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The Long, Strange Trip to the Super Bowl · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_08: Hi, everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_08: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_08: My name is Tim Hannon, and I'm joined by a co-host, uh Steve Hort.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_08: And in this episode, we are going to remember the wild and controversial Steeler season of 2010.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_08: So we'll we'll jump into the story.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_08: First, I do want to take a moment here at the top of the episode just to thank all the folks who listen to the show.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_08: Um, Steve and I have really seen this podcast grow its listener base pretty dramatically over the last year, and we really appreciate each of you so much.
• 0:49
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• 0:52
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• 0:58
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• 1:00
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• 1:04
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• 1:07
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• 1:09
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• 1:17
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• 1:19
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• 1:21
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, we'll be right here when you come back.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_08: All right.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_08: Thanks for doing that.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_08: So this episode is about the 2010 Steelers season.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_08: Steve, do you say 2010 or 2010?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_09: Uh I say odd 10.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_08: Odd 10.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_09: The odd 10 steeler season.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_09: That doesn't even work.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_09: I I don't know.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_09: I've never thought about it, Tim.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_09: Ask me later what I'm not thinking.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_09: Like, what was this year?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_09: And I was like 2010.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe I do say 2010.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_08: Well, this was the first year we had to make that decision.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_08: Because it was always, you know, 2007, 2008, 2009.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_08: And then it was like, this was kind of the first year you had to make that call.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_09: And an important call it was.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_08: For sure.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_08: For sure.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_08: So so this Steelers season, I think it's a season that when you mention it, people remember, oh yeah, we made it to the Super Bowl that year.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_08: But I I would say that few people, including me, before I started really digging in for this episode, probably remember just how insane of a year it was.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_08: So let's let's set some context.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2008.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_08: Then they go 9-7 and miss the playoffs in 2009.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_08: And that was disappointing, but by no means does anyone think the Steelers are washed.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_08: They still have mostly all the same pieces that helped them win that 2008 Super Bowl.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_08: And they definitely seem poised to be a contender again in 2010.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_08: A big reason why they're still an elite team is because they have a franchise quarterback named Ben Rothlesberger.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_08: He's only 28 years old at this point.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_08: He's already won two Super Bowls, and he just keeps getting better and better each season.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_08: He's also got superstar wide receivers to throw the ball to, Heinz Ward and Santonio Olms, both of those guys are Super Bowl MVPs.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_08: He's got a Pro Bowl running back named Willie Parker, and he's got two pretty solid tackles to protect him in Willie Cologne and Max Starks.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_08: He's also got a really great defense.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_08: So everything is set for another dominant run to a championship.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_08: Steve, what could possibly go wrong?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Amusement Park of the Future where nothing can possibly go wrong.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Possibly go wrong.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_08: So things do start to go terribly wrong.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_08: And it all kicks off with an incident in Milledgeville, Georgia, in March of 2010.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_08: So I'm I'm just gonna be like as factual as possible here, describing what happened, because this incident really has taken on a life of its own over the years, depending on if you like Ben Rothlessberger or you hate Ben Rothlessberger.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_08: So again, here are facts based on what we know.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_08: So on March 5th, a 20-year-old college student accuses Ben of sexual assault in a nightclub.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_08: The accuser tells investigators that earlier in the night, Rothasberger invited her and her friends into his group's VIP section, encouraged them to take shots of alcohol, and then later she was led by somebody in Rotesberger's entourage, whether it was like a bodyguard or somebody down a hallway and into a bathroom area.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_08: Inside the bathroom, the woman states that she told Rothlesberger, no, this is not okay, and attempted to leave, but according to her version, he followed her into the bathroom and had sex with her despite her objections.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_08: The medical examination at a regional hospital finds superficial lacerations and bruising, uh, but doctors are unable to determine whether rape or sexual assault had actually occurred.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_08: About a month later, the district attorney announces that no criminal charges would be filed against Rothesberger, citing insufficient evidence to meet the standard beyond a reasonable doubt, and also that the accuser no longer wished to pursue to pursue any kind of prosecution.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_08: So those are the facts.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_08: Ben was accused of sexual assault, but never prosecuted for it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_08: Does that mean he did nothing wrong?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_08: Well, uh you can be the judge of that.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_08: You know, some people will say the woman was drunk and fabricated the story.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_08: Other people will say he got away with rape because he's a star quarterback.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_08: Uh here's what I would say as someone who is not there, Steve, whatever happened, it's unbecoming of a guy who was supposed to be a franchise icon.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_09: Uh yeah, you can put yourself in some pretty bad situations.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_09: And I think too, that was the second time something like that had happened.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_09: He had another, didn't he have a waitress in Reno or something like that?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, there was there was uh an incident in Vegas.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_09: But this was much more serious.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_09: And I wonder I don't know.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know why she withdrew her charges.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_09: I have a lot of guesses on why, but I don't know.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_09: Without knowing anything, I I can't guess.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, I mean this is hard because and a lot of people took to attacking her.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_08: You know, she was apparently wearing a button that said DTF.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_08: Down to down to fornicate.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_08: And and so people said, well, you know, what do you expect if you're gonna go out, you know?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I mean, okay, that's that's fine, but it still doesn't really give you the right to do that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_08: Correct.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_08: And and and like I I know, oh man.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, Steve, you and I have been in situations parties or or out where I I I you have to have seen this, have seen this before, where a woman might have had too much to drink, and there's always seemingly always a man there ready to take some kind of advantage of it.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's that's the bad situation for everybody involved.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_09: Once again, you know, what do your parents always say?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_09: Nothing good happens after what, one o'clock in the morning, twelve o'clock, eleven o'clock, whatever.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_09: Pick the time.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think that's also why it's really important to tell your daughters and and other women in your life that when they go to clubs or parties to make sure they're always with a group of friends that have their back.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_08: You know.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_08: I guess, yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, that that shouldn't even be necessary if we as men did a better job, but that's the way it is.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's a bad idea all around.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_08: So Ben's not charged, but as we've seen many times since, that doesn't mean the NFL won't punish him.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_08: And sure enough, Commissioner Roger Goodell suspends Rothesburger for the first six games of the 2010 season, later reducing that to four games.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_08: And the fallout is bad.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the media begins to really pile on.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_08: Sports Illustrated runs a cover hit piece back when Sports Illustrated was relevant, interviewing like every waiter in Pittsburgh that Ben had ever been rude to.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_08: Terry Bradshaw rips Ben, says he's learning not to like him, and says, quote, going to bars, treating women like that, oh my god, if I own the Steelers, hear me loud and clear, he would not be a Steeler.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_08: That's Terry Bradshaw.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_08: Um, never mind that Terry Bradshaw is the same guy who wrote the following in his own autobiography: quote, I tried to be one of the boys and went to every honky tonk I could find and chased women.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_08: So not sure why Terry Bradshaw's in a position of judgment.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh but but despite everybody acting all overly sanctimonious, I mean, make no mistake, Ben is not the victim here.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, he he caused all this, and and I'd say, Steve, knowing how open he is about his past mistakes today, I'm sure he'd be the first one to admit it.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_09: Uh yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I will say I think whatever happened there definitely was a fork in the road for him.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_09: And um you know, there's there's guys that have gone through this and then continued that behavior until they end up, you know, in worse circumstances, you know, actually in prison or something.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_09: And I I think to his credit, he at least changed.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_09: Now he got married shortly after this, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, we'll talk about that in the aftermath.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_08: But you're right, this was definitely a fork on the road.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_09: But then I'll leave that, I'll leave that for that.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_08: So the media piles on the Rooneys are reportedly furious, and the rumors are rampant that Ben's gonna be traded either close to or on draft day.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_08: I think the big rumor was he was gonna go to the Chicago.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_09: I thought Chicago.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_08: Or Chicago, yeah.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_09: I think that was legit.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_09: I think they were.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_09: Dan Rooney was gonna trade him.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_09: Dan Rooney was still running the team at that time.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_09: I think he was going to trade him.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, now that I I feel more comfortable speculating about that than what went on in that bathroom in Georgia, but yeah, good point.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_09: Good point.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_09: I feel that has a lot less moral and legal implications than than what went on there.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_09: But I mean, yeah, if they wanted to trade them, it's their right.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_09: You know, it it's you know, if you don't want somebody working for you that has that hanging over your head, I I don't think there's a law against getting rid of them.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_09: I mean Yeah, and and that that apparently almost it would be interesting to see if well people always made the analogy, well, what about all the people with DUIs and did all the other criminal stuff that you know work with you?