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00:00all right back with brady we're going to welcome in our pittsburgh steelers guest coming up here
00:24in just a little bit and we will of course wrap up the afc north we've already done our deep dives
00:30into the ravens the bangles the browns not too many highs they're mostly lows pittsburgh a
00:37fascinating team here and we'll show you division odds and and all of that stuff coming up in a bit
00:42as well but you know a lot of people especially in baltimore the attitude is is super bowl or bus
00:47for the ravens lamar jackson needs to prove that he can win in the playoffs all of this stuff there
00:52are some people at least i'm on the list expecting a rebound performance out of cincinnati after back
00:57to back nine win playoff list seasons and then the steelers become this team that is just okay what are
01:05they going to be on the one hand mike tomlin always wins always has his teams at or above 500 and no
01:12longer at being an option and also in the playoff mix and then of course flip side is well what's
01:21the roster look like i thought last year was going to be the year that all that came to an end i didn't
01:26have faith in fields slash wilson and that quarterback dynamic i thought it was all going to fall apart
01:31it didn't i was wrong the hot start that you brought up before brady and they just kind of
01:35did enough from there obviously to get themselves into the postseason and now you have aaron rogers
01:41and you don't have george pickens you have dk medcalf team just looks different what are your
01:46initial thoughts going into this season well you know it's kind of more of the same i mean you lose
01:56george pickens uh pickens and you add dk metcalf you know how much is that really going to move the
02:02needle one way or another you know i think they're both extremely talented i might say metcalf's a little
02:07bit better but he's also a little bit older you know i don't know if that's really a game changer
02:12you lose minka fitzpatrick that's a big deal uh you know i i think their defensive front once again
02:19if they stay healthy hayward has been you know beat up was injured out for a lot of games last season
02:25but otherwise if they are healthy they're an absolute force and i think that's been a huge
02:30difference maker for this team the last couple of seasons the way they're getting part of a huge part
02:35of the reason why they're getting to double digit wins the past couple of seasons so i i don't really
02:41know how much has changed even though there's some new faces at them i i again i don't know how
02:46different it is from the pittsburgh steelers we've seen the last couple of seasons we're going to find
02:52out what our guest thinks as we bring in andrew filiponi who is on 93.7 the fan there in pittsburgh
02:58he's on twitter the pony express he might brady be the best dressed guest we've ever had
03:04andrew welcome to the program how are you
03:06i mean look generally yeah generally the setup's good but you know sometimes you get the the you
03:23know button down or collared shirt other times just a t-shirt maybe it's a backwards hat you never know
03:27hey it's a steelers guy man it's a class act class organization right without a doubt look you know
03:34blue collar mentality there in pittsburgh we appreciate you andrew so this team pittsburgh
03:39steelers you're 18 under uh mike tomlin obviously and as we keep talking about guys never had a uh
03:46losing season over under for this year eight and a half with the uh plus money to the over at 105 the
03:53juice minus 125 to the under five to one to win the north 21 to one to win the afc 46 to one to win
04:01the super bowl this is not a team the books vegas expects to make the playoffs heavy juice to miss
04:07minus 172 versus plus 140 to make the postseason a lot of changes aaron rogers in dk metcalf in
04:15russell wilson slash justin fields gone as is george pickens what is the overall attitude the optimism
04:22the hype surrounding this team entering the year
04:25well there's a lot right now uh because of aaron rogers resume and he's got fans convinced in
04:35pittsburgh that he's going to turn back the clock and the jets era did not exist and the last year in
04:42green bay when they limped finish line and lost to detroit in a home game that the lions didn't matter
04:48to them at that point because they had been knocked out he lost that aim to go into the playoffs
04:53and fans here they don't want to hear that right now uh they're absolutely drinking the kool-aid with
04:59him and they love the numbers last year too they're convinced that the 28 touchdowns and the 4 000 yards
05:08is a sign that he's still an upper echelon quarterback even though they won only five games and
05:14like i said over the last 25 games aaron rogers is not a good quarterback from a win-loss perspective
05:21so they're bought in uh they believe that based on the quarterback play the steelers have received
05:28since ben retired that this is going to be the best they've gotten yet and if you polled my audience
05:34my guess would be that at least 90 of them would say that the steelers are a great bet to go over
05:41eight and a half but guys uh i think it's the biggest sucker bet on the board as far as win
05:46totals go uh because everyone is going to do the same thing they're going to say mike tomlin's never
05:53had a losing season so with the big names they brought in it's a slam dunk that they're going to
05:58win nine games you just pull the schedule up there i honestly don't i see them as an eight and nine team
