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Raven Playoff Recap · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we recap the Steelers season finale,
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Speaker 1: losing twenty eight to fourteen to the Ravens in Baltimore,
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Speaker 1: and then we're gonna look ahead at what this offseason holds,
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Speaker 1: as well as give you our super Bowl picks for
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Speaker 1: the year. I'm Nick de Tulio, and as always am
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Speaker 1: joined by the world famous accountants Eric Vanminschuten. Eric, has
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Speaker 1: it gone tonight?
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Speaker 2: I'm not too shabby. Took a walk with the dog.
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Speaker 3: It was frighteningly cooled outside here in Cincinnati.
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Speaker 2: But you know, I'm just getting used to it, just
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Speaker 2: kind of thinking up the skin a little bit.
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Speaker 3: I have to get a thick skin for all these
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Speaker 3: losses that we're dealing with too.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you've been in the South a couple of years now,
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Speaker 1: so you've got to reaccliment yourself to the great northern weather.
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Speaker 1: But that's a good segue talking about the losses that
0:49
Speaker 1: the Steelers had. You and I talked about it a
0:53
Speaker 1: lot over the last what month or so, and we
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Speaker 1: mentioned last week and even the week before that when
1:00
Speaker 1: we were talking about the upcoming at the time Bengals matchup,
1:04
Speaker 1: that there was a very real possibility that the Steelers,
1:09
Speaker 1: after starting this year ten to three, could end the
1:13
Speaker 1: game or end the season with a five game losing streak,
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Speaker 1: including that first round of the playoffs. And that's exactly
1:20
Speaker 1: what happened. We talked about it week in and week out,
1:26
Speaker 1: beginning with that second matchup against the Ravens, and we said, yeah,
1:33
Speaker 1: I'm sorry with the Eagles. Rather leading into the second
1:36
Speaker 1: matchup with the Ravens, we said, these are good teams,
1:39
Speaker 1: and after they lost that first game, we're like, okay, well, yeah,
1:42
Speaker 1: the things didn't go so well, but this is one loss.
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Speaker 1: If they learned from this, they can rebound and they
1:47
Speaker 1: can do better. And week after week after week, it
1:51
Speaker 1: was the same thing over and over and over. This
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Speaker 1: game was a tall order to win going into it. Really,
2:03
Speaker 1: the only benefit that this matchup gave the Steelers was
2:07
Speaker 1: there was a lot of familiarity with the opponent that
2:11
Speaker 1: despite the last result, over the past ten games, they've
2:14
Speaker 1: had a lot of success. With that being said, though,
2:18
Speaker 1: it seemed like the Ravens just picked up right where
2:21
Speaker 1: they left off. Derrick Henry had a monster game, Lamar
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Speaker 1: Jackson had a big rushing game as well, and the
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Speaker 1: defense just looked gassed at times, it's kind of hard
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Speaker 1: to you wish that they had been able to make
2:35
Speaker 1: some more stops. Yet at the same time, when they're
2:37
Speaker 1: constantly on the field, it's almost like you want to
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Speaker 1: give them a little bit of a pass with the
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Speaker 1: offense not really helping him out too much. Yet another
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Speaker 1: game of the offense just being asleep at the wheel
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Speaker 1: for a good chunk of the game, in this instance
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Speaker 1: the first half and against playoff teams. Again, like we
2:55
Speaker 1: mentioned repeatedly, you can't do stuff like that. So the
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Speaker 1: final score ended up being twenty eight to fourteen. But
3:02
Speaker 1: before I go any further, Eric, I'll let you take
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Speaker 1: it away here. Why don't you give us some of
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Speaker 1: your key takeaways from this game and why it ended
3:10
Speaker 1: up going in favor of Baltimore as opposed to Pittsburgh.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, there's reports of like at some point
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Speaker 3: some of the players were had the flu, so this
3:25
Speaker 3: could factor into it, but more than one occasion, and
3:30
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's during the broadcast of the game.
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Speaker 3: From my own eyes, former players, other commentators, a concerning
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Speaker 3: theme was was the Steelers actually trying to win this game?
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Speaker 3: Like we're the players giving it a full effort.
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Speaker 2: You know, it's.
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Speaker 3: Extremely concerning considering its playoffs, potentially last game of the season,
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Speaker 3: arguably your biggest rival, and just for pride. You know,
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Speaker 3: multiple times I turned to my wife just angry with
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Speaker 3: the results of the game or the results of the
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Speaker 3: last five weeks, just because again didn't feel like we
4:19
Speaker 3: were trying to.
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Speaker 2: Win the game.
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Speaker 3: And you know, I think that, like, it's really hard
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Speaker 3: to kind of even look at this game.
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Speaker 2: I think that.
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Speaker 3: Losing by fourteen points makes this even look like a
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Speaker 3: better game than it really was. We got absolutely smoked
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Speaker 3: in the first half. I believe I saw it that
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Speaker 3: the Ravens had more first downs than we had, like
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Speaker 3: passing yards or something like that.
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Speaker 2: At the break. It was ridiculous.
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Speaker 3: I think the Ravens out gained us like two forty
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Speaker 3: to forty or something like that at halftime. And you know,
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Speaker 3: I didn't really think that we did anything right. We
5:20
Speaker 3: looked bad on the blocks. We you know, I think
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Speaker 3: Lamar looked very effective and you know efficient He didn't
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Speaker 3: have to throw the ball mall that much because the
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Speaker 3: Ravens ran it fifty times.
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Speaker 2: For almost three hundred yards. Look this there, there is
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Speaker 2: very much.
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Speaker 4: A cultural issue with the Steelers and and unfortunately, as
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Speaker 4: this season comes to an end, I don't think that
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Speaker 4: the Steelers are gonna see a lot of.
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Speaker 2: Sweeping changes from this.
