Drive10.14.26Hr2: Around Campus

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Steelers Nation Radio.

Good evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing? Well, that's good. Us too.

It is our number two of the drive here on Steelers Nation Radio, the Steelers Audio Network. And to the phone lines, we go to get all of the latest moving and shaking from the south side with, of course, our buddy Mike DeFabo covers the Pittsburgh Steelers for the athletic.

Mike, thanks for taking the time as always. We just saw.

Earlier today, Jalen Warren named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. He's had an incredible start to the season. Maybe his finest game as a Pittsburgh Steeler this past Sunday against the Colts. I believe it was Aaron Rodgers who said, we go as he goes. And boy, hasn't that been the truth? And I hope that's the case moving forward.

Yeah, what more can you say about Jalen Warren? I mean, it seems like everything you ask something of Jalen Warren, he exceeds your expectations. You know, whether we're talking about his career as a whole, came into this league as an undrafted free agent, wasn't even supposed to make the team, curves out a niche for himself, you know, or we're talking about within individual plays themselves, where it looks like they've blocked for four, he turns it into six. They throw the ball in the flat one yard behind the line of scrimmage. He turns it into an 80-yard touchdown.

I think he's been overlooked because you look at him. He's 5'8, undrafted, probably doesn't light up the testing numbers at the combine or anything like that, but he runs with great toughness. He's a good teammate, and he really has incredible versatility when you can use him as a blocker, one of the best blocking backs in the league on passing situations, and then it seems like you can get him the ball in a variety of ways.

Yeah, well said, and I really do hope they look at him as the foundation of the offense and go from there, make him the starting point. What injuries are we keeping an eye on this week? What are the questionable guys, in your opinion? Who's on the fence?

You know, of course, he has already rolled out two of those receivers, you know, Roman Wilson, Ben Skoranek. So we can get into that, I'm sure, later on. You know, the guy that I think is interesting to me is Jamel Dean. He's kind of been dealing with the same ankle injury for a little while. This is his former team.

I'm sure he's incentivized and motivated to get back out there. I'm a little bit more optimistic about his potential status than I was coming into the week, and that's something maybe to monitor later. You know, Deshaun Elliott, you know, when I talked with some people about a week ago, it sounded like there would be a bit of an on-ramp for him and maybe Paris game is more of a realistic expectation. But I wouldn't completely rule out him coming back this week.

How about Rico?

Rico, I think, is going to be back.

I thought so.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I think that they can find the right– Because as much as you mentioned, they need to build the offense around Jalen Warren. You do need to spell that running back at least a little bit if you're going to keep him healthy and keep him productive late in the season. So I think it's about finding that right balance. I think they'll strike that balance.

I don't get the impression they trust anyone else on the roster to get carries.

I'm surprised with that, to be honest with you. Because I really liked what we've seen from Lou Nichols in consecutive pre-seasons. I thought that he could be interesting. I thought maybe they would get creative and maybe it could be an Eli Heidenreich opportunity, but actually it was kind of jaw-dropping or I guess eye-opening maybe is the right word, that he was inactive in a couple of these games without Rico Dowdle. So, you know, I think it's going to be a one-two punch, but that right hand from Jalen Warren is going to be hitting pretty hard in terms of that dynamic.

Mike, we were joking on the show. I can't remember if it was yesterday or Monday, but around this time of year, every year, Tunch and Wolf would kind of make the same joke about how, you know, this is the point in your rookie season when you're a rookie that, yes, it's still your first year in the NFL and there's and there's going to be growing pains and all that.

But it's kind of like coming back to school now for your second semester, your freshman year. You know where all the campus buildings are. You know where the dining room is. You've made your friends. You know how to balance your social life and your academic life, all that stuff. And we were kind of talking about how it feels like Jeremy Bernard has hit that point. where the game's starting to slow down a little bit for him. He's stepping up in his role. He's doing more. He was a real factor for this offense on Sunday. Does it seem like it's all coming together for him at the right time? He's going to obviously have an increased opportunity with the injuries, and it looks like he's in prime position to step in and hop on a moving train.

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. He's coming off his best game of his short NFL career to this point. And I think that he is developing with each passing week. One thing that I found interesting is when we've asked Aaron Rodgers about What's it going to take for Jeremy Bernard to earn your trust? He doesn't talk about making catches over the middle and hanging on to the football or creating yards after the catch. He talks about the meeting room. And Aaron Rodgers quizzes his guys on things like hand signals and, hey, you're going to get this coverage.

What's going to be your adjustment, your route adjustment when you see this kind of coverage? And that's really the reason why Jeremy Bernard is getting more of an opportunity to get the football is that he's been passing those tests. And, you know, if you have the chance to talk to him or if you see an interview with him, he really carries himself in a different way than you would expect from a wide receiver. You know, he's very mature for his age, very conscientious. And I mean, I think that, like, I know that in Alabama, they called him Uncle Germ because he kind of conducted himself as that like elder statesman.

And he came into the league with the reputation of being pro-ready. And I think you're seeing some of those things in terms of his preparation and in terms of his approach.

