Speaker 1: Special thank you to Zach Moss who rolled through to
Speaker 1: start the program today. But let's continue the football conversation
Speaker 1: with one of our favorite Stevenson Sylvester back on the
Speaker 1: Driving a Monday, Sly, Happy money man, how are we doing?
Speaker 2: Hello?
Speaker 3: Sly? Oops, sorry I was on mute there. Happy Monday brother,
Speaker 3: How you doing?
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us? You know I've done that so
Speaker 1: many times. Are you on Zoom or Google?
Speaker 3: Lie?
Speaker 2: Like, how are you joining us today?
Speaker 3: Google? Meet man? Google Meat?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 3: Porter got me introduced to that man. And I much
Speaker 3: prefer doing my interviews that way. I have zero connection
Speaker 3: and issues and it just it just feels better.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 1: And you sound great, and I've done the mute things
Speaker 1: several times, and Sly, I've got to I'm gonna apologize
Speaker 1: right out of the gates before we ask a question,
Speaker 1: because I don't mean disrespect. Porter and I were debating
Speaker 1: this last segment as our guys, Zach Moss hopped on
Speaker 1: the team, or excuse me, hopped on the show and
Speaker 1: for the team. He's part of our team, so are you.
Speaker 1: And here's what I'll say, slide, I just want your reaction.
Speaker 1: You guys will always go down the twenty eight team,
Speaker 1: the one that Sugar Bowl. I believe the Sugar Bowl
Speaker 1: win over Alabama is the best win in the history
Speaker 1: of Utah football, all due respect to conference championships and such.
Speaker 1: And you guys will go down as one of, if
Speaker 1: not the greatest Utah football team of all time. If
Speaker 1: I said to you that twenty nineteen is the most
Speaker 1: talented team on paper that Utah Football potentially has ever had,
Speaker 1: what would you say to me?
Speaker 3: I wouldn't. I mean, I can't argue that that's all subjective, right,
Speaker 3: And honestly, I'm good with that. Right on paper is
Speaker 3: is not as good as results. And so we've seen that, right,
Speaker 3: Like we came into last season like this is the
Speaker 3: best team Utah's ever had on paper. Look what happened. Right, So,
Speaker 3: as far as the comparative, like, I don't mind that,
Speaker 3: you know, twenty eighteen, you know, doing my research with
Speaker 3: you know, my Utah man brand and talking to all
Speaker 3: the old players from the past, it's about a whole
Speaker 3: bunch of undervalued guys overperforming right guys, proving people wrong,
Speaker 3: you know, day in and day out from training camp
Speaker 3: throughout the season, and even when everything is pointed to
Speaker 3: you supposed to be winning. Everybody who was still denounce
Speaker 3: you or or think of less of you, and you
Speaker 3: still prove them wrong. And that was the mentality of
Speaker 3: those guys. So honestly, I'm more excited and privileged and
Speaker 3: honored to be a part of that style of team
Speaker 3: because that's what sports is all about than somebody who's
Speaker 3: better on paper.
Speaker 1: For sure, well said, no argument here, but I will.
Speaker 1: I'm going to follow up with a question, and if
Speaker 1: you can solve it, you might get a phone call
Speaker 1: to go coach the Cowboys, because it's what everybody wants
Speaker 1: to know. Slide because what are the elements like twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to pick on them, but any team
Speaker 1: that's great on paper and then there's a team like you,
Speaker 1: guys who want every game in front of you, which
Speaker 1: is all that matters. What are the most important dynamics
Speaker 1: to make sure that a team that on paper has
Speaker 1: every single thing that you could want. Talent, experience, offense, defense,
Speaker 1: special teams, and the road between day one of springball
Speaker 1: and the final day of the season that for you
Speaker 1: culminated in a Sugar Bowl went over Alabama.
Speaker 2: How do you turn talent into results. What are some
Speaker 2: of the key dynamics.
Speaker 3: It's leaders, end of the day. It's the type of
Speaker 3: leaders that you have. And I can humbly say that
Speaker 3: from the different teams and the things that I've seen,
Speaker 3: it's the leaders on the team and how they lead. Right.
