00:00Look, it makes sense.
00:01I don't know exactly the stuff coming out of Pennix's camp.
00:05We'll get into that later.
00:07But, I mean, as far as this football team goes, this is the move, to me,
00:09that always made sense as far as T.J. Watt goes, as far as season openers go.
00:15I know that Tua had, you know, hiccups as far as the snap in the preseason games.
00:21But, man, he's a veteran player.
00:23He knows how to be efficient with the football.
00:25As long as he's not putting it in harm's way in week one,
00:27I think he gives you a chance to win.
00:29Yeah, protect the football is the number one goal he has.
00:33There's none.
00:34And it starts literally with something that has plagued him the entire training camp
00:39and preseason.
00:39And you mentioned it.
00:42I will be very interested to make sure.
00:44I don't know what the weather's going to be like.
00:46It was obviously super hot the last week.
00:48And I don't know if you guys noticed how many college football players,
00:52quarterbacks, I should say, had the chalk, like Rosen type, on their hands
00:57to help with their grip because of the humidity that has plagued the America,
01:02essentially, everywhere with heat.
01:04So I'll be interested to see how that plays out because that will be a big deal.
01:07I'm disappointed.
01:08I wanted to see Michael Pennick start of the season.
01:11He's been cleared physically.
01:14And this is obviously something where he's not – it doesn't feel like he's mentally ready,
01:20either with what they're trying to do, asking him to do physically,
01:23or just the totality of the situation.
01:27And I have to respect him for saying, hey, you know what,
01:31I'm not going to go out there and put myself over the team.
01:33Then again, I don't criticize guys who – I wouldn't be criticizing him if he played week one.
01:39And, you know, he said, well, I wasn't necessarily where I wanted to be mentally,
01:43but I wanted to play and not let my teammates down.
01:46I wouldn't – I don't have a problem with either one because I don't think either one
01:48or – when people say that either one is selfish, I have a hard time coming to grips with that
01:54if you understand – actually understand a team concept
01:57and wanting to go there and be there with your teammates.
02:02But Tua is our guy, and I said yesterday on my video I posted, we need to support him.
02:08Everything goes behind Tua now.
02:10And support him as everything we can because whatever happens with Pennick,
02:15we want to be winning football games when he decides he's ready.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Well, and I think that'll be the next question is if you do come out and win football games,
02:22is it just – is it that simple as slotting Pennick back in?
02:25Because I don't necessarily think it is.
02:26Well, it was for Tomlin a few years ago with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson.
02:32And he was like, no matter what, when Russell's ready, it's his job.
02:36I don't know if that's how this played out, but that was supposedly a competition.
02:41And that's the most recent one I can go back to where the guy was probably going to be
02:45the starter of healthy, and then he wasn't healthy.
02:48And you had to go with someone, and they did win football games.
02:51I'm not saying they're exactly the same, but that situation has played out.
02:58Yeah.
02:59To me, I don't necessarily think it's as simple because we just haven't seen Michael Pennick's
03:02in this offense.
03:03We haven't seen Michael Pennick's do anything, and that's seemingly Michael Pennick's choice.
03:08And so I do think if you come out and are somehow successful – I don't know if you will
03:12be,
03:12but if you're somehow successful in the first game, and two starts the second game, and that
03:16leads into the Thursday night game, and you're somehow 2-1 coming out of that, I think there's
03:21going to be some tough decisions to be made, in my opinion.
03:23But you think record's the only – I don't think you believe this, and I don't believe
03:28that record is the only determining factor.
03:29If you're 2-1, and you've won, and two has got average stats with more turnovers than
03:36touchdown passes, or however you want to slice it, I don't think it's necessarily, well,
03:41but we did win two games.
03:42I think your decision's made for you.
03:44I think it goes both ways.
03:45I think if Tua comes out and, you know, after three games is thrown for 7.50, you know,
03:52and yet you're 1-2, and, you know, the run defense hasn't stepped up to the plate.
03:58And I think that's – when you brought up the Justin Fields thing, I think that's exactly
04:01what I went to.
04:02Like, yeah, I think the opener two years ago was a prime example.
04:06They won that game.
04:07Justin Fields didn't do anything other than scramble for a few first downs, it felt like.
04:11And that's why I think that Russell Wilson's job was going to be safe all along.
04:15Well, I don't know.
04:16I don't disagree.
04:17He was really good on the outside from 7 to 10 yards, but anything further in the
04:22middle that was non-existent, I'm just joking around with that.
04:26But, look, I don't care who plays quarterback at the end of the day if the team
04:30wins.
04:30That's my ultimate goal.
04:31My number one thing was to say that you need to figure out what MPJ is this year.
04:39And if you don't do that, then I don't really know where you stand with that
04:44situation, especially if you're losing football games.
04:47Completely agree.
04:48It's easier to handle if you win, in other words.
04:51Well, and I know we're all the smartest guy in the room looking at hindsight, but you
04:54did see Tua getting all the preseason games.
04:57Pennix was cleared for 11-on-11.
