(00:00) Game day tailgating + preparing for football season
(17:19) Mike Tomlin names Russell Wilson Steelers starting QB
(31:12) Mike Tomlin on getting Justin Fields involved
(37:13) Jerod Mayo decides on starting QB
PFT Live with Mike Florio
Mike Tomlin names Russell Wilson Steelers starting QB + Jerod Mayo decides on starting QB (08/29 Hour 1)
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So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive Cash Relief Insurance Company and affiliates' national average 12-month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. How do you feel about going to Brazil right off the bat for your first game of adventure? I think it's crazy. I mean, that's a blessing. You know, they could take a trip and go out there and play some football. So, that's awesome. I'm excited. You have a valid passport? I do. It's a year of last year. Played in Tottenham. Tottenham Hospice. [Music] Wait, I don't know how the folks who watched the show on Sky Sports Action soon to be Sky Sports NFL will feel about the quality of the accent. They won't be happy about the hot spurs. It is Tottenham hot spur. No S. No S on the end of hot spur. Of course, I didn't realize that until Pete put it in the rundown. Now, I do. I did know. I think I knew Tottenham hot spur. It just sounds weird because it's not one of those names like magic or heat that doesn't obviously need an S. Hot spur sounds like something that requires an S. That's the deepest thought you're going to get for me today. I now turn it over to Sherrine Williams. Good morning and welcome back. How are you? I am good. It's football season. Mike, we're getting to college football this weekend. I got a little Aggies and Notre Dame on Saturday. It's going to be fun. We're off and running. Wow, Texas A&M and Notre Dame on your portion of the country down there in Texas. Is it South? Is it West? Is it both? I don't know. I don't care. We've got Penn State and West Virginia up the road. And it's such a big deal. It's the first time West Virginia has hosted Penn State. Obviously played last year. At Penn State. First time West Virginia has hosted Penn State in some 30-plus years. They actually shut down the schools in Monangalia County where West Virginia University exists for tomorrow because they anticipate an inordinate number of cars in and around. You know, I've seen snow days, I've seen rain days, I've made 59 years and a couple of months. I've never seen a car day. I've never seen that before. I would have been thrilled to have a car day when I was a kid. I still get a little excited when there's a snow day, even though it means absolutely nothing to me anymore. It just takes me back to those mornings of staring at the radio, kids. We used to stare at the radio and wait for the update. And they would read through the list and then it got high tech. You would turn on the TV and you would wait for the scroll at the bottom. Thank you. We haven't heard the piano while. Thank you very much. I like that piano. I missed that piano. It reminds me the old days. Every time I hear that piano now, it pushes my nostalgia buttons. But yeah, they're shutting schools down Friday because there's going to be too many cars. Are you going to the game, Mike? Probably not. Because now, you know, I know you're very loyal and you show up. I'm kind of loyal and I don't show up. And here's why I don't show up. Well, first of all, usually on Saturdays, I'm traveling, so I can't go. I don't have that excuse this week, but you know what my excuse is? It beats the hell out of me, the whole ordeal. Get up at six, go up there early, force yourself to eat for breakfast, food you would eat for dinner, get into the stadium, sit out there, and it's hot, most likely, and it's a long day and college football games take forever sometimes, although they have moved them along a little bit. And then you got to go out and you linger in the tailgate area because you're not going to get your car out of there anyway, and you finally get in the car and it takes a long time to drive home. You know, you just feel like you have had the SH-T beating out of you. And when I have these precious few days left before that first trip, which leads to the longest absence from home for me during football season, because I'll leave Tuesday, I don't go back Monday or Tuesday, it's, I just, I want that day to just exist and rest and recharge. And also continue to, you know, mind the store at PFT. So there's my, there's my answer far longer than you expected or wanted. Well, it's funny because people have been asking me over the last couple, are you excited for football? Yes and no, yes, I'm excited for football, but I keep thinking, gosh, this is the last Sunday for five months that we're just going to have to, as you said, rest, recharge, whatever, because we've got game after game after game. And imagine when they go to 18 games, Maya, I usually don't have, I never thought I would have that saturation point, but 18 games may get me there to just being too much football. It's fine like it is right now, but I think if they go to 18 and extend that season to the end of February, that might be too much for me. If it's 18 games, plus a second by week, which plenty of players are suggesting, Joe burrows at the forefront of that, yeah, you've got a 20 week regular season and then the postseason and then the Super Bowl and then the scouting con and then free agency and then the draft. And look, I love what I do. I'm blessed to have the opportunity to do it. I never would have dreamed in a million years when I was a kid. This was even a possibility. The 10 year old version of me, first of all, wouldn't have understood what the hell the internet is, but after about two weeks of having it explained to me, I would have realized this is beyond anything I ever could have imagined. I'm not going to actually have a job. Are you, wait, when