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Speaker 3: And you know, again, here we are concluding a season,
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Speaker 3: another ten one season that feels like an utter failure,
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Speaker 3: which most franchises wouldn't consider that, but we're just going
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Speaker 3: to retread it.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of this game in particular, I think that's
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Speaker 1: what was so maddening for me was because I'm sitting
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Speaker 1: here just as a fan, thinking, how can we be
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Speaker 1: coming out here with no fight in the playoffs of
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Speaker 1: all games against Arrival, when you know your backs have
6:42
Speaker 1: been up against the wall the previous four weeks. It
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Speaker 1: just it shocks me. And maybe I'm being too harsh
6:51
Speaker 1: because I'm too angry about the situation, but I think
6:55
Speaker 1: Patrick Queen was one of the players who had was
6:58
Speaker 1: confirmed to have had the flu, and I knew there
7:01
Speaker 1: was rumors of an outbreak, but it just, like you said,
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Speaker 1: it didn't seem like there was any fight within that
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Speaker 1: outside of a few players, notably Cam Hayward, who played
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Speaker 1: like it was his last game, which I don't. I
7:19
Speaker 1: hope it's not his last game, but you know we
7:21
Speaker 1: can at least count on him to come out and
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Speaker 1: give it his all. This game started off twenty one
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Speaker 1: to nothing going into halftime, and going into the half,
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Speaker 1: the Steelers had a chance to try to score before
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Speaker 1: right around the two minute warning. They didn't get it done,
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Speaker 1: so they punted, and then they had a third down
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Speaker 1: situation where Tomlin called a timeout to save the clock
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Speaker 1: so that they could ideally stop them on third down
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Speaker 1: and then get the ball back. And the Ravens converted
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Speaker 1: the first and then we're able to use their own
8:01
Speaker 1: timeouts and they scored a touchdown. Not they didn't get
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Speaker 1: a field goal, they managed to score a touchdown with
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Speaker 1: it looks like two seconds left in the quarter. At
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Speaker 1: the very least, it was very close to the end
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Speaker 1: of the half. And it's just like you kind of
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Speaker 1: knew at that point, like there's no digging ourselves out
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Speaker 1: of this, out of this hole. And yeah, they did
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Speaker 1: get a touchdown right off the bat, the Steelers did,
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Speaker 1: and they eventually did make it twenty eight to fourteen
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Speaker 1: after that, but beyond that, it was just duds. They
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Speaker 1: couldn't get anything moving on offense. The defense. Again, one
8:48
Speaker 1: of the things that's tough for me is how much
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Speaker 1: is them playing poorly versus how much they just are
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Speaker 1: gassed from being on the field ninety five percent of
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Speaker 1: the time, you just couldn't rely on them. So you
9:03
Speaker 1: mentioned looking ahead to this this year, and I don't
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Speaker 1: was there anything else you wanted to talk about this
9:08
Speaker 1: game in particular? I think we've it feels like we're
9:11
Speaker 1: beating a dead horse, but that's probably because we've been
9:13
Speaker 1: breaking down the same game for five weeks. Now.
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Speaker 2: Wow, something I do with.
9:18
Speaker 3: This is not a shot at TJ. But it's something
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Speaker 3: to consider, and honestly, it's a further consideration I want
9:27
Speaker 3: to explore maybe, if not on this call this offseason.
9:32
Speaker 3: So Tjwatt ended the season is last one hundred and
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Speaker 3: twenty seven snaps? Do you want to hear how many stacks?
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Speaker 1: Not just like zero zero?
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Speaker 2: And you know, to me, it's it.
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Speaker 3: It's kind of an enigma in which, you know, we
9:55
Speaker 3: talked about the legacy winning one for TJ Watt, but
10:00
Speaker 3: DJ Wat's gotta win one for himself. I mean, to
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Speaker 3: record no tackles even in one hundred and twenty seven snaps,
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Speaker 3: I mean something is utterly wrong.
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Speaker 2: And so I mean look, I.
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Speaker 3: This team needs something in a bad way because even
10:23
Speaker 3: the leaders are not showing up, and if the leaders
10:26
Speaker 3: don't show up, you can't expect anyone to fall.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd agree with that. We we talked about it
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Speaker 1: on a macro level with the team to talking about
10:37
Speaker 1: yeah they've got injuries, Yeah they've got this or that.
10:40
Speaker 1: But I mentioned it, and I know you did two like, well,
10:43
Speaker 1: the Chiefs have these things and they're overcoming them. Like
10:47
Speaker 1: everyone can objectively look at the Chiefs this year and say, yeah,
10:50
Speaker 1: that team is not as talented as they have been
10:53
Speaker 1: the last couple of years or even their first Super
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Speaker 1: Bowl win, but yet they're still finding ways to win.
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Speaker 1: They went what six teen and one or sorry, fifteen
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Speaker 1: and two this year. Same thing applies to these star players.
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Speaker 1: We had TJ. Watt not registering literally anything that we
11:12
Speaker 1: can quantify. There's last I think you said, one hundred
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Speaker 1: and ninety three snaps or something ridiculous like that. There's
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Speaker 1: other players who are stars, who are the highest paid
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Speaker 1: at their position that they might have some rough periods too,
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Speaker 1: but the best ones find a way to get around
11:31
Speaker 1: that stuff and.
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Speaker 3: And should show up in the highest moments, Right, I mean, look,
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Speaker 3: I mean TJ. Watt will be a Hall of Famer,
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Speaker 3: but there you know, he talked about this prior to
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Speaker 3: this game. He said that there's a difference in the
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Speaker 3: camaraderie of the guys that won a Super Bowl and
11:51
Speaker 3: the ones at all, and their legacies will look like
11:57
Speaker 3: when you look at these greats. When you think of
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Speaker 3: these players, you think of James Harrison and his interception.
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Speaker 2: That he had against the Cardinals.
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Speaker 3: You think about Lynn Swan's catch, you think about Franco
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Speaker 3: Harris's emmaclu reception, you think of these iconic moments that
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Speaker 3: the best players of Steelers Nation ever made, it's because
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Speaker 3: they did something in the highest moment. So, in addition
12:25
Speaker 3: to being putting up good stats, right, stats aren't always everything,
12:30
Speaker 3: but no, you gotta I will say stats mean something,
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Speaker 3: and that is a stat that does a very concerning
12:39
Speaker 3: one for the best player on our team and arguably
12:44
Speaker 3: the best player on the defense side of the ball.
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Speaker 3: So I don't know if he was not in the
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Speaker 3: right place, I don't think this team was prepared.
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Speaker 2: I think that is one hundred. I know it could
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Speaker 2: move me from that rock.
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Speaker 3: The coaching staff failed miserably over the last five weeks
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Speaker 3: and this game not excluded.
