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Mike Tomlin Steps Down, Mike McCarthy Takes Over · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly. It's an extra early off
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: season special. We're going to talk about everything that's been
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: happening with the Pittsburgh Steelers and their head coaching search,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and touch on a few other things.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: From around the league as well.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Nick Detulo and as always I'm joined by the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: world famous accountants Eric vanmin Show and Eric has it
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: gone tonight?
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: A pretty good little un crunch in the numbies h
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: the start off the year.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: But uh, you know what, this is my way to
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  Speaker 4: be compressed, So I'm excited.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, normally we wouldn't be talking again until after the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but when the Steelers make a head coaching
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: higher and they have their press conference, it seems like
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: it's pretty good time to bend the rules and come
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: back and get together a little bit early. Yeah, and wow,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: we have such an update. If you're listening to this,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: we presume you already know. But today is January twenty eighth,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and over the past weekend, the Steelers officially hired Mike
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: McCarthy to be the next head coach. I think everyone
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: knows that McCarthy won a Super Bowl with the Packers
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: over the Steelers. He then after thirteen seasons, went and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: coached the Cowboys for five seasons, took last year off,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: and is now with the Steelers. We definitely have some
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: thoughts about.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: That, but it's just interesting. Let's talk about the.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Process though, first before we get to the hire itself,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: because I think that's really interesting and kind of telling
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: too about what the Rooneys and Omar khn are feeling
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: right now. The Steelers interviewed several people virtually for one
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the first round of interviews, including some names that we
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: talked about like Chris Shula and Nate Shese or sheiel Hase,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: both for the Rams, the Rams defensive coordinator in the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Rams offensive coordinator. They did not bring them for an
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in person interview, and the timing was just odd because
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: they didn't even wait until the Rams season ended to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: request a second interview. They went ahead and offered McCarthy
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the job before it was on Saturday, so before the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: game was even played, and they only interviewed three people
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: in person, McCarthy, Anthony Weaver who's the Dolphins DC, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Brian Flores, who we know as the former Dolphins head coach,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a Steelers linebacker coach for a year before going on
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and becoming the Vikings defensive coordinator for a year. So
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the Steelers interviewed the bare minimum number of people that
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: they needed to and then.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: There's a quote on how many people you need the interview.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the Rooney rule, I believe it. I think it's
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: been expanded to two and they have to be in person.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: But yes, that's the other thing is quite literally, as
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: soon as they hit the minimum number of people that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: they could interview, they said, we're going with Mike McCarthy.
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  Speaker 1: We're not waiting. We don't need to talk to anyone else.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: He's our guy.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And I don't know that I've ever seen all of
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the Steelers fans online be in agreement at one time
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on one thing like they were and saying, oh no.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Not this.
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  Speaker 1: But before I go down and give my thoughts on
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the higher itself, let me just let's kick it over
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  Speaker 1: to you for a minute, because I know you and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I had been texting throughout the process, and we each
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: had ideas for who we thought might be good or
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: who we wanted them to go with. But let's just
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: get your thoughts from that Saturday where we both get
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the new that Mike McCarthy's going to be the guy.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I just didn't see the the reason
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: why he couldn't have waited.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: I think that there it.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: What I was hearing afterwards was that there were three
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: teams that had interviewed Mike McCarthy. I had not seen
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: any of those other teams disclosed, but supposedly he was
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: on the radar. Maybe that was the urgency. But at
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the same time, I guess, you know, the Runies were
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: blown away with him. I you know, the thing that
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: they mentioned is, you know, he's a quarterback developer, quarterback whisper.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: They credited him with Rogers. Look, I think Rogers was
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: going to be a great quarterback if he had Matt
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Canada as his head coach.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: So well, let's not get crazy.
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  Speaker 3: But you know they mentioned Dak which I can give
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: him credit for that, So, you know, I understand where
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  Speaker 3: that's encouraging, especially since the Steelers have had a hard
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: time finding the quarterback. I can understand the raption now
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: a little bit. I think what gives me pause is
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  Speaker 3: without knowing who our coordinators are going to be, which
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: you have development on the defensive side of it, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I I just I want to see somebody in the waiting.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, he's sixty two, sixty three years old or
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: something like that, depending on when the season starts. So
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: it's kind of like a you know, even if he
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: coaches his seventy you know, it's he's basically going to
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: just go one in a you know, half contry as
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: you know, which in the NFL, that's still a decent
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: amount stability. But that's not the Steelers normal passage. And
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: I prefer a little bit of a younger versus a
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: retread coach. And to be quite frank is his accolades
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: is his records are pretty near Tomlin, and a lot
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  Speaker 3: of the same gripes about Tomlin are you could transpose
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: over to Mike McCarthy. So look, I mean, is it
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: a dumpster fire higher No, not at all. But you
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: know what, I've seen the most of what people have described,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: and I think is the best way of describing it
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  Speaker 3: as uninspiring. It's just.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think it gives anyone any hope that we're.
