Steelers Analyst Previews Jets Game, Reveals Pivotal Matchups to Watch

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It is game week. My god, you have no idea how good it feels to say those words. We have waited months all calendar year because we never made the playoffs. That we were waiting to say it’s game week for the New York Jets. It is here. It is time to preview the game. We, you already know, we talk Jets every single day. But now we have somebody who talks the Steelers every single day. We going to We’re going to talk. We’re going to have a grand old time. It’s going to be a nice preview. We are live. Boy Green meets Woody. Can you guys help us get a jet champ here? Yeah. Going. Yeah. Yeah. Come on in. Okay. Go. E S E T S third party Thursday. Chris joining us here on the program with a capital P here on the program. Jake Asmin, come on down. How you doing? Good sir. Wow, what an intro. I mean, the boy green is known for having the intro, but Woody, that was that was unreal, man. Thanks for the kind words, son. We are men of many names. My favorite Austrian Jets fan right there, baby. Boy Greens. Welcome, welcome to another episode of Boy Green Meets Woody. You know it’s your boy James Woody. And we are Woody. Woody, Woody, Woody, rocking everywhere right here. Oh, he’s leaning with it. He’s rocking with it. It is the boy who became king, Mr. Paul Edden Jr., but as you heard in the intro, we used to have a special episode. We called it Third Party Thursday. It is back. We are back like we never left. and from the sick pod. Okay, talking Steelers, allow us to go behind enemy lines if you will. One half of the pod. Give us Mike Niccastro. Come on down. How you doing, good sir, fellas? Thank you for having me, man. You got me ready to run through a wall, Woody. Like, I’m ready to to suit up right now and and play special teams or wherever they’ll have me. By the way, that intro video is awesome. But I saw you guys dancing. What? What was that? 2008 2012. Is that the last? Is that when that was taken? Because what? You haven’t had much to dance about and jump around about at the tailgates afterwards. What when was that taken, guys? Come on now. Yeah, that’s a fair point, Mike. That’s a fair point. Especially in a couple of these Jets Steelers memories. I think back to a certain AFC Championship game in a certain pocket of time, a certain kicker in that 2004ish range that gave me a few problems there. So, I appreciate you bringing that up immediately at the beginning of our reunion here, Mike. So, uh, God bless. Welcome to the welcome to the show. Take your feet off at the, you know, your shoes off at the door. Appreciate that. Very nice. Yeah, no doubt. Was that Nick Folk? Did I have that right? No, that was Well, Nick Folk, uh, you’re thinking about a certain Brian. a certain Brian if that uh that hits. So uh but thank you for bringing that up. I appreciate that. I welcome him in right now. No, no kidding. Hey, by the way, let me throw this in immediately. We’re going to get all kinds of Jet Steelers actually as we do this game preview ahead of the uh game on Sunday, September 7th, the season opener. I see just coming in here. Wait a second, Woody. Wait a second. Oh, all kinds of jokes are being cracked, but wait a second. Oh, Cam Hayward in some street clothes, not participating in practice, not liking his contract situation. I thought Jets were supposed to be about the drama. What’s going on there in this deal city, Mike? Tell you what, it’s a strange situation that came out of absolutely nowhere. Cam has spent his entire career building up so much goodwill uh within our fan base. I mean, you got a Walter Payeyton man of the year in Cam Hayward, right? Who just signed a new contract last year, gentleman? Last year, put pen to paper, right? And uh, you know, he he came to camp and basically said, “Hey, I went to the Steelers and said, “Whenever I have an AllPro season, I want a raise.” Well, listen, that’s something you need to put in the the clause a year ago, right? Like, this is an agent screw-up. You shouldn’t be mad at the Steelers. You got to be mad at your agent, right? Uh now, I mean, there’s obviously two parts of this. One, yeah, he wasn’t all pro. It probably does deserve a raise. He’s like the I think the 20th highest paid defensive lineman in the league. He’s a hell of a lot better than that. Um but at the same time, this is this is Cam’s fault. This isn’t on the Steelers. um because because he put pen to paper. So, it came out of nowhere. It’s I wouldn’t say it’s been a distraction. I think that’s a bit of of an exaggeration to be honest. Cam is still such a standup guy. This isn’t an Aaron Rodgersesque distraction, guys. This is this is a gentleman who wants a couple more million