Latest / The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊 / The Pittsburgh Steelers were once a great blue chip NFL franchise with a winning tradition. But now? They are just another average NFL team. #HereWeGo.

Transcript

The Pittsburgh Steelers were once a great blue chip NFL franchise with a winning tradition. But now? They are just another average NFL team. #HereWeGo. · The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊

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Throughout NFL history, there has always been their share of
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blue chip franchises. And by that I mean, you know,
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the historic franchises, the franchises that have built a
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level of cache that quite simply cannot be ignored.
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And while for many franchises that have had great histories
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over the years and decades, at some point you just kind of come
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back down to earth, in the case of one team in Western
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Pennsylvania, that definitely applies more than now,
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basically. So the Pittsburgh Steelers
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throughout all of their franchise history have been one
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of the gold standards of success.
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From the days of the Steel Curtain to Blitzburg of the 90s
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to the 2000s, it seemed like that franchise.
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Maybe outside of the mid 80s and even late 90s to an extent, it
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seems like that franchise has always been in contention for
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success. However, there's anything that
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this past decade has shown us in regards to said franchise is 2
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things. That sustained success is never
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guaranteed and that living up to once was the standard.
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It's no longer existing anymore. I'm going to explain how the
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Pittsburgh Steelers, in just the matter since 2000 and 1617 have
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gone from one of the NF LS blue chip historic franchises to just
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another average football team. If you really need to trace back
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Pittsburgh's long story history as a football team, you have to
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really go back to 1933 when Art Rooney DOG Art Rooney purchased
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and actually bought the team at that point and four decades
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later, he saw a franchise that couldn't do anything right as
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far as sustained success won a Super Bowl.
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Now in those years, Pittsburgh obviously had the Steel Curtain
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legendary defense that were lower with all of Famers.
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They had a great offense led by Terry Blashaw, Franco Harris,
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Rocky Breyer, Hall of Fame White House, John Stallworth and Wes
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Swan, the rival Titans and Bain Cunningham and Randy Grossman,
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and led by Mike Webster at center, the future Hall of
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Famer. They have one of the better
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offensive lines of the decade. And I mentioned, you know, the
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steel Curran. And I didn't name them all one
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by one because there was so many Hall of Famers from that group.
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So I essentially coupled them together.
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But then, you know, I have to kind of like a turbulent 80s
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after, you know, the dynasty came and went and Chuck Knoll,
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the legendary coach, ultimately retired.
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The franchise came alive in the 90s with Bill Callowen the helm.
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Blitzberg was back, spearheaded by Kevin Green, Greg Lloyd, Chad
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Brown, Lavona Kirkland, Rob Woodson and Cornell Lake that
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made it to the Super Bowl in the mid 90s in 1995 in May
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Pittsburgh, what they have been known as a fierce defense that
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you did not want to mess. And then once Bill Cowell
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stepped down after he had won the Super Bowl in 2005, then
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retired in 2006, Mike Tomlin kept the tradition going,
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winning the Super Bowl in his second season with mostly of the
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same crop of players under Cowell that wanted a couple
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years earlier with Ben Roethlisberger, Santonio Holmes,
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Heinz Ward, James Harrison, Troy Palmaru, Ike Taylor and many
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others. And of course, they went back to
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another Super Bowl in 2010, but they fell short to Green Bay.
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So you look at Pittsburgh's success really over A5 decades
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span and you would think, wow, you know for a franchise that 4
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decades prior in 1933 couldn't really do anything noteworthy as
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far as winning consistently. And you would think if you are a
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Steelers fan, well this is going to continue forever and that the
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good times will keep rolling, right?
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And that's where the crux of today's episode is, of how just
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being a historic franchise that was once a blue chip is no
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longer the reality. If you really wanted to pinpoint
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exactly how the Steelers got to this stage of being another
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average franchise, all you have to do is really start somewhere
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from 20/16/2017. See 2017.
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Essentially lined up perfectly from Pittsburgh.
