Pittsburgh Steelers Fans Get Some BIG NEWS Going Into Week 12 vs. The Bears
[Music] Fire. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Data [Music] dancing. [Music] Welcome in to the Steelers Talk live show. I am your host, Jack Sperry. We are just days away from the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Chicago Bears in the Windy City here in week 12 of the 2025 NFL schedule. We’re just a few hours away from kicking off week 12 with Thursday Night Football. But before we kick off your night here, let’s uh get you some Steelers content here. Uh and we’ve got a lot to talk about today, guys. We really do. We got the latest Steelers news and rumors coming up at the top of today’s show. Then I’m going to be going into my eightstep plan to improve the Pittsburgh Steelers offense down the stretch and turn this offense into kind of a mediocre group to uh maybe an above average offense heading into the playoffs. Then we’ll get into your questions. The week 12 Steelers talk mailbag will be coming at the end of today’s show. 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Spam those me in the chat if you’re here at the beginning of today’s stream. We already have over 200 people watching live. We got my lovely uh my lovely fiance Cassie V in the chat. Everyone say hi to Cassie. We got Gary Frank Zar Craig. We got Fernando Martin. We got Eugene Payne. We got Beanie Jay’s uh and then we got BN. We got five. We’ve got Keegan. We’ve got Kevin. We got Sasha. We got Misfit. We’ve got uh Sarah. We’ve got Robert Lock in here. Let’s go, man. We got Unreal. We’ve got William. We’ve got Cassie. We’ve got Ali the Reaper in here. Got Nabe Davis. We’ve got Taiser. Got Steelers for Life. Got Terry. Got Zayen. We’ve got a bunch of good good crew of Yanzers here to kick off uh this Thursday live show. And now let’s bring in our producer today. Mr. Ponzi is here. Ponzi. Man, uh there’s been a lot of talk about the George Pickins trade ever since ever since GP went off on Monday Night Football this past week. Even K Adams calling it one of the worst trades in NFL history. Do you think it’s too early to say that or do you think it actually is already one of the worst trades ever? I mean, you can always look and you can always play GM in hindsight or as I like to call it, Matted GM, but you don’t realize that these players are talented, but they may not just fit in your locker room. And I really don’t think that George Pickins was a perfect fit here. I think that, you know, obviously that he had his character mistakes. it was getting uh to a problem where they felt like they had to trade him away. And even looking at it from the Dallas side of the deal, we don’t know if he’s gonna stay in Dallas. So basically, they you got a a diva wide receiver, I feel like it’s fair to call him that, away for a third round pick, and you had to pay the cancer tax for that. Well, also there was a report that he was out partying the night before Monday Night Football. CV Lambs just confirmed it. Yeah. And that’s why they had to they had to sit out a drive. So listen, man. Um, there’s been reporting from Mark Kaboli and others that there were players on the Steelers team. All right, it wasn’t the front office or the coaches. It was the players that were done with George Pickkins. Um, and his antics. He was he would be late to practices. He’d be late to meetings. He’d even be late to games. Um, and of course, you know, all the all the different antics that come with him uh not not blocking uh in the run scheme. Uh not running his routes full speed, all that stuff uh was was a big part of him. We all know how talented George is. And I think I think it is a little bit too early to say that it’s like the worst trade of all time or it’s already one of the worst trades of all time because there’s still so much about the trade that we don’t know yet. I mean, on paper, it looks bad because GP um has been absolutely balling out in Dallas this year. And good for him and good for the Cowboys, but like that team stinks this year and they’re probably not going to be going to the playoffs and George is only on a one-year deal. It’s very possible that he could just leave the Cowboys and get a bag with somebody else and pretty much they paid a third and a fifth round draft pick. Um, you know, they did get a sixth round pick in exchange, but you guys get my point. You know, they paid what they paid to get him just for a one-year rental for a year they didn’t even make the playoffs likely. So, um, you know, if he leaves after this one year, then I don’t really think it was worth it for the Cowboys. Uh, so that probably incentivizes them and gives George a ton of leverage to try and get a ton of money out of the Cowboys this off seasonason. Um, and listen, man, if they do get that deal done and he’s a Cowboy for the rest of his career and he’s absolutely amazing and they win multiple Super Bowls with George, then yeah, looks really bad. But the other thing that we don’t know about the trade as well is what does the Steelers get with that third round pick? Because it’s a very good wide receiver class next year. And you know, if the Steelers get a player with that pick that ends up being like a 10-year starter or something like that or a really good player for this team, uh, no matter what position it is, it doesn’t have to be wide receiver, then, you know, you’re comparing a 10-year starter with that third round pick versus maybe a one-year rental out of George Pickkins. And that and on that one year, the Cowboys don’t even make the playoffs likely. So, like, I still think it’s way too early to determine who wins or loses this trade. Obviously, right now, George Pickkins balling out makes it look like the Steelers are losing it, but you know, we still have a lot of information yet to be learned about this trade down the road. Um, so, you know, I do think it’s too early to say what K Adams said this week, which is that it’s one of the worst trades in NFL history. We just don’t have enough information at this point. And frankly, um, you know, the Steelers did maximize GP’s value on the trade market, giving what his value was. There was no other teams in the league that were willing to give up a third round pick. All right. That’s why it took so long to trade him was because uh the the Cowboys didn’t end up uh offering a third round pick until after the draft where they didn’t draft any receivers. All right. So, they needed a receiver and they knew it. So, they’re like, “All right, fine. We’ll we’ll we’ll up our offer to a third round pick.” And why was George Pickins’s trade value that low for a guy that talented? The same that we’re seeing right now with George Pickkins in Dallas where he’s going out and partying Sunday night before a Monday night football game. you know, missing meetings, missing practices, and being late for those things, being late to games. And we all know George Pickkins is super talented. But honestly, Ponzi, I think the biggest issue and the biggest mistake that Omar Khan made wasn’t necessarily trading George Pickkins away. It was that he didn’t adequately uh replace him with somebody else in via trade or uh via free agency. Uh this year, all they did was bring in DK Metaf, who has been worse than George Pickins has been this year, and that hasn’t been enough. So that’s the big mistake that the Steelers made this year in terms of this decision. I guess we’ll have to see how it plays out. Putting this into context and this is I I believe what people a lot of Steelers fans forget. The Tony Brown trade was the exact same trade details. 2019 third round pick and a fifth round pick. Yep. I mean and the Steelers won that trade and Exactly. But I mean start for the Raiders. Exactly. But, you know, some some people in the chat right now are asking are asking could we get him back? Uh, knowing the way that the Steelers feel about him, I would put a very low chance at George Pickkins returning because like according to the reporting from Kaboli, multiple like team captain level players in that locker room here in Pittsburgh were done with him. All right, they hate him as a person pretty much. So, like if Cam Award is still here, TJ Watt is still here. Plus, with the with the numbers George is is putting up in Dallas this year, he’s going to be worth like 40 plus million dollars on his next contract. Like somebody and somebody’s going to be desperate enough to give him that. The Steelers will not be the team that gives him. It may be the Cowboys. Yeah, maybe the Cowboys do it. And you know, that would be their prerogative. And honestly, like if they don’t make the playoffs this year, it almost feels like they have to because it’s like, are you really gonna let him slide for what you gave up for him? Like I I just don’t know if that’s something that’s in the Cowboys’s interest. He’s such a good fit inside that offense. I mean that I mean his talent is just so immense. He’s probably a top 10, maybe even top five receiver in the game. He’s their number one receiver this year. Pon. It’s not CD Lamb. It’s George Pickkins. All right. And he’s a phenomenal offense really feeds through him. And it’s really crazy because I mean uh you could attribute this to having Dak. And I feel like you know it’s fair enough to say that Dak has been his best quarterback. Well, it it also helps that he has CD Lamb to take the double teams off of him. Exactly. So, like it it it’s a great fit for him. Uh we’ll see if the Cowboys pony up the dough because he’s about to get a massive payday and somebody’s going to have to deal with that headache. But $5 from Justin Yankuski says, “Is there a chance Burrow plays against the Rappers to give us some hope of an L?” Yes. Uh it sounds like he’s going to play this week. Uh he’s had he’s been a full participant not once but twice already this week. I think he’s playing against the Patriots and uh which would of course mean if he doesn’t get injured in that game, he’ll play against the Ravens on Thanksgiving. So, um absolutely. I think we got the the we got the we got kind of lucky here, Justin, where we got both Cincinnati games kind of earlier in the season where, you know, we didn’t have to play Joe Burrow twice. Now, the lost one and then and then the Ravens uh you know, get that really bad luck there of having to face Burrow twice. So hopefully um you know because Burrow is playing that they can get at least one win. Um maybe and and honestly the Ravens have not played like terrific football. They almost lost last week to the Cleveland Browns. All right, that is absolutely ridiculous. So like is it past them to lose a divisional game to the Cincinnati Bengals? I I think it’s definitely possible. All right, man. We’ll continue to get your uh questions in via hashtag Steelers or Super Chat. Well, we’re going to get into our first segment of the day, which is the latest Steelers news and rumors from the south side of Pittsburgh. We got a lot to talk about on today’s program. So, without further ado, let’s get into our first segment of the day, the latest news and rumors surrounding the black and gold. [Music] Tonight on Steelers Talk, we got a lot to talk about on today’s program. First up, we have the latest Aaron Rogers injury update as he returned to practice today. And then a very prominent uh voice in NFL media says that the George Pickins trade is one of the worst trades in NFL history. I’m going to give my thoughts on that later in the show, so make sure you guys stick around. But if you guys want my instant reactions to all the top news stories that surround the Pittsburgh Steelers all throughout the year, I give my instant reactions on X before I come on uh here on YouTube. So, if you guys actually want my instant reactions to injury updates and trade rumors and all this different stuff that comes out during the NFL calendar, you can follow me, Jack_Sperry. I also put my film analysis uh every single week up on my X because we can’t put it up here on YouTube. So, if you guys want to learn a little bit about Steelers football every single week as I go through my film study, uh I put my stuff out up out there on X. So, if you guys want that extra uh Steelers content from me on uh the X platform, you can follow me at Jack_Sperry. greatly appreciate your guys’ support. All right, so we have the latest update on Aaron Rogers here where he said yesterday in his media availability that he is that he was planning on practicing today. That’s exactly what he did. He was uh at practice today with a pretty uh heavy uh wrist brace on his left wrist and he was a limited participant. So he did not participate in team drills today, only individual stuff. And Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that the goal is to get him into team drills on Friday. So, that will be uh a really big day tomorrow to see what the injury update is on QB1. And as you guys can see here, you guys can see on that left wrist, you can see the little uh black brace that he is wearing there. Uh on the videos that that that surfaced today, it looked like he was catching the football fine. And honestly, it doesn’t cover up his hand too much. It really does focus on the wrist. Uh so, his ability to catch the football might not be super hindered uh at this point with this brace that he is using. Uh, so my guess is Rogers is definitely going to play on Sunday. If he’s already out there on the practice field, you know, he’s catching passes, all this different stuff. Uh, with that brace on, I’m guessing he’s going to be a full participant tomorrow and then he’s going to be good to go for Sunday afternoon. You can argue whether or not he should play on Sunday, but it certainly seems like A-Rod is determined to play this week in Chicago. You guys can take a look at the rest of of the practice report uh today for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh the other things of note is that Jaylen Warren and Alex Heismith, two guys that did not practice on Wednesday, were also limited participants today. Um and also uh you guys can see there that Khan Williams is back as a full participant. He is in concussion protocol. So it’s possible that he could get back to full action uh by Sunday as well. But now we can shift our focus here to something that’s been a big talking point on Steelers Twitter this week, which is that K. Adams um you know big uh NFL podcaster said this week that the George Pickkins trade is one of the worst in NFL history and she you know said this and no um you know uh w with no holds barred and you know you look at the trade and it doesn’t look great because George Pickkins has been terrific this year in Dallas and he’s honestly been their number one receiver with CD Lamb being their number two guy. Pickkins believe right now is second in the league in receiving yards. He’s almost at 1,000 yards already on the year. Uh, and all the Steelers got back for somebody that might be an allp pro this year is a third round pick and a fifth round pick. So, on the surface, I can see why Kay thought this was a really bad trade. And this is what she had to say on her show this week. I think that trading George Pickkins is probably going to go down as one of the worst deals in NFL history. And I mean that. I’m sorry to Steelers fans. I just think it’s true. The best uh from the Dallas perspective, like what a hall. It is so clear. It is so glaringly obvious watching George Pickkins last night, a day after Kenneth Gainwell led the Pittsburgh Steelers in receiving against the Bengals. This is clearly a bad call by the Steelers. I just think so. You’re trying to find any semblance of consistency and rhythm outside of DK Metaf in the Steelers passing game. It just doesn’t exist. Now, for