7: apperiences in six years. We're not that far away. We're
39:15
Speaker 7: not going to reboot and rebuild. We're going to try
39:20
Speaker 7: to take that next step. But they keep trying, and eventually,
39:23
Speaker 7: you know, and they keep trying with veteran people, and
39:28
Speaker 7: that's not always viewed as going forward. And I think
39:31
Speaker 7: that's probably that certainly is the way they're thinking. And
39:36
Speaker 7: I think that's what's maybe upsetting to the fan base,
39:41
Speaker 7: who wants, you know, hey, look, but they're not in
39:43
Speaker 7: charge of the team. They're the ones who want to
39:45
Speaker 7: see everything blown up and start again. And that's not
39:48
Speaker 7: the way to go either.
39:51
Speaker 3: No, no, it's not.
39:52
Speaker 2: And I think that's where people have to kind of
39:55
Speaker 2: understand and trust leadership. And Bob kind of talked about
39:58
Speaker 2: this with Art Rooney with that, you know, this was
40:02
Speaker 2: the right decision considering where they were as a franchise.
40:07
Speaker 2: Like you said, you listed all of those things. You
40:09
Speaker 2: have a very veteran squad when you say that, and
40:12
Speaker 2: so to come in and get a veteran coach might
40:16
Speaker 2: might speak better to dealing with these guys for the
40:20
Speaker 2: first time guy. So you know, I I kind of
40:23
Speaker 2: look at that and I say, okay, well, I mean
40:26
Speaker 2: and we had to trust what Art Rooney is doing
40:29
Speaker 2: because he's been around this, he's seen it, and a
40:32
Speaker 2: lot of people are like, oh, well, this is departure
40:34
Speaker 2: from the old.
40:35
Speaker 3: Well, you know, Art said it. Art said it best when.
40:38
Speaker 2: He said this is the best coach for this version
40:44
Speaker 2: of the team. And I thought that was very pointing.
40:47
Speaker 2: I kind of pointed that out that because Bob wrote that.
40:49
Speaker 2: But I think that's when you take stock of what
40:51
Speaker 2: your personnel is and what your staff is and you say,
40:54
Speaker 2: we got it, we got we gotta do what's best
40:56
Speaker 2: for the current roster and how can we build upon
40:59
Speaker 2: it as opposed to saying we're gonna blow things up.
41:02
Speaker 2: And you know, we've been a team that's been toiling futility.
41:04
Speaker 2: We have not been in futility because we've still been
41:07
Speaker 2: in the playoffs and in that hunt very squarely. So
41:11
Speaker 2: I just I kind of think that that's a very
41:14
Speaker 2: important thing for Stealing Nation to keep in mind.
41:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, and look, the reaction right now obviously is not
41:23
Speaker 7: positive amongst those people, but we'll wait and see what happens.
41:28
Speaker 7: Mike is a proven quality coach. You know, he went
41:31
Speaker 7: from Green Bay and the success success he had there,
41:35
Speaker 7: went to Dallas. They were twelve and five, twelve and five,
41:38
Speaker 7: and then I went to seven and ten, I think
41:39
Speaker 7: the last year. But he's also had young he's also
41:43
Speaker 7: had quarterbacks to work with, whether Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers,
41:47
Speaker 7: Jordan Love and then of course in Dallas, dak Press cover.
41:53
Speaker 7: He doesn't have that here, and I don't know that
41:55
Speaker 7: bringing back Aaron Rodgers is going to solve that. And
41:59
Speaker 7: right now, well, they're not sure what they're going to
42:01
Speaker 7: do short of saying, well, we'll see what Will Howard
42:04
Speaker 7: has and they don't know what he has and so,
42:09
Speaker 7: but the person who can keep them where they are
42:14
Speaker 7: without going backward, they feel, is Mike McCarthy. The flip
42:20
Speaker 7: side of that is, Okay, we don't want to stay
42:22
Speaker 7: where we are, we want to go forward. And you know,
42:26
Speaker 7: is a younger, fresher, innovative coach with ideas. Is he
42:35
Speaker 7: the answer? Do you take a step back to go
42:37
Speaker 7: too forward? You know? Yeah, I get why everybody is upset.
42:44
Speaker 7: It's unfair to Mike McCarthy though, at who he is
42:47
Speaker 7: and what type of coach he is, because he'll come
42:49
Speaker 7: in and he'll be successful. Now what success translates to,
42:53
Speaker 7: I'm not sure but he's not going to come in
42:56
Speaker 7: and there all of a sudden going to be seven
42:57
Speaker 7: and ten. I don't believe that. All that being I
43:00
Speaker 7: think they will have some very hard personnel decisions coming forward.
43:04
Speaker 7: I mean there are guys, Look, there are guys who
43:06
Speaker 7: aren't going to be on this team. That's every year.
43:09
Speaker 7: But they have to look at some of those people
43:10
Speaker 7: and they have to make some moves. And they have
43:14
Speaker 7: to stop bringing in these thirty something year old players
43:16
Speaker 7: who they're just trying to get a year or two
43:18
Speaker 7: out them, because that doesn't bode well for them going
43:22
Speaker 7: forward year after year. And so they have to be
43:25
Speaker 7: a little bit more proficient in the draft in terms
43:28
Speaker 7: of their evaluations.