dollars who in all likelihood is going to play. I think it’s kind of a little bit of a threat right now, guys. like, ooh, maybe maybe if we’re a couple more million, I I’ll certainly suit up. He’s going to play. He’s built up too much goodwill. He’s such a good guy. He’s a team captain. He was voted a captain this past week. If if if team doesn’t think he’s going to play or hold out, you don’t get voted a captain. You guys are pretty familiar with another name, Levian Bell. Um who who was probably the last Steeler to threaten to hold out days before uh C training camp started. And we know what he did. He held out the entire freaking year. This is completely different situation. Jets fans prepare for Cam to play on Sunday. And I don’t know if he’s going to play with his hair on fire. He always does. Or uh you know, I think it’ll be more of like a hey, let me show you guys once more that I deserve some some extra cash even though he I don’t think he’s getting it. Yeah. See, that was going to be my followup because to your point, he signs an extension in September. was a year ago to this date and then less than a year later already looking uh for that pay raise. And that’s the thing I wasn’t sure and that’s what some Steelers fans have been saying in the brief amount of time that that news broke uh about an hour or so before we started this podcast is Steelers fans are saying whoa half of them appear to be saying hey calm down here he gets rest days all the time let’s see what the injury report says that will determine whether it’s a rest day or he just straight up held out and skipped out uh or if he didn’t because on his podcast you know hey are you going to be out there on Sunday we will see you know that’s not no that’s not yes that’s sort of cryptic a little bit of action So you think it’s all just a bunch of fluff. Just to reiterate that Cam Hayward, unfortunately the Jets are going to be seeing that first team allp pro, eight sack, 11 pass deflection, 20 quarterback hit guy from last season. One of the El Capitans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s going to be out there on the field on Sunday. Uh you believe Mike? Yeah, Mike Tomlin didn’t mince words. He said he was playing yesterday at at his press conference. So, I’d imagine, uh, head coach, leader of the team has a pretty damn good idea of what his star defensive lineman is going to do. Can Can he change his mind? Yeah, I suppose. Right. Um, that that could certainly happen, but I would be shocked. Shocked. Put it in maybe 5% chance uh that that he doesn’t play unless he, you know, pulls the old ah guys, my my hamstring, you know, it’s starting to tighten up on me a little bit, right? like I’m like I’m feeling, you know, walking into the room right now. I’m getting old over here. But, uh, no, I I I think honestly it’s something where it this is going to all be forgotten about three weeks, four weeks into the season and and football will be the focus. It’s a little too soon to bring up captains and injuries uh to to the Jets world. Last uh or yesterday, you know, we got that devastating update confirmed today. our captain captain my captain Elijah her Tucker out out for the year. Um, but I do want to ask a question that I definitely could have used the answer to yesterday when I was drafting my fantasy football team, but it’s okay. I’ll just I’ll just ask you today. Um, Jaylen Warren. All right. I heard Mike Tomlin say a lot of great things about him. He’s going to be a featured back. You know, we’re talking um, you know, great runner. You know, I personally have never never seen it when Naji, you know, went out um you know, he was out here catching passes, but uh for fantasy purposes, Jaylen Warren, Caleb Johnson, and of course, obviously this Sunday as well, um what are you expecting to see from that uh largely unproven running back room? By the way, I had two drafts last night going on at like the same time. It was I think it was the first time I’ve ever had that and I had to like toggle between both. Yeah. You know what it was? It It’s awesome, but it was freaking stressful. I never thought I could have that much stress doing something that I love that much. I’m sick in the head. I have six teams. Six. Yeah. The reason is because the three of them are dynasty, so they’ve carried over for seven years now. So, I’m not drafting those. But technically, it’s six teams. So, it’s uh it’s it’s pretty sickening. Uh I drafted Jaylen Warren on one of those teams a couple of weeks ago uh in a standard league before he was before he signed this contract and before he was officially named RB1 on the depth chart. Steeler fans really like Jaylen Warren. The last four years, we’ve clamored for Jaylen to get more carries than Naji. Uh, Naji was the