me personally, guys, I think it’s too early to be saying declaratively as K. Adams does uh you know this week that this is already one of the worst trades in NFL history. All right. And there’s a number of reasons for that. The first reason that I would say is that it you know the GP situation certainly got past a certain point here in Pittsburgh where not only the front office, not only the coaching staff, but it was the players that were uh fed up with George Pickkins. And it got to a point where bringing him back into this locker room would have made it a bit toxic, I think. And you know, I think that it was probably the best, you know, the best way forward for the Pittsburgh Steelers as an organization was to part ways with George Pickkins and get what they could out of him in a trade. According to a report from Maraboli at around the time that they traded him in early May, uh there was key locker room players like team captain level players uh in the locker room that were quote unquote done with George Pickins. And once your, you know, team leaders are done with a certain player, I think it’s I think it’s time to probably part ways with that player. Uh, and obviously that stems from George being late to meetings, being uh, late to practices, being late to games even. And then even even in Dallas this past week, he had to set out the first drive because apparently he was hung over and he was partying all night before with CD Lamb uh, the Sunday night before their Monday Night Football matchup um, uh, this past week. So obviously those antics are still there in Dallas even though he’s putting up big numbers. And second, George Pickkins I don’t think would have been maximized in the Steelers offense. All right. Especially after they acquired DK Metaf, he would still be uh, you know, the focus here. And, you know, raise your hand if you think that George Pickkins would be happy uh, with four or five targets a game. All right. Obviously, this is an offense that prioritizes quick passing and getting the ball to tight ends and running backs as well. Um, and doesn’t really prioritize their wide receiver talent. Um, you know, something tells me that, you know, George Pickkins would not be super happy with his role in the Steelers offense. And once again, that would have made the Steelers locker room toxic this year. Uh, the third reason why I don’t think that this was necessarily a bad decision by the Steelers to trade George Pickkins was they did maximize GP’s value on the trade market at the time that he was traded. According to a report from Marco, the same one that I referenced earlier, um, Dallas was the only team in the entire league that was willing to give up a third round pick for George Pickkins’s services. All right. And the only reason why Dallas upped their offer is because they didn’t draft a wide receiver in the 2025 NFL draft and were desperate to add a starting caliber guy. Now, I don’t even think Dallas expected George Pickkins to be as good as he has been in their offense this year when they traded that third and fifth round pick in exchange for him. Um, but you know, the fact that there was only one team that was willing to give you a third round pick tells you that the Steelers absolutely maximized George Pickkins’s value on the trade market. Um, and obviously the reason why his value was so low, u, and as low as it was, uh, despite the fact that he’s so talented, is because other NFL teams saw the same thing the Steelers saw. And the reason why they were getting rid of him was because of the off-field antics and the lack of effort, uh, as a run blocker and the lack of effort in his route running. You know, when he knew he wasn’t going to be getting the football, you know, all those different things that were issues with George Pickkins here in Pittsburgh. Those were the same exact reasons that drove down his trade value and the Steelers, you know, already deciding essentially to get rid of him because the players in the locker room were done with him as a person. They just maximized his value. So, you can’t really blame the Steelers for getting the most they possibly could have uh for a player that was that they wanted to get rid of at in the first place there. Uh the fourth reason is that uh you know, will George Pickkins even be in Dallas next year? I think that, you know, it’s it’s tough to say that this is the worst trade in NFL history or one of the worst trades in NFL history when right now the Dallas Cowboys, you know, their chances of making the playoffs are very very slim despite Pickkins’s production. And remember, he’s a one-year rental. So, if they don’t bring him back next year and they’re already giving a lot of money to Dak Prescott and CDI Lamb and and Quinn Williams and all these big contracts that they have on their books and George Pickins is playing like an allp pro, he’s going to want to get paid like $40 million per season. I don’t think Dallas has that uh in their books. If they weren’t willing to pay Micah Parsons, are they going to be willing to pay u you know a second star receiver? I mean, maybe they are, but um you know, I just think that you know, if he leaves this year and they don’t make the playoffs this year, honestly, I don’t think Dallas got what they paid for with George Pickkins where you only get a one-year rental in a year where you don’t even make the playoffs and you had to give up, you know, a third and a fifth round pick in exchange for him. Uh I I just don’t know if that if the value or if the juice is necessarily worth the squeeze there for the Dallas Cowboys. Then the fifth reason and another thing that we don’t know about this trade is we still don’t know who the Pittsburgh Steelers draft with the picks that they got from the Dallas Cowboys. All right, that third round pick, I mean this next year’s draft here that’s going to be in Pittsburgh, it’s a very good draft in my opinion and especially at the wide receiver position. So, let’s say, you know, George Pickkins leaves next year, uh, next off seasonason, and the Cowboys only get one year of George Pickkins in a year they don’t even make the playoffs, and then the Steelers end up drafting a guy with that third round pick that ends up being a starter for them for the next decade, who wins the trade in that situation. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers clearly win the trade in that scenario. So, I think it is too early uh to say who has won this trade, but that doesn’t mean that the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t make mistakes when they replaced George Pickkins. I thought that the trade itself was fine, but I think we all agree as Steelers fans that the issue wasn’t trading George Pickkins. The issue was not replacing him with somebody suitable. So, the two big mistakes, number one, not replacing George Pickkins with a quote unquote legit wide receiver, too. And then the second uh big mistake in my opinion is that they haven’t utilized the skill sets of Calvin Austin the third and Roman Wilson in the correct ways in this offense this year. I mean, Calvin and Roman are two very fast receivers, yet we rarely see them on inbreaking routes. A lot of them is outbreaking stuff and a lot of it is stop routes and that’s not take making the most of their of their speed and we rarely see this offense go down the field and of course Calvin and Roman are very fast players capable of separating down the field. So this offense doesn’t accentuate the strengths of Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson, the two guys that they tasked with replacing George Pickkins in this offense this year. So what say you guys? Let me know down there in the comments section. Is it too early to say the George Pickkins trade was a terrible decision? Give me a yes or a no. I do think it’s too early. That’s my personal opinion, but let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section for today’s pin question. In just a second here, I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Harry’s. While I tell you about Harry’s today, let me know yes or no down there in the comments. And with that, let’s have word from our sponsor today at Harry’s. And I don’t have to tell you guys that maneuvering the men’s razor space is an absolute nightmare. Uh, the quality products are always super expensive. And the refills are always equally as ridiculously expensive. And when you try and save a little bit of money, you get stuck with dull razors that irritate or even cut your skin, and you can really only use them one time. That’s exactly why I switched to Harry’s Plus, and I haven’t looked back since. Harry’s Plus has an advanced pivoting system to reach every corner of your face. 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A big thank you to Harry’s for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. And now speaking of regrets, all right, the Steelers, you know, should have regretted George Pickkins not taking not tra or trading him away. There’s also people out there on Steelers Twitter that I see that say the Steelers should have drafted either New York Giants quarterback Jackson Dart or even Saints quarterback Tyler Shuck in the first round instead of Derek Harmon. Now listen, man. Jackson Dart looks like a legit QB1 for the New York Giants. I mean, good for him. All right. He’s got really good pocket presence. His playmaking instincts are really good. Uh, you know, he’s really elevated that offense in New York despite not a lot of talent and not a great offensive line. Needs to protect himself better moving forward. But Jackson Dart, I mean, he looks like the real deal. All right. Like like good for him. And then even Tyler Shuck, he looked really good two weeks ago before the Saints his byee against the Carolina Panthers. Had a really really solid performance. And you know, we’ll have to see on Chuck the rest of the way, but you know, he’s got a good arm, decent size, and you know, he had some pretty nice throws against the Carolina Panthers just a few weeks ago. Uh, but my answer as to whether or not the Steelers should regret not taking these guys in the first round. My answer to that question is no. I will say for now, I’ll put that caveat in there because if the Steelers draft a quarterback next year and they suck, then yeah, sure. You know, would I have rather, you know, taken Dart or Shuck if they work out? Absolutely. It’s just too early to be able to say that stuff. But what I know is that I love Derrick Carman, man. I love Derrick Carman and what he has provided for what the Pittsburgh Steelers uh have on the defensive line this year. He’s a big reason why the Steelers defensive line has so much depth and has been so effective this season. And he’s going to be a mainstay in this defense for many, many years to come. And in a win now season, I think that Harmon and adding him to the defensive line rotation helps this team win more than adding a Jackson Dart or Tyler Shuck who would have just sat behind Aaron Rogers this year anyway, similar to what Will Howard is doing right now. And you get Will Howard, a big strongarmed, you know, kind of athletic quarterback at just a sixthround price tag. That’s not a shabby dart throw, man. Okay, it really isn’t. I mean, he’s national champion. All those different things. Of course, he can be mentored by Rogers. He doesn’t have to play too early into his NFL career like all these uh top free like all these top draft picks uh usually do and there’s not a whole lot of pressure on Will Howard to play right now and he can just sit there, learn and and cultivate his NFL skill set behind one of the all-time greats in NFL history. I think it’s a great setup for Will Howard right now and you know in a win now season you add a player in Dererick Harmon that is unquestionably helping you win football games right now. So, I see a lot of people out there saying, “Oh, we should regret trading Pickkins,” or, “Oh, we should regret not taking a quarterback.” But it’s like, “No, man. I think the Steelers are exactly where they should be right now. Maybe they should have got a wide receiver, too, when they traded Pickkins away.” Um, but right now, I think the Steelers are in a decent position, and I don’t think they should look back. So, sound off for me down there in the comments section. How do you feel about the Derrick Harmon pick at this point? Um, you know, in his Steelers tenure, are type H if you’re happy with it, or type U if you’re upset and thought the Steelers should go in a different direction. Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Now, the final thing I want to talk about today, and we talked about it earlier in the week, you know, Mike Tomlin says that, you know, Darius Slay, who’s expected to be back this week, um, is going to be starting over James Pierre. But what I’ll say is number one, expect Slay to be on a short leash on Sunday. Then number two, I still expect to see James Pierre in some capacity on Sunday afternoon. And this is what Nick Farah uh reported earlier today from the Terrell Austin press conference. The defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers said Terrell Austin uh says they will uh quote unquote see how that works out on the snap countation at quarterback between James Pierre and Darius Slay. Austin adds that Pierre has quote unquote earned his way to get more defensive snaps though. So, you know, that that indicates to me that this Steelers coaching staff has certainly identified James Pierre as a player that has played really well these last three weeks, which is 100 thea 100% the case, by the way. Um, and I do think he’s going to get time this week. Remember a couple weeks back, I think it was in the Colts game where they kind of rotated Darius Slay and Brandon Eckles in and out of the outside cornerback position. I think we’re going to see something pretty similar this week against the Bears. And uh it might just be like a straight up competition at this point where if Darius Slay is giving up multiple explosive plays uh like we’ve seen from him all throughout the season and Pierre is locking his guy down. I think eventually we get to a place here where James Pierre just straight up wins the position. Uh and of course you still have Asante Samuel Jr. on the practice squad uh waiting for his chance as well. So CB2 is certainly up in the air for the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out. But who finishes the season as the number two outside corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year? Type DS for Darius Slay. Type JP for James Pierre. Type ASJ for Asante Samuel Jr. If you think somebody else, Brandon Eckles, even Jaylen Ramsay, uh let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section if you think it’s somebody else. But that’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers News and Rumors presented by Chat Sports. Thank you guys so much for stopping by today. We’ll have more Steelers coverage for you guys tomorrow. The final Steelers versus Bears injury reports come out tomorrow. So, I will have an at home video uh for you guys tomorrow as well as a special uh Steelers segment that will also come out tomorrow afternoon. All right, we got some super chats to catch up on here. Excuse me. Keegan with it, too. Says, “Will they upgrade Asante Samuel to the uh to the active roster?” I sure hope they do, Keegan, because right now, you know, I would be a little worried that he would go to like Philadelphia, for example, because right now you’ve got Darius Slay, who this team clearly plans on starting this weekend, and you have James Pierre, who’s also played really well, and the Steelers are only using Asante on the outside. So, I think at the very least right now, at the very best, I should say, Asante Samuel Jr. is the number five outside corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Okay. right now. Obviously, JPJ is number one, then Darius Slay, then James Pierre, then Brandon Eckles, and then maybe even put Jaylen Ramsay at five. And right now, Asante is either fifth or sixth on the pecking order. And if I’m Asante and I’m still on the practice squad, and the Eagles, a team that is in really in desperate need of some quarterback help at this point. Dory Jackson’s been terrible, comes calling and says, “Hey, you can start for us right away. We’ll put you on our active roster right away. You can play for your dad’s old team.” I mean, if I’m Assanti, I’m at least thinking about taking the Philly offer at this point. So, I think just to make sure he doesn’t, you know, go anywhere else, I would add him to the active roster. Um, you know, I think it’s pretty clear that they wouldn’t start him right away and it’s pretty clear they won’t play him at Nickel. Um, but, you know, it’s going to be interesting to see what the plan is for him. My big question, Ponzi, is why did he agree to come to Pittsburgh and why were the Steelers interested in him? Uh because like the the what makes sense is they don’t like Darius Slay and what he’s put on the field. So let’s bring in Asante Samuel Jr. to start on the other side of Joey Porter Jr. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems like they like both Darius Slay and James Pierre. And if that’s the case, why bring in Asante, an outside corner? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. What the only way that I could think of that makes any sort of sense is that Asante Samuel Jr. is just a little bit out of shape and needs to be ramped up a little bit more. So, basically, they’re bringing him in to replace Slay, but it’s just going to take a while. And so, they’re just rolling with Slay and Pierre or whatever, and they believe in Darius Slay. Either either they just think that they pay too much to bench him or he’s earned it as a veteran status and just need that veteran on the on the crew. But I mean, I think that’s the only way that makes sense for Asante Samuel to come here and be like, “Okay, I want a place to start. They’re giving me a place to start, but I also know that I need to be ramped up a little bit more.” I don’t know. Yeah, man. It It’s definitely a weird situation for sure. And I I I’m with you, Keegan, that I think they should elevate him to the active roster because I don’t know what the situation is right now. And if he’s like the fifth or sixth guy on the totem pole at outside corner and there’s another team like the Eagles, a team that’s better than the Steelers are right now is offering me a starting job on their active roster, I’m probably taking that offer if I’m Asante. So if I’m the Steelers, I’m preventing him from making that decision by putting him on the active roster on Saturday. Darien Wilson with a 10 says, “Do you think the Steelers will activate MVS and Asante Samuel Jr. to help us win against the Bears?” My guess is I hope Asante Samuel Jr. I kind of doubt MVS. Um, listen man, I know because Roman and Calvin have not been the most productive this year. Um, that people just want to throw MVS out there to see what happens, but like honestly, I feel like Roman and Calvin run better routes than MVS does. And and like both of those guys run in the 43, so they’re just as fast as MVS is. So they can The only thing they don’t have is MVS’s size. Uh, and you know, I guess some chemistry stuff with Rogers, but like if you’re looking for somebody to run routes, like Roman Wilson runs pretty good routes, guys. He really does. Calvin Austin the third runs pretty darn good routes. That’s not the issue. I think the biggest issue in terms of the number two receiver spot in this offense is that they don’t use these guys, I’m talking about Roman and Calvin, in the way they should be used, right? It’s a lot of stop routes and it’s a lot of out routes and it’s not a lot of u, you know, prioritizing the deep ball to these guys. is, you know, they don’t run a lot of true posts in this offense when, you know, I think that that would be a good thing. Um, and they don’t get them the ball out in space. I think Roman Wilson has 22. Oh, no. Calvin Austin the third has 22 catches this year. Only six of them have been on inbreakers. Um, and Calvin is one of the fastest guys in the league. Yeah. I would think you would want to get, you know, him the ball on slants and on drags and, you know, on deep crosses and all these different things and they just don’t do it very often and that’s unfortunate. So, um, I’m hoping Arthur Smith and Aaron Rogers kind of wise up and, you know, try and throw the ball over the middle of the field a little bit more, but honestly, at this point, I I’ve kind of given up, you know, advocating for this team to throw the ball over the middle more because they just don’t do it. And, you know, I I get where Tomlin’s coming from where it’s like, oh, you know, most interceptions happen over the middle of the field and we’re trying to protect the football. But it’s like if you ignore and you consistently ignore a whole area of the field, defenses and their game planning are going to be able to pick that up and they’re going to be able to take away what you actually want to do, which is the, you know, the sidelines. And you just got to do a better job, man, of being more versatile in this passing attack to get the most out of your wide receiver two and your wide receiver three. Um, and if you don’t do that, you’re not going to see uh any It doesn’t matter if MVS is in there. It doesn’t m matter if Roman is in that spot. It doesn’t matter if Calvin’s in that spot. You’re not going to see these guys succeed um until they have a philosophical change at wide receiver 2 uh in this offense. Uh then Bernard with a two says, “How was A-Rod as a draft prospect out of Cal?” I mean, I wasn’t around to give to like a year old to give him like a grade, Bernard. Um I’m I’m a pretty young guy. Rogers has been playing for most of my life. Um, so I can’t tell you what my grade was on him or anything like that, but you know, had A+, but like obviously he was talked about as either the number one or the number two overall pick in that year’s class with Alex Smith. So obviously he was held in high regard. Um, but that’s really all I can give. All like all I know like a history lesson and I saw this like servicing on Twitter was like his arms were like really high like when he was holding the football. That was a like I I think there was a reason why he slid because of you know obviously quarterback slide for some times and I think the contracts were but I mean I think like Mike McCarthy in like documentary was like uh we would have picked him one if I had my way. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Uh another one $2 says A-Rod at practice today makes me think he’s playing. I’m right there with you Bernard. um you know the fact that Tomlin was like Friday’s the day that you know we’ll kind of know and then Rogers you know kind of makes a point about make about accelerating that process by a whole day tells me that he is very determined to play this weekend and when Aaron Rogers you know is determined to play and Mike Tomlin you know said he’s supportive of the idea of him playing this week u that just tells me that he’s going to play now you can argue whether or not he should play um because he’s played through these kinds of injuries in the past, including these last three weeks. He’s had a jammed finger on his throwing hand. He hasn’t looked nearly the same. Um, and he’s still probably dealing with that, by the way. Um, listen, man, if you think you’re getting 100% Aaron Rodgers in this game, you know, fine, play him. But like, if you don’t, I’d almost rather just go with the safer option and go with Mason Rudolph, who we know is a good backup quarterback and more than capable of getting victories for this team as its starter. So, um, you know, do you want Mason Rudolph to win, you know, be your quarterback in the playoffs? Probably not. But like, do you want would you play two weeks of Mason Rudolph if it means we get the Aaron Rogers of the first eight weeks of the season for the final, you know, stretch of the year and the playoffs? Absolutely I would. Absolutely I would. So, whatever it takes to get A-Rod back to 100% by the postseason, um, is what I’m is what I’m down for, man. That’s that’s that’s the number one priority to me. Uh, another $2 here from Keegan says, “Do you think Asante will play this year?” I listen, man. I think it really depends on on a how fast he gets ramped up and b how do Darius Slay and James Pierre play? Um, and then also c are the Steelers willing to put him at nickel. You know, that’s something that, you know, to consider even though Asante hasn’t been the most physical player in the world uh in his career. Um, you know, really in the modern NFL, something you got to know about modern-day nickel players is that, you know, defenses, especially with with defenses that, you know, play a lot of too high safety stuff like the Steelers have shifted to these last three games. You want your nickel to be able to be, you know, a little bit of a bruiser and somebody that can help in the run game and stuff like that. And Asante is not really somebody that does that. He’s a smaller guy. He’s never been, you know, a physical player necessarily, uh, which is why he’s played on the outside, uh, in his career. So, you know, I think that I I could see a world where he does play Keegan. I can also see a world where he doesn’t play for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Um, but I guess we’ll just have to see. $2 from Bernard says, “Do you think people are being too hard on Aaron Rogers’s play this year?” Um, depends what your It depends what your conclusion is in my opinion. All right. Like like for example, if you want to say Aaron Rogers has not played particularly well over this last three game stretch, I would agree with you. That is a factual statement. All right? He’s he’s not ranking in the top five in any major key metrics among starting quarterbacks these last three weeks. All right? It’s just it’d be dumb to say he’s playing well these last three games. But if if there were if like the conclusion that you have based on that is we have to start Mason Rudolph the rest of the season, I would disagree with that because you know Rogers is dealing with an injury these past three weeks and then also before that injury he was playing pretty darn well. He was an above average starting quarterback for the first eight weeks of the season this year. Um and you know he just needs to get healthy in my opinion. So, you know, I think it depends on what your conclusion is, Bernard, because I think it’s it’s perfectly fine to criticize the way Rogers has played the the last three games. It’s just um you know, I think that the solution to it is to get him healthy. The solution is not to make a major change at quarterback to a guy in Mason Rudolph who gives you pretty much no chance to make a run this year. Um even if things go uh best case scenario, $2 from Adrian says Pit should play uh Jaylen Warren and and Kenneth Gainwell at the same time. They do that sometimes where they go to pony personnel, but they don’t do it a lot. Um, you know, would I be would I be opposed to it? Not necessarily. But what I’ll say about Kenny G is that he’s had a couple really standout performances. Last week against Cincinnati was one of those, and then week four versus the Vikings was one of those. But, uh, on the season, he hasn’t actually been super efficient in terms of yards per touch and yards per target. He’s like seventh and eighth on the team. So, like he’s not, you know, a guy that should be featured necessarily in this Steelers offense in my opinion. I think he’s a really good backup and I think if somebody gets injured, he’s a really good player that you can turn to and he’s certainly capable of putting together, you know, uh the occasional really good performance, but like if you’re relying on Kenny G to be like a key piece of this offense, um you know, I would disagree with that, uh strategy. I think you got to get the ball more to Pat Fmouth. I think you got to get the ball more to Roman Wilson. I think you got to get the ball to Calvin Austin the third the more Darnell Washington as opposed to and and frankly Jaylen Warren I mean Kenny G almost has double the targets that Jaylen Warren has this year. Um and you know it should be the other way around. Warren is one of the better receiving backs in the league and we don’t use them enough. So um that’s kind of where I come down on that. But I’m certainly open to having pony personnel stuff out there uh if it works. So if you guys want to get your question in uh we got one more segment to get to before we get to the mailbag. But it’s not too late to get your question on the show. All you have to do is get down there in the live chat room and if you put a question with #steelers in it. Uh we’ll make sure to consider your question and then uh every single super chat that comes in will automatically make the mailbag. So we appreciate all of your guys’ questions. Donate to the show if you haven’t already. Um uh we greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. What’s up uh producer Sam? Hashtag Steelers. All right Sam. Yeah. Yes. I’ll tell you what. If some I’ll tell you what. I’ll do we have tortillas. All right. I’ll I’ll tell you guys what. If somebody puts in a $100 super chat, slam Sam can slap me with a tortilla. All right. How about that? No, I’ll let you slap me because you could. You could if you want to. If you want to. Yeah. So, if someone puts in a $100 super chat, you don’t have to. All right. My face will be saved if you don’t. But um if you want to see me get slapped before we sign off today, $100 super chat, I’ll make sure uh to get that going for you guys. Yeah, I know. Yeah, Sam says, “I miss it so much.” You know, get out of here, Sam. All right, man. So, our next segment here um is how to ignite the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. I’ve got eight steps to make this Steelers offense better. Um because although the Steelers offense hasn’t been necessarily a train wreck this year, uh I do think that there is room for improvement. So, I want to kind of share my notes with you guys. And then uh coming up next, we’ll have our uh mailbag coming up right after that. So, make sure you get your questions in. Without further ado, let’s get into our second segment of the day. How to ignite the Pittsburgh Steelers offense down the stretch. [Music] Today on Steelers Talk, I’m going to be revealing my eight changes that I would make to the Pittsburgh Steelers offense if I were in the shoes of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. I certainly think this Steelers offense hasn’t been a train wreck by any stretch of the imagination this year, but certainly hasn’t been terrific. And I think that this offense still has another gear that it can reach if they make some of changes down the stretch here. And these would be my uh my prescribed changes that I would make if I were in charge of the Steelers offense. So, kick us off down there in the comment section. Uh, what is the number one issue that the Steelers offense must address down the stretch? Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Give me your ideas. Give me your thoughts. I always love uh reading those comments down there to uh so I want to see what you guys think. Uh so, now let’s get started here with uh where Pittsburgh currently ranks offensively and all the major metrics that you look at. And you know they are 12th in points per game but that’s really aided by the fact that defensive touchdowns also count towards this number. So uh you know certainly some of the pick sixes and the defensive touchdowns that they have had this year uh contribute to that 12th overall ranking. Right now they’re 28th in yards per game. They’re 21st in yards per play. Uh round league average and EPA per play, EPA per pass, and EPA per rush. Um you know they’re below average in success rate this year. um in on third downs. They’re 20th, which is actually higher than I thought it was uh doing my research for this video. And then they are ninth uh in red zone. So, they’re top 10 in red zone. They’re top 10 in giveaways. So, the two things that this offense actually does pretty well is that they do protect the football and they do score touchdowns when they do get into the red zone. Uh but there is certainly room for improvement here. So, let’s go over uh some of my prescribed changes that I would make down the stretch. First thing that I would say is to pass less often and to use shotgun formations less often and use more of the run game and use more under center uh moving forward. Um, and you know, the reason why I say this is because the Steelers are in shotgun and they pass the ball more than an Arthur Smith offense usually does. All right, the Steelers aren’t shotgun over 66% of the time so far this season, which is a really high number for Arthur Smith, who usually does like to play under center. Um, and you know, uh, they pass the ball on 73.4% of their shotgun plays. So that’s actually not super high to according to league standards. But when you play in shotgun as much as the Steelers do, uh obviously that’s going to make you by definition more predictable because uh when when NFL teams are in shotgun, they’re passing the football uh you know, three out of every four times. So that certainly tips off the defense that a that a pass could be coming. Um and it certainly does tip that off uh in terms of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you know, the Steelers pass the ball at a really high rate for an Arthur Smith offense. They currently ranked 12th in the league in pass rate at 58.7% of the time. Uh just to give you guys uh a little bit of context, the Steelers were 29th in pass rate last year uh despite the fact that their run game was terrible. Um you know, their run game was not getting much going and they were still prioritizing running the football. That has not been the case this year in Pittsburgh. And in my opinion, this offense was built and it should be a run ccentric offense and it’s too reliant on Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers passing attack when it should when it should really run through Jaylen Warren and it should run through the Steelers run game. Um, just like they tried to do last year with Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren, it didn’t work out. But this year, uh, the blocking up front is a lot better. I would argue Jaylen Warren has been a more effective number one running back than Naji Harris was. and uh they’ve been more effective as a rushing offense this year, but they’re rushing it less, which I think is kind of a dumb idea, especially for a guy like Arthur Smith whose bread and butter is the run game. So, what say you guys? Let me know down there in the comments section. Do the Steelers pass the ball too much? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. Personally, I think they are passing it a bit too much. I would like to see them prioritize Jaylen Warren in the run game more moving forward, but let me know your thoughts down there in the comments section for today’s pin question. Just a second here. I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Ethos. And well, I let you know about our sponsor today. Simply give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. With that, that word from our sponsor today at Ethos. And guys, the summer before I started here at Chat Sports, unfortunately, my family lost my late grandfather. And as you tend to do when you lose someone close to you, you begin to think about your own mortality and what would happen to the people dependent on you if something were to happen. With today’s sponsor, Ethos, your family can be protected. Cassie and I are getting married soon, and shortly after that, I imagine we’ll buy a house and maybe start having some kids. 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Application times may vary, rates may vary, and a big thank you to ethos for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Another change that I would make to the Steelers offense is I would give more work to Jaylen Warren. And we kind of talked about that with our first point, but I would also give Warren more uh touches in the receiving game as well. You guys can see that Jaylen Warren does lead the team in touches this year by a pretty significant margin. Uh but you know, the number one running back in in your offense should have the most touches. I mean, the number two running back for the Steelers has by far the second most touches this year, right? And you know, you look at the snap share at running back this year. I like Kenneth Gainwell, and you know, I like that the Steelers are rotating in Caleb Johnson. Uh but 52.7% of the running back snap share this year is just not enough in my opinion. By the way, this is in games that all three of these players were available. It’s not counting week four when Jaylen Warren uh was out of the lineup. Uh so, you know, Warren is by far getting the most snaps, but like I don’t think it’s enough. Jaylen Warren is your best offensive player. I think he should be getting at least 60% of the running back snap share. Um and I think he certainly should be getting more time on third downs than he currently is. I know this Steelers team really trusts Kenneth Gainwell as a third down back. Uh, but right now they’re almost treating it closer to the setup that Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren had in the previous seasons with Kenneth Gainwell in there. And you know, I I disagree with that philosophy because I think you have a true workhorse back in Jaylen Warren, but you’re kind of treating this running back room like a committee. And personally, I would give Warren more time on third down. Of course, you you you should use him on early downs as well as your number one guy there, but you know, you should also give him opportunities uh to c to to to catch passes on third down because on third downs, guys, that is where running backs get the most receiving targets because a lot of times defenses are sagging back and because of that, the checkown option, you know, gets more opportunities. And we’ve seen Kenneth Gainwell get more receiving targets this year by quite a large margin compared to Jaylen Warren because Kenneth Gainwell is almost always the guy that’s out there in third down situations for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Yet you look at the uh yards per target here uh of the Pittsburgh Steelers of these two backs and it’s completely different here where Jaylen Warren is absolutely killing Kenneth Gainwell in terms of the efficiency that those guys are having. Uh Kenneth Gainwell currently is only averaging about, you know, a little bit over four yards uh per target and Jaylen Warren has 7.8 yards per target. So, it’s like which of these two guys do you want to give the more targets to on third downs? For me, it’s it’s not even close. It’s Jaylen Warren. And even though I think Kenneth Gainwell can get some third down snaps as the game goes on, I still think Jaylen Warren should be the primary guy for the Steelers offense on third downs where most of the receiving production at this position is dished out. Now, you might be saying, “But Jack, if he’s if he’s going to be playing more on third downs, then who’s going to take the early down kind of production, you know, when Jaylen’s not out on the field?” And for me, it would be Caleb Johnson. All right, Caleb is expected to be in that early down role at some point down the role he uh down the road here. And I’ve actually liked what I’ve seen from KJ on film over the last especially three games. He’s got good vision. He is he’s using his his his massive frame to move the pile forward. I think he can take on that responsibility. So, if you know you get Jaylen Warren up to about 60% snap share, uh you use him more on third downs and you get Caleb Johnson more work on these early down situations, I think that’s going to uh best maximize the talents of this uh really good running back room here in Pittsburgh uh and make the most out of this position that needs to be prioritized in this year’s offense. Then we get to the tight end position here where I think this team should very much cut Jonnu Smith snaps um not only in half but almost entirely. I don’t think John Smith provides a whole lot to the Steelers offense. He doesn’t run good routes. He doesn’t catch the football like he doesn’t have a great contested catch ability. Um he’s not that great after the catch either, which is what he was brought in to do. Um he’s not a good blocker at all, but yet, you know, he still leads the tight end room this year in snaps. All right, Darnell Washington is certainly catching up to him. And I think after this next week’s game, Darnell will pass Jonnu Smith. But the thing is, man, Jonno just doesn’t do really anything for this offense. All right. You want him to block, can’t do that. He had a face mask penalty last week with poor technique. Want him to run routes on third downs. He gets absolutely swallowed up by man coverage every time. All right. You want him to, you know, play smart against zone. He doesn’t really have that either. Pat Farmouth is so much better against zone. And by the way, has much better hands than John Smith has. And oh, you bring him in to be a Yak threat. Too bad. He’s all of a sudden decided to be a terrible Yak threat and not get really anything uh out of his screen looks this year. So there’s just not a whole lot of reason in my opinion to play Jonnu Smith at this point. I understand you gave him a contract and I understand he’s Arthur Smith’s guy, but like just objectively speaking, he’s not a good football player. And we’ve got other good football players in this room and Darnell Washington and Pat Fmouth. And I really think that they should lean in on those players more. All right. Like Darnell Washington is such an X factor for this offense and the Steelers are are finally starting to figure that out. He had the most snaps out of any tight end on this team last week against the Bengals. such a good blocker on early downs and then as a checkdown option. He proved last week with multiple third and long uh you know conversions uh that he is a huge threat as a checkdown option because there’s no linebacker or defensive back on the planet that wants to tackle him. And then Pat Fmouth as Mike Tomlin describes him he’s a zone killer man and uh Aaron Rogers has said himself he wants to get Muth on the field more often. So, I think you get Jonnu Smith’s ass off the field and you play Darnell Washington and Pat Farmouth more when you go to your multi-tight end sets. Now, we move on to the wide receiver position and I think that this offense should prioritize Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin more than it does. All right, I really do think that this offense, you know, leans too heavily on running back and tight end production and they don’t focus enough on their wide receivers. And right now, defenses can really key in on DK Metaf because they know Aaron Rogers isn’t throwing the ball to Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson all that much. I mean, Calvin has like 22 catches this year and I think Roman has like 12. So, it’s just not a whole lot of really opportunities given to your number two and number three wide receivers. And because of that, defenses, especially on third down, are just saying, “We’re going to put two guys on DK Metaf and force somebody else to beat us.” And most of the time, uh, the Steelers don’t have anybody, uh, you know, within the progression that realistically has a chance to make that happen. And this offense, in my opinion, doesn’t use, uh, this room’s biggest asset enough. And that asset is its speed. All right. What do DK Metaf, Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin the third all have in common? They’re all 43 speed guys. All right. DK obviously a different animal because he’s huge, but like Calvin Austin the third and Roman Wilson are speeders that can also run pretty good routes. By the way, I think their route running is super underrated. It’s just that, you know, the ball is either out before their route is fully developed or they’re, you know, running them on stop routes or out routes most of the time. Uh, routes that don’t really accentuate their speed and don’t give them opportunities to win deep or run after the catch. So, I think the best two ways to take advantage of wide receivers speed is to one, uh, really prioritize the deep passing game, especially off of play action. Get these guys working on post routes and get these guys going on deep crossers. You let them use their speed and run away from people. And then number two, get them the ball out in space. All right? I don’t care if it’s a short route like a drag to get it out in space. I don’t care if it’s a screen with blockers in front of them. I don’t care if it’s a dig route to the intermediate level of the field. I don’t care if it’s a deep crosser. All right? You got to get these guys going on in breaking routes, especially over the middle of the field, so that they can get the ball with room to run because these guys can absolutely fly. Um, and I would say Calvin and DK a little bit better in the run after catch department than Roman is. Uh, but you know, if you got three guys that run 4-3, you should take advantage of that speed as much as possible. And I think it’s just a fact that this offense relies too much on running backs and tight ends uh for the yards after the catch production that they get. And listen, man, they’ve got some good players. Jaylen Warren is a great run after guy. Darnell Washington, great run after guy. All right, but you got these guys and you got these guys that run really fast and, you know, they run a lot of stop routes and they run a lot of out routes where they catch the ball and then go out of bounds immediately. That’s not using, you know, the strengths of this wide receiver room in my opinion. So, I think that that would be a big change that I make. And I I once again want to reemphasize that point by saying you got to run more inbreaking concepts. I mean, and this goes all the way to guys like DK Metaf as well. It’s not just Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin the third. And we’ve talked about uh, you know, DK Metaf is somebody that you get the ball to him out in space. Watch what that guy can do. But I would also say the same thing about Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin III who’s also got great speed and we’ve seen some good route running stuff on film from both of these guys. is it’s just the ball is out so quickly where these guys really don’t have a chance to get open uh to the intermediate and deep levels of the field. Um and you know when they do run routes very rarely is it an an inbreaker uh over the middle. So I know it’s crazy. I’m asking for the Steelers offense to throw the ball over the middle more often and Mike Tomlin just never does that. But I really think