Pittsburgh Steelers Fans Get Some BIG Trade News Going Into Week 9 vs. The Colts
[Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] D. [Music] Dick. [Music] Welcome in to the Steelers Talk live show. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. Thank you guys so much for joining me here on a beautiful Thursday evening. We got a bunch of great Steelers content to get to here to fill out your guys’s afternoon. First up, the latest Steelers news and rumors. Kyle Duggar is in Pittsburgh. He practiced today. He’s going to be wearing the number 29. I’ve got the latest surrounding him, whether or not he’s going to play this week versus the Indianapolis Colts. Plus, a Steelers legend uh breaks down how he thinks he can fix or he could or what he would do to fix the Steelers defense. Then, we’ll get into some NFL trade deadline rumors. We’ve got the latest buzz surrounding what Omar Khan could be cooking up before Tuesday’s deadline. And then of course, as we do every single week on Thursdays, I’m going to be answering your Steelers questions on the weekly Steelers Talk mailbag. This time for week nine. So, if you guys want to get your questions on the show, if there’s something you want to ask me, if there’s something you want to get up on screen here that you want me to address, use Steelers down there in the comments section if you haven’t already. Uh, if you guys use Steelers, um, then our producer today is going to be able to see that um, and get you into the mailbag for free today. And then every single person that super chats a question on today’s show is guaranteed to be on the mailbag. So if you want to make sure your question gets on the mailbag today, super chat any dollar amount, $2, $5, $10, it doesn’t matter. If you donate any of your money to this channel, we are going to make sure to get you on the mailbag here this afternoon. So I want to see who the real ones are down there in the comments section. Spam those me. If you’ve liked the stream for a shout out, I see Henry Jolly here. I got Darwin Nolan. I’ve got Dexter Davis. I’ve got Leante uh Taylor. I’ve got Brandon Ga uh Gayy. Uh we’ve got my lovely fiance Cassie Vote. We’ve got Jeremy Chugs here. Uh he’s he’s he’s to say here we go Steelers. We go. There we go. We’ve got Ali the Reaper here. Electric Divergent. We’ve got AJ, Big Dog, Zar, Craig, Fluffy. I mean, you can if you want to. Uh, somebody give Chug some work to do, man. We got Fluffy, we’ve got Trent, we got Keith, we got Pizza is goated, Aante, we got Kyle, Trent, Steel, Eli, we’ve got um, Big Ben. What’d you order for dinner? Prmancy Bros for dinner in Dallas. All right. You special order it from Pittsburgh. Okay, there we go. You fly it in. uh that only costs, you know, $2,000. Uh we got Javon, we’ve got Chad Ryan, C4, Douglas, we’ve got uh David Cook, Moto Jensen’s here, Douglas Ball, we’ve got Javon, a G05C4, we’ve got Stephen, we’ve got uh Roy, got a good crew of Steelers fans ready to get things going. If there’s a Steelers topic that you guys want to discuss on the show today, guys, just a just a little reminder here. If you guys want to guarantee your question gets on the show and you want to put your comment right next to me on screen, you guys can super chat any dollar amount. But if you uh want to just put in your question for free today, you guys can use Steelers for a chance to get on the mailbag today. Um uh the the live show is not is not sponsored there. There, Sammy. This shows you this. Can they hear you? Okay. Uh so uh if you guys want to get those super chats in, we greatly appreciate Justin Yankusi coming in with the first super chat of the day. Greatly appreciate you. Um and come on, Samuel. Let’s let’s let’s get it rolling here, man. All right, we’ve got a lovely intern here that has been an amazing force for Chat Sports over the years. one of my personal um mentors here at Chad Sports is joining us here today in the producer chair because Ponzi is actually getting married uh tomorrow. So, shout out to Ponzi if he’s watching. Uh we got him we got us flipped here uh Sam Brown, but uh you know that’s okay. We’re good. Oh, there we’re good. We’re good now. Sam, how we doing today? Thanks for stepping in into the producer chair. Um he’s a Broncos fan, but you guys can live with him for a day. You know, I think it was funny that you said, what was it? Intern Sam. He’s been a great mentor to me through all the years. Um, yeah, I’ll take I’ll take intern title. I feel like an intern today. I feel like we’re back to day one learning how to build graphics, putting shows together, uh, constantly being on deadline. Not getting any of my stuff, Tom. We’re It’s It’s a fun time. It’s Friday. It’s almost the weekend here at the Chat Sports offices, and so there’s no way to get after it. It’s Thursday. Well, it’s it’s it’s chat sports Friday. It’s chat sports Friday. I call it first Friday. Yeah, first Friday. I mean, that’s a good name for it right there. First Friday. But you but you say are a Broncos fan which is okay you know you know for for the day we can have a Broncos fan but like but you guys saw the Indianapolis Colts um in week I believe it was week two right or week three um and you you guys took a tough loss uh little little leverage call at the end there. What what was your what was your takeaway watching that game in Danny Dimes? Um, I mean, the Colts certainly are a good team, and I don’t think anyone necessarily expected that when you went into it, but I think that if you make them one-dimensional, you can find some success. And granted, that’s a lot easier said than done because the way to make him one-dimensional is to stop Jonathan Taylor, who’s the offensive player of the year to this point. So, um, that’s not easy by any means, but I did think Denver had a front seven to at least mitigate it a little bit, um, and make Daniel Jones make plays. And in the end, he made just enough plays to get him in range. And then you got a call and then you got a call. I think was it was it the Colts missed a kick but it was leverage. Was that the call? And then they then they made the then those 15 yards and then they made the field goal. You see it you see it once a year most of the time it doesn’t even matter. And you and you saw it in the fourth quarter of a game. Yeah. Just classic Broncos right there. But hey but hey they’re they’re what six and two right now. They’re they’re they’re doing all right. Haven’t lost since. They’d be the number one seed in the conference right now though if you just get that call. Yeah. That was the catalyst. Bo Nick Knicks looks good. Whenever he looks good he’s on fire. Yeah, whenever he looks bad, it’s like, “Oh my god, get send him to another planet.” At least you got that defense to keep you in ball games, though. So, everyone, spam those Sams in the chat. We appreciate Sam for uh for stepping in today for Ponzi. Ponzi will be back for the Sunday uh watch party, though, just so you guys know. Um so, spam Ponzi, too, for getting married. Yeah, I mean, Ponzi’s getting married. He’s going to be back by Sunday. I mean, tell me how sad this is. You’re about to get married. Uh Xavier, who just turned 21, is about to get married, correct? I’m 27 and I’m nowhere close. Hey man, you’re you’re the Ted Mosby of the uh of the office here. No, I’m the uh I’m the Robin Shabbotsky. I care too much about work. I spend too much time at the office. I don’t have any time for myself. I care too much. Yeah. So that’s why I’m not married yet. There you go. But you’re not Canadian. So you’re you’re an even better version of Rock. So I love America. So yeah, actually why would I be Canadian? It’s actually one of my favorite shows. I was watching the Viking Bar episode the other day where Marshall’s going damn for the Vikings. I’m just like that that is just so perfect. Anderson in the NFC Championship game. Exactly. Damn. Gary Anderson. Uh okay, man. We’re going to get into our first uh uh segment on the day here, guys. We got over 300 people watching the show already. So, I’m not going to make you guys wait any longer. We’ve got our Oh, that’s right. We did get our first super chat. So, let’s get to Justin’s super chat here before we get uh before we get into the first segment of the day. Justin, thank you for the $2. says, “Why is why is Tomlin delusional about this defense?” I don’t know, man. I think Tomlin’s one of these guys that like really appreciates veteran talent and he overestimates how good older players still are. Like, I think he thought he was going to be getting prime Darius Slay, prime Jaylen Ramsay, and you’re just going to be able to man up every single defense and there wasn’t going to be jack [ __ ] that they could do about it. But instead, you know, Ramsay and Slay aren’t as quick twitch and as fast as they used to be. They can, you know, especially Ramsay can still be a good player in my opinion and has shown some good things, but man, Slay can’t cover anybody in man. He he he’s had multiple coverage busts in zone this year. Can’t tackle. Like, it’s just there’s just the things that Darius Slay cannot do are stacking up at this point. And uh there’s some reports out there that the Steelers are thinking about playing James Pierre over him against the Colts this weekend. It’s really a sad state of affairs because Darius Slay was was he not the one that made the game game- clinching interception earlier on in the season? Makes some early splash plays and then it’s quickly how quickly things fall apart. No, now he’s been bad all year. Again, this is why you don’t put me on the week the the live show just out of nowhere. I’m sorry to the Steelers fans. This is why we don’t put the Broncos fan on Steelers talk. I didn’t I didn’t do I didn’t educate myself enough. Didn’t have time. Who would have thought? Exact. Exactly. The Steelers have honestly not gotten too many uh a lot of fumbles this year at the beginning portion of the season, but not not too many interceptions as of late. Hopefully they can turn it around. Chad coming in with a $2 super shut up over here. Yeah, you Yeah, you can just you can just shut the mic off over there. Sam says, “Will Dante Kent play this year?” Probably not if I’m being honest with you. Um Jaylen Ramsay’s the starting slot corner and if they do move him to safety then Brandon Eckles will probably play in there. Um, and then you know, who knows if Dante Kent is even above Beanie Bishop Jr. on the depth chart. Like I I don’t know the answers to those questions. So, uh, I would say Dante probably has a very, uh, there’s at least a couple more steps here of people that need to be injured before Dante is even considered, uh, to play, but I know the team likes him. I think they like the developmental upside of him. He tested really well, um, in in the in the pre-draft process this year, so made some plays at Central Michigan. So, who knows if he ends up getting a shot at some point, but I would say the chances of him getting that shot this year are pretty darn low. Now, just a reminder, guys, we will be doing our live watch party on Sunday. An hourong pregame show followed by live playbyplay and a live analysis of the game and then of course extensive postgame show for Steelers versus Colts. So, if you guys want to join us for that, that’s when we’re going to be live next. It all starts Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. So, greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. Last week we had over 200,000 people tune in to our Steelers talk watch party for Sunday Night Football. Hopefully we can have an even better uh day here on Sunday. Now, let’s get into our first segment of the day here. First up, the latest Steelers news and rumors from the south side of Pittsburgh. It was Kyle Duggar’s first day in Pittsburgh after the trade between the Steelers and Patriots was made official uh earlier this morning. Uh then we’re going to get into a segment regarding the latest trade rumors surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers before the NFL trade deadline. And then of of course get your questions down there. Hashtag Steelers down there in the live chat room uh for the week nine mailbag. Uh so without further ado, let’s get into our first segment of the day, the latest Steelers news and rumors. [Music] Tonight on Steelers Talk, we’ve got a lot of Steelers news and rumors to talk about on today’s show. First up, defensive coordinator Terrell Austin talks about Kyle Duggar and then the state of the Steelers defense earlier today in the south side of Pittsburgh. I’m going to let let you know on my thoughts on what he had to say. Then a former Pittsburgh Steeler, Super Bowl