Wes beat me a little to it on the rookie talk, and we had a really good rookie segment yesterday. And I guess a couple things we said made a few waves, not really negative or not. But if it were up to me, Bernard would be my starting No. 2 wide receiver. Spears Jennings would be my starting safety, even when Elliott came back at the expense of Brisker. And Everett would be my starting corner even when Dean came back at the expense of Samuel. Do you think that's possible or crazy?

No, I think you're absolutely right. No, I think not crazy, but yes, possible. And I think you're spot on with all of that.

I mean.

The way that I look at the situation with Jeremy Bernard is he has a great opportunity to basically push those other guys down the depth chart. And by the time Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson and Ben Skarnick come back from injury, basically established, look, number one, DK, number two is Jeremy Bernard. I think that that's really kind of like setting the stage for him and setting expectations for the next couple of weeks. In terms of the secondary that you discussed, I 1,000% agree with what you're saying at safety. I think that one of my fears and concerns about the way that they've constructed the secondary is Deshaun Elliott was a near pro bowler and probably should have been a pro bowler a couple years

ago because of what he does near the line of scrimmage. And I'm not trying to take anything away from him and say he can't play center field, but But it's like you're taking away what made him special if you're using him in that way more often because you have to play Brisker as the down safety. And so I feel like it makes more sense to play a Spears-Jennings guy.

And Spears-Jennings, you know, talking about guys' approach, I've been really impressed with him as well because, like, when you ask young rookies, what are you working on, they say everything. And he'll give you very specific things. And every week he writes in his notebook one specific thing. You know, he comes from a family where both of his parents were in the military. He talked about like if he didn't make his bed in the morning, he would come home.

He said a hurricane came through his room. His dad would just rip everything up. So he he he taught him like the first thing you need to do in the day is make your bed because now you've done one thing in the day. And that's kind of like his approach. I really appreciate being around him and seeing the way he approaches it. And I think that he has the size, he has the speed, and really it's about just kind of like learning the NFL to develop him into a safety. So I completely agree with everything you're saying right there.

How about Everett? Everett versus Samuel when that time comes. That one's a little tougher.

Well, I think also with that, maybe some of that situationally, you know, the different types of corners. You know, Samuel, you know, if you're talking about playing the Bengals and trying to figure out who's going to match up against T Higgins, you know, maybe it is Daylon Everett because Daylon is, you know, more physical, um, you know, tolls the type of athlete, whereas Samuel maybe has a little bit more of the veteran savvy to his game. Um, but I, I like what I've seen out of Everett and I would love to see him, you know, maybe sooner than later, like you're talking about take stranglehold on that starting position.

A couple more minutes here with Mike DeFabo of the athletic. He joins us on the drive. Mike, we saw Steelers defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham move from the booth to the sideline this past Sunday. Is that a move that you expect to see in Tampa? Is that something that you think is now going to be permanent moving forward?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm, Reading between the lines, it sure seems like when TJ Watt is captured on the headset on primetime TV, screaming at the defensive coordinator, they probably figured, Hey, maybe it's time to make a little bit of a change and move Patrick Gray. down there so that rather than screaming through him through the microphone, you could have face-to-face honest communication. Um, and, and I think that it shows something about Patrick Graham, you know, I've really like, I like the way that he approaches things because, um, he's very thoughtful in what he does.

And it shows, like he talked about how being viable is part of being a good leader. And, You know, early when he first started meeting with these guys, he gave them hip hop history lessons where each guy would have to get up into the front room and talk and give a lesson about some hip hop collective. And the reason was to get them out of their comfort zone and to get them used to communicating. Well, all those same things he's now asking of himself. He would prefer to be up there with all of his play sheets lined up and where he could see the offensive personnel coming into the game. But. he's going outside of his comfort zone to improve the communication. And, you know, so far it's working, but I think, I think it's

a good change. I think that, you know, especially with an offensive minded head coach like Mike McCarthy, he's Patrick Graham has the opportunity to really be like the head coach of this defense. And if that's going to be his role and responsibility, I think you need to have him on the football field.

One more rookie question for you. And we'd let you let you slide here. I don't know how much you watched of Gabe Rubio and it was only 14 snaps from what I remember. But I was pretty happy with him, and I've been pretty happy with him every step of the way. Do you get the impression that the coaching staff think they kind of stole one with him, too, as a run-stuffer?

Yeah, I think that they really do. If you go back and look at some of his college tape, he played really well against Vengo Ioane, the guy that he could be playing against now with the Ravens and the AFC North for years to come. And, um, I'm not sure if maybe the Steelers were even just watching Venga in that situation and notice Gabe Rubio really showing up. Um, but yeah, he he's really, um, like eyeopening because. you know, us in the media, we don't know what we're talking about.

And so we follow these scouting reports and you look at like Dane Brugler from the athletic is one of the big guys who does these reports and he didn't even include Ruby. And so, you know, it's like, oh, okay, well, who is this guy? Well, he showed you pretty quickly in training camp. He was winning a lot of one-on-one reps.