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_09: With you know, if we got rid of everybody that did that, we wouldn't have anybody to work.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, that's kind of a poor rationalization, but they're also not the face of a organization.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_09: Like, you know, we just had this happen again.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_09: Remember that CEO that got caught at the cold page?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_09: I mean it's the same situation.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_08: You can't you can't be the you can't be the the the like you said, the face, yeah.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_08: So so that trade never does happen, but the the damage, man, the damage is just a mess.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, it still goes on to this day.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, yeah.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_09: Well we can talk about the aftermath.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_09: He's never recovered from that.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_08: Never not fully.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_08: I would agree with that.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_09: No.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_09: He'll probably never recover from that, quite honestly.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_09: I I don't I guess I shouldn't say that, because like heck, Michael Vick's coach in you know, college football somewhere, so you never know.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean it it's it's he's he's recovered a great deal from it, but there it'll always hang over his head slightly, just like and I think that you could say the same about Michael Vick.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_08: Like he's recovered a great deal, but that'll still hang over his head to some degree.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_08: So so while all that is happening, Santonio Holmes says, Hold my beer.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_08: Uh he's also suspended four games by the NFL for again violating the league's substance abuse policy.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_08: He also tweets that he's about to use marijuana, which at the time was against said substance abuse policy.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_09: Against the law, I do believe, even in Denver at that point.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_09: I'm not sure.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so putting that on social media, not real smart.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_08: Uh he also rips Stewart's fans on social media who criticize him.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_09: Does he take naked pictures or something?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think that might have been like a year or two before this.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, okay.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_08: But yes, he had done that too.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_08: And then and then for good measure, he's also accused of throwing a glass at a woman in an Orlando nightclub, allegedly cutting her face.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_09: Oh my gosh.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I forgot about I forgot about that one.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's all happening in the spring of 2010.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_08: While Rothesberger's going through this whole Millageville thing.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers decide they can only tolerate so much nonsense from their star players.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_08: So while they keep Ben, Holmes is traded to the Jets for a fifth-round pick.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_08: Pretty low return for a guy who was the Super Bowl MVP just 14 months earlier.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_08: Art Rooney II says the team wants to, quote, re-emphasize our commitment to character and personal conduct.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_09: So yeah, I mean, and that didn't work out well for San Antonio.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, he San Antonio, San Antonio in Macoma City.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_09: San Antonio did not have a great career with the Jets.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_09: He didn't do much of anything, if I remember correctly.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_08: Not not really.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_08: Um and they, you know, it was interesting that they chose to make they chose they they both those guys were really valuable.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, again, they had just won the Super Bowl, like I said, 14 months before that.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_08: But they chose to make Santonio expendable and Ben not expendable.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_08: So I'd I'd love to see Art Rooney someday come out with a book or something to explain the thinking, right?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_09: I yeah.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I mean too, like how far are you gonna take this moral turpitude, I guess.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_09: Is always the question.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Steelers also part ways with team stalwartz, Willie Parker, and Deshay Townsend.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_08: Both of those guys were were highly instrumental in the two Super Bowl wins.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_08: Uh neither of those were conduct related.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers just felt both of those guys had kind of reached their expiration date.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_09: Willie Parker, I saw an interview, he said that was just pride.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_09: He wish he would have stayed with the Steelers because he took a bunch of money from Washington and didn't do anything.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_09: So he he he I honestly saw that in the interview recently that he wish he just would have stayed with the Steelers.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and the Steelers weren't offering him a whole ton because again, they I think they had felt like he was kind of passing by.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_09: Yes, and and Deshay Townsend, my goodness.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_09: He had I don't know if he had anything left in the tank.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_09: I thought Willie at least had a little bit left in the tank, but DeShe Townsend was definitely it was done.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that was that would have been his 13th season.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, he had played.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_09: He had a good career.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, he had a great career, won a couple Super Bowls, good for him.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_08: But that's still a lot of personnel change losing Deshay Townsend, Willie Parker, and Santonio Holmes.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_08: But hey, Steve, welcome back.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_08: Antoine Randall L.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_08: Larry Foote, Bryant McFadden, and Byron Leftwich.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_08: Those were all guys who had left the Steelers to sign elsewhere, and they were all brought back for second stints in 2010.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_08: Talk about going full Salvation Army.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_09: I didn't I didn't remember, I didn't remember Bryant McFadden.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_09: Who did he play for?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_09: I didn't remember him playing for anybody else.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_08: Cardinals.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, the Steelers West at that point, huh?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_08: Larry Foot went to Detroit.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_08: Randoval went to, I believe, Washington, and left which I think spent a year in Tampa.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_08: And they they they brought all those guys back via sign sign signing or trading for so some of these guys with varying degrees of success.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_08: But still, that that's interesting.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, that's yeah, that's a far cry from Tom the Don Tom Donohoe era.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_09: So well, too, it's probably they they didn't cost that much either, you know.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_08: And they and they were familiar with them and you know, all that stuff.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_08: So uh the Steelers do pretty well in the draft, too, selecting two probable future Hall of Famers and Marquise Pouncey and Antonio Brown.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_08: Both of those guys will uh make waves here in their rookie years.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_08: So so after a dumpster fire of an offseason, time to start camp and just focus on football, right?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_09: No, never, not this year.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_08: Nope, that doesn't go too well either.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Willie Cologne tears an Achilles while working out in camp, and he's lost for the entire season.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, wow.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_08: And then later during the season, the Steelers lose Max Starks to a season ending injury as well.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_08: So this team will play the majority of its games without both starting tackles.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_09: Wow, that's a shame.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_09: Max Starks was always like a key part of those Super Bowl teams.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_09: He was kind of like their Marvel Smith.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_08: He was like the one, yeah, he was the one guy you could always count on.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_08: Uh injuries don't just impact the offensive line.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers will eventually lose Aaron Smith and Punter Daniel Sepulveda to season ending injuries as well.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_09: That was odd.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_09: Sepulveda, I think Sepulveda tore an ACL, if I remember correctly.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_09: It was like odd.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_09: Just an odd, yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_08: And Aaron Smith, that was devastating.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_09: Well, yeah, but once again, you can see this is like a veteran team and it's getting older.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_09: Yes.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_08: So so seasons really not looking promising.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, you have guys getting hurt, you have you had to jettison a couple guys, your quarterback's gonna be suspended for the for the first quarter of the season.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_08: Um, but before we get to the actual games, uh, we have what's gonna be a running theme of this episode.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_08: It's controversy.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_08: We've already had a ton of it in the offseason, and we have two incidents at the end of camp that make waves.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_08: So, so one is that when Mike Tomlin is asked if Ben Rosisberger would be the starter after the suspension, he refuses to answer and says, quote, I'm not going to back myself into a corner, end quote.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_08: Now, I think at this point, we know enough about Tomlin to know that that's just his way of being Mike Tomlin.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_08: But but at the at the time, boy, that was talking of fodder for days.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_08: Like, what is he thinking?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_08: How can you not start Ben?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_08: He's your franchise quarterback, blah, blah, blah.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so yeah, that caused a huge controversy at the time.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_08: I I think Tomlin also knows that the media plays like these no-win situation games.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_08: Because if he would have said, Oh, yeah, of course he's our starter.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_09: How can you start Ben?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_09: He hasn't played all year.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, wow, they're really backing themselves into a corner.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, or or the angle of, oh, Tomlin just wants to be buddies, and and Ben, after all his misdeeds, he should have to earn his way back, you know, that kind of stuff.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_08: Like, how can you just go full on supporting a guy that was accused of, you know, all these terrible things?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_08: So I I feel like that would have just been a no-win situation either way.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_08: And and Tomlin just doesn't.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_08: Again, like I said, I think we know Tomlin well enough.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_08: I don't think that would be as big a deal today because Tomlin just doesn't answer questions.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_08: Uh speaking of the media, the second controversy at the end of camp comes courtesy of Mike Weiss of the Washington Post, who intentionally tweets a false report that Benedict Othersberger's suspension was cut to five games instead of four games.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_08: Why would he do that?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_08: Well, he was apparently trying to make some kind of like soapboxy statement about how people can write anything on the internet.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, if you're familiar with this guy, he was already like a kind of a bit of a moral crusader kind of writer.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_08: He was always writing about the uh how the Redskins needed to change their name and stuff like that.