champion and former NFL head coach and Super Bowl champion as a head coach. Uh Tony Dunie went on the Cam Hayward podcast and he kind of detailed his plan for what he would do to address the Steelers defensive struggles and how to fix this Steelers defense. And then Aaron Rogers talked to the media yesterday about some wide receivers. Roman Wilson, the secondyear receiver out of Michigan, and then his longtime buddy Marquez Valdez Scaning that apparently is going to be signing with the Steelers next week on the practice squad. We’ll be breaking down all this and more on today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Now, before we get into the content, I’d appreciate if you guys follow me on X and support me on that platform as well. That’s where I do all my film analysis, guys. We can’t put it up here on YouTube, but I can put it up on X. So, if you guys want to uh check me out on X, uh put out daily updates on there, uh channel updates as well, and then whenever there’s breaking news uh items surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers, I get my instant reaction on X. So, if you guys want that uh extra content from me on on social media, you can go tojack_sperry and follow me on X. So, today was Kyle Duggar’s first day in Pittsburgh. Of course, the trade was executed officially uh this morning between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. and he will officially wear the number 29. He was a participant in practice today. He was seen chatting it up with his former Patriots teammate Jabril Peppers. It was good to see number 29 out there uh the first time in black and gold even though it was just his practice uniform, but it’s still nice to see him. Uh and then Terrell Austin says that Pittsburgh and this coaching staff is doing everything that they can to ramp him up to play this week versus the Indianapolis Colts in any capacity that they that they can. Now, we’ll see just how much he can get ramped up in this kind of shorter period. Uh, you know, we what we saw from Jabril Peppers when he signed back in week two is that they didn’t even give him a helmet that first week and he ended up playing that second week versus the New England Patriots. Uh, but it seems like the Steelers are really dead set on getting uh Duggar uh, you know, out there. Um, and even if it’s just special teams, even if it’s just a couple different formations and and and personnel groupings, uh, expect to see Kyle Duggar in some capacity on the field on Sunday. or at least that’s the way it sounds. Uh based on what Austin was saying today, Mike DeFabo from the Athletic said today, the the the defensive coordinator Taylor Austin said that the Steelers will have a quote unquote contingency plan though if Kyle Duggar isn’t up to speed by Sunday. He mentioned Jabril Peppers is another candidate to play strong safety. Chuck Clark, unfortunately, is the other option. So, it certainly doesn’t sound like Jaylen Ramsay is an option at safety. is something that I’ve suggested on some previous shows this week that something that I would do. Uh because, you know, you’re going up against Tyler Warren this week and you need somebody that can that’s that’s big enough, physical enough, and good enough in coverage to be able to cover up a dynamic tight end threat like Tyler Warren is. And uh you know, if if I have a choice between Kyle Duggar, Jabril Peppers, Chuck Clark, Juan Thornnehill, all the other options at safety on this current Steelers roster, I’m hoping Jabril Peppers is the guy that’s lined up versus Warren. Peppers can still do a good job guarding tight ends in man-to-man. Uh whereas I think Duggar, you know, not only is he new to this scheme, and I don’t know, don’t don’t know if I want somebody so new to the scheme to be guarding up uh one of the better receiving weapons for the Indianapolis Colts this week, but also I really trust Jr. Pepper’s ability uh to guard uh tight end. So hopefully that’s the plan heading into the week. I guess we’ll see if Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin are smart enough to realize that. Now, in terms of how I would line up this defense, now if Cory Trice Jr., this is contingent on if Cory Trice Jr. is actually healthy today. He was actually a limited participant in practice, so it looks like he’s injured again. Uh, but that would be, you know, in terms of pure talent, the guy that I would prefer to have out there. You know, you got Joey Porter Jr. I would want him on Michael Pitman Jr. using those long arms to kind of jam him and not allow him to get open to the short and intermediate levels of the field. Cory Trice has really good speed, so I’d have him run with the deep threat. Alec Pierce, Brandon Eckles on the shifty slot guy, Josh DS, and then I would put Jaylen Ramsey on Tyler Warren with Jabril Pepper’s playing free safety. But what I’m expecting out there on Sunday is I think Jaylen’s actually going to be playing on the outside playing against Michael Pitman Jr. They’re going to put Joey Porter Jr. on Alec Pierce. I do think they’ll put Eckles on Josh DS and then I think or at least I hope they put Jabril Peppers that strong safety to take to take on Tyler Warren with Juan Thornnehill uh getting a getting maybe his last chance to prove what he can do as the starting free safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I certainly will take Thornhill over Chuck Clark at this point at that free safety spot. But then Nick Farah uh from Penn Live reported this who was at the D who was at Terra Lawson’s press conference today saying on trying to slow down the quick game success against the Steelers. Terrell Austin says the team has to quote unquote mix up its coverages in different ways, but they also have to be better in man-to-man on some of these reps. Well, you know, Terrell, something else that would help in man-to-man coverage is if you don’t play these guys 10 to 12 yards off the line of scrimmage. All right? Like how many times have we seen on the Steelers film this year, guys, where we’re playing man-to-man, it’s very clear we’re playing man-to-man, but we have at least one corner playing 10 to 12 yards off of the receiver. All right? And they just run like a little quick route or a little, you know, slant route or a little, you know, shallow cross and the quarterback can just get him the football right away. I mean, it seems like every single game there’s like five or six examples of quarterbacks just being able to get the ball out super fast because of the way the Steelers are lining up. Okay. And it that’s coaching. That’s that’s you know the game plan. That’s Terara Lawson. That’s Mike Tomlin. And you know obviously you got to mix it up. Obviously you know you got to do better in man. But you also have to put your guys in positions to succeed. And it’s very clear right now that Terra Austin and Mike Tomlin do not trust their older corners especially Jaylen Ramsay. Um you know Chuck Clark who’s not corner but he’s a safety but he play but they play him in man coverage. Darius Slay they play them in off coverage so often. Um, and they do not trust them in press because I think they realize that they’re not fast players. So, if they play them in press, you are really, really uh, you know, risking those guys getting burned down the field. But at the same time, if you play them in off coverage and you’re playing, man, like these quarterbacks can just get it out super quickly. And if we can’t tackle, it’s going to lead to some really, really big gains after the catch. Um, so I just don’t understand why you call so many man-free blitzes. All right. I I I don’t understand why you do it if you don’t trust your corners to hold up one-on-one in press coverage. There’s no reason to play man-free. So, why are we calling it almost 30 freaking% of the time? It makes absolutely zero sense to me. And you know, you know what you do when you don’t have fast corners that can hold up with people and press man? You play zone. Okay? And this that’s what this defense needs to be. All right? And you need to mix up your looks. You have to do what you know modern defenses do and you rotate post snap and you do all those things. And frankly, that’s some of the best stuff Tara Lawson and Mike Tomlin do is their postnap rotations into non-traditional Tampas into non-traditional cover three looks. All right, that’s some of the best stuff that this coaching staff does. And instead of doing that, um, which really fits the personnel of this team better, they decide to keep running these man concepts when they just don’t have the personnel to do it. And then not only that, but they’re putting them in a position to fail by playing them in off coverage when playing that man coverage. So, Terra Austin, Mike Tomlin, they got to figure it out. But let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. What is the biggest liability on the Steelers defense right now? Is it the play caller, Taylor Austin, type TA? Do you think it’s Darius Slay on the outside? Type DS. Do you think it’s Juan Thornhill at free safety? Type JT. Or do you think it’s Chuck Clark, type CC, down there in the comments section? This will be the pin comment on today’s show. So, in just a second here, I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at GLD. And while I’m talking about GLD here, let me know your pick down there in the comments section. All right, fellas, let’s be real. Buying men’s jewelry used to be an absolutely a nightmare. And frankly, in many places, it still is. It was lowquality junk that snapped after a week or it was an insanely overpriced piece with ridiculous markups. That’s why I rock with GLD. They’ve changed the game completely in the men’s jewelry space. 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Use code chat to get 50% off plus a free chain at gl.com. That’s 50% off and a free chain with code chatgld.com. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. A big shout out to GLD for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. So this week, the host on the Cam Hayward podcast, Not just Football Podcast, uh had Tony Dunie, a Steelers legend, former, you know, defensive player here during the glory days of, you know, the Steelers dynasty in the 70s and then of course, you know, legendary head coach as well for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. Um, and Cam in and his co-host asked Tony about what he would do and what what his thoughts are on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, what’s going wrong, and how uh he would go about fixing it. And this is what coach Dunie had to say. I’m seeing just a little bit of breakdowns in just the key situations. Communication in the back end, gap control, getting off your blocks, taking care of your business upfront. It’s close, but it’s just not there yet. And that’s what’s got to come for me. I learned it from coach null 40 years ago playing in Pittsburgh. He would say, quote, “There’s no magic formula. There’s no night that’s going to come in on a white horse. We have to do what we do.” Unquote. For me, I learned I learned it. And he would always tell the coaches, “If we’re struggling, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to do less. We’re not going to create more stuff. We’re not going to add stuff. Let’s cut back and make sure we know exactly what we’re doing.” Sometimes you got to do that. The Steelers have some new guys in the lineup, especially in the secondary, guys that are talented, but they haven’t played together. You want to be able to go out and play fast and play free, and I think that’s what they need to do. And for me, a lot of the times it was uh less it was it was let’s cut down, let’s simplify. Now, I both agree and disagree with certain elements of Dunie’s argument here. I think where he where coach Dunie is right is that the Steelers’s communication on the back end in particular in the secondary is clearly too much for these players to handle and you know there’s been you know consistent miscommunication in terms of how to pass off you know certain rub concepts and you know bunches and stacks and they just haven’t been able to sort those things out at a consistent rate this year. Um, and it absolutely needs to be fixed and you have to find something that works that gets these guys to play at a high level and you find their assignments correctly and not leave guys wide ass open like we’ve seen quite frankly uh over the last, you know, really a full season long dating back to last year when the defense had their collapse. But I think where coach Dunie’s wrong is that, you know, he suggests, you know, potentially playing like three defenses