And now, you know, he does a good job of taking on double teams. He's a little bit versatile. You could play him at nose. You could play him at four eyes. So I really like him within the pipeline. The Steelers have made such a big priority of bulking up that defensive front, being the kind of team that can come at you in waves. As a later round draft pick who has some upside and continues to develop, I really like that pick.

Mike DeFabo of The Athletic, always kind enough to lend us some time here in what is always a busy stretch. Make sure you're checking out his coverage this week and every week in The Athletic. DeFabes, great stuff, dude. Thank you for taking the time and we'll see you this weekend.

Yeah, absolutely.

See you in Tampa.

Tampa.

Tampa. Oh, it's supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny on Saturday. It's supposed to.

Be freezing here over the weekend. I'm sorry to hear that, man.

I'm going to be frolicking in my shorts down there.

I'm actually kind of looking.

Forward to it. I was hot yesterday. Kind of looking forward to a chilly fall day, you know?

I hold on to the summer-type days as long as I can now.

I get it.

Because I know it's going to be a long.

Dark summer. Your porch time, your deck time, you know, right?

Winter is coming, Matt. It is.

And then you're like, boy, I could use a day like that.

And then you're like, my goodness, I'd love to wear shorts and have it be 75 and sunny.

Great stuff with Mike, as always.

And plenty to ponder as we get closer and closer to this weekend trip.

To Tampa Bay. Heck, Matt, a week from now, I'll be flying to Paris. I mean, this is all happening.

Things are happening quick.

This is happening very quick here. It's going to be a busy weekend. next 10 days or so in Steeler land, and I'm jacked up and can't wait for all of it. I will say I do really wish we had that bye week on the back end. I know we're at home at least against Cleveland, but that's that.

Coming home is not going to be easy.

That week's going to be a little bit of a struggle, but we will cross that bridge whenever we get there. Wes Euler, Matt Williamson, when we return, chuck on your collegiate apparel because it's time to go around campus. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp... There's nothing better than the clean, crisp... Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

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Stock up now. Bud Light.

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Get that hot dog costume ready.

Bruh.

You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

Steelers Nation Radio.

Rolling along here on The Drive on this Wednesday. And Matt, it is time. to do our Rodney Dangerfield and go back to school here.

Love it.

As we go around campus like we do every single Wednesday.

I do want to have some quarterback conversation with you, obviously.

That's the crux of this.

I've seen more and more people putting MestaMaker as QB1 right now.

Yeah, tell everybody to get off my man. Right, right.

Like, don't pay attention.

No, you guys go draft Arch and Dante Moore and all these other people.

You leave MestaMaker for us, okay?

And the Missouri dudes.

Austin Simmons is, oh boy, I tell you what.

Always somebody comes out of the woodwork, and he was never on the early list.

There's a couple of those. I tell you what, the Oregon State quarterback is starting to catch my attention.

Oh, I don't know him.

His name is Braden Atkinson. I think Keelan Russell from Alabama is catching my attention a little bit.

Oh, I'm intrigued to no end with him. He's just not eligible.

He's just not eligible, and neither is Kamario Taylor.

Those two to me are— Maybe superstars.

Gio Lopez, who I think I mentioned to you two weeks ago, he's the Wake Forest quarterback. He's starting to really get on my radar. I want to talk some more quarterbacks with you, obviously, is the crux of this conversation.

Yeah, but.

But first, can we talk about Jeremiah Smith for a minute here?

He's pretty good.

I got a.

I almost feel like he's not worth talking about because he's like the easiest evaluation in the history of the world.

He right now is like minus 220 to win the Heisman. which if you extrapolate that into a percentage, he's like almost a 70% chance to win the Heisman.

Basically, just don't get hurt.

Which is wild for this early in the season.

For a wide receiver?

For a wide receiver.

Yeah, and it's that early in the season, too.

It's insane, Matt.

Wow.

We said, I think, last time we did this, one week ago, if he decided, I'm not playing again, or got hurt, blew out his knee, he's still a top five pick.

Yes.

I mean, within... An ACL injury.

There are a lot of people that I respect. The Dane Bruglers of the world.

Yeah, yeah.

The Nate Tices of the world. The Matt Harmons of the world.

People whose opinion, I think, is really educated and professional. They're not just out there saying stuff on the internet, trying to get attention.

For clicks or anything. No, they do the work.

Right.

And most of them.

Have said to a man, he's either the best wide receiver prospect that we've ever scouted, or he's number two or three behind.

Randy Moss and Megatron.

Calvin. Yeah, right, right, right.

And Larry Fitzgerald.

Yeah, exactly.

It's unbelievable.

I mean, I love Larry, but he's a better prospect than Larry was. Faster.

I think he's Larry, but a little bit faster.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Matt, you look at what he's done every single week. Eight receptions, 151 yards, two touchdowns. Eight receptions, 164 yards, two touchdowns. His down week, Matt, was five receptions for 85 yards. That was his down week.

He probably didn't play like the whole second half or something.

12 for two 17 and four touchdowns, 11 for two Oh six and two touchdowns last week for, for 93 and two touchdowns.

Now it's unbelievable. Real quick, real quick to three straight weeks.