benefactor of being a first round pick and the Steelers not wanting to look like they had egg on their face by, you know, benching a guy they took number 22 overall. But the eye test always told us Warren was the best running back on the field. From from a fantasy perspective, you know, I’d have him as a lowend high-end RB3, low-end RB2. Uh he’s he’s a guy that is more appreciated for for other things he can do on the field. He’s one of the best pass protectors at running back that you’ll ever see. You guys you guys watch that this this Sunday. U especially because the Steelers also have offensive line troubles. Um so so I mean that’s obviously something you won’t see in a box score. Incredible. Better receiver than Naji. Um he’s a bowling ball man. I I always say that he reminds me of Ray Rice when he runs. Small, sturdy, um, and, you know, a good human, too. Um, but at the end, at the end of the day, he, uh, he’s an improvement over Naji. He’s a great dude. His split with Caleb Johnson. I think we’re going to see 8020 out of the gate. 8120. Caleb. Yeah, Caleb kind of struggled this preseason. Um, he just looked a little slow, guys. And I got a lot of [ __ ] for saying that on Twitter. Um, he ran a 46. Like numbers, numbers don’t lie at the end of the day. Oh, but you know, people would say, “But he has next level second level burst when he gets, you know, 20 yards downhill, then he’s running his 43.” Well, no, probably not. But, um, but I’m saying 8020 out the gate. I still like Caleb. He’ll probably get a lot of the goal line touches still. Um at that number over the season though, Woody will we’ll definitely start to see more of a time share just to keep keep these backs healthy. Kenneth Gainwell is there too. He’s he might get more touches than Caleb out of the gate. Seriously. Wow. Okay. Well, that is news for James Woody’s fantasy team and all those out there as well, baby. Again, we have Mike Gastro here on the program, the host of the sickest Pittsburgh Steelers podcast in the Gash Darn universe here on the program. So, I appreciate him taking the time here uh for this Jet Steelers uh conversation. Now, let me ask you about this uh Aaron Rogers and this was kind of we’ll talk about Aaron Rogers in a different way, but uh this first part I thought was interesting. I was listening to his press conference. I’m sure he dodged most of the Jets questions, but the thing I found most fascinating is he said the sneaky thing basically that could help decide this game is unscouted looks. week one. All kinds of weirdass stuff happens in week ones in general, let alone in this specific case where you have a first time NFL offensive play caller and Tanner Strand and Steve Wilks is a brand new defensive coordinator, not new to the defensive coordinator position. He’s done that a long time, but new with the Jets. So, there’s just a lot of unscouted looks. And Aaron Rogers says the analytics people he’s spoken with say that in between 30 and 40% of what the Steelers and Jets vice versa both to each other will see is stuff that they kept from each other. They didn’t put out there in the preseason and they’re saving it for this game. And he says whichever team handles those unscouted looks the best might end up winning this game. I’m curious, Mike, do you agree with your QB1, Aaron Rogers? Still sounds weird. QB1 uh for the Steelers. It probably did for you guys right uh two years ago. Also, I’m glad you brought up that quote. That was really the only thing of substance that that he said a couple of days ago. He he’s been uh nothing but joyous and high-spirited and he was kind of he kind of gave a little attitude uh you know yesterday uh in his press conference. But I I think it is a great point. Uh I think he’s exactly right. Uh I don’t think you can put too much stock into preseason. I I think you know I think there were overreactions for field struggles and your offensive struggles because of that. Exactly. So I’m I’m honestly not putting a ton of stock in that the same way that you know Skyler Thompson threw you know a perfect game uh you know whenever he got some time for for the Steelers. But yeah, this is classic NFL chess match stuff, right guys? Like why why would you why would you show your hand during meaningless football? um when you know obviously you have the opportunity to save those plays, put them in your back pocket and that 60% right you could start to roll out uh in week one when it actually matters. So, um, yeah, I mean it at the same time, right, like those unscouted plays obviously haven’t haven’t been run. They haven’t they haven’t tested them. There’s no rapport yet. Who knows? Rogers and Medcaf have never worked together in a game scenario. Uh, Rogers and anybody haven’t worked together in a game