a 50 to One Long Shot
to be the offensive rookie of the year.
He's now eight and a half to one ahead of Pickett who was
five to one in his down to nine to one. I think if it's that
close, I think if the performance actually would put
both guys in the running, the quarterback probably gets it
because he's gonna be throwing the ball to other people than
George
pickets
and and these are the reasons why you never see. A receiver
is the league MVP. It's always the quarterback who's serving
it up for him. So I think that right now
Pick it up to me, would be
the better bet than Pickens miles?
Well, I think one of the things that we don't talk about enough
with the Steelers is just how good that complement of weapons
is and we're talking about George Pickens, but they also
have deante Johnson.
Chase, Claypool fryer movies when I was talking about
earlier Nagi Harris, like if you're going to insert a rookie
quarterback into any situation and not offensive line,
notwithstanding,
this is a really good complement of
It's for somebody to have if you're gonna come in there and
be a rookie quarterback and presumably have some sort of
training wheels on and try to win games. But you know, if
you're throwing to George Pickett Sue, I mean my gosh,
that dude is really impressive.
The body control that he has mean the sideline catch. Their
you had that in zone catch that he had against the Seahawks
like there are some really impressive things that he has
done. And so if he has that chemistry and he's been
establishing with picot,
Be like yo they could be really dangerous Duo
and at the end of the day, look I know the Steelers
aspire to win every Super Bowl and for them it's not just
Hollow. Talk to fill the stadium. They really want to
win the Super Bowl, every
single year, they are going to put the best possible players
on the field. But at the same time,
they have seen a mild dip in attendance.
They have seen a dip in local TV ratings. They need a little
excitement for the franchise and I think that's why they
drafted not the only reason, but one of the reasons
why they drafted, Kenny Pickett, you know, they had
Dan Marino right there, in 1983, eight years before Mi was
born, which is very depressing, but they had Dan Marino, right?
Their Hometown kid, not just went to Pitt, grew up in
Pittsburgh played High School football in Pittsburgh, and
they didn't take him because they
thought they had a lot more years with
Terry Bradshaw. They had a grand total of one more game
with Bradshaw because he had elbow problems. So
this is a way Way to to really excite and energize.
And
if it's close, how do you not put? Pick it out there? The
only downside miles
and this is where
the safer approach for a coach is
to go with the veteran.
Because it's easier to go from the veteran to the rookie. You
can't go from the rookie to the veteran. They can't have
another Terry Bradshaw gets benched for
Terry. Hanratty, Joe Gilliam, or whoever else, they happen to
have around. And, and it takes Terry Bradshaw, five years to
figure out how to play because they're constantly jerking him
in and out of the lineup.
Once you go with Kenny Pickett, he's your guy,
and I could see a temptation to that. Let's see what we can do
with true Biscay. But what's your endgame? You get yourself
into a Jimmy Garoppolo Trail. Situation
where you're a rookie sits the whole year. I don't think they
wanted to sit the whole year, so and I think they're going to
be better than people realize, so whoever they put in that
spot
is going to end up, probably staying in that spot because
I think they're going to take up the defense, they got
the weapons. As you said, that quarterback isn't likely going
to fail, it's more likely, he gets injured and that's,
you know, what's happened to True Biscay from time to time,
not just flop and get benched.
Well, you know, the funny thing you talk about, like, jerk, Can
you guys get out of the line of, we know, we know who's on
their coaching staff right now? They always on the defensive
side. But Ryan Flores is on that coaching staff. So
I don't necessarily think he's gonna be making quarterback
decisions, but you know, we're talking about guys getting
jerked at another lineup. That's where my mind
immediately goes to the Miami Dolphins, into a tongue of
hello. I'm Brian Flores, but
I do think that you're right and, you know, the one thing
that you can say about playing a rookie quarterback early, is
that he may have some Growing Pains. But those Growing Pains
early made turn into like actual gains later on in
the season and so
if pick it goes out there, you know maybe he doesn't have
the best debut against Cincinnati. Well he's gonna have that in
his memory bank and that experience is going to be
learnt. So you know when he goes out and plays Cincinnati,
the second time later
on in the season,
he's going to be better off for it. Probably. So that's where
I don't know. I mean, I understand why they would want
to go with true Biscay if they wanted to To and Island. Say
like, yeah, we'll get the experience guy out there. We'll
see what he can do.
And then eventually when we feel more comfortable, or if
true Biscay falters, whatever it happens to be, then we'll
put in picket. But like at this point I don't know. I
I understand why they would go either way
and I'm just going to trust Mike Tomlin with the decision
and I think that he's going to be right whatever he does
because he's one of the best coaches in the league.
It's a never-ending debate. What do you do with a Young
quarterback? First round or there's an expectation he's
going to play soon. Then later. And I've evolved to the point
miles we're
in this day and age
with the way that the rookie wage scale is constructed and
how cheap it is to use that first round pick on a guy that
that
can in theory, make an impact and you want to get the most
out of him before you have to pay him after three years.