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_08: Anyway, his employer's not amused by the Rothesburger hoax and they suspend him.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_09: Boy.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_09: People write anything on the internet these days.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_08: Well, that's I guess that's I guess he was trying to get people like and I think he was trying to get his point.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_08: But but but like I think he was trying to get other news services to pick that up and run with it.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_08: And I I don't think anybody really did.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_09: Well, that's because you have credibility.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_09: Like, once again, like I've said this a hundred times.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_09: Like you're only as good as your credibility once people stop believing what you say.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_09: In this business, it's kind of over.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and if Ian Rappaport wrote something today that was completely a lie, I think people would run with that too because Yeah, it's Ian Rappaport.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, so so I'm not sure what the point of that was.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_08: I really don't.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_08: I it just sounds like somebody that was like a the old school curmudgeon.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_08: I don't like this new internet social media stuff.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_09: So I'm gonna I'm gonna make some kind of a statement, and it really I missed when I was the only man in the locker room.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_08: Right, yeah, exactly.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, before they let these broads in here.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_09: Um wow.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_09: Uh I didn't say it.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_09: Mike Weiss didn't know.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_08: In our bit, he did.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_09: Mike Mike Weiss wore a DTF button, too.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_09: Oh no.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_08: Poor Mike Weiss.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, enough with the madness of the offseason.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_08: Let's play some football.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_08: Week one, the Steelers are hosting the Atlanta Falcons at Hinesfield, as it was called in those days.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, I remember that place.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_08: And the starting quarterback for this game, well, it was supposed to be Byron Leftwich, but he gets hurt in the preseason.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_09: Of course he does.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_08: And then it was supposed to be Charlie Batch, but he gets outplayed in the preseason by Dennis Dixon.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_09: I remember Dennis Dixon.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_08: That's right, folks.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_09: Dennis Dixon is the opening day starter for your he was he was a pretty awesome like triple A center fielder.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_09: He played for Oregon.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_09: He was pretty good with Oregon.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_09: But this isn't we aren't playing, you know, Washington State this week.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_08: And and and Dixon, he was he he that's the reason they started him because he they had drafted him a couple of years before, and then he looked really good in the preseason.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_08: And I think they thought, huh, maybe we have something here.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_08: And against Atlanta in week one, he does okay, but not real well.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_08: Uh fortunately, the Steelers defense plays real well.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_08: In fact, neither team can get into the end zone.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_08: So in this opening day game, we head into overtime deadlocked in a nine to nine tie.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_09: Nice.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_08: And then in overtime, this happens.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_09: Mendon Hall.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_05: There we go.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_05: Mendonho.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_05: First down inside the 30.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_05: Mendon Hall keeps his funny and scores to win the game.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_09: It's my favorite Al-Qaeda sympathizer.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Richard Menman Hall.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, who later has a lot of controversies himself, not so much this season, uh, is the guy.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_08: That's the guy the Steelers had pegged to replace Parker.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_09: He was pretty good for a couple years.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_09: He really was.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_08: Well, and he was a first-round pick, remember, too.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_08: And this is he's he's going into his third year, so they really did expect a lot of him.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_08: Art Rooney had even made a statement earlier in the year about how the team needed to run the ball better.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_08: And at least in this game, Mendenhall does deliver.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_08: Uh week two is at Tennessee, and that game starts off with a bang.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_08: Rookie Antonio Brown takes the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_08: That's the first time he ever touches the ball in an NFL game.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_08: So hopefully big things ahead for that polite, level-headed young man.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, he fit right in with this head case team.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Stewart's beat the Titans 19-11.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_08: In week three, the Steelers have had enough of the Dennis Dixon experiment, and in comes Charlie Beth, who beats the Buccaneers in Tampa, and the defense continues to dominate as well.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_13: This ball picked up.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_05: Watch this.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: Kiesel.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_05: Can he get a block?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_05: Look at the big fella.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, Kiesel cuts it back.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_05: Touchdown.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_05: Pittsburgh.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_04: And he's off it and puffin' and strutton.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_09: Tim, that game was thirty-one to six when that happened.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_09: There's only one reason on God's Green Earth that you played that clip, and I know what it is.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_08: What is it?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_09: Because it's Gus Johnson, and you want to hear have Gus Johnson have a freaking stroke over a touchdown in a 31 to six game.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_08: I I so no, it wasn't it wasn't yes, it was.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_09: Just admit it.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_09: You were like Gus Johnson and Brett Keiesel, I had and it's gonna take forever, so Gus Johnson's just gonna go off.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_08: I do like Gus Johnson.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_08: But but no, Keiesel, like that was that was kind of fun watching Brett Keiesel run almost 80 yards down the field uh for a touchdown.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_08: That was not something you saw off or saw ever.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh in fact, that was Brett Keiesel's first touchdown since 1996 when he was a senior at Graybowl High School.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_09: Wow.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_08: So uh so the Steelers win in Tampa.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_08: In week four, they return home to host the Ravens, and Joe Flacco pulls out a last second 17-14 win for Baltimore.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_08: That's also a game where kicker Jeff Reed misses two field goals.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_08: Remember that for later.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_08: So that that was disappointing losing to the Ravens.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_08: But going three and one without Ben is a way better start to the season, I think, than most people expected, wouldn't you say, Steve?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_09: Uh yes, Tim.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_09: I I mean, and especially with Dennis Dixon, I I forgot.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_09: Like, he did like didn't he like get all like like oh, I want more money.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_09: Like he tried to hold off for more money and stuff, and I should be a starter.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_09: Or like his agent started saying stuff like that, and then he disappeared.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_09: Like after this, like I don't think he played very much the rest of his whatever of career.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_09: He was like a career backup.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, this was kind of his chance.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_09: Like, not even like a career back, like a career third striger, like like really he never did anything after that.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_08: Do you think the idea to start him over Charlie Bash might have been a little bit of that boy, we were so close to trading Ben and we kept him.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_08: But what if we start this guy and he's like lights out?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_08: Could we could we move on from Ben then?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_08: I wonder I wonder if there was any thought.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_08: Maybe.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that could have been something.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe that's what they wanted to do with Bayern Leftwich, because if anybody would have at least given you pause, it would have been Byron Leftwich.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_09: He had been a starter in the NFL.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_08: That's that's true also.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_08: But I think I think when you were down to Charlie Bash, it's like you at that point in his career you knew you knew what Charlie Bash was giving you.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_08: He was going to give you a good game or two as a backup, but there's no way he was going to supplant the starter ever.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_08: But Dixon and Leftwich, to your point, that you know, that was within the realm of possibility.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_08: Well, regardless, Beth Ben's set to come back from his suspension now that uh the Steelers have played four games.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_08: And and he had been mostly quiet during this time.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_08: People close to him say he's doing a lot of reflecting and life evaluation.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_09: I think that was smart on his point, just keeping his yap shut.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_08: Yes.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_08: Just kind of fading into the background.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_08: Uh people also say that he needs to lean on people he can trust, you know, people who have been in the NFL, who get the pressures of fame.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_08: So, Steve, who do you think Ben turns to as his trusted NFL brother?
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_09: I I would hope like Tony Dungey or somebody like that, but I get the feeling it's gonna be somebody ridiculous.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_08: It's Ray Lewis.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_09: Well, if anybody knows about getting getting out of trouble with the law, it's Ray Lewis.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_08: Lewis says, quote, I was there for him.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_08: It's a brotherhood.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_08: This game, the game always takes care of itself on the field, but off the field, if we don't look out for each other, nobody else will.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_08: Like, what?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_08: Are you kidding me?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_09: Why Ray Lewis?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_09: That's an odd, yeah.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_08: That'd be like if FDR called Mussolini during World War II to ask him like how he managed the pressures of running a country.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_08: My goodness.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_08: What in the world?
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_08: Ray Lewis.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, that was that was shocking.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_09: Tony Dungey, anybody, like, you know, oh god, anybody.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_09: Anybody.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_08: Jerome Bennett, like like like guys that he was teammates with previously, you know, Bill Cower, maybe.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_08: I don't know, anybody.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_08: But yeah, Ray Lewis.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_08: So that was interesting.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_08: Uh in his first game back, Ben destroys Cleveland as Ben usually did during his career.