I grow up, I don't have a job. I just read about football and write about football and talk about football and get paid to do it. No, you're that. No, I mean, I bought the whole Santa Claus thing. I'm not buying this. You're not selling me, not that the Santa Claus thing is inaccurate for any kids out there that are enjoying it. I don't know why I thought of that example, but not that, no, I'm not doing that. And let me say this because this is the time of year that approaches my Henry Hill moment. And even though I love what I do, we lead two very different lives. The off-season life is a lot of solitary time spent at a computer. I'm here alone in a studio in my house. I'll go downstairs and I'll sit alone in a room. And it's not physically or mentally demanding because we love it and we would be thinking about it and talking about it anyway, but once the season starts and it's travel here to start the season, Kansas City, and then to Connecticut. And then every weekend is back to Connecticut, back home, 18 hour days on Sunday where it's stressful and there's a lot of moving parts and you're trying to do the best possible job. You can get the best information and figure out what the hell you're going to say and then deliver it. And you're exhausted at the end of that 18 hour day and you get up and you do the show and then you fly home and you're exhausted when you get home and you're rewarding for getting home is get your ass back to work. That first trip to start the regular season, I get in the car. And NBC is kind enough to provide me with a driver back and forth to the airport in Pittsburgh so I can relax and sleep and work or some combination of the three. I get in the car and I feel like Henry Hill when he got in the car and he said to the guy, now take me to jail. I feel that and I laugh about it. That's just that feeling I have because that is a moment that life changes dramatically for the full ride of the season and we love what we do, but it's just different. And it just it takes a lot out of you because it never ends. There is no weekend. The only time of the week that I try to get away from any of this is Friday night. And even then it's impossible to get away from it because you're thinking about how many hours until I'm leaving, I'm going to be gone from home. What games are Sunday? Who am I going to try to get on the phone? How's it going to go? The news is out there that I'm chasing so it just you never can unplug from the matrix once the season starts. It's like a grind and once you get into the grind and you get into that routine again, it's okay and it seems like it flies by once you start into it, but it's like these two weeks before the grind starts you're like, oh man, no more Sundays free to really relax and recharge and church for me is pretty much over on Sundays and all those sorts of things. So it is two different lives. There's the season life and the off season life and they're two different lives completely. And then you think about all the night games because working on Thursday night and by the way, we have a Friday night game and then Sunday night game and then Monday night game. So a lot of nights you're working and covering games. So it is a grind, Mike, no doubt about that, but love it, wouldn't have it any other way, could be doing a real job instead of doing this. People are still confused about why there's a Friday night game to start the season. It's very simple. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which gave the NFL its antitrust exemption so it can bind all the TV rights together and sell them to the networks. Today, you want Cowboys games, you got to take Jaguars games too. Sorry, Jaguars. That's just the first team I thought of. You got to take the teams that don't have a national profile. But it doesn't kick in until the second Friday in September and they finally realized, hey, when Labor Day falls in a spot where the first Friday in September is the Friday after Labor Day, we can play games and televised games those days. Before and after six o'clock East, remember the Black Friday issue, they can't play Friday night. They're still in that bubble where it would violate the terms of the antitrust exemption because Fridays after 6 p.m. and all day Saturday, no football televised because they protect college and high school football. And that's been on the books since 1961. And that's the last point. And I don't know if Pete is working my strings like a master Marionette or whether he just stumbled into this. He says, do not suggest they start the season on Labor Day weekend. It's our last good holiday, don't let them take it away. The NFL used to start on Labor Day weekend. They used to do it and then they realized people aren't really home. They've got one last vacation. They've got barbecues, picnics, whatever, they're not watching our games. So let's push the whole season back a week. And that became, I think, a permanent thing in 2002. They experimented a couple of years, I remember 1999, they didn't, maybe '98, they did, but whatever the case may be, they go to 18 games. Now the easy thing is, oh, well, 18 games, you add a week and boom, hey, we've got Presidents Day weekend. The commissioner's already suggested that. If you go to 18 games and two buys, the only way to make that happen is to pull it back away. And, and look, sorry, Pete, but somebody at 345 Park Avenue is eventually going to realize, hey, who cares if people are it, it picnics or barbecues or, they watch the game on the phone. That's the thing that wasn't around with this capacity to stream any game, watch any game, absorb any game. I remember being in a family reunion, 1992 and three, my wife's family, before I was in the family, so I had to actually go to the reunions and do all the things to try to get into the family. Then once you're in, you don't, you don't show up as often, but, but I digress. I remember going to the car and searching the radio dial to try to get updates on the Vikings game. In 1992, it was Vikings Packers, Mike Holmgren versus Danny Green, week three or week one of 1993, it was Vikings Raiders, Jeff Hostetler making his debut for the Raiders and the Oakland Raiders. No, the Los Angeles Raiders at the time in 1993, so, and you just got little flashes and glimpses and you had no chance and no capacity to watch the game. So that's coming. If they do 18 games and two buys, Labor Day is going to be saturated with football again. And then when they go to 20 games, I don't know when the hell they're going to start and when they're going to end, but, Sherine, hopefully we live long enough to see it because it is inevitable. There will be 20 games and no preseason games at some point down the road because there's too much. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. Hey, and once they got these private, private equity funds, want a greater return on their investment and call them the owners all the time, hey, we need more games. We need more games. We need more games. I mean, they already want them anyway, but once you get institutional money involved, that's a practical, tangible way that there's going to be more of a push for more revenue. And that's how you get more revenue, turn meaningless preseason games into meaningful regular season games. So 20 is coming ahead and thought of this until just now, and we haven't mentioned the private equity stuff here because 99% of the people don't give a crap, including me. But when you get these multi-billion dollar funds that own up to 10% of a team, constantly badgering the owner more, more, more, more one way, we're going to see more a quicker climb to 19 and then to 20. Yeah. And they're going to have to do something to protect the players, Mike. That's just too many games for a body in one season. But I agree with you. I think it's inevitable and Mike Jericho talked about the preseason games and how the joint practices are bigger now and they are. I think more people would tune into a joint practice now than they would tune into a preseason game, especially the last preseason game, because nobody plays in those games for the most part. Some teams do, but most teams don't. So the preseason games really have become meaningless colleges don't play preseason games. They kick off. They all count. That's the way it should be in the NFL. The only reason we have, frankly, the two preseason games now or three preseason games now, which will go to two when they go to 18 is because again, just like you said, Mike, they make money off of those games. They sell those tickets. Hey, if you buy season tickets, guess what? You're also buying the preseason games. So it is in the inventory there, but they would much rather those be regular season games than preseason games and they could charge even more money than what they're charging now and make more money than what they're making now. So I do think it's inevitable that they'll go to 20 games one day and it may be in our lifetimes, Mike. Joint practices in stadiums charge fans to attend cell beer, cell hot dogs, cell jerseys, make money. And again, it's going to be those private equity funds saying, Hey, we need more. We need more. We need more. We need more. All right. We need more discussion about what's actually happening right now in the National Football League and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, Mike Tomlin had said after the preseason finale against the Lions, they'll make a decision at the end of the work week. I don't know when the work week ends for the Steelers. I don't know. What are they on extended Labor Day? We're going to take Thursday and Friday off. I haven't seen they're not practicing today or tomorrow, but they have made their decision and here is Mike Tomlin with the announcement on who the starting quarterback will be for 2024. I met with both quarterbacks here just a few minutes ago after practice and I informed them that Russ is QB one going in the week one. It was a difficult decision, but not difficult in the negative way to be quite honest with you. It was difficult in a positive way. The decision was difficult because of what they're capable of doing. Decision was difficult because of how they have conducted themselves as opposed to the things that they fall short in in terms of capabilities or negative conduct. How did they handle kind of the news of the that you shared with the quarterbacks with a meeting with both of them together one at a time, how did that go? It was with both guys together and they handled it like professionals. How much input did Arthur Smith have in this whole process, not just necessarily the decision but first rep's things that that nature does. A lot of input, but I don't run away from responsibility. Assistants make suggestions, guys like me make decisions. I thought it was just how he phrased it. You be QB one going into week one. He didn't say he's the starting quarterback this year. Now I don't think that means that he could be benched during week one or week two or week three, but he's getting the first crack at proving that he still has that Seahawks magic that he can turn the clock back to pre Denver and be the guy that he was on a team that had similar formula to the Pittsburgh or yeah, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Seahawks had the great defense. They had the running game now, Marshawn Lynch, a little bit more potent than Nadia Harris and Jalen Warren, but still it's the same idea and Russell Wilson doesn't have to be a hero. He doesn't have to be see. I think what happened was and we talked about this a lot of the time. He wanted to go somewhere and be practical homes with Josh Allen. The junk quarterbacks were passing him by and doing more things than he was doing and that irritated him. And he wanted to be