On this episode of Simms Complete, Matt and Phil talk about Aiyuk to the Steelers, Jayden Daniels named QB 1, Eagles Drama, Kyler Murray not playing preseason, and much more!
Simms Complete
Aiyuk to the Steelers, Jayden Daniels named QB 1, Eagles Drama, and much more!
three, two, one. Wow, that was give me a second there to drink your water. No, son, son, that was really good. I didn't know you were that talented, that was great. Thanks, dad. Yes, I'm full of compliments today. Yeah, you're full of shit, that's what it is. Wow. Yeah, hey, you said I was like your father. So, yeah, okay, is this the opening of the show? Are we live or are we just? No, do you have your microphone set up though? Yeah, plugged in and yeah, you hear me? You went to settings and all that? Settings or let's see, that's why I was calling you. It's my camera, FaceTime, which one do I hit? No, settings right here on the bottom. Yep, audio, I'll hit audio, here we go. And then go to default? No, F2s Pro, F2s Pro, or whatever microphone you have there. Yeah, it doesn't, huh, Mike volume, I'm turning it up. I don't see F2s Pro, it's like I usually do, audio. Well, what speaker, microphone do you have there? Oh, wait, I got it. How's that? Do you hear me better? Much better. Okay, that's what I want, much, a lot of much. Okay, great. All right, here we go. Okay, three, two, one. Welcome back, everybody, Sims Complete. As you can always guess me and Big Phil having technical difficulties setting up, but we are here, we're ready to go, we're ready for, as John and Matt, would say football season. And let's get into it, big guy. How's everything going so far for you and Camp? Shoot it. Well, everything is good there. Hanging with the Giants a few days, you get to do the game tomorrow night against the Detroit Lions, I'm excited about that. I hope it doesn't rain us out because we have a lot of rain here in Northeast. And I guess real quick, the last thing I want to say son, you know what I do in my life now, wear more sunscreen. Okay, big guy. Yeah, yeah, that's what I do. I'm teaching my son. Yeah. But yeah, that's it. You know, a lot of stuff going on. This is really truly off the cuff today. I didn't write anything down. I'm just, we're gonna talk about some topics. And this is it. Free, what do you call this? Not free-willing, something. Free-willing? What is it? Free styling? Free styling, there you go, we're freestyling, baby. Let's go. Got a lot of topics to talk about. But let's slow down here though. So you're going back in the booth and you'll be joining who in the booth now for the Giants call this week. Oh shoot, you know, that big linebacker we had on one side, wrote opposite of Lawrence Taylor. So that's gonna be fun. And then of course Bob Papa's in the booth, what's this, trying to keep things? Carl Banks, it's been fun to kind of hang around him a few days. He's got some really, really direct to the face comments, man. I mean, boy, he's a tough- The judge or the book towards you or just in general, the New York Giants and the football landscape. Directing football, the Giants, people, everything. It's, he's really, man, he's got some strong opinions and it's kind of good to hear. He doesn't hold back and it's gonna be a lot of fun working with him, that's for sure. Yeah, I'm excited too. I'm really happy that you'll be back in the booth and I know you're pumped about it. I know Bob Papa is definitely pumped about it. I mean, that dude is a huge fan of yours and I just can't say enough nice things. Carl Banks on their hand, I don't think I've ever heard him say anything nice about you, but I don't know. That's just now you guys and Bill Parsels and all you guys were with that guy and theme. I think, you know, the more derogatory the comment was, the more complimentary it was really a weird way for you guys, your relationship. Yes, it was almost like that was so mean, you must really like me, something like that. You know, there's a lot of things I can say to that, but that's the cleanest one I got. But yeah, yeah, we were having some good laughs about the locker room, just practice. You know, Carl Banks, I'll just do one thing for the people. You know, I don't like talking about the old game and the game way it is now and all the practice. So I just don't do it. But Carl Banks goes, do you know, we never took our equipment off in eight years with Bill Parsels. Right. And then he goes, except one time he says, look, I'm going to listen guys, I can't do this speech here, it was very vulgar. Don't mess this up. Okay, you're going to go out there today. I want you to have your football pants on, but you can take your pads out of your pants out. Oh, coach, you're just too good to us one time, you know? And it was with such so many other comments, you go, oh my God, it was hilarious. Even I had to laugh about, oh God, who cares? I think some of the guys just kept it in your pants 'cause it was easier. They didn't want to use the time and mix that string just out of hell with them. I'll wear my pants on my pants too. But how about that? You know, for you guys too, so like there wasn't, there wasn't shell practices ever where it was just shoulder pads and never. So you're always full pads just getting after it. Were you tackling like consistently in practice too, like bringing people to the ground all the time? No, probably not, but they might as they should have because they were kidding. You know, nine on seven when you just go over your run place. - Right. - We would do that and I'd have to come and hand it off, you know, that kind of thing. And I'll tell you, I would be still tired from the Sunday game getting beat up and everything. And here we are and man, it was first defense against first offense and it was, I would hand it off and they'd get hit and I go, oh my gosh, how did they do it? - It was real, you know, but it was a different age. We had players that played up, hold on phone. - Oh, there's that phone again. - Dang, yeah, pays to have a house phone. - It makes an appearance. You have to have a classic house phone to fill in. - And there's never anybody in the other end. You know, it says beeps and whatever, you know, so I slammed the table calls, I guess so. - Yeah, but what was the question? What were you asking me real quick? - Yeah, just about practice, the physicality of it, you know, the fact that you were in full pads, essentially your entire NFL career compared to nowadays, I mean, you know, full pads, it's a rarity, you know? The majority of the time you really are in just shoulder pads and helmets and, you know, if