The plot for the battle for the AFC North title at The Confluence on Sunday night thickens with daily reports about the health of Lamar Jackson and T.J. Watt – and the pending doom for the losing franchise, coach and quarterback. Will Graves of The Associated Press in Pittsburgh returns as the defending champion of Steelers knowledge and brings the full color of the Ravens and black and gold drama into focus with Nestor.
Nestor Aparicio and Will Graves from the Associated Press discuss the upcoming Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens game, highlighting the drama and potential outcomes. Graves notes the Steelers’ struggles, including a 10-point loss to Cleveland and the impact of injuries to key players like T.J. Watt and Najee Harris. He also mentions the Ravens’ reliance on Lamar Jackson and the potential for a backup quarterback to perform well. Both analysts predict a close game, with the Ravens favored but the Steelers capable of an upset. The conversation also touches on the future of coaches Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh and the broader implications for their teams.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the ‘Cup of Soup or Bowl’ Super Bowl week food drive for the Maryland Food Bank and staff the morning Costa event to close it out
- [ ] Provide a Pittsburgh restaurant recommendation to the hosts off the air
Pittsburgh Week and Candy Cane Cash Giveaways
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the upcoming Pittsburgh week and the potential drama between the Ravens and Steelers.
- Nestor talks about the Maryland crab cake giveaways and the candy cane cash giveaways from the Maryland lottery.
- He mentions the Maryland Food Bank Super Bowl week and the visit to Costa.
- Nestor expresses uncertainty about the coaches and quarterbacks for the Ravens and Steelers in future games.
Introduction of Will Graves and Steelers’ Season Recap
- Nestor welcomes Will Graves from the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, noting his Maryland roots and his coverage of Pittsburgh sports.
- Will Graves discusses the Steelers’ season, mentioning the impact of injuries to TJ Watt and Najee Harris.
- Will talks about the Steelers’ struggles in Cleveland and the physical altercation involving Najee Harris.
- Nestor and Will discuss the Steelers’ defensive strategy and the impact of losing Darnell Washington early in the season.
Ravens’ Offensive Strategy and Coaching Decisions
- Nestor and Will discuss the Ravens’ offensive strategy, focusing on Lamar Jackson and the team’s reliance on him.
- Will mentions the impact of the media on the Steelers’ performance, including the booing of Renegade.
- Nestor and Will talk about the depletions on both teams and the potential impact on the game.
- Will highlights the importance of the kicker and running back in the Steelers’ offense, given the limited options at receiver.
Aaron Rodgers and Coaching Dynamics
- Nestor and Will discuss the dynamics between Aaron Rodgers and Arthur Smith, including Rodgers’ desire for no subs in two-minute drills.
- Will mentions the Steelers’ efficiency in scoring touchdowns and the importance of their best players getting the ball.
- Nestor and Will talk about the potential impact of the coaching staff on the game’s outcome.
- Will highlights the importance of Pat Freiermuth and Kenny Gainwell in the Steelers’ offense.
Future of Coaches and Quarterbacks
- Nestor and Will discuss the potential future of Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, including the possibility of them leaving their current roles.
- Will mentions the Steelers’ mythology and the importance of continuity in coaching.
- Nestor talks about the potential impact of Lamar Jackson’s injury and the team’s reliance on him.
- Will highlights the challenges of finding a franchise quarterback and the potential for change in both teams.
Impact of Media and Fan Reactions
- Nestor and Will discuss the impact of media and fan reactions on the teams’ performance.
- Will mentions the Steelers’ tendency to respond to pressure and the importance of fan support.
- Nestor talks about the potential for turmoil in both teams, regardless of the game’s outcome.
- Will highlights the importance of the game’s result on the teams’ future and the potential for change in coaching and quarterback positions.
Final Thoughts and Predictions
- Nestor and Will discuss their final thoughts and predictions for the game.
- Will mentions the importance of the Ravens holding onto the ball and avoiding turnovers.
- Nestor talks about the potential impact of the coaching staff on the game’s outcome.
- Will highlights the importance of the Steelers’ best players getting the ball and the potential for a home playoff game.