He set records first becoming Ohio state's all time receiving yards leader.

I knew that then the following week.

Tying the record for Ohio state's most receiving touchdowns in a game. Then the following week becoming Ohio state's outright all time receiving touchdowns and catches leader.

It's nuts.

And that's Ohio State.

Right.

I mean, it's wide receiver U. He beats triple teams. I mean, he regularly beats doubles. Dude, it's unbelievable. But he beats triples at times. And I don't know what you do against him as a college defensive coordinator. I don't think this is a case. I almost didn't bring it up. But he got traded this week. We kind of talked about Marvin this way a little bit just a couple years ago.

We did.

We had never met this Jeremiah Smith guy yet. And, boy, is Marvin one of the best players? prospects we've ever seen he wasn't this good but his career didn't go well yet you know what I mean like I don't think I would never predict that for Smith if someone took him first overall and had a quarterback need I would 100% understand he's as rare a prospect as you get but just remember that nobody's a sure bet. No doubt.

No doubt.

And it's funny, actually. ESPN put out a list. Who was it this week? It was Bill Conley put out a list of the top 50 wide receiver prospects to ever come out of college football.

Okay.

Jeremiah Smith was number two. Randy Moss was number one.

Yeah, and Moss went like 18th, but there was stuff.

Off the field stuff, and he was playing in a smaller school.

Right, right.

Marvin Harrison Jr. was 10 on that list, though.

I'm not shocked. I mean, he didn't have to run a 40 because he's so great. I'm not saying he's a bust, but he's by no means ever going to live up to it.

Nothing is guaranteed.

No.

Max Starks, if he was sitting here with us, would tell the story of Robert Gallery.

Right.

Max was like, they were in college together at the same time. He's the best tackle prospect we've ever seen.

Second pick in the draft.

Second pick in the draft. You're going to plug him in. He's going to be a left tackle for 15 years. He's going to moonwalk into the Hall of Fame.

Yeah.

His first series, he got his butt whooped by Joey Porter. His second series, he got his butt whooped by Clark Hagans, I think it was, or Larry Foote or somebody.

I was on the Browns staff right after they took him, shortly after. And they're like, we thought for sure he was the next Pacelli or Joe Thomas.

And then the next week they moved him to guard and he never played tackle again.

Yeah.

And he's like the greatest tackle prospect that anyone's ever seen.

And he was an okay guard.

Yes.

I mean, I was heavy in the draft back then. I mean, he had short arms. That was the only knock on him as a prospect. No one flinched when he went second overall.

Yeah.

You know, right.

So nothing, nothing is guaranteed, but.

I can't even imagine a world where Smith's not great in the pros. Same. I mean, I just want to get that out there, but I still can't imagine a world where he's not one of the best receivers in the league early on.

Yes. I, uh, I just think he's it's it's Matt to me. It's so impressive when you have all the hype in the world and you maybe even exceed it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that's so rare.

Especially for a teenager who's crowned as the next everything.

I mean, like, that's LeBron.

That's Sidney Crosby.

Yeah, yeah. It was Mario.

It doesn't happen very often that you are thought to be the best of the best, and then you end up being maybe even a little bit better than people thought you were going to be.

I mean, again, when I was with the Browns in Akron, when LeBron was getting drafted, he would come to our Akron games as a 17-year-old because a lot of his buddies that he played were on the team. We offered LeBron a scholarship at Pitt. play wide receiver. He must've tore it up and laughed at it. Um, but like his, he was expected to be the best player in the league.

Not every first overall pick is, you know, and he exceeded that, you know, like he became maybe the best player ever. I mean, like that was the only way he could exceed expectations is be like one of the best five players has ever dribbled a basketball.

Correct.

You know, and he undoubtedly is. And he, I know a lot of people hate LeBron and I'm not even like saying I'm not an expert.

Yeah.

He's pretty good.

I think if he's not at least number two on your list behind Michael Jordan, you probably just got a personal agenda.

I mean, gotta be in your top three. Again, that's exceeding expectations for somebody like that. No doubt. Which is hard.

It absolutely is.

And I think Jeremiah Smith might be doing that same thing at Ohio State right now, man.

It's been unbelievable. Matt, okay, here's another.

Sweeping, broad statement for you. But do you remember, around this time last year, I told you, and to be fair, I understand they're... To be fair. To be fair, they're different tier prospects.

Yes.

But hear me out on this. Last year around this time, I told you I'm out on Carson Beck.

Right? Yeah.

I said, remember I told you, I was like the podium stuff.

I was like, whatever happens in the next two months, don't let me change my tune.

I'm out on Carson Beck.

Yeah.

I don't think he has the maturity. I don't think he has the leadership to be an NFL franchise quarterback. Every time he loses, he goes to the podium and he throws his coaches and his teammates under the bus.

I can say this now. I was worried the Steelers are going to take him. I think they liked them because he was in for a visit. I think they liked him.

I understand why teams like, I know he's got crazy tools, but I'm just, I'm out on him.

Yeah.

You ready for this?

I think I know where you're going. I think I got some here.

I think I'm out on arch.

Okay.