calm. He thought he could be my home. He thought he could be Josh Allen and it didn't work in Denver. I think now in Pittsburgh, he's back to being the Russell Wilson in theory and ideally that he was in Seattle where you don't have to do too much, but there will be moments where you have to do something like that third and 11 play. That was the moment I think he won the job. Third and 11 in Detroit, the crowd is as loud as I've ever heard a preseason crowd calmly delivers first down pass to George Pickens. They scored a touchdown on that drive. Russell was out and that's it. He's the starter. One drive touchdown, big throw on third and 11 in a loud hostile environment and he's the starting quarterback. So we'll see what he does, but I think there is something less than a permanent, at least as permanent as it ever is for the season assignment for Russell Wilson, Cherie. I agree with you. I also don't think this was a competition. I really don't. I mean, because they always said that Russell Wilson was in the whole position from the start and when they drafted, I'll never, I mean, when they traded for Justin Fields, I'll never forget. I wrote the thing. I'm like, Oh, well, apparently Russell Wilson does have competition now and they immediately said there's no competition. Russell Wilson is the starter the day they traded for Justin Fields. I think this was predetermined that Russell Wilson was going to be the starter. Look, he was, he didn't even practice for most of training camp with that calf injury and Justin Fields didn't win the job. Now, if Justin Fields had come out and lit it up and been great in the preseason and great training camp, then maybe he would have won the job, but I think it was predetermined that Russell Wilson was going to start week one, but I've never thought that that was going to be predetermined that he was going to carry the job the entire season. I think it's a week by week thing and he's got to be good for him to retain the job week after week after week and maybe he will. This is certainly, I was going to make the same point, Mike. This is the formula he had in Seattle, a better defense, a really good defense. It matches those Seattle defenses and a running game that maybe is not quite as good, as you said with Marshawn Lynch in Seattle, but it's probably good enough and it's certainly better than what he had in Denver with that defense, shoot, look at the Miami game last year with that Denver defense, that Denver defense was awful. So the Denver defense was terrible and the running game just wasn't there. So this is a much better fit, I think, for Russell Wilson, but he is going to have to play, Mike, and play well each and every week, I agree with you to keep the job. 70 to 20 was the week three score last year in the Dolphins Broncos game, 70 points allowed by the Broncos defense. Now, it got better as the season went on, but you can't get much worse than giving up 70 points in a 60 minute football game. Mike Tomlin was asked about Arthur Smith's input. He's the new offense coordinator who will go back to Atlanta, the place where he was head coach for three years before he was fired. That's the week one game. What was his input on quarterback Tomlin said, assistance make suggestions. Guys like me make decisions. Now, I don't know that that means Arthur Smith pounding on the table for Justin Fields. At the end of the day, here's why this makes sense. Wrote about this last night, talked about it a couple of times this week. I'll summarize it as quickly as possible for anybody who's heard it before. The Steelers schedule plays out perfectly for Russell Wilson to have eight games to show what he can do. Three of the first six games against AFC West teams. He knows one of them very well, Broncos in Denver week two. He knows the Raiders and he knows the Chargers. Raiders week six, Chargers week three. And then you've got the kick to end the first half of the season. Cowboys week five, Sunday Night Football on NBC and Peacock. Jets week seven, Sunday Night Football on NBC and Peacock. At the Giants, Monday Night Football, week eight. And then it's your bye week. If they're three and five or worse at the bye, that's when you've got a little bit of time to ask yourself, what are we going to do? Are we sticking with Russ? Are we going to Justin Fields? And then Shireen, the last nine games, week 10 at the commanders, that's the easiest it's going to get. All due respect to the commanders, but look at the rest of it. Look at the seven game gauntlet to end the season, the meat grinder, Ravens, Browns, Bengals, Browns, Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals, Holy Crap, it's enough to make you want to go hide under your bed. So they'll know after eight weeks who the best guy is to help them deal with that murderers row that is looming from week 11 all the way through until the end of the season. And be glad Steelers fans that you get Browns, Bengals, Ravens later. People complain about that and I still don't understand it. You don't want them week one, two and three. You want them week 11, 12 and 13. Well, Mike, you know, the Steelers ability to continue to be quote unquote contenders, but they've had a winning record every year since 2003 when they went six and 10. And as you pointed out, 1999 was the last time they finished last in the division 88, 88, 99. They were six and 10. I'm pretty sure 99 they were six and 10, but they still weren't last in the division. Look at 1999 had 16 to the division and like the Bengals were floating around and they were horrible. They were last 88. So 88 was the last time they were in the division. So 99, they were fourth in the division, but 2016 Mike is the last time they want to play off game. So this is a team that's been good enough to contend for playoff spots, get into the playoffs. They just haven't been able to win a playoff game in recent years. So that's what