that, you know, I feel like a lot of practice is now as the season goes, you know, you get less and less with the physicality of practice. - Yeah, and you know, look, the league is so different. The game is so different. Now it's about the past, you know, most of my career, we're really all of my career. It was about the run around the league. The running backs were stars. - But even though-- - It started to turn a little. - Yeah, even though you say that though, you know, you were only, what was it like 50 yards behind Dan Marino when he was breaking like tons of records, like three or four years in a row, right? - Oh yeah, yeah, it was a great comment after the 85, 84 and five or 85 and six, I'm not sure. I threw close to 8,000, I might have, I don't know if it was 8,000, but Dan Marino beat me like my 100 yards and of course it wasn't even flattering because everybody go, Dan Marino leads the NFL. - Can you believe it? Phil Simms was second. And I'm like, you know, I'm like, well what do you-- - But it's interesting though too, is that like, you know, at that time you guys were just seeing in such a run first team, I guess not a lot of people were giving you guys enough credit for the explosive plays that you were making down the field as the throwing football team when you did throw. - Yeah, I mean, listen, I don't wanna get into all my career stuff, but in back-to-back weeks, it's all right, in 85 and back-to-back weeks we threw for over 900 yards. - Damn, that's good. - Yeah, I mean, it was like 958 to be exact maybe, Monday Night Football, 413, and then 545, no, whatever, on Sunday against Boomer. Boomer, I says, well, we've got to lose you. I'll beat you, I go, you know, Boomer, sometimes you don't care when you lose, 'cause I threw over 500 yards against y'all, so I don't care. - Well, we live in arguments and meeting, yeah. - You can't win a debate versus Boomer anyway, it doesn't matter, you know, you know, he's always gonna have one leg up on you. - As you would say, Boomer would say, all right, hey, enough talking about me, what do you think about me? - Yeah, yeah, let's talk about you, what do you think of me? Yes, it's all good, you know, and of course, I don't know, but you know, just going back to it, the league is so spread out, in other words, sideways throwing the ball and all, but it's hard to have real physical practices, and you know, like I said, the running game is, really the running game a lot of times is about deception. I gotta remember this when I talk about the injuries to the offensive line. This is a really just, I'm turning the conversation around. - Let's do it. - See if you agree with this, offensive line in really last year, it was like an epidemic of guys getting hurt. - Yeah. - And I would say this, how many guys get hurt on running plays compared to past plays? - Right. - I would say it's a huge difference, because when you run, you're the attacker, you got the guy, you hit, you fall, when you're past blocking, you're running back, the guy over here gets blocked, he falls into your legs, then somebody else falls, and you know, you hurt your knee, you hurt your ankle, whatever. Does that make sense to you? - No, I know what you're saying, and I'd be curious to see what the stats are with that. And you're right. I mean, I just offensive line, we saw almost 70 different starting quarterbacks last year in the NFL too. And, you know, even early on in camp, it's just a reminder, I feel like, to all of us, just the amount of injuries, you know, and it's that same rhetoric that we heard a year ago, that, oh, you know, these guys, they don't do enough in the offseason this, that, but it is the nature of the game in the league now. It's not gonna, we're not gonna put more of a workload on NFL football players after taking away some. And, you know, it's just part of it now. And now it really is about the depth of your team, you know, even like the Eagles, 'cause I wanna transition to the Eagles here in a second. It's like, hey, they went out and got my Kai Beckton, you know, they got a great offensive line, but they added another, you know, big, strong dude, and they've been putting him at guard nonetheless, not tackle at guard. So, you know, I think that really, it just goes down to the GMs now, just being, you know, extremely strategic. And I think that's what was so great about the hard knocks too with Shane and the Giants, you know, just kind of seeing behind the scenes and like, what do they value the most for their team, the depth that they want in certain positions, you know, the moves that they're trying to make. And that really is, I think, the name of the game. It's just setting yourself up for, you know, the long run, right, of the NFL season and making sure that you kind of check all those boxes. - Well, you know, we talked a couple of weeks ago to Greg Nedger, director of pro personnel at the New York Jets. He just said this cleanly. You gotta hit the quarterback and you gotta score points, you know, whatever. - That's right, yeah. - But, you know, so I think the Giants, I don't want to get in the Giants doing the game, but they kind of remedied both sides. They really transformed their offensive line. It was arguably one of the worst lines in history of football last year. And that's, you know, you know, but you know, I'm not a stat guy, but stats, they gave up 85 sacks. - Yeah. - Did the quarterbacks hold the ball sometimes too long, of course. But every team does. Every quarterback's gonna hold it too long for sacks. 85, the 1986 Philadelphia Eagles, hold the NFL record with 104 sacks. - Right. - 'Cause they had Randall Cunningham was running everywhere and Ron Jaworski, who was always wanting to say hi to Lawrence Taylor and, you know, those kind of things. (laughing) So this whole thing, well, it's all different. - And that's a team right there too, the three different starting quarterbacks, you know. I mean, Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito. And, you know, Tyrod started on two different occasions, you know, so it really is a big thing for them. And that's like, so let's kind of go now, right, across the division. Let's go to the Eagles early in July, right? Article comes out talking about just the implosion of the Eagles season, the disgruntled management and players and coaching, all this kind of stuff. And then it really kind of got focused on two people. And that's Nic Serioni, excuse me, and Jalen Hertz. And, you know, it seemed like there was a, you know, a difference of opinion as far as how to run the offense and all this kind of