scenario in Pittsburgh. So, um, I just I hope it it’s not an excuse, right? Um, I know as we get to to the game and talk a little bit more about it, we’ll get into it, but I’m I’m expecting just a knockdown dragout slog fest of a game anyway because it’s it’s week one and and we’re going to see some some rust I think from from both teams naturally. Um, but yeah, we’re definitely going to see some new looks and I think Aaron was was spot on with that. Yeah, no chemistry. Aaron Rogers, DK Mechaf, that sucks. Too bad our quarterback and wide receiver don’t have that problem. Garrett Wilson, Justin Fields, baby. Going back to that Ohio State tape. Beautiful. But actually, speaking of Justin Fields, I’m curious. Give it to us straight here. The ex-girlfriend. Okay, we’re all just here. No one else is here. Don’t pay attention to the hundreds hundreds of people that are watching the show right now. Don’t worry about them. It’s just me, you, and Woody sitting at the bar. Ex-girlfriend Justin Fields. Did you guys really want him back this off season? And I’m talking about like from a fan perspective. Did you guys really want him back when you heard that he’s coming to the Jets and then you were playing him week one? Sort of sort of take us through the emotional roller coaster that all entailed over the last six, seven months or so. Yeah, I still find my ex-girlfriend attractive. Don’t tell don’t tell my wife that. And and yeah, it’s it’s Justin Fields. Um I I wanted him back. I think fans were on the side of wanting him back as well comparatively because they were also looking at Russell Wilson as the other option, right? Um, and I I think that was part of that pie chart was like at the time for me and I think I’d speak for other fans, it was a who else is out there scenario, right? Like okay, we were we weren’t high enough in the draft to get a cam wart type obviously. So, check that check that off. So, we weren’t going to find a starter in the draft. Kurt Cousins was like another name obviously being thrown around out there. Um, so comparing Fields to Cousins, right? Doing the same with Russell Wilson. So, it was kind of kind of based on on that to a large degree. I think what’s changed at that time, nobody was talking about Aaron Rodgers being a Steeler potentially or being on the open market and getting Aaron Rodgers at $7 million less than you guys are paying Justin Fields this year. That’s what changed in Steeler fans and that that’s what turned for me though before I knew that Rogers was an option and that or that he’d be getting 13 million this season. team fields all the way because of his upside, his ability to make plays off script, right? That’s that’s stuff that you can’t teach. Um, you know, I was talking to somebody this week and I said, you know, if if none of the units are sharp and and there’s rust all over the field and there’s there’s really one difference maker in this game that could be the deciding factor, that’s Justin Field’s legs, right? Nobody nobody else has that in this in this game where if if [ __ ] hits the fan and both offenses look terrible, somebody could change the game in one play. Uh and that’s feels and I saw a lot of that last year with him. Uh I will say that something that wor I have I have some big time Jets fans that I’m friends with and they they’ve asked me a lot too. Something that I’ve honestly worried about is he is such a nice humble kid. Like quiet, very quiet and nice and humble. I don’t know if that’s going to work in New York. Like I I don’t know if he is going to be able to handle that pressure. I think there’s a little bit of of fields. I know he played in a big market in Chicago, but I I don’t know if he’s necessarily a bright lights guy. Seriously. Um and I saw that a couple times last year. Struggled against the the Cowboys in a big spot on Sunday Night Football. Um played better in the games that were, you know, hey, CBS one:00 start. Here’s the Raiders, right? Here’s the Colts. Um, but but I I think a a big portion for a big portion for him is that mental side. And it’s not the mental side in terms of like his smarts or his ability to read the field. It’s it’s when there’s pressure and when things aren’t going well and when the crowd is, you know, he’s hearing it from the New York fans and the big market pressure starts to maybe feel a little bit of weight on his shoulders. How will he respond? I I I don’t necessarily think that um that that’s something that he’s going to, you know, just overcome immediately in terms of that adversity. But to be determined, but I I like Justin Fields. I I wanted him back as a Steeler. Um so I’m not immediately jumping ship by any means and and you know we’re definitely gonna have egg on our face for sure if he if he reaches that