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  Speaker 3: Gonna go to the super Bowl and you know, anytime soon,
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  Speaker 3: and maybe we wouin a playoff game, but I just
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  Speaker 3: don't see this tipping us over into any scales.
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  Speaker 1: No, and It's actually funny because the closest comparison you'll
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: find to Mike McCarthy is John Harbaugh, the new former
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Ravens head coach current Giants head coach. If you put
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  Speaker 1: their resumes right next to each other, they are almost identical.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Just like the number of seasons, the total number of seasons,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: there's maybe like a ten game win loss difference between
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  Speaker 1: the two of them, about the same number of playoff wins,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: same Super Bowl wins. It that's the closest comp So, yeah,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: if you take out the first five or six years
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of Tomlin's career, you'd probably get similar as well. And
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: to your point about Tom Hiring being similar to Tomlin.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: In the same amount of time that we've had our
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  Speaker 1: playoff drought, McCarthy has had one playoff winyah, So.
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  Speaker 4: He's coached all book one year.
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  Speaker 2: Right, correct, So I am.
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  Speaker 1: I'm kind of with you in the uninspiring and I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: was actually a lot more generous with the guy than
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: a lot of people were, Like, I think he's a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: fine coach. I think he's done pretty well. I think
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: he got some of the best years out of Aaron Rodgers,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: and definitely the best years out of Dak Prescott's career.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And to your point about you know, Aaron Rodgers being
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: a great quarterback, I think more so than developing him,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: which I'm sure he had a part in. McCarthy was
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the one who made the final decision that, hey, Brett Farv,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: we are going with Aaron Rodgers. That's my decision, see
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  Speaker 1: you later. So he was the one who, ironically, now
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that we have Aaron Rodgers possibly coming back, told Brett
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Farr to kick Rocks in a nicer way, I'm sure.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: But.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I I definitely didn't want them to feel
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: like I had to hire someone like Chris Shula or
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: siel Haas just because it's great that they managed to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: hit home runs with their last three hires and getting
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the young guys, but I wanted them to get the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: best person for the job.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: And look, I'm not going to.
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  Speaker 1: Claim to know as much about football as the Rooneyes
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  Speaker 1: or Mike McCarthy, but yes, I was uninspired because I
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: was just like, there has to be someone out there
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  Speaker 1: like a Mike Tomlin or a Bill Coward. Not saying
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  Speaker 1: that they're going to be, you know, winning four Super
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  Speaker 1: Bowls and six years or anything, but I feel like
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  Speaker 1: there has to be a young leader out there that
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: was qualified for the job. So that was why I
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: was a little disappointed at first. And I was actually
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: out to eat with my family when I got the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: push notification on my phone and I just put my
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  Speaker 1: head down on the table.
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  Speaker 2: Fortunately, the way.
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  Speaker 3: Why I saw is someone fell to their knees at
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: a Walmart.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I was at Walmart too, but I did not get
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the news while we were there, Otherwise I would have.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: But look, when Tomlin resigned, I think you and myself,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: as well as most Steelers fans, said, okay, this is
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: gonna be the change we need. Right And even when
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Art Rooney gave his press conference he said, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I don't believe in rebuilding, I think was exactly how
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: he said it.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: He said, I don't know why you waste a year
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  Speaker 2: of your life.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: And when he said that, I didn't think he was gonna,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: you know, trade away every starter and just like strip
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: it to the studs. But I thought they might make
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: some different focus their efforts on. Maybe we do trade
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: a few strategic pieces and try to accrue some more
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: draft picks or get a different player.
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  Speaker 2: I thought that we were going to see something happen.
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  Speaker 1: But to me, this hire said, we're gonna try to
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: run it back with what we have and we'll figure.
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  Speaker 2: Out some of the missing pieces from there.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: It was, Hey, we're going to get a coach who's
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: very similar in stature to Mike Tomlin and that the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: same height. I don't mean physical stature, but yes, I believe.
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe McCarthy's a much bigger guy. But no,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I they can say that they did this not just
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: for Aaron Rodgers to try to convince him to come back,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and I would probably believe them at that because I
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  Speaker 1: don't think there's any organization out there, even the Jets
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: or the Browns, that would do something quite that drastic
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  Speaker 1: for a quarterback who will turn forty three in the
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: middle of the year. But I think that had to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: been on their mind, like, well, okay, it's not.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Going to hurt.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: So so I say all this to say, and you
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: and I were texting about this too, this too.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Shula and Schelhouse aren't.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Haven't been hired by anyone yet, So maybe maybe they
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: weren't quite the candidates that we thought they were, Maybe
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: they weren't ready for it, or maybe they politely are
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: just waiting for what they determined is the right opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I guess with all that being said, I'm starting to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: soften on it a little bit. And again, maybe maybe
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the candidates weren't there this year that we would expect,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: you know, for a young leader like that. Maybe Sean
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: McDermott might have been a guy had he not been fired,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you know, as late as he was in the year.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but but yeah, I'm.