- Nestor and Will conclude the discussion, looking forward to the game and the potential impact on both teams’ futures.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens, Steelers, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, TJ Watt, Derek Henry, NFL playoffs, coaching future, quarterback controversy, Super Bowl.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Will Graves
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 towels of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. This is Pittsburgh week. We begin in 2025 we’ll end in 2026 someone’s going to have their feelings hurt on Monday morning, and I’m going to have the Maryland crab cake to fall back on. I have candy cane cash giveaways from the Maryland lottery. They smell good. They’ve been big winners. I’m wearing my Costa shirt. We’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl Super Bowl week for the Maryland Food Bank. We will be at Costa since morning to close it off. Not sure that the Ravens will be preparing for a game in Santa Clara or that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be in such position. I don’t know who the coaches are going to be. I don’t know who the quarterbacks are going to be. It’s always fun to welcome this guy on I threatened him three weeks ago. I said, you’re coming back, Luke’s gonna have to drive up the hill. They’re gonna flex the game into 820 it’s gonna be the last game of the season. And sure enough, it is. Will graves joins us again from the Associated Press of Pittsburgh. He is not a yinzer. He’s actually a Maryland native, but one of those burgundy and gold guys that hasn’t had a lot of winning, but he went up to Pittsburgh and he covers all things Pittsburgh sports. It’s always pleasure to have you on, fresh off of another Mike Tomlin press conference where dude, everybody’s fighting for their life, right? Like they booed Renegade, I’m trying to get Tommy Shaw on the stadiums emptied out in your place. The stadium’s emptied out five times down here. They’ve lost six home games trying to get a home game. They’re going in with a backup quarterback, and are three and a half point favorites because the Steelers marched around Cleveland like they didn’t want to win the division. Well, welcome back. Man, Happy New Year to you.
Will Graves 01:43
Man, Happy New Year. Nestor. It’s, you know, it’s a weird it’s been a weird season, and largely uneventful until whoever was working on TJ watt accidentally jabbed the wrong way, and then a week later, you know, a guy that’s getting paid $150 million to catch football decides to walk over to a Alliance band that he may have a history with and take a swipe at him. It wasn’t a swing, but he whatever, he initiated physical contact and got suspended. And I really think the Cuban those two things you know, they played into the fact that they did not win that game in Cleveland on Sunday, predictable, though. I mean, like they’ve struggled up there, regardless of what state the Browns are in, they, they, they’re not that good in Cleveland. Haven’t been for a while,
Nestor Aparicio 02:31
inexplicable, right in it really, because they have a great defense, because Schwartz, and Schwartz is a genius, and I say that is my life for friend Jimmy Schwartz. But Schwartz is a genius, and he’s got the best player on the planet, literally,
Will Graves 02:45
the Steelers, to be honest with you, like Mike can say, Oh, our game plan wasn’t any different than it usually is against miles, but it looked like they were more concerned about or as concerned with making sure that 95 did not get that the record breaking sack as they were in winning the game, that if you look at the game plan, look losing Darnell Washington early to the broken arm, which is, we’ll have him out this week. Hurt, you know, but man, eight looks scared, you know? I mean, which is not scared isn’t the right word. I would say he looked tentative. I would say tentative, yeah. I mean, he wanted to get like, I just learned 95 okay, he’s coming. I’m getting rid of coming. I’m getting rid of the ball. And it just, it was just weird. It was a weird game. Once they went down 10, nothing, I turned to my son and I said, you know, well, looks like we got the A 20 game, as we all sort of feared, and that’s how it turned out. And look, it’s, um, things are weird in Baltimore. Like, I think either team is going to be, whoever wins this is going to be a home dog in the playoffs next week. I mean, that’s probably going to happen, and deservedly so. But look, somebody’s got to win a division, and it seems like the Ravens have just been kind of like, from afar, from from what I see from Pittsburgh, kind of just screwing around and screwing around and screwing around. And then it was like, again, up in Green Bay was like, oh, wait a minute, we have the best player on the field. Why don’t we just give him the ball all the time and see what happens? And all of a sudden, like, you know, football becomes awful easy when you do that, right? So, which, again,
Nestor Aparicio 04:12
is an indictment of the coaching, right? I mean, but both of these genius Hall of Fame coaches who haven’t won anything in 15 years, right? Like that, that, you know, no matter what all the money spent on the defense that Mike and bringing in the Hall of Famer and like all of that, bring it, bringing in Metcalf, you know, paying some people all of that. And then the Raven side of this is Lamar and Lamar and more, Lamar and all hell breaks loose last week when Preston writes a story that was clearly a plant from inside the building about, hey, maybe we don’t like Lamar as much as he thinks we like him. I mean, it’s insane. And the weird part will the really weird part is they’re favored with a backup quarterback on the road against a Hall of Fame quarterback who has no receivers. Is all the depletions along both of the teams, whether it’s Matta BK and Buchanan over here, watt, whatever it is on the other side there. The craziest part that I think, beyond all of it is how Lamar playing doesn’t feel to be like doesn’t matter, does if he plays or not, because if he plays, he’s hurt anyway. You know he’s gonna play tentative, and we’ll do it with Snoop. And I’m thinking you’re going to Pittsburgh on the road with the seasonal line, with a backup quarterback. I don’t care what Las Vegas says. That’s not ideal. It’s less than I even with Derek Henry. It’s less than ideal.