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They were outside of their all travel New England, you can
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argue they were really the best team in the AFC.
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Everything lined up for them perfectly to try to get back to
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the AFC title game. They had the killer beasts of
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Roethlisberger, Le'veon Bell and Antonio Brown that looked like
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they had including was still a strong defense.
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They had the makings of a Super Bowl team, so they host
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Jacksonville in the divisional round that year.
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Jacksonville, who became known that season as Section Bill, was
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a young team on the rise, and maybe he thought Pittsburgh
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would just blow out the young Jaguars and send the home
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packing, right? Not necessarily the case.
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Not only did the Jaguars go into Pittsburgh on the road, they
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made quick work of the Steelers. Now don't get me wrong,
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Pittsburgh made a game out of it, but it was a century too
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little too late as once Jacksonville got the jump star
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in the movie, there was no going back.
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And this was just, it was just way too much for Pittsburgh to
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overcome. And that game alone was Century
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Spearhead. The downfall of this franchise
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to being just the average. See, what had been, what was
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supposed to be another trip back to the AFC tile game was
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anything but that. The shocking loss to the upstart
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Jaguars was not only disappointing, but really
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surprising. But then even before then,
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cracks within the team even started to show.
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See, Ben Roethlisberger was getting up there in years.
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Obviously, he had meant a lot to the franchise, considering he
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had been really one of the few holdovers from the Bill caller
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era to my Tom. But even legendary quarterbacks
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even have their window of knowing when it's almost time to
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finally pack it up. Le'veon Bell after the 2018
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season, which will follow. Pittsburgh didn't necessarily
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want to pay him long term. He was stuck with the franchise
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tag. So they're once capable running
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back out of the backfield. Kind of like a Swiss Army knife.
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He ended up really holding out and not playing that season and
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subsequently never played for Pittsburgh ever Yet.
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And then let's turn to their talented but controversial
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receiver Antonio Brown, who like I said, I'm not going to really
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spend much time with him. You can kind of see how he has
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gone essentially batshit crazy, but rift between him and
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Roethlisberger was starting to really show towards the 2018
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season. Now, that would be wrong.
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Pittsburgh was still in the heart to be in the playoffs, but
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any positive momentum that they could have build in, you know,
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trying to move on from that playoff loss a year earlier
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against Jacksonville went away. Finally.
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The century crashed with Roffersburg on a handful of
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occasions and the relationship between star receiver and
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franchise quarterback was starting to finally became more
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evident that they would never going to be able to coexist.
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And the week of the subsequent regular season finale, Brown
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left the team he didn't even practice for only for a handful
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of days. And of course, Pittsburgh at
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this point, having essentially they're filled with Brown and
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well, after Whitson, they essentially realized it was
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probably better to cut ties with him after the 2018 season.
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And the century got stamped and approved when ball more in the
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last game of the regular season end up prevailing.
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Old Cleveland and one of the division eliminate the all
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tribal steel. Now that's just one thing,
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right? Unfortunately, that would become
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the first in a long domino list of where this franchise has
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become. And true to the work, Brown
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never played another down for Pittsburgh after that.
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Now in 2019 and subsequently the crazy year that would follow,
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you would think Mike Tomlin, true to who he was as a coach,
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but still be able to try to keep things in house, right?
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That he will be able to kind of mend the locker room, bring you
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together and everything will be fine, right?
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I wish I could say that might have been the case, but it
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really was. And what didn't make matters
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help even more is that it seemed like even before then, the
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franchise was starting to lose his identity and work.
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While Mike Tomlin deserves a ton of credit for his time in
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Pittsburgh, he also in a lot of ways deserves more criticism for
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a lot of his shortcomings. You see, when Tom went towards
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the next round of the decade, the twenty 20s, it essentially
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in a lot of ways kind of show his exposure or exposed him as a
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coach. You see Tomlin has always been,
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when he was higher than Pittsburgh in 2007, a believer
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of old school defense, run the ball, stop the line.