Speaker 3: People can consider themselves a leader, but like, are you
Speaker 3: willing to do what you're asking somebody to do? Right?
Speaker 3: Like a lot of people hate their bosses, right because
Speaker 3: like they're asking me something so simple, like why don't
Speaker 3: they just do it? Right? And so it's more of
Speaker 3: like can you lead by example? Can you are would
Speaker 3: your teammate or the person next to you believe that
Speaker 3: what you're asking them, what you're asking of them, that
Speaker 3: you're willing to do? And it's so for me, it's
Speaker 3: the leaders on the team. When I got on the
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh my first year, we went to the Super Bowl, right,
Speaker 3: and the leaders on that team was just second to none. Right,
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh started going downhill when those guys left Pittsburgh, right,
Speaker 3: like the hines Wards, the Ben Roethlisberger's, the Willie Colowns,
Speaker 3: the Max Starks, the Troy Polamalo's, Ryan Clark's and then
Speaker 3: Ike Taylor's to Brett Keesl to Casey Hampton and James Fair,
Speaker 3: James Harrison. Like those leaders right there, they set the
Speaker 3: stage for out everything is supposed to go. Those leaders,
Speaker 3: the coaches didn't need to talk to. They knew what
Speaker 3: to get done. Whether you had to tell in or not,
Speaker 3: you still have to go out there and earn it
Speaker 3: and execute it. And there's no prime example today more
Speaker 3: than the Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions looked great on paper,
Speaker 3: and they're going out there and executing every single week
Speaker 3: and earning their recognition. Man. So I just think that
Speaker 3: it's all about the leader on the team. It was
Speaker 3: for us in eight of going out there and putting
Speaker 3: in the work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, that's probably a tried and true principle,
Speaker 1: you know, both in sports and in life. Right, great
Speaker 1: leaders who understand what to do, and then it probably
Speaker 1: takes a lot of humble followers, correct. I mean, doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what your talent level is like, if you've never
Speaker 1: done something before, it's probably an important element of it
Speaker 1: of a team to have people that are willing to
Speaker 1: listen to the older classmen and understand what it is
Speaker 1: to be part of Utah football culture. Is that kind
Speaker 1: of in line with what you're thinking.
Speaker 3: That's one hundred percent, And that's kind of where I
Speaker 3: want to get back to. Like I always look at
Speaker 3: like what happened this past year, because like we had
Speaker 3: the talent we talked about, or I came into the
Speaker 3: season talking about the depth it would benefit us for
Speaker 3: when we do have injuries, people can step in and
Speaker 3: we shouldn't miss a beat. And as soon as cam
Speaker 3: Risen got hurt, we went to straight crap. So at
Speaker 3: that point, what where were our leadleaders and what were
Speaker 3: our leaders doing, you know, to inevitably make the whole
Speaker 3: team step up and make things happen right. And so
Speaker 3: it's leaders for me. I looked at it, you know,
Speaker 3: over and over again and and just like and how
Speaker 3: they do it right? You know, you got leaders of
Speaker 3: all kinds of different stuff. People consider themselves leaders, But
Speaker 3: I think there's a certain type of leader that it is.
Speaker 3: You know, Coach Whittinghamp says it all time, he's an
Speaker 3: alpha dog, alpha of alpha, right, But like what type
Speaker 3: of leader are you? And can you do the be
Speaker 3: the right leader that will bring a locker room together?
Speaker 3: And I just don't feel like we had that last year, So.
Speaker 2: This is interesting.
Speaker 1: I didn't plan on doing this today, but it's one
Speaker 1: of the things I like about interviewing you. You know,
Speaker 1: we can go in a bunch of different directions. And
Speaker 1: now I'm thinking about what the BYU players said after
Speaker 1: the Alamo Bowl postgame press conference. Conterpay a lot of
Speaker 1: the seniors in upper class and over there, and every
Speaker 1: single one of them about the leadership in the locker
Speaker 1: room from the players, and they weren't diminishing the leadership
Speaker 1: of the coaches. But what is the difference, slide, What's
Speaker 1: what's the difference between having great leadership and your coaching
Speaker 1: staff and then having great leadership on the team with players,
Speaker 1: Because I do think it does hit different a little
Speaker 1: bit when you hear it from your peer.