stuff, right? The truth is they lost Shane Steichen and he was a great damn coach. And it's really hard to place a really good coach. So that's one for sure. Does Kellen Moore, though, for you, can he come in there and fill that void, you know, for Nick and for Jalen to write this ship? Are they a Super Bowl contender with Kellen Moore, you know, as the offensive coordinator to this season? - I'm bad to say yes or no, I'd say yes. Okay, I don't even hesitate. The thing that bothers me, this comes out, whatever. And the coach kind of, well, I'm gonna stay out. Hey, don't stay out of anything. Your job is to manage the team and you're the head coach and the players are supposed to do what you tell them. And if you're not in that situation, if it's changed that much and you can't do that, then you don't deserve to be a head coach, okay? Well, what are the team in the NFL if we heard anything like this about this past year? How many? None? Does anybody? Oh, the quarterback doesn't like the head coach playfully. - Definitely not a Super Bowl contender or a team that we think is a Super Bowl contender. That's for sure. - You know what? Yeah, you go and have a nice meeting. You know, coach, I kind of like whatever it is. But, you know, you're the head coach. Here's what I'm telling you to do and either do it or I'll play somebody else. I mean, to think that you're, I don't care who the quarterback is. You're not 50% of the head coach on the team. You do what the head coach has defined with his football team, what he wants, what he thinks gives him the best chance to win. Hey, is now Nick Serra ready to go? Hey, it's a big fourth down. It's fourth and what should we go for it? What do you think, guys? I mean, it's his decision. - Yeah. - You know, I wrote the, you know, run place. How about when you got a trick play, you know, hey, this is the time, no, it's not. We don't want that now, coach. We want it later. I mean, come on, it's, you gotta really be in charge. There's many ways to do it. You can be a nice guy and still be firm with your players and let them know that you're the man in charge of this outfit. And you don't want to hear just, yes, sir, but. - I think that he is in charge and I think that he is commanding that. I think that there is a little bit of that battle, though, at the top between him and Jalen, though, too, as far as just, you know, you read the article, right? That came out. And, you know, there's different reports from ESPN than pro football talks that had their reiteration of that same article. And some of that stuff really just sounds that like Jalen at times and Brian Johnson were kind of doing their own thing. And, you know, they thought that Nick Sarian, it wasn't quite seeing eye to eye with them too. We know that they had a prior relationship to this. - Right, yes. - Being the quarterback coach, but even before then as well. You know, and it just seemed like this is something that like week after week got worse and worse and ultimately was a very divisive issue for this football team. You know, and that's where, yeah, go ahead. - No, you said, well, Nick Sarian, I'm saying you weren't strong enough. - Right. - You're the head coach. And he didn't get any input in the offense. Well, he should have because what we watched all year long wasn't the same as we saw the year before. And the concepts, the direction of it and the playing. So let's don't leave that out. The throwing of the football, taking sacks. There's many things that landed on the quarterback too. So, you know, hey, whatever the head coach. - Whatever the head coach. - Or AJ Brown in a lot of big games too, you know. - That was like, well, we mouth there sometimes, you know. - Sometimes you could see that he was, you know, just visibly disappointed in the offense in his direction at times as well. And being a force, you know, there's no happy receiver in the world unless he's got eight catches, 150. But still, you know, it was very evident that there was something brewing behind the scenes with this team the whole year. - Well, it could have been some bad play. How's that? We ever thought about that a little bit. Hey, we're not living up to what we're supposed to do. And, you know, sorry, but I'm just not that guy. Look, I had some, come on. I had a high school coach and I don't want to get into this stuff, but I'm going to say it anyway. He still gave us a pep talk before the game, man. I went over to the other coach during warmups and I told him, we're going to run the ball every single play of the game. Now, he's giving us a speech. I'm sitting in the back going, well, this is going to be great. But I disagree. Do you think I said anything? Hell no. I had a college coach. Oh my God, John Wayne. I mean, it's who he was. He walked around. And if he said something by God, I was going to do it, even though I might have thought it was a damn dumbest thing in the world. I didn't say nothing because they're not going to listen. And well, that's fine, Phil. You don't agree with it. I just play this as a guy. He likes me. He'll do what I tell him. And of course, yeah, I used to change Bill Parcells's mind all the time, man. Yeah, I bet you do. Yes, I bet, yeah. I bet you do. So that was what was great about him. We knew he was in charge and he was in charge of the coaches, too. They're going to do what he tells them to do. So hey, look, I'm kind of picking up for Nick Sierraani a little bit here. Yeah, I feel like-- No, I can feel it. And I understand it, too. And I think what's interesting, though, too, is that with all the success that they've had and the fact that Nick Sierraani is one of the people, too, that helped Jalen Hurts become the player that he is. And he's one of the people that obviously helped bring him up through the NFL ranks and believed in him. Really showed tremendous belief in him three years ago when everyone kind of wanted his head and wanted them to go out there and get a new QB and to fix the quarterback problem, because they didn't think Jalen was the answer. And yet the whole offseason, all he was saying that he supported this guy and that we're going to keep building the team around him. And he's got some of those things that you just-- you can't coach that we love. And now it's unbelievable how it's kind of done this 180. And I really do think Kellen Moore is in a tough position, because for the Eagles, I look at this team being a team that can really be physical and run the football and then allow Jalen to do a great job of making the decision of, all right, this look versus that look, run versus pass, all those