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But then, you know, as the 2000 tens came around, it almost
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became clear that that kind of adage run the ball played great
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defense. What if suffice in the 90s and
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the 2000s? Or was the early 2000s and
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certainly decades prior not the case when the NFL has evolved
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into a passing relief? And look, even though he never
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had losing record in Pittsburgh in his nineteen years there, he
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essentially came under fire, and maybe rightfully so, of being
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too much of A player's coach and not holding his own team
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accountable for when they lose games or even Sony at times.
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Favouritism, puffalencial treatment, I mean, to star
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players. And was he guilty of that?
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Absolutely. But the reality is, and he even
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said something along the lines of one time we want volunteers,
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not hostages. And I think we meant by that was
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I want guys that are going to be here that are going to be
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focused on helping this team win.
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And any kind of distractions, you know, I will probably toe
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the line on. I'm not going to tolerate it all
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the time. There's this one small problem
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there, Mike. It's that you were too much of A
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player's coach that essentially contribute along with other
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things that I will mention shortly to your eventual
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resigning, resigning up the franchise.
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You see, you know that crazy year a couple years ago?
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I'll just sum it up this way. The Steelers started out 11 and
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O it looked like they were Super Bowl contenders.
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The problem was they fell apart down the stretch, the final five
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games and it culminated in them losing a home playoff game to
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Cleveland. But if we really look back on
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it, that team has this kind of been the norm the last couple
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years. They weren't really that good of
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a team. They won way too many one score
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games and essentially everything had to go right for them just to
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do that. And ultimately, like I said,
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when they went up against Cleveland on the road or when
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they host Cleveland, I'm sorry, at home, Miles Garrett, Baker
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Mayfield, they took it to Pittsburgh and never let go.
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And then the playoff struggles will continue soon after that.
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And this is really where I've called into question Mike
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Tomlin's greatness as a coach. It really, really is as far as,
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you know, the Upper Astral 1/20/21.
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They end up losing against Kansas City on the road, which
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would subsequently be Ben Roethlisberger's final game as a
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Steeler. He retired that offseason, 2022.
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Well, they ended up missing the playoffs, and it was really from
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that point that the franchise was starting to really become
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unrecognizable. See, for the better part, the
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previous three years going into that set season, that was really
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when the franchise for the Steelers should have focused
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more on finding Roethlisbroker's apparent at quarterback.
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The problem was, and this is yes, to Roethlisberger's credit,
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he wanted to continue to play until he felt like he couldn't
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anymore. However, that does not give
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Pittsburgh the excuse to essentially not ultimately
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prioritize finding a successor. See, if you want to look at a
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franchise that is probably the best standard of developing and
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letting quarterbacks sit and wait for at least two to three
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years before you finally go out there.
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Look at the Green Bay Packers. I mean, they are rich with
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quarterback history stemming from the days of Bar star in the
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Lombardi days to Brett Favre and then when it was Brett Favre to
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Aaron Rodgers, then Aaron Rodgers to now join Love.
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But that part over 3 decades span.
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Look at how Green Bay were able to have three quarterbacks that
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waited in the case of Rogers and Love for at least two to three
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years before they finally go out there and have the success there
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have. And if you look at Pittsburgh's
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quarterback scenarios since Roethlisberger retired at the
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end of the 2021 season, I think it's been like 6 or 7 different
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quarterbacks, including Kenny Pickett, who they have drafted
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in 2022. Yeah, it's been a lot of
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hiddenness. And here's the other thing which
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has really contributed to Pittsburgh at this point just
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being another franchise. They have been too aligned on
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the defense that is aged now. I want you to take a guess as
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far as total cash spent. I want you to take a look at
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just guess who has spent the most money on defence.
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If you had to take a guess, who would you say it is?
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And if you happen to say it's the Steelers, you are 100%
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correct. See, for over the last decade,
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they have invested heavily on a defence.