in two fronts. um you know, it was one of the suggestions he gave and it’s like you just can’t play that vanilla in the National Football League. Unless you play a lot of man and unless you have the horses to be able to play man, you really shouldn’t be playing man at that high of a rate. Um you know, the modern NFL, these quarterbacks know exactly, you know, what how to beat every single type of coverage. And you know, they’re really smart and fast processors. So, if you just go out and like static cover three and you play it all game, you know, and you just simplify in that way, you’re going to get absolutely toasted in the National Football League. Um, and as we’ve discussed, Pittsburgh can’t guard people in man. All right, especially with the current set of quarterbacks that they’re starting with Darius Slay, Jaylen Ramsey. I mean, Joey Porter Jr. is actually doing a pretty decent job in man-to-man coverage right now, but he’s missing assignments. He’s not tackling in the run game. He’s missing run uh fit assignments as well. you know, Joey’s had, you know, certainly his struggles, uh, since coming back from his injury in terms of doing the right things. Um, but certainly, you know, in terms of the man coverage aspect, the Steelers really struggle in that regard. And my take on the situation is that, you know, certainly the Steelers need to do something to make it more simple for these people in the secondary to communicate whatever their system is to communicate who’s got what assignment and whatever. It’s too complicated and, you know, it’s not working, right? because we’re seeing too many coverage busts in that way. So, you have to make it simpler for the defensive backfield, but you also want to find that right mix where you’re also making it complex for the offense to figure out what you’re in. You know, you still want to be able to do those post snap rotations when you’re playing zone. You still want to be able uh to mix things up with your defensive front and and make the quarterback think how many people are blitzing, how many people are are coming on this on this rush right now. You know, you want to be able to make it complex for the offense to figure out while making it simple for your defense so that they can play fast and free like Coach Dunie points out. Now, make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. If you are enjoying today’s show, really does help out the YouTube algorithm. Uh when you click that thumbs up icon, tells the YouTube algorithm that you’re enjoying our show here. Um so, just make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. So, yesterday Aaron Rogers uh talked to the media and he had some very interesting things to say. First about Marquez Valdez Scaning who reportedly could be signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers next week apparently. And this is what Rogers had to say about his good friend MVS. I love MVS. I’ve always enjoyed playing with him. He’s one of my favorite teammates of all time. He is a really special guy and I think MVS can still really play. You saw last year when he was in New Orleans, he had opportunities. He had a lot of big touchdowns. He can still really run. I think MVS wants to be on an active roster. So if there wasn’t an opportunity here for that then I guess he’s waiting for some for something else but I don’t fault him. I love MVS whether he is here or somewhere else. I’m always pulling for him. Now u just keep in mind here that we did get an update from Jordan Schulz a couple days ago about what the likely thing is going to be happening here. Uh because Mike Tomlin said that there was no deal imminent with MVS. So Jordan Schultz clarified saying the Steelers deal with Marquez Valdis Scantling is expected to be signed next week per source. and his source, guys, is likely MVS’s agent. Uh, it’s usually where these guys get their information from. So, my best guess uh for why MVS is not signing his contract this week is that he’s waiting to see what the Steelers do before the deadline. All right. I’m sure that, you know, they probably wanted maybe a couple of assurances from Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin that they weren’t going to trade for like a Jacobe Myers or Rasheed Shahed if he was to sign a contract in Pittsburgh because like Rogers says, he wants to be on an active roster. Um, and I’m sure the Steelers gave him no such asurances. So he’s like, “All right, I’ll sign with you guys, but I want to see what happens before Tuesday.” So I think that’s probably what’s going on right now. If the Steelers trade for a Jacobe Myers, maybe they don’t end up signing MVS. Maybe he does come back and, you know, he does sign with the practice squad regardless. Who knows what’s going to happen at this point, but at this point in time, MVS is not a Pittsburgh Steeler. Uh, and that’s the takeaway that you should take out of that as of right now. But then Aaron Rogers also took the time to really praise uh his young wide receiver in this wide receiver room, Roman Wilson, who has really uh you know come on pretty strong over the last three weeks uh including a really good 75 yard performance last week where he led the team in receiving yards and got his first ever NFL touchdown. What Rogers had to say about Roman and his progression as a player. I told Roman last Wednesday, it’s going to be your week this week. I just got a feeling. And then Thursday, he had his best practice of the season. Even in that, there was still three or four real coachable moments. So, I told Roman, I’ve I’ve liked him since the first time we’ve got to know each other back in Malibu. And I told him back then, I’m going to coach you to your potential and not to what I’m seeing. So, I’m going to hold him to a high standard. And I was really proud of him in the game for a couple of reaction plays that he made. We just need to see consistency from him. But, it starts in practice. And I thought Thursday was a really good practice for him. And today he had another nice practice and I was really in a game sit even in a game situation uh or you might in even in a game situation get so enamored with what a guy’s doing who’s around the ball getting targeted but a lot of times things that happen in the succeeding weeks are because of things you’ve seen on film on the backside of plays where a guy’s not getting the ball and you see the detail in the craft in the routes. the other day Roman got the ball on Thursday on a number of plays and that was positive. But there were some other routes on the backside when he didn’t get the ball where you started to see some of the craft show up, some of the detail in the routes that gives you confidence that you can trust. And so that’s what it is. So it certainly doesn’t sound like Aaron Rogers feels like that the Steelers need to add another wide receiver. It seems like he’s really developing a high level of trust in Roman Wilson. And then Wilson is starting to kind of turn a corner here in terms of his attention to detail, in terms of how he’s running his routes, how, you know, he’s connecting with Aaron Rogers, how he’s seeing the field through Rogers’s eyes, um, and and building that connection on the field with QB1. So, I think a big downside to potentially going out and getting a Jacobe Meyers or a Calvin Ridley or like a legit number two receiver before the trade deadline, guys, is that you would pretty much have to bench Roman Wilson because this team really likes Calvin Austin the third as well. Rogers actually praised Calvin yesterday in his media availability as well and I just don’t see them uh you know benching Calvin Austin the third at this point. So if you do get a Jacobe Myers that’s going to delegate Roman Wilson to wide receiver for duties and unless there’s another injury he’s going to be on the bench for the foreseeable future and it doesn’t sound like Aaron Rogers uh would really love to see that because there is a building chemistry between those two and I would love to see that continue to grow as the season goes on. So what’s you guys? Let me know down there in the comments section. Should Pittsburgh trade for a veteran wide receiver 2 before the trade deadline? Give me a yes if you think that or type no if you think that they should stick with Roman Wilson as their wide receiver three heading into the rest of the season. That’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers News and Rumors. Guys, thank you so much for stopping by today. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, here we go, Steelers. First segment in the books. Uh coming up next, we’ve got the latest trade buzz surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh so you’re not going to want to go anywhere. We got over 600 people watching live right now. Fantastic numbers for Yeah, exactly. Uh oh is right. This is I think this is might be the biggest audience we’ve had uh on a mid midweek live show in quite some time. So thank you to everybody that’s uh here watching with us. We got some super chats to get to. U we’ll hit those. And don’t forget guys, we will be doing a mailbag later today. Um, we got one more segment, then we’ll get into your question. So, use Steelers if you got a question uh down there in the comments section. And, you know, if Sam likes your question enough, don’t blame me if your question doesn’t get put on there. You know, it’s up to Sam. What do we uh what do we think about showing some love to our first two super chatters? Justin and Chad both had decent questions, right, for the mailbag down if I circle back through those. Exactly. Let’s do those. Um, and actually I want every every person that super chats that has a question, put them on the mailbag for sure. Okay. Um, so we got $10 from Rad Doctor. Shout out to Rad. Uh, one of the coolest uh profile pictures of this community, Sam. I I don’t know if you noticed what what what the Is that Spider-Man? Yeah, it’s uh what is it? Is it It’s some It’s one of the variants of Spider-Man, but it’s in the Spider-Man universe. I can’t remember what it is, but um yes, it’s somewhat Spider-Man. Big fan. Big fan of somewhat Spider-Man. Uh, and $10 from Alex L says, “Supporting the best Steelers Sports Talk.” I appreciate you, Alex. One of the one of the real ones right there. Always donating to the channel. Always showing his love. And again, guys, if you want to get your question on the mailbag, you can donate any dollar amount. $2, $5, $10, doesn’t really matter. Uh, but if you have a question that you really want to get on the show, make sure you super chat. Um, so we can get you on the mailbag today. Uh, otherwise if you use hashtag Steelers, you could get on the show, but it’s kind of up to Sam. So, uh, I don’t know if you want to put yourself thing. I I don’t know if you want to put yourself up to to Sam’s judgment there. You know, it’s it’s an easy scapegoat for you to take, and I don’t blame you in the slightest. But the truth is, if if we get a million questions, I’m going to try and get you a million answers. The one thing I do know for a fact is if you super chat, you’re going to get right to the front of the line. And I like to make this guarantee every single time I’m on a live show, which it’s been a minute, but if we get a super chat during the mailbag within 60 seconds, as long as you stop talking when I need you to stop talking, okay, we will get you on screen within 60 seconds. All right, great stuff. Um, by the way, Rad Doctor is Carnage, not Spider-Man. It’s Carnage. So, I guess that’s one of Ah, yes. yes, yes. Yes. So, I think that’s kind of like the Deadpool version kind of deal. No, no, no. It’s I think it’s one of the variants. Like I didn’t make my way too deep into the comic book side, but uh me neither. I’ve played a couple of the Spider-Man PlayStation games to know that there’s it’s a variance from uh Multiverse, you know. Okay, cool. Uh so shout out to uh Mr. Rad Doctor always donating to the show. All right, let’s get into our next segment here, guys. NFL trade deadline rumors. We’re going to be talking about the latest buzz. Could the Steelers trade away Darius Slay? Could they bring in Buddha Baker? Is that a possibility? We got some interesting, juicy trade rumors to talk about on today’s show. And of course, we still got that mailbag coming up here pretty darn soon. Um, sorry, Sam. I got to get my script ready here. All right, there we go. We got it. All right, let’s get into our next segment of the day. The latest Steelers trade rumors are coming at you right now. Today on Steelers Talk, we are breaking down the latest juicy trade rumors surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers as the NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching. It’s coming up next Tuesday already, guys. And the clock is ticking for the con artist to make a move. And when and if Omar Khan strikes again, they’ve already traded for Kyle Duggar. Could they make another move? It’s certainly possible. And if that happens, make sure you are subscribed because if the con artist strikes, we are going to be giving you guys a video. And if it’s a bigname wide receiver, for example, or one of the big names we talk about on today’s show, we’re going to make sure to go live for that show. Okay? So, make sure you click that subscribe button to never miss a big move that the con artist makes this season. All right? So, the first thing that I want to talk about here is actually a trade candidate for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where ESPN’s Brook Prior has named quarterback Darius Slay as a potential player that the Pittsburgh Steelers could trade before the NFL deadline. Uh it was in an article where each uh respective reporter for each team was asked to give some answers as to what players could they acquire, which players could be dealt elsewhere. And Prior’s answer for the for the trade candidate question was Darius Slay. This is what she had to say. He was part of the Steelers’s secondary overhaul in the offseason, but he hasn’t panned out. Slay, who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles a year ago, has been a significant part of recurring issues like missed tackles, miscom communication, and being out of position. So, listen, man. Like, Slay’s film is so bad this year that I don’t know if there’s a lot of teams that would frankly want him. He’s the oldest starting quarterback in the league by multiple years at this point, and he doesn’t look fast. He’s not doing his job correctly, all that different stuff. But if the Steelers can find a sucker to take him, they should absolutely unload him. Okay, because right now he is, you know, listed as the number two corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers and um all that stuff. But, you know, Jaylen Ramsay is not going anywhere. You know, he’s under contract for multiple years and he’s actually a pretty darn good slot corner. Um and Joey Porter Jr. even though he’s still developing, you know, he’s still really good and pressed man. So, you know, they’re going to keep rolling with him. Uh but, you know, you look at this depth chart and like Brandon Eckles has played a lot better than Darius Slay in my my opinion on film. I I would even, you know, think about putting James Pierre out there over Darius Slay at this point, which is saying something. And Cory Trice Jr., even though he’s dealing with some injuries, trying to get uh off of IR, uh, you know, if he can get off IR and get into the lineup, you know, he’s got long arms, he’s got speed, he’s got a lot of physical tools, uh, that could be very beneficial for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, if you get rid of Darius, you still have Brandon Eckles and Cory Trice Jr. and James Pierre to keep the kind of ship afloat for the rest of the season. And then if you really wanted to, the Steelers could look to uh, you know, the free agency market and bring in, you know, another old guy, Stefon Gilmore, if they wanted to. Maybe Sante Samuel Jr. will sign with somebody soon. Maybe they could go get him or they could trade for somebody before the deadline. Uh, but we’ll talk about some of those options later in today’s show. But in terms of what the Steelers can get for Darius Slay, probably a seventh round pick. All right, because of how poorly he’s played on film to this point in the year, I don’t think there will be a huge market for him. and the teams that are interested in him um are probably not going to want to pay too much. A seventh round pick and maybe potentially a conditional seventh round pick depending on um you know what the team is and what they want to do there. But I think a potential sucker that Omar Khan could potentially bait into taking Darius Slay back is the Philadelphia Eagles. All right. Of course, Slay won a Super Bowl in Vic Fangio’s defense just last year as their number two outside corner, and they’ve really struggled at outside corner this year with Adori Jackson. And I know they just uh traded for Michael Carter, but he’s more of a slot guy. And I think that Carter’s more of a backup slot uh to Cooper Dean, who is their starting nickel right now. So, I think they could still technically use, you know, cornerback depth, especially on the outside. And because Slay very recently had success in that defense and they’re trying to get back to that to to that defense being, you know, that level good again, you know, it could make sense for the Eagles to still be interested in Darius Slay, especially for the low low price tag of just a seventh round pick. We know Howie Roseman loves to make inseason trades as well. So, this is something that, you know, if you’re able to get rid of Darius Slay, I would say the team that is by far the most likely to be interested and actually execute a trade with the Steelers before Tuesday’s deadline would be the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. Would you accept this trade if you were Steelers GM Omar Khan? Are you giving Darius Slay back to the Eagles in exchange for a seventh round pick? Give me an A for accept or D for decline. This will be the pin comment on today’s show in just a second here. Going to let you guys know about our sponsor today at prize picks. Well, I talk about prize picks. Type A for accept or D for decline. With that, let’s have word from our sponsor here at Prize Picks. And the hard-hitting football action this season uh is even better with prize picks. The weather uh might be changing outside, but the feeling of being right never gets old. 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And I’m taking the more on Josh Allen passing yard. So download the prize picks app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup with the free Prize Picks app today. Prize Picks, it’s good to be right. And now let’s talk about uh the DB market for the Pittsburgh Steelers and and you know, there’s a lot of talk right now about, oh, wide receivers, you know, we’re good at receiver, you know, our our our offense is playing well. What we really need is we need to get another DB. And of course, the Steelers just traded for a DB in safety Kyle Duggar, but there’s a lot of people out there that would like to trade for a quarterback to replace Darius Slay and or get a free safety to pair with Kyle Duggar. So, we can take a look at some of the cornerback trade targets that are currently available on the market. And honestly, there’s not a lot of great options. All right, Reek Woolen is probably the best, most established outside cornerback option, but you know, if you want somebody that can hold up in man coverage, Reek Woolen is really tight in his hips. And you know, when you face when he faces a really good route runner, he’s going to get lost. All right? And he’s not going to be able to keep up with the change of direction of these elite route runners in the league. Very stiff hips. He’s more of a true kind of cover three type of guy in my opinion. And unless the if the Steelers want to embrace a, you know, true cover three system, that’s fine by me. But that’s not what the Steelers run right now. So, I don’t know if I love the idea of adding Reek Woolen. Alante Taylor’s interesting. He’s he’s relatively young. He’s very physical. He’s played more in the nickel position, though, and that’s where the Steelers want to play Jaylen Ramsay. So, unless they want to move Ramsay outside, which honestly I don’t I don’t love that idea. I don’t know how I feel about the Elante Taylor idea. Same thing with Jaquan McMillan who’s more of a nickel player. Um, you know, don’t know know if I love that idea. Then Christian Fulton’s been a starter in this league for a while, but he’s never been like a legitimate good starter in my opinion. And he’s certainly not that right now for the Kansas City Chiefs. So, I think that the quarterback trade market right now is pretty barren. And I I I don’t know if I want to spend draft capital on any of these guys if I’m the Pittsburgh Steelers. And really, the only safety getting any talk right now, like we talked about it a couple days ago, the only guy that was getting talk was Kyle Duggar and the Steelers ended up getting him. Now, the guy that’s starting to get a little bit of steam is Buddha Baker. Now, I will say up off the top that he’s under contract for two more years after this year, and I don’t think the Cardinals are trying to necessarily give up on this season. They’ve lost a lot of football games, but they’ve been very competitive. I think they’ve lost all of their games this year within the last 30 seconds of the ball game. So, they’ve been very competitive, and Buddha is is a big part of why, you know, this defense has been okay at times this year. He’s still a high-end player at 29 years old, true free safety, one of the best free safeties in the history of the game. Seventime Pro Bowler, four-time AllPro, still has it, you know, still has extremely good instincts and speed and, you know, all that different stuff. Now, he’s approaching 30, so some of those physical attributes might begin to Wayne in the years to come. But I certainly think this is a fun idea. I mean, this this this would kind of hearken back to when the Steelers traded for Minka Fitzpatrick, even though Minka was a very young player at the time, uh, first round pick just the season prior. Um, you know, that kind of move to get an aggressive free safety that was a gamecher at the time completely changed the Steelers season. I mean, before they got Minka that season, they were one of the worst defenses in the league. And after they got Minka, once they got that piece in the middle of this defense, it completely changed, right? So getting a guy like Buddha, who I think is better than Minka is at this point in their respective careers, uh, super aggressive, hard hitter, all that stuff, it’s certainly a fun idea. However, I do think that the price tag to get him would be very, very high on the end of the Arizona Cardinals cuz like I said, I don’t think they’re giving up on their season at this point in time. Maybe if they lose this week, they will. Um, but you know, that’s been a very competitive football team to this point and I think they want to see what Jonathan Ganon can do as the head coach there. And if you trade away maybe their best defensive player on that side of the ball, that’s going to make that evaluation a little bit tougher. And I’d guess that they’d probably want like a day two pick if they’re going to unload Buddha Baker at this point. Now, in terms of like the pure player that Buddha is and the position that he plays being a lowv value position, I don’t know if that’s necessarily worth a second or a third round pick. And I also don’t think that the Steelers are too interested in dealing anything more than like a fourth round pick for players at the deadline. And I think they like the fact that they have four picks in the first three rounds and they want to save those picks to get some high-end young talent to fill this roster out next spring. So, you know, Buddha has had a pretty decent season to this point. Still has yet to get an interception, but he’s still flying around, still playing with good instincts, and teams are generally avoiding him in his area of the field. So, I mean, if you can if you can swing something, great. But I I probably wouldn’t hold my breath about a trade regarding Buddha Baker. Also, I’m pretty intrigued with what Derek Forest can bring to the table. I know, you know, people at home are probably laughing at me for saying that because, you know, Derrick Force has not been a starter in this league really since 2023 when he had that shoulder injury, but before that injury, man, he was such a good player in my opinion. He was all over the place making plays. He’s got good long speed and the shoulder injury is not going to affect that. He’s only 26 years old. He’s got really good ball skills, had four interceptions in 2022, nine PBUs, multiple forced fumbles. He’s a hard hitter. you know, if you’re looking for somebody to be a true free safety here in Pittsburgh, um, you know, down the stretch, I think Derrick Forest, if he can show some good things in practice in the weeks to come, could get a helmet, and then if he gets an opportunity to play, I would trust him more than Juan Thornnehill or Chuck Clark in that post safety spot. So, what’s your offer? Let me know down there in the comments section. How high of a draft pick would you trade for Buddha Baker? I think the Steelers would be willing to give up a fourth and maybe a player. Um, but that would be about it. Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. How high of a draft pick is Buddha Baker worth? Now, we’ll finish up here with some wide receiver talk. It’s very well known, guys, that the Pittsburgh Steelers are interested in Jacobe Meyers as kind of a big body, tough, good hands, kind of good technician as a route runner type of guy. Um, and I actually think the chances of the Steelers trading for Jacobe Meyers are pretty darn good at this point in time before Tuesday’s deadline. But if they miss out on Meyers, do not be surprised if the Steelers give a call to the San Francisco 49ers for Jawan Jennings. Now, I would rather have Meyers. I think Meyers is the slightly better player. But if you’re looking for that same mold of a bigger body type of, you know, good hands catcher, you know, good route runner type of guy that’s got a lot of experience playing in Shanahan style offenses, uh, you know, this is going to be one of the guys that fit that bill. So, this is what Nick Wagner from uh ESPN covers the 49ers for them had to say about Jennings potentially being dealt. The 49ers aren’t in a position to trade anybody as injuries have ravaged the roster, but Jennings could pop probably uh probably be had if things aligned a certain way. Those conditions would include the ners getting the likes of Brandon Iayuk with the knee injury and Ricky Pieraw with the knee injury back healthy and not losing any of their other healthy receivers to injury. Jennings is in the last year of his deal and requested a trade in training camp. Though he has had a down season amid a variety of his own injuries, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which the ners retain him after this season. Now listen, I will say that I also think that Jawan Jennings is probably going to be even less expensive than Jacobe Meyers. I think Meyers probably ends up going for anywhere between a fourth to a fifth round pick. And I would just downgrade that a little bit for a guy like Jawan Jennings to a fifth to a sixth round pick. Okay. Um, you know, I think they’re very similar types of players. I think Meyers might be slightly more dynamic than Jennings is, but with all the injuries that the 49ers had in the four in the wide receiver room last year, Jennings stepped up and had what the best season of his career. Like he was really really doing some good things. And if you’re looking for a great run blocker that can come in in 12 personnel, if you’re looking for somebody that can run good routes to the short and intermediate levels of the field, somebody that can catch the tough catches over the middle of the field, um you know, if you can’t get Jacobe Myers, Jawan Jennings might be your guy. Um and I think the price tag for him would be somewhere between a fifth and a sixth round pick. And that’s I think something that would be u perfectly fair. You know, the Pittsburgh Steelers have multiple draft picks um and a number of draft picks on day three. Um, so if the price tag to get Jennings is a fifth round pick and Jacobe Myers, say goes to the Buffalo Bills or the Denver Broncos or somewhere else, that is certainly a price tag I would be willing uh to pay. But some other potential wide receiver targets to keep your eye on here. Calvin Ridley. Um, I think that the chances of the Titans trading Ridley are better than people think. Their season’s completely done, and I’m not sure if they want to keep an expensive Calvin Ridley on the roster uh for multiple more seasons as they look to rebuild. Rasheed Shahed is a name that has been heavily uh linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Christian Kirk is a name that the Steelers were really interested in last year before the trade deadline. And if he can get that hamstring up to enough health, I think the Steelers might be interested in him. Adini Mitchell, the Colts have played him less than 10% of their offensive snaps this year, but he’s a very talented guy out of Texas uh that Mike Tomlin complimented this week in his press conference. Um and then we got Brandon Cooks uh who’s a route runner type, tough guy with tough hands. If you’re looking for a route runner guy and you can’t get Jennings if you miss out on Myyers, Brandon Cooks might be the guy uh they end up calling for. So, predict it for me down there in the comments section. Will the Pittsburgh Steelers trade for a wide receiver before the deadline on Tuesday? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comment section to predict what the con artist is going to do. All right, segment ova. And yeah, say yeah, exactly Sam. Exactly. And by the way, when I mentioned Adam and I Mitchell, U fan Sam Brown gave the horns down there. Yeah, you’re lucky we weren’t you’re lucky we were in the middle of a segment. Otherwise, I would have just yelled it in the background. [ __ ] Texas. Oh, you suck. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, they do, but that’s neither here nor there. That’s an irrelevant point. Yeah. And John Matier’s flame is has gone out pretty Hey, I’ll give you credit. You were early on the John Matier train early on in the season earlier than most. And you know now now it’s truly the mental side. Yeah, it is. Yeah, he’s still got a ways to go, doesn’t he? Well, I think it’s just Arbuckle’s scheme worked great at Washington State, right? So like now he’s actually had to make some adjustments, right? He’s not everything that is just, you know, schemed up Chip Kelly style, you know, run and gun at him is going to work in the SEC. And I think we’ve, you know, been hampered by some injuries as well and a lack of, you know, true topend talent around Matier, too. Um, I like him. The Steelers fans would like him. He’s got Moxy and he’s he’s a leader by by example and a leader by nature, but I I think it wouldn’t it would very much help him to come back one more year. 100%. Maybe he’ll be a future Pittsburgh Steeler. I guess we’ll have to see. Knock on wood if you’re with me. Yeah, knock on wood if you’re with me there. Um, we still got one more segment to get to, guys. It is the mailbag. How we doing on questions, Sam? Do we have enough questions? Oh, well, we could use a couple more. So, let’s put on a two-minute shot clock for them to get their questions in. Again, to get a question on the show for free today, you guys can use Steelers in the chat along with your question. So, for example, you put in one comment # Steelers, will Pittsburgh beat the Colts or whatever question that you have. And uh Sam will see if if it’s a good enough question and he’ll put it up on screen if it is. $5 from breathing black and gold. Love that name. says, “What do you think of Bryce Lance from SD as a draft target very similar to Christian Watson?” Honestly, I haven’t dove into my uh you know, draft analysis yet. I’m I’m really locked in on this season. Most of the film I’m watching is NFL film at this point in the year. The college guys that I’m watching are the quarterbacks. All right, the college the QBs I’ll watch their film, but I won’t get into other positions until um until until, you know, later in the process. By the way, for what it’s worth, I don’t know if you knew this, but Bryce Lance is actually North Dakota State younger brother of Trey Lance. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Tight end. He’s actually big body at tight ends, but he’s got some athletic. So, so he’s going to stink. Well, that’s like Trey. That has not been determined. He does not have to throw the football, which I think is an advantage for him. Gotcha. As soon as you ask a Lance to throw the ball, that’s where it all goes south. But he can run. All right. do have uh one uh we do have one Venmo here. We also got a $2 super chat I’ll get up on screen. Brian03 said, “Let’s go get Gruden and Matier.” Oh my god, dude. Like do it. Listen, man. Like you want somebody like if people criticize Mike Tomlin for not winning in the playoffs, Mike Tomlin or John Gruden didn’t win a playoff game his final 10 years as a head coach or something like that. It’s like it’s it’s been forever since John Gruden had any success. That was because of Roger Goodell, remember? Yeah. And and people talk about how Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl with Bill Coward’s team even though the Cow Steelers didn’t make the playoffs the year before that. Well, guess what? He took over Tony Dunie’s uh Tampa Bay Buccaneers and you know, he won the Super Bowl the next year. So, did he So, Gruden won his Super Bowl with another person’s team, right? You know, funny enough, I do think he is at the point in his career where like I do think the college game might just be the best fit. Like he is what everyone thought there was a slight chance in hell that Bill Bich would be. A guy who’s schematics and like pro brain translate to college, but he’s also got the energy and the magnetism to get a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds to rally around you. Well, well, Gruden Gruden is an old school West Coast guy. Yeah. Um, and there’s not a whole lot of old school West Coast guys still around that are having success. Um, and I I love Gruden too much as a commentator to want him to coach somewhere. I love all of his content, you know, like his content is so good. Um, and I think, you know, if he went to Arkansas or somewhere like that where he could be a college coach and build a program, that might be fun because I think he could recruit the hell out of these players. Uh, that grew up watching him on TV and all that stuff. But like making him the head coach of the Steelers I think is honestly a step backwards in terms of coaching. Um he could be a great culture guy. He could certainly fill Mike Tomlin’s shoes in terms of charisma and that’s a big you know that’s a big thing if you’re going to be replacing Mike Tomlin is you can’t have a house mouse out there you know trying to replace Mike Tomlin. These guys are not going to listen to him. Um so you know I wouldn’t be completely closed off to Gruden but I would need to know who his coordinators would be all that stuff. Um, you know, it the vibes would be immaculate on this channel though if it was John Gruden. Let’s just put it that way. We’d have a Chucky mask. Oh my, it would it would just be amazing. Then to get Matar and his electric arm talent, I mean, and his competitive fire. I mean, those are two guys I can get behind. So many so many props, so many costumes, so many themes we could do. Hey, I’m I’m not into dreams. I’m into [ __ ] nightmares. Yeah, we’re in the [ __ ] nightmares here, man. Smash someone’s dreams. Where did Danny Woodhead go to school? Sam Brown. Danny Woodhead went to the fine university of Nebraska, did he not? No, he did not. No, he was a small I’m thinking of the other small I’m thinking of Rex Burkehead. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I do. You’re not You’re not going to know it. No, I’m not I don’t know where Shadron State. Everyone knows where Danny Wood went to school. Did you see that Hard Knock scene where he’s talking to Josh Jacobs and he’s like, “Where did Danny Woodhead go to school?” Josh Jacobs. It’s just the classic Gruden voice. Yeah, we need we need more of him in our everyday lives in whatever capacity it is. I don’t care what it is. 100%. Elevate LT is coming in with a $1 Venmo. And he says he says that Minka Fitzpatrick trade looks really interesting. Now, I personally think that Mike Tomlin underestimated how easy it was to replace him in this defense. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that communication has popped up this year. I mean, frankly, Elevate, do we not remember the end of last season? Minka was healthy at the end of the season last year and we what was the key word last year? Miscommunication. So like was it Minka’s fault? Not necessarily. Even though Minka would abandon his assignments very very frequently to try and make a big play. Um that would certainly not help out the defense. He’s lost a step athletically. And you know Jaylen Ramsay has played, you know, when he’s been when he’s been allowed to play the role that he should be playing, which is in the slot and playing zone, he’s been just fine. He’s been actually really good. He’s been really good as a tackler, all that stuff. But, you know, they haven’t been able to find that legitimate replacement to Minka Fitzpatrick at free safety. I agree with that aspect of it. Elevate LTS. Um, you know, they got to find somebody. Um, it’s not going to be Juan Thornnehill or Chuck Clark. I can tell you that right now. Okay. Hopefully, it’s Jabil Peppers once Kyle Duggar gets ramped up. You know, Peppers can play free safety. Duggar can play strong and, you know, hopefully that’s the solution. And then when you get Deshawn Elliot back, you know, he he plays strong safety and Jabril keeps playing free. Hopefully that’s the solution there. Um but you know, I guess we’ll have to see what happens in the weeks to come here. Sam Brown. All right. Uh we got another super chat here from Interstellar. We got a few. I can hit them now if you wanted to, but I figured I’d hit them just off the top of the mail bag anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s hit them at the top of the mailbag here. That’s that’s that’s that’s a good uh that’s a good call. I don’t want to put any any further strain on those pretty little vocal cords of yours. You need to keep them nice and rested for Sunday. You know what I You know what I meant. You know what I meant. There’s no need to make it something it’s not. Okay, let’s get into the mailbag. Shout out to Shout out to Swapfire and Interstellar Reaper. I swear he’s going to answer your question. We will get to everybody’s question on today’s show. Let’s get into it right now. The Steelers Talk mailbag for week nine coming at you right now. Welcome into the Steelers Talk mailbag here for week nine. I’m your host, Jax Sperry. Today I’m answering your questions on the black and gold as this team prepares to take on the Indianapolis Colts in week 9 of the 2025 NFL season. Uh but before we get into it, make sure you click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Uh because we try and we strive to be the most interactive Steelers fan community anywhere here on YouTube. We got over 100,000 subscribers. We are the only Steelers news channel on YouTube to have that many subscribers. Um and that’s for a reason. And I think that reason is we try to give you guys a voice on this channel. Not only with these mailbags where you guys can get your questions on the show, but also we go live twice during the week and then every single game day as well so that you guys uh can interact with me, with Ponzi, with our entire crew here at Steelers Talk. So if you guys want that interactive fan experience for Pittsburgh Steelers fans here on YouTube, this is where uh you get that. Click that subscribe button right now to join our family. Got our first question coming in from Justin Yankuski who says, “Why is Tomlin delusional about this defense?” And I think I think what Tomlin’s delusional about specifically is he likes these older quarterbacks and he thinks he’s getting the younger version of these quarterbacks when he gets them when they’re 31 or 32 years old. Patrick Peterson, right? Classic example. Then, you know, you got Jaylen Ramsey and Darius Slay this year. I still think Jaylen can play. Uh, but he’s certainly not the Jaylen Ramsay of old where you would line him up outside on an elite receiver and say, “You’re on an island for the entire game. Go shut him down.” He’s not that type of guy. I think Jamar Chase making mince meat of him a couple weeks ago proved that. But in terms of tackling, in terms of blitzing, in terms of being a zone defender, having his eyes on the quarterback, reading the eyes of the QB, and making a play on the football, he’s done all that stuff really well. And then Darius Slay’s just been a complete dumpster fire. But, you know, I think that they were expecting to get these guys and be like, “We’re going to be able to man up everybody and nobody’s going to be able to get open against our corners this year and that just unfortunately hasn’t been the case.” So, they got to make adjustments. They haven’t made the right adjustments to this point in the season and hopefully they’re able to get those adjustments made in the weeks to come. $2 from Breathing Black and Gold says, “Will Dante Kent play this year?” I would I would I would probably say the chances are pretty low. There’s a I think he’s number four on the slot quarterback depth chart right now. And unless Ramsay, Eckles, and Beanie Bishop Jr. all get injured, I don’t see uh any way Kent getting onto the field this season. $10 from Rad Doctor. He says, “Thank you.” Thank you, Rad Doctor. One of the best profile picks in the game right there. Uh then $10 from Alex L says, “Supporting the best Steelers Sports Talk channel. Appreciate you, Alex L. You’re a real one.” Another one from Breathing Black and Gold with a five says, “What do you think of Bryce Lane from South Dakota as a draft target, very similar to Christian Watson?” Going to be honest with you guys, I haven’t gotten into a lot of the deep dive uh you know, film analysis of college guys yet. I usually do that at the end of the season. Right now, my my schedule’s pretty packed with watching NFL film uh especially Steelers film uh here at for chat sports. So, right now, I’m looking at some of the quarterback film, but not a whole lot of the other positions. So, don’t really have a great answer uh for you right there. Breathing black and gold. Then Brian 03 with a two says, “Let’s go get John Gruden and John Matier.” This is the ultimate vibes, you know, uh combination of future head coach and and quarterback, but it also probably has a pretty good chance of not working out. Uh Gruden is not necessarily, you know, the scheme master, you know, he was back in the early 2000s, and honestly, he hasn’t really adjusted his scheme all that much since then. um you know he’s and honestly I don’t want him away from the media. I think that he is so good as a commentator and as an analyst and all that stuff um where you know he would certainly be able to fill the shoes of Mike Tomlin as like a legitimate you know charismatic leader of men you know that that aspect of his coaching style is certainly there. Um and then Matier is uber talented can run with the football has a great uh cannon of an arm. you know, he could be a superstar in the league if he develops a little bit more on the mental side of things, but you know, that’s certainly a risky uh combo that you’re bringing into Pittsburgh at that point, but the vibes would certainly be high. So, vote below down there in the comments section. Who will be the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback week one of 2026? Will Aaron Rogers come back for another season? Will it be a rookie quarterback? Will it be Will Howard? Will it be somebody else? Let me know what you guys think down there in the comment section for today’s pin question. 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. But letting me know who’s going to be the starting quarterback for the Steelers in week one. Then we got one from Swapfire. $5 says, “Have you seen the Jackson Powers Johnson trade idea? He got benched by the Raiders. Also, let’s draft Carson Beck all the way.” Um, you know, Carson Beck, I don’t know if he’s a first round draft prospect. you know, he he he’s got some nice command of that Miami offense, but he’s been up and down this season, and he, frankly, he’s been up and down his entire college career. Um, you know, he hasn’t played against truly elite defenses on average throughout his career, and he doesn’t have like elite physical traits either. So, um, you know, maybe if he continues to play well, maybe he gets into the late round one conversation. We’ll have to see. Uh, but there’s certainly other guys I would probably rather get. And when it comes to Jackson Powers Johnson, um you know, I don’t think we need an interior offensive lineman. I like Zack Frasier, Mason McCormack, and Isaac Samala have been fine uh this year. And Seamala’s injury is a short-term injury. So, um don’t think the Steelers are necessarily looking for for help on the interior of the offensive line. $5 from Interstellar Reaper says, “What position should the Steelers draft for in 2026? Also, how does 15 draft picks sound?” Um we’ve got 12 right now. Um I don’t think you need any more. All right. If you’re adding 15 rookies to your roster via the draft, that is a lot of rookies. Okay? I don’t think you need 15 draft picks. I really don’t. I think 12 is more than enough. Um, and if anything, you know, you can trade one of those 12 draft picks to try and help you win this year. All right? And I know a lot of people don’t think the Steelers can win this year, but the Steelers clearly think that they can. And um, if you can get a good player at a decent price tag, you know, 11 draft picks will do just fine as well, guys. It really will. So, um, honestly, I I I I don’t think the Steelers should be selling at the deadline Interstellar Reaper. I know that’s an idea, uh, that you like, but personally, uh, I’m not there, at least not yet. All right. Now, before we get to the rest of the questions here on the Steelers Talk mailbag, let’s have a word from our sponsor here at GLD. And let’s be real, guys, buying men’s jewelry used to be a nightmare. In fact, it most places it still is. 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Use code chat to get 50% off plus a free chain at gl.com. That’s 50% off and a free chain with code chat atg gl.com. After your purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. A big shout out to GLD for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Another one from Breathing Black and Gold $2 Super Chat says, “What is your updated record prediction?” Um, I I haven’t looked at the schedule lately, but I would say, you know, I still think the Steelers get to uh if they can’t fix the defense, I think they get to around eight or nine wins. If they make it a little bit better, but not make it what it could be, nine or 10 wins. And then if they really turn things around and quickly on defense, I think they could still get up to 10 to 11 wins. Okay, that’s kind of the range that I think the Steelers will be living in. Um, I no longer think it’s possible that they can get to 12 or 13 wins or something like that. Um, but I certainly think it’s possible for them to uh, you know, find some schematic changes to help this defense play better and, um, you know, make these quarterbacks hold the ball for longer, which is going to help out their pass rush. And once you can unlock that pass rush, guys, and all these great guys, TJ Watt, Nick Herbig, uh, Alex Heismith, Cam Hayward, once you give these guys a little bit of time to get to quarterbacks, I think you’re going to see a much different Steelers defense in the weeks to come. Tank McGathy with a 10. Thank you, Tink says, “Is there a rule that says we can’t just dump the dead weight players?” uh Chuck Clark, Slay Thornhill, I don’t know how much of those NFL rules, trades conte. I mean, you can’t you can get rid of them if you want. It’s just who are you replacing them with, you know, like they probably feel like these guys have been in their building for a while. Uh they still have some level of confidence in these guys, whereas like who are you going to get on in free agency right now to replace those guys? You know, obviously they brought in Duggar, they brought in uh Derek Forest, you know, this week at the safety position. So maybe they will dump Chuck Clark and maybe Thornhill in the weeks to come. Slay sounds like that, you know, maybe they might try and trade him to somebody this week. So, um, you know, I I I think that eventually tank, we’re going to see these guys, you know, start at least seeing a decrease in playing time, but it could be as bad as like in Chuck Clark’s case, getting released. Really hope that happens in the weeks to come. $5 from Interstellar Reaper says, “Will you be live at the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh?” will be live on this channel, but we will not be in Pittsburgh uh live at the stadium or at the stage or whatever. Like that’s uh we have our studio, we have our graphics here. Uh we got our extensive coverage of the NFL draft here. So, no, we will not be uh present in Pittsburgh, but we might make a trip during draft week and do some draft week uh coverage. Maybe may maybe that’s a possibility. I don’t know. But uh for draft night itself, we will be in our studio uh doing our normal draft day watch party. Uh then JB Free says, “Why not Rex Ryan? He’s an all-time DC and certainly better than Austin.” Well, I don’t want to run a barefront here in Pittsburgh. Okay. Um you know, I don’t want to run the the 85 Bears defense here in Pittsburgh. As much as that defense is legendary, um you know, the modernday NFL, you know, is gone faster and it’s gone with, you know, two two high