potential that we all know he has. Hey Mike, real quick. What time is the game on Sunday? Oh, one o’clock CBS. Okay. No, I just I just want to make sure. Just want to But your fans aren’t Colts fans, are they? That’s also true. Go ahead, Woody. Yeah. Um I can’t lie, Mike. I I am actually, you know, a boy green and I we are in two different camps. A lot of times we are when we, you know, analyze the Jets. Uh I wanted I wanted Rogers back. I was sick to my stomach. Um and even the way they did it according to, you know, what Aaron said, you know, not even giving him the chance of, you know, the time of day. Yeah. All that doesn’t sit right with me. That’s why I I was so, you know, nervous when they first announced this game. Um but uh anyway, looking at the Steelers Steelers and like this is from the outside looking in. I felt like last year you guys were humming along and then fantasy it it always goes back to fantasy. My guy George Pickkins gets hurt and then we’re trying to make do with you know Calvin Austin and some of the other guys at at play. So when the Steelers made this blockbuster trade for DK, I said, “Damn, wow. Now they got pickins, they got, you know, like it’s game time. It’s game time.” But now, just like Will Smith, you know, in the Fresh Prince, we got the empty house because now it seems like they’re doing the same plan with DK. Um, so I just want to talk about that. Would you a agree with my synopsis of last year and b um you know are they one DK you know hangail away from having a very bad receiving core like what’s going on with the Steelers receivers? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It might be a blister hangail what hell whatever whatever comes about. You know what’s interesting though on the picking subject it listen all your all your points are spoton. Um, man, I brought up Ley on Bell earlier and he he doesn’t even compare to the the headache that Pickings was. I’m dead serious. Wow. Uh, you know, I know you guys aren’t as close to the situation similar to as the way Pittsburgers weren’t as close to a situation with Aaron whatsoever, but honestly, might be addition by subtraction with George because he’s a mess and he wouldn’t have mess with messed with Aaron. I promise. I promise you that. Um, but at the same time, right, on the flip side of that is they didn’t they didn’t really replace him with anything. Um, actually, no, hold on, let me backtrack a little bit. They didn’t replace him with anything at receiver. I think an X factor for the Steelers this year is is John Smith. And you guys saw a lot of him last year, obviously. Um, the guy the guy caught like 86 passes and you know people were saying, “Oh, he’s a throwin in the Ramsay for Fitzpatrick trade.” The guy was a top 10 in the AFC and reception scored a bunch of touchdowns. I know the Dolphins had uh Hill and W out for missed some time, but the the guy is a beast. Like I said, you you guys are aware of that. So, um, he’s he’s the number two on this team. clear number two along with I think Pat Bryouth is you know in there as well at tight end but yeah in terms of depth they didn’t do a very good job uh similar to last year if if this ends up another nine and eight year uh and and no playoff win or barely missed the playoffs like it’s been the last handful of years fans are going to have their torches out for GMO Merkan and the number one reason might be the fact that they they didn’t bring in another weapon for for Rogers um you know going out this way, you know, you want to give him everything at his disposal. And there were guys out there, Keenan Allen was out there for a while. I know he said he wanted to play in the West Coast, but money talks. Um, Gabe Davis, I know, just signed. They had him in twice. Uh, you know, not he wouldn’t have moved the needle that much, but at least he’s he’s a body. But Alan Lazard is available. I just want to throw that out there. He is still available. Y I would take him at this point. Do you do you guys not want him? Like, is he just a Rogers? I mean, I I want I want him, but you know, that’s again, we’re in two different camps. You know, he might zero, too. Like, that that’s a that’s a pretty big loss. Why is he still on the team? I’m I’m I’m a little bit surprised by that, to be honest. You know, he took he took a pay cut, you know, $8 and a half million dollar pay cut because you would have thought, right, Lazard is like, “My boy Rogers is clearly gone now.” Obviously, that decision was already made that when the Jets said, “Hey, Allan, come on in to the office.” Yeah. uh we’d love to keep you, but we want you to take 8.5 million less. That Allen could have said, “Oh, interesting. Bend over.” And I’ll show you where you can shove that uh pay cut that you want to give