06:04possibly even a seven and ten team in 2025 andrew for me the big problem with the jets
06:12and aaron rogers uh was the offensive line i mean it was like a turnstile he had no protection there
06:19in new york and we know in pittsburgh they've had some offensive line woes the last few seasons as well
06:26now they've made some changes it's a very young offensive line at this point tell us about this o-line
06:32and can they keep this guy upright well they might have the biggest left tackle problem in the entire
06:39league uh they drafted broderick jones to anchor their left side and they made a bad trade i mean
06:47they switched spots with the patriots new england got christian gonzalez out of that deal and the
06:52steelers moved up and got broderick jones and if not for a troy fautano injury last year he was the
06:59steelers first round pick in 2024 uh roderick jones would have been their swing tackle he only went
07:06into the lineup because of that injury he played right tackle dan moore played left tackle and now
07:10moore is left to be the titans starting left tackle uh that's the backstory to say that jones is in a
07:17make or break year it's year three and he has not yet shown that he is capable of protecting a blind
07:23side especially when you consider the fact that it's a 41 year old blind side now rogers has a
07:29great clock he's really good at knowing where the pressure is and getting the ball out but my concern
07:35is that he's going to get the ball out very quickly because he thinks he's going to get killed on every
07:40play and that's really going to limit what they can do offensively not to mention how jones is uh lack
07:47of ability affects their run game too so they have a left tackle problem even though they invested in
07:54it with a first round pick and there's no safety net there's no draft pick who's waiting in the wings
07:59or free agent signing to take that spot if jones fails and it's only four days into training camp and
08:06they haven't worn pads yet but the early returns are that he has looked awful at left tackle and
08:12shockingly he decided to lose about 30 pounds in the off season which was weird and the people
08:18covering camp say he's gotten smaller but he hasn't gotten faster more agile and more athletic so
08:23uh i am very worried that the same thing that played aaron rogers in new york last year
08:29is going to give him issues uh here in pittsburgh in his last uh stop we mentioned george pickens is
08:36gone dk metgaff is in this is a guy who had three 1 000 plus yard seasons over the last five years
08:42maybe needed to change the scenery but what kind of production should we expect from dk knowing that
08:48he is the focal point knowing also that a lot of that's going to depend on the performance from
08:52rogers well i would take his under which i think i just heard you say the number i would not go over
08:58that uh there's no wide receiver two here um they traded pickens like you mentioned adam there's no one
09:05who looks like they can step up and fill that void calvin austin's a good third three wide receiver
09:11roman wilson didn't play last year so i'm afraid that teams are going to double up dk metgaff and
09:15that's really going to hurt his production dk metgaff sitting 9 25 and a half that's the yardage
09:22for metgaff on fanduel right now you can go to the under the over whatever you want minus 114 either
09:28side we've only scratched the surface here with andrew filiponi talking about the steelers my guy by the
09:34way oh feels good to have somebody else on the under for pittsburgh this year don't buy into all the hype
09:41our preview continues after this in game live game day here on sports grid talking about the pittsburgh
09:48steelers and expectations for the 2025 season andrew filiponi is with us of course talk radio host out
09:54there in pittsburgh on twitter at the pony express and andrew we were just talking about of course
09:58aaron rogers and dk metgaff and you know these are the big names they brought in but some of that's
10:03supporting cast offensively and you brought up some of you know jalen warren of course there's no
10:09uh naheem hines and or uh naji harris anymore so you know you have warren in more of a a featured role
10:16we'll see if that winds up being the case calvin austin what can he do scotty miller is even worth
10:21mentioning robert woods can he turn back the clock at any point in time i think the tight ends are
10:26interesting and whether or not this team really does kind of lean into a two tight end set pat
10:32fryer muth and you know what what a safety blanket he is capable of being when utilized the right way
10:38and john new smith who was very much that guy from miami in the second half of last season with this
10:43change of scenery is rogers metgaff aside going to really be looking toward his tight ends for production
10:50this year whether it's yardage or just in the end zone well if arthur smith has his way and he's
10:56the steelers offensive coordinator yes because he'd like to build an entire team out of tight ends
11:01uh he's obsessed with position uh everywhere he's been he's brought john new smith with him
11:06tennessee atlanta and now pittsburgh this time i don't feel like his uh teacher's pet affliction with
11:14smith is unwarranted though i mean the guy set tight end receiving records last year in miami and was
11:20very good on a miami team that obviously had quarterback issues but he was the guy
11:25that took advantage of that uh very good skills run after the catch probably an underrated player
11:30at 30 years old but i don't think they're going to have a choice um because dk metgaff is going to