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  Speaker 4: Nothing against McDermott.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I think that Bills made a mistake firing him too,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: but I think he would have been similar to the
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: McCarthy hire, which is like, look, I just I don't think.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Running it back with somebody.
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  Speaker 3: That couldn't get it done with a Dak Prescott or
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Josh Allen. What do you think that they're gonna do
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: when they have a quarterback room a forty two year
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: old Aaron Rodgers Will Howard.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Well, And that's part of the thing too, is do
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you think McCarthy went into the interview and just told
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: told them everything they wanted to hear? Like, yeah, I
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: think Will Howard's great. I think if Aaron doesn't come back,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: we'll have Will Howard and we'll be fine and then okay,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: we don't really have to waste any high capital. But
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: that's part of why I'm a little uninspired myself. But
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I will give McCarthy and McDermot a little bit of
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt there that obviously, in Dallas
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: you have a front office that medals in everything you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: do in the owner and in Buffalo there I would
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: wager that an overwhelming majority of the Buffalo fans don't
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: lay any or don't lay the majority of the blame
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: on McDermott. I think they lay it on Brandon Bean,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the general manager, and the fact that they promoted the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator in Buffalo is just.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Wild to me.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: When yeah, anyway, let's focus on the Steelers. So look,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I think if you it's also interesting too that McCarthy
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: you mentioned his age. He is sixty two. He is
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the oldest person ever to coach the Steelers, not when
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: they were hired, just period. Ever, no Steelers coach has
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: ever coached at that age, so just totally the opposite
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: of what they normally do. Like we know, but if
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: you look at this in a vacuum, we can at
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: least say that it seems like everyone understands that the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: quarterback is the most importan piece of the puzzle moving forward,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and they think that McCarthy is going to be that
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: guy to develop and probably find that quarterback too, if
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and when they decide to make a move on them,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and whether it's in this draft, whether it's in the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: next draft, whether it's someone who's already in the league,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: that's where they're at. So I will give credit there
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: that they at least went offensive minded. They didn't pigeonhole
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: themselves into like, hey, we've got to find a thirty
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: five year old defensive coordinator that's never been a head
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: coach before. It was if we find one of those, great,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: but if not, we're just going to go with the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: best guy we can find.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: But again, all I want to go back to is
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: it did just seem.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Really odd to me that they only interviewed three people
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: in person. I think that was part of the other
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: reason that lots of people were skeptical too. It was like, really,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you didn't even want to call in Shula for an
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: in person interview, you just to see what he has
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to say. I mean, what's it going to hurt us
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: to wait a couple days. You said it was going
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to take a few weeks at least, and here we
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: are eight days later with a coach, Like, yeah, that's
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: my thoughts anyway.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: It is what it is. The press conference was yesterday
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and he was introduced by Art Rooney, took questions for
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: about a half hour. Was very emotional. We all know
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that Mike McCarthy is from the Pittsburgh area, was a
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: toll booth worker, swept at his dad's bar on Sundays,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: So you can tell he's passionate about the team, which
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: is good. I don't think that should be the sole
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: criteria for hiring a coach, but it is nice to
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: see the passion. And I texted this to you too.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: If you're Mike McCarthy, regardless of how this ends playing out,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you have literally been the coach of the three most
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: historic franchises in the NFL history, if not the top three,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: like certainly among the top you got the Packers, the Cowboys,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: and the Steelers.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I never thought we would see that happen.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty astounding, I mean, and it is a
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: not right. I don't want to trounce the guy, Like
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: I feel really bad when people basically.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: Get fired before they even start. Yes, And so I just,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: you know, especially.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: You know, there were there are reasonable gripes about everything
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: going on. When it came to, you know, when it
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: came to are we making the right move by keeping
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Tomlin for as long as we did?