kind of decisions right that quarterbacks make. But my concern is that Kellen Moore hasn't really known to be a super patient running type of coach. He's been successful. His quarterbacks have great stats. His quarterbacks tend to get hit a lot. And I just don't know if Jalen is a past happy type of quarterback and if that's going to be the answer for a team and the NFC East to be successful throughout the season. My last thing would just be this. Sometimes a little controversy and getting things dirty and muddy or whatever you want to say, that can be a rallying cry and then you can just come closer together. In other words, we started the argument, whatever. It's out there. Now, OK, let's sit back. Quarterback coach, coordinator, players. It might bring them together even more. And these kind of articles, I'm not saying anything. It gets too roated. I don't even know. I don't care. But they have a tendency to look and try to make it sensationalized. So I'm taking a lot of it with kind of a grain of salt. And I can't wait to hear everybody's comments on it. We, you know, no more anonymous sources or a player. This, you know, it's like it could be anybody. But, you know, big, big picture, though, for you, right, with the Eagles, you know, is Nick Sirianni? Because, you know, this is something that a few people have hinted at. You know, is he really coaching for his job this season with all the success that the Eagles have had? If it falls apart, yeah, it would be his job, I would think. In other words, if they-- What would be falling apart, though, too, for you? How would you define that? If they don't look the way we kind of expected to decrease or whatever, and they don't make the playoffs, or have a first round playoff game and play horribly like they did in Tampa last year. I mean, come on, that was just-- it was there. Yeah. And, yeah, it was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. So, but Nick Sirianni, I think Kellam Moore's going to help a lot. I really do. And these receivers are going to be much happier with him as the coordinator. And so will Jalen Hurts, because he wants to throw the ball and be like everybody else. And, you know, sometimes as a quarterback, you go, I just don't want to-- do I have to turn around and hand the damn thing off all the time? So, whatever. And, big fan gels, the coordinator. So, you'll be better on both sides of the ball, I think, this year, because of coaching. And Nick Sirianni will find a way to really take back control of this team. And I think, as we said, right from the start, I think you're always a Super Bowl contender. Like, I just too much talent not to make. That's right. That's right. Let's move on. I'm going to-- that's enough eagle talk. That's good for the eagle. I mean, we got enough eagle talk from a former giant, right? And you're always a giant, not a former giant. That's right. Let's talk Brandon Iyuk and the San Francisco 49ers. Yep. Haven't heard confirmation yet, but it does seem like we're getting closer to potentially a trade with the Steelers. This is all hypothetical conversations. But it does seem like if there is a trade that's going to happen, it seems like Brandon Iyuk to the Steelers is a high probability one. And even Christian McCaffrey did an interview the other day and kind of referenced Brandon Iyuk as like a former teammate. I don't know if he did that, you know, just by accident or if it just kind of came out naturally, whatever. But with the San Francisco 49ers and their situation offensively, are they still a Super Bowl contender without Brandon Iyuk, right? Or am I putting too much value into to Brandon Iyuk skill set for this football team? I don't think you're-- listen, I think his skill set is tremendous. I think he's a route running, fast, agile, aggressive, smart. I mean, I think he's got everything you want in a first number one wide receiver. I mean, he's just got the look. He can just come out of cuts. He can jump. He's got good hands. Yeah, the 49ers do a great job of getting him open. But, you know, I kind of watched 20 plays of his today. He's just for let me to-- Yeah. And I went, ah, damn. I can put his name right up there with all of them. He's a damn good route runner. And you know, one thing I really like about him too is that he does not get enough credit for even just like the high football IQ plays blocking the right defender, right? The formation shifts, motions, the activity that he's involved in the plays that maybe aren't particularly designed specifically around him. But how much impact he has, you know? All the times where he's blocking defensive ends, linebacker, safeties, and not only doing it, but like doing it extremely well. You know, that's an impact to me that I feel like Kyle and them, you know, it's hard to replace something like that, right, with like a rookie. I know Ricky Piersall, we think the world of him, we think he's going to be a good football player. But like, to think that he's going to go in there and like, hey, do what Brandon did as a rookie. You know, that to me is a tall task to ask of a young man. Kyle Shanahan, ex-receiver, high school, college, believes in receivers. If you don't block, you won't catch any passes in my system. So it's just, it's a, you know, it's a fact. You were with him down in Atlanta, and I'm sure he was coaching the hell out of the receivers in to make sure they block down the field. That's one thing. Brandon and Julio Jones, you know, just like Brandon Iyuk, one of the best blockers on the football team. - I love it. I love it. A couple of things I wrote down. When you're a good football team, sooner or later, you've got to let go of good players 'cause you can't pay everybody. - Right. - And that's where San Francisco is. You know, now they got their left tackle, Trent Williams wanting more money. You know, McCaffrey's been paid. We got Brock Purdy coming down the road. They took care of Debo Samuel. I mean, they got Bosa. How many guys can you pay? They got more than that. - Right. - And so it's this way. The Kansas City Chiefs got rid of the best wide receiver and football and won back-to-back Super Bowls. So sooner or later, you just got to bite the bullet and let's move forward and kind of keep this, what we call run in this group or whatever it is to have more years of it. - Yeah. - I mean, you just can't pour all your money into three or four guys. And the other thing is, you know, the rumor is the Steelers are really in on this and trying to make a deal. And do you get the feel, I mean, the Steelers, I know they're having a quarterback