me. But he apparently, I don’t want to say happily took it. That’s probably misconstring it, but like he ended up taking it after some back and forth. He could the Jets would have had no choice but to cut him and make him a true free agent. Then he could have went wherever he where he went. So that to me is sort of curious. They decided he obviously decided not to. It took a massive pay cut to stay here. So, it is a little weird. Yeah. I It surprised me. One of those things where, you know, when the Steelers got Rogers, every Steelers fan is like, “All right, Devonte on the way. All Al Allen Lazard right behind him. Here comes Jordy Nelson out of retirement.” You know, Michael Finley walking through that door. Um, but yeah, the Steelers number two and three, Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin at receiver. Um, they they fit well as a three and four. Uh but but there’s no number two. But Mike Tomlin made a fair point yesterday when he was asked that. He said, you know, John Smith, we’re not penciling him in as just a tight end, right? Like he’s he could play all over the field. Um so if DK does get hurt, I think, you know, to answer your question, yeah, it’s it’s ugly. But if you have DK healthy with Jonnu, I think it’s it’s it’s still a mid uh middle of the NFL weaponry, if you will. Fair enough. Hey, by the way, we have a super chat coming in from our number one Austrian Jet fan, baby. We love to see it. Let’s give a quick shout out. Yeah. Know. Wow. Uh thank you. He says, “Every time I see BG and Winator, I go crazy with a G.” Okay. Crazy. Okay. That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s throw that up on the big board here for a number one Austrian Jet fan. Speaking of this offense though, I do want to ask you about that, Mike, because Arthur Smith had a funny comment earlier this off season that basically, you know, we didn’t acquire DK Metaf and Aaron Rogers to run the wing T offense. So, which is interesting because right, like when I think of Steelers, I think of, you know, tough, rugged, run the football. But then you have Aaron Rogers, this guy who, as we saw last year with the Jets, loves throwing the football all over the barnyard. So, what the hell is the identity here? And is Aaron Rogers and Arthur Smith on the same page on whatever the hell this identity is? Another good conversation from Pittsburgh Sports um talk and and folks that I talked to this week. this common misconception that has gone back to like 2004 and 2008 with Jerome Bettis and Bill Cower that the Steelers are just this tough ground and pound beat you with the run game type team. Here’s one that’ll probably blow your mind. The Steelers haven’t finished in the top 10 in rushing uh in over 10 years. I think it’s I think it’s 12 maybe 12 years at this point. Maybe 2012, something like that. Um, which is kind of shocking, right, when you think about that. But people, you know, throw that kind of cliche, ground and pound. Pittsburgers do it left and right like, “Yeah, we’re going to do it every year same way we do. Run the ball and play good defense.” Well, they haven’t been able to run the ball that well to be honest with you. They have been able to play good defense. Um, at least in the regular season. Um, so I mean what’s the key, I’ll put it this way, the key for the Steelers offense to work with Arty and Aaron and these weapons is throwing the ball over the middle of the field, which is something they would not they did not do last year. They handcuffed Justin Fields. They they wouldn’t let him do it or at least he didn’t do it. Um, and Russell Wilson strictly stuck to the outside, right? his moonball, his uh, you know, to Pickkins, his deep balls to Calvin Austin. Uh, if you look at the the deep metrics and analytics, you’d see the Steelers, you know, one of the teams at the bottom of the league and and throwing over the middle of the field, that, you know, 15 to 25 kind of intermediate uh area. So, they need to utilize that and that’ll be the tight ends. That’ll be Fryouth. That’ll be John Smith. Um, that could be DK still, right? Lining up in the slot. So, that’s what I think that’s the the biggest improvement they need to make offensively. U, I don’t think it’s the run game. Listen, Jaylen Warren is you’re going to get right what you’re going to get. You’re you’re going to get a tough-nose runner, but he’s not going to be Derrick Henry out there. He’s not going to put up Saquon Barkley numbers. you know that this comes down to Rogers, these tight ends throwing to the middle of the field, protecting the football, which is something Rogers has always done, right? His his whole career. You guys, you guys know that. Um, but it’s it’s not going to be this classic, you know, 7030 run the ball to to pass the ball ratio. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I can definitely see that. And I feel like I’m not going to lie, I feel like Aaron Rogers was, you know, calling audles at the line of scrimmage, you know, definitely uh was uh you know, oh, what did they say? Oh, forget it. Yo, Devonte, like you know that. So, uh we’ll see how often um that that happens. Uh there was there was one other thing I wanted to um bring up and you actually already brought it up was the uh trade. You know, that was a blockbuster trade. Which one? Uh the Patrick. Yeah. Yeah. Uh right for uh Ramsay. And um like you said, you know, oh, you know, they they just threw in John. I didn’t even see that J Smith was part of that train till the next day. Like that’s how bad um you know, they disrespected our men’s on that. But from the defensive perspective, what what were your thoughts on that trade? And then how how are you feeling um about the I mean obviously like you just said been playing good defense for how many years in a row now uh but that secondary specifically um how do you feel it’s fairing right now? Reports out of camp and uh you know my co-host on the sick podcast Steelers Crazy Jordan York I’ve been there a handful of times um are that Jaylen Ramsay is still a unicorn. That’s that’s what Steelers analysts and folks that have been close to the team uh have described him as. Um they say it looks like this guy hasn’t lost a step. Um he’s going to play all over the field. He’ll play slot. He’ll play outside. Probably going to follow Garrett Wilson all game, I would imagine, wherever he goes. Um I think he’ll even play some safety, which is why they felt comfortable uh giving up Ma in this deal. Mink is still a good player. Uh he’s not the player that he was a few years ago when he was an AllPro. Neither is Jaylen Ramsey probably, right? At the end of the day, these guys are getting older. Um but the Steelers just essentially put Minka 30 yards off the ball all year last year and he was just a center fielder. He was just that high safety protecting the deep ball. Um, and I think the Steelers kind of felt like there are other players that can handle that position, right? Like it’s that’s not somewhere exactly where you need to put your best defender 40 yards off the line of scrimmage is to protect the deep ball. And so, um, you know, they they have a couple players in the back end that they feel comfortable doing that and but they need a sticky guy on a on a elite receiver and they think that Jaylen Ramsey is that guy. They also brought in Darius Slay um who’s long in the tooth and I I don’t I don’t know how much expect I’m expecting out of him, but they don’t need a ton out of him. They have Joey Porter Jr. as well. So, um the secondary it’s it’s much improved. The defense is they’re talking a big game, fellas. They’re talking a big game and we don’t love that around here right now. We really don’t. We’re hearing things like uh [ __ ] one Thornhill say this has a chance to be the best defense ever. uh Deshawn Elliott top five in the league. Mike Tomlin said it could be an historic defense. Like yeah, it’s it’s it’s it’s a little it’s a little much right now when you haven’t played a played a snap. So I tweeted yesterday, you know, you’re talking all this junk and then you’re coming out and you’re your first game is against a guy that you’re familiar with in Justin Fields. Uh you know, obviously you just lost Vera Tucker, so your line is is not in the best shape. Uh you guys really don’t have a receiver too either. Um, if the Steelers defense talks all this smoke and then you guys come out and rip them up, that man, what a freaking terrible look that would be for uh for the Steelers. It’s which is why I’m expecting like, you know, 1613 1610 type game. Gross. Well, it’s time to get an official prediction, Mike. Okay, so uh let’s do it. We’ll do this with every guest. You’re our first one here on this third party uh Thursday train throughout the season. So, we have Jet Steelers. We have the information that we have available at this point in terms of injury reports and things of that nature. So, we must do it based on that information that we have right now in this pocket of time on September 4th, a little after 3:30. So, with that being said, Mike, with all the information you have, what will be the prediction for Jets Steelers week 1 season opener at Metife Stadium? Yeah, I I won’t ramble too much. I do have a habit of doing that. I’ll start with whatever happens. I don’t think we should make sweeping judgments about either team. Uh I really don’t. You know how fans can be. You you know how we can be as analysts. Like we got to we got to tell it like it is. It’s the first game with two new quarterbacks in different