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Speaker 1: So that's a good segue into where the team is
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Speaker 1: at now and what happens this offseason. The I thought
13:18
Speaker 1: it was interesting in the post game seeing a lot
13:20
Speaker 1: of players more vocal, and we saw that a few
13:21
Speaker 1: weeks ago to you know, well, when one person doesn't
13:25
Speaker 1: do their job, it makes it hard for the rest
13:26
Speaker 1: of us. Okay, yeah, that's true. Although we're airing our
13:30
Speaker 1: dirty laundry out here. But after this game you had
13:34
Speaker 1: people coming out of the woodwork again. And the thing
13:37
Speaker 1: that I thought was the most telling, and I know
13:41
Speaker 1: I should have been offended by it, but I wasn't
13:44
Speaker 1: because I agreed with it one hundred percent was they
13:47
Speaker 1: asked George Pickens if he has any hope for the
13:48
Speaker 1: offense and he said no. Like I mean, on one hand,
13:54
Speaker 1: I do wish that he had been a little more
13:57
Speaker 1: optimistic and political in his answer, But on the other hand,
13:59
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, look at literally everything we did this
14:02
Speaker 1: off season, what did it amount to? Right? So let's
14:08
Speaker 1: talk about this off season. The big thing is going
14:10
Speaker 1: to be, well, the big rumor right now is what's
14:14
Speaker 1: gonna happen with Mike Tomlin. I don't know about you.
14:19
Speaker 1: I don't think anything's gonna happen to him, But there's
14:23
Speaker 1: talk like, oh, should teams trade him? Would he listen?
14:27
Speaker 1: Will they fire him? I don't think they're going to
14:29
Speaker 1: fire him. And I read an article today and the
14:34
Speaker 1: point was, if Tomlin hasn't worn the patience of the
14:38
Speaker 1: Ruiney's thin yet, is it ever actually going to happen?
14:43
Speaker 1: Which I think is a fair question. But so what's
14:48
Speaker 1: gonna happen with Mike Tomlin? And what do the Steelers
14:53
Speaker 1: do from here to change things? Because Tomlin did say
14:56
Speaker 1: in his press conference today that sweeping changes are coming,
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Speaker 1: But what exactly does that entail for an organization that's
15:03
Speaker 1: so rigid in its traditions, where no one ever gets
15:08
Speaker 1: fired and you have to go eight years between at
15:13
Speaker 1: least between playoff wins. So to give us a little
15:18
Speaker 1: bit of direction in this conversation, Eric, I know you
15:21
Speaker 1: gave me the quick answer, you don't think anything's going
15:22
Speaker 1: to happen with Tomlin? No, I guess let me just
15:27
Speaker 1: ask you this then too. If you were the owner
15:32
Speaker 1: of the team, would you fire Tomlin or would you
15:36
Speaker 1: keep him?
15:40
Speaker 3: I believe that the Steelers have been pushing off a rebuild,
15:45
Speaker 3: and I think we need it. And I think this
15:49
Speaker 3: is a very unpopular opinion, but I think it's to
15:53
Speaker 3: the to the studs. To be honest.
15:55
Speaker 2: I think.
15:57
Speaker 3: I would find I would start with fire Tomlin or
16:01
Speaker 3: at least explore trade.
16:02
Speaker 2: I did read that he hasn't no trade clause.
16:04
Speaker 3: But I mean, the Cowboys job just opened up. You
16:10
Speaker 3: don't think that we could convince Tomlin maybe take the
16:14
Speaker 3: Cowboys job and to get Jerry.
16:16
Speaker 2: On the phone. I think that.
16:20
Speaker 3: It would be a possibility, But no, I don't think that.
16:29
Speaker 2: And great coaches can be fired. Andy Reid was fired
16:32
Speaker 2: from the Eagles.
16:33
Speaker 1: Similar situation to what we're dealing with now. Too.
16:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's not and look it's People might say, well,
16:43
Speaker 3: then we'll look what Andy Reid went on to go
16:45
Speaker 3: on to do. Yeah, he also found Patrick mahomes so
16:52
Speaker 3: and you could say, you know, the Tom Brady bullechick
16:55
Speaker 3: thing all over again. But look, I think that like
17:00
Speaker 3: for every I was talking to my neighbor about this
17:05
Speaker 3: in my driveway because he's talking about the Steelers game
17:08
Speaker 3: prior to it happening, and I said, look, Tomlin's becoming
17:12
Speaker 3: Marvin Lewis.
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Speaker 2: Yes, he's now lost his last six games.
17:20
Speaker 3: I saw a concerning stat before this game happened that
17:24
Speaker 3: we had been scored outscored sixty six and nothing in
17:28
Speaker 3: the first quarter of our last four playoff games. So
17:34
Speaker 3: I think we gave up fourteen in this last one.
17:36
Speaker 3: So eighty to nothing in the last five.
17:41
Speaker 2: What a I mean?
17:44
Speaker 3: Tomlin went to a Super Bowl fifteen years ago. I
17:50
Speaker 3: just what more do we need to see? I'm tired
17:54
Speaker 3: of ten win seasons.
17:57
Speaker 1: I I do stand. Yeah, this is just one of
18:03
Speaker 1: those situations where like, if they don't fire them, I'm like, Okay,
18:07
Speaker 1: I guess I understand. And if they do fire them,
18:08
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, I guess I understand. I do totally
18:14
Speaker 1: agree that things have gotten stale, if you want to
18:17
Speaker 1: call it that. I also understand that a lot of
18:21
Speaker 1: this is not necessarily Mike Tomlin's fault, but as the coach,
18:25
Speaker 1: he does bear responsibility. There's only been two constants throughout
18:32
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin's entire tenure as head coach of the Steelers.
18:37
Speaker 1: One is himself and the other is the Rooney family.
18:41
Speaker 1: And I don't think the Roonies are going to remove
18:45
Speaker 1: themselves from the team not being said, I don't think
18:49
Speaker 1: they're going to remove Mike Tomlin either. But I'm with
18:53
Speaker 1: you if I'm if I'm the Rooneys and I'm trying
18:57
Speaker 1: to look at this objectively, I I think it's just
19:01
Speaker 1: best for every everybody if they went their separate ways,
19:06
Speaker 1: because like I said, it's gone Stale. Doesn't mean that
19:08
Speaker 1: he's not a great coach and a great guy that
19:11
Speaker 1: the players love and even the fans love to a point, right.
19:14
Speaker 1: It just means that we all need to change. We
19:18
Speaker 1: need to change of scenery. And if I'm the Rooneys,
19:21
Speaker 1: I find the best offensive minded coach that I can get,
19:26
Speaker 1: and I interview them and I make them my coach.
19:29
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson is the hot candidate right now, the Detroit
19:34
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, so you may have to wait a little
19:36
Speaker 1: bit to get to him. But I think that's what
19:39
Speaker 1: I do. I don't know that I that I buy
19:43
Speaker 1: into the fact that the Steelers as an organization want
19:48
Speaker 1: to you know, we want to win the Steeler away.
19:51
Speaker 1: I would like to think that the Roonies just want
19:53
Speaker 1: to win, you know. Yeah, I mean.
19:57
Speaker 2: Let's get on, let's get honest. How is ruining like
20:04
Speaker 2: seventy is getting up there and getting up there in age.