• 29:42
  unknown: Yeah.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_08: But there's a huge controversy in that game.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_08: James Harrison hits Brown's receiver, Mohammed Massquai.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, yeah.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_08: In a pretty violent collision.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_08: Now you have to remember, today you can't like just destroy guys coming over in the middle of the field.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_08: But back then we were kind of in this ambiguous territory in between the NFL celebrating hard hits and the NFL getting constant pressure about CT and player health.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_08: So the league decides they're going to make an example out of Harrison and they fine him$75,000.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_08: And Harrison is beside himself.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_08: He thinks the league is after him.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_08: He openly ponders just quitting the sport altogether.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_08: Mike Tomlin actually has to send him home from practice that week just so he can get his head together.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_08: Here's James Harrison talking about that incident years later.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: If I had knew they were going to find me$75,000, dude, I would have done I could to try and make that the most grotesque hit that the NFL had ever seen because I only gave him 30 to 40 percent.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_11: I love it.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_09: Might don't get your money's worth, I guess, right?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_08: And and that was that was a big deal at the time because well, because that movie had come out and right.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_09: And and it wasn't it wasn't they'd been after the NFL for years.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_09: I think too, the the NFL didn't do itself any favors by not paying like a great pension or anything.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_09: Like their pension always kind of sucked, and I thought that was probably the bigger issue was yeah that if they would have done better in their pension, like maybe people wouldn't have complained as much.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_08: Well, and and the the what a great way to distract from all that or look like they're making up for it.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_08: The NFL was so reactionary back then.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_09: It's gone from that to I literally watched a Jacksonville Jaguars defender not tackle Patrick Mahomes because it would have been a penalty.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_09: And it was literally would have been the softest put you to bed tackle ever, and it's like whatever.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_08: But but but I'll say at least today there's there's the expectation of you know, you can't just like like like you can't just hit people.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_09: Well, it's not even that.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_09: Like those were at least hits, like his hit, the ball was in play.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_09: There was times when, and I've said this before, like a guy would catch the ball and fall down, and now they'll just touch him, you know.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_09: Back then you would like leap on him with your helmet, like so that's intent to injure.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_09: So you shouldn't that that's a good thing they got out of the sport.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think I think there was a lot of good that came out of that era where the NFL made it made the game safer and all that stuff.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_08: Well, and you have to remember in 2010 that all that wasn't clearly defined yet.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_08: You know what I mean?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_08: That's and that's why people were that's why Harrison was so upset and why Steeler fans were so upset, because it was it was all of a sudden it's like now you can't hit a receiver.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_08: That that the today that's more clearly defined back then it wasn't, and and I think that's really where the controversy came from.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_08: So that's the Browns game.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_08: The following week in Miami, more controversy.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_08: At the very end of the game, the Dolphins have a two-point lead, but the Steelers are at the Miami goal line.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_08: So Dolphins up by two, but the Steelers have a two point.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, I I I remember this game, yeah.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_08: So they they call a draw play.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers call a draw play, and Ben dives for the end zone.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_08: But Chris Clemens from Miami makes a really good play.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_08: He knocks the ball out of Ben's arm right as he crosses the goal line.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_06: When did this ball come loose from Ben Rocklitzberger?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_06: You better cross the line.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it certainly looks by that look right there that Miami recovers that ball in the end zone.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_08: So the play has initially rolled a touchdown, but hey, this is why we have instant replay.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_08: The referee for this game, Steve, it's Gean Sterator.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, well yeah.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_09: Well, I wonder what Dean's excuse for blowing this goal is.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_08: So so on the replay, uh, it sure looks like Ben fumbled and it sure looks like Miami recovered, and that the Steelers have just lost.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_08: So let's see if Kean Sterator agrees.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: It has been determined.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_08: Well, that's uh Steelers lost.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_08: Well, hang on.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_08: Dean's not done yet.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: However, by ruling replay.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Two aspects of this play must be available to be due.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: Not only did we have to view the fumble being a fumble, we also have to have clear evidence of the team recovering the ball.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: After review, we do not have clear evidence of the defense recovering the football.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: Therefore, Pittsburgh will have the ball, fourth and goal at the half-yard line.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_04: Miami will not be charged with the timeout, and the clock will start on the ready for play.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_08: So the Steelers keep the ball.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_08: Jeffrey kicks a field goal, and the Steelers win 23 to 22.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_09: Like that that play changed a lot of things.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_09: That was unfair to Miami, but yeah, what are you gonna do?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, the the Dolphins and their fans are irate, uh, especially because Gene Sterator lives in Pittsburgh.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_08: And owns a janitorial supply company here.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_08: Miami fans make dozens of angry calls to Sterator's company the next day.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_08: Dropping export is one caller wishing that Sterotor contracts AIDS.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_08: So that's classy.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_09: I was hoping they'd say clean this up.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_09: and 'cause you could clean your poop up like in you do on the field or something.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_09: Sounds like something with janitorial supplies you'd come up with.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_08: I I'm guessing if you're an angry Dolphins fan who's who's gone as far as calling the company that the referee owns, you're probably not gonna you're probably not at the point of coming up with like clever you know, takedowns.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_08: You're probably just screaming F bombs and wishing that he gets AIDS.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, and that was uh I uh you're right.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_08: That was that was a little that was definitely unfair.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_08: It was definitely a fumble, and it it looked like Miami recovered, but they had they had you know, it was like a pile.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, so you couldn't see it.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_08: And I think them signaling touchdown right away, you talked about it changing things.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_09: I think one of the other things it changed was if they would have called it a fumble, it would have been different.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_08: Well, well, remember like like today I think referees are less apt to make that call or blow a whistle.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_09: Because they want to be able to replay it.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_08: Because they want to be able to replay it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_08: But back then that was the old school, you make the call right then and there, you don't replays like the secondary, like the emer break glass in case of emergency thing.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_08: So I think that's that's another thing.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_08: If they would have not signaled touchdown immediately, then maybe Miami comes out of the pile with the ball and it's a different story.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_08: But oh well, Steelers win.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_08: Not gonna complain too much.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the next three games are against Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, and Tom Brady.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_09: Well, that should turn out well.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_08: And and the Steelers, now the Steelers have the number one defense in the NFL that year, but they have trouble with each of those guys.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_08: They make a last second stand to beat the Bengals, but they lose to the Saints and the Patriots, and this is really going to be a trend this season.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_08: The defense is like really good on paper, and they're really good against most teams.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_08: But their kryptonite that year is elite quarterbacks.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_08: Uh those games, surprise, have controversy too.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_08: In the Saints game, which is at the Superdome, Menon Hall appears to score a touchdown when he's tackled right on the goal line, but it's called no touchdown.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_08: Well, that's okay, right?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_08: Just challenge it and the replay will overturn it, right?
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_08: Well, the Steelers don't challenge, and then they get stuffed on the following play.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_08: So they don't get a touchdown.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_08: And as we all know, you know, replay challenges are not one of Mike Tomlin's best kills.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_08: But but come on, like, why in the world didn't you didn't they challenge?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_08: Well, as it turns out, the Steelers assistant coaches stationed in the press box were only provided the stadium feed instead of the TV feed.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_08: And of course, the stadium feed's not going to show the play a second time.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_08: So the Saints like literally rigged it, Steve, so that the Steelers could only see the replays they wanted them to see.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_09: Too bad they didn't have a smartphone back then to watch it on their Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_08: And and this and the there's a lot of uh fury about this, but the NFL says, that's on you, Pittsburgh.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_08: If the Steelers wanted the monitor to show the NBC feed instead of the stadium feed, then they should have asked the Saints to do it.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, come on.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_09: How are they to know that?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_08: I That's literally what the NFL said.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_08: They said it was the Steelers' fault for not asking the Saints.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_08: See, this is just a channel.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_09: You have a you have a accused you know rapist playing for you, screw you.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_09: That that's what this whole like next couple years were.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_09: It's the same thing that happened to the Patriots after the spygate thing.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_09: Only the Patriots were over to overcome it and the Steelers were.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_09: I remember this now distinctly.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_09: It was like, oh, we're just gonna screw you because we don't like you, because you're bad PR for the league.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_09: So if you think that's not what's happening, that's what's happening.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_08: Well, to their credit, Steve, the NFL does take action after the game.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_08: They find James Harrison again, this time$20,000 for a hit on Drew Brees.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_09: He didn't tuck him in at night, give him a kiss, and tell him a bedtime story.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_08: Uh more controversy, Jeff Reed, the Steelers kicker, who's already having a kind of an uneven season, he misses a chip-shot 26-yard field goal in the New England game.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_08: And after the game, he blames the turf at Heinz Field.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_08: He says it's really hard to quit to kick when the ground shifts under your plant foot.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_08: He also complains about the fans.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_08: He says, quote, if you're not perfect in the city, man, then you're just you're gonna hear about it.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_08: People buy tickets over by the kicking net just to bash me.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_08: Now, is he wrong about either of those things?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_08: Pro probably not.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, the field in the especially in those days was historically a mess.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_09: I I thought he did well for the equipment he was given.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm sure and I'm sure there were fans who gave him a hard time.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, but it really comes off as like excuse making after he missed an easy kick and after he'd struggled all season.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe you should take it out on the sheets bathroom paper towel.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_08: Uh and the Steelers, they've they've finally had enough and they cut them.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_08: They cut him the next day.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_08: And and and and like making waves and and stirring controversy, that was nothing new for Jeff Reed, as as Steve alluded to, with the the Sheets bathroom incident.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_08: He also had bleached his hair, he was cited for public urination.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_09: Wasn't that him and Matt's spaith?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_09: I was just yeah.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it was him in Matt's spaith.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_08: You know, but but he was a really good kicker for nine seasons and two Super Bowls.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_08: So the Steelers were always able to just kind of live with it.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_08: But now that he's missing easy field goals, they're they're done.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so in case you're keeping track, the Steelers are now without both of their starting tackles, their best defensive lineman, their kicker, their punter, in addition to their leading rusher and receiver from the previous season.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_09: Sounds like a recipe for a Super Bowl.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_08: Exactly.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh one other note from that Patriots game.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_08: Heinz Ward had caught a pass in every game since 1998.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_08: So remember, we're in 2010.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_08: That's a that's a 12-year streak at this point.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_08: 186 straight games where Heinz Ward caught a pass.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_08: And in that game, he gets knocked out with a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet hit.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_09: I wonder, I wonder if I wonder if they got fined.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, right.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_08: It's it's no, Steve, it's okay as long as the Patriots are doing it.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_08: Uh but but so he gets knocked out of the game, but he actually does catch like a little five-yard pass on that play.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_08: So fortunately, even though he's out of the game, his streak lives on, you know, as they're carrying him off the field.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_08: But hold everything because Bill Belichick wants to challenge.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_08: This is literally a five-yard catch in the first quarter.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_08: It's not even for a first down.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, jeez.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_08: But but you know, Belichick, ever the opportunist when it comes to the old roll book, says, no, no, we're gonna challenge that, and they roll it, no catch, and so Heinz Ward sees 12 years go up in smoke.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_09: Well, if it's any consolation for you, he's not doing well in college.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_09: So I can see why people hate this guy.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, and and Ward was back the next week, so he would have continued that streak.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_09: You know, so it it was just it was ending that streak I wonder, uh Tim, are you sure the Patriots didn't get fined on that?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_09: Because that's unbelievable if they didn't.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, I don't know if they did or didn't.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_08: I'm just being sarcastic.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean, I I I have no idea.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_09: I would hope so.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_09: I would hope they would have.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, but who knows?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the following week, the Steelers destroy the Raiders, but guess what, Steve?