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: Blah blah blah. I get it. I think that.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: It's just so I feel bad because it's like I
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: don't want people just to think we're complaining, right, Like,
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: it's just like, as we hired it, like, hey, you need.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: A guy that's gonna win the big game, and.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: You know this guy at least you know, maybe he
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: wasn't a head coach, but he called, you know, a
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: real great game against them or something like that, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: you know that could have been blown up in our
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: face because Shula had, you know, his biggest game and
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: gave up thirty one points to an injured Sam Darnold.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: So but look, I just I don't think it was
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: the right call.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, I just don't want to
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: start off with the wrong foot of having no faith
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: in this future higher so.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: I am very interested who he ends up with. OC because.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: You mentioned Sees or schul Hayes or something like that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: He coached really good NFC Championship game. If he's not
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: promoted at OC, maybe he is looking around at these
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: new coaching hires and saying, I'd like to step up
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: as OC, and.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: You know, love for him to be groomed under McCarthy.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting though, because McCarthy calls the plays.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: So while you understand and know that the offensive coordinator
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: is still gonna obviously have responsibilities to do with the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: game planning, with organizing the meetings, communicating with the coach.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: One of the knocks on certain offensive coordinators over the
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: years that never went from OC to head coach was
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: they can't They don't call the plays, so they just
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: didn't have the value there. So I I would be
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: interested to see who they get his OC as well,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: because if you're not going to call the plays, I
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: feel like that might be a detriment to some people.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Now would still be a promotion in all likelihoods.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: So there's that, But.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I'm just calling out if the offense, if the potential
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator is looking to continue to advance, that might
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: be a deterrent for them. On the flip side, for us,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: at least we should be able to have a good
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: idea of what we're getting in the play calling. Right,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: we know what McCarthy's gonna do. He mentioned it in
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: his press conference. He's a big fan of the West
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Coast offense and he might have been playing it up
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: to the crowd a bit, but he's like, you got
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: to run the ball so you can establish the pass
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: game in the West Coast offense. So of course the
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: new Steelers coach is talking about running the football.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: To that end.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: It's not official yet, but there's lots and lots of
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: reports of the Steelers signing Patrick Graham, the Raiders defensive coordinator,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to the same position with the Steelers, and I was
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: kind of waffling back and forth on this. This is
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: only like an hour or so old at this point,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: but here's what we know about Patrick Graham. He's been
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the Raiders defensive coordinator for four years now, so he
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: has I think been the only staff member to stay
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: on the Raiders through the Josh McDaniels era, through Antonio
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Pears and through this year in the Chip Kelly I'm
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: not sorry, Chip Kelly who is on the staff, but
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: let go Pete Carroll that's who, and you might look
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: at the Raiders defense and not be very impressed by it,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: but the more I dug into it, the more you
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: have to remember their offense was hot garbage this year, which,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: as we know from our own past experience, is the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: bad offense that inflates the defensive numbers in a negative
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: way the longer they're on the field. Obviously, and really,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I guess a good way to sum him up as
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: he did more with less on the Raiders than we
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: were able to do with our defense, which we know painfully,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: we painfully know is the highest paid defense in the league.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: They still outperform the Steelers overall in most metrics.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: So.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I'm choosing to look at that as positive. Again, based
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: on what little I know about the guy, it seems
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: like he's much bigger into schemes and trying to confuse
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: offenses on early downs. So it's going to be interesting
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to see how he deploys the Steelers defense in some
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: of these situations. Not to go too far down the
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: rabbit hole, because we've got all off season to talk
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: in topics to fill, but one of the knocks we've
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: heard on TJ. Watt is that he won't go to
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: another side of the ball.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: So I guess we'll.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Find out if that's true or if that was just
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: limited schematics on the Steelers side. So I'm again just initially,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty happy. I think that's a good first step.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't really know much about them,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: but you broke the news to me. But look, similar
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: to macarthy, just want to give them a shot.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: It's kind of interesting to see and also it just
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: maybe also not not seeing somebody that just brings their
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: buddy along.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: If McCarthy's even worked with Patrick Graham before.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: But fresh ideas, you know, I think our entire need
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: we've had, you.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: Know, we've kind of beaten it to death, but the
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: no coaching tree and stuff like that, maybe maybe this
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: is a positive step, you know, to bringing in fresh
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: ideas that could kind of help reuvenate the team.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And I guess this is a good segue too, because
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: one of the other reasons that I felt a little
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: bit more comfortable about the McCarthy hiring was Cleveland just
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: hired their head coach today and I had been thinking
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: maybe we should swoop in and take Jim Schwartz, their
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: defensive coordinator because the Browns defense has been the only
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: bright spot in there for a while. And it the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: reason I bring this up is because the Patrick Graham
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: hiring was probably going on earlier today, if we're just
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: finding about it now, But earlier today I was like, great,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: well they passed on Jim Schwartz. They hired Todd Munkin,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: who I had no idea was even under consideration, and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Schwartz supposedly just quit. He said I'm done, I'm not
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: coming back. He said goodbye to everyone, which is interesting
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: because the Browns were supposedly making their head coaching offers
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: contingent upon keeping him as the defensive coordinator, rather than
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: just bumping him up to head coach. Anyway, just I
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: say all that as it ties back to Patrick Graham
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: here because I'm happy with the pick. But of all
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the known defensive coordinators out there, Schwartz would have probably
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: been the only one that immediately comes to mind to
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: someone that I would have said, yeah, let's go get him.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: But just to talk about Cleveland, for example, we have
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: complaints about this hire, and or not complaints, but we
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: had concerns. This coaching search for us was nothing like
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: what the Cleveland Browns went through with people very publicly
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: turning them down, not wanting to interview, not wanting to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: take the job. The Browns giving their potential coaching hires
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: homework assignments and making them write essays.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Just what a cluster really?