20:08
Speaker 3: So I mean, is.
20:10
Speaker 2: He wants to win.
20:11
Speaker 3: He wants to win another one before he dies, I
20:14
Speaker 3: mean seventy two years old. Like, I just don't think
20:22
Speaker 3: it's gonna happen, and so.
20:25
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think that he's got to do
20:28
Speaker 2: something about it.
20:29
Speaker 3: He he set the measuring stick out there, right, he
20:33
Speaker 3: said things need to change or else we'll make some
20:37
Speaker 3: like I don't know the quote was, but basically, you
20:40
Speaker 3: know ten one season, the first round playoff loss is
20:43
Speaker 3: not the standard. If that happens again, we need to
20:46
Speaker 3: make a change.
20:47
Speaker 1: Well here we are, well, here we are.
20:49
Speaker 2: Well you go go, you set the standard, you set
20:52
Speaker 2: the goal.
20:54
Speaker 3: If it wasn't meant you're not, like, okay, well then
20:58
Speaker 3: let's try again. No, go go change something. And and
21:04
Speaker 3: if it's not Tomlin, it's got to be something. And
21:07
Speaker 3: I don't think they're gonna fire fire Arthur Smith, and
21:14
Speaker 3: I think, but I do think that there's something to
21:18
Speaker 3: be said about. Look, Tomlin's never created a head coach
21:24
Speaker 3: underneath of him outside of Bruce Arians, so maybe it's
21:29
Speaker 3: a okay, well we're gonna we're gonna hide, we're gonna
21:34
Speaker 3: fire Austin and we're gonna replace him with a DC
21:38
Speaker 3: or you're not gonna be able to call.
21:43
Speaker 2: The defense anymore, Mike.
21:44
Speaker 3: You you have to see it over those responsibilities because
21:49
Speaker 3: he's always got a type grip on that. So or
21:53
Speaker 3: maybe personnel choices are now just Omar Kahn and but
22:02
Speaker 3: there will likely be changes, and maybe there's changes that
22:06
Speaker 3: we won't see, but there will be changes.
22:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would assuming that Tom Win is not going anywhere,
22:14
Speaker 1: I think you need to do some major offensive line work.
22:18
Speaker 1: And I don't think the problem is the people, because
22:20
Speaker 1: they've spent some picks on players that everyone agrees are
22:25
Speaker 1: good picks, like Broderick Jones. We all allotted that pick
22:29
Speaker 1: two years ago, right, and then this year he became
22:33
Speaker 1: a punching bag, and it's like, well what happened. I
22:35
Speaker 1: don't think he's a bust. I just think our offensive
22:37
Speaker 1: line coach is terrible. He was let go from the
22:39
Speaker 1: Panthers for a reason, so I don't know why we
22:40
Speaker 1: picked him up. The development has to be there, and
22:44
Speaker 1: we've seen other people like Chucks A Corps four and
22:49
Speaker 1: Kendrick Green go to these other teams and start rights.
22:54
Speaker 2: To rams and got himself a good payday, and I.
22:59
Speaker 1: Think and they were serviceable at best in Pittsburgh. So
23:06
Speaker 1: I think the offensive line coach needs some work. I
23:08
Speaker 1: think we need an actual passing game coordinator as well.
23:11
Speaker 1: We do have a really small coaching staff by NFL standards.
23:14
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's just a budgetary thing or
23:18
Speaker 1: if that's yet again another traditional Steelers thing where we
23:21
Speaker 1: you know, we have our offensive coordinator and our position
23:23
Speaker 1: coaches and that's it. It's different. You need you need
23:28
Speaker 1: that kind of guy. You need a replay official to
23:30
Speaker 1: help you too. They don't have anyone. It's to me,
23:33
Speaker 1: it just sounds like it's Tom when watching the JumboTron
23:35
Speaker 1: at the games and going off his gut if I
23:38
Speaker 1: to decide, excuse me, whether he's going to challenge or not.
23:42
Speaker 1: And I agree with you. Defensively, we need to move
23:46
Speaker 1: on from Tarrell Austin. I mean, he was fired from
23:48
Speaker 1: the Bengals as their defensive coordinator. I'm not sure why
23:51
Speaker 1: he's with us or why we thought that we needed
23:53
Speaker 1: to promote him after Keith Butler got let go. But yeah,
23:59
Speaker 1: if Mike Tom is the one who's got a hand
24:01
Speaker 1: in things on the defensive play calling. Then he needs
24:05
Speaker 1: to stop and we need to get someone else in
24:07
Speaker 1: there who can make the specific play calls. And if
24:13
Speaker 1: Tomlin is not the one making those play calls, that's
24:17
Speaker 1: almost worse because that means that he's whiffed on all
24:20
Speaker 1: of his defensive coordinators since Sticklebow.
24:23
Speaker 2: Left, I mean he inherited.
24:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned Mark and rain.
24:34
Speaker 2: On Tomlin's parade. He's proven.
24:38
Speaker 3: Still make things work with sometimes questionable rosters. But the
24:45
Speaker 3: longer he stays on the Steelers and the longer he
24:48
Speaker 3: keeps on pushing this out, the more and more the
24:51
Speaker 3: story about his legacy will be he won with Cowers guys,
24:56
Speaker 3: he with that roster. He you know, you hear about
25:01
Speaker 3: this all the time a head like a coach leaves.
25:06
Speaker 2: You hear about more in college. I feel like, and
25:08
Speaker 2: then all of a.
25:09
Speaker 3: Sudden, guy comes in, wins a national title and then
25:14
Speaker 3: sucks and then he like rides it out until he
25:17
Speaker 3: gets fired.
25:18
Speaker 2: And I just it's starting to feel like that.
25:22
Speaker 3: Like maybe Tomlin never really kind of set that like
25:26
Speaker 3: the standard, the Steelers way.
25:28
Speaker 2: It was just a little bit of bleed over from count.
25:32
Speaker 1: So you mentioned Marvin Lewis and I agree, that's kind
25:35
Speaker 1: of where he's at right now. The big difference, as
25:38
Speaker 1: much as I don't really care for Marvin Lewis, is
25:40
Speaker 1: that he took a dumpster fire of an organization and
25:44
Speaker 1: turned it and turned it into a team that was
25:47
Speaker 1: perennially competing for playoff spots even if they didn't win.
25:52
Speaker 1: Tomlin started at the opposite end and has brought I
25:56
Speaker 1: don't want to say he's brought them, but the team
25:58
Speaker 1: has come down to the same level that I just
26:01
Speaker 1: mentioned with the Bengals, despite starting at the peak where
26:05
Speaker 1: he inherited them. So you have to give Lewis credit
26:09
Speaker 1: for at least something there. But yeah, I agree.