safeties and, you know, rotating after the snap. All right? And that’s just not the style of defense that Rex Ryan plays. Like if you think Mike Tomlin and Terara Lost style of defense is old school, Rex Ryan literally runs an offense that his daddy created in the 80s. All right? He still runs that [ __ ] All right. So, no, not Rex Ryan. No. U so make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. Uh if you’re a real one, we greatly appreciate your guys’ support, all your questions, all that stuff. Uh even though I I kind of just shot down the Rex Ryan idea, I still love you, man. Uh, but you know, make sure you click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. Uh, because you know, you guys are real ones. Lobos Rambo says, “Did the Steelers make a mistake dealing away Minka and Pickkins?” Um, listen, man. I think Pinkin I think Pickkins would be crashing out here in Pittsburgh right now. You’re telling me that he’d be perfectly fine getting three or four targets a game as the number two receiver like Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson have been fine uh getting that kind of production? No way. All right. No way. Um like Pickkins is in a perfect spot for him because he’s in a pass heavy offense there in Dallas. He’s had certain moments where CD Lamb has not been on the field. And good for Pickkins. I’m glad he’s found a spot where, you know, he’s found a quarterback that can get him the football effectively. Uh he’s found a team that throws the football enough to feed him as much as he wants to be fed. But like with George Pickkins, you know, just be sitting idly by and just being okay. um you know being the number two receiver while DK Metaf got his targets and his money and you know the run game we were running the ball so much I I I kind of think that it would have been a headache. So you know you got a third round pick out of him. Um I think he’s probably outperforming the value that you got for him. But I guess we’ll see later on down the road if he becomes a headache for the Dallas Cowboys or whatever team ends up giving him the massive payday he’s about to get next off seasonason. Um I don’t think the Steelers were going to pay him all that money to keep him around long term anyways. So, at least you got a draft pick uh out of that. So, I don’t necessarily think that one was a mistake. In terms of Minka, I still think Ramsay’s a good player. Minka, people forget, man, people were just trashing Minka all season long because he wasn’t getting interceptions. He wasn’t around the football. He looked slower. Uh he was a big part of the miscommunication issues last year as well, leaving his assignments, uh, you know, trying making a big play and it just leaves a hole wide open in the defense. you know, like it’s not like Minka Fitzpatrick was like the Minka Fitzpatrick of old. And frankly, he’s not playing that way in Miami right now. So, you know, he was he was plus his cap was like almost $30 million here in Pittsburgh. Like to be able to unload that contract, I think it was a win for the Pittsburgh Steelers still. Obviously, uh we still have to figure some things out with him out of the defense here, but um you know, certainly, you know, I see why the Steelers traded him away. Nicholas Girdler says, “What are the chances we win the division in a playoff game to keep playing this way, man? Not very high.” Okay, the defense needs to play a lot better. And if they don’t, they’re going to give up 40 plus in a playoff game again or at least 30 plus in a playoff game. And they’re going to lose. All right, the offense is good. It’s probably not good enough to keep up in a shootout against like Kansas City or Buffalo or uh if the Baltimore Ravens make it with Lamar and that defense healthy, you know, Baltimore, right? like you got to be able to have that balance because this is not an elite offense and that’s okay. It’s a good offense. It’s not an elite offense. Okay? And in order to win a Super Bowl with a good not great offense, you got to have a really good defense. Okay? And if they can turn it around, then the chances are, I think, are pretty decent. I think that in terms of the talent on this team, there’s enough talent here, and this is the most talented Steelers team for quite a while. But they got to figure it out schematically on defense. And if they don’t do that, chances of uh winning the division and winning a playoff game go down to close to zero in my opinion. James Chinchock, I hope I’m saying that right. I hope I’m not being racist right there. Says, “When do we consider trading uh out?” TJ Watt could fix possibly two major positions of need for us while Herbig and Highmith begin to eat. Um you’re not trading him this year for sure because and frankly next year because of the dead cap numbers. It’s just astronomical numbers that it just doesn’t make sense to trade a player of TJ Watt’s caliber when you’re taking on that much dead cap. Um, now maybe if you’re rebuilding next year, maybe if you know you get a new head coach and you move on from Tomlin and you’re looking to draft a rookie quarterback and you’re looking to take a step back so you can take two steps forward in the future, maybe you can think about trading TJ Watt for a King’s Ransom. Maybe. But I it’s going to be a big dead cap hit regardless. Um, you know, I think it’s going to be at least a couple of years before they think about trading him or doing anything with him because there’s just so much money and guaranteed money locked up in the TJ Watt deal at this point. So, vote for vote below down there in the comments section. If you think the Steelers will make the playoffs this season, spam me down there in the comments section. I greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support and all the questions that were put on this week’s Steelers Talk mailbag. Um, of course, we do these mailbags live every single Thursday during the Steelers Talk Live show. So, if you guys want to get a question on a future edition of the Steelers Talk Mailbag, click that subscribe button. Join us on Thursdays for our live shows. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. Sam, I think I was a bit too harsh on the on the uh on the on the Rex Ryan question. Oh, Rex Ryan, what a stupid idea, but I appreciate your question and like the video if you’re having fun. Yeah, I’m sure you loved that answer from me. No, I mean, I think I was a little harsh. Listen, when’s the last time Rex Ryan has been a meaningful head coach in the NFL? 2010, 2011, maybe. And it’s a completely different league than it was, by the way. Rex Ryan from Ardmore, Oklahoma, right around the corner from where my dad was from. It’s a random one, but yeah, I mean, even his time with the Buffalo Bills, right, 2015 to 2016 was a disaster. Disaster. And the end of his tenure in New York, disaster. He’s one of the worst analysts on on ESPN as well. And that’s saying something. That’s saying something. When you are competing with Mike [ __ ] Tannon Bomb for the biggest clown in national sports media, that’s saying something. That’s the guy that we’re going to bring in as the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. No way. Respectfully. Respectfully. I I feel bad in some senses for coaches because I mean, look at Bill Bichc. Like that that should have never been a thought in the first place. And that’s clearly exposing itself right now. Look at Rex’s brother Rob who’s worked his way down to the college game and he stinks there. He’s an assistant head coach for defense and linebackers. Right. So, well actually Deanton Day Danton Deanton Lynn the defensive coordinator for USC. They’re actually running maybe a little bit of tight ship. Some people are saying the best defensive team that the best defense that that scumbag Lincoln Riley has ever had. Um, by the way, he never cares about that. By the way, he calls him a scumbag because he’s an OU fan and he left he left OU for USC. So, he’s about that. I do think it’s important to present our biases. I’m not afraid to present my bias against that scumbag. Yeah. And I I think but to the Rob Ryan point, I think understanding when your time has passed to an extent is is important. And if you still have the love of the game, that’s not to say that you can’t find a way back into it. Chuck Pagano with the Ravens, he’s a defensive what and a consultant or an adviser in the quarterback’s room. I mean, if you if you love the game, like I said, the game finds its way back to you. And for what it’s worth, Rob Ryan’s not the worst uh on ESPN. He’s he’s on the list or I’m sorry. Yeah, he’s on the list. He’s right next to Ryan Clark and Mike Tanabomb for me. Well, yeah. I mean, Tan’s pretty low there. Yeah, Tams, I think it’s interesting to see how like the di like the the way that the league changes some of those coaches that are able to almost transcend generations and adapt from from uh generation to generation. Um, so this week, and by the way, JV Free said Rex as DC, not head coach. Oh, JV, I’m sorry. I He said as DC. Still no. Still no. Still no. I don’t I like Listen, man. like the the thing that people say about this defense all the time is that it’s old school and it’s so like old and predictable and all that stuff. Like the pred like the defense that Rex Ryan runs is even more predictable and even more old. Like one of the things that the Steelers actually do okay is like they do have some creative postnap rotations. They actually do do that stuff and and I don’t think he I don’t think Terrell and Mike Tomlin get enough credit for it actually. Like what they’re worst at is man coverage. what they’re best at is actually zone coverage. Um, you know, doing some creative stuff in that world. And they just haven’t tapped into that world enough this year, Sam, where, you know, you have, you know, guys like Darius Slay and Jaylen Ramsey playing 10 to 12 yards off the line of scrimmage in man coverage assignments. And like these guys are just running quick flats. They’re just running quick slants and it’s just super easy completions. And then, you know, when Mike Tomlin and Terry Austin get asked about it, it’s like, “Oh, we’re still doing everything we can.” And it’s like, “No, you’re [ __ ] not, dude. I’m watching the film and you’re giving these guys free access to easy completions.” It’s like, if you actually want to stop the underneath passing game, get up in their grills and play, you know, man coverage. Be a [ __ ] man and put your guys up in press man. If you don’t trust your guys to play press man, then don’t play man. Or at least not as often as you do. at least have the ability to adapt. Correct. I think that’s Yes. You you see teams who start off slow and who realize, okay, we entered this season with a certain identity or at least a thought of what our identity was going to be. Clearly, we’re not that [ __ ] team right now. But maybe you could take steps in the right direction that down below. Maybe May, you know, just look at this. I actually think I have a player two comp uh of Jordan Love versus man man versus everything else. If you want to find that, can you find that? Let’s see it. What was it? Two-player comp. Two-player comp. Don’t tell me with a good time, brother. Let’s just take a look at how much of a difference it is. Jordan Love when the Steelers play man blitz. Okay, so when they send more than four rushers and they play man coverage on the back end versus any other coverage. Okay, and obviously Jordan was still completing his passes, okay? He was still completing his passes versus zone and all this different stuff, but he was averaging almost half the yardage per attempt. All right, all the big plays, all the explosives, all the touchdowns came versus man blitz. Maybe take a [ __ ] hit and stop playing it so much. I don’t know. Maybe that’s a solution to the problem Taylor loss to Mike Tomlin. Maybe it’s more than just the execution from the players, which is true that players need to execute better. It’s 100%, you know, part of the issue, but also part of the issue is you’re putting these guys in positions to fail and consistently when you play these man blitzes, you are getting cooked. A and to be fair, uh the numbers on the right aren’t that much better either, right? Like it I think it’s just the aggressiveness that they knew they could play with in that situation. They realized Jordan Love, okay, they are playing man again. They are dumb enough to do that again. We’re going to carve them apart. We’re going to be aggressive downfield. We’re going to save some of our creative gameplay, like some of our creative plays for those specific opportunities. But 18 for 22 