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, they are very analytical, supposedly a lot of good.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: It doesn't and it was kind of like when you
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: go hire, interview or try to apply at different companies
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and they make you take like person out assessments and
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: do some sort of testing.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, they were.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: They were absolutely doing that. It's been reported by like
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: schefter that they were making their coaches do take home
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: assignments and bringing it back in and Mike, I mean.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: It reminds me of when when they hired that like
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: it's like a Harvard analytical whiz for their GM.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Yep, well that's who it is.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like that, which I think I remember
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: that era being very bad for them.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at the end of the day, who
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: they end up with After several public rejections, they got
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a guy that I again, I don't know that anyone even.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Knew he was interviewing. He was.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: There were rumors that the Ravens would have kept Harbor
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: off he had fired Monkin last year, but he didn't,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: so the Ravens owner said, all right, well you're fired,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and you talked about bringing your friend. He was not
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: going to get a job anywhere unless John Harbaugh brought
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: him to New York with him, so it's only fitting
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: that he's in Cleveland, I guess.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: But man, wow, So yeah, you mentioned the offensive coordinator.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Let's go back to that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: And I didn't mean to poo poo it by saying
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: that McCarthy's gonna call the plays.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Because but that is important.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know who the candidate for offensive coordinator is.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I think Shieldhouse would be a a natural selection. I
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: don't know if that's something that would interest him. I'd
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: assume it might. But again, being on the Rams as
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: a passing coordinator is also a pretty good gig. So yeah,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: that's gonna be the next big thing.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I said, because their quarterback, well.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. You know who the quarterback is. They're most
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: likely going to be Stafford. He might retire, but I
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: think he'll probably be back.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: And especially after an MVP. He hasn't like won it.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: But I would imagine it's him or Drake May So.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And maybe that's the only deterrent from coming to the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Steelers is you don't know who the quarterback is. Best
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: case scenario, it's going to be Rogers, right. Worst case scenario,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: it's a combination of Will Howard, Mason Rudolph, and what
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: probably someone from another six round pick or something.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean there's a lot of people think
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: we're going to take Ky Simpson, which not to spoil
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: too much of our future draft consideration, but I saw
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: that this draft is getting compared to the Kenny pick
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: At your draft.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Of talent, So man, we know all about that, my goodness.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: But speaking to the Kenny Pickett draft, Milik Willis was
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: in that draft class they could have had him, and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: now there's rumors that now that he's started to show
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: some things, maybe they'll bring him over from Green Bay.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I just thought that was interesting since you mentioned Kenny Pickett.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, we'll talk about the draft as we get
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit closer and as we see free agency
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: shape up, and I don't expect it, but it might
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: be nice just to kind of know, like, hey, Aaron
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: do you know if you're.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Gonna come back or not.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I'm sure there's gotta be a deadline, right,
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: Like you gotta ask know about the draft.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, there wasn't that deadline last year, I know.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: But that was also we gave Tomlin a lot more
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: rain to do it he wanted to do and stuff,
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: and you know Bruney all that said that this was
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Tomlin's sky, So mm hmm, maybe that's.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not sure that I'm ready to draft
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a quarterback. And it's just weird because the team is
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: so odd in the way that we know they're not
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: going to tank, and it's like, Okay, well there's not
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: a really good quarterback there outside of Mendoza, right, And
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: I highly doubt they're going to trade up to number
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: one to get in. I don't know that the Raiders
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: would trade away that pick for anything, let alone what
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the Steelers would have to give up. So on one hand,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, with some of the people you have,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you probably should get a quarterback to win now. But
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, if you I don't know, it's
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: just you never want to reach for the quarterback. But
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: at the same time, it just feels like if they
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: try to build for the future quarterback, we're gonna have
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of pieces fall off pretty soon and we
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: might be kind of stuck on where we've been. But
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I guess if we find the quarterback at some point,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: that'll make up for a lot of other holes.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing about quarterbacks, right, Just like I
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: think of it is Donovic McNabb, Right, he until he
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: had to his his wide receiver was trashed horrible, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: yet like I don't know, he was always up there
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: as being one of the better players in the league.