26:14
Speaker 2: Did you go to two Super Bowls? Right? You did?
26:16
Speaker 3: You go to two Super Bowls? But yeah, exactly like
26:19
Speaker 3: like you said, before Marvin Lewis took over the Steeler
26:25
Speaker 3: or the Bengals, they were a four and twelve football
26:29
Speaker 3: team every single year that.
26:33
Speaker 2: We just watched.
26:35
Speaker 3: We just watched the Bengals play us in the last
26:38
Speaker 3: game of the season, go nine to eight, And I'll
26:41
Speaker 3: tell you what, this whole entire town is extremely disappointed
26:45
Speaker 3: with an above average finish. But the one thing I
26:48
Speaker 3: always tell Bengals fans, at least you have something to
26:51
Speaker 3: look forward to, like next season, they have Hope, you
26:56
Speaker 3: have Joe Burrow, you have Jenner. I hate using the word,
27:02
Speaker 3: but he is he Joe Burrow could be a generational passer.
27:06
Speaker 3: He right now, it feels like Dan Marino kind of
27:09
Speaker 3: stuck in a warp.
27:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:12
Speaker 3: I can't say that about anyone on the Steelers right now.
27:16
Speaker 3: I mean we I thought I could have said that
27:19
Speaker 3: about t J. Watt, but we just throughout that stat
27:22
Speaker 3: and we watch what he's done, and he's faded during
27:26
Speaker 3: this time. The great ones pull him out so.
27:32
Speaker 1: Or at least put up a fight.
27:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, but we'll see, We'll see what happens. I
27:39
Speaker 2: know right now we are.
27:42
Speaker 3: It happens a lot with Tomlin, though, you know you
27:44
Speaker 3: ride that. Thirteen weeks into the season, we were like,
27:49
Speaker 3: Tomlin is coach of the year.
27:51
Speaker 1: He was real.
27:52
Speaker 2: That's the thing we're saying he should be. I'm a
27:55
Speaker 2: ley saying he should be fired.
27:57
Speaker 3: But unfortunately that's because this isn't the first time we've
28:01
Speaker 3: seen a streak like this, but I think this is
28:04
Speaker 3: the worst one that.
28:04
Speaker 1: We've seen because things did seem different for a good
28:09
Speaker 1: bit there. We had the quarterback drama, if you want
28:12
Speaker 1: to call it that between Fields and Russ, and then
28:17
Speaker 1: it seemed like for a couple of games things took
28:19
Speaker 1: a really good turn. They beat the two teams from
28:22
Speaker 1: New York. Then they beat the Commanders, who's was actually
28:26
Speaker 1: the only road team to win this weekend in the playoffs,
28:29
Speaker 1: which I thought was funny.
28:32
Speaker 2: And look, I guess first in nineteen years.
28:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can cross yet another team off that's
28:38
Speaker 1: won a playoff game more recently than we have. Now.
28:42
Speaker 1: I think there's what seven left or six left that
28:46
Speaker 1: haven't won one more recently than us. So yeah, I mean,
28:53
Speaker 1: maybe you and I are going about this all wrong.
28:56
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe the thing to keep in mind is we
29:02
Speaker 1: have seen some changes to the team's approach over the
29:04
Speaker 1: last couple of years, but not all of the plans
29:11
Speaker 1: worked out, although at least they took the risk right.
29:15
Speaker 1: So I'm talking some of the draft picks we made
29:18
Speaker 1: moving up in the first round two years ago to
29:22
Speaker 1: get Broderick Jones, just making some more aggressive trades down
29:25
Speaker 1: in the draft too. Thinking back to this past season,
29:31
Speaker 1: the Mike Williams trade, he had like less than twenty
29:34
Speaker 1: targets all year, and that was a trade that we
29:36
Speaker 1: got the guy for just this year too. So maybe
29:42
Speaker 1: they traded for him because they wanted to take a
29:44
Speaker 1: shot and it just didn't. It didn't work out behind
29:47
Speaker 1: closed doors, who knows what the reason is. Maybe just
29:49
Speaker 1: struggle with the playbook or something. I don't know.
29:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then that's the thing is like what you're
29:55
Speaker 3: mentioning though, like the Mike Williams trade was is.
30:00
Speaker 2: Lauded at the time. Another one that we have mentioned,
30:05
Speaker 2: you know, we turned.
30:08
Speaker 3: Deontay Johnson into a pick swap and Dante Jackson, who
30:14
Speaker 3: had a great year I think yea, and one that
30:18
Speaker 3: we likely will probably look to resign.
30:22
Speaker 2: But you know, he's Dante Johnson.
30:27
Speaker 3: He just got so he got traded to the Panthers,
30:32
Speaker 3: traded to the Ravens, I think, got cut by the Ravens,
30:38
Speaker 3: went to the Texans, and now just got cut again.
30:41
Speaker 1: And they won their playoff game too, Yeah, they.
30:45
Speaker 3: Won their playoff game. So and and so all I'm
30:49
Speaker 3: saying with that is I think Omar Khan has made
30:53
Speaker 3: really good plays and and even like this quarterback thing, right,
30:57
Speaker 3: it didn't work out with Russ. I actually do think
31:00
Speaker 3: that we mismanaged it because we still put Justin Fields
31:03
Speaker 3: on the team and there's been chatter about, well, maybe
31:07
Speaker 3: we can turn Justin Fields and Troy twenty five. He's
31:10
Speaker 3: not gonna want to sign with the Steelers if you
31:12
Speaker 3: benched him for Russell Wilson. And never once in the
31:17
Speaker 3: five game skid did you try to throw him out
31:20
Speaker 3: there except for a third down and one RPO, Like, no,
31:25
Speaker 3: he's gonna go sign somewhere else where he has a
31:27
Speaker 3: better chance to start.
31:29
Speaker 1: For what it's worth. He has said he wants to
31:31
Speaker 1: come back, but even if you bring him.
31:35
Speaker 3: Back, he wants to get a like leverage it to
31:37
Speaker 3: at least get an offer.