they're aiming for is to get into the playoffs and be good enough to win a playoff game. And then once you win one playoff game, you have an opportunity. You have an opportunity to do more and that's what they haven't done. So that's what they're looking for from Russell Wilson and he has a history of doing it. Justin Fields doesn't have that history of doing that. At least not yet. He hasn't played it long enough in the NFL 10 and 28 as a starter. So this to me makes sense to start the season with what your goals are with Russell Wilson is your starter. If he fails, they have just a feels there. But you know, as John Madden once said, if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks. So we'll see if this works out for them, but they're hoping that Russell Wilson is the guy. And you know, it's funny at one point last week, Patrick Holmes made the comment that if NIO was around when he was in college, he might have stayed another year at Texas Tech and what an alternate universe that sets up in the NFL. If he enters the draft in 2018 instead of 2017, but you mentioned the last time this Steelers won a playoff game 2016 that was in Kansas City, a game that was delayed from afternoon to evening because of an ice storm. That was the game because the Steelers went there and won. That was the last game the Chiefs played before they decided we love Alex Smith, but there's a limit to how far he's going to take us. We need a quarterback who's going to take it. So blame the Steelers for the Chiefs having Patrick, my homes, they can blame themselves when they play Patrick, my homes later this year on Christmas day and maybe have to encounter them in the postseason. But here's a reality. We saw a Steelers Chiefs playoff game a few years ago and this is something Chris always says. He doesn't like that the Steelers make it to the playoffs because they aren't good enough to advance. Let's only have teams that get there that are good enough to win when they get there. And the Steelers haven't had the quarterback play since father time started to catch up to Ben Rothersberger as evidenced by the fact that it's now eight years since they want to play off game. The way this schedule plays out in the regular season, the way Mike Tomlin makes the team better as the season unfolds. If they can win enough games to qualify after that seven game gauntlet to end the regular season between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, whoever starting then, they're going to be in better position than they've been in years since 2016 because really, I mean, I mean, Ben Rothersberger probably gets to the Hall of Fame. Great Steelers player when you look at the full body of work, but the last few years were a little rough and the last year, they really didn't want him to come back. They made him an offer that they thought he'd refuse and he accepted it and they're like, Oh crap. Now we got to bring him back for another year. So it hasn't been the same at the quarterback position really since 2016, they'll have something better. I mean, look at and it's so many so many people out there are negative about Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Those guys are better than what the Steelers had last year. Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Wilson and Fields are a significant upgrade over that trio of options the Steelers had and they still got to the playoffs. Yeah, that's exactly right, Mike. I agree with you that it is an upgrade on what they had last year. Now these may not be their quarterbacks next year and and that's, you know, going forward. They may have a totally different quarterback and that's been part of the problem, Mike. It could be, but you know, they've been good enough with with the winning record that they haven't had that high draft pick. So when it's come to draft the quarterback, they haven't had the high pick to take the really good quarterback. It's been Kenny Pickett and whoever else and they haven't had that option of getting that really good quarterback. So that's the problem. You almost wish your team, if you don't have a quarterback, it's really bad. So you get that high pick and you get to rebuild your team with the young quarterback who you can build around for years and they haven't had that. So they keep drafting quarterbacks and training for quarterbacks and signing quarterbacks since Ben Roth, this burger left to try to find that guy. And that usually doesn't work for you. And it especially doesn't work long term for you at work for obviously for the bucks in a short period of time with Tom Brady. But usually over a long period of time, that kind of process of finding a quarterback just doesn't work. But the problem is they haven't been high enough to draft a good one. And they thought they had that guy in Kenny Pickett and they realized to their credit, they realized and they acted on the conclusion that this guy isn't it. That's very un-stealers to do that. What they've done this off season by completely getting rid of their entire quarterback depth chart and signing Russell Wilson and trading for Justin Fields, that's something the Steelers don't do, which creates a level of interest and intrigue and excitement for a team that seems to be deviating significantly from its usual modus operandi. Here's more from Mike Tomlin, who is a great coach who's never had a losing season. There's that block of Steelers fans that want to fire him any time they lose two games in a row. Be careful what you'll wish for because this guy knows what he's doing and here he is talking about whether or not Russell Wilson still has the old mobility and whether or not we'll see a little Cordell Stewart style Justin Fields package with Wilson as the starter. I am completely comfortable with the mobility that he has. I don't necessarily have a frame of reference from earlier in his career because I went around him