Not because the same immaturity stuff. I want to be clear about that. Not because he goes to the podium and, and, you know, and throws his teammates and his coaches.

It's, it's none of that. It's none of the maturity leadership stuff.

He's not a little brat, you know?

No, but I have.

Maybe that fourth quarter against Ohio state aside, when has he ever met the moment?

You do better than I do, but it does seem like a real, real issue.

He plays his worst in the biggest games.

I just, I didn't know what we were going to do down this road. And you definitely watched him more bad against Oklahoma. And I definitely haven't studied. There's a difference between watching on Saturdays and studying a player.

Texas should have never lost that game. He threw two terrible interceptions. One was a pick six.

One was a really bad one.

Oklahoma also scored on special teams. That's how they won that game. They got a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown. But every time he gets one of these opportunities... And other than playing well for seven minutes against Ohio State, I've never seen it. And he's got everybody around him.

He's got first-round offensive linemen, first-round wide receivers.

Guaranteed first-rounders.

A program that has the most expensive roster in college sports. I'm not seeing it. I think I'm out on Arch, man.

Okay.

I know that's a very big statement for this point and he could obviously turn it around.

There's a lot.

He could even come back next year and kill it next year. But I just, every time you want to see him put it all together and do it in a big moment, it doesn't just not happen.

It goes the opposite direction. He's like the reason that they're losing.

Okay.

Hang with me here because I'm just kind of regurgitating. I'm bringing up thoughts here because I haven't studied them. These are not the opinions of Matt Williamson. Well, first of all, let me ask you a quick question.

Sure.

Would you trade the Steelers' first-round pick right now for Arch Manning?

Hmm.

Everyone on the planet's like, you better say yes, dude.

I mean, the risk reward there, I think I would be an idiot if I said no. But I also think it's very telling that I even have to think about it.

Because that's how his career and season have gone. And I understand why you would sit there and ponder it. So, coincidentally... I listened to Todd McShay.

They all love him. And those guys know way more about quarterback play than I do.

And Nate Tice did one today. I just happened to listen to it this morning. And frankly, I was in the shower when Arch Manning came up and I remember it two hours ago or whatever. And it's funny though, because both those guys unsolicited said, watching his tape, you like him a lot more as a prospect than Than is a current star college player.

And I understand from an NFL evaluation prospect, that is a different world.

Yes.

You know, he's still big and strong and I can work with that. Give me, you know, let coach McCarthy deal with the problem.

I love Julian saying as a college quarterback, I don't know how it translates to the pros.

Right.

So arch could be the opposite of that.

And the other thing that dawned on me though, especially as you were talking now and anyone that's done this, you know, it, If I'm going to watch Arch, ideally, I'm going to sit in a dark room with a clicker on the TV like this.

It doesn't have to be a dark room.

I mean, the lights can be on. And I'm going to watch all 22 with no sound, no bands. I don't even know what stadium they're in. Clutch moments you're not as aware of. You're not watching the flow of the game.

And you know that's how I watch college football. I'm in it, and it's the moment, the moment, the moment.

And I'm not saying you're wrong, because if he screws up in the big moments all the time, yeah, you understand when you're watching tape, this is the last drive in the fourth quarter or whatever, and they didn't win. But it's not the same in terms of the emotions of the game. Oh, he choked away another one. You're just like, oh, his feet look great there. No doubt.

My goodness, look at that deep ball.

Exactly. Well, I could work with that. So I think there's two worlds colliding on him, I guess is my... End of the conclusion.

That's very fair.

Like, they get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. Everyone's going to crush them.

Crush them.

And you should.

Probably should.

Yeah.

That doesn't mean he can't win a Super Bowl next year, though.

No doubt.

Or three years from now.

Right. That's a great point. I mean, I think a lot of people did that with Patrick Mahomes.

Yeah, yeah.

This guy is all world. But at Texas Tech, he can't go better than 7-5 in the Big 12.

He didn't win any games.

Right, yeah, yeah.

He's losing to WVU every year of his college career. What's the matter with you, Patrick Mahomes?

First-round pick. You should win games. Like, I remember Jay Cutler– he actually did win games for Vanderbilt. It was like, he must be pretty good because they haven't won more than two games in a century.

That's like, that's like when, that's like when Penn state hired James Franklin. I remember a lot of my Penn state buddies being like, we just hired the Vanderbilt coach. What do you think of this guy? I'm like, guys, he's going to eight and four every year at Vanderbilt. You don't understand how impressive a.

Bunch of mathematicians.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Like you guys don't understand how impressive that is. That's like, that's like take it. That's like winning the division with the pirates every year.

Yeah.

That's impressive.

That's some coaching.

Um, so, I get the Arch Manning conversation, so I think they're fascinating.

I want to be very clear on that. It's not because of any of the Carson Beck. I just don't think this guy has what it takes to be the face of a franchise and to be the leader and all those things that come in with being an NFL quarterback.

Because he was born to do this kind of stuff.

Yes.

I mean, to do that kind of stuff. The media and the... Yes.

Yes, no doubt. I don't worry about Arch in that regard at all.