31:38
Speaker 1: So I mean, yeah, that's possible too. But my point is,
31:42
Speaker 1: even if you do bring him back and you make
31:44
Speaker 1: him the guy you gotta, I don't know if at
31:47
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year he was nervous or they
31:49
Speaker 1: put handcuffs on him. We didn't see the deep ball
31:51
Speaker 1: at all. And that's that was one of the things
31:54
Speaker 1: that Russ brought to the table, was he at least
31:56
Speaker 1: took those shots downfield. Whether it's you handcuffing him or not,
32:01
Speaker 1: you gotta let let him throw to his receivers and
32:03
Speaker 1: use the middle of the field, because if you just
32:06
Speaker 1: put him out there to be an RPO guy like
32:08
Speaker 1: you said, it's not gonna do anything. So that of
32:14
Speaker 1: course leads to the next big question, which seems to
32:18
Speaker 1: have been the question we've had for the last several
32:19
Speaker 1: years here is what do you do about the quarterback position.
32:25
Speaker 1: I don't know what your thoughts are in this quarterback class.
32:29
Speaker 1: I'm not really high on any of the quarterbacks. I
32:31
Speaker 1: think the only one I mean maybe Shador Sanders, but uh,
32:38
Speaker 1: I can't imagine a team, especially the Steelers, mortgaging their
32:41
Speaker 1: future to trade up and get him. So, Okay, what
32:48
Speaker 1: do you think they're gonna do with quarterback this year?
32:52
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what I mean.
32:54
Speaker 3: This class feels like maybe not as bad as the
32:59
Speaker 3: can you pick year, but like I don't see a
33:04
Speaker 3: shirtfire quarterback out of this class.
33:06
Speaker 2: Same at least known that I would, you know, feel
33:11
Speaker 2: comfortable about.
33:12
Speaker 3: I've read a few people will like say, well, maybe
33:15
Speaker 3: if a quinn Ewers or a Jackson Dark falls into
33:19
Speaker 3: a lap at twenty one. I don't, to be honest,
33:24
Speaker 3: I know, like you get a good quarterback any you know,
33:27
Speaker 3: any point in the draft, people can point to like
33:30
Speaker 3: good ones, but I would ventures say I hope someone
33:36
Speaker 3: can point point out to me what was the best
33:39
Speaker 3: quarterback was draft in the twenties since.
33:42
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers was at twenty four.
33:44
Speaker 3: I feel like it's either your like a top five
33:48
Speaker 3: quarterback or somehow you got snuck out there until like
33:51
Speaker 3: a day day three pick. There's not really much in between.
33:56
Speaker 3: So I don't want to middling guy. I don't want
34:01
Speaker 3: to because as soon as you saddle a quarterback, you
34:05
Speaker 3: gotta give him at least two years.
34:07
Speaker 2: Like we saw with Kenny Pickett. Most of the time
34:10
Speaker 2: that's three.
34:11
Speaker 3: So I sure as heck don't want to draft a
34:16
Speaker 3: quarterback at twenty one.
34:20
Speaker 2: So what would I do again?
34:24
Speaker 3: My approach to the whole thing is I want to
34:30
Speaker 3: be as bad as possible next year. I'm not saying pank,
34:34
Speaker 3: but like, we're not doing ourselves any favors to find
34:39
Speaker 3: a Ben Roethlisberger replacement who's been retired for three years now.
34:46
Speaker 3: By just the earliest will pick is fifteenth, So keeping
34:52
Speaker 3: around Tomlin to be semi competitive, keeping around a a
34:58
Speaker 3: veteran like Russ to you know, potentially turn out nine
35:03
Speaker 3: wins ten wins. I'm not satisfied with that, you know,
35:09
Speaker 3: get a try to find your core. But I think
35:13
Speaker 3: tomorrow next year is a jv here, you know, in
35:16
Speaker 3: the using the tamlinism, let's find out who's gonna play
35:19
Speaker 3: on varsity two years from now.
35:21
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that's the unfortunate truth is with
35:28
Speaker 1: the quarterback class being the way it is and with
35:30
Speaker 1: no major free agencies that I'm aware of anywhere that
35:36
Speaker 1: come to the top of my head. Uh, I think
35:39
Speaker 1: that's all you really can do at the quarterback position.
35:41
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna sign re sign one of the two
35:44
Speaker 1: guys that've got, whether it's Russ or Justin Fields, and
35:50
Speaker 1: ride them out. I think if I had my own
35:54
Speaker 1: personal preference, I would think it's probably gonna be I
35:58
Speaker 1: would want Fields. If I had to guess what the
36:01
Speaker 1: team's going to do, I'm sure they'll try to sign both.
36:03
Speaker 1: I doubt it's going to happen, but I feel like
36:07
Speaker 1: the team might go with Russ Actually yeah, and none
36:11
Speaker 1: of that though, But like.
36:15
Speaker 3: With Fields, but like you know, it's it's why because
36:19
Speaker 3: if the coaching staff didn't trust him, it wasn't like
36:24
Speaker 3: he was benched for bad performance. It was they thought
36:28
Speaker 3: they had a better chance to win with Russ. Yes,
36:30
Speaker 3: when you go on a five game skid, Let's say
36:34
Speaker 3: you don't Yankee after two, but three happens, you know,
36:38
Speaker 3: and you get that extra half of a week to
36:41
Speaker 3: get fields ready for the last two games of the year,
36:44
Speaker 3: just to see if you can get a better product
36:47
Speaker 3: out of it, and you don't. What gives you more
36:51
Speaker 3: confidence in them next year than him sitting on the
36:56
Speaker 3: on the sidelines and having fifteen year weeks prap for
37:01
Speaker 3: sixteen weeks of Pratt.
37:03
Speaker 1: I think if you're just asking me personally, why the
37:07
Speaker 1: upside's better, I mean, I can hope that they will
37:11
Speaker 1: take the handcuffs off, or I can know what I'm
37:14
Speaker 1: gonna get with Russ next year. Right, Yeah, that's really
37:18
Speaker 1: all it is. But that's also why I said I
37:22
Speaker 1: think they'll keep Russ and looks as much as I've
37:25
Speaker 1: been unhappy with Russ's performance the last five weeks, I
37:33
Speaker 1: do think the guy's a genuine guy. I think he's
37:35
Speaker 1: a good leader, and I think he's a good person.
37:39
Speaker 1: And there's certainly worse traits to have in a starting quarterback.
37:42
Speaker 1: We've seen those before. But so yeah, that's why I
37:48
Speaker 1: think they're probably gonna stick with him. And look, they
37:50
Speaker 1: value loyalty. Russ was the one who willingly came to them,
37:55
Speaker 1: not through a trade. If you just asked me for
37:58
Speaker 1: my gut take, I think they're gonna sick with Russ,
38:00
Speaker 1: although my personal preference would be Fields. That's all it is,
38:05
Speaker 1: is got feeling and personal preference.
38:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't get it, Like, why would they.
38:14
Speaker 3: Why would you promote the guy that you had on
38:17
Speaker 3: your squad when your squad wasn't doing Diddley squad.