43:30
Speaker 6: And so.
43:32
Speaker 7: It's going to be It's going to be interesting, no
43:34
Speaker 7: doubt about it. But they have to keep in mind
43:36
Speaker 7: that Mike McCarthy has a proven quality, very good football
43:40
Speaker 7: coach and has had success everywhere he's been and I'm
43:44
Speaker 7: sure that will be the same here in terms of
43:48
Speaker 7: getting this team, you know, to the postseason. But everybody
43:52
Speaker 7: wants and I get it, and so do the Steelers.
43:55
Speaker 7: They want more than that, and we haven't seen more
43:57
Speaker 7: than that in nine years.
43:59
Speaker 1: So Jerry I think that when people think of Mike McCarthy,
44:03
Speaker 1: they naturally think of the offenses that he's been able
44:08
Speaker 1: to put up eighteen years, twelve times in the top
44:11
Speaker 1: ten and scoring four times. They've led the team in
44:14
Speaker 1: scoring four times. So can we expect because he's coming
44:20
Speaker 1: in here, and again, I know a lot of this
44:23
Speaker 1: is dependent upon the quarterback position, can we expect a
44:27
Speaker 1: difference You've seen him his coaching and his style, a
44:31
Speaker 1: difference in the offensive style and production than we've seen
44:35
Speaker 1: in recent years.
44:37
Speaker 7: I think one thing will probably notice a difference with
44:42
Speaker 7: is how the roster is made up. I think you
44:47
Speaker 7: will see more of an emphasis on wide receivers and
44:51
Speaker 7: less of an emphasis on tight ends. I don't think
44:55
Speaker 7: you'll see the amount of usage that we saw with
45:00
Speaker 7: Arthur Smith from the twelve and thirteen packages. And I
45:04
Speaker 7: know the Steelers always, you know, professed to they want
45:08
Speaker 7: to run the ball. I don't think that's going to change.
45:11
Speaker 7: I don't think they're going to be a pass happy team.
45:13
Speaker 7: But it's how you develop your players in the system
45:16
Speaker 7: you're running. And I think you'll see more of an
45:18
Speaker 7: emphasis on more wide receivers on the roster and more
45:24
Speaker 7: of that type of a passing game with Mike McCarthy,
45:28
Speaker 7: so long as you have the quarterback who can execute that.
45:32
Speaker 7: And so that's going to be you know, that's going
45:37
Speaker 7: to be the big question mark. Yes, you have Mason Rudolph,
45:40
Speaker 7: but we have seen the Steelers don't effort tend to
45:43
Speaker 7: go into the season with Mason Rudolph as their quarterback.
45:46
Speaker 7: I'm not saying that as a knock against Mason. I'm
45:48
Speaker 7: just saying that's the way this team has always believed
45:51
Speaker 7: and they're all of a sudden not going to change
45:53
Speaker 7: despite what they might say about the confidence they have
45:56
Speaker 7: in Mason. And rightfully so do you guys know Mason
46:00
Speaker 7: a great deal and man, he's bailed them out on
46:02
Speaker 7: numerous occasions, but they never go into a season with
46:06
Speaker 7: the idea that he's going to be their number one quarterback.
46:08
Speaker 7: They're always looking for an alternative. So what that alternative
46:11
Speaker 7: is is that going to be Aaron Rodgers? You know,
46:14
Speaker 7: I was told bringing in Mike McCarthy has nothing to
46:18
Speaker 7: do with Aaron Rodgers. That isn't why they did it. Well,
46:21
Speaker 7: let's bring in Mike McCarthy and Aaron I want to
46:23
Speaker 7: come back. No, that wasn't part of the thought process
46:26
Speaker 7: at all, But they're going to have to you know,
46:30
Speaker 7: we've known this and where do they go? Did they
46:32
Speaker 7: really want to bring in a quarterback who was forty two,
46:35
Speaker 7: who was forty two going to be forty three and
46:37
Speaker 7: didn't produce the playoff win that they had hoped? So
46:40
Speaker 7: why are you going to rewind that back back again? Well?
46:43
Speaker 7: I mean, will they I don't know, but those are
46:47
Speaker 7: the important decisions that they're going to have to figure
46:50
Speaker 7: out and how they want to and again with Mike
46:53
Speaker 7: McCarthy configure this roster.
46:57
Speaker 4: Jerry, do you lack?
46:59
Speaker 3: Jerry?
46:59
Speaker 1: Thanks always for your input, definitely appreciated and looking forward
47:05
Speaker 1: to the official announcement and I'm sure that we'll be.
47:08
Speaker 4: Rubbing elbows over the next few days.
47:09
Speaker 7: My friend, you got a brother, always good chatting with you, fellas.
47:14
Speaker 4: That is Jerry. Thanks Jerry, That is Jerry Dulac.
47:17
Speaker 1: We're going to step aside a much more analysis of
47:22
Speaker 1: the high rank of Mike McCarthy, what it's going to
47:25
Speaker 1: mean for the Steelers moving forward when we continue in
47:28
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47:32
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