But I just, man, I look at his situation.

And he's.

Got a renowned offensive mind as coordinator. And he's got a first-round pick left tackle and a first-round pick wide receiver and a bunch of other guys that are going.

To be drafted.

It's easier for him than Sellers.

I just, exactly.

I mean, I keep waiting for two years of every time I watch a Texas game to okay.

Arch.

Yeah.

Wow.

Me woo me wine and dine me baby.

And his last name could be Yola or Williamson too. It's not like, because you're a Manning, you have to be great. It's like, you're the starting quarterback. I thought the same thing for, uh, The kid Miami drafted, the Texas quarterback that everyone was super excited about the last two years ago or whatever.

Oh.

Went up going like the sixth round.

Yeah, he started his career at Ohio State.

Oh, what's his name?

Ewers, Quinn Ewers.

Thank you, Tyler.

Yeah, exactly. You know, like he was a five-star and you're the great situation. Like, it's a little easier for you than others.

Yes.

Yeah. I, like, I'm not even asking you to, you know.

You don't have to beat Ohio State ten times in a row.

I'm not asking you to beat Johnny Manziel and win the Heisman, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just, man, I want to see it.

Put Oklahoma away.

Put them away.

I mean, this isn't the top five teams.

A lesser Oklahoma team that you were, I think, a 10-point favorite over or whatever.

Put them away, man.

And the quarterback gets too much credit and too much blame.

No doubt.

But they deserve a lot of it.

And I could, Matt.

We could be in January, and Arch could be marching them to a national championship game, and I could go remember what that idiot Wes said back in October.

Sure.

But it's just been opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, and eventually it's like, all right, man, I don't know.

It's kind of like the conversation we've had on the Upside Down about Justin Herbert. Like, if by chance the Chargers are picking first overall and they've decided he's on the block, I'll give you anything you want for him. And people are out there probably going, he stinks in the playoffs. He stinks right now. If they're picking first overall, he was terrible all year. That's fine. I'll take him.

I don't know. I mean, unless it's a personality thing that I don't know about.

Yeah.

Patrick Mahomes was going seven and five, six and six every year at Texas Tech.

Yeah.

Josh Allen played at Wyoming.

Matthew Stafford with the Lions isn't, you know, he goes to the Rams, all of a sudden he's winning Super Bowl.

No doubt.

You know what I mean?

No doubt.

And then there's other, I mean, Lamar was unbelievable in college. Lamar won the Heisman.

Yeah.

He's having a really, Joe Burrow.

So it, it, it's, there's no one exact way to skin that cat, but I just, man, I keep coming back to like, when is it going to happen for Arch?

I get it. It's the time. It's starting to tick here. Maybe he goes back again. Maybe. I mean, it might be the best move for him. If the rest of his season goes like this, that's kind of up and down.

Maybe if he's still like, I'm going to be the fifth overall pick even.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Matt, some really good ones to keep an eye on this weekend. The noon slate is unbelievable.

Really?

Which is good for me because I'll get to watch most of those before I got to get on the flight to Tampa. Ohio State and Indiana at noon on Saturday. Number four in the nation versus number five in the nation. Julian Sayen, Josh Hoover.

Two interesting light in the world on fire.

He's not lighting the world on fire, but he did play really well. They needed a big fourth quarter comeback on Saturday to beat Nebraska. And I thought he was pretty good there.

He's in a tough, I mean, he's following his receivers.

He's following the number one overall pick.

It's a tough, it's a tough spot, but Ohio state and Indiana at noon, top five, big 10 match up there in Bloomington where the weather I think is supposed to be a little iffy. We'll see if that plays into the equation at all. Florida and Texas at noon as well down in Austin.

So Florida.

Arch will screw it up.

Florida started out the season gangbusters, Matt. They've now lost two in a row. Are they a little honked off? Can they get that defense going again against Arch and Texas? That's a real one to keep an eye on. Also at noon.

It's unbelievable how good the noon slate is this week. Mississippi State and LSU.

Oh, wow.

So two ranked teams, Camario Taylor and Sam Levitt.

Seems like LSU needs a rebound.

Two quarterbacks to watch. They certainly do. They're at noon as well. So those are three really fun noon games. At 3.30, Matt, Georgia is now No.

1 in the country.

Gunnar Stockton, their quarterback, I think has been quietly really strong.

Yeah.

They host Auburn. I'll be keeping an eye on that one.

Arrow's definitely pointing up on him.

Who do they play?

They play Auburn.

So they're a pretty big favorite at home, but still one that I want to keep an eye on Tennessee and Alabama at three 30, not as much from a quarterback perspective, but just a really fun one with a lot of other, you know, first round and an NFL draft.

And again, the Bama quarterbacks phenomenal to me, but he's just not eligible. Yes.

And maybe the best quarterback matchup of the weekend, top 15 showdown Ole Miss hosts, Missouri. So you get Trinidad Chambers against Austin Simmons. I don't know if you knew this. Austin Simmons started his career at Ole Miss.

I did not.

Under Lane Kiffin.

Okay.

And then when Lane Kiffin.