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_08: More controversy.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_07: Yay.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_07: Mended home in the backfield.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_07: Shotgun for Rothelsberger.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_07: Looking long.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_07: Caught by Sanders.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_07: Touchdown Steelers.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_07: And a fight.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_12: Flags are thrown this time.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_07: Rothelsberger, the celebration.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_07: And there's the pot from Seymour.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: Personal Pell.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: Number 93.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_03: Has ejected Himself from the game for a time.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_09: That was in the second quarter.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_08: Hall Hall of Famer Richard Seymour punches Ben Rothesberger because he's mad that Ben threw a touchdown pass.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_09: No, I I I I think the only thing that I can see, like watching that replay, like Ben's kind of celebrating with the offensive line.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_09: I think he runs over to celebrate with who is that 73.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_09: Excuse me.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_09: And he um and Seymour's kind of uh in the area and he like kind of has to run past him to say something, and that's when I don't know if Seymour thought he was saying something to him or what.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_09: But in Richard Seymour's defense, maybe I don't know.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_08: I mean it's it's but it didn't matter.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_09: I'm surprised he even got kicked out because once again, you know, Ben, you're allowed to punch Ben.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, well, it's okay, Steve.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_08: Seymour does get fined for that incident.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_08: $25,000.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_08: So if you're keeping score, Harrison got fined three times more.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_09: For a hit that was in-game.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_08: So hitting a player too hard during a high speed collision play,$75,000.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_08: Intentionally sucker punching a quarterback in the face,$25,000.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_09: But it's a quarterback we don't like, Tim.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_09: If it was Tom Brady, then he would have been suspended for four games.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_08: Speaking of speaking of that, that same concept, CBS Sports.com columnist Greg Doyle writes this quote, to many, Ben is no victim and deserves whatever he gets on the field.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_08: To some people, Seymour will not be seen as a dirty player.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_08: He'll be seen as an avenging angel.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_08: See, see, see the see the little journalistic trick here, Steve.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_08: I'm not saying I'm happy that someone punched Ben in the face, but some people are.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_09: It's like I have a friend that's unemployed and has four kids, like that old, like yes, Dick Gephardt in um, who's the the there's another guy that does that.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_09: He's still here.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_09: The guy from New York.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_09: He does that like all the time.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_09: Like I have I have a friend who's unemployed.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_09: It's like that friend doesn't exist.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_09: It's like you're just making it up.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_08: Again, that's that's why would you write something like that?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_08: That's that's just clearly a good like just say it good.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_08: I'm glad somebody punched somebody punched him in the face because I don't like them.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, just write that.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_08: Just just at least at least say what you actually want to say.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_08: I can't I can't stand stuff like that, whether it's from writers or politicians or whatever.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_09: Well, we could have said, you know, he he punched he punched um you know Ben Rothesberger in the face to the satisfaction of many and the dismay of Steeler fans.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_09: You wouldn't wouldn't be lying there.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_08: So well, that's the Raider game.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_08: More insanity than next week.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_08: Steelers go to Steelers go to Buffalo to play the two-eight Bills.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_08: That'll be an easy run, right?
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_08: Buffalo is coached by a guy named Shan Gailey, who used to be Bill Cowers' offensive coordinator, and he really has the Bills prepared for this matchup.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_08: The game actually goes into overtime, where Buffalo is about to pull off a huge upset.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_13: First and ten.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_13: With the nice block at the guard going deep.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_13: He's got Judson.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_13: Oh, he dropped the ball.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_13: That would have been the game winner.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_13: And we said that Fitzpatrick was fearless.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_13: He takes the shot down the field, working against Taylor with Clark coming over, and all he has to do Hold on to it, and the Bills are gonna have their third consecutive win.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_09: No fit's magic there, huh?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Bills Bill's wide receiver Stevie Johnson drops the ball.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_08: And and like there's drops, and then there's like right in your arms.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_08: Gonna win the game.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_09: He wasn't completely wide open, but he was pretty open.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_08: Well, I mean, to give you an idea how open he was, Casey Hampton was not on the field on that play.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_08: He was on the sidelines.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_08: And he says after the game he didn't even see that play.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_08: Because while the ball was in the air, Casey Hampton starts walking into the tunnel.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_09: Very easy.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_08: Like literally, like the ball's in the air.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_08: Casey Hampton sees where Stevie Johnson is and where the Steelers defenders are, and he's like, okay, I'm gonna go to the locker room.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_08: Beat the turn, beat the rush.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_08: Literally, that's what he said.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_08: So that's how wide open Stevie Johnson was.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the CRs then win the game on the ensuing possession.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Stevie Johnson, for his credit, he goes on Twitter after the game to place the place the blame squarely on Ryan Fitzpatrick.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_08: Not Ryan Fitzpatrick, not Chan Gailey.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_08: No, he blames God.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_09: Oh.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_09: Well, that's a that's a that's a novel concept.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he's here's here's what he here's what he tweets after the game.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_08: I praise you 24-7, and this is how you do me.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_08: Uh you expect me to learn from this?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_08: How?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_08: I'll never forget this.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_08: Thanks though.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_09: Wow, okay.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_09: It may he the Steelers made a man lose his faith.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, that that really um I mean I I I feel bad.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_09: Like that's something you should probably go through in private, not in public.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_08: I I think when you're young and social media was new back then.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_08: I'm sure he regrets that.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_08: You know, it's it's just it's emotions that you're feeling.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm sure all of us have felt emotions like that, but we're not necessarily publicly tweeting it.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_08: Even if we were publicly tweeting it, you wouldn't have millions of people reading it.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_08: So un unfortunate for him.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_08: And unfortunate for him, he dropped that ball because you heard the announcer say the bills were two and eight, but you heard the announcer say they had they were 0-8, they had won two in a row.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_08: And and Steve mentioned Ryan Fitzpatrick.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_08: You know, he had those he had those moments in his career where he just got hot.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_08: And this is one of those moments.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_08: And Stevie Johnson, the receiver was on the end of that.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_08: He had had like these two really good games.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_08: I remember remembering our fantasy league, everybody scrambling to pick him up because he was all of a sudden this hot receiver, and then yeah, he drops that ball and never really was heard from since.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_08: So now we're in December.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers are eight and three, but so are the Ravens, and they're set to play each other in a game at Baltimore, which will decide the division.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_08: Wow, Stewart's Ravens late in the season to decide the AFC North.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_08: That's pretty much an annual thing at this point, isn't it, Steve?
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_09: Pretty much.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_08: The Ravens, as usual, are led by a solid defense, but the team was also investing in their franchise quarterback, Joe Flacco, hoping that it would lead them to the next level.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_08: They had hired a veteran coach named Jim Zorn to be the quarterback's coach.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_08: They had traded for three-time Pro Bowl receiver Anquan Bolden.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_08: Uh two other veteran receivers, Dante Stallworth and TJ Hushmanzada, were signed as free agents.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_08: And all of that really pays off because Flacco sets new highs in both yards and touchdowns in 2010.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_08: So, can he win the division for the Ravens?
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_08: Well, first, more controversy.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, jeez.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_08: Early in the game, Pelodi Nada hits Rothesburger.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, this is another year allowed to punch Ben Rothel's Burger in the face.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that badly breaks his nose.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the play becomes so infamous that when Nada retires nearly a decade later, he cites it as the favorite moment of his career.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, and I bet he he did he get fined?