Speaker 3: It's uh for me. I interviewed Connor after after the
Speaker 3: Alamo Bowl too, and these are a lot of questions that, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, I ask him because you know, I have
Speaker 3: my own opinion, but I want to see the validity
Speaker 3: of it, right. I want to make sure that my
Speaker 3: theory or whatever I thought when I was a player,
Speaker 3: or what I think today, you know, holds true and
Speaker 3: it's the same. So yeah, But for me with all
Speaker 3: of that, it's ownership, right. You gotta you gotta be
Speaker 3: willing to own what you're a part of. So it
Speaker 3: doesn't matter how much money you make, how long you've
Speaker 3: been there, what type of ownership do you have on
Speaker 3: the product that you're a part of. Right, And and
Speaker 3: so the coaches can't make you understand ownership. You have
Speaker 3: to understand it. It has to go to people that
Speaker 3: are on your level, that are putting in the work
Speaker 3: that you're into, and it's it's ownership, right. And then
Speaker 3: like do you feel and if you have ownership of
Speaker 3: your product, you want the best out of your product, right.
Speaker 3: And so for me, if I put anything out there,
Speaker 3: anything that has my name attached to it, right, everybody
Speaker 3: wants to talk about in and nil, Right, anything that
Speaker 3: has my name attached to it, I want to make
Speaker 3: sure it represents me in the best life. Right. If
Speaker 3: my name is attached to University of Utah, that's why
Speaker 3: I'm so prideful it and and why I love the
Speaker 3: university so much. If my name is attached to that,
Speaker 3: I want it to be held in the highest standard. Right.
Speaker 3: And that's what we had in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3: That's what I had on my team in Pittsburgh, and
Speaker 3: that's what I think a lot of championship teams have
Speaker 3: is they have ownership between each and every player, right
Speaker 3: everybody plays like talk about I have to own my
Speaker 3: you know, twelve square feet right the square feet around me.
Speaker 3: I have to own that, and I have to know
Speaker 3: that the person next to me believes that I'm gonna
Speaker 3: do that to the best of my abilities, and not
Speaker 3: only to the best of my abilities that I can
Speaker 3: do it, he believes that I can do it. So
Speaker 3: for me and the leaders, and what I took from
Speaker 3: Connor pay was ownership, ownership of this team, ownership of
Speaker 3: the product that we're putting out there each and every week,
Speaker 3: and that people are watching and just loving what you do.
Speaker 2: Follow up, does a quarterback have to be a leader?
Speaker 1: I mean, you obviously play with Brian who, like you know,
Speaker 1: you had a quarterback who was a leader. And Coach
Speaker 1: Wit talked a lot about Cameron Kevin Rising how he
Speaker 1: was and I hate to say was it just doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like he's coming back. And I could keep going
Speaker 1: down the list, but you reference the Lions and look,
Speaker 1: Jared Goss a really good player. We saw him, you know,
Speaker 1: we were in the Pac twelve footprint. We saw him
Speaker 1: play Utah. I don't know if he strikes me as
Speaker 1: like one of their main leaders.
Speaker 2: Maybe he is. I'm in the locker room.
Speaker 1: But do you have to have a quarterback who's also
Speaker 1: one of your preeminent leaders.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it makes the most sense, but I
Speaker 3: don't think that at the end of the day, that
Speaker 3: makes the team. I think it's the easier way when
Speaker 3: you have that guy who has the ball in his head.
Speaker 3: It's like the point guard, right, You want your point
Speaker 3: guard to be your leader, right, Like what were the
Speaker 3: teams of the Michael Jordan's teams without like a Ron
Speaker 3: Harper or Steve Price or Steve Kerr, right, or you
Speaker 3: know Gary Payton, he was the leader of his team, right,
Speaker 3: the Chauncey Billups, right, Like they were the leaders of
Speaker 3: the team that you look up to. So you want
Speaker 3: to have that person because they have the ball in
Speaker 3: their hands most often, to be the leader that just
Speaker 3: makes everything and everybody because they want the ball, they
Speaker 3: want to be effective. They'll look at that person more
Speaker 3: often because that person's name will more often be said.