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With the beliefs, though, that defence prevails today and they
19:56
can win. While that might be great in the
20:00
regular season, even at various points, you're going to need
20:10
them for the playoffs. And just look at the last two
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years to three years potentially their defense has fallen off.
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I mean, I can understand, you know, keeping.
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A guy like Cam Hayward who had been there since 2011 because
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he's a 15 year steel vet and if this were to be his last season,
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it wouldn't surprise me. But the fact they have not been
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able to really turn the page, you know, trying to rely so
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heavily on defense has been one of the biggest problems.
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I even said for at least two years now before they end up
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resign him, that TJ Watt should have been traded.
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Now don't get me wrong, he's still an effective player, one
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of the better edge rushers in the NFL.
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But can we be honest here? They should have traded him for
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at least a boatload of picks that would have helped
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Pittsburgh usher in the new era defensively.
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Now I blame that on three people.
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Kevin Colbert, who was the long time GM there of the franchise
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with where he succeeded the wings to Omar Khan, who's now
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the general manager. I'm not looking at Khan
21:33
specifically, more so Kobert 'cause he was really there the
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majority of the time. But nonetheless, Khan and then
21:41
Mike Tomlin, who I will since we get into in the moment, they
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have been so hell bent on trying to really improve defensively
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that they feel like well, we'll just spend more money if that's
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traffic's defensively and that's going to help us win.
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Guys, it is 2026. If you really believe still that
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defense will help you all compete and win.
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You need to really get with the program.
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And look, the bottom line is, Long story short, as far as from
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2023 up until this past season, more miserable failures in the
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playoffs and now that Mike Tomlin resigned this offseason
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and Mike McCarthy is in the franchise is essentially going
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to pin their hopes on the 62 year old head coach.
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Who I'm actually happy for that he's back, but he probably
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picked the wrong franchise to go to.
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And a 43 year old and Aaron Rodgers, who This could be his
22:58
last season. But if you're a Steeler fan,
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you're probably wondering, spanning from 2017 up until now,
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which is really over a decade, How do we go from a most
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respected blue chip franchise that everybody feared coming to
23:18
our stadium to just being an average club at this point?
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Two names to bring up, one who's no longer there.
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And the current owner, if you will see Mike Tomlin for as much
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success he had this in his tenure with Pittsburgh, he's
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also come up so many times short in the playoffs.
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See just look at really the first half of his time in
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Pittsburgh from 2007 to 16 to 2017 to this passes.
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I mean, it is a day and night compose, but I focus more on the
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second part because that's the more glaring him being winless
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in his last six or seven playoff games.
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You know, that actually means something.
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And look, the other amazing thing is that I did not realize
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he never won a Coach of the Year award.
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I mean, that might have been the most shocked.
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I mean, for as great as a coach as he was at times, the fact he
24:42
never won a coach of the year was probably amazed.
24:47
But do you know why I compared the second-half of 10 of Thomas
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tenure in Pittsburgh from his first stint of it.
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His playoff record unfortunately kind of draws in comparison to
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Marvin Lewis. Now in Lewis's case, he was in
25:07
Cincinnati for 17 years, but he never won a playoff game in any
25:11
7 appearances, yet he somehow won coach of the year in 2009.
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Now mind you in that scenario there was a whole lot of things
25:23
going on with that team. The Bengals.
25:27
Chris Henry unfortunately passed away tragically and Mike Simon,
25:32
who was the defensive coordinator at the time, he lost
25:36
his wife in the same boat. So it was really just a tough
25:40
scenario, you know where you look at for that team.
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But Lewis somehow was able to keep them together, kept the
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team afloat, ended up winning the division and subsequent go
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to the year. Now, in Mike Thomas case, if you
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were able to tie or lease match in a decade what Marlon Lewis
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essentially did in his entire 17 years in Cincinnati, I'm sorry,
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that kind of borderlines on you being massively overrated, at
26:18
least in my I don't know, is he a Hall of Fame coach?
