We’ll be turning the page this afternoon, but it is rare for a team president to publicly defend his DC. Even rarer for him to criticize a process established by the NFL. Makes me think maybe Shula really was interested in the job.

44 comments

  4. Fillipponi is a hack who will say anything for clicks and claim “sources” that don’t exist. Same with most sports “reporters” these days.

  5. Shocker: Poni gets something wrong. I honestly stopped taking him seriously after the Aiyuk debacle.

  6. A professional rage baiter making up a story for engagement? Color me shocked. Poni has about as many inside sources as the two cats I adopted.

  9. If there is even a bit of truth to it the Steelers look even worse, and have likely burned the McVay tree for themselves when they need to recover from the McCarthy error.

  11. Gotta respect an owner standing up for his guys like that. Though it’s interesting that he criticizes the process so maybe there is some truth to his interview not going as well as hoped. 

    I fully agree with the ridiculous nfl rules for coaching interviews. 

    We weren’t allowed to interview Klint Kubiak because the virtual interview window for the #1 seeds (Broncos and Seahawks) was only open BEFORE the wildcard weekend. 

    Tomlin didn’t step down until the following week so we didn’t know we needed a head coach until the window to interview guys on those two teams was gone. 

    Then having to wait until the week before the Super Bowl to interview others is crazy when the Senior Bowl is January 31st. 

    So teams that would wait to interview candidates on Super Bowl teams wouldn’t be able to have a head coach or coaching staff lined up to attend the senior bowl. 

    Whoever wrote these coaching rules really didn’t think it through. 

  15. Why exactly is there zero consequences for journalist just reporting total fabricated lies? I mean that’s someone’s reputation you’re just making up shit about

  16. Here’s the thing about Poni. He’s a liar. When Jordan Addison left Pitt, Poni reported that Addison and his family were decked in USC gear when he was cleaning out his apartment. Addison’s mother refuted the claim with visual evidence that it was not true. You can’t believe much of what Poni says unfortunately.

  17. I highly doubt Shula had a bad interview, as reports shortly after it said he and Scheelhaase were “outstanding”. This is just the Steelers organization living up to their shit reputation.

  18. Its just a spin by the organization to justify their terrible hire of McCarthy. Leaked to Poni to make us all say , oh wow maybe we dodged a bullet. No truth to it , purely crisis management bc of the fan backlash. Shula is widely regarded as a great public speaker. I personally didnt want him as HC for other reasons but this smear campaign is purely a move by Art Nutting II to curb the backlash.

  19. Fillipponi is a known liar and a spreader of misinformation. Nobody should ever listen to anything he says.

  21. Not to be a Poni defender, but he’s hardly the only person that reported this.

    This is obviously something being pushed by the team to multiple media personalities to compensate for the reaction to hiring McCarthy. Any legit takeaway here would be further confirmation of the Steelers shit process.

  22. It’s becoming more and more obvious Filipionni is on the Rooneys payroll to try and shift narratives and public perception

    He’s always playing into what ownership wants, most notably when he reported they were gonna take Willis over Kenny, ultimately dropping Kenny’s stock a bit

  24. I mean “bomb” might have been too harsh but he still could have had a bad interview and it was just underwhelming for them.

    Poni tends to exaggerate things but I really don’t think the Steelers are trying to justify anything at this point. No other team where he did a virtual interview felt the need to wait for Shula like teams are with Kubiak and LaFleur.

  26. I stopped paying attention to anything that guy says a LONG time ago. He’s devolved into a pathetic attention whore.

  28. Please stop posting “news” from hot take clickbait trolls. They are the con artists of the attention economy.

  29. Poni is a sensationalizing liar who would say anything to get a reaction. He deceives, is rude, and is disrespectful toward his guests and co-workers. It’s best to not believe anything he says.

    He would be more at home as a New York shock jock than what he’s doing now in Pittsburgh.

    He claims to be, in his words, “an honest broker” but he’s nothing of the sort. Of course he would tear someone else down with less just to elevate his own media profile.

    All of this, of course, is just my opinion.

  31. Two things can be true: it’s possible he didn’t interview well AND the timing of the interview cycle/coaching carousel is awkward for teams still in the playoffs. I don’t trust Poni as a source, and it doesn’t matter anyway so who knows. Shula was definitely one of the more attractive candidates in my opinion.

    Demoff coming out to make this statement seems odd, in general.

  32. Poni is the new Colin Dunlop, who I’m proud to say was my first ever block on the socials.

    Massive jagoffs

  34. I can’t believe Fillipponi would make something up like that, it’s so unlike him.

  35. I’m like 80% certain there’s somebody in the building that gives Fillipponi “scoops” that are outright lies and then works with other reporters to refute the commentary just to make him look bad. 😂😂😂

  36. Yeah it felt obvious that there was no truth to this or at the very least it was not supposed to be broadcasted to the world.

    Would be very unprofessional for the Steelers to be letting that kind of information out to the media.

  38. I’m pretty sure I have Poni blocked in as many places as I can for how full of shit he is the vast majority of the time. 🤷‍♂️

  39. Of course he was interested, our last 34 years of coaching has been 2 guys that he fit the mold of. There’s only so many head coaching opportunities that come up in organizations that aren’t perennial trash fires.

  41. You guys calling the Steelers a “shit organization” would have loved to hear what people thought of the Chiefs before Pat Mahomes ran straight legged through the door.

  44. Poni wasn’t the first person to put out information like this. Tone Diggz and the McAfee show put out similar statements earlier in the day. The team is trying to cover their butts because the fanbase is angry. 

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