Speaker 3: Like if you listen to a play by play guy,
Speaker 3: they're gonna say a person's name more often, right, Like
Speaker 3: if you're just listening on the radio and somebody says,
Speaker 3: Chauncey Billups has the ball, passes it to re Hamilton,
Speaker 3: pass it back to Chauncey Billups, passes it to Rashid Wallace,
Speaker 3: hits the couldn't Tayshaun Prince. Oh, that's a goal. Who's
Speaker 3: name that they say more often in that than anything.
Speaker 3: It's the point guard. Same thing with the quarterback. Quarterback
Speaker 3: takes the snap from center, they're gonna see the name
Speaker 3: of this guy who's delivering the ball to handing the
Speaker 3: ball off and orchestrating to play more often than not.
Speaker 3: So I think it's easier when it's the quarterback for
Speaker 3: it to be your team to like, you can't have
Speaker 3: a team without your quarterback being the leader. I don't
Speaker 3: agree with that because I've been a part of teams
Speaker 3: where quarterbacks are not the vocal leader, but you know,
Speaker 3: they go out there and execute. They lead by example,
Speaker 3: so they're a type of leader. To be the head
Speaker 3: honcho leader. That's the raw raw guy. I don't think
Speaker 3: it's completely necessary, but again, you just got to have
Speaker 3: make sure that that person is bought in and has
Speaker 3: ownership of his twelve square space and makes it happen.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, the quarterback being
Speaker 3: the leader doesn't have to be it for you to
Speaker 3: have a team. But I do think it's the easiest
Speaker 3: to get your entire team to buy in because everybody
Speaker 3: knows football is the most people, right. You have to
Speaker 3: have the most people on the same page than any
Speaker 3: other sport that's out there, And if your quarterback is
Speaker 3: at the helm of it, it just makes it easier
Speaker 3: to do that.
Speaker 1: One more question about this before we get accused of
Speaker 1: hosting a Ted Talk.
Speaker 2: Talking football.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious, because you know, college or pro, Who's
Speaker 1: who's the best leader you ever played with in your career?
Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh, the best leader as a player. There's
Speaker 3: been a few, right Like Uh, for me, I love
Speaker 3: James Ferrier. James Ferrier when I got to the NFL,
Speaker 3: he was just a guy that everybody looked up to.
Speaker 3: And as far as if we go, we go the
Speaker 3: way James Ferry goes. That's Troy Polamalud, that's Ryan Clark,
Speaker 3: that's Ike Taylor, that's Brett Keesol, They looked at James Ferry,
Speaker 3: even offensively, you know Willie Cologne, you know Marquise Pouncy,
Speaker 3: min In Hall, even Roethlisberger. They looked at James Ferry.
Speaker 3: He was one of the best examples of the head
Speaker 3: haunchho and it came so natural to him because he
Speaker 3: was so cool, like you wouldn't even I don't know,
Speaker 3: you know, just as a guy that you looked up to, respected,
Speaker 3: know's gonna put in the work and and everybody believed in.
Speaker 3: I thought James Ferrier was one of the best leaders
Speaker 3: I was ever around.
Speaker 2: Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move off of it and actually talk
Speaker 1: some football now, and let's do a little college. We'll
Speaker 1: end with pro and I'll set you loose on a Monday.
Speaker 1: Do you like this new format now that we've seen
Speaker 1: it unfold, Because it's one thing to say, hey, I
Speaker 1: like the idea of twelve teams or the premise is sound,
Speaker 1: but you have to see what it's like. You have
Speaker 1: to witness how it unfolds before you can actually have
Speaker 1: a fully baked opinion. So, now that we have a
Speaker 1: final Ohio State Notre Dame, what do you make of
Speaker 1: our first experience as college football fans witnessing this twelve
Speaker 1: team CFP man.
Speaker 3: I loved it one. It automatically got me thinking of
Speaker 3: the future. What are the next few years gonna be
Speaker 3: like now that the players know what it's gonna be
Speaker 3: like and the possibilities of it. Right now that each
Speaker 3: team understands, like, Okay, Boise State got in it and
Speaker 3: SMU got in it, we could be one of the
Speaker 3: Indiana got it. We could be one of those teams.