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: So and as we saw with Andy Reid, he had
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: a lot of success there with the team.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: So I think that the quarterback can mask a lot
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: of issues. Honestly, I think that the Bills are seeing
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: there right now with Josh Allen.
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: But yeah, and that's been.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Kind of the frustration, right is like I've told you,
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: and I think that it was the reason why we
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: went in neutrol, if not backwards, was because we never
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: really appropriately planned for what does life look like after
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: Roethlisberger's gone? So you know, I think that waiting until
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: he was gone was definitely the wrong move, But hey,
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: what do I know?
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: I'm just a fan in the podcast.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it makes you feel any better
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: or any worse, but I feel like if we did
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: draft a quarterback to succeed Ben, I don't know that
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: we would have developed them properly anyway. So we could
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: have I mean, Jalen Hurts, we could have drafted, We
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: could have drafted Lamar Jackson, or I mean everyone could.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Have drafted Rock Party too.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: I just with what we had and the coordinators at
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: that time, I just I don't know that any of
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: them had enough raw talent to overcome the offensive coordinators
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: and the offensive staff.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: That we had at that time.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, true.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: So again, I don't know if that makes you feel
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: better or worse, knowing that we had missed opportunities, but
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: there was never any hope to begin with. So take
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: your poison, I guess. But it all comes full circle
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: back to Mike McCarthy, because I'm sure the hope is
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: that that won't be an issue if he's the guy.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: So yeah, again, that's the hope anyway. So all right,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: was there anything else you wanted to talk about with
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: the Steelers coaching or just where the NFL season's at
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: or maybe talk about Super Bowl picks.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: Well, I was thinking, do you give me who you
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: think was the best match best higher.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Let's think real quick.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: I I'm leaning towards it's either Harbaugh or Robert Sala
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: down in Tennessee.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: And part of the part of the reason I'm saying
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Robert Sala is because he comes with Brian Dabele unless
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: there's a clause in Brian Dabeles contract as the offensive coordinator. Uh,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: he's still interviewing for the Raiders head coaching job, so
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: he and at the time we're recording this, this has
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: not been determined yet.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: But let's just assume that the Raiders do.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Not hire him. Robert Sala was the Jets head coach
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and he had a rough go of it for a while.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: But I think that he was really done dirty by
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the Jets. I don't know if you guys know, if
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: you you guys, if you recall this and our listeners
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: recall it, but.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: He go fired.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Right in the week before they played the Steelers last year,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: like pretty it was towards the midpoint but not quite
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: there yet in the season. So the Steelers with Russ
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: beat Aaron Rodgers, and I just remember the Jets weren't
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: eliminated yet, and they had a rough go of it,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and there was some issues going on. But anyway, he
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: went to San Francisco's defensive coordinator where he had coached before.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: They had a great season, and they were just plagued
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: by injuries, not just defensively but as a whole team,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: and to still make it to the divisional round his nuts.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: So he goes to Tennessee where he can get a
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: fresh start, and he gets a really an offensive coordinator
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: and Brian Dabele who not throw absalt in the wound,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: but has a more recent win as a head coach
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: than the Steelers do in the playoffs, I should say
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Daniel Jones with Daniel Jones. Yeah, uh so he gets
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: to walk into that with cam Ward. So I think
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: that's a good hire, just so long as the I mean,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: the Titans should never have fired Mike Vrabel, So as
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: long as they can just take a step back and
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: let him do his thing, I think that's a good higher.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: And part of the reason I say Harbaugh too is
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: just because he'll bring a lot of stability that that
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: franchise needs.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, you know what you're getting with it.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: Did he see the there's like a stat on Vabel.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: It was like he has as many wins I don't know,
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: in like twenty twenty six as the Titans have, and
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: that's probably it's probably like December in January or something
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: like that. Then the Titans have the last two seasons.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: So what Vrabel, if I recall correctly, he took a
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: year year off and then was with the Browns, is
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: just like a special assistant. So once again, the Browns
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: could have had him if they anyway, not to dump
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: on Cleveland, but yeah, Rabel, what he's doing with the
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Patriots is everyone that I see that is super critical
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of the Steelers as a whole is pointing to that
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: and saying, Hey, the Patriots fired Bill Belichick, replaced him,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: fired that coach, replaced him, found the right guy, got
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: a quarterback, and look what they're doing right, And yeah,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: it hasn't been easy, and it's not like they had
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the most dominating performance, but I would take what they've
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: got this year over what we've been experiencing for the
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: last ten in a heartbeat.
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they're looking up and Rosie and we're
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: kind of like, what the heck are we gonna do so?