day to day. But what I've seen day to day as he's gained his health is certainly sufficient in terms of doing things that we desire to do with quarterback mobility or doing things ad lib in terms of extending plays that is very much still in his will house. I don't mean to telegraph anything to your friend Reheem Morris, who you're seeing in a couple Sundays from now. Is there a Justin Fields package still? Do you think? My friend Raheem Morris better be ready for Justin Fields package, I'll just say that. Okay, so Fields won't just have an earbud and a clipboard is what you're saying here. You know, I don't want to disclose any strategic approaches, but it's probably too much talent to be sitting around watching all day. You know, I don't know whether this is like misdirection or next level genius because maybe Reheem Morris thinks, oh, he wouldn't say that if he was going to do it. So he must not do it, but he's actually going to do it. But why wouldn't you use Justin Fields that way? When the trade happened on a Saturday night, I was down in the barn, I popped open the laptop, I did a video and one of the first things I said is Justin Fields, Cordell Stewart, get him out there because we assumed then Wilson was definitely the starter and that Fields was there to be the backup as time went by. It became a little more, hmm, I don't know, but when you look at Fields explosiveness, that was the thing that jumped off the screen. And I know Russell Wilson recovering from the calf injury made it even more of a discrepancy between him and Fields. The Fields can do things with his legs that few can. You get him out there, you get Arthur Smith to come up with ideas and packages, whether it's Fields at quarterback and Russell Wilson off the field or spread wide like we used to see in the old wildcat packages or Wilson under center and Fields in the back field or Fields in the slot, there's all sorts of things you could do with Justin Fields. And if we take Mike Tom on it as a word and we've learned over the years, you can never take football coaches at their word because it's all strategic, why wouldn't you get Fields out there? And I think that that is a way to get Fields comfortable, make Russell a little uncomfortable and make him realize if you don't do well enough here, we got a guy who's ready to go. And if they do make that transition during the by week, Fields will be even better prepared to lead the team down that, that mess of great franchises from week 11 to week 17. Well, Arthur Smith is our offensive coordinator, Mike. And if you remember those goal line plays that he had with Derek Henry, when he was with the Titans, used him taking the direct snap and he threw passes out of that too. It wasn't just, hey, I'm going to, we're going to snap it, Derek Henry is going to run up the middle. There were passes he threw. I remember a couple of jump passes he threw and he was very good at it. So I could definitely see Justin Fields being very successful in those goal line plays down there with the Steelers, especially with the running game that they expect to have. So I do expect to see Justin Fields on the field at times. Now what I'm intrigued about is you and I both heard this all season before it was reported that the Steelers could use Justin Fields as a kick returner. I would love to see him as a kick returner in what they're calling the dynamic kickoff return to see what he could do. Now I agree with you. I think most teams are going to kick it through the back of the end zone, but I would love to see Justin Fields out there running kick running back kickoff because I think he would be very, very good at that. He just has a really special skill set. I think that the Steelers can utilize it's a little bit different than what Russell Wilson is. Yeah. I mean, Justin Fields wanted nothing to do with that talk and that talk was real. He wanted nothing to do with it when he was competing to be the starting quarterback. Now that he isn't, it's an opportunity to get on the field and make a difference. But, and look, Bill Belichick said yesterday to Pat McAfee exactly what I've been saying for months and it does carry a little more weight when it comes from Belichick just a slight bit of extra weight from Belichick than when it comes from me. But if Justin Fields is back there with Courderall Patterson as the two guys deep on the kickoff, you know what they're going to be doing? They're going to be looking up and watching the ball go over their heads and that guarantees you're getting the 30. If you just put him and Patterson out there, what team is going to say, yeah, let's go ahead and take our chances with those two guys. Yeah, I don't think anybody's going to take their chances with that, Mike. I mean, that that's two fantastic guys that could break it all the way. We've seen what Fields does running the football and I wouldn't take that offer, but that chance. In fact, I'm not taking it probably with anybody, but I'm certainly not taking it with those two guys. Reminds me of one of my hottest takes of all time. It was either 2005 or 2008. I think it was '08. I advocated making Troy Palamolo a kick returner for the Steelers because he was the best broken field runner in all of football. He'd get the ball in his hands and it was Tasmanian devil spinning and whirling and slashing and finding his way to the end zone. So they didn't take my advice then, which is probably why they ended up winning the Super Bowl in 2005 and 2008. All right. The New England Patriots, it's been a long time since they've won a Super Bowl. It's been a long time since they've won a playoff game. Their last playoff win came in Super Bowl 53. They just want to get to the playoffs. They just want to get out of the basement of the AFC East. They landed in fourth place last year for the first time since 2000 and by all indications, they're destined to stick around in last place in 2024. It's a $5 meal deal at McDonald's. You pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Price and participation may vary for a limited time only. First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? Man, it's a real dream come true. I'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season. Do you have any plans to celebrate? Absolutely. We serve up America's favorite bowling swings with just $0.50 each to kick off the season. Any of our sources, whether it's in restaurant or to go, it don't matter. It's all $0.50 all the time. Are you worried at all about any competition this season? What competition? Limited time price, participation in selection may vary tax and gratuity excluded. This time of year, Saturdays mean one thing and one thing only. College football. 