00:00All right, for more on the Steelers, let's go out to our buddy Mike DeFabo of The Athletic
00:04as he joins us here on the YSR, right?
00:05We make it right.
00:06Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:08Hello, Mike.
00:08How you doing?
00:10Hey, I'm doing great.
00:11If I could weigh in on the perfect football weather, I think it's 52 degrees precisely.
00:16I think if you're wearing like a light windbreaker over a hoodie, that is the ideal football
00:21weather.
00:22I like that.
00:23Yeah, I mean, I love hoodie season in general.
00:25I think this is a little bit too warm for perfect football weather.
00:28It might just be a little bit too warm.
00:29Yeah, I agree.
00:30You need like low 60s, high 50s, like somewhere in the 50s, 60 range is probably the right
00:36temperature.
00:37Yeah.
00:38Yeah, but I think good for tailgating.
00:40Like if you're beer, you don't need to totally refrigerate it.
00:42If it can just kind of stay at a decent temperature when you're outdoors, I think that's also part
00:47of the equation.
00:48Strong point by you.
00:49No koozie is always nice.
00:51All right, Mike, let's get into this.
00:52You've had a busy 24 hours.
00:54Joey Porter Jr. on the trade.
00:55We'll start there.
00:56Were you surprised that a deal got done when it got done?
01:00And how did the Steelers make out?
01:04Yeah, I mean, I think that this was inevitable at some point because it was clear that Joey
01:08Porter Jr.
01:09was not going to play in a football game without a new contract.
01:12In the final straw came this week, you know, the Steelers made him a full participant during
01:17their walkthrough jog through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, he reports another back injury.
01:23And at this point, it seemed like there was one way out of this.
01:26And especially because if Porter wasn't going to play without a new contract, the Steelers
01:31have a longstanding precedent in principle.
01:33They don't negotiate with guys in the season.
01:36So it seemed like it was kind of the only way to end what has been a really messy couple
01:42months.
01:43Truthfully, I think that if there is a winner in all of this, it's not the Steelers.
01:47I mean, just three days ago, they benched DeSantis Samuel Jr., who was Joey Porter Jr.'s
01:53primary replacement.
01:54And here they are with a 42-year-old quarterback in a supposed win-now mode, and they don't have
02:00a legitimate quarterback one in a division where you're going to have to see Jamar Chase
02:04and Tiggins twice a year.
02:06So, I mean, Joey doesn't look good in all of this because it seems pretty obvious he's
02:11faked his back injury, and the Steelers don't come out looking too good in this because they
02:15don't have a quarterback.
02:17Yeah, I guess that's kind of where I want to go next because, you know, without Joey
02:21Porter Jr., this defense certainly does look different on the back end.
02:24But how can the Steelers maybe pick up the slack left by Joey Porter Jr.?
02:31Because I think the season started with the idea that he'd be back out there at some point.
02:34Now, that's not obviously going to be the case.
02:38Well, I think some of it will be schematic.
02:41You know, under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers were running man coverage at one of the highest
02:45rates in the league.
02:46That very much met and fit Joey Porter Jr.'s playing style.
02:50Now, Patrick Graham, the new defensive coordinator, he's more modern in his approach.
02:56He's more of a zone-centric kind of coordinator to the point that even in week one, the Steelers,
03:01according to PFF, didn't run a single down of true man coverage.
03:06So, you know, that's going to be part of it.
03:09But, you know, there's a lot of question marks when it comes to this Steelers secondary.
03:13You know, they've got Jamel Dean as one of their primary quarters they brought in this
03:17offseason.
03:18You know, he has good numbers.
03:20He's played well.
03:21He's physical in his career.
03:22But he's also about to be 30 years old and has dealt with injury concerns the last couple
03:27seasons.
03:28Already, he's nursing an ankle injury, and he's going to continue to play through it.
03:32You know, and then the other side, I mentioned Asante Samuel Jr.
03:35The other guy within that equation would be Daylon Everett.
03:38He's a third-round rookie.
03:40They like him.
03:41He's long.
03:41He's fast.
03:43Relatively physical.
03:44He's also a rookie at a position where it's really challenging to develop somebody, as
03:50the Steelers know.
03:50I mean, Joey Porter Jr. was the first corner that they had developed since, like, Taylor,
03:55and they let him go away.
03:57How do you think Deshaun is going to fare against this defense?
04:01You know, I don't think too well.
04:04Honestly, I think they're going to send a lot of pressures at him.
04:06I think that'll probably be the approach.
04:08You know, Patrick Graham is kind of known for two different approaches when it comes to
04:12pressure.