Will Graves 05:39
Less than ideal. But let’s remember that first game, the one in Baltimore a few weeks ago. The Steelers were pretty fortunate to escape with that one. I mean, there were a couple of calls there, the likely touchdown, non touchdown thing, the the the fact the idea that Rogers had control of that ball that was tipped back to himself like he did, he absolutely did not. They got, they kind of stole it there, and they stole it while playing pretty well. I mean, Rogers and Metcalf had his best game this season by far, and Rogers probably had, maybe arguably, his best game this season. And DK isn’t there. And so now you have him throwing three touchdown passes of the goal or three passes of the goal line to Marquez Valdes scantling, who was looking for work in mid October for a reason, pretty still, pretty fast. But guys catching the ball is not his strongest Spark, part of his skill set. You got Adam Thielen out there, 35 Calvin Austin, third, banged up. Maybe available, but I mean, like, are you? Is he the difference between winning and losing this game? I mean, the Steelers are really, really, really limited offensively, and the weird part is, their best receiver is Pat friermuth, and has been for the last four years, and in Arthur Smith’s Rolodex, or, you know, it’s like, it’s almost like he’s almost like he plays Yahtzee with his playbook, like you have no idea what the combination is going to be until it rolls out there. Like he doesn’t get a lot of snaps and he doesn’t get a lot of targets. This guy was their leading receiver a year ago, and this year he’s third, and he’s like, 40 behind gamewell and DK Metcalf. I mean, well,
Nestor Aparicio 07:19
game well is, clearly, if the Steelers win the game on Sunday night, I would think the kicker and the running back are going to be a huge part of this, because I think Aaron Rodgers gets up to the line of scrimmage and will be able to work, at least work into plays that he wants to get into now, Whether I mean, Val this scanley ran the wrong way stop routes, gonna get him picked off. Doing that stuff right like but the reading of the minds all the weeks in to your point, it felt like it clicked in the Baltimore game for Aaron Rodgers, in some way to say, and even last week, watching Aaron Rodgers trying to run two minute and yelling at the OC that he didn’t want subs. You know, like, I’m half joking, but if I would have had a question for Mike Tomlin today, even joking around and saying, I’m thinking we’re not going to see subs in two minute anymore with Aaron Rodgers, right, Coach, right? Because, like you, you completely defeat everything he’s capable of doing to get cheap snaps with 12 men on the field when Zach Orr is trying to sub in some winded defensive lineman who’s eight plays in a row and on his ass and moving backwards in two minutes, like the just the coach on the field, part of Aaron Rodgers, makes me very, very leery of thinking this is just going to be the ravens are going to be up by 13 points when Renegades playing, and the place is going to be emptied out, and Tomlin is going to be fired before you get downstairs. You know what I mean? Like, I just told I can’t envision it going that way. Sunday night will
Will Graves 09:04
Well, I mean, you know, and I asked Mike this today, or, you know, during his press conference, like, this could be Aaron Rodgers final game, right? And do you think that he is going to go down with taking directions from Arthur Smith in a crucial, you know, situation, in a two minute situation? I don’t think so. I mean, I think that he had look he’s not like this may be his last game of his life. Maybe, maybe some team offers him a, you know, a job next year. Maybe it’s, maybe it’s Pittsburgh, but like he he has all of the, I mean, he has all the power in this particular circumstance. He doesn’t need to play nice anymore, although my, my read is that he and Arthur Smith have a pretty decent relationship, much better than Arthur had with Russell Wilson. But trust me, I mean, Aaron is also marches to his own drummer, and I can imagine if things aren’t going well on Sunday, he’s going to be like, you know, to borrow a phrase. It’s going to be like, you know, like a to borrow the phrase from Major League it’s like, you know, bleep, you Arthur.
Nestor Aparicio 10:00
I would have thought 17 weeks in that they would have scrimmaged that at least to say, look, no subs just, you know, or at least said it on the way in, like, hey, we get them reeling. Adult sub, you know, what I’m capable of doing. Don’t sub on me and but that’s not the way OCS think. OCS think down distance chart, right clock, you know, I got to get my package in. They don’t want to think about not subbing, because they think all week about nothing but subbing literally, right?
Will Graves 10:30
Well, and Arthur, you know, like, it’s kind of weird. They have not been productive in terms from a yardage standpoint, but they’ve been really efficient in that when they’ve had opportunities to score, they’ve scored touchdowns. That was really the one thing that has been the separator this year between this year’s offense and last year, and really, basically since 2020, that being said, I just think that, you know, it’s almost like it’s when it when it’s working, when there is democratic, as the Steelers offense is with the number of they have had 11 different guys catch touchdown passes this season. I think that’s with Buffalo for first in the league. They’ve had 14 guys catch passes, including Spencer Anderson and offensive tackle, who works as, like, their sixth, their sixth lineman. In a way, it’s most when it’s working, it’s like, well, that’s, we were never too reliant on somebody. Like, that’s what, basically, what the The upside is. But the flip side of that is sometimes you just need to make sure your best players get the ball, and that needs to happen on Sunday, like, Pat fryer booth should have 10 plus targets on Sunday, you know, like, that’s just and Kenny gain, well, should probably get the bulk of the work in the backfield, because he’s been the better of the two between him and Jalen Warren over the back half of the season.