that it would make this offense better. So I’m going to put it on my list today. And then the final change that I would make is make sure Aaron Rogers can get back to 100% healthy. All right, just plain and simply, ever since he jammed his finger uh pregame versus the Indianapolis Colts, he just hasn’t been the same. All right, he went from being like above league average in most key metrics at the quarterback position to, you know, bottom five in every single metric. And that that doesn’t really uh happen by accident in my opinion. All right, like the accuracy has clearly been off these last few weeks, especially down the field. Um, you know, I I think that it’s affecting him mentally, too, because he’s holding the ball for longer now in the pocket than he was in the early weeks of the season. So, I think Rogers, you know, especially now with this broken wrist. I know it’s his non-throwing hand, but he’s dealing with two injuries right now where where it’s that finger injury, uh, that has clearly affected his play already. And now you add a broken left wrist where he has to wear a brace. Like, I just don’t know, uh, if he’s going to be able to play at a high level again unless he gets back to 100% healthy. And you guys can see how it affects the Steelers offense. All right, those first eight weeks of the season, this was a top, you know, that 12 offense in the league. Can we call it that? A top 12 offense. I mean, you look at the EPA and success rate numbers for the Steelers. We got general EPA per play, success rate, drop back EPA, and then rushing EPA. I mean, the Steelers offense was was rolling those first eight weeks. And then over these last three, it’s just not the same story. They haven’t been abysmal necessarily, but they haven’t been great either. And you guys can see even where they rank these last three weeks. It’s been a big step down in every single metric that you look at. And that can be tied to Aaron Rodgers not playing his best football over these last three weeks. So listen man, if Rogers isn’t right, give him a couple weeks. Go with Mason Rudolph. We’ve seen Rudolph be more than capable of winning regular season games for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And listen man, if I have to trade two weeks of Mason Rudolph, um which by the way I’m perfectly fine with. He’s a he’s a perfectly serviceable starting quarterback in this league in my opinion so that I can get a fully healthy Aaron Rodgers for the rest of the season and in the playoffs. I’m taking that deal every single time. So that’s where I’m at right now, guys. But let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. What is the percent chance that Aaron Rogers plays on Sunday? Scale it from zero, meaning no chance he plays, to 100%, meaning he’s definitely playing. uh based on the video that we’ve seen of him at practice this week and you know his his desire to play, I’d probably put it at 95 plus percent chance. But uh let me know you guys think down there in the comments section. That’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers Talk by Chat Sports. If you guys are a real one and made it to the end of today’s show, type those real ones in all caps down there in the comments uh so we can give you some love down there uh in the comments section. That’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers Talk, guys. really do appreciate you guys stopping by talking some Steelers football with me today. Going to have more content on the channel here coming up uh later in the weekend to talk about uh you know obviously this game that we have coming up against the Chicago Bears. So if you don’t want to miss any of that, click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Till next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. All right, man. Uh we got one more segment to go here. Ponzi, if you guys want to get your questions in, how how we doing on questions, by the way, Ponzi. All right, sounds good. Let’s Let’s actually give them one last one last call here. One minute shot clock. All right, one minute shot clock. You guys have one minute to get your questions in. It’s officially last call to get your questions in. Hashtag Steelers uh to put your question up for consideration. And if you want to guarantee your question gets on the show, you guys can super chat. So clock is ticking here, Ponzi. Uh, you know, while the clock is ticking here, let’s discuss how this team utilizes its wide receivers because, you know, I I I I can see what the vision was in the front office with, you know, all the speed that they have in this wide receiver room, but for an a team that values speed so much in their wide receiver room, right? I mean, last year all they had was speed guys outside of George Pickkins who’s also pretty fast, but like they brought in Scotty Miller, they brought in Van Jefferson, they brought in Roman Wilson, they, you know, they they have Calvin Austin the third. They really prioritize speed at this position. Yet, when I watch this film, Ponzi, I either see the ball coming out to a tight end or a running back before their route is fully developed, or B, I see them running like a stop route or an out route. And when they catch the ball, if they get the ball, they have really no opportunity to run with the ball after the catch, which I just think, you know, if you’re going to use these guys, use them on deep post, use them on deep crossers, use them on drags and digs and all and slants and get them the ball out in space so that they can use their speed. And you know, I think that the route running of these two guys gets so underrated because, you know, the ball is out so fast and I don’t think that the scheme necessarily uh accentuates their strengths and their speed. What are your thoughts on that? I just think that, you know, obviously Arthur Smith came into the season with a plan and I think he wants to see that throughout, but the whole thing of my my thinking of this is that like if you came in with this plan to go jumbo, to go uh with Well, they did they did not come into the year with jumbo tight ends. Yeah. With your tight ends, have more of a heavier personnel with, you know, 13. But I I just I don’t get it. I don’t get why we’re so focused on trying to get Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson all these inbreakers or more so the inbreakers, right? Yeah. I mean, we well I mean they’re not running inbreakers. They’re not running inbreakers. Sorry. Like they’re going out of uh just they’re not really targeting them well. The route tree isn’t good. And even if you wanted to run more deeper routes, they’re not using that speed. I just don’t get it. And like it’s more so I think that they wanted and Rogers maybe was in Arthur Smith’s ear about going under in shotgun and he really wanted to be you know the the distributor the point guard and you know that’s all well and fine but it just isn’t working that well and they’re focusing on John Smith too which I I don’t even get why he’s still on the field. Like I think they maybe should spread it out. I think maybe three wide receiver sets could work a lot better. Well, and I’m not even sure if that’s the case, P. I mean, I I see where you’re coming from, but like my my worry with going to three wide receiver stuff is you can only have one tight end on the field. So, you can’t So, you can’t have DW and Muth who are both good players. You have to pick your poison there. And it’s most of the time going to be Darnell. And sometimes they’re going to go with Janu. And we know that. So, I I don’t want that. And then also like it’s pretty clear that Rogers when he’s out there on third down in particular, he’s keying in on one player and if that player’s not open, then he’s checking it down. Um and you know, he’s just so quick to throw. Yeah, he is. And like you can tell Rogers is not like going through the full progressions because he’s worried about getting hit and he’s very cognizant of the fact that like we got to get this ball out fast. But like on third down, I would rather him hold the ball a little longer and take more sacks. I really would. Um because I mean Joe Burrow’s talked about this in the past, for example, where third down sacks aren’t really that impactful on the game, especially on like third and long situations, for example, because you’re punting the ball away anyway, even if you throw an incompletion. So, you know, like you you I think that they have to prioritize getting the ball to Calvin and Roman more because that’s going to open up D that’s going to open up DK, right? That is that is the key to everything Ponzi is opening up more one-on-one opportunities for DK. And you can’t do that unless you have another legitimate threat. And I think Calvin and Roman have the skill set to be threats in this league. I really do. think they they they’re not using them right with like obviously like Calvin Austin was one considered one of the better punt returners in the league. He has crazy vision. It’s crazy to me that they don’t use Calvin more on screens. I mean he’s so small. He’s hard to tackle first of all because he’s so small and and quick and fast. Um especially when you got the kind of perimeter blockers as DK and DW and all these guys. Like I don’t know man. I feel like that is something that would really work. And I know Calvin hasn’t necessarily played great since he came back from these from his injury, but like he was actually having a pretty decent start to his season before the injury and he does have game-wrecking speed. He does have really good vision as a runner after the catch, but this offense doesn’t really use him in that way and most of his catches are coming on out routes or on stop routes. And like I think it’s multiple things. I think number one, Arthur Smith needs to call more of those kind of inb breaking concepts, bounce, drive, those kinds of things where you’ve got multiple inbreakers and multiple runaways, deep cross, uh, that sort of stuff. Um, Yankee, you know, run more of that kind of stuff to attack more down the field. Um, but they don’t want to do that. What they want to do is they want to, you know, have pretty much one read for Rogers and then Rogers wants to get it out to a checkown tight end or a running back when it’s like, wait, I don’t know. I feel like it like we kind of talked about this a little bit more about their over reliance on like check down check down check down check down because Rogers just good like he he he understands what the defense is giving him and he wants to go more so death by a thousand paper cuts but I feel like if you attack down the field and you attack the middle of the field which Tomlin does not want I know he doesn’t if the great numbers it’s a shame and I just think if you’re going to be a good offense and you’re going to be a great offense that wins Super Bowls You’re going to have to attack the middle of the field. You cannot be scared in this league. Well, I mean, Philly Philly doesn’t throw over the middle. Well, yeah. Well, even in the Super Bowl, they did though sometimes. And like when they throw over the middle, though, it’s quick stuff with with AJ Brown and they don’t run and they they will do posts and stuff like that to Devonte. Uh but they won’t run a lot of digs and stuff like that. Um, but you know, I look at the Steelers offense and like I think Rogers, especially on third down, just has to hold the ball for longer and try and and and they have to come up with better stuff. I mean, how many times on third and long this year, Ponzi, do we just see three receivers or or three receivers and a tight end just run to the sticks and stop? And it’s like that’s not going to work. like that. Like those types of concepts, you have to throw with anticipation to one guy and if the first guy’s not there, everybody’s covered because everyone’s stopping, right? Yeah. They’re not like you got to have these runaway type of concepts where that gives the quarterback multiple options. The Steelers don’t do that nearly enough. All right. And I I I’m guessing Rogers has a very heavy say as to what’s being run, but like some maybe you just have to sit Rogers down and say, “Listen, man, that this shit’s not working.” All right. the quick game Like, it’s just not efficient for us. Like, we want to throw the ball down the field more. So, we’re going to run more of this stuff. All right? And we’re we think that you’re more than capable of executing it, but you got to you got to trust us and not audible out of it. All right? You got to trust what we’re calling and then execute it because he’s more than capable of doing it. He really is. It’s just he has the arm strength. He definitely has the arm strength. He needs to work on the accuracy because that’s he’s lost that the last three weeks. But um certainly I think that at this point um the Steelers offense is not everything it could be at this point in the season. It it is very predictable unfortunately. So okay, let’s get into the mailbag here guys. Appreciate all the questions that have come in. Um um yeah, let’s get into the questions right now here. Ponzi, we’ve got um quite a few super chats. So, I mean, if you only put # Steelers in, you didn’t get your question on the mailbag, uh, direct your complaints to Ponzi, uh, cuz I’m not going to hear them because he decides which ones make the show. So, without further ado, let’s get into the mailbag right now. [Music] Welcome into the Steelers Talk Mailbag. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. The Pittsburgh Steelers are about to take on the Chicago Bears uh in the Windy City here in week 12. And today I’m answering your questions in preparation for that game right here on Steelers Talk. This is my favorite segment of the week because I get to have that two-way conversation with you guys, the Steelers fans. Every single week, you guys always bring the heat with these questions. Uh so if you guys want to join our interactive fan community here on Steelers Talk, we got over 100,000 subscribers. We are the only Steelers news program uh individually run here on YouTube that has that many subscribers. And the reason for that is we try and keep it fun for you guys. We go live twice a week to talk Steelers ball. We go live for every single Steelers game to react to the game together. And of course, we have these mailbags where you guys have an opportunity to have your voice heard every single week and have your questions be seen by thousands of Steelers fans uh on every single one of this of these mailbags. So, if you guys want to join us, we do these mailbags. We film them live on Thursday uh during our weekly live show. So if you guys want to click that subscribe button and join us on Thursdays for our live shows, you could get a question on a future Steelers mailbag. All right, our first one, $5 super chat from Justin Yanooi, who says, “Is there a chance Joe Burrow plays against the Ratsirds to give us some hope of an L?” Well, the final injury report for Cincinnati will come out after I’m recording this, but at this point, at the point of filming this, looks like he’s got a really good chance not only to play against the Ravens on Thanksgiving, but also the Patriots in week 12. So, um, he’s been a full participant in practices this week. It looks like he’s getting to a pretty decent spot with his health. Um, and it looks like he’s going to play. So, uh, hopefully, uh, because Burrow is playing in both of the games against the Ravens this year that Cincinnati can give us an upset versus the Rapirds. $2 from Bernard Nixon says, “Do you think people are being too hard on Aaron Rodgers?” The way I would answer this, Bernard, is that it’s fine to be truthful about what we’re seeing from Aaron Rogers last three weeks, ever since he jammed that finger on his throwing hand, he just hasn’t been the same, plain and simply. But what’s your conclusion? What’s your solution for fixing that issue? Is it to put Mason Rudolph in for the rest of the season and pretty much kill any chance you have of winning a Super Bowl or do you maybe want to get Rogers back to 100% health? Cuz I think a healthy Aaron Rodgers, which is what we got the first eight weeks of the year, is better than Mason Rudolph. And I think everyone would acknowledge that. But over the last three weeks when he’s been playing with that injured finger, um he hasn’t been as good as Mason Rudolph. And we saw that because Mason came in in the second half and he did play better than Rogers did. Okay. So, especially now that Rogers is dealing with that fractured wrist. I’m guessing at the point at this point when this video comes out, Rogers will be confirmed to be playing on Sunday afternoon. Um, I’m and that’s for better or for worse, man. I’m not sure if that’s the right decision. Uh, but I guess we’ll see if it is or not come Sunday. Then we got one from Keegan. $2 is, do you think Asante Samuel Jr. will play this year? Um, you know, I think that this is one of those where we’re going to have to wait and see here, Keegan, where um, you know, the Steelers still seem to like Darius Slay for whatever reason. Uh, they like James Pierre, obviously, he’s been playing really well. And, you know, when you when you include Brandon Eckles in the discussion, and maybe even Jaylen Ramsay, like at best, Asante Samuel Jr. on the practice squad is fifth or sixth uh, on the outside quarterback totem pole right now here in Pittsburgh. And um it’s going to be interesting to see if he can rise up that totem pole as the season goes on. Um obviously the Steelers brought him in for a reason. They like his skill set to some degree. Uh so, you know, I could certainly see a world where they play him at some point this year, but I could also see a world where they don’t. And maybe James Pierre uh takes over that starting job and plays the rest of the way. Uh that’s certainly possible. Also, another thing, too, is that the Steelers are not practicing Asante Samuel Jr. at Nickel. are playing him exclusively in practices on the outside. Uh so they clearly see him as an outside corner. Uh but you know, honestly, the depth that outside corner for the Steelers is actually, you know, pretty decent at this point. So it’ll be interesting to see how the season plays out. Um but for now, it doesn’t look like he’s close to getting in the starting lineup. So what’s you guys? Let me know down there in the comments section. Will Sante Samuel Jr. start as Pittsburgh’s number two corner at some point this season? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. This will be the pin question on today’s show. YouTube’s going to throw you an ad break here in just a couple of seconds. And when that happens, take advantage of that time, by letting me know if you think ASJ starts a game for the Steelers this year. Got one from Tyler Sour. I hope I’m saying that right, Tyler. He says, “What kind of comp picks could we have gotten if Pickkins would have walked? Uh, if we would have kept him and he would have walked, it’s probably a third round pick.” So pretty much the trade for Pickkins um you know moves up a third round pick uh that you would have gotten in 2027 if Pickkins would have walked and gotten a new contract. So um you know you’re pretty much getting the same compensation only a year earlier. And listen man, in a in a wide receiver class in 2026 that is really deep and really talented. Um that might uh work out in the Steelers’ favor. I guess we’ll just have to see. But, you know, and really the thing about the Pickkins trade, Tyler, is that and the reason why the Steelers did it was because players inside the locker room didn’t want to play with him anymore. That’s pretty much what it was according to Marco. There were big time players like Cam Hayward, TJ Watt is, I mean, those guys weren’t named in the report, but he said key players in the locker room, which tells me they were, you know, probably involved in the decision. Um, they said that they were done playing for him because he was late to meetings, late to practices, late to games. uh you know, obviously didn’t give consistent effort on tape run blocking or even in his route running. Um and he’s a hell of a player, no doubt about that, but um I think that it got to a point where they had to part ways and they did maximize his trade value on the open market. There was no other team in the league that was willing to give up a third round pick other than the Dallas Cowboys uh for the same reasons that we just discussed, for the concerns that he has off the field. So, um, you know, it kind of sucks that he’s balling out in in in Dallas right now, but they only have him for one year, and we do have that third round pick a year earlier. So, I guess we’ll see if, uh, the con artist, who is really nailed his early round draft picks, by the way, uh, can draft a long-term starter for this team in exchange for George Pickkins. Then we got one from it’s Caleb 2X says, “Why Slay over Pierre?” Um, you know, I think maybe it’s just to give I mean, honestly, Slay was playing better uh the two weeks before he got injured. Okay, that first little portion of the Charger game, he had a pass breakup. He was looking actually pretty good in coverage and, you know, he was he didn’t play phenomenally in the Colts game, he did give up a couple of catches, but he played better in that game than he did in any game previously. Um, and you know, the the quarters approach that they played uh more frequently now and the off coverage with the two high safety stuff that they’re running, it it fits Darius Slay’s play style more. So maybe they want to give him one more chance to kind of see if he can be worth the 10 plus million they they paid him this off season. But I will say this, Caleb, I think it’s going to be a short leash. James Pierre has played really really well and you know the Steelers, you know, I just don’t think there’s any way where if Slay goes out there and sucks that they’re just going to keep playing him. Um especially with the way Pierre has played. So we’ll see what ends up happening this weekend. But I will say I think James Pierre gets in the rotation this week along with Darius Slay. Uh, but before we get to the rest of your questions this week, guys, let’s have a word from our sponsor today at Harry’s. And I don’t have to tell you guys that maneuvering the men’s razor space nowadays is a complete nightmare. The quality products are always super expensive and the refills are always ridiculously expensive as well. When you try to save a little bit of money and get one of the cheaper brands, you get stuck with dull razors that you can really only use once and they irritate your skin and sometimes even cut it. 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I actually brought my Har’s Plus razor today just to show you guys what it looks like and to show you that I actually use and love this product. And I use their entire line of shaving products. I use their shave gel, which smells terrific. Then also their post shave uh balm uh cools your face. And then also it smells great as well. And the best part about Harry’s products is that they don’t break the bank. I started using Harry’s back in college when where I kind of wanted more quality out of my shaving products, but I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on it, right? But with Harry’s, you get the whole shebang. You get the barberh shop quality shave with their German engineered uh blades. And the reason why I like Harry’s Plus, guys, is that it gives you that extra premium feel with the weighted metal handle. So, it really is the best around, guys. Uh, so if you guys want to save a little money and you don’t want to sacrifice quality, for a limited time only, our listeners can get the Har’s Plus trial set for only $10 at harrys.com/hat. This set includes the allnew Harrysplus razor, one refined fiveblade cartridge, a 2oz foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head on over to harrys.com/hat to claim this offer. And after your purchase, they’ll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Big thank you to Harry’s for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Darien Wilson with a $10 super chat here says, “Do you think the Steelers will activate MVS and Asante Samuel Jr. to help us win against the Bears?” When it comes to ASJ, the reason why I hope they activate him sooner rather than later is because I don’t want him to go somewhere else. Okay? Now, he has to agree to go somewhere else, but like if he’s fifth or sixth on the outside quarterback totem pull here in Pittsburgh and then like say his dad’s old team, the Eagles, who are could use a player like Asante Samuel Jr. in their defense right now comes calling and says, “Hey, we got a spot on our active roster and in our starting lineup next week if you will sign with us.” If I’m Asante, I’m taking that deal. So, you know, if I’m the Pittsburgh Steelers, I don’t want that to even be a possibility. So, uh if he’s good enough to, you know, be a backup this week, maybe contribute a little bit on special teams, I would add him to the active roster. Darien, when it comes to MVS, it it’s sounding like that, you know, he’s probably not going to be elevated. Um, you know, I I honestly think Calvin Austin the third and Roman Wilson are probably better players than MVS is. And I know, you know, people want to try something new because Calvin and Roman aren’t getting the job done right now. But, you know, I would contribute part of Roman and Calvin’s lack of production this year to the way the offense is structured. Um, usually the ball is out super fast. So, if they’re running an intermediate or deep route, the ball is out before their route actually develops. And then also uh when the ball does go their way, it’s usually on a stop route or an out route and there’s not a lot of opportunities to run with the football after the catch. So they’re not getting the ball down the field all that often, which is really uh what you would use their speed for. And they’re not getting a lot of opportunities to run with it after the catch. And you know, MVS has a lot of speed, but so does Roman and Calvin. And honestly, I think Calvin and Roman run better routes than MVS does. Um, so there’s nothing really that MVS would necessarily add to this team outside of his previous experience with Aaron Rogers, which who knows, maybe that would be the X factor um that gets him onto the field. Guess we’ll just have to see on Saturday when they make those practice squad elevations. But I’m not getting my hopes up for MVS this week personally. But make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. If you are a real one, if you watch all of our videos, you guys know that clicking that thumbs up icon uh is the fastest and easiest way to help us out. It boosts the YouTube algorithm. It tells the YouTube algorithm that you enjoy our content and that they should recommend it to other Steelers fans like yourself. So, everybody that likes this video, the more people that like it, the more it will get recommended, the more it gets recommended. The more new people watch, the more new people watch, the more people will subscribe, and so on and so on and so on. So, we greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. Uh, so click that thumbs up icon if you want to help out the show. Kevin Reed says, “What do you think is the plan for Peppers with Ramsay and Duggar at safety?” The plan appears to be just to make him a special teams ace. Uh Kevin, uh I would personally think about using him at safety, but right now Chuck Clark is above Jabril Peppers on the safety depth chart for whatever reason. Um even though Peppers played great at safety in his lone game where he actually got like significant snaps and that was against the Patriots back in week three. He had a 90 plus PFF grade. And it’s not like PFF grading’s gospel or anything like that, but like what as someone that watched that film, he played pretty darn well. Definitely better than Chuck Clark. So, I don’t get why he’s not higher on the totem pole um in Pittsburgh on the defensive side of the ball, but like if the choice for me is to put Ramsay at safety and, you know, to situ Clark on the bench, I’m taking that every single day. And Ramsay and Duggar have played really well at safety. So, um you know, if one of those guys goes down with an injury, I would prefer Peppers over Clark for sure to play safety. But Ramsey and Duggar have done a great job at this point. Um and I have no problem keeping those guys where they are. Zar Craig uh coming in says, “Do you think Roman Wilson has supplanted CA3 as our wide receiver 2 or was last week just a oneweek scheme matchup thing?” I think he actually has taken over. Um and I think that’s probably driven by Aaron Rogers because the week prior Calvin had one of the worst games he has had as a starting receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Chargers. Right? You’ll remember he had two drops. He had one play where he caught the ball but he had a foot out of bounds. Um it wasn’t a great day for Calvin. It really wasn’t. and he dropped one ball that ended up being an interception. And Roman Wilson, all he’s done is lead the team in yards per target and he’s been pretty darn good for this team this year. Now, the following week when he got all those uh reps and all those snaps, he only had two targets and only one catch on the day. Um so, you know, we’ll see how they distribute it moving forward. Um, but you know, I honestly I would use Roman and Calvin in pretty similar ways because they’re both undersized guys that run really fast, run pretty good routes, and have pretty good hands. All right, they’re pretty similar type of guys, only Roman’s a little bit bigger. So, um, hopefully they can figure out something to get these guys going a little bit more because if they can get one of these guys to be a little bit more of a threat, that means it’s going to open some things up for DK Metaf, uh, which is obviously really good for this Steelers team and this offense. Kevin again says, “Do you think they’ll pass to Spencer Anderson again?” I mean, listen, man. You listen to the Steelers players talk about Spencer Anderson, and they they say Rogers keeps throwing to him in practice. So, um I wouldn’t count it out. Uh especially if Aaron Rogers is the quarterback where Spencer Anderson can get another catch at some point this season. So, keep your eye out for that because Rogers really seems to like him. So, let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Will Roman Wilson be Pittsburgh’s uh wide receiver 2 from now on? Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Wide receiver two. Will Roman Wilson take that spot for the rest of the year? Give me a yes or a no. I kind of hope so. Um you know, I think that Roman, it’s about time for him to step up into that role and hopefully uh he can get a little bit more targets moving forward uh here in week 12 and beyond. and I’m hoping that he can be the receiver threat that we have been waiting all year for here in Pittsburgh to open things up for DK Metaf. That’ll be it for this week’s mailbag. Great questions as always, guys. I’m going to make sure to get you guys um uh some more content here later in the week. So, make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. All right, guys. So, so, uh, we we’ll take your questions here. Um, if you guys got any more super chats, we’ll be happy to answer any more. We’ll also talk about Thursday Night Football and preview this week’s matchup versus the Bears. Got a $5 super chat here from Eugene Payne. He says, “I I’m thinking next year this offense will be top tier when they replace Jones through the draft and use the 12 picks wisely.” Um, something that I’ll say, man, is that you gota you got to have another weapon that you consistently throw to on the outside that’s not DK Metaf because like if he’s the only receiver that’s getting targets, uh, defense, you know, defenses are going to hone in on him and that’s what’s happened this year. Um, and honestly, you know, adding another young receiver to this group I think would be good, but like you got to utilize your players in the correct ways. And I don’t think they’ve done that necessarily this year. We’ll see how Roman plays the rest of the year. And hopefully they can figure out how to play this wide receiver room correctly. Um, because right now I think they’re playing this wide receiver room as if they’re a bunch of big as if they’re a bunch of big guys and a bunch of possession type of receivers. Um, and they’re they’re speed guys. They’re smaller guys outside of DK Metaf. You know, the you know, the offense should be a lot about getting these guys the ball out in space and letting them use their speed and their acceleration uh to make big plays after the catch. And I know this team is very dependent on after the catch stuff, but a lot of it is coming from running backs and tight ends and Darnell and Jaylen in particular. And DK certainly is a part of it as well, but like DK can’t be the only guy getting production in this wide receiver room. You got to have somebody else because when you get to third down, you got to have somebody else that you trust to throw to. So hopefully Roman Wilson or Calvin Austin the third can step up into that role. Hopefully they can wise up and stop playing Jonnu Smith as much as they play him uh and play DW and Muth more because those guys are the are the better players. And uh you know hopefully they can find a way to get Jaylen Warren on the field more on third down as well uh to help out this offense. $5 some Steelers fans say to start Mason over Aaron on Sunday versus the Bears and let Aaron get healthy. You know I’m kind of with you there Steelers fan. You know if we’re getting you know first eight weeks of the season Aaron Rodgers on Sunday absolutely start Rogers. But like we haven’t seen that version of him ever since he jammed that finger back in week nine. And who knows, he he’s probably still dealing with that. And he has this wrist fracture now and he’s going to have to be wearing a brace that’s probably going to be very uncomfortable for him um against a defense, you know, that is really good at turning the football over. So that scares me a little bit, man. And if he’s not going to be 100%, I would rather just go with Mason. This team has has has has won games, especially in the regular season with Mason as their starter. He looked more than capable last week in that second half. And you know, I think that he’s a pretty darn good fit in Arthur Smith’s offense. He is. He’s somebody that delivers, somebody that can read out defenses pretty well, get the ball to the right guy, and I think Aaron, when he’s healthy, can do that and more. He’s got way more arm talent and frankly, uh, processing ability than Mason does. Um, and he’s got quicker feet in the pocket and better pocket presence than Mason does. But um you know obviously I think that Aaron Rogers the last three weeks versus Mason Rudolph in that one half last week Mason was the better guy. So like until Aaron gets back to 100% I think I would rather just play Mason. That’s probably the way that I would break it down right now. $2 from Shannon Cassidy says Peppers, Duggar, Elliot, Pierre. Uh next season, uh who goes? Um so talking about uh those guys. Um in terms of the free agents, uh Elliot uh I believe just signed an extension though, so he’ll be back. Um so Pierre one-year contract. He’s probably unless he plays really well. If he plays really well, he might get another deal. We’ll have to That one’s way too early to determine. Duggar, uh, if he’s like a irreplaceable player in this defense, I think they might give him another, you know, team friendly deal if he’s willing to take that. Peppers, I think they probably let him walk, too. Um, just because they don’t necessarily value him as a defensive player on this team for whatever reason. Deshawn Elliot has signed a three-year contract. Yeah. So, Elliot, yeah, Elliot is under contract for a while. Um, so you know, he’ll be here and then, you know, if you’re if they’re plan, listen, man, they might all they might all be gone except for Elliot because if the plan is to keep Ramsay at safety and then you have Deshun Elliott, like if Duggar can go start somewhere else, he should go somewhere else. You know what I’m saying? Um, so, you know, Duggar might just be a one-year rental. And by the way, the price that you paid for him, a late round pick swap, perfectly worth a one-year rental. So, honestly, I think Elliot, it might be the only guy on that list that ends up coming back, but Pierre is a wait andsee situation. Um, but this week, Ponzi, we take on the Chicago Bears in the Windy City. I think we all kind of know the storyline there. You know, Caleb Williams, I still own you. Yeah, we still I still own you. You know, Aaron Rogers, there’s nothing else that he would love more than to get a touchdown in the fourth quarter that seals the game and then lay up to lay it down with a we still own you guys. you know, he wants to do that, man. So, I think that there’s a ve I think there’s a very high chance he plays on Sunday. And this is my bold take. He even if he’s like less than 70%, he’s still going to try to play. Yeah. I mean, I I I I I’m I’m my my worry with this game, Ponzi, is we’re going to get a less than ideal version of Aaron Rogers because he’s pushing himself to play. Um, but we’ll see. Caleb Williams also big Aaron Rogers fan. So, uh, he’s playing against his hero. Um, so that’s kind of an interesting tidbit there. But you kind of see that in his play style a little bit. Yeah, for sure. I mean, he’s he’s certainly when you watch him play, you can certainly see the Aaron Rodgers uh elements there and the inspiration. But, um, he’s been playing better as of late, man. He’s he’s getting used to the under center stuff that Ben Johnson runs. Uh, obviously he ran pretty much only shotgun in high school and in college, as most guys do. these days. Uh so and then he played mostly shotgun last year uh in Chicago. So he had to completely learn new footwork and you know kind of get himself used to um you know taking snaps from under center play action stuff. Um you know it’s a big difference going from that I think it was like 90% of all FCS or in FBS um quarterbacks in college take snaps from shotgun which is crazy. Well, I mean, all of them take them from shotgun, but like like 90% take like almost all of them from shotgun. Yeah. So, like it’s just I I think like less than two I think it’s less than 5% of plays at the FBS and FCS level. Um, that’s what I mean. Yeah. That are in shotgun. So, there’s just not a whole lot of teams that run under center or I mean sometimes they run pistol in college, but it’s really a lot of shotgun uh in college. And, you know, I guess we’ll just have to see what ends up happening. um this week. And then uh tonight we got a decent Thursday night football game in my opinion. You got Buffalo uh who this team is going to be playing um ne uh next week in week 13 at home. Uh they’re going up against the Houston Texans. Now, the one thing that I don’t like about this is that the Bills are going to have ample time to prepare for Pittsburgh um after tonight’s game, but you got Davis Mills starting for the Texans and you’ve got uh obviously Josh Allen and the Bills. Houston’s home, but the Texans are coming off a huge win against Jacksonville a couple weeks ago where they came back 20 points down um in the fourth quarter and they won that game with Davis Mills leading the way. So, listen, man. I’m not going to say this one is gonna like for sure be Bills, especially with what we’ve seen on Thursday Night Football uh this season. Uh I think this one’s going to be a very interesting matchup. I’m very excited to see if Davis Mills uh can play well because, you know, Davis is is not like a quarterback that without any talent. He is somebody with a good arm. He’s got multiple years of of experience in the league now. Um, you know, I’m interested to see what he can do because he played really well in that fourth quarter against Jacksonville. So, I’m actually going to go out out on a limb here. I’m going to take the Houston Texans to win this. You know, honestly, I was going to say I I’m probably going to lean towards the Texans today, too, just because, you know, that Texans defense is so good. And I feel like, you know, CJ Shroud and the offense gets talked about for how they’ve kind of uh been lackluster this year, but that defense is so good. Yeah. I mean, it’s genuinely if you go by EPA per pass, I mean, it’s it’s the best in the league. It’s great. Yeah, it’s pretty darn good, man. All right, so we got some super chats here. We’ll stay live as long as the super chats keep rolling in, but we only got a couple here. Uh Gary with a two says, “Uh, do we get the Watt belt this weekend, Jack?” We might have to bring it out, Gary. I’ll I’ll see if I remember it, but I think we have to bring out the uh the Steelers belt because this the defense has actually started to earn it the last couple weeks uh with the way that they’ve been playing. So hopefully they can earn the belt again this week. $5 from Michelle says if we do not get a quarterback in the first round, which does the team need uh more, wide receiver or left tackle? I would say I mean right now I mean obviously we still have a whole season you know that down the stretch of the season to determine um if if Roman Wilson is going to be a factor moving forward and same thing with Calvin for that matter. Calvin’s a free agent after this year. Um right now I’d have to say receiver though. Uh you know the thing with Brick Jones is that he’s serviceable in this offense. He really is. Um he doesn’t play with the best technique. He he has low hands. He doesn’t have great balance. uh you know he he he leans forward too much um all that different stuff but when you have a guy as good as Troy Futano at right tackle that allows you to give a lot of help to Brick Jones which is why Brick has been pretty darn uh you know solid this year at left tackle. So you know I at this point I don’t think you give Brick Jones a fifth you know pick up his fifth year option but like right now he’s been fine as this team starting left tackle in my opinion. So, um, especially after you’ve spent two of your last three first round picks on tackles, uh, I don’t know if I want to make that three in four years. Um, I’d probably rather go receiver if those are my two options. But there’s going to be other, uh, positions that you could potentially look at. Um, offensive guard might be actually the bigger need on the offensive line, Michelle, because Isaac Sal is a free agent. I don’t know if you necessarily want to bring him back. Um, then on defense, I would say corner might be something that you look at, depending on how that position shakes out. Um, I would say nickel might be a position that you look at. I would say, um, linebacker might be a position that you look at as well. Uh, but, you know, I would probably say wide receiver right now is probably the favorite or really good wide receiver class. Wide receiver or quarterback is probably the most likely positions I would say in the first round. Ponzi. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I really agree with you right there. I mean, I just think that this team I mean I like Roman Wilson. I like Calvin Austin, but Calvin Austin’s probably not coming back next year. Yeah. With his production this year, if he doesn’t turn it up here at the end, he’s he’s going to be gone. I I don’t know if I really believe in that much in Roman Wilson to be like, okay, be a legit two. Yeah. It’s like, okay, we’re good. We don’t need any help. as a wide receiver too. Like if Calvin leaves, you’re almost certainly either addressing that number two position in free agency trade or in the draft because you’re not moving forward like Scotty Miller as your wide receiver three for example. Like that’s not happening. Like I mean it’s just one of those things too of like even like getting more depth like even have Roman Wilson be your three. I think I’m more comfortable with Wilson being my three than my two. Yeah. I mean that that’s what a lot of people say and that’s what a lot of people’s case was for going and getting like a Jacobe Meyers for example um at the at the trade deadline. And honestly, I think Jacobe is a better fit for the type of offense the Steelers run right now than Calvin or Roman, you know, like right like right now with all the with all with all the out routes and all the all the stop routes that they run like a contested ball winner like like Jacobe Myers would probably be a better fit than Calvin and Roman are, which is probably a big reason why they don’t get the ball all that much. just because they’re kind of playing like a I don’t want to call it a jump ball offense, but like it’s kind of a staticky kind of route tree offense and you know, you need guys with really good hands to and and size frankly to be able to play that. When you got guys that have the speed of Calvin and Roman do, you should be running posts. You should be running deep crosses. You should be running uh, you know, shallow crosses as well and get them the ball out in space. You should uh be running screens. you should be taking advantage of those guys’ speed and this offensive scheme really doesn’t do that in my opinion. Uh $2 here from JV Free says Aaron on Sunday he will ball no crying be happy. I will be thrilled if Aaron Rogers plays great. Yeah. Um I will be th because because if he because if he plays great that means he’s back and that and Aaron Rogers being back to playing the way that he did in the first half of this season. Um with the defense playing the way that it’s playing right now I like our chances is exactly what this team needs right now. off. The Steelers can have the offense playing the way it did the first eight weeks and then the defense playing the way it’s played the last three weeks and they can combine those two things to finish this season and into the playoffs, they can beat anybody in football. And I’m 100 I’m 100% serious about that, man. I I really do think that this team still has the potential to be a dangerous team in the AFC. Um they just got to put the final pieces to the puzzle together here down the They’ve shown that they can. Yeah, exactly. They’ve beaten the Colts. they’ve beaten um you know uh they’ve beaten the Patriots on the road. They’re one of the only two teams that have beaten the Patriots this year. So like you know I I still think that there’s hope for this team but there’s obviously still some pieces left to the puzzle to kind of put together. We’ll finish on this point Ponzi and I want to talk about this and I might make a video about this in the future actually. Um there’s a certain phenomena happening right now in college football where college quarterbacks are coming into the league and they are very illprepared for the for their first few years in the league. I think Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin have a chance a