battle. We're gonna talk about that damn thing. But they're all in, Matt. They're, it's like, they're going for it. Do you get that feeling when you just, the quarterback thing, they get two of them. They didn't even say, oh, we're gonna give it to Russell. They brought in Justin Fields. You know, they're looking at Brandon Ayuk and it's just, I got that feeling. They signed some good free agents during the off season. I mean, I think the Steelers look at this and go, and I think this is right. The old line's gotten better. They got running backs. They got the quarterback situation. I think that's gonna work out. They got Arthur Smith as the offensive coordinator and they got players. - Yeah. - Okay. I'm gonna go go, they got, I'm watching TJ watch the other day because I was looking at some linemen from the Raiders. And I just went, oh my God, he's even better than we talk about. - Yeah, right. - You know what I mean? We talk about him, but he's damn better than what we say. - Yeah. - He's unbelievable. He's made of iron and he's still whatever you can't bend it. I mean, he just messes up right tackles and left tackles. He messes them up. He runs them over. He runs around them. And then he has that Kevin Green effect. When he hits quarterbacks, it really hurts him. (laughing) You know this, they're just certain guys so they hit you, you go damn that hurt. - And you know, the biggest thing, the biggest thing I think too, for the Steelers, just to remind everybody is that this was a playoff team. Mason Roth really did a great job of coming in and being more than serviceable. We were very impressed with what he did and how confident he threw it. And in offense that we thought, you know, really didn't have much of an identity, right? With Kenny Pickett behind the center and just really what their philosophy was. And you know, now with Arthur Smith, what we've discussed earlier this offseason, we love this fit because Arthur Smith's a, he's a P-O-ed kind of guy. He's always ranked great. And he's gonna have a lot of fun things to incorporate Justin Fields into that offense. And if you add a Brandon I-Yuk to that skill group, yeah, I get really excited. I think this team really does have some good competitive, you know, skill group. I'm getting distracted by the lawn mower in the background there by it. Sorry, I got my blinds out there cutting a grass. So you got to put up with it. That's right. But yeah, the Steelers are closer than we think they are. That's for sure. And just absolutely. They were 27th in offense a year ago, which is like 27th, but they were top 10 seasons. Yes, but they were 27th because a lot of it is, they play that way to be in the 20s. Yeah. So that's one thing. Arthur Smith, here's what I think about him. I like him as a coach. I'm sure when he stands in front of, you know, the players, they know he's the man. And a couple of years ago, they're playing the Giants in their last preseason game or whatever it was. It's pouring rain and he is ripping his players up right and left. I mean, it was a preseason game. And I was like, damn, does he know this game doesn't count? And he was yelling at everybody. And it was, and I think that's what, when I saw that I just went, man, I'm a fan of his. And I think he really is the perfect match for the Steelers. It's not because of his run game. Yes, that's big, but it's because he knows how to incorporate the pass into it. And when I watched the Atlanta Falcons last year, I never went away from a game of theirs, not once. And I watched a lot of them during the season and watched them close. And I go, they have a lot of great pass concepts. It's not like, oh, we're going to run the ball and have little, you know, just everybody runs this playing in a thumb, but we're going to run, you know, no, they had great ingenuity. I love their pass game. They gave their quarterbacks every opportunity to win jobs to be starting quarterbacks. But they said, no way, coach, we're not going to do well enough to get that. So they got a lot of new faces up there, are down there in Atlanta. But that's what I think about the Steelers. Let's go real quick. The quarterback battle, just give me some thoughts real quick on the quarterback battle on Pittsburgh. - Yeah, this is what I was going to go to next. I think, you know, just, you know, right now, Russell Wilson, he's been out past few days, calf strain, big picture. I think it's great for Justin Fields to get these repetitions, right, with the ones to really get sharp, get comfortable too with this new offense. And I think he kind of needs it a little bit more than Russell, you know, given the fact that he just isn't as experienced of an NFL quarterback than Russell. Day one though, I still expect Russell Wilson to be the starter. I think that is the better move, right, for the Steelers in the long run is to start with him. Because I feel like you don't want Justin to be the starter. It doesn't, you know, the early season struggles. Like we see with so many teams, especially early on, offensive struggle, we don't want him to get, you know, pulled too early, play Russell. But then, you know, you really can't go back to Justin because you've kind of already taken all that momentum and confidence away from him because of a poor start. So I would lean kind of a little bit more towards the veteran in that way. And that way you can then sprinkle in a little Justin Fields and build up his confidence as the season goes. What are your, what are your thoughts on this? - Man, Matt, you took every word right out of my mouth. And it's perfect, that's how I see it exactly. That I would, if it's me, not unless Russell just falls apart in a preseason, which he's not going to, I would play him just let the team slowly get off to the start and kind of, you know, what's the word? Get going on what they're trying to do as a football team, as an offense. And you give them a little, you know, you don't just look for the first sign of, "Oh, that wasn't good, let's take him out." You know, you give him a few weeks to make sure you're giving him a chance to show what he can do. Look, he's done a lot of good things in NFL. And, you know, Russell doesn't miss ordinary plays. And that's the one thing about throwing the football with Justin Fields. Man, I saw a lot of tremendous power throws down the field last year by him, a lot. But I saw a lot of short passes that were big and counted in games, especially at the end, where he would miss them. Throw it too hard, throw it too high, or not see the coverage the right way and make a bad decision, whatever. So that time, yeah, bringing, if you do it the other way and you start Justin Fields, and you got to take him out and Russell Wilson comes in and plays well, where's that gonna leave Justin Fields when the year's over? That's right. There's something like that does happen. I don't think the Steelers will let this happen. And if he doesn't start Justin Fields, sooner or later, there's gonna be a window where it's gonna make a little sense to blame, and then we'll see how it goes. But I think the Steelers, man, I've always say to you, I'm a terrible off-season guy, because I just believe everything's gonna work out. But I just think the Steelers are really, like I said, I think they're loaded, I think they're loaded. And they got a coaching staff that's second to none right now. And this quarterback situation, I think it's gonna work out. Just because Russell missed a couple of days, of course on TV, it's over. 