04:12It's either an all-out max blitz bringing seven guys, or he'll give that presentation
04:18pre-snap and then drop into some kind of a simulated look.
04:21He's also really good at changing the picture for the quarterback on the back end.
04:27They're doing a lot of different coverage rotations, a lot of disguising of their coverages.
04:31You know, and so I think the key for the Steelers is, you know, when I was watching some of
04:37the
04:37past Brown's games, it looked like Deshaun wasn't necessarily as good as his stats might
04:43suggest.
04:44It seemed like he was making a couple of turnover-worthy plays.
04:47So I think for the Steelers, the key is going to be actually catching the football when he
04:51throws it to them.
04:52How good is T.J. Watt at this stage of his career?
04:57You know, it's an interesting question because last year, you know, Miles Garrett, you know,
05:04basically had to threaten that he wanted to be traded.
05:06And then the Browns were like, here's a ton of money.
05:09And he was like, I changed my mind, but now I love Cleveland.
05:13And he reset the market.
05:15And then T.J. Watt was the one who benefited from it because they had to give him a dollar
05:19more because of this, you know, rivalry with Miles Garrett that T.J. was never willing to
05:25publicly acknowledge that there was a rivalry there.
05:28And in his first season, it was another disappointing year for T.J.
05:32It was like two in a row where his sack numbers were down.
05:35And then it turned disastrous when a team doctor or a member of the training staff punctured
05:41his lung during a dry needling session.
05:43And so coming into this year, I think there was a lot of question marks about like, hey,
05:48what is T.J. Watt at this stage of his career?
05:50You know, is he still an upper echelon pass rusher?
05:54And, you know, the first two games, at least, he was extremely productive.
05:58He had to pick six against Cooper Rush in the Falcons and ultimately ended up winning that game.
06:03And, you know, one interesting thing the Steelers are doing, they kind of are taking the approach
06:08less is more with T.J. Watt.
06:10In that first game, he only played 37 snaps.
06:13And, you know, to put that in perspective, the game he came back from that lung issue,
06:17he played 42 when he was on a pitch count.
06:20So, you know, that's part of the equation with T.J.
06:23The other thing I mentioned, the defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, his approach to
06:27pressure is that he feels they have good enough players up front.
06:32He doesn't need to necessarily, like, design a free rusher.
06:36Instead, if he can create a one-on-one situation.
06:38So for like a guy like T.J. Watt, who's so often double teamed and chipped and all that,
06:44you know, freeing him up more with these simulated pressures to get, you know,
06:49manufactured one-on-one situations has led to a little bit more production.
06:52Mike DeFabo covers the Steelers for The Athletic on the YSR, right?
06:55We make a right, call Kyle Wright hotline.
06:57All right, so as simple as Spencer made that question, and I always like simple questions,
07:01we can do the same thing for Aaron Rodgers.
07:03All right, so how good do you think Aaron Rodgers is at this point?
07:08You know, I feel like when I've talked to people over the last year plus about Aaron Rodgers,
07:14I can tell which games they watched.
07:17Because I'll either get people saying, man, he really looks like Aaron Rodgers of old.
07:21He can still sling it.
07:22You know, his mind's still sharp.
07:24He's kind of mobile, but, you know, decently mobile for a 42-year-old quarterback.
07:28Like, he's still got it, right?
07:30And then I'll talk to other people, and they'll be like, man, he looks really immobile.
07:35You know, it looks like he's afraid to take hits to throw the ball downfield.
07:39You know, he just looks like a shell of himself.
07:42And, really, the difference comes depending on the caliber of the defense.
07:46You know, if you go back and you look at the games the Steelers played against quality pass rushers and
07:54quality defenses,
07:55there's just such a significant difference in Aaron Rodgers' production.
07:59So, I think this is a huge test for Rodgers and the Steelers because through the first two games,
08:05they were the worst offense in the league.
08:07You know, just statistically speaking, lowest scoring team.
08:11Then they kind of had this awakening against the Bengals that you started saying,
08:15okay, that's why they hired Mike McCarthy.
08:17And so, I think that the Browns present an interesting test because they do a lot of the same things
08:22that gave the Steelers problems against the Patriots.
08:25You know, they're more of a pressure type of team.
08:27They're more of a man coverage type of team.
08:29I mean, both of those things were the issues for the Steelers against the Patriots.
08:33And so, you know, I think it's a huge litmus test for this offense to see, you know,
08:38can Mike McCarthy scheme up some man-beating concepts like he did against the Bengals
08:43or is this going to be, you know, a situation where it looks more like what it did in New
08:48England?
08:50Yeah, it's a good point.