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There he is from yesterday on his timetable for announcing his QB1. I'm going to talk to the individual players tomorrow. I'm going to have a team meeting tomorrow, and then I'll get it to you guys. Yes, we've made a decision, just haven't communicated. And honestly, I want those guys to hear it first from me before they hear it from someone else. Really, you know, if you want to talk about the process, you know, Alex, myself, you know, we just have those conversations, but you know, he gets input from his coaches as well. And ultimately it's my decision to make. Is that a lead? I'm hoping that conversation will help you choose this one. I think it's this guy. I think it's this guy. Is that a lead for you? Look, he definitely weighs in, but I would say once again, it's my decision to make. And a lot of people have opinions on how they think about things, and I've lost quite a bit of sleep trying to think about this stuff as well, but I would ultimately put it on me. Now, again, it's one thing to look at words on paper or on your phone, tablet or other device. It's another thing to hear it and get a chance to process it with your eyes and your ears. Why would he say I want to meet with the players and explain it to them and meet with the team if it was going to be Jacobi Bursett? Wouldn't this feel like he's going to disrupt what our existing expectations are? He's been saying all along, Jacobi Bursett's the starter, this extra layer of bedside manner wouldn't seem to be necessary if he's going to say, hey, it's what we thought it was all along. It feels to me unless he's misplaying this as badly as Michael Scott did when he informed the members of the office that he actually didn't kill Meredith Palmer when he ran her over with his car. The doctors did everything they could. They tried their best and she's going to be just fine. Why would drawd Mayo have this wind up if the pitch is the pitch that we've expected all along? Because Drake may outplay Jacobi Bursett in the preseason and Jacobi Bursett is still going to start. My prediction and I think it's going to be Jacobi Bursett because that offensive line Mike is awful and I think they don't want him to end up like David Carr, the number one overall pick to Houston Texans who took 76 sacks as a rookie. Maybe he would have been the same quarterback that he ended up being, but I think that ruined him. I think he would have been a better quarterback if he hadn't been just pummeled that first year. And I think they want to protect Drake May from that from the beginning because I think great may definitely outplay Jacobi Bursett. I think he's a starter on that team, but you don't want to get him killed from the outset and then have to pull him out of the game or he's heard or whatever the case may be. But I think it's going to be Jacobi Bursett to start the season, at least initially. You've got four pretty good defenses right out of the gates, Bengal Seahawks, 49ers jets. And you don't want to ruin a guy. You don't want to throw a guy to the wolves too early, have things happen too fast and then he's wrecked and he can't come back from it. You know, the Hall of Fame game where Tom Brady made his debut in 2000. One of the members of the Brady six made his debut in that same game, Giovanni Carmazzi with the San Francisco 49ers team that Brady wanted to be drafted by. They took Carmazzi out of Hofstra instead of Brady and as Steve Marriucci has told the story publicly that ruined Carmazzi. I think that comes from the Brady six documentary that one game, Hall of Fame game ruined Carmazzi. You don't want to ruin Drake May. The whole idea was may need some time, may need some seasoning, may needs to work on his mechanics. May isn't a guy you plug in right away. So maybe you're right because the players are going to think may looks better than Brissette. Are we trying to win? What are we trying to do here? We're trying to win football games. Let's play the guy who played better and Mayo said it himself. He's probably going to revert to Bill Belichick coach speak after what we've seen this week because in one breath, it's Brissette's the starter and in the next breath, it's made out played Brissette in the preseason. The players watch that and that's the thing that we can never lose sight of. Whatever you decide to do a quarterback, your players are going to have an opinion and you better be damn sure your decision meshes with the will and the preferences and the conclusions reached by the other guys in the locker room because they want to win and they want the best players on the field and themselves. And they think they always think they're the best too, but beyond them, they want the best players on the field at all times in order to win as many games as possible. And the Patriots are not going to be good, Mike, no matter who they have in their quarterback, they just don't have the players. Even if Drake may place absolutely terrific, which it's going to be hard to play terrific when the offensive line is what it is. But even if he does, this is not a