chance to fin to finesse the entire National Football League out of a potential franchise quarterback and maybe Will Howard because and this is the reason he doesn’t have any pressure to play right away which means that they can develop him and an NFL skill set within him without any pressure to rush him out there right away. And you know, Will Howard has NFL traits. He’s got great size. He’s got good arm strength. He’s he’s he’s got a he’s got a photo he’s got a photographic memory. He’s got uh, you know, plus athleticism. And now he’s got an opportunity where, you know, the the transition from college to pro at the quarterback position nowadays is as difficult as it’s ever been because in college you run so many RPOS’s and you run so many screens and you are in shotgun all the time and now you’re asked to go into the National Football League where they play a lot more under center. You’re asked to learn brand new footwork and you know that which completely changes the way you throw the football and it completely changes the way that you have to mentally process a defense. Also, you have to get used to the speed of the game and you have to learn a new playbook and you have to build chemistry with your new receivers. I mean, it’s no wonder why, you know, these rookie quarterbacks come in and they struggle immediately and sometimes, you know, it takes until they get to their second team uh with or third team or fourth team in the case of Baker Mayfield to finally, you know, you know, to finally get it. Not many quarterbacks in this league have the luxury of being able to sit behind an established veteran, maybe for multiple years, in Will Howard’s case, if Rogers comes back next year and truly develop an NFL skill set without having to kind of go through the fire of playing in an NFL game. And you know, by the time that Rogers leaves Pittsburgh, it’s a possibility. All right, I’m not saying that, you know, the Steelers shouldn’t do their due diligence on early round quarterbacks next year or that they shouldn’t consider trading up for a guy or drafting a quarterback early, but like I could see Will Howard develop into, you know, a good starting quarterback in this league. Um, you know, when he, you know, once we get on the other side of the Rogers kind of thing here. Now, we’ll see if that can happen. Okay. But like all the reports on Will Howard and Pittsburgh are very positive and I think that this is the ideal setup to set someone up for success in this league ponzi. We see it with Patrick Mahomes who sat out a year. We saw it with Jordan Love who sat out multiple years behind Aaron Rodgers. All right. Sometimes it takes these guys, you know, multiple years to be able to sit, develop, and learn. And I think a big problem with quarterback development in the National Football League today is these guys go in and they play so early, but the teams cater to what they did in college, which isn’t as successful in the National Football League. They play a lot of shotgun. Uh you know, they do a lot of the same RPOS’s and screens that they played in college, but um you know, it leads to more penalties because of the rules, the way that they’re set up in the league. Um, and you know the the hash marks are way wider in college which completely affect everything in terms of play calling and the way defenses play you and all that different stuff. It’s like a completely different sport for these guys going from college to pro. And you know having a guy in Will Howard who you only had to spend a sixth round pick on who’s got NFL starter traits and he gets the opportunity to just sit learn from one of the best quarterbacks to ever do it. I mean, if Will Howard is going to work out here in Pittsburgh, this would be the scenario in which he would work out. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing play out right now. So, would it shock me at this point if they go in a different direction other than quarterback in round one next year? It wouldn’t shock me. That’s all I’ll say. It wouldn’t shock me, but obviously as a sixth round pick, uh, he he I don’t know if he’s going to get the opportunity. I I will say this about Howard and this is more so of just looking at him from pure aesthetic wise of like the traits. He does have everything that he he needs. There was a reason he went to the sixth round and that was just because you know a lot of the time at Ohio State he didn’t really start that that season well and you know obviously you know the loss to Michigan and they they were a powerhouse and Ohio State played terribly against Northwestern. Exactly. And I think I think a lot of a lot of people get this notion of Will Howard because of his playoff run, which is what he could be. And I feel like he played great in that playoff and and and to his credit, that’s when you want to be playing your best football. Exactly. Right. We got a little snippet into CJ Strad in that Georgia game. Right. He he didn’t have the most consistent season. No. That year either, but he balls out in that Georgia semiinal and then he has one of the better rookie seasons anybody’s ever had in NFL history. He was one of the lone he was one of the weird examples Ponzi where he actually transitioned to an under center play action game very early on in his career and I think I think ultimately with going and playing under center and a lot of people forget this and obviously we are bringing this up because a lot of the uh uh the bootleg footballer I think it was Brett Coleman he talked about this and I think you know going from under center it is a lot harder and I think that’s why the Chiefs did it right and obviously Mahomes was trapped in the first round for a reason but I also O like this approach of if you want to see what you have with Howard with second year then this draft class will be as much as everyone wants the Steelers to draft a quarterback because it is in Pittsburgh. It would be a legendary moment. It it would be an iconic moment if they draft a quarterback round, especially if they trade up for one. My point here is that would you rather have a a team that has holes in it at wide receiver 2 offensive line or have this young quarterback go into a system where he’s learned it for two years. He’s been backed up behind one of the greatest of all time and he has a system and he has the weapons that he can use to succeed. And I will say this as well, like this is not me saying definitely go with Will Howard as the future franchise quarterback. What kind of the kind of the main point of this kind of tangent that we’re going on here to finish today’s show is if and when the Steelers do draft a different quarterback to be their future. Like listen man, I would say that there’s other quarterbacks that certainly have a higher ceiling than a guy like Will Howard. All right? guys that probably have better play extension ability, better out of structure playmaking ability, maybe more consistent accuracy, um you know, maybe more consistent throwing mechanics, that sort of stuff there. Like you can probably find that in the first round. Like if you want to if you want like I I actually think Tai Simpson is going to be coming into the league relatively ready to play. He plays under center quite a bit at Alabama and he’s played really well u you know with this play action passing game under center which is really rare in college football today. Um, so I actually think Tai Simpson, if you’re looking for someone to start right away, Simpson’s probably your guy. But like if you end up trading up for Fernando Mendoza, if you end up trading up for Dante Moore, if you end up drafting Lenor Sers or for that m for that matter Brendan Sorsby or Darien Mensah or any of the other guys that are getting talk about first round right now, if you draft one of those guys that is in a shotgunheavy offense, you want to make sure you have a veteran quarterback for them to learn behind you. think that is such an important thing that is so underrated uh in today’s game where people want first round picks to start right away and I I understand why you know you know obviously they’re the future you want to see what they got but like this is such a big transition from from college football to pro football where rookie quarterbacks really shouldn’t play they really shouldn’t guys like it it really is such a stark difference and unless you have somebody in a very kind of niche situation like Jayen Daniels going to an air raid pro staff system in Washington like where it’s designed to be heavy shotgun and it kind of collegees right away. Like if you’re taking a guy in a shotgun heavy offense with lots of RPOS’s and screens and you’re playing them year one in an offense that asks them to play a pro style system, good luck. Good luck having that quarterback have success. It very very rarely happens. And like if this team drafts Fernando Mendoza next year and then ends up playing him year one, he’s going to struggle. This team’s going to stink. I’m just going to tell you that right now. even though Mendoza might end up being good down the road, um, you know, he won’t be ready for that. Like, it’s just so much that that even Mendoza, you know, who’s a really highly touted guy, it’s just so much for these quarterbacks to have to transition into. So, I think next year, um, you know, even even if you want to draft another quarterback, it should be a veteran that starts for this team next year so that the whoever the young quarterback in the future long-term option is here in Pittsburgh that they have a year to sit, learn, and develop their skill set as an under center uh passing quarterback in the national. And I really think that veteran quarterback, if he wants to come back, obviously should be Aaron Rogers. I really think Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how he finishes the season. if he stinks, if he plays the way he’s played the last three weeks, you like you’re you’re you’re done with Rogers and you’re bringing somebody else in. But like if Rogers plays well down the stretch, this team makes the playoffs, you know, I I would I would be open to having Rogers come back for another season. Um and whether you want to draft another quarterback or whether you want to give Will another season to sit behind Rogers and um you know, maybe then address the quarterback’s position again in 2027. Um, you know, all those are options at the Steelers’s disposal right now. But, um, I I really really caution the Steelers against drafting a quarterback next year outside of Ty Simpson. Simpson, I think, could start day one. Outside of Tai Simpson, if you’re drafting any other quarterback, they should not even think about playing in their first year. That’s the way I think is the best way to go about developing quarterback talent. All right, man. That’ll be it for today’s show. Thank you guys so much for stopping by here today. Almost a 2hour live show today. So, shout out to you guys. We’ll be live again on Sunday, 12:00 p.m. Eastern time for our live watch party for Steelers versus Bears. Going to be a very interesting matchup here between the two first place teams in the Northern uh divisions in the National Football League. Can’t wait to see this one. Can’t wait to watch and react to it with you guys on Sunday. So, make sure you click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until Sunday, guys, here we go, Steelers. [Music]
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34 comments
First 🎉
Why u lie GP didn’t not miss practice or going to the game late at the Cowboy game
Me
Me
ASJ should be our DB2 and Darius Slay should be moved TO THE FUCKING SLOT LIKE I'VE SAID SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE FUCKING SEASON.
No
H
H
O- line
The Steelers biggest problem over the last several years has been the QB position!!!!! the Steelers have been in playoffs and draft position has not been high enough to get a quality QB!!! they passed on the best multiple year opportunity to get a quality QB like JAXSON DART–massive missed chance!!!!! it doesn't look like they will get a quality QB this without giving up massive picks for a top 3 QB. Biggest missed pick in years. maybe a Dan Marino missed pick !!
I don’t think so didn’t fit in the offense
I see everyplay that the steelers receivers dont run routes to get open . SO TO CRITICIZE GEORGE PICKENS THAT HE DID NOT RUN ROUTES TO GET OPEN OR DID NOT RUN ROUTES IF THE BALL ISNT GOING TO HIM IS UNFAIR! GEORGE PICKENS IS A TOO 5 RECEIVER IN NFL AND IS HAVING A GOOD YEAR! WHO DID STEELERS GIVE UP! NOT MUCH!
YES IT WAS A BAD TRADE BECAUSE EVEN WHILE COVERED PICKENS CAN MAKE A PLAY IF THE BALL IS THROWN TO HIM WHILE ANY STEELER RECIVEBIN TODAYS LINEUP CANT MAKE A PLAY WHILE BEING COVERED AND THAT INCLUDES DK METCALF!
It’s just the o line everything starts with the line
He needed to be GONE, said he was a diva before he was a diva
Where the heck is Valdez ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I watch your videos everyday bee a STeeler fan for over 50 years 😂
Every time I read the steelers comments they are 98 percent negative even when we do good we are not the only team that has issues but for some reason people and the media doesn't care they said 8 teams that are trying to reach the playoffs out of the 8 only two won't make it guess who the steelers is one of them and Chicago is the other I'm starting to think maybe everyone would be happy if the steelers was not around anymore that way no one would say anything would i just don't understand why everyone hates this team so much even when they do good there are 32 teams with ups and downs for some reason this team bothers people
O line stinks!!!!
Over paid defensive players, earn your DAMN money
And yes getting rid of George Perkins was a brutal move the worst move. You dealt with Antonio Brown's bulshit for 5 years you could have put up with George Pickens till his contract ran out
Lmao talk abt cope with the Pickens talk
Yeahhh this was good still a good trade
Lmao guys on pace for 1400 yards and 12 tds. GP was right, our offense sucks, qb is terrible, coach is terrible. All he had to do was go to a reasonable modern offense not cucked by Tomlin and look at him. lmao
And the cowboys stink? They are 4-5-1 and didn’t have ceedee for like 3-4 games. Please Sperry do better
Someone in here said that Jackson Dart isn't that good, but Mason Rudolph is an NFL qb. You need to get drug tested.
Cutt the cancer cell.. Dallas will alsobreak in contract year. looks good now, but time will tell..
ME
Not sure what you guys are talking about but George Pickens trade was the worst trading in the NFL history. It was a dumbest thing. The Steelers could’ve done stop acting like it ain’t.
Give them up for only a third round pick is what made it the worst trade in the NFL history you could’ve waited till midseason and then traded them off and got more for him this year instead of doing an off season
ME
Who can tell me she’s lying though
The Steelers are still suffering "POST TRAUMATIC STRESS" from their relationship with Antonio Brown. I don't think they are putting up with any immature bullshit anymore.
He never had a QB in the Burgh and he benefits from having another WR
Real one 1️⃣
I'm over the GP drama, what's done is done and we've got a ton of picks next draft. That GP pick will be a good one for the Khan artist. The way the ball gets spread around so much will mean GP won't get the number of targets he wants so the drama would continue to poison the locker room
Real One
Dave from Stuart Florida
It was a good trade!! We needed the draft picks!! You can't predict the future!! Who thought GP wasn't going to be good with a Franchise QB like Dak!! Pittsburgh is more equipped for future! We are good!