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Unfortunately, I kind of have to say yes, but I can't put him up
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there with the other legendaries because you won a Super Bowl.
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Yes, but we all knew he won that Super Bowl because it was Bill
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Coward's proper players that he wanted.
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And he got back to another 1-2 years later, but lost again with
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mostly the players from Coward's days.
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He never went back to a Super Bowl with his guys.
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So it's like, I don't know, we have to kind of point that out
27:00
and be honest. Now the second name I'm about to
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mention, who just so has to be the principal owner is really
27:10
the one that Steeler fans, here we go fans really should be
27:15
focusing on and that is Art Rooney the set.
27:20
Let me be clear about this with respect to, you know, the
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tradition of that franchise and obviously being a family owned
27:30
business or ran at one point by the family.
27:35
This guy in particular I felt is in way over his head.
27:40
You see, not just from the fact that he's not his brother Dan
27:46
Rooney, God bless his soul, and he's certainly not the OG Art
27:49
Rooney, but it's like he has not built any cachet to essentially
27:58
be out there as far as being outlandish.
28:03
See, and this all stem from this offseason, not so much with the
28:07
free agency moves, but the fact they hired Mike McCarthy, who
28:13
was 62 years old. Like I said, I am happy that he
28:16
is back in the NFL for what may end up being his last head
28:21
coaching job. It's the fact that three of
28:25
their head coaches since 1969, Chuck Noel, Bill Coward and Mike
28:30
Tomlin, all of them were in the mid 30s when they were high.
28:37
Yet the franchise went out there this offseason, hired a 62 year
28:44
old coach twice the age of the other three coaches, and then
28:52
you had Rooney the second say we are still a Super Bowl contend.
28:59
And if that's not even funny, then this was insulting when he
29:04
told the blue collar, loyal, hard looking fans of Pittsburgh,
29:11
you guys just continue to support the team and buy
29:14
tickets. We'll handle making the
29:16
decisions. OK, You go out there, watch your
29:26
franchise have potentially their first losing seasons in 2003.
29:34
Don't think for one moment the hard working fans of Pittsburgh,
29:40
PA are not going to seek you out at a Sears Stadium.
29:46
I believe that's what it's called.
29:50
Don't think for one moment they are not going to be looking to
29:54
find you into essentially give you the proverbial middle finger
29:59
because you think what you said this offseason will never be
30:03
forgotten. I can promise you those fans are
30:08
going to remember. Because one thing I can say
30:12
about Steelers fans, they are loyal.
30:15
They're going to continue to support their team.
30:18
And this is me saying that as a Ravens fan, OK, I'm supposed to
30:23
technically hate the series because of if you remember those
30:27
great rivalries back then, but it's because of the history of
30:32
the franchise. It's why I have mutual respect
30:36
for them. But the one thing they are not
30:39
going to stand for Artemis the second is 1.
30:44
Bad to mediocre ownership. And the second and most
30:50
important thing, they are not going to continue to support
30:53
team that your losers in the playoffs or won't be in the
30:59
playoffs and aren't competitive all together.
31:03
So in the end, in the basics of this season, I don't really know
31:09
where Pittsburgh's going to be. I don't know where they'll
31:12
finish record rise and I don't know if they'll make the
31:15
playoffs. All I'm going to say is, is that
31:19
if you're a Steelers fan, just follow on what I'm about to say.
31:25
Without a franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future, with
31:31
a 62 year old head coach running things now, let's just say for a
31:36
century, three years, because I don't think he'll be there
31:39
longer than that. And really, with an aging
31:43
defense and so many questions elsewhere, you better be
31:48
prepared for the possibility that a losing season is probable
31:56
and that your franchise, you know, gone are the days from the
32:04
Steel Curtain to Blitzberg to the 2000s.
32:09
At this point, you're going to be just relegated to another
32:12
franchise and that whatever happens down the line may not be
32:18
good for you and your team. Movie 4.