'Cause everybody's rooting for Justin Fields. I've never seen anything like it. Have you named one person that has said, "I hope Russell starts." - I guess I'd be the first that I've heard, so. - Well, yeah, but you say it in a different way. I mean, I want somebody that's rooting for Russell to say it. - I know, I am rooting for Russell, though. I am, because I do feel like with Sean Payne and the Broncos, I mean, listen, Sean just didn't want him, right? And that's the fact. And I think Sean kind of went out of his way to make it very visible to the rest of the country, right? That, hey, this isn't my guy, right? We never saw Sean Payne once ever do that to Drew Brees, and in his almost 20 years there in New Orleans. So that was something that I feel like he was kind of sending that message to everybody, that like, hey, we're moving on. I'm letting everybody know, even Russell know, right here on the field that this is happening. But, you know, I love redemption stories. You know, I do. - Me too. - And I think I really want Russell to get an opportunity. And I think Pittsburgh is a fantastic place for that. Arthur Smith, like we've mentioned, it's a great match to for him. And even, ultimately, for Justin Fields, I hope in the near future, you know, but not too soon, not right now, you know, 'cause I do want Russell to get his opportunity. Hey, look, look. - If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-granger, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. - So Wilson, I don't know if he'd be this guy or not. But if he, I think, let's just say it this way, if we really think, we think somewhere along the line during the season, it's gonna be Justin Fields, and he might finish the year up. And that puts Russell Wilson in a really, I think a really funny predicament, because he's so visible, so, I want to say famous, all those things, that would he accept being a backup and just really being that guy and being a great backup somewhere if this all happened next year? And honestly, I would hope he would, because he's, you know, he'd be a great backup. And, you know, just, he could still play. - Yeah, he's got a lot to give to the game still. But you're right though, he does have a little, he's not quite like Tim Tebow, but he kind of does have that effect on the media where he does kind of become a distraction, you know? Now Tim was like, he was in a whole 'nother stratosphere, but still Russell does have that effect on the media where it's like, it's kind of hard to ignore him and there's a lot of interest surrounding him. Yeah, he is a star. - He's a star, you know, right now if the vote came to me, I didn't have to vote him in the Hall of Fame. And I would, I mean, shoot, he had a great career for many years, it sustained. He's putting up big numbers. They went to the Super Bowl twice. That's, those are pretty big things. I mean, my God, come on. He should be a two-time Super Bowl winner, right? - I know, I know. - So I'm not even gonna blame him. I'm gonna blame the play call. So, but, 'cause it was a stupid, come on, it was a terrible call. - Oh, well, yeah, you know, it was terrible. - They're killing, they're killing, just running the ball. They're right there near the goal line and they have time to run him at least twice. Warsh on Lynch is just running over people, but whatever. - Yeah. - Let's move on to the next topic. - Let's move on, let's move on, 'cause that, yeah. - Yeah, that was good. - That was good for days. - Yeah, I know we could. - In Arizona right now, Kyler Murray, Ganon has said he's not gonna play any preseason games at all. He's good to go. Kyler Murray's even said to the media that, you know, he feels like there's that pressure to kind of win now for him and for the team and really just, I'm sure for a lot of those guys there that are, you know, from the old regime that are adapting to this new one, how do you feel about just, you know, Kyler not getting any preseason reps? Is that concerned you? Or is that actually excite you the fact that they feel like he's ready enough to go to just go out there and play when the season starts? - Yeah, I think it's the, what you, the last you said, they're excited about who he is, where he's at, and everything like that, and on a scale of one to 10, it's a big fat zero to me as far as this. He need to play preseason. Once the style of play, what he does, that's just all conducive or whatever to the game. - Yeah. - And just to, he must be practicing well. It looks like he's in unbelievable shape, all that. And yeah, so he's one of those, I think for a lot of guys, they need, I don't even, some longtime veterans need some plays in the preseason. But when I watch him and think about him, I go, no, he's good. They don't have to claim to get him ready for the season. He'll be ready when they go. - All right, great. - What do you think? - Yeah, I agree. I think he, like you mentioned, he has one of those styles where what's the point of rolling him out there in the preseason, especially too, if you have question marks in certain positions of the offensive line and all that stuff. And it's not like you can really say, hey, Kyler, don't make plays, just check it down, you know? Like he's gonna go back to what is innate and natural to him when he plays. And that's, you know, just playing free. And I enjoy this. And I really am looking forward to seeing what the Cardinals do in year two of the Gannon regime because I really am a big fan of what they did a year ago, how tough they played, how competitive they were. And I'm excited too to see if they, you know, get some early involvement with Marvin Harrison, Kyler Murray going and really