38:21
Speaker 1: Well, your squad wasn't doing Diddley squad at the end
38:24
Speaker 1: of the year two, so kind of pick.
38:30
Speaker 2: There's like me, he was awful in the first six games.
38:34
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it was awful.
38:35
Speaker 2: But yeah, they never once thoughts, They never once like
38:42
Speaker 2: gave him one drive.
38:44
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with you. I'm just telling you what
38:49
Speaker 1: I think is gonna happen and what I wish would
38:52
Speaker 1: happen of those possible outcomes.
38:54
Speaker 2: That's why I'm an.
38:55
Speaker 3: I'm just did not come here because insanity is in
39:00
Speaker 3: the same thing, expecting a different result.
39:03
Speaker 1: Just oh well, let's just go out and sign Kirk
39:05
Speaker 1: Cousins then, because that'll be different, right, that's not the
39:08
Speaker 1: exact same thing we just tried.
39:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying it's a bad idea.
39:17
Speaker 2: Worst case scenario.
39:18
Speaker 3: He folds again like he did and we end up
39:21
Speaker 3: picking in the top ten.
39:23
Speaker 2: Good.
39:24
Speaker 1: So that's a that's actually a fun question that I
39:27
Speaker 1: saw too hind and sight, of course is twenty twenty.
39:33
Speaker 1: But where we sit today, do you regret the team
39:38
Speaker 1: making the Minka Fitzpatrick trade.
39:41
Speaker 4: Now?
39:42
Speaker 2: But I don't think it's too late to remediate it.
39:46
Speaker 3: And look, he just got a Pro Bowl, so I
39:51
Speaker 3: think some teams might be convinced that he's still the
39:55
Speaker 3: player that we saw literally as games when Duck Codgis
40:02
Speaker 3: was quarterback. But look, I don't I don't think that
40:08
Speaker 3: secondary was very good. I think that there was plenty
40:12
Speaker 3: of times where the safety play could have been a
40:14
Speaker 3: lot better because we were giving up so many deep balls.
40:17
Speaker 3: So I would explore trading him if I don't have
40:25
Speaker 3: the numbers in front of me from a salary cap
40:29
Speaker 3: dead cap type of involvement, but you could potentially get
40:34
Speaker 3: a Day two pick out of him, I would trade him.
40:38
Speaker 1: So I guess where I was going with that though,
40:40
Speaker 1: was they gave up a first round pick to get him,
40:45
Speaker 1: which had they not traded for him the year that
40:48
Speaker 1: Big Ben got hurt, they probably would have lost at
40:52
Speaker 1: least a few more games, if not more. It would
40:55
Speaker 1: have been in a better draft position to get a
40:57
Speaker 1: better quarterback to replace Ben if they have actually had
41:00
Speaker 1: the guts to pull the trigger on that while Big
41:02
Speaker 1: Ben was still there. So that's mainly what I was
41:06
Speaker 1: getting at. As far as the player that he's been
41:08
Speaker 1: since he's been here, No, I think he's been fine.
41:10
Speaker 1: I think he's been worth it for the most part.
41:12
Speaker 1: More so just strategy whise. Looking back now, do I
41:17
Speaker 1: wish we had done differently? And yeah, again Ninsight's twenty twenty,
41:20
Speaker 1: But at the time, it was one of those situations
41:23
Speaker 1: where we were at least again we were trying to
41:26
Speaker 1: do something different then, and that was with Kevin Colbert's
41:29
Speaker 1: the GM too.
41:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're right, I just positioning wise,
41:35
Speaker 3: there's so many like hypotheticals. Definitely would have been worse
41:39
Speaker 3: that year, But I'm not even sure the quarterbacks that
41:43
Speaker 3: came out that next year, if any of them would
41:48
Speaker 3: have ended up being good. Yeah, off the top of
41:52
Speaker 3: my mind, I think that was the Justin Fields year.
41:56
Speaker 1: So we could have gotten Justin Fields right away.
42:01
Speaker 3: So you know what, but I think that, like you
42:11
Speaker 3: just going off of it, I just don't see like
42:15
Speaker 3: as you mentioned there and alluded to, is like the
42:19
Speaker 3: if we had the guts.
42:20
Speaker 2: To do it, I don't think that they would have bought.
42:22
Speaker 2: I don't think they would have.
42:23
Speaker 3: Brought in a new quarterback with with Ben there, you know,
42:27
Speaker 3: he had so many he had so much anks against
42:30
Speaker 3: bringing in Mason Rudolph as like a third rounder. I
42:35
Speaker 3: can only imagine him coming off that surgery and how
42:41
Speaker 3: I feel like Ben would have played hardball and they
42:43
Speaker 3: would have just folded.
42:48
Speaker 1: So let's see here, not to absalt in the wound,
42:52
Speaker 1: but Fitzpatrick was part of the twenty eighteen NFL draft.
42:57
Speaker 2: I don't know they so much.
42:59
Speaker 1: Meat means they traded for him during the twenty nineteen season,
43:05
Speaker 1: which means twenty twenty would have been the year that
43:08
Speaker 1: the draft would have been. Right. Yeah, uh, not that
43:14
Speaker 1: I think this would have happened. But the number one
43:18
Speaker 1: quarterback pick was Burrow, then Tua at number five, Justin
43:26
Speaker 1: Herbert at number six. Let's see and then you have
43:35
Speaker 1: to drop down to twenty six for another one. When
43:38
Speaker 1: Jordan Love got taken. When did the Dolphins end up
43:43
Speaker 1: picking pick number thirty which wouldn't have been us? Would
43:57
Speaker 1: it have been?
43:58
Speaker 3: Man, they took our number eighteen pick, they got Austin Jackson.
44:03
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not unreasonable to think that without Fitzpatrick
44:09
Speaker 1: we might have been a little higher than that.
44:10
Speaker 2: But yeah, you're right. Could we have had Justin Herbert?
44:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're going all the way to number one
44:20
Speaker 1: and trading with the Bengals for Joe Burr.
44:24
Speaker 3: I mean, but you know, at the same time, though,
44:26
Speaker 3: like Herbert's not with that as blemish as either. Would
44:32
Speaker 3: it be a great What did I take Justin Herbert
44:34
Speaker 3: right now? Absolutely? But ye know his four interception game
44:40
Speaker 3: against in the playoffs it's not great either. You got
44:45
Speaker 3: qussion Mania over there and.
44:48
Speaker 2: In Tua so and.