Nestor Aparicio 11:43
Well, I mean, no matter what, you’re going to be down the locker room under the stadium, asking Mike Tomlin questions, win or lose, and as I pointed out, by the way, will Graves is here from the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, our defending champion from the Steel City. It’s going to be a very ugly Monday morning for somebody, and I don’t know who that is, because if har ball wants out, because Lamar is here to stay, or they’ve decided that Lamar is doesn’t want to be here, you know what I mean, like, and that’s the reading of tea leaves here in a year that began with the Justin Tucker thing, that there’s so much more meat On that bone that has not been reported in regard to the organization and them dealing with that, certainly in the community here, it’s been a much bigger thing than maybe it would be led on in other places, and so big that he got a 10 game suspension and hasn’t gotten a gig, and everybody’s No speaky about it, yeah, reminds me the congressional hearing with the steroid baseball guys, ah, didn’t work here. Don’t know. So anyway, that started the year, and then just thinking about the expectations that for eight months, we sat here and said, If they make an AFC Championship Game and host it and lose it. It won’t be good enough. Like, that’s the bar here. That was the expectation here, as the favorite to be in the Super Bowl, and from the beginning the Buffalo game one in five. Lamar is injury. Lamar never practicing on Wednesday. It looking disjointed. It’s been like a nursery song, ankle, knees, toes, hips, hamstrings, like they’re they’re dishonest. Will they? John Harbaugh is dishonest, as his brother like literally, as that mess continues in Michigan, and so there’s no clarity. The stadium is emptied out five times. They booed the coach. He’s been the village idiot to the point where, like, they won the game last week at Lambeau Field. And all you could talk about and everybody else is still bad. Well, you didn’t run the ball last week, you know so and both of these coaches are were thought to be Hall of Fame that the end, both of them might be looking at the Giants job on Monday morning, if, if there were a tie, and neither one of them could win the division, but it’s there’s going to be some level of chaos here in both of these places, probably no matter what, because if they both lose next week,
Will Graves 14:09
right, right? I mean, if the Steelers lose, and I imagine, you know, Mike won’t say much about his future after the game, but let’s say we get to Tuesday, Wednesday, next week, when he’ll do his year and wrap up, and they’ll probably talk about maybe, you know it’s there’s no way if he leaves, it would be on his own terms. There is no way the Steelers are going to fire a guy who’s never had a losing season and fire him
Nestor Aparicio 14:36
okay if they lose 40 to 10 to a backup quarterback. Let’s just say I don’t know that Sunday night’s results should matter. About firing,
Will Graves 14:45
I’m not saying there’s no chance he’s gonna leave. If they do, it will be one of those things where I believe he will be the one that will initiate it. I have no, okay, reason to believe that this. I mean, what? Like the Steelers sort of lean into their own mythology, right? They sort of, I mean, they love that we. Had three coaches since 1969 one of the ironies is, if the Steelers don’t win this game, Mike t will be one win short of Chuck Knoll right now, he’s one win short of tying Chuck no for most regular season victories, which I think they would tie for ninth in league history. Okay, that’s a pretty interesting you know? That’s a pretty interesting situation. I just but look, he’s Mike’s you know, his kids are grown. His two boys are out of the house. His daughter’s a sophomore gymnast at Georgia, and comes home on break. But you know, that’s about it. He there’s nothing tying him here, other than the job at this point. His wife obviously has a successful business, but she can do that wherever. I don’t think it’s specific to Pittsburgh. He’s earned the right I mean, he’s earned the respect. There’s, there’s no way that the Steelers would fire him, but will it get ugly if it’s 40 to 10? I mean, like, the only way that, in my opinion, that the Steelers would get to a point where they would be like, Hey, Mike, maybe it’s time to go as if people don’t show up, if the stands look like Tennessee. Okay, right? That’s not gonna happen this week, obviously, and it might not even happen next year. The thing with hardball that’s interesting, you know, my read on it is, and look at the Steelers. When I got here in 2011 had a franchise quarterback in his prime and didn’t get to Super Bowl after they just lost to the Packers. When I got here, haven’t been back, but were competitive and relevant for the next 10 years till been retired, and have been oddly competitive despite having a revolving door that position. But those guys like Lamar are super hard to come by, super hard like it’s easier, in my opinion, it’s easier to find a coach than it is to find a quarterback. And if I’m the ravens and look who knows what you know, what the inner goings, the politics of that building are, but it would be very odd for me, for them to, you know, it’s weird. I mean, it’s really weird me and har ball, I can’t do it with this guy next year, the idea that they would trade Lamar,
Nestor Aparicio 16:54