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: So who's your The only two openings that are left
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: are the Cardinals and the Raiders of the you asked
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: me the questions, I'll kick it back to you. Of
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the jobs that have been filled, what do you think
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: has been the best hire?
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: You know it's gonna sting because you know we're going
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: into this. I said, I would have liked to seen
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Mintor morsehal I think were my two. Mintor was I
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: think my number one. I think he's he's gonna be
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: a great hire. H He's coming from the Chargers to
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: be the Raven's head coach, which he's got two very
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: athletic safety that he's worked with with Derwin James and
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: now Kyle Hamilton.
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: So yeah, you know, I think for him it's gonna
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: be who he's gonna get is an o C. But yeah,
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: I do think that that's.
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously I think that the the Giants being
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: able to pick up.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: Harball was big. But you know, I.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: Think that what's going to look like the best tire
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: in three to five years.
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: I think that Mentor is.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know what the timing on Mintor was like
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember. I mean, the Ravens obviously had
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: at least a week head start on the Steelers, right, Yeah,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: So I'm I don't know if it was entirely realistic
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: that based on the timing, they could have gotten Mintor,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: but yeah, it would be interesting to know if he
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: was someone that they would have considered. But frankly, if
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: everything was equal, I'm assuming he would have chosen the
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Ravens anyway, because he's from the Harball coaching tree. He's
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: coach under both Harbaugh brothers, And again we talked about
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: this before when both jobs were open, the Steelers were
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: really only desirab dot desirable because of the history and
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: because of the fact that the ownership doesn't like to
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: move on from coaches. If you're looking at it from
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: just a roster standpoint, Yeah, the Ravens or where every
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: guy would want to go if that was the only criteria.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Right right, And because who is the longest tenured coach
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: other than Mike Tomlin is Harbaugh?
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: So well, yeah, a lot of stability.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So once again, I'm I'm offering telling you that
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: even if we could have hired him, we might not
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: have gotten him anyway. So I'm just here to be
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: the bearer of bad news for all of your hopes
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: and dreams.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: Yea, and rand as you mentioned that poo pooing on
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: my parade right now.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, poopooing on the parade.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: So normally we come back and talk talk about things
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: after the season ends, but again we're here because of
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: special circumstances. As we are sitting here now, we are
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: recording this the Wednesday after the conference championship games. The
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Patriots beat the Broncos ten to seven, I believe, and
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: I want to say the score of the Seahawks and
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Rams was thirty one to twenty seven. In either case,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: we have a Super Bowl rematch of the Patriots and
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: the Seahawks.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: So I will.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Just kick it over to you who you got.
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: I think I like the Seahawks.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: You know, I probably wouldn't have felt that way except
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: for the championship game. You know, I know that May
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: was playing in a blizzard, but he played awful, and Donald,
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: who was supposed to be injured, lit up the Rams.
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: So you know, I would have probably gone based off
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: of what.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Who has the edge of quarterback because both of them
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: have very good defenses and balanced running game. But and
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: I mean the coaching McDonald talk about another Ravens connection there.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: He was the DC, and I bet the Ravens might
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: be kicking themselves if they could have kept him and
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: fired Harball. But you weren't going to fire Harball when
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: he went to like I think the AFC Championship game
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: and they were thirteen and four and.
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: Stuff like that. So yeah, moved point. But yeah, I think.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: To me, it's probably gonna be a game where whoever
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: is running back is doing the best is gonna win.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: I think Kenneth Walker has been looking like one of
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: the strongest running backs in the whole league, not just
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: you know, prominent in this game. So yeah, we'll see
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: what happens. But yeah, I think it will be a
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: good game. It definitely feels I don't know about you,
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: but it feels lacking.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: I'm just there's no.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: Prominent player, there's no prominent legacy at play. There's you know,
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: I'm excited for Vrabel because homecoming guy got fired from
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: his last post and he's making a reclamation there. I
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: guess that's the storyline. But there's nothing really to kind
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: of like grip your hands onto this game.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: No, I'm with you. Because the Seahawks, I I don't
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: know that I could tell you like one superstar on
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: their team.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they've got one that's just slipping my mind.
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: But it's the wide receiver Jackson Smith.
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: And well even he.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean he's probably their biggest star player.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: But I just honestly, he would not come to mind
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: if you asked me to name like the top five
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: receivers in the league, you know what I.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: Mean, Yeah, I was gonna like that was what came
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: in my mind, was like would he even be a
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: top five?
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: Like before you know, I think if people think of JJ,
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: people think of mar Chings, and you know, there's others,
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: but you would definitely he'd be five if he's if
• 44:53
  Speaker 6: we're talking.