Speaker 3: And we have a possibility. I'm Indiana. If I beat
Speaker 3: Notre Dame, I can go play Georgia and I could
Speaker 3: beat Georgia. Right. I scored more points on Notre Dame
Speaker 3: than Georgia scored on Notre Dame. Right, I can do that,
Speaker 3: and then I can beat the next team. And I
Speaker 3: like it. It's just more possible when you've seen it
Speaker 3: done and the possibilities of you making it happen, right,
Speaker 3: Like even our twenty eighteen about us breaking into the
Speaker 3: BCS and beating teams like that, we've seen it done, right,
Speaker 3: We've seen the four team, you know, break the BCS,
Speaker 3: or even before that in two thousand and three, when
Speaker 3: they were just beating teams like Texas A and M
Speaker 3: in North Carolina, and then then just everybody they lined
Speaker 3: up against, they just they they demolished them, right, And
Speaker 3: even the year before in two thousand and seven when
Speaker 3: UCLA was ranked number eleven in the country and they
Speaker 3: came into the rights Eycle Stadium and we just beat
Speaker 3: the brakes off of them. So we knew it was
Speaker 3: possible by the examples of the years before us, right,
Speaker 3: And now that this has been done, I just think
Speaker 3: that other schools are looking at that like like we
Speaker 3: always had an epifty, like, oh, maybe we could do it.
Speaker 3: But you've seen in Arizona State take Texas to the break.
Speaker 3: Arizona State possibly should have won in many examples, right,
Speaker 3: take that field goal that bounced on the ground but
Speaker 3: bounced through the uprights. Technically they won, right. Imagine them
Speaker 3: playing against Ohio State, right and not losing it in
Speaker 3: the last two minutes of the game, right, and not
Speaker 3: throwing a freaking pitch on goal to go situations Oh
Speaker 3: so stupid. But I think the possibility that other schools
Speaker 3: are now looking at in this twelfteen format is just great.
Speaker 3: And I just think that the years to come are
Speaker 3: just going to be that much more interesting, that much
Speaker 3: more intriguing. I think it brings that much more fire
Speaker 3: to regular season games to get to the opportunity to
Speaker 3: be a part of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I asked you prior to the semi final, kind
Speaker 1: of what your God told you about these games? And
Speaker 1: I remember, I know you did a good job of
Speaker 1: breaking down why ultimately every game is kind of its
Speaker 1: own thing and it's all about matchups. And as a
Speaker 1: guy that played for Utah to beat Alabama and the
Speaker 1: Sugar Bowl in two thousand and eight when not a
Speaker 1: lot of people thought you would, you're well equipped to
Speaker 1: talk about how any team can beat any other team
Speaker 1: on any given day. But it feels like nobody believes that.
Speaker 1: Marcus Reeman, by the way, what impressive, dude. How about
Speaker 1: your first coaching job in life is just Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: You know, at the age of thirty five and now
Speaker 1: at the age of thirty ninety has a chance to
Speaker 1: win a national championship.
Speaker 3: Against his team that his alma mater.
Speaker 2: Exactly it didn't.
Speaker 3: Know it was his alma mater. That's that's even more.
Speaker 1: Insane awesome storylines. But Vegas isn't giving Notre Dame much
Speaker 1: of a chance. The general public, according to the money,
Speaker 1: giving them almost zero chance at all. Ohio State's an
Speaker 1: eight point favor. Do you think the Irish have a
Speaker 1: fighting chance? No pun intended.
Speaker 3: Hey, anytime you lace them up, you have a fighting chance.
Speaker 3: And so I'm always for a game not being one
Speaker 3: before it's played right, And I think that these odds
Speaker 3: and lines from Vegas is just more motivation and bullet
Speaker 3: toed board material than anything. And so it's all about
Speaker 3: how you line up right. I didn't think Notre Dame
Speaker 3: would do what they did against Georgia, but let alone
Speaker 3: Georgia have as bad a receivers as they did. I
Speaker 3: didn't think they could drop the ball that many times.
Speaker 3: I thought, you know, the matchup against Penn State was
Speaker 3: very equal, and as it was, it was twenty four
Speaker 3: to twenty four to the last second, right, And so
Speaker 3: you know, I think this matchup going into Ohio State,
Speaker 3: I do think Ohio State has the has the edge.