Lamar not having an agents, also his mother. I mean, it is, and then just the fact that he hasn’t practiced on Wednesdays. And there’s been a couple of times where it felt like, especially the week where Harbaugh thought he was playing anyway, maybe hardball was being honest that time. And it’s really fun, like maybe there is some level of miscommunication about practice and not practice, and whether he can practice. And this has gone on all season long. That’s really hard way to run the business. You know what? I mean? Like, it just is when he’s not out practicing with the guys, and then the operation doesn’t
Will Graves 17:29
look good on Sunday. I mean, look as brilliant and as transcendent an athlete, as a quarterback, as a Hall of Fame players. Lamar is he could never play another down. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. The thing was, man, can he run forever? Can he? Can he, can he play like this forever and stay healthy forever? And this year has obviously been the well, you know, maybe he can’t. So how do we evolve? And if the Ravens decide that whatever iteration of Lamar 2.0 as he evolves from this sort of wonder, this, this, you know, freak of nature in the pocket, as opposed to a more quote, semi traditional quarterback, if he’s not as mobile as he used to be, and they decide, You know what, we we’re gonna, you know, we’re gonna try. We’re gonna try elsewhere. We think we’ve used, we’ve got the best out of him,
Nestor Aparicio 18:14
if he can’t run the ball, he’s not a $70 million quarterback. Maybe they, maybe they make
Will Graves 18:19
that decision, and they keep horrible, like, that’s maybe the decision, but I’m just saying that it is. What’s he 2928 Yes. I mean, he could, I mean, I would think that he still got three to four really, really good years.
Nestor Aparicio 18:33
Well, here’s the thing that Luke always falls back home when we have these debates, which was, Hey, first half against buffalo, first week of the year. There was nothing wrong with Lamar. It was nothing wrong with but that’s my point in that. If you look at how they won the game the other night, yeah, Henry rush for you know, 36 rushes and 300 like quarterback ran the ball and had 60 yards on eight carries. And that was part of why Derek Henry was so effective in getting downhill so and the fact that you would say, Well, you know, they wanted to be something different. That was what Derek Henry was brought here to do, was be this something different. But if Lamar is not the salt to go with the pepper, then the peanut butter to go with the jelly, and there’s then it affects things. And I think it made Tyler Huntley more effective, as well it’s just better ball skills. He’s become a better quarterback, you know that than he was five years ago. The notion that he can come in and knock the Steelers out of the play, I mean, and you see the game the way everybody does, right? Derek, Henry’s gonna run the ball 32 times, and that’s gonna be for 200 yards, and that’s gonna be the Steelers Waterloo on Sunday night.
Will Graves 19:40
I mean, like, that’s what I would do. I mean, they’ve been like, they’ve been effective against some guys, but not others. But I would argue, like, and they all, you know, they, they kept Jonathan Taylor in check when they beat the, you know, when they they were sort of like, when they beat the Colts. That sort of, in my opinion, that sort of broke the Colts. The Colts won in Germany the next week against a bad a bad jets team. But that Steeler. Game sort of broke the pulse. But I would say that Shane Steichen only giving him the ball 12 times was the problem. Like that was the problem. Wasn’t Jonathan Taylor, you know, a chan was okay, but not but look, the last three times the Steelers have played the ravens, like the Ravens have rushed for over 200 yards, and Henry has been a beast. And the Ravens should have won all three of those games. And argue they should have won the first match in, you know, in in December here, and then obviously the last two in Baltimore last season, right the playoff game and the one, you know, right before Christmas. So that would make the most sense, especially given how limited the Steelers are, all offensive, offensively at the moment. But you know, it’s, I don’t know you’re right. I think it’s either way, even if whoever wins is not going to go to the Super Bowl, whoever, like, it’s hard to envision that. But in Pittsburgh, I think if they can win and get in and get a home game and be competitive in the home game, or maybe maybe even win it. I mean, I think like for Baltimore or for the Steelers, like the one thing they would have going for them is, like, let’s say you get a CJ Stroud, or a herbert or, you know, I’m trying to think, who the other, what the third wild card team is? It’ll be buffalo, right, right? I mean, like, well, that would be the one I wouldn’t want, but against the other two, you know, I kind of like my chances, you know, against a quarterback that hasn’t really done it this time of year yet, you know, and this, chargers have been a little up and down. Do you really trust the chargers in the playoffs? I mean, they charge her the other night, you know, on Christmas, they charge
Nestor Aparicio 21:31
you could say going into Denver or New England or, I mean, New England
Will Graves 21:35
home game, right, exactly. But I think a home game for this, they would have a puncher’s chance whoever wins this game, as if the Steelers get in and win a home game, I think all of the pressure on my team sort of evaporates into the ether.