Potential first rounders. Both potential first rounders. Potential Steelers. Absolutely. That could be, yeah.

Absolutely.

7 o'clock, Miami hosts Florida State. I think Miami will probably blow them out, but it is.

A rivalry game.

Of course, they ain't what they used to be.

No, they are not.

And Mensah, of course, the Miami quarterback. But then, Matt, dude, the slate of games this weekend is great. 7.30. Top 20 matchup in Houston. Mestemaker has to go on the road. Ranked Oklahoma State against ranked Houston. I'm interested to see how Mestemaker looks there on the road. I don't think it'll be a hostile environment. I expect it to be like 50% Oklahoma State fans, but still a big spot against a quality opponent. And then Matt, if I could only watch one game this weekend, top 10 matchup out in Provo, a different kind of holy war. BYU number eight hosts number two, Notre Dame. CJ Carr into a hostile environment. That place is tough to play. 70,000 crazy Mormons there in Provo.

Their defense is always good.

Defense is nasty.

It's in the altitude.

They've got such an underrated atmosphere, an amazing setting there. I want to see CJ Carr in Notre Dame's kind of first real big test of the season.

I assume they're favored, though.

Notre Dame is a 10-point favorite on the road.

I think that's maybe a little high. I would probably go more 7.5.

But he's a potential top five pick.

He's a potential top five pick as well.

I feel like he doesn't get talked about, or maybe we just don't talk about him as much. There's so many quarterbacks.

Notre Dame has a pretty easy schedule this season, but they've had a really easy start to the season. But they have BYU this week, and then they have Miami in two weeks. So I think we're going to see the cut of Notre Dame's jib here.

Pretty soon.

I don't know if you know the answer to this, but I thought I saw a blurb that Dante Moore might return this week.

I meant to mention that, and thank you, and I think that is the plan.

It seems like he needs to get some momentum.

He needs to get some momentum, and Dylan Riola, after looking really good and relieved for him at first, looked terrible.

That's what I heard, yeah.

Remember that joke we made about could two Oregon quarterbacks go in the first round?

Nope.

I don't think that's happening. We jumped the gun on that one, certainly. One more segment to go when we return on the other side. You know what that means. We'll close things down with some of your questions, comments, concerns.

And reactions. Euler and Williamson. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

Steelers Nation Radio.

Final segment today on The Drive. You know what that means. We turn it over to Jens. Questions, comments, concerns, and reactions before we get up out of here. Let's have RJ lead us off today who asks, how big of a role can we expect from Jeremy moving forward, particularly with the injuries at wide receiver?

Full-time.

Starting role. Yeah, he is the number one fantasy waiver wire guy this week from what I've gathered a couple places. Because I don't know if he's worth it for fantasy or not. I'm not even implying that. But he's never really going to leave the field. Steelers throw the ball at the third highest rate in the league. Rodgers throws touchdowns.

And he's good. You know what I mean? Like, I think he's never going to leave the field, much like Pittman did. I, you know.

I think he's a starter.

I think even, as you've outlined, I think even if your wide receiver room was completely healthy across the board, it'd be time for, what did DeFabo say they called him, Uncle Germ?

He does kind of that old man game to him.

To get a bigger say, a bigger cut of the pie in this offense.

He's been better than Pittman.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not saying he is better than Pittman. Pittman has a great career and he was right here for a reason, but I don't think Pittman's ever been healthy running routes in the regular season. But his film's better than Pittman's this year.

Checker says, do you think the Steelers would rather Baker or Daniels start at quarterback this weekend?

You asked me that.

A couple people, yeah.

I think it's got to be Daniels, right?

I think so. His legs are dangerous and he runs a lot. He runs like 14 times a game. It's only been two. And he's not a terrible thrower.

He did that in college, too.

And he's a good runner.

He's not.

lamar like runner but he's a good runner sure um baker could get hot i mean baker's the hottest coldest quarterback in the world streakiest guy and you know even last year is a perfect example he's in the mbp conversation through eight weeks then he had a couple injuries and was terrible yes and he was really bad to start the season too healthy Could he come back from this injury after sitting out a couple weeks and be really good the second half of the season and get them back to respectability? That's a very plausible situation. So you have to say, I'd rather Baker not play.

Yeah.

I'm always going to go with the younger, very inexperienced guy as opposed to the one who's been in the league. And, you know, Baker, just as much as he's struggling, I think he could. there's probably going to have to be a certain way. Tampa is going to win this game. And we'll talk about that more later in the week.

And I just think he's the more veteran presence that could navigate them to that.

I mean, his good days are way better than Daniel.

Yeah.

Although, Hey, Daniel's his ability to make plays with his legs is certainly a wild card.

He's the perfect example. And people think that's the wrong way, but he's done enough now. He'll be in the league for 10 years and retire a multi-multi-millionaire. He's done enough as a starter.

Good life.

I'm not saying he'll be a starter. He'll just be in the league for a really long time, maybe on 10 different teams.

Joe says, after five games and four of the next five being on the road, the next step in progress I'm watching for is playing well away from home.

They have played poorly in both road losses so far. I agree.