team that's destined to contend for anything, division title, winning record, whatever it is. So I think they're looking more toward the future. They drafted Drake May knowing that this was a future decision and to me, it's in the Patriots and Drake May's best interest that Jacoby Brissette starts the season. At some point, it's probably going to be Drake May, but I think to start the season, it needs to be Jacoby Brissette and to see how that offensive line is going to hold up or not hold up. And frankly, Jacoby Brissette may not last very long behind that offensive line and it may be Drake May very quickly to be the starting quarterback of that team. Yeah, almost didn't last beyond the first drive of the preseason game against the commanders. He got driven into the ground and he came up holding that area where we've seen guys many times when you put your hand on the shoulder pads right there, you start thinking what happened to that collarbone. So here's Brissette from WEEI earlier in the week discussing and we see the hit there. If you're watching on Peacock, that's the hit that caused Brissette to react in a way that made us think maybe he's injured, but he has since said he's fine. Mayo said he's fine. And here's Brissette from Tuesday on WEEI responding to the question of whether he is the starter followed by Gerard Mayo reacting to what Brissette had to say. Are you the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots? In my mind, I am. Does that mean you will be starting against the Bengals? Um, I mean, we, in my, like I said, at my eyes, I am, I haven't heard anything differently. So that's what I got to go off of. Yeah, I think all the players, not just quarterbacks, they have to have that confidence. That they should be starters. So, um, I'm not going to dig too far under that. That's his opinion and we all have one. Uh oh, see, Shireen, I don't know, maybe we need to put $5 on this. Oh wait, we're not allowed to bet. They just sent out the betting policy yesterday. Maybe we should just have a friendly wager with nothing of value tied to the outcome. Um, I think it's going to be May. I think between what Mayo said and what he said right there, I think it's going to be May. And I look at it this way. Okay. There's this long term strategic play that they think May is a better option than Michael Pennix or J.J. McCarthy or Bo Nix. Well, if you think that the guy is going to be great, why, why don't you trust him now? I mean, we know how the NFL has changed. You got the third overall pick in the draft. You worked very hard to earn that third overall pick in the draft. Everything ain't easy. And now you draft a guy who you don't think is ready to go, then why did you draft him? Why did you draft a guy that isn't ready to go? You should have drafted somebody else. This is no longer let's stash a guy. I mean, very rarely do the planets line up in a way where it makes sense to take a guy with a top five pick and not play him. In today's NFL, you play him. That's what I can't get my arms around. They think May is going to morph into some great quarterback in the future. Why isn't he playing now then? If he's going to be good enough, if you think he's going to be good enough to be a franchise quarterback, put him out there, let him protect himself, make quick decisions, get rid of the ball, baptism by fire. You'll be better by 2025 if you play as much as you can this year. So I think it's going to be him. You think it's going to be for set, it's going to be interesting to see what the decision is. Oh, I definitely think Drake May is the better quarterback. I think he should be playing. I think he needs that opportunity to get as many snaps as he can possibly get. But I just worry about his health behind that offensive line. And I think if it wasn't for that, Mike, I don't think there'd be any, we wouldn't be sitting here having a discussion about who the starter is for the Patriots. I don't think it has anything to do with Drake May. I think it has to do with that offensive line and can he protect himself? Or are we going to get him killed and ruin this guy in the first couple of games because he's just getting pummeled to death and has no chance? I think that's what it boils down to, but he's definitely the better quarterback. He's definitely ready to play. He definitely needs to play. And if that's decision, kudos to the Patriots, but figure out a way to protect this guy. Kind of sounds like you're back peddling now. You take your hand off the checker? Are you still? Are you still making the most? You call me percent to start. Okay. You got percent. I got a and we have nothing of value riding on that outcome. We are not wagering. We are not violating the policy of NBC or the laws of the state of Texas, where gambling on sports continues to be to the dismay of Jerry Jones illegal. All right. Let's take a break. Let's see what's next. Here we go. It's a marchese. You know, some hold-ins make sense and some don't. And the one-in Cincinnati that's been lingering for more than a month makes absolutely no sense and people are starting to notice. We'll try to make sense of what's happening between your marchese and the Bengals when PFT Live continues right after this. The five dollar meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between them a double or a chicken, then get a small fry, a small drink and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the five dollar meal deal today. Prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. Hey Applebee's, congrats on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the NFL. How does it feel? Applebee will be able to bring some eggs to heat. Any plans to celebrate? Yeah, we got to serve up America's favorite boneless wings for their 50 cents each to kick off the season. Limited time, price participation in selection may vary, tax number two would be excluded. [BLANK_AUDIO]