Nestor Aparicio 21:47
Pressure on hardball evaporating. I thought during the game when Derek couldn’t ran the ball and like here he is with a chance to win their favorite again. Pressures off a hardball, and the minute it lit up again, as to he’s blown a lot of leads. And why are they playing this game in Pittsburgh with the season like, how did it get to this point that you know? And I think there’s going to be some turmoil around here, one way or another, with the quarterback and the coach and a kumbaya in a contract, no matter what they do. And to your point, they’re not winning the Super Bowl, so, but playing a home playoff game next week. Would you know matter, but playing and losing to the Houston Texans 31 to 16 wouldn’t be good either. You know, the day after both of these seasons end, the totality of you don’t have a quarterback and you don’t have a great draft position, and Mike T might be running to the end at some point, we’re close to the end than we are the beginning, by anybody’s stretch, right? That that giants job with a quarterback, that fresh start for one or both of these coaches and or franchises that the quarterback might just want to play in Miami here, like, literally, they might just know that and say, You know what, kid like, we’re going to get everything we can get from you. We’re, you know. Like, if you don’t want to be here, we can’t pay you $60 million a year, you know. And I’ve always been concerned about that with Lamar the NBA afication of what I really want to play. Aaron Rodgers had that and string the Steelers along for months, and here he is at home with a game to get you into the playoffs. There’s no other quarter, but maybe Flacco. There’s no other quarterback out there that could have done that for the Steelers in the offseason. So for that, there’s been some brilliance that you’re hosting a game with a chance to have a playoff game next, right? I don’t know how that could be perceived as terrible in Pittsburgh, but
Will Graves 23:38
it’s funny, you mentioned that like my analysis piece after the Browns game that we always that all the AP NFL writers do on Mondays. My literally was like, the lead was like, This is how it was always going to end. And if you had killed the Steelers in week one in week 18, you’re going to have the Ravens at home with a spot on the playoffs on the line. Everybody would have taken that right? But I think because of the way it’s the way that you get there that sort of forms, sort of the feelings and the vibes around it. And as great as it was when, as they were feeling after they sort of escaped in Detroit, like, with, Oh, we got the Browns next. Like, that’s where we’re literally, it’s a 180 and this is, like, the third or fourth time this season that the season has literally taken 100 to 80 degree degree turn in the span of a couple of days, right? So I
Nestor Aparicio 24:21
had you on four weeks ago, and you did not like anything about the steel that nothing was trending, right? There’s nothing to like, and then it’s but it’s almost like they booed
Will Graves 24:33
renegade the last time I had you, right? I mean, it’s almost like they read social media and then they’re like, hey, you know, what was that stat? Like, Rogers hadn’t completed a pass over 20 air yards in like, a month and a half. And once he do the first play in Baltimore, he goes, right. So, I mean, it seems like that they sort of have to get now, but maybe they’re the kind of people that have like, I’m like, for example, like, I’m a reporter, right? Like, I’m deadline oriented. I procrastinate until the deadline because, like, well, the deadline is a deadline. There’s no point in me doing it or. Really, it sort of feels the Steelers are a little bit like that when they get pushed, like I was wondering, they got the big lead and they lost five to seven, and then they got pushed, and then then they responded. And maybe this is one more evidence of that. But, I mean, from a purely talent standpoint, you would have to think the ravens are the better team. I mean, that is, you know, that is just the Steelers defense is what it is. They are sometimes gettable, even if it’s even it’s only for for a moment or two. I mean, they were terrible the first two series against Cleveland, and then Chad turned into shadur and like they should have won the game. You just do not know, like that. And I think if you want to critique Mike Tomlin the last 10 years or so, you literally do not know. You know you’re going to win more than you’re going to lose, but you have no idea which game you’re going to win and which game you’re going to lose. Like, you have no idea the idea that they went and won in Detroit by dominating the second half of that game until the last couple minutes, and then, like, get laying an egg in Cleveland, like, in a seven day span. I mean, how does that they lose to Joe Flacco, who gets signed five minutes before the Bengals play the Steelers, and he lights them up, you know? And then, like, they sort of lose, they sort of lose their way for a bit, and it’s like, oh, here come the Colts and oh, look at Danny dimes and oh, look at Jonathan Taylor. And then they whip them. I mean, they’ve beaten the Patriots. They’ve beaten the guy that’s going to be the AFC, they’re probably going to be the MVP, or is certainly going to be a finalist, and then they and they lose to door Sanders and Joe Flacco. So I mean, you that, and that’s the problem, like with the Steelers. If you were looking, if you’re going to look for a problem, it said, Man, we how do we not know which games are going to win? How do we? How do we not know that? Like, that’s the and that’s a weird because you just don’t know what you’re going to get on a given Sunday. And a guy 19 years in, that’s, that’s, I wouldn’t call that a ringing endorsement of the coaching staff.