I think that if you use the first round pick on
a quarterback, you better be ready to play them and if you
don't think you're ready to play them, What are you doing?
Why are you doing it, draft somebody else, who can come in
and make an impact
and draft, the quarterback
when you're ready to play them?
Not a moment earlier. And I know Aaron Rodgers, sat for
three years. That was a very unique and strange situation
that somehow worked out the trail. And Jimmy Garoppolo
thing was very unique and strange and different. And
typically, I would say,
if you're using a first-round pick on a quarterback,
then you've already decided you're going to play them, he
still needs to earn it in the locker room. That was one of
the concerns Sims had about the Panthers may be taking Kenny
Pickett. He was convinced that it pick, it shows
up and starts throwing passes and Sam Darkness throwing
passes, the players are going to be saying, well, I can t
nice seeing you but Sam Donald's the better quarterback
so you need you need to have a competition
that you think the guy you draft can win and the eye?
It feels like it's moving in that direction for the Steelers
and and it just it seems like
The right call and like you said, you start playing games.
You start accumulating, that bank of experience, you're
better by the time that we get to December January, maybe
February for the Steelers, who knows? He's not a rookie
anymore and you're all the better suited next
year, when you have a guy who played his entire rookie year,
versus a guy who sat there and watched, you're so much better
off with the guy who played so II. Just think that
It it makes sense at this point. We've seen enough from
Kenny Pickett and we'll see some more Sunday. But unless
again, he just completely fails.
I think I'll be the guy and you mentioned Brian Flores. It's
easy to forget, the one of the best coaches in the NFL is now
an assistant on the staff of, one of the best coaches in
the NFL and I've said this time, again, I haven't checked
the odds lately, but it stunned me
to no end to see the Steelers at 12:50,
in the AFC, North
the longest shot
among the Ins Bengals and Browns.
Okay, write them off. Go ahead.
Go ahead. It's exactly what they want. It plays into their
hands. They got Tomlin they got Flores they got a great defense
led by TJ W. They got not Jay Harris ready to?
I think explode this year, if he stays healthy, you got
the weapons, you talked about earlier in the in the passing
game.
The only question mark is quarterback, but
The rest of the team is so good.
It's not as critical as it would be anywhere else. I think
they're going to be just fine this year and I think they love
the fact that so many people are like
the Steelers are down
and they're probably going to stay down for a while.
Well it sort of reminds me of the Patriots last year in a lot
of ways except with better weapons on
offense, right? And I think, you know, we could say that
there you have some better top to your talent on defense to
write and I don't know what necessarily
Vacations were for the Patriots, come in in the last
year, I can't quite remember, I mean, I think I picked them to
make the playoffs, but they had
a guy in Mac Jones that they drafted and then they put them
out there and he was able to Pilot the offense pretty
successfully and, you know, you're talking about. Well,
when that once that guy
gets that bank of experience, he's better off going into year
two. I don't know how much better off. Mac Jones is with
his current offensive coaching situation, but that's another
story I think pick. It
is going to be in a great spot base.
On the weapons that he's got based on the coaching that he's
got. No, not just for right now but then down the road if he
does start playing. So
well there are a lot of reasons to say, okay, well the Steelers
and I don't know, I mean, you know, they've got quarterbacks
who I don't necessarily have the most faith in, whether it's
true, Biscay or whether it's pick it, we got to see. We got
to
do this, we got to do that.
I think you're right that they love being written off. You
know, people all the time, talk about Straw Men. And, you know,
Brady a few years ago was like everybody says we summon Can we
can't win any games.
People are actually kind of saying that about the Steelers
and they can say that at their own Peril. I think, you know,
teams in the AFC North, probably understand that
the Steelers are not going to be a pushover. I think teams around
the league, probably understand that as well.
But, you know, if we in the media want to say like
Steelers in like they're gonna be just fine with that, they'll
put that thing on the bulletin board and Mike, Tom will have
them ready to go.
What do they do last year week one going to Buffalo the bills?
The recipients of all the highwomen
type and they went in there and they caught him flat-footed and
they beat them. So the Bengals, it's weird. It's just I can't
get used to it. After 50 years of being a football fan in and
around Pittsburgh, the idea that
Pittsburgh is the underdog at Cincinnati, but
the Bengals need to be on Alert
in that stadium that
has a new name and I can't remember what the name is or
not Paul Brown and opaque or
that's right. It is pay its pay something. It's page oboro
That's that's that's the whole purpose.
But but yeah, I think they're on alert and it's not going to
be easy. And last year, you know, the Bengals had to
scratch and Claw Week 1 against the Vikings and get that over
time. When they're going to,
they're going to have their hands more full this year
than they did Week 1
of last year.