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: About top five.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I I mean honestly I would Even before
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: this year, I would have probably said I I knew
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: DK more than him.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: But but yeah, I'm with you. And then the Patriots.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: I saw a lot of funny things, like people were
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: posting online like thank goodness their drought is over. There
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: are second graders who have never seen the Patriots compete
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: for a Super Bowl. The horror is over. So yeah, look,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I think the Seahawks are the better team. I still
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: think the Patriots are gonna win, just because I'm on
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: the pessimist train tonight, and they'll win. They'll get their
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: seventh super Bowl. It'll be rubbed in our faces. We
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: can't even say we've got the most super Bowl wins anymore,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and we'll just have to watch them do what they do.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: But yeah, so I hope it's the Seahawks.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: Did you know? I okay, this was kind of nice
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: to me.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: So I saw that this is the Patriots eleventh appearance,
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: and I think that's most all time. Yeah, but I
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: was like, Tom went nine, this is the ten.
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: What's the other one? Do you do? You know the
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: other super Bowl?
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Well, if they've been to eleven and Tom went to nine. Yeah,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: the other two appearances they made were against the Packers
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: when Brett Farv and yes, and the they got stomped
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: by the eighty five Bears.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Gotcha, yep?
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: The uh hey, I was I know my trivia stuff.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: I'm a history guy, so so yeah, Bill Parcells was
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: the coach. I don't know who the coach was in
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: eighty five. I just the only good they are in
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: eighty five is being a footnote to the Bears, who
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: we know is one of the best teams of all
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: time in the nineties when they lost Afar. From what
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: I understand, it was a relatively close game. It was
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: when Bill Parcells was the coach, and a lot of
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: what became that first Patriots dynasty with Bill Belichick was
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: started in that era because they had a good chunk
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: of players held over into the Bill Belichick era, Like
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I think Teddy Bruski was on that team in the nineties,
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: a few other guys as well, so.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: Well, and you think about it.
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: It was kind of interesting with that turning point too,
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: because it was Blitzo's injury that led the way to
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: the Brady promotion.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and and I mean, we can always go
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: down the what if rabbit hole too, But I was
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: just we when you talk about guys who play because
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: of injury, I mean I was thinking about Big Ben too.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: He got in because of an injury, but he was
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: going to be the starter at some point anyway. I mean,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: the guy was what the eleventh pick in the draft,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Brady was sixth rounder, so that guy was probably not
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: going to feel the see the field unless an injury happened.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: So but yeah, again a big turning point in history too,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: because Drew Bledsoe was certainly not a bad quarterback either.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: He was very good quarterback. Yeah, it was so well,
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: speaking of history, assuming let's just say that this higher
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: for the Steelers doesn't work and the team finally has
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: a losing season, how are we gonna I think we'll
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: probably need to repurpose the podcast because we won't want
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: to talk about football anymore. We'll have to turn it
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: into like the History and the Food podcast or something.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Since I know you've been a big history buffalo and
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: we're gonna.
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: Ken Burns documentaries.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: You want to do a synopsis of the most thorough
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: documentaries that there are, we what like a commentary as
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: we're watching them together.
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: The Space Theater three thousand. It'll be like.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: That Mystery Science theater. Yeah.
• 49:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: What Steelers Country Weekly by the GameHouse dot com presents
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: the American Resolution by Ken Burns?
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, there you go. Well, maybe well we'll
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: save that.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: So uh, that'll be our first fun topic for the
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: off season is what's your favorite American Revolution story that
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: we can discuss?
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: I did? I just watched The Patriot, like, and it
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: was because Ken Burns documentary.
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: I was like, I want to watch The Patriot.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: I know that the bad guy in that is based
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: off of Tarlton, who is in the h in the
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: British Army down in the South, the butcher Tarltan. So
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: there's your fun fact for the day. I've never seen
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: The Patriot, though, I just know that that's who's.
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: Really the bad guy.
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: I didn't, but I'm pretty sure he's He's also the
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: bad guy in Harry Potter's Draco's Dad.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: All right, so he's a he get cast as a
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: certain type.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Then there you go.
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he was actually in White Lotus.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: I think he was not a well respected guy in that,
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: but there's not a lot of well respected people in
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: that show.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: But all right, man, was there anything else you wanted
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: to talk about before we sign off from our new
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: History podcast?
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: Did you give a Super Bowl winner?
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going with the Patriots because I'm a negative.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: I'm a negative Nancy Tonight. There you go. My kids
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: will love that title. All right.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I think that is going to do it for us.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: We'll be back after the super Bowl to talk about
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: whatever's going on in the world. Hopefully we have a
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: more complete coaching staff by then, and hopefully I'll be
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: in a better mood for the world famous accountant Eric
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Vamin showten I am Nick. The two Julio and this
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: has been another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's Steelers
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Country Weekly