start to rebuild this team here. - Well, I'm sure they're gonna focus the passing game to Marvin Harrison, you know, like any of these big guys or whatever, just take Malik neighbors with the New York Giants. Well, I think everybody in the league knows, hey, the Giants are gonna feature Malik neighbors and it would be whatever they gotta do to get the football to him. So we all know that, everybody knows it. And the same with Marvin Harrison, it's, hey, what in doubt? We're gonna throw the screen to somebody, you know, let's throw at the Marvin, just let him have the screen, you know, and that's part to do. Keep him happy, give him stats. The world's happy with Marvin Harrison, you know, just everything. And so, yeah, you know, as you were talking about Arizona, it just makes me think, I look at so many teams. There's gonna be two or three teams that come out of nowhere. And who are they gonna be? Is they gonna be Arizona? I just brought, I just thought about this. - Yeah. - You know, the Atlanta Falcons, the division they play in, they could come out of nowhere and have a good year and get the playoffs. And, you know, there's just always a lot of teams like that. And last year, we got the Green Bay Packers. - Right. - Bob put 'em long, nothing, all of a sudden Thanksgiving. Here we go. And they were, you know, probably could have been in a damn Super Bowl. It just, you know, they were that close. - Even the Tampa Bay Bucks, I mean, I feel like they were a few plays away from potentially playing in, you know, a championship type of game or a Super Bowl because of the way they're playing late. - Oh, well, you know, they're the card, they're the Cardiac kids. - Yeah. - I mean, just keep giving, get Baker one more chance. - That's right, that's right. - And if you protecting, he's gonna make a play. - He is, he is. And let's talk about a few other, you know, QB competitions right now. Okay, so Las Vegas, they got Minshew, they got Anon O'Connell, haven't heard yet for this weekend, who's getting the, you know, official start, both will play about a whole quarter. Right now, though, you know, who do you give the edge to? - We kind of did this a, probably a month or more. I don't know when we did it. I said, I mean, I don't-- - It's okay, yeah. - I like it. - Yeah. - I don't forget what I say, well, sometimes I do. - Sometimes. - Aiden O'Connell, I think I look at it and say, Aiden O'Connell is a throw it on time precision player. - Right. - We know what we're exactly getting. With Cardiac Minshew, we're getting some of that, not a lot, but off the chart here a little bit, 'cause we're gonna move and throw it. And I'm gonna headbutt somebody and whatever. And so they're two completely different styles. And which, when I say that, the style, I think, would make me comfortable, make you comfortable, is the guy that we know is gonna be the processor, get rid of the football, is accurate, has really good size, and you get rid of the, I mean, you know, he doesn't, Aiden O'Connell, he got downplayed too much. Oh, he didn't throw the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs. - Right. - Well, you dummy, the coach, Antonio Parris is over there going, we're winning the game, it's going great. Let's just don't take any chances and, well, yeah. But now the story, well, you know, Cardo, he didn't throw any passes in the second half. Shut up. - Right. - That's what it takes to win a game. - Yeah. - If I was out there, yeah, I'd be a little disappointed. I was over like, damn, couldn't we throw a screen or something, but you'd be happy that you won. - Yeah. - And Antonio Parris, actually that was a really, really well coached game by him for doing what he did instead of turning around the other way. So we'll see how it goes. Who do you like in that battle? - Yeah, I think I'm going to lean towards Aiden O'Connell. Really, it's all going to depend on who Devonta Adams wants to be at the starting quarterback. So we'll see what Devonta thinks, you know, that's the biggest thing. But I am excited about just, you know, Devonta Adams, if he does stay a Las Vegas Raider, 'cause there has been those rumors of him potentially being on the trade block. But I like the thought of Aiden O'Connell with Devonta Adams, Brock Bowers, and Michael Mayer, and having that multiple tight end set going along with, you know, and we know Antonio Parris, like what we saw, he's not making it like, hey, we want to run the football. He's got that Dan Campbell type of attitude. He wants to be physically, he wants to be tough. He wants them to do things like in that way. And I just think that combination of the skill group with Coach Pierce's attitude, you know, is a great mix. And to have, you know, gardener as your, you know, reserve guy that you call in there late in the game, all right, great, you know, he can come in there and make some plays happen for you, let men's you magic, you know, develop and go from there. So those are my thoughts on that, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Great one. You know what it is? You convinced me. Let Aiden O'Connell be the guy. And if we need that spark in the start of the fourth quarter somewhere, let's bring in the guy that is not afraid to do this stuff. I mean, it really is, yeah, you're right. But you know what, then the week goes over, we win the game, you know, gardener does it. You know what, who am I starting next week? Aiden O'Connell. Let's just, I'm going to, let's keep going. Now we got this guy behind us in case we need it, because you know, NFL teams are not going to be excited enough to play emotionally every single week. - Right. - And Antonio Pierce, he's not Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell wants to bite your kneecaps and ankles or whatever. And Antonio just wants to knock you out. - That's right. - I mean, come on. - That's fair. - Man, if you gave him a chance, he'd put a helmet on with no pads to go out there and stick it in there and try to hit somebody. - He's a Tom Coughlin, you know, old school giant guy. So there's no mistake in that. - Not a bad guy to learn from, Tom Coughlin. - Not a bad guy at all. - Not bad at all. - And now in Washington, let's go to this real quick before we kind of wrap up this show. - Yeah. - You know, Jayden Daniels named the number one quarterback. You know, not a real shock. I don't really think that there was much of the debate with this quarterback room. But still Dan Quinn has raved about him saying that just, he is impressed with the fact that he's had such a understanding and commanded this offense so quickly. Even