I agree.

I will say, though, there are two.

It's twice.

And this is a good news, bad news thing. The good news is in both of those road losses, I think the Steelers were at a real disadvantage.

Oh, I know they were.

The Patriots had four, five extra days of rest from playing on Wednesday.

And they do this week, too.

And the Steelers had to go on the road short week Thursday. But the bad news is this team has another rest advantage on the Steelers from playing on Thursday.

Trust me, folks. You've got to get it done. I don't care when people criticize me or call me stupid on Twitter. I've heard it for 20 years and that's just part of this business, but I can almost picture myself next Monday. If the Steelers lose bringing up all three losses were because the schedulers weren't nice to them.

And people be like, I don't fricking care. You should never lose in Tampa.

Sure.

But it matters.

I wish, I wish that these three, their first, I mean, it just kind of dawned on me. The first three road games are all, really terrible from scheduling situation. Now they benefited from it with the Colts and the league does this. The team's way too much nowadays. It's a massive pet peeve, but it's hard to win on the road with a rest disadvantage.

The numbers back that up.

Across the league. It's a massive number. I bet it's like 80%. Smooth.

Dave says, looking back at free agency, five games in, I need to know if Matt Williamson is happy.

We didn't spend $ 30 million on Malik Willis.

Kind of, it would be a much different situation for him here though, in Miami, to be fair, to be.

Fair, um, no doubt he would be doing much better here than there. I don't think his book is written at all. And I'm not even gonna bring Rogers up, but the offense would be totally structured differently. You may, the reason I was infatuated with him is you might have your long-term quarterback, you know, I mean, and I still could have drafted our, and maybe one of those two or Howard ends up being your long-term quarterback. And you draft Jeremiah Smith next year, instead of, you know, whatever you draft a different position. So yes, I mean, going back on it, would I rather have 30 million in cap space and told Rogers to go pound salt or done Willis? I'm happy with where they're at. Um, But I definitely don't think that it's, well, Miami's terrible.

The Steelers would be no wins and he'd be bad. You know what I mean?

Sure.

It'd been fun to watch and it might have gone well.

It could have.

Yeah.

It certainly could have.

Matt, remember we took a tweet, I think it was yesterday, or a comment yesterday from Vegas TJ?

Yeah.

Remember, I was like, he's 73, and you're like.

Whoa, dude.

He's 20 years older than me.

He said, I'm a 73 baby. So, no, I didn't mean that I'm 73 years old. I was born in 73. Class of 91, then.

That's why he said you two were. Okay, so we are the same age.

Vegas TJ, I apologize.

I'm a 73 baby as well.

Sometimes when I'm rolling through these questions, comments, concerns, and reactions, the reading comprehension is not the best. So I apologize for aging you.

Okay. That is funny. Like, we're not the same age, dude.

Uh, T trap says scenario, the Steelers go on a run to the AFC championship game. Do you think that Aaron Rogers would want to come back with this offensive line and, uh, in another run for one more year?

He sure makes it clear that the answer is no.

He said that a few times.

Yeah.

I either want to be, I think he said, I either want to be tending to my pregnant wife or my newborn baby. I don't think she's pregnant yet, but Get to work, Eric. Maybe. There's something you.

Can do about that.

Right.

I get the impression the answer is no. But that might be alluring.

Maybe.

Or he would look at it and be like, look, I just took this organization that hadn't won a playoff game in a decade to AFC championship game. This is a, yes, it's not the perfect storybook ending, but this is a nice way for me to go out. We won a couple of playoff games. We had a good year. The organization just went on a deep run for the first time in a long time. This is a good way for me to go out. I think he could look at it that way too.

Yeah.

I mean, anyway, he cut it. That's a good end of career move. You know, like you don't have to Elway when the Superbowl walk off into the sunset.

Sure.

You definitely don't want to go, as most athletes do, and kind of tail between your legs, get beat up. I should have retired a year earlier. And he's definitely proving not to be that guy. But I think he's got his mind made up, at least through his comments, that I'm done playing football this year.

I think so, too.

And Aaron Rodgers strikes me as a guy that when he makes a decision like that, he sticks to it.

I mean, my hunch, I mean, geez, how could it not be? Monday mornings must not be fun for him.

Oh.

You know.

Not at all.

I'm sure game day's fun and his buddies in the locker room are fun, but it's got to be tough getting through the week.

Dude, absolutely.

It's tough for us getting through the week, and we're not getting in a car crash for three hours out there every single Sunday. That will do it for us today. A lot of great participation again. We'll hit on some more of that tomorrow. But unfortunately, we are out of time. Thanks to our buddy Mike DeFabo for joining us earlier in this hour. And as always, a big shout out to intrepid video producer, Mr.

TV, Tyler V. For Matt Williamson, I'm Wes Shuler. Take care, everybody.

And we will talk to you tomorrow. As always, you know where to find us. It's on your 24-7 home of the black and gold. Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

I'll figure it out.

Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light. Stock up now.

Bud Light.

Louis, Missouri.

I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan, so I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% of the NFL draft live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

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Get that hot dog costume ready.

Bruh.

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