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_09: I don't think he got fined.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_08: He actually did get fined.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_08: Guess how what you want to take a guess at how much?
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_08: Remember, Harrison was$75,000.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_09: Two grand.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_09: Five grand, maybe.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_08: It was fifteen.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, fifteen?
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_09: Huh.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_08: That's still less than Harrison.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_08: Even what Harrison got for the Dura Breeze hit, still less than that.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_08: Uh to his credit, Rothesberger doesn't argue or complain.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_08: He says, quote, just another Raven's battle wound.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I remember they they pop it back into place over it.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, when they show it on the broadcast, like his nose is, I mean, it's it's clearly broken.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_08: It's like sideways.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_08: And there's blood pouring out of it.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, but he just kind of moves on and plays, he actually plays the rest of the game.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_08: And and believe it or not, the Ravens really respect Ben for that.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Ray Lewis says, quote, that's what makes him special in this rivalry.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_08: We all know how the quarterbacks get all the calls.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_08: He was the one guy, honestly, that never looked for a call.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_08: He wanted to win it the old school way, which drove us crazy.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_08: So that's that's yeah, that's an interesting.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_09: Good for Ben.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_09: Good for Ben.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_09: I think you know, something must have happened in those four weeks.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe he had some insight, or somebody was maybe he was talking to Tony Dungey and not Ray Lewis.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_09: Or maybe he was talking to Ray Lewis.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_09: Somebody something happened there because he was definitely a little bit of a different person as that year went on.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_09: And you know, like he didn't like he never complained about a call that I remember.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_09: Like even past interference, I don't remember him like really saying anything about it.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he was much more low-key.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so this Stewart's Ravens game, typical low-scoring affair.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_08: The Ravens are winning 10-6 late in the game, and bad news because they have the ball with a chance to just eat up the clock.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_08: So let's see what happens next.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_12: 10-6 out of score, Ravens in front.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_12: Flacco on the offense of the line, Flacco under center.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_12: Rice the line back.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_12: Steelers bring a blitz.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_12: Lookout.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_12: Fumble.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_12: Ball loose.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_12: Flacco lost it.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_12: Steelers pick it up.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_12: Woodley has it inside the 20 yard line, and he's going to be dragged down by Ed Dixon at the 10 yard line.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_12: Troy Polemal, who came clean on a blitz, jarred the ball loose from Joe Flacco, who was trying to throw it on the near side slant.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_12: Unbelievable.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers, yeah, score the game-winning touchdown after that.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Troy Pollamolo was the NFL's defensive player of the year that year, and he makes the huge play.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_08: And the Steelers win.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_08: And then that was really a stunning turn of events that that kind of leaves Baltimore reeling.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_08: Uh John Harbaugh says, quote, it's probably the toughest loss I've experienced here.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_08: And then Derek Mason, their wide receiver, he says the Ravens are like the bad news Bears, and they need to decide what kind of offense they want to be.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_08: So Ravens fans are even less forgiving.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_08: There's calls for Flacco to be benched and Harbaugh to be fired.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_08: So comforting to know that Ravens fans are just as reactionary as Stewer fans when a team loses.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_09: Harbaugh is still there.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Sewers win three of their final four games, and they go into the playoffs as the AFC's number two seed, which in those days meant you went straight to the divisional round.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_09: What a novel, what a novel concept.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I know.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_08: Crazy.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_08: And in that divisional round, they're gonna host, guess who, Steve?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_08: It's the Baltimore Ravens.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_09: Wonder how that's gonna turn out.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_08: So we're talking a lot about Steelers Ravens in this episode, and we've got something special to go with it.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_08: Our book, chronicling the entire history of this rivalry, is now 35% off for the holidays.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_08: It's the perfect Christmas gift for any Steelers fan in your life, your dad, your brother, your son, friend.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_08: And it's a great way to give them a nice gift without breaking the bank.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_08: This book will be at a discount for a limited time only.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_08: So tap the link in the show description to order your copy today, and thanks for supporting the show.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_08: So so yeah, here we are after this season of suspensions and fines and you know a whole bucket of other controversies.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_08: And the Stewart's are set up pretty well, number two seed, ready to make possibly another deep postseason run.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_08: So the Stewarters are set to play Baltimore in the divisional playoffs.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_08: Before that game, Mike Tomlin approaches Heinz Ward and asks him to quote, set the tone for the game.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_09: Sounds like a fine's coming.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_08: So here's here's here's how Heinz Ward responds to that.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_12: And we have a little pushing and jumping out in the middle of the field.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_12: Hines Ward and Ed Reed were a couple of combatants.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_12: Personal foul, and that's the very refund.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_09: Number 86 for the offer.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_04: Second down.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Ward goes hard after Ed Reed.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_08: That's that's by the way, the Steelers' first play from scrimmage.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_08: So so he he uh he knocks Ed Reed down, then he kind of holds his forearm over his throat.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_08: Uh flags fly, personal foul, as you heard there, is called on Ward, but Mike Tomlin doesn't care.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_08: Ward says, quote, that was the first time I've ever heard a coach say good job on a pedal knee on the first play of the game.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_11: Nice.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_08: Unfortunately, the tone set by Ward does not really do much for the Steelers because they're down 21 to 7 in the second half.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_08: So the Ravens jump out to a pretty big lead.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_08: Uh we're in the second half.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_08: The Ravens have the ball up 21 to 7 when this happens.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: And the ball comes up, and Winky is there, and the Steelers appear to have it.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_02: No signal yet.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, Pittsburgh falls.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_09: Did you say Ray Rice?
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_09: That's an interesting name.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Ray Rice.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_08: Talk about controversial figures later.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_09: Wow.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_09: This is this is a lot going on here.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_09: That's a heck of a play, then a fumble.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_08: And the Steelers convert it into a touchdown to make it 21 to 14.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_08: They're still down.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_08: A couple of possessions later, Baltimore has the ball again.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_02: Play action.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_02: Fakey wants to throw it.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: He throws it long down the field.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: The pass will be intercepted.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_02: Stealers had a man clock at the forty, the thirty five, the thirty, the twenty five, and down he goes at about the twenty five yard line.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_09: That was a bad pass.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know how open that guy was either.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, he just kind of cranked it up and threw it, right?
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_09: The like Ryan Clark was playing that deep safety and he just ran over and caught it.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_09: It's not like he had to jump over or make a spectacular play.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_08: I mean Yeah, and the Steelers convert that into a touchdown.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_08: So now the game is tied twenty-one to twenty-one.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_08: Next Baltimore possession.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_02: Second and ten at the 23, and listen to these fans and look at that towel.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_02: Flacco in the center drops the ball and it fouls on it.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: There's a big strump for it.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: Who comes out of the pile with the football?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_02: Pittsburgh has it.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: Pittsburgh seems to have it.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_02: Pittsburgh ball.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_04: This place is crazy.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_04: Brick Diesel.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_04: He pulled it into his beard.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_09: Wow, the Ravens just fell apart.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_08: They they did.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, and the defense, the Steelers defense just literally makes three plays in succession there.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_08: That that that fumble recovery, the Steelers do not turn that one into a touchdown, but they do turn it into a field goal to make it 24-21.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_08: Just a crazy turn of events that really captures how wild this season has been.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_08: You know, down 21 to 7, and then three consecutive turnovers to make it where the Steelers now have a 24-21 lead.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_08: The Ravens, of course, are not going to go down that easily.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_08: They not only tie the game at 24, but now they have the Steelers down to third and 19 in their own territory with just over two minutes left in the entire game.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_09: I bet some little known wide receiver is going to make a play here.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_08: So, so, but, but like before that play, Steve, I mean, what do you do if you're the Steelers?
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_08: Third and 19.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_09: You throw it long.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_09: Obviously.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_09: Obviously, Tim.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_09: When you have a Hall of Fame quarterback, you can do stuff like this.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_09: If you have like a normal quarterback, you obviously run your little draw play punt.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_08: Try to get in better position for the punt.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_08: Rothesberger walks into the huddle and says, quote, I'm going down to score.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_08: Who's coming with me?