is also dog [ __ ] So like at the end of the day, but but like I’d rather take, you know, 18 for 22, but he’s checking it down all the time versus, you know, 12 of 15, but you’re giving up 12 yards a [ __ ] attempt. Like that is just that that’s a first that’s more than a first down every time he throws the ball versus versus a man blitz. And we we just sit there and we’re like, “Oh, we do run zone coverage. Oh, we do, you know, do all these things to try and take away the quick passing game.” [ __ ] [ __ ] No, you No, you’re not. You’re You’re running a man blitz 15 times in a [ __ ] game and it’s not working at all. I’m getting heated. I’m getting heated, man. Take a breath. Take a breath. We’re not even playing today. We’re not even playing today. The Steelers don’t even play today. I’m just I’m just It’s first Friday, man. I’m so I’m I’m I’m just so mad that they can’t figure this out cuz dude, a [ __ ] skinny YouTuber can watch the film and figure it out. You’d think the guy’s getting paid millions of dollars to be able to fix this defense. Yeah, exactly. Can figure it out, please. All right. Like, this is the worst defense of Mike Tomlin’s tenure. And it was supposed to be one of the best like like going into the year it was supposed to be one of the best defenses this organization has ever had. That’s what it was buil as. And it’s one of not only the worst in the Tomlin era, it’s one of the worst in the league, which is what we never see here in Pittsburgh. So, they better figure it the [ __ ] out in the weeks to come or, you know, Mike Tomlin’s got to be traded for a first round pick at the at the end of the season. That’s where I’m at. Um, so this week, Sam, we have the Colts at home. Um, this is kind of the type of game the Steelers win where like they’re home, nobody’s giving them a chance, everyone thinks the Colts are going to score 40 on us. You know, it’s those kinds of games that the Steelers usually, you know, play really well, but at the same time, the Steelers have not been able to figure out Shane Stiken. Shane Stken has destroyed the Steelers in this three times calling plays against. Yeah, we talked about it in our or you talked about it in your preview video earlier today as I just, you know, pushed buttons and sat here. Yeah. Uh, intern Sam, good news is Lou Ana’s on the other side. That’s true. Bad news is Shane Stiken’s also on the other side, right? So, it’s a positive and a negative, I think, if you’re Pittsburgh. But, in other words, take the over in this ball game. I think he I think for starters, uh, the Steelers fans got to show up. This is a game you need energy. You need to get in the offense’s head. You need Daniel Jones in there. I can’t hear you. Hands on the helmet. I think that’s the only way you’re going to find a way to get this offense off rhythm for Indianapolis because if not, Jonathan Taylor will carve you up. That offensive line is so good. I think they’re just really wellrun just overall as a team this year. Yeah, I think so, too. So, the Steelers better bring their agame on Sunday. This defense better have some [ __ ] answers. Um, they have to have an answer for Jonathan Taylor. And, you know, they were able to shut down Josh Jacobs last week, but that was mostly with Deshun Elliott on the field. So, we’ll see uh how much of an impact not having Elliott has on the run defense. Uh Taylor, I think, has scored three touchdowns in his last three games. Yeah, he was almost he almost became the first player in NFL history to score three rushing touchdowns in three straight games. But that third touchdown was on one of those orbit passes. Ah, gotcha. They counted that they counted that as a receiving touchdown, which helped for my fantasy team. Not that anyone cares. Well, he’s on my fantasy team, too. I am I am cleaning house with ESPN. ESPN loved him as like, dude, draft him in the third round and just let him go. Yeah, I did. I did exactly that. So, I I did pick the Colts to win this week. I I think I have 3831 I think was my final score. Um but listen man that I acknowledge this is the type of you know game that the Steelers tend to win. Um so I guess we’ll see what happens on Sunday. Hopefully they What’s that? I’ve got 2720 Pittsburgh. Okay at home only giving up 20. Need a little magic. Don’t get me wrong. This defense need a little magic. Don’t get me wrong. How how good are we at forcing takeaways? We haven’t had one in three weeks. That means we’re due. That means we’re due 2720 Pittsburgh. Dan Dan the doo man shows back up. I think we I think we wasted all of our turnovers on the one game versus New England. Now, hey, we needed all five of those turnovers to win that game against against Drake May on the road. But that is true. You’ve all all of a sudden my perspective has changed. I’ll go 2724 Pittsburgh. Okay, giving him four more points. Give him another touchdown. Respect. All right. Uh but tonight’s matchup actually affects the Steelers quite a bit here, Sam. Uh we got the Dolphins who just spanked the Atlanta Falcons last week going up against Lamar Jackson who makes his return tonight uh on Thursday Night Football. And that’s going to be an interesting one because the Ravens are currently sitting at two and five. Why do you suck so much dick the Ravens? Um and if they lose tonight, they really suck dick the Ravens. Um and they are they are sitting at two and six. And if they’re sitting at two and six, Sam, you know, you usually need to get to 10 wins to make the playoffs in the National Football League. They only have room for one more loss the rest of the season if they lose tonight. And the cushion that’s provided to Pittsburgh too in the division’s huge. You can afford to win the division potentially with nine wins. And hey, if your prediction’s right and the Steelers win this weekend, you know, that is a massive advantage for the black and gold. Uh but, you know, obviously Miami’s defense has not played well all throughout the season, I I have to go with Baltimore to win. I’m intrigued by this game because I would not be surprised if this turns into like belt to ass. And who knows, does Mike McDaniel get fired on Friday morning after after an embarrassing loss on national television after Lamar Jackson was out for a month against a Ravens team that’s been ravaged by injuries? No. Okay. No, I think there’s a situation where it’s not impossible. You see the team just stop playing for McDaniel, which they they haven’t done to this point to be fair. I’ll give them credit. The team is still playing for McDaniel and they’re coming off a big win. But if they just go back to what they were, I think it’s, you know, I think that’s that. All right. How? How about this? I’ll go I’ll give you 100 to one odds that they don’t fire him tomorrow. No. Oh, okay. I’ve taken a break from gambling. No. Only because I’m on sobatical from gambling. Okay. Well, if you weren’t on sobatical 1800 gambler if you need it. If if if you weren’t on sobatical from from gambling, would you have taken that bet, though? Maybe. No, you would not. There’s no way you’re taking that bet. He’s not getting fired tomorrow. No comment. Next question. Okay. Uh that’s going to be it for our show here, guys. Big shout out to intern Sam for uh for for his intern [ __ ] here twice as long as it bothers him so much. So you know big shout out to intern Sam for helping us out on today’s show. He’s the best. Um we’re going to see you guys on Sunday. Ponzi will be back and he will be a married man. So we’re going to celebrate a little bit on Sunday. Hopefully the Steelers can get a win for him and his new uh and his new wife and uh we’ll see you guys on Sunday. We appreciate you. Real quick, I see Renegade Sports says Venmo in the chat. Oh, is there is there I don’t see any VMOS. Maybe he was there earlier. Was he is he uh elevate else? Oh, never mind. There is one more. Oh, but it was from the same guy as before. So, I thought it was the old So, it’s Elevate LTS with the one. So, you can just run the same graphic. Uh, but Hatgu Lts says, “Hot take Arthur Smith uh should be the next Steelers head coach if Tomlin gets fired.” Um, I’m open to that idea because even though he’s not the charismatic leader that Tomlin is, um, you know, if you wanted to get rid of Tomlin, but you wanted to retain Rogers, I think that would be something that Rogers might be okay with, even though a big reason why Rogers is here is because of Tomlin. So, that’s kind of the double-edged sword there, Sam, is that Steelers fans hate Mike Tomlin, but they also love Aaron Rogers, but they wouldn’t have Rogers if it wasn’t for Tomlin. You know, that’s uh when you’re a fan, you’re you’re allowed to think what you want, feel what you want. Doesn’t matter if it makes sense or not. Uh you just kind of have to assume that you’re in the right and everyone else who disagrees with you is a savage, an idiot, and does not know what they’re talking at all and should be thrown out on the street. There’s no no flexibility at all in that rule. Yeah, for sure. Elevate, I’m actually open to that idea. He he really respects the Steelers organization. He knows the history of it. Um, you know, he understands the responsibility of being uh the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, like if you wanted to move on from Tomlin, get a first round pick and elevate Arthur to the head coach. I’m honestly not completely opposed to that. I think he’s already built up a lot of respect in the locker room, so he wouldn’t have to establish that. Um, I think we’ve seen that, you know, he’s he’s his offensive plan has worked here in Pittsburgh. Um, at least for the time being. Um, so I I I would be open to that idea. Then we got one from Interstellar Reaper here and just snuck in right at the buzzer. Yeah, just snuck in. We’ll keep we’ll stay live as long as the super chats keep coming. But yeah, I got nowhere to be. Do you Do you think the Steelers not having a first or second round pick uh is a problem? Yes. Kind of need them. I mean, but they have first and second round picks. I was like, they do. Didn’t you say four picks in the first three? Yeah. Yeah, they’ve got four picks in the first three rounds. I I I don’t know where this where this question comes from, Interstellar. Um, and if you’re worried that the Steelers are going to trade first and second round picks for like a players at the deadline, that’s not going to happen. Like, I think the most the Steelers would be willing to give up for a player at the deadline is a fourth round pick. I think that’s the absolute most. And that would be for like a really good player like Jacobe Meyers for example or like Buddha Baker. Like I think that you know they would only give that fourth round pick up for somebody that they really really like. I don’t think that they’re even willing to discuss trading any of their first, second or third round picks. So um you know we don’t have to worry about not having a first or second round draft pick because we do. Um so that’s where I’m at. All right. Well, that’ll be it for today’s show. Again, big shout out to produ for oh, I almost said producer Sam. He doesn’t deserve that title. Intern Sam for helping us out today. Um, we will see you guys on Sunday. Ponzi will be back for Steelers versus Colts. Until then, guys, here we go. Steelers. [Music]
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31 comments
Carson Beck ? Put the Crack pipe down dude. He's terrible
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Gman57
Me
Me
Fire Tomlin
Yo
Me
Yoooooo hello from Arizona!!
Fire Tomlin please
Men don't wear jewelery
A
Ta
Call me when they trade Tomlin !!!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥TOMLIN…..PLEEEEEASE!!!!
A. On trade of Slay
Forget about Jennings. I would try to suck water out of tree with a paper straw than deal with SF GM. Wants the moon on his trades
Get shaheed or riddly or AJ Brown
Grutin is a Ball genius but I really enjoy his shows and your right. Classic choice for a College. By the way , he gave Will Howard very high marks.
Gruden is very successful at what he does right now. Don’t know if he would want to Coach in the NFL again.
Sell Slay
Steelers 30 Colts 28
Virginia
You forgot to include the big news
Come on with the b***** get to it
If they are all in for this season who cares about 2026 draft pics, use them to get good players in now.
Frank in the Philippines, go Steelers!!!
Budda would be fun in this defense! Like a heat seeking missile. throw Alex Highsmith in a trade. we got Tj, Derrick Harmon, Payton Wilson, Nick Herbig, and Patrick Queen can blitz too.
HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE. WE GO ❤
TA
DS