Nestor Aparicio 26:51
Well, I mean, how about hardball blowing double digit leads more than any coach in the history of coaches, right? Like, that’s what this defense is. Even with a 10 point lead on Sunday night in Pittsburgh. That’s what the stat will come up, that the defense has blown these games, including one two weeks ago. So like it’s the ghosts Chase both of these teams around, and we’re all come to the conclusion they can’t win the Super Bowl, but two weeks from now, if one of them wins a game and draws a game that looks like, well, they can go to Jacksonville and win. You know what? I mean, like, who can’t go there? So, right? And we have Aaron Rodgers, or we have a healthy Lamar Jackson, right?
Will Graves 27:33
That’s the irony for the Steelers, the season has broken exactly kind of the way that they wanted to, in the sense that there’s no Patrick mahomes, if they went get in. There was no Lamar, so you could basically got Josh Allen and a bunch of guys who have not done it this time, and
Nestor Aparicio 27:46
you would get Metcalf back against Houston, right, and maybe even
Will Graves 27:49
DJ Warren Rogers, and you have Aaron Rodgers, right. Things have broken like, exactly the way that they sort of hoped. But that is going to be like, if they lose on Sunday, that is gonna be, my God, like, everything broke right for us, and we still kind of couldn’t do it. That is, look, I mean, we’re talking about how uncomfortable Monday or Tuesday is going to be for the losing team. I mean, my question for Mike is going to be this. I mean, this. And I’m, unfortunately, I’m one of those guys now that he’s sort of like, oh God, wills here. He’s going to, like, he asked me something that’s going to piss me off. They’re like, Mike, you know, a lot of lots of change in the 19 years, lot of success, but look, we no no playoff wins in 10 years. A lot of coaching changes. Players change, you and Art Rooney are the only constants in that this entire equation. Arts obviously not going anywhere. Why do you remain the right person to coach this team? That’s probably a better question for art, but he won’t talk until close to the Super Bowl, and Mike’s gonna, you know, we’ll see what he has to say. I mean, like, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 28:45
your owner talks, though, your owner comes in front of you and talks every year.
Will Graves 28:50
Yeah, he does. He does like a year end. He does like a year end.
Nestor Aparicio 28:52
Our owner hasn’t done that in eight years. That’s, that’s really, since Ray Rice, really,
Will Graves 28:57
that’s Dan Snyder type behavior, which is not a ringing endorsement. You know what I mean? I mean, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:01
well, and the stadiums emptied out here, and they’ve, they kicked the media out of the press box, and have the little Kevin Byrne press box up in the corner, and they, they’re trying to sell the premium seats, and the Jerry Jones high five, the players on the way in the field, and all of that stuff. And it’s just not, it’s not that kind of community in regard to premium, the hot dogs taste better inside the premium. And like all of that, like there it’s Orioles too. I mean, the Orioles even much more so, because they Mr. Big came in and bought them for a lot of money, and now has to monetize Pete Alonso. And so there, there is a level of all of that. But I do think nobody knows what bashadi thinks, other than he thinks in horrible and dicost his children. I mean, dicost has been here forever, waited forever to get the gig. I don’t think it’s going to get blamed on him, and I don’t think John wants to leave. You know what I mean? I think John looks at all these other owners and says, I’ll take the one I got, not the one I don’t have. And. Think Mike would probably feel the same way to some degree, and the familiarity of it has been comfortable for everybody, more comfortable for Mike in Pittsburgh in that he hasn’t won as much as John lately, and hasn’t had Lamar Jackson either. So there’s, there’s that part of the Hey, John, you’ve had Lamar and you can’t win with him. Come on. What you know, at least Mike has the I haven’t had a quarterback around here. It’s just going to make for a weird off season. And I know you and I’ll be back here week two next year to be playing each other again, and they’ll still be the coach like because it doesn’t feel like these franchises have the tolerance or the temperature or it’s just not there in their DNA, either one of them to have a Black Monday firing and and Steve’s going to march coordinators in here to talk to them. I did that. I I don’t think Steve has the tolerance for that anymore than the Rooney family does.
Will Graves 30:54
I mean, I certainly the relationship with Mike and the Rooney family is pretty tight, and has been basically since he got here. And, you know, part of me thinks like if they decided that, if both parties decided the move needed to be made, the Steelers like this is one of the ironies, right? Like, I wouldn’t want to replace Mike Tomlin unless I kind of knew who I wanted the next coach to be. The irony is, of course, like when Bill cower left, nobody knew who the hell Mike Tomlin was, and then they hired him, and he’s been a Hall of Fame coach, right? So maybe they, maybe they do trust, you know, when I said they sort of lean into their mythology. Part of their mythology is finding like an assistant coach for Don Chula and giving him a roster and letting him be there 23 years and start one in 13, and then slowly build and have a dynasty, right? So maybe they do trust their process, and maybe they decide, You know what, Mike, it’s we’ve had a great run here. You know, I just can’t imagine. It’s hard for me to imagine them telling him to walk. But if you know, if the Giants call and say, Hey, how about a the giants who will have a high draft pick to say, hey, we’ll swap first spots in the first round for and give you a second round pick for Mike T is it possible? It’s possible, like, it’s it’s like shifter went on.