Speaker 3: But you've seen in this Texas game, it's never over.
Speaker 3: Like Ohio State started on fire and then they got
Speaker 3: one penalty and they went right back in the tank
Speaker 3: and Texas kind of came back in the game. But
Speaker 3: it was fourteen twenty one and Texas has one yard
Speaker 3: to game to make it twenty one twenty one, and
Speaker 3: they don't make it happen. Like that game was close
Speaker 3: until the end. You know, you can look at twenty
Speaker 3: eight to fourteen and like, oh they had it handily. No,
Speaker 3: Ohio State did not have that handley. And that's what
Speaker 3: I was talking about, you know the other week, is
Speaker 3: that like Texas can make it happen, right, And so
Speaker 3: I think that's gonna be the same situation in this
Speaker 3: National Championship game. Is it's going to be exciting. I
Speaker 3: think it's gonna be a great matchup. And if you
Speaker 3: can put a game plan together in thing is possible, right,
Speaker 3: It's it's uh, it's It's not like the NBA Finals
Speaker 3: where you have to score four games. You have to
Speaker 3: win four games against a single opponent to actually win it.
Speaker 3: This is sudden death, man, you got one opportunity to
Speaker 3: to make this happen. I love this and I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be a great matchup. I do give the
Speaker 3: edge to Ohio State when you look at the offense
Speaker 3: the defense, I give it to them. I don't think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be an eight point game. I think it
Speaker 3: will be a little closer. But these National championship games
Speaker 3: are are are always interesting. And here's one thing that
Speaker 3: I if if Notre Dame pulls this out, Uh, it's
Speaker 3: because I believe they have more heart than anybody in
Speaker 3: this bracket. The way that they play, they want it
Speaker 3: more and I and that's all about the leader, uh,
Speaker 3: and Marcus Freeman to instill that in him right like
Speaker 3: the coach for the Lions. Uh, he's he's instilling the
Speaker 3: ability to want it more in his players than the opponent.
Speaker 3: That Vikings game at the end of the season was awesome,
Speaker 3: and I think that's exactly what Marcus Freeman is doing
Speaker 3: in his Notre Dame f Irish fighting Irish and so
Speaker 3: I just think it's gonna be a great game.
Speaker 1: Because of that, I will do a little NFL slide
Speaker 1: and I'll set you loose. And one of the coolest things,
Speaker 1: in my opinion about your football career is you played
Speaker 1: college football for Kyle Winningham and pro football for Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 2: Like that's a really really cool thing, man.
Speaker 1: That makes you That puts you in a very small group,
Speaker 1: you know the deal though, I mean it's been eight
Speaker 1: years since the Steelers playoff win, the longest playoff droughts
Speaker 1: in seventy two. Mike's streak of eighteen consecutive non losing
Speaker 1: seasons is insane. But you know the standard in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: and look, I'm a fan. I don't think they should
Speaker 1: do anything. I don't think they will, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of noise around your former head coach. I just
Speaker 1: want to get your thoughts on it.
Speaker 3: I'm just, I just I don't think it's coming from
Speaker 3: Steeler fans. I think it's coming more from just, you know,
Speaker 3: outside opinion is But like, who else are you going
Speaker 3: to get right? Who's gonna replace Mike Tomlin. Steelers have
Speaker 3: had three coaches in the last forty five years. Here's
Speaker 3: my thing, everybody who always has an opinion of something,
Speaker 3: is there someone else you have in mind that would
Speaker 3: do a better job, because it's not right the Steeler
Speaker 3: mentality and how they do it, from the roster that
Speaker 3: they assemble, from the ownership that they have. You have
Speaker 3: to have a certain personality fit that and do that right.
Speaker 3: And I do think I think the Steelers have slipped
Speaker 3: up and just been able. But this is football, man,
Speaker 3: and that's why I'm saying, like, it's not like the
Speaker 3: NBA playoffs where you get four opportunities against a single opponent.