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_14: Nice.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_14: Nice.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_14: They show a three-man rush at this Baltimore, and that's what they bring.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_14: Man has time.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_14: He lumps it long pass down the field, trying to get under it.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_05: Antonio Brown he's got it inside the ten yard bar.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: Antonio Brown had a step on the defender and pulled that perfectly thrown pass in.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_09: The helmet catch.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_08: Shades of David Tyree there.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_08: Antonio Brown makes the catch, pinning the ball against his helmet.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_08: And Antonio Brown that year was a rookie.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_08: He was way down on the depth chart behind Ward, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_08: He only had 19 targets for the entire season, but he comes up huge here.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers score the go-ahead touchdown.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_08: And then the Ravens, their last gasp effort.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_08: TJ Hishmanzada still reeling from that terrible towel curse from years earlier.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_08: He drops the ball on their on their last play that was going to be a first down, and that's ball game.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_08: Steelers eliminate Baltimore and are headed to the AFC championship game.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_08: In the championship game, the Steelers play an unlikely opponent.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_08: It's the New York Jets.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_08: We talked about this game in our recent Steelers Jets episode.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_08: In the first half, the Steelers take a 24 to nothing lead.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_08: But in the second half, the Jets start to mount a comeback.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_09: I think Mark Sanchez is the quarterback.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_08: Mark Sanchez is the quarterback.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_09: Wow, talk about more controversy.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, a lot of controversial figures in this season.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_08: So in the second half, Santonio Holmes, he has a big touchdown against his old team.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_08: Ben throws it a costly interception.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_08: The Stewart's take a bad safety.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_08: They still have a slim lead and they have the ball at the two-minute warning.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_08: It's third and six, and the Jets are out of timeouts.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_08: A first down ends the game, but an incomplete pass means that New York will have a shot at winning the game, so let's see what happens next.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_13: And they are looking for now.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_13: The catch to one shot.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_13: He had the big one last with the long gainer to set up the winner.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_13: This time picks up the first down.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_09: And uh I love how Antonio Brown's not smart enough to just stay on the ground after he got the first down.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_09: Just Stay down.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_09: Just stay down.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_09: It doesn't matter.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he shouldn't have gone out of bounds there, but it really doesn't matter because the Steors are still able to take a knee because there was the Jets didn't have any timeouts.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_08: So uh Yeah, and Antonio Brown, that's two weeks in a row, makes it another huge play.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_08: Jets head coach Rex Ryan slams his headset into the turf.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Stewart are going to the Super Bowl.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_08: Rex Ryan uh on that so that that call was pretty aggressive going for the first down there.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_08: Rex Ryan said, quote, that'll stay with me the rest of my life.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_09: Wow.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_09: The agony, the agony of defeat.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_08: The agony of defeat, for sure.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_08: So the Stewart are going to the Super Bowl.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_08: Super Bowl 45 is going to be against the Green Bay Packers.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_08: And that's a really interesting matchup because it's in Dallas, too.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_09: That was that was the best part.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it's in Dallas.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_08: Which obviously the Stewart had a lot of Super Bowl history with Dallas.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_09: But it it Jerry Jones had to sit there and watch two other teams play a Super Bowl in front of them.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_09: That was the best part.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_08: That too.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_08: And then you had like two of the NFL's flagship franchises, the Steelers and Packers.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_08: You have two really passionate fan bases.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_08: You also have Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy is the head coach of Green Bay.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_08: So that should make for a compelling game.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_08: But first, Steve, more controversy.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_08: The Super Bowl, as as we mentioned, is at Dallas.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_08: It's like their new stadium at this point.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_09: Those people had all them tickets.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_08: Uh-huh.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_08: Jerry Jones and all his glorious Western decides they're going to install a bunch of temporary seats so they can sell even more tickets.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_09: Well, as it turns out Because a hundred thousand wasn't enough, I guess.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_08: And as it turns out, a bunch of those temporary seats can't be used because they're deemed unsafe by the fire marshal.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_08: And the fans who have those seats don't learn this until they arrive for the game.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_09: Did they ever get their money back?
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_09: I think they had to sue the episode.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_08: So here we'll get into that.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_08: So so but but just imagine you're one of these fans, you paid all the stuff.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_08: And you flew to Dallas to hotels, plane flights, and you show up for the game with a ticket to a seat, and they're telling you you can't sit there.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_08: So they they the fans that get hosed, they're hastily shuffled around.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_08: They're given either standing room space or obstructed views.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_08: Just another colossal operating blunder by the National Football League.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_09: I think that's more on Jerry than than them.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_08: Well, it's got to be on everybody, right?
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, it's got to be on everybody.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_08: It's not like they just are like the NFL is just like, well, you're hosting the Super Bowl, so we'll just stay out of it.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, you have to you know what I mean?
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_08: You have to be in the middle.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_08: All that.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_08: The league tries to fix all this by offering some money back and tickets to next year's Super Bowl.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, I know you wanted to see the Steelers in the Super Bowl.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_08: How about they're coming back next year to watch some teams you could care less about?
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_08: Right?
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_08: So, not surprisingly, Steve Steve Menton, a class action lawsuit is filed against the Cowboys and the league.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_08: It's not settled until 2017.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_08: Oh my gosh.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_08: For various amounts.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_08: It's estimated that the NFL spends more than$20 million in attorney fees.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_09: Just give them the freaking money, man.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_09: Like just like it wouldn't have been cheaper just to pay the hotel, the ticket, the rental car, food, you know, whatever, than$20 million.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_08: I think they I think they offered that.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_08: I think they offered some money back.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_08: But I mean, that doesn't make up for you know, you you bought tickets to the Super Bowl.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_09: But no amount of money is gonna get you out of that.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_08: But they should have offered more than than like a refund in like tickets to a Super Bowl they didn't care about.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_08: They they should have tried to settle that for a big amount and just been done with it.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_08: But but they're the NFL and you know NFL's gonna NFL's just gonna be NFL.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_09: So I serve their hope, hope they're happy with the 20 mil they spent.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_09: They probably don't even care.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_08: They probably don't.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_08: It's probably more important to them to be right than it is to spend twenty million dollars.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_08: Because twenty million dollars to them is like me and you buying a stick of gum.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_09: Pretty much, yeah.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_08: Uh meanwhile, it's all it's also an ominous start to the game when the girl from Pittsburgh is singing the national anthem and she mangles the lyrics.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, I don't remember this.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_10: Bronze stripes and bright star the pails by What's the peril we force at the twilight less dream?
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, that gave Enrico Palazzo a run for his night.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_09: And the bomb's burning.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_08: Uh yeah, Christina Aguilera.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_08: The the line they're supposed to be, or the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_08: And she kind of reverts to the earlier line and and even mingles that she says, What's so proudly we watched at the Twilight's last reaming, which I don't even know.
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_09: How does the twilight get reamed?
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_09: It's that Twilight really reamed me.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_08: To be fair, he actually did a really nice.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_08: If you listen to the rest of it, it he did a really nice job.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_09: You know, this is no 1992 playoff against the Blackhawks, that's for sure.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe that's why they wheeled her out.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe they figure she'd be good luck for the Steelers.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean, Christine Aguilera has sung the national anthem at a Penguin Stanley Cup game and a Steelers Super Bowl.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_08: Maybe if the Pirates could be long dead by the Pirates series.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_09: Or Pitt makes a the national championship game or something.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_08: Uh but yeah, but honestly, if you listen to the rest of that performance, he actually did a very nice job.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_08: It's he just messed up that one line.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_08: It wasn't like horrible, but like I said, just an ominous start when uh when that's when that happens.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_08: So how about the actual game?
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the first half doesn't go too well for Pittsburgh.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_08: Ben throws a pick six on a play where his arm was hit.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_09: Wasn't Troy hurt in this?
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_08: He he had an ankle, something he had a nag, he played, but he had like a nagging injury.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_09: That didn't help me.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_09: I always thought that I always thought that was a factor that people didn't remember.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_08: Well, the other thing, the other person that was hurt and who didn't play was Marquise Pouncey.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, the center.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and he was he was a rookie that year, but he had started all year.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_08: He was dominant.
• 1:09:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_08: And and we mentioned that that pick six came on a play where where they hit Rothesberger's arm, uh, you know, not having Pouncey in addition to losing both your tackles during the season, you know, definitely contributed to that play.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_08: But but really the story of this game is Green Bay's young quarterback, it's a guy named Aaron Rodgers.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_08: The Packers had drafted him to be the successor to Brett Favre.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_08: But Favre decided he was just going to hang around forever and also not help the rookie out because you know, Brett Favre only cares about Brett Favre.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, and then even after Favre announces his retirement, he tries to come back and take the job again and remember that.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_09: Is that when he got traded to the Jets?
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_08: The the Packers, you know, full credit to the Packers.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_08: Like, talk about an organization organization that knows when it's time to move on.
• 1:10:46
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_08: You know, a lot of a lot of organization a lot of franchises and sports struggle with that.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_08: The Steelers definitely did with Ben.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, and and they say, no, right, far, if you're not coming back, they trade him away to the Jets.
• 1:11:00
  SPEAKER_08: And they move forward with Rogers, and it pays off huge because this is his third year as a starter, and they're in the Super Bowl.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_08: And in this game, Rogers just torches the Steelers' number one defense.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_08: And like we said earlier, Steve, the Steelers had this problem all year against elite quarterbacks, and I think they kind of lucked out in the playoffs getting Flacco, who was a good quarterback, but a guy they were very intimately familiar with.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_08: And then Mark Sanchez instead of like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:11:32
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_09: Did the Patriots lose to the Jets that year?