situations. A new head coach in your case, new offensive coordinator. Uh th this no sweeping judgment for me. Um not going to shock you guys. I’m going I I I haven’t even made my official prediction yet, but I’ll go Steelers. I will now officially Steelers 17, Jets 13, which is close to a cover uh for for the It is a cover there for for the Steelers as well. It looks like it’s two and a half, three right now. Um Vegas is saying it’s going to be a close game because of the uncertainty, the rust, the um acclamation to playbooks and stadiums and things like that. I won’t be surprised if if the Jets win. Uh, I I really won’t. And the only thing I’d be shocked about is if one team rolls the other team either way, right? Either way, like I think that would just shock everybody. You see like a 20 to3 game or like 20, right? 24 to7 like I mean either way, right? Completely shocked, man. Um, I’ll throw out a Let’s go Mason Taylor. He’s playing, right? Is it be the Sure is? Yeah. All right, we’ll go Mason Taylor. Touchdown. I’ll go Mason Taylor. I like that. All right. Okay. And then I’ll go uh let’s go let’s go John who gets in the end zone and uh Jaylen Warren for the Steelers. Two touchdowns. Wow. All right. I like that. My fantasy team. So I mean but uh No, I like that. I like that. Um as a matter of fact, I actually have the exact same score prediction as you, Mike. So now now I can feel good that that great minds thinking thinking alike. Um that makes me feel good. Let’s go. And and here’s this, Mike. You don’t know this, but let’s just let’s just put all the cards on the table here as we’re ending this interview before the season. So, the schedule comes out in May. It’s Jet Steelers, and me and Woody do all these shows every week talking about it. And I come on go, “Wow, man. What what a game this going to be.” And Woody’s like, “Oh, God. The Steelers are clearly going to win this game.” I’m like, “What?” I think I think Boy Green is having amnesia live on this show. Yeah. It was announced that Aaron Rodgers was going to the Steelers and I said, “Wow, this is a revenge game.” The the same staff that just, you know, kicked him out the door. No, no respect. Rodney Dangerfield, no respect. And uh yeah, I I think an automatic L basically is what he said is that oh the Oh, Aaron Rogers on the stores. Okay, it’s over. And I’m like, what are you talking about? How does that just mean it’s over? Like what what this isn’t Aaron Rogers 2010 we’re talking about. How is this automatically over? And so a fan in the middle of our live show bet Woody’s like I bet you the Jets are going to beat the Steelers. And Woody’s like no they ain’t. So they have a $100 on the line. Woody bet $100 that the Steelers are going to beat the Jets. The fan of course, Bad Shaw, he voted he bet $100 the Jets will beat the Steelers and we’re doing a tailgate party for the week five Jets Cowboys game and the money will be exchanged one way or the other in the parking lot of that game. So Woody’s got skin on the line even as a Jets guy. He’s got skin on the line that the Steelers Do you know Do you know what I actually have? I have a win-win situation. Either my team wins or my pocket wins. I mean, this is this is the best case scenario for you, boy. Well, if you don’t win that, you better you better hope that fantasy team does well right there. You better root for that Jaylen Warren touchdown then. That is for sure. Uh Mike, thank you so much for taking the time, brother. Again, you are killing it in the podcast game. My favorite part of this, I say this to every guest on any show that I do. The coolest part about this is that two fan bases, two analysts from different teams, get to cross-pollinate networking for Jets Steelers or Jets Bills the next week or or when we play different opponents we don’t normally play. It’s cool to be able to have these moments where we get to talk ball and get on the show, Mike. So, really appreciate you taking the time, brother. Yeah, listen, I know we had you before and that was awesome. So, I definitely appreciate uh you guys having me and we’ll do it again during the wild card round when we’re hosting you guys. All right. For uh you know, Jets at Steelers uh what? Four seed. We’ll call it four seed and five seed. So, there we go. We’ll see you in We’ll see you in January. All right. Beautiful. Okay. That should be just in time for the Steelers to lose a playoff game as soon as they enter it. So, nice. Can’t wait. Beautiful. Uh I know that word is foreign to you guys. So, uh how do you how do you say it? You were get to say off. We’ll get it next time. But Mike, thanks for joining us. Yeah, appreciate it. Anytime. Anytime. You got it. Thanks. All right, everybody. We’ll see you. Enjoy the show. Thank you. Take [Music]