Speaker 3: It's sudden death and if you don't make it happen,
Speaker 3: it's good. But you look at the talent in the
Speaker 3: West the last fifteen twenty years. Look at the last
Speaker 3: twenty five years, Right, it was the Patriots, Tom Brady, Right,
Speaker 3: you got the all kinds of teams in the AFC
Speaker 3: have been making noise for Carson Palmer and in the
Speaker 3: same division we've been Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Raves
Speaker 3: have been in the same division for the last twenty
Speaker 3: five years. Like, it is not easy to win in
Speaker 3: the AFC, right, And I want to do more research
Speaker 3: to see how many Super Bowls the AFC in the
Speaker 3: last twenty five years have won over the NFC. But like,
Speaker 3: it's not easy to win in the AFC. It's a
Speaker 3: sudden depth deal. I'm telling you, you'd be a lot
Speaker 3: more hurt if you were a Steelers fan and having
Speaker 3: a losing record every year then going to the playoffs
Speaker 3: and losing, right, Like, what if you were the Browns,
Speaker 3: What if you were the Jets, what if you were
Speaker 3: you know, some of these other lowly teams that may
Speaker 3: have one good year in the last ten to fifteen years,
Speaker 3: there's literally a possibility every single year with the Steelers,
Speaker 3: and so you got to keep that. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin is trying to figure it out and navigate
Speaker 3: this new day and age with what type of personnel
Speaker 3: that we need to have, right, Like, look at that
Speaker 3: game against Baltimore and you've just seen a lot of
Speaker 3: lackluster effort. How do you motivate guys that you're paying
Speaker 3: so all this money, right, Like, you got to do
Speaker 3: that and out how do you motivate guys you know
Speaker 3: that they got to want it themselves, right And then
Speaker 3: for me, I'm watching that game and I'm just like,
Speaker 3: how the hell do the Pittsburgh Steelers defense look like
Speaker 3: they've never seen or heard or played against Lamar Jackson before?
Speaker 3: That first drive was abysmal And I'm just like, where's
Speaker 3: your technique? What were you practicing all week? It was
Speaker 3: just it was terrible, and I'm just like, you know,
Speaker 3: it was going to be an uphill battle because one
Speaker 3: Baltimore's surging at the end of the season, which is
Speaker 3: what you want to do. They got a talented roster,
Speaker 3: but you know that going in, you know that you
Speaker 3: know they're beatable, that's for sure, but you know it's
Speaker 3: it's just I don't know, I just felt like, you know,
Speaker 3: there was a certain point of the game where the
Speaker 3: players felt like, oh man, we can't win this, and
Speaker 3: they just stopped fighting and so it just sucked. But
Speaker 3: I've been down twenty one points to an opponent and
Speaker 3: we've came back and won. And that's what the Steelers were,
Speaker 3: and they just they just didn't have that mentality of
Speaker 3: that we could overcome and that was just unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Well, and we could reduce it pretty simply where you know,
Speaker 1: Mike and the Steelers had such a great run when
Speaker 1: they had a much better option on a quarterback. And
Speaker 1: I think Russ did a pretty admirable job after he
Speaker 1: was left for dead in Denver. But did they run
Speaker 1: it back with Russell Wilson next year?
Speaker 2: What do you think?
Speaker 3: No? No, No, I don't think so. I think you know,
Speaker 3: you you played great with Russell Wilson. Hopefully that Justin
Speaker 3: Fields was able to learn a lot of things with
Speaker 3: Russell and and then he can attack this offseason like that.
Speaker 3: But I was thinking about it too. Right after the meeting,
Speaker 3: I would have Russell Wilson and and Justin Fields sit down.
Speaker 3: If I'm Mike Tomlin, I know this office too because
Speaker 3: I've said it there multiple times, but like I'd sit
Speaker 3: in both of my office and being like, yo, Russ,
Speaker 3: you know, we did sign to a one year deal,
Speaker 3: but we're gonna work. But Justin is our starter. If
Speaker 3: you want to go test the market, that's great. If
Speaker 3: you don't find anything that you like, because you're getting
Speaker 3: paid thirty forty million dollars a year from Denver not
Speaker 3: to play for them. Anyway, if you want to come back,
Speaker 3: we would love to have you as a backup, but
Speaker 3: this will be Justin Field's offense going forward. And that's
Speaker 3: exactly how I would tell him. I think Russell Wilson
Speaker 3: would be professional and understand that. I think he probably
Speaker 3: understands that already, and that's how I would go about it.