Zach Urts has kind of mentioned too that just like, you know, he's really impressed with Jayden. Even though he's a rookie, he's doing everything that he can to get on the same page and understand the way that he sees the football game. What, does this surprise you that he has been impressing everyone so quickly in this NFL camp? - God, not at all. I mean, I think I would, I would, this is the truth. I would be so shocked if it wasn't this. - Right. - Because I, you did too. I watched so much of Jayden Daniels during the season on TV. And then when I studied him, yeah, there's some things I'd like to clean up, whatever. But overall, he's the big smooth. I mean, he is just Mr. Cool. I'd say, I don't know what else to say. Throws with great rhythm, you know, he's got a little, you know, he doesn't overpower the ball, but he's accurate, spends it. And of course, he has a good feel where to move. And hey, we're gonna see it just like we did at LSU. When he turned a corner, I'm not sure, a couple of times, and there's DBs, they're all playing in the NFL. - More about a game about him. - Yeah. - And he turns them, goes outside, gives them the angle, and then turns up the field, goes like 70 yards, we know the play. I can't remember who's against Alabama or somebody. - It was Florida. - It was Florida, thank you. And he outran everybody like it was nothing. - Yeah. - So I, you know, if you said, I'm not the guys, you know, going, oh, Caleb Williams is gonna have a better year than any rookie quarterback. And I'll say it, I don't know. I think it's a toss-up between him and Jayden Daniels, who's gonna play better as a rookie quarterback. - Yeah, and I think that's what was fun too, about the Hard Knocks episode in the New York Giants, right? Is that just, you know, you can clearly see that Dave Ball was very impressed with Jayden Daniels, really thought very high-liven, was like, yeah, I would absolutely trade out for a player like him. You know, so clearly got a great feeling from him in the interview process, from watching film, obviously watching a lot of film of him and Malik neighbors together. And what also I like though too about it is, is that like, you know, I think we're downplaying, even in that same episode, they even mentioned too, that you know, Jayden's not a super vocal leader, but we have seen in the past year and a half, he has really made an effort to improve in that field. And I kind of want to say that, you know, Dan Quinn is a really great leader in that regard of helping players kind of find their voice. And I could see Dan Quinn and Jayden having those conversations and how to really motivate people and Dan even sharing stories about him and Matt Ryan together and how he was and how he carried himself. So I think those things are extremely important. Why the draft coaches, head coaches and quarterbacks, you know, that marriage really is important. And I think that's gonna be a great one with those two. - Here's what makes Jayden Daniels a leader in my eyes. A couple of things, I'm always trying to dot it down, 'cause if I don't write, dot it down, I'll forget it within 10 seconds. - You've got it down. I've got it dotted dot dot dot explanation. - All right. - Well, I can't even forget it. - Yeah, no, no, I got it. First, he's got one thing that helps you be a leader and that's big time talent. - Right. - And I think the other thing, everybody, I don't hear it much, but when you see him in person, he's just a bigger guy than you think. He is every bit of six, four. And, you know, he's not like Twiggy out there the way everybody tries to make it out to me. He's just got, he's a thin guy, but he's got a lot of muscle on him. And then he has the personality that's, it's not wrong to do this, do this, you know? It's just, it makes guys around him feel comfortable and wanna follow him. He's that guy, you know? So there's many ways to get it done, but he does it with his play, the way he treats people and all that. And, you know, listen, they look up, a lot of players on the team is a head coach will tell you, everybody's got their eyes on the quarterback. And I'm sure everybody in that locker room is checking him out going, man, he's just a good dude. We love him. And you know what? Damn, he's talented too. So, okay, all those things work for you and he's in a great situation. What you just told me about, you know, big Dan down there coaching in Washington that he knows how to, you know, kind of handle these kind of situations. Like you said, he worked with Matt Ryan a little bit and probably just gave him some little pointers that he thought would help him lead to football team even better. And that's what I think could be said to Daniel Jones and Daniel Jones. Jayden Daniels, sorry. And it would really stick home for sure. - Yeah, sorry. - No, the lawnmower's killing me. - Yeah, it's killing me. - And on the lawn mower, we'll wrap it there. We're, you know, it was a good show. We went 47 minutes today. So we gave the fans what they wanted, all right? - Yeah, okay. - But no, it was good. It was good to kind of get back into it. I'm excited too, that we'll have our first round of preseason games this weekend, which would be exciting. So we'll kind of watch some of these games over the weekend. We'll obviously micromanage and, you know, dissect every little thing that we see. And hey, we'll pick it back up and talk about just where we see some of these teams and where they're projecting for this upcoming season. But Big Phil, always a pleasure. You to be right. - And what's my model for preseason football this year? What do I say? - I don't know, you tell us, what is it? - Oh, I've been griping and moaning and bitching that I'm not going to over evaluate what the hell's going on in these games. - Yeah, it's just, you say that, but we'll see, you know? - Yeah, I'm going to hold it back a little bit this time. But yeah, it's, I'm so excited to see it. I'm excited about doing the game tomorrow night and all weekend there's going to be games on, man. We're going to watch them and, yeah. Won't be many starters playing anywhere around the league, but still going to be fun to watch. - Yeah, good luck with Bob Papa and Carl Banks. That'll be a real fun one. And Sims Complete Fans, we'll see you again here soon. Like, subscribe, follow us. Check out the YouTube page, Sims Complete. Check out all of our videos as well on the Believe Network 2. And we'll be back with more football stuff and excited again for this football season. It's right around the corner, so we'll be back. See ya. - It's here. - It's here.