44:53
Speaker 3: Looking at the Choy twenty draft the top, there's definitely
44:56
Speaker 3: some great names in there, but there's also names that
45:00
Speaker 3: I saw like that, I could see the Steelers just
45:04
Speaker 3: getting infatuated and we could have had a dud of
45:07
Speaker 3: a player, you know, like could.
45:09
Speaker 1: Have had C. J.
45:10
Speaker 3: Henderson, could have had Henry Ruggs the third. You know,
45:14
Speaker 3: we love our wide receivers with issues.
45:17
Speaker 1: I don't think we want to go there.
45:20
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like, you know, we could have bumped
45:24
Speaker 3: ourselves up a little earlier. But all things considered, would
45:29
Speaker 3: they have used it for a quarterback? And when they've
45:30
Speaker 3: gotten it right to be determined now.
45:34
Speaker 1: And one other thing I do want to mention that
45:36
Speaker 1: I read today too was it was kind of a
45:40
Speaker 1: defensive Tomlin. But they said Kevin Colbert's four of his
45:47
Speaker 1: last five first round draft picks are already no longer
45:51
Speaker 1: with the team, which basically means we didn't resign them
45:54
Speaker 1: to an extension past the rookie deal.
45:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
45:58
Speaker 1: The last remaining first round pick from the Kevin Colbert
46:02
Speaker 1: era still on the team with the Steelers is Nagie Harris,
46:07
Speaker 1: who is technically a free agent as soon as the
46:11
Speaker 1: league year officially starts, and I don't know that they're
46:13
Speaker 1: going to bring him back. So again, not to make
46:18
Speaker 1: a lot of excuses, but it is something else to
46:22
Speaker 1: consider too, that when you can't pick a first round
46:25
Speaker 1: or that's going to stick around for a while.
46:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, But you know, like like we talked about earlier, though, like, uh,
46:36
Speaker 3: Kevin Dotson was a pick too, but we didn't develop correctly,
46:44
Speaker 3: you know. And I think that there's been a lot
46:47
Speaker 3: of more cases of players leaving the Steelers and not
46:51
Speaker 3: being better ye then the other way around. But at
46:57
Speaker 3: the same time, you know, it's just it wasn't like
47:01
Speaker 3: there there were I think that like there were, they
47:07
Speaker 3: were drafting to win. They were drafting to like prolong
47:12
Speaker 3: the window for Ben Roethlisberger versus building a roster for
47:17
Speaker 3: the long term future. And I think that's what they
47:19
Speaker 3: need to think about right now, because I think we're
47:22
Speaker 3: paying for it because we drafted.
47:26
Speaker 2: A running back in the first round.
47:28
Speaker 3: You're not supposed to do that, but they thought that
47:31
Speaker 3: was best for Ben.
47:32
Speaker 2: You know.
47:34
Speaker 1: All right, Well that's enough of the what ifs for now.
47:37
Speaker 1: We've got all off season to talk about all that
47:40
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Yeah, well, let's just get right to it. Then.
47:46
Speaker 1: Who do you think is your pick for Super Bowl
47:50
Speaker 1: champion this year?
47:54
Speaker 2: I don't know.
47:56
Speaker 3: I know I said to who I thought was gonna
47:59
Speaker 3: be in the Super Bowl, Well, I don't know.
48:00
Speaker 2: If I ended up choosing a definitive winner.
48:08
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go Lions just because I like the Bills,
48:14
Speaker 3: but they got to go through the Ravens and then
48:17
Speaker 3: likely the Chiefs, where I like the Lions' chances better
48:23
Speaker 3: going against Commanders and then likely the Eagles. So I
48:30
Speaker 3: did call the Rams though, didn't I said that the
48:33
Speaker 3: Rams looking good.
48:36
Speaker 2: They sure did one by eighteen. Yeah.
48:40
Speaker 1: That really stinks for the Vikings though too. They have
48:43
Speaker 1: this solid year and then they just sputter at the end.
48:46
Speaker 3: So oh, I saw an article too about how we
48:51
Speaker 3: should throw money at Sam Donald, which I want to laugh.
48:55
Speaker 2: Nothing against Sam Darnald.
48:58
Speaker 3: He's also being coached by an off of offensive minded
49:02
Speaker 3: guy who I.
49:04
Speaker 2: Think came from like the Kyle Shanahan uh tree.
49:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's not gonna have that kind of year with
49:12
Speaker 3: the Steelers, no way, No, take him out of that ecosystem.
49:16
Speaker 2: It's not gonna be good.
49:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I agree with you. I don't. I don't
49:21
Speaker 1: want to throw the money out of any other Yeah.
49:25
Speaker 1: I think the Lions are a good pick. I think
49:29
Speaker 1: I just kind of have to go with the Chiefs
49:30
Speaker 1: because it's kind of like, well, if you haven't been
49:32
Speaker 1: killed yet this year, then what what's going to actually
49:36
Speaker 1: take you down? Right? They've got home field advantage. They
49:41
Speaker 1: have only lost to one team, and it was the Bills.
49:44
Speaker 1: It was not counting that week against the Broncos where
49:47
Speaker 1: they sat their their starters. They lost to the Bills
49:52
Speaker 1: in a close one in Buffalo. I just feel like
49:55
Speaker 1: at home, it's tough to bet against to bed Agains,
50:00
Speaker 1: it's the house, so to speak. So give me them.
50:03
Speaker 1: Although I'm with you, I would prefer the Lions to
50:06
Speaker 1: win if I if I got to pick who is
50:07
Speaker 1: gonna win?
50:09
Speaker 2: Yeah?
50:10
Speaker 1: So all right, Well, was there anything else you wanted
50:14
Speaker 1: to touch on before we signed off for the week
50:16
Speaker 1: or for the month rather, No, I'm good. All right,
50:21
Speaker 1: Well that'll do it for us. This has been the
50:24
Speaker 1: last regular weekly installment of the show this year. We'll
50:29
Speaker 1: be back every month of this off season with off
50:31
Speaker 1: season specials before picking it back up again in September
50:35
Speaker 1: of this year, going back to weekly installments, as we're
50:39
Speaker 1: hopefully talking about a team that made some drastic changes
50:43
Speaker 1: that we can all be proud of, and we're ready
50:45
Speaker 1: to rock and roll in September. Right, Yep, I don't
50:49
Speaker 1: really believe you in that. Yep. There, you didn't sound
50:51
Speaker 1: too optimus. You're just reading the line, not really giving
50:55
Speaker 1: any emotion and that we are gonna end things for
51:02
Speaker 1: the world famous accountants Eric vanmin Schowtin. I'm Nick Detulo
51:05
Speaker 1: and this has been another episode of the GameHouse dot
51:07
Speaker 1: COM's Steelers Country Weekly