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_08: Believe it or not, the Patriots were the number one seed because we said the Steelers are in the number two seed.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_08: They they lost to the Jets.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_08: That's why the Jets, that's why the Steelers hosted the AFC Championship game.
• 1:11:47
  SPEAKER_08: So, like I said, that was kind of fortunate that they never had to play an elite quarterback.
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_08: And uh and and in this game, though, they are playing an elite quarterback.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Steelers do mount a comeback in the second half.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_08: Uh but a missed field goal by Sean Suissum, who was the guy that had replaced Reed, and then a very costly fumble by Richard Mendenhall.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_08: And the fourth quarter just totally kills that comeback.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_08: The Packers win the game.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_08: Rogers is a deserving MVP, and it's a really tough end to such an unlikely and strange season.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_09: It's kind of the end of the Steelers dynasty, I feel.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe the next year.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_09: Is the next year the Tebow game?
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, we'll get into that too.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_08: At this point, you had said it earlier, Steve, about the Aaron Smith injury.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_08: Guys were get guys were definitely getting older.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_09: This this was kind of like the chance to this was like that 19 that 1970 where they won the Super Bowl in 80, like this would have been their last hurrah kind of yeah.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and they were they were close to getting the Bears in the Super Bowl.
• 1:12:55
  SPEAKER_08: That the NFC championship game was in Soldier Field, and it was 21 to 14 was a final of that game.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_08: And and if they would have played the Bears, it would have been Jay Cutler instead of playing Aaron Rodgers.
• 1:13:08
  SPEAKER_08: And I think that would have I think they would have squeaked out another championship had they played the Bears instead of the Packers.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_08: But that's not the way it turned out.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_08: Uh it's also tough because it would have been so perfect to have to see Roger Goodell up there presenting the Super Bowl trophy to the quarterback he suspended and the linebacker that he targeted with fines.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_08: Uh James Harrison even said he had worked out exactly what he was going to say to Goodell on the podium, and it was going to be pretty blunt.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_09: That would have been fun.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_08: That would have been a great alternate universe.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_08: The other thing was that the the guy presenting the trophy for Fox was Terry Bradshaw.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_09: Here, you I would have traded you.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_08: So the Steelers don't get the satisfaction of any of that stuff.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_08: Um so let's talk about the aftermath.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_08: Um, as Steve said, the Steelers uh have a really good record in 2011.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_08: Same record, actually, 12 and 4.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_08: But that and that team, honestly, in my opinion, Steve, that 2011 team was better than the 2010 team.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_08: They they kind of shored up a lot of their problems on defense.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_08: And then you had like some of the younger players like like A B and Pouncey, really Mike Wallace, like those guys were really starting to come into their own.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_08: But the problem in 2011 was that they lost both of the Baltimore games and they went into the playoffs as a very banged up wild card rather than having a bye week to get healthy.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_08: And that, of course, is as you mentioned, resulted in the the playoff loss to Tim Tebow.
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_09: That that was a rough one.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_09: And the late Demarius Thomas.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_08: As of the time of this recording, the Steelers have yet to make it back to the Super Bowl.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_08: Aaron Rodgers never makes it back to the Super Bowl either.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that is weird, isn't it?
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he loses four NFC championship games.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_08: Fast forward to the year 2025 where he becomes a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Joe Flacco does win a Super Bowl two years later for the Ravens.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_08: Fast forward to the year 2025 where he's still playing and still causing headaches for the Steelers.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_09: Good old Joe.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_09: He's had a nice career.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_09: He's probably not, I don't think he's gonna make the Hall of Fame, but boy, he he he's been a very good quarterback.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_08: He he really has.
• 1:15:31
  SPEAKER_08: And all those questions about him early on.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_08: I I think he for sure uh answered all those.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_08: He could be one of those guys.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_08: You're right.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_08: I don't think he'll he'll be like the Kenny Anderson kind of guy, like just really good for a long time, did a lot of good things, but probably not quite in the Hall of Fame.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_09: But he's got a Super Bowl win.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_09: I mean Yeah, maybe it's gotta be gotta be something, right?
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, time will tell.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Santonio Holmes, after being a pariah in Pittsburgh, surprisingly becomes the stalwart ambassador for the Steelers.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_09: Like Yeah, yeah, it is weird.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_09: It is.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_08: I it there's a handful of guys who they always bring out to like host watch parties or lead the pal wave.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_09: Ike Taylor, him, um yeah, Rocky Blyer, guys like that.
• 1:16:19
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_08: And and he's often one of those guys.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_08: I was I was just at a game a few weeks ago where he came out to honor like one of the veterans.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_08: They they always have like a military veteran at the game, and he was the guy that came out to present him with whatever they present those guys with.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, just funny that Santonio Holmes turned into that guy.
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_08: You would have never thought that back in 2010.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_09: Well, Antonio Brown, maybe.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_09: Oh my gosh.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, if Antonio Brown turned into that guy someday, then then hell will have really frozen over.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_09: Probably not.
• 1:16:55
  SPEAKER_08: Uh Ben Rothesberger for all his troubles and controversy really seems to find redemption, as we kind of talked about.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_08: He marries a woman named Ashley Harlan and starts to settle down.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_08: He later credits her and his faith for turning his life around.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_08: He says he's fallen short, strives to be a better Christian.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_08: And by all public accounts, Steve, I think he's he's done that.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_09: I I've still heard people say, oh, it's a fake marriage, it's just on the cover for you know all his past, you know, whatever's.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_09: Uh it's just yeah, I've heard that from a lot.
• 1:17:25
  SPEAKER_09: A lot of people never forgive him.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_09: That I think that's a big reason why he he didn't get a lot of calls in his career.
• 1:17:33
  SPEAKER_09: And that's why he'll never be on like he'll never be like, you know, Phil Sims or any of those guys.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_09: Like you don't even they don't even interview him at all.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_09: Like I've never even seen like, oh, here's Ben Rothelsberger to do an interview about you know the good old days, and how long has he been retired now?
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_09: A couple years, two or three years.
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, so so yeah, I mean, like like we said earlier, I think that'll always follow him around.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_08: Um one last personal note on this season.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_08: Uh one of the reasons I really wanted to do an episode on this year was not only because it was compelling, but also because I I felt like I kind of missed it the first time around.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_08: So in in 2007, my wife and I had a decided to adopt a child, and we had been on the wait list for an international adoption from Columbia for three years by the time 2010 hit.
• 1:18:28
  SPEAKER_08: And in September of that year, right as that steeler season was starting, we were starting to feel like the weight of those three years of waiting.
• 1:18:36
  SPEAKER_08: So we had a call with the adoption agency to see where we stood, and they told us, well, you're probably looking at about another 18 months.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_08: And and that was discouraging.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_08: And one of the things we did to kind of make ourselves feel more at peace was we planned a vacation.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_08: So we spent October planning a trip to Ireland, and then then in November we were ready to book that trip, and literally, I kid you not, as we had the plane tickets up on the computer screen, ready to hit the submit button, the adoption agency called and said there were these two little girls who were sisters who the Colombian government was trying to find a home for.
• 1:19:09
  SPEAKER_08: And we weren't guaranteed to get them, but the adoption agency needed to know whether or not we wanted to put our names in.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_08: We said yes, and then in December, Columbia made the decision to place those two girls with us.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_08: And in January, we were not only planning a really long trip to Colombia, but also preparing for the reality of becoming parents to two kids when we didn't have any kids at all at that point.
• 1:19:32
  SPEAKER_08: And on Super Bowl Sunday, we traveled down there, watched that Super Bowl in Spanish from a hotel, and then the next day met our daughters for the first time.
• 1:19:41
  SPEAKER_09: That's pretty cool.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that is a nice story, yeah.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:19:45
  SPEAKER_09: But no, that that's great.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_09: That's such a like great way for like do you remember you always remember that Super Bowl, even though it wasn't the greatest Super Bowl.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know, it didn't hit me as hard.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_09: Like I I felt like when they lost this, I didn't feel that disappointed.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_09: I just didn't I I don't know why I felt that way.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_08: Because they had already won two previously.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_09: That's probably yeah.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_08: So but yeah.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_08: So that that season I think was and always will be a bit of a blur to me.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_08: So it's so it was kind of fun going back and and digging into it, even if the season itself didn't have a happy ending.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and like you said, good good personal memory for me that that I I forgot about that Super Bowl quickly because all of a sudden you had you had bigger things to think about than the Steelers in your life.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_09: Yes, for sure.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_08: For sure.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_08: Well, thank you everybody.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_08: Hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_08: Uh just want to thank everybody again, like we did at the top of the show.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_08: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_08: Please check us out on Facebook.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_08: We've got a really thriving community there.
• 1:20:49
  SPEAKER_08: Uh please uh rate us if you didn't pause the show earlier and do that already.
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_08: And we'll catch you next time.