11:36get so much attention what's going to be really interesting is mike tomlin has had a real aversion
11:42to throwing the ball in the middle of the field all of the football nerds look at the passing charts
11:49after games and they're like it doesn't exist for the steelers and that's because tomlin is so has
11:56been so scared and so worried about turnovers and losing the turnover battle ever since ben retired
12:02and trying to win every game 17 to 13 so it didn't really change under russell wilson and the excuse was
12:09well russell wilson's short and can't see over the line of scrimmage that's why he doesn't throw the ball
12:13to the middle of the field well now that you fryer moved dan smith and they're really your second and
12:19third best options that's got to change but the other caveat is look at aaron rogers history he
12:26doesn't really have many seasons where the tight ends been featured big time in his offense yet
12:31you're michael finley in green bay but i mean nobody who he really turned into a pro bowler so
12:38we'll see um it's just hard to ask a guy an old dog to do some new tricks and making uh aaron rogers
12:46consistently throw to tight ends over and over again is something that would be new now going
12:50into what is 20th season andrew you know it would go a long way towards the success for not only the
12:57steelers but aaron rogers if this running game was really a force to be reckoned with and and adam
13:03touched on it naji harris is now no longer in the building jalen warren becomes the number
13:08one and they draft a rookie uh caleb johnson uh can this running game you we talked about the
13:15question marks on the o-line but can this running game really be good they seem to have high hopes
13:20for johnson so i think the interior of the offensive line has potential i mean jack frazier plays center
13:29and he was excellent last year as a rookie they have a right guard who's a second year player
13:34who was a fourth round pick who had his moment so there's upside potential there i would i would uh
13:40suppose to run the ball between the tackles better um naji harris was a horrible first round pick
13:47i don't care about four one thousand yards rushing that just speaks to his durability and volume
13:53nothing to do with big playmaking now warren can do some of that i've always liked warren more than
13:59naji his issue was that he was undrafted and naji was a first round pick so he's not fighting that
14:05battle anymore they also gave him five million dollars in the offseason so he's getting paid
14:10more like a starting running back i think there's more burst and upside there for uh longer runs not
14:17just three yards in a cloud of dust and they do i mean they love johnson they think they stole him in
14:22the third round he put up monster numbers at iowa but that's kind of how it goes there with their
14:27offensive line and penchant on running the ball ran a terrible 40 time uh at the combine but other
14:33than that uh they even say his burst and second level speed is very good um i would not be surprised
14:40if early in the season we saw a switch and johnson turn into the stealer starting running back and
14:47you just never know with first year backs you might hit on one bucky irving last year did that in
14:51tampa bay and really helped transform that offense so that would be the hope here they've been trying
14:57to find that guy really ever since levy on bell left and it's interesting because johnson compares his
15:04rushing style to levy on bell in a lot of ways we haven't talked a lot about the defense you know
15:11there there are certainly some names you know we know that tj watt he's as good as it gets but around
15:17that you know defense adds a 21st overall pick in uh derek uh harman to come in help stifle the run
15:24you add jalen ramsey uh via trade uh darius slay and free agency as well i mean this group
15:31has really you know bolstered the unit obviously is this going to be enough i i know you don't really
15:37think so but if something is going to go right for pittsburgh this year to where it is a playoff team
15:42it is a 9-10 win team can the defense elevate them enough to get them there or does it fall
15:48on rogers and metcalf shoulders well the defense is paid to be the best in the league they spend more
15:56on defense than any team in the nfl by a very wide margin the giants are second and there's a 20
16:02million dollar gap between the two teams and you've got you've got expensive players at every level
16:08jalen ramsey patrick queen tj watt cam hayward i mean even guys like alex highsmith and slay are
16:16making good money and you're coached by mike tomlin who's a defensive mastermind in air quote so it
16:22should be the best in the nfl the issue is adam i just don't think defense gets you as much as it
16:28used to came to city great defensive play i mean philly last year was outstanding but they also scored 40
16:33points in every playoff game that is the recipe for the steelers to win with defense
16:38andrew filiponi not uh not bullish on the steelers this year which is music to my ears because this is
16:45what i've been screaming on sports grid here and for me because i want that horrible record and draft
16:50a quarterback next year adam so it's a win-win when they lose amen andrew again 93 7 the fan in
16:57pittsburgh on twitter at the pony express and thanks so much man we'll connect again down the line
17:02thanks guys all right we'll come on back more on the steelers when we return
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