Speaker 3: But you give the keys to Justin Fields. He's the
Speaker 3: younger guy. He's got a lot of potential. He led
Speaker 3: this team great. There were things that he can learn.
Speaker 3: He's been able to sit and this is what a
Speaker 3: lot of these college kids don't freaking understand is like,
Speaker 3: it's okay to sit a year, It's okay to sit
Speaker 3: down and learn. Everybody's like, oh I can play faster here.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean good things for your future, right You're
Speaker 3: wasting years potential opportunity there. And so like, I think
Speaker 3: Justin Fields was able to sit and be humble, but
Speaker 3: I think that Pittsburgh needs to vocalize that this is
Speaker 3: Justin Field's team and instill all the confidence that you
Speaker 3: can in him.
Speaker 1: All right side before I set you loose my two
Speaker 1: parter and it could be the same. They're not mutually exclusive.
Speaker 1: But who do you think will win the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: And who do you want to win the Super Bowl?
Speaker 3: Oh man, it's it's it's gonna be crazy. You know,
Speaker 3: we haven't seen the guys that had the first round
Speaker 3: by in the playoffs yet Houston looked absolutely amazing. So
Speaker 3: I can't wait to see that Kansas City Houston matchup.
Speaker 3: You know, Uh, the Baltimore Buffalo matchup is going to
Speaker 3: be an instant classic. My team's been the Commanders all
Speaker 3: year because my boy BJ's over there killing it and
Speaker 3: watching Jayden Daniels just overcome so much. I just can't
Speaker 3: wait to see what he does against Detroit. Detroit has
Speaker 3: so many injuries on defense that they may be susceptible
Speaker 3: to be getting beat by by the Commanders. You have
Speaker 3: no idea, but I just think that one there's just
Speaker 3: so many teams that have the opportunity to make this happen.
Speaker 3: You'd want to get Josh Allen to finally overcome the hump, right,
Speaker 3: Get over Baltimore, get over Kansas City, get to that
Speaker 3: super Bowl and show your stuff. I'm hoping I can
Speaker 3: see a Buffalo Philadelphia super Bowl. It's kind of what
Speaker 3: I think. And then I just I think Philadelphia is
Speaker 3: too deep, and so the Eagles might win the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl this year.
Speaker 1: All right, sol, I appreciate the time. Man, always good stuff.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday, have a great week, and we'll chat soon.
Speaker 3: All right, brother, talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Stevens and Sylvesteria one of the best to ever do
Speaker 1: it at the University of Utah with some fiery takes
Speaker 1: today twenty nineteen, Utah robster Man. I think it's the
Speaker 1: most talented team the coach what's ever had. So I
Speaker 1: played in two thousand and eight. They beat Bam and
Speaker 1: the Sugar Bowl. They won all their games so there's
Speaker 1: a bit of a mic drop there. Yeah, the Tomlin
Speaker 1: thing is interesting. I mean, you're not going to talk
Speaker 1: to anybody that covers football that doesn't think he's a
Speaker 1: great coach.
Speaker 2: It was Alex Smith himself.
Speaker 1: I was listening to Alex talk about how archaic the
Speaker 1: offense is and it might be time to upgrade. I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, but the results just haven't been there
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. It has been eight years since the
Speaker 1: Steelers won a playoff game. It's the longest playoff droughts
Speaker 1: since nineteen seventy two. They have the same amount of
Speaker 1: playoff victories as the Jets over the past eight years,
Speaker 1: which is zero. But Tomlin has eighteenth straight non losing seasons,
Speaker 1: which is wild.
Speaker 2: So we'll see. I don't think they're gonna move on
Speaker 2: from him.
Speaker 1: During their first ten seasons, the Steelers ranked tied for
Speaker 1: fifth with eight postseason victories, and they won Super Bowls
Speaker 1: under Mike and you know, his results are what they are.
Speaker 1: So we'll see if they decide to make a little
Speaker 1: bit of a change. But appreciate slaves time