04:58Still didn't feel comfortable playing that final game.
05:00So, the dots do connect.
05:02But were you surprised in how it came down?
05:05Because Tua is obviously QB1, and then Cooper rushes his backup, and Michael Pennix will
05:08be inactive.
05:09I know disappointed is definitely a word you felt, but were you surprised to see the
05:15swing of the pendulum like that?
05:18Personally, no.
05:19I mean, personally, no.
05:20I think I let out a tweet after the final preseason game.
05:23It was like, I saw one too many people, you know, after the game that were saying, I've
05:30seen enough of Tua.
05:31I've seen enough of Tua.
05:33Well, we haven't seen anything of Pennix.
05:35You know what I mean?
05:35Like, how can we see enough of Tua, and we haven't seen Pennix at all?
05:39It just, it's been a weird situation.
05:41I remember us having Dave Archer on when he was cleared, and it was like, yeah, he's
05:44got to play.
05:46You know, if we're going to have a quarterback competition, he's got to play.
05:48And once he didn't, I thought everything was on the table.
05:51I'm like, at that point, who even knows where this entire thing goes?
05:55I don't think you get a two-week ramp-up to the regular season, and then, like I've said
05:58all along, trot him out there against T.J.
06:00Watt in week one and say, all right, man, go get him.
06:02Like, I thought this was probably going to be the calculated play, for whatever reason,
06:09to me, that I saw, you know, coming the whole time.
06:12So, when knew you trot him out there?
06:13Because it's not like T.J.
06:14Watt's the only dominant pass rusher you'll face all year.
06:17I mean, it's not like you don't have a Bosa on there.
06:19Every team in this league has a guy, for the most part, that can come get after you.
06:24So, when do you, I understand the concept, but I think it's flawed in my mind that we're
06:32like, well, it's only two weeks.
06:33Well, then one is enough.
06:37And I don't believe, I'll be 100% with you, I believe this is Michael Penix's decision.
06:42I believe if he went out there and said, I'm ready to go, he'd be out there starting.
06:46So, I can't jump on board with saying, well, only because it was two weeks, you didn't
06:53want to trot him out there against T.J.
06:54Watt.
06:55I just, I can't go with that.
06:57And I don't, never discredit Mike.
06:59He played, he understands this way more than I do.
07:01It's just hard for me to hear that and say, well, so week two against Carolina, they got
07:06a pretty good pass rush.
07:08Week three, when you go to Green Bay, or do you wait till, what, week four against New
07:12Orleans, they got a pretty good pass rush.
07:14Or week five, Baltimore, like, when is it going to be?
07:18And so, to me, this is a decision where he said he doesn't feel comfortable, and I'm
07:25not sure what he needs to feel to feel comfortable.
07:29We're completely on the same page, and I think that's exactly what I mean.
07:33Like, I think that this has to be something where he feels comfortable, and I don't know
07:37how coming out of preseason that you're like, you know what, this is the one.
07:40You know, like, if he doesn't feel comfortable going in a preseason game, you know, after
07:44just a couple of days, and then you add, what, five practices to that, I was struggling with
07:49that.
07:50And look, I'd have been riding with Michael Penix.
07:53I think that Michael Penix, we've got to figure out what he is.
07:56But if you want to put everything surrounding him to where he can go out there and put his
08:00best foot forward, then you don't rush it, right?
08:02And if you guys remember, my projection three months ago was the fact that I think that there's
08:09going to be somebody starting the first four, and there was going to be somebody starting
08:12like the next eight, and then there was going to be somebody else to finish the season.
08:15And I still stand by that.
08:16I really feel like that's the way this was going to go all along.
08:19If that's the way it plays out, then you have no quarterback on this roster that you
08:22love.
08:24I would say that's probably fair.
08:25Because I don't want to, I'm not going to go to that projection, because ultimately
08:28that to me just says that you don't believe in either quarterback.
08:33Which I think you would, I don't know how you feel, and I know that you believe in
08:37Penix and everything else, but wouldn't you say that the odds are right now that you feel
08:42like this would be trending towards drafting somebody?
08:44Well, as we sit right now, we've got one quarterback that doesn't, that mentally doesn't feel
08:49comfortable playing, and the other guy that I don't necessarily feel comfortable with him
08:53playing, for a multitude of reasons.
08:55So yeah, you could definitely make that argument, but I'm not going to sit here and say that
09:00after 12 games I've given up on Michael Penix Jr. completely.
09:03If that's where you are, that's fine.
09:05I'm not going to argue with people over it anymore, but the reality is, is I'd like to
09:08see more from a guy than 12 games, because if you look around the league, there's quite
09:13a few quarterbacks who've been given up on, who have made playoffs, won Super Bowls, made
09:20NFC Championship games, you know, golf, Mayfield, Sam Darnold, people had wrote off Bryce Young.
09:28We still need to see more from him.
09:31If we're talking about we need to see more from Bryce Young, I'm not sure how you can write
09:34off Michael Penix Jr. yet.