08:52And I, you know, I kind of picked up on the fact that it seemed like there was some schematic
08:56stuff
08:56that was thrown in there to get Aaron Rodgers sort of more comfortable.
08:59Along those lines, why has it maybe been difficult at this point for Rodgers to get the ball
09:07to some of his playmakers on the outside?
09:09It seems like the tight ends have kind of been more of a focal point,
09:12especially in that Bengals game.
09:14What's maybe been the holdup with, like, Michael Pittman's involvement and even DK Metcalf?
09:20Yeah, so, I mean, like, you look at the wide receiver position
09:23and it should have been significantly improved on paper.
09:29But I was kind of, like, cautiously optimistic when it came to this group.
09:33And they showed the reasons why you should have concern.
09:37You know, DK Metcalf has dealt with drops throughout his career.
09:41And he was really bad the first two games with drops.
09:44And Christian Gonzalez basically just completely took him out of the game against the Patriots.
09:50And, you know, Michael Pittman Jr. is an older player.
09:53And older players get hurt.
09:55And he did.
09:56You know, he missed the second game with, you know,
09:59apparently some kind of plantar fasciitis issue.
10:01And then behind them, they've got two young guys.
10:05And in both of them, it's kind of like they have their flashes
10:08and their moments where you can feel optimistic about them.
10:12But then at the same time, they just make these horrible mistakes.
10:16And so, you know, Roman Wilson, he's now in his third year.
10:20Last game, Aaron Rodgers threw a pass that hit him in the hands.
10:23It turned into, you know, an interception the other way right before halftime
10:27that almost swung the entire game
10:28and would have been the reason the Steelers lost it in a big way.
10:32You know, and same thing with Jeremy Bernard against the Patriots.
10:35The ball hit him in the hands.
10:36So, you know, Rodgers is not the easiest quarterback to play for.
10:42He expects guys to be where he wants them when he wants them to be there.
10:46And for that reason, young receivers have struggled with him.
10:49And, you know, some of these older ones, you know,
10:52they're dealing with injuries or inconsistencies.
10:55What's been one of the biggest differences between Mike McCarthy
10:58from Mike Tomlin?
11:02Well, I think the biggest thing is the quarterback position.
11:06You know, the Steelers under Mike Tomlin, he was a defensive-minded coach.
11:10And it seemed like sometimes the Steelers wanted to win in spite of the quarterback.
11:15It's exactly the opposite with Mike McCarthy.
11:17He wants to win because of the quarterback.
11:20You know, he has this big quarterback school where he's big into the fundamentals.
11:24And, you know, before when the Steelers drafted, you know,
11:29everyone's favorite buddy in Cleveland, Mason Rudolph,
11:32they didn't even have a quarterback coach.
11:36You know, they thought he was going to be the heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger.
11:39They didn't even have a quarterback coach.
11:40So, it's taken a very different approach to this position.
11:43And then I think another big thing that really stands out,
11:47after the win over the Bengals, Mike McCarthy said that he wrote down 31 in his notebook,
11:52meaning he felt like they were going to need to score 31 points to out-duel Joe Burrow and the
11:58Bengals.
11:58And that's just such a different approach.
12:01Mike Tomlin would have taken the approach, let's drag the Bengals down to our level,
12:05get them into that rock fight, AFC North battle, keep it close, win it at the end.
12:10You know, McCarthy's thinking, you know, they have to score more points than the other team.
12:14That's the name of the game.
12:15So, definitely you're seeing, you know, his background working with quarterbacks,
12:20especially not specializing on the offensive side of the ball, show up in his philosophy.
12:25Were you surprised by the Minecraft story, or no?
12:30Honestly, I love it so much.
12:33It was just so entertaining that, you know, Mike Tomlin, like right now the Steelers,
12:37they're like a soap opera, and Mike Tomlin's just chilling there playing Minecraft after all this.
12:42But, I mean, I think Tomlin's Minecraft, I mean, he's at least got a vision and a plan.
12:49I'm not sure that the Steelers, Jesus, and Omar Khan does.
12:52I mean, like he seems like he's trying to split two windows, trying to win now and also prepare for
12:58the future.
12:58And when you try to do that, you risk not winning either one of them.
13:01All right, nice talking to Mike DeFabo.
13:03Great stuff from The Athletic.
13:04We're obviously always paying attention to what you have to write, and we'll keep up in the future.
13:09All right, guys.
13:10Thanks for having me.
13:11All right, good stuff right there, Mike DeFabo.
13:12On the wise heart, we make it right.
13:14Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
13:15Sounds like he's on his way to Cleveland right now.
13:17He was in the car.
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