Nestor Aparicio 32:06
Is it possible Steve bishati would want that deal, because Harbaugh wants out and he wants to keep Lamar. I don’t, you know. I have not. I have no idea how that’s going to play out, because that has as much caustic nature, at least in Pittsburgh, you’re going to figure if you have your coach next week and Mike staying, you’ll figure the rest of it out. He might be the guy trying to get Lamar.
Will Graves 32:27
The crazy part about this whole thing is, though, like we’re talking about guys that have coached 300 games in the league and have Super Bowls on their resume, and we are sitting here thinking that one game, the result of one game will sort of determine the path of the franchise for the next 10 years. Like that is, you know, that tells me that the like, there has been erosion this. There has been an erosion of support. And the reality is, like, Look, nobody, especially with Mike, I mean, one of their coach stays 10 years and doesn’t win a playoff game. I mean, outside of Marvin Lewis, like, so do you’re what? You know, you’re the Bengals now. I mean, are the Steelers the Bengals? I don’t they certainly don’t like to think they’re not the Bengals. But, like, that’s sort of, well, the second
Nestor Aparicio 33:11
life of Andy Reid, the second life of Dick Vermeil, the second life of, you know what Sean Payton is doing right now, what Mike Vrabel is doing right now, right? You look at it and say, All right, I, you know, I would maybe have more power, less power, different power, you know, maybe I different General Manager. Maybe Eric and John aren’t as glued as they appear to be, although they live next door to each other, and Eric was a part of that hiring process that brought John in when he was a young buck, 18 years ago. So I there’s a mythology about both of these franchises and the matchup itself, which is why it got flexed in the Sunday night, which is why I got to bother you for 35 minutes today and talk some football with you.
Will Graves 33:53
It says something about these teams that like, like the Niners in the Seahawks are by far the more attractive football matchup, right? Because you’ve got two teams that are better than the two teams that are but people want to watch Aaron Rodgers and they want to watch the, you know, Derek Henry and maybe Lamar, and they want to watch Mike Tomlin. That is sort of why they can never really sort of escape the national conversation. That’s why they’re always sort of, it’s they’re compelling figures. They are. They’re compelling figures because what they’re doing is unnatural. In this day and age. It’s unnatural to be at a place 18 years and 19 years. It just is. It’s unnatural. And so, like, people are, you know, fixated on I do think, though, that, like, I could sit here and get all worked up about it, and look at the steels, have a coaching search. It’s going to be a lot of work for me, you know, in January and February, or whatever it’s going to be. But like, Mike has earned the right, and John, too, in my opinion, they’ve earned the right to sort of go out on their own terms, right? I mean, like, that’s the thing that, like, it’s hard for me to imagine, like, when people use the term, the word fired, I just. It. I know it’s indelicate, and I just don’t think it fits in this like, because there was no bottoming out. You fire people when it bottoms out. The Steelers are not bottom out the rate these teams are playing
Nestor Aparicio 35:11
for the division title in down years where everything’s gone wrong and and here they are. You know, showing up without TJ watt, without Lamar Jackson, but on and on and on and on.
Will Graves 35:23
So, I mean, I still think the ravens, if they hold on to the ball, if Henry doesn’t fumble, they should win the game if the coaching staff just gets out of the way. But the coaching staff likes to get in the way, sometimes, on both sides. And you know, I think Arthur Smith, the Steelers, OC his he’s got to get over the cute stuff and just let Rogers be Rogers. Because, you know, this might be it for him. And I would imagine he’s probably earned the right to kind of cut loose so but let’s remember also, like Aaron Rodgers, last game in Green Bay in the 2022, season, the Packers had won four straight. If they get they got the lines at home on Sunday night. If they win that game, they get in the playoffs. And what happened? They lost. So because I’m trying
Nestor Aparicio 36:06
to add a comedy to our repertoire here, I’m sharing Fred G Sanford here, and red fox, maybe my all time favorite comedian, and just saying, this is the big one, right? And then this is the big one. This is the big one. You know what I’m saying, right? So Will. Graves is here for the Associated Press. He covers all things Pittsburgh, not just the Steelers with the ins and out of you know, penguins and the Panthers and the pirates when they’re relevant and when Skeens pitches every Hey, man. Pete Alonso, we’re in a baseball business here, no matter what happens on Sunday. So big game. Luke and I are driving up the mountain to Pittsburgh. I’m going to get a Pittsburgh restaurant recommendation from will off the air, and Luke and I are going to settle in for the big one on Sunday night in Pittsburgh. We’ll have full coverage at Baltimore positive and W N St. I am Nestor. We are W n s t am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
