You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 05.22.23
powered byJotCast
Prev Page View Full Chat
Brian Batko
2:47
Nah, I saw a guy who was cooked, Mike.
STEEL72
2:47
Hey, Bats. Mason R keeps saying all the right stuff. Seems like a really good guy. Do you get the impression that his presence in the QB room might actually be a bigger deal than it seems on paper? From his statements to the press it appears he knows exactly where he stands and it might rub off on others.
Brian Batko
2:49
Well, now that the NFL just passed the proposal to make 3 QBs active on gameday, I suppose it is a bigger deal than in previous years. But other than that, not really. If your point is that he's a good soldier - a volunteer, not a hostage - then sure, I agree. Even last year in camp when he had every reason to put his gripes out on front street, he was about as politically correct as could be with all that. Looking at the move for him to come back, it might be as simple as a calculated business decision to try to get good film in preseason and hope a team bites on him for a bigger opportunity.
Joe Momma
2:50
How would you rank these RB’s? Franco Harris, Leveon Bell, Jerome Bettis, Najee Harris
Brian Batko
2:52
Only thing better than chat questions requesting random numbers to be generated are those that ask for broad historical perspective in an instant-message format. And there are a lot of ways to respond to this. Am I ranking best career? Best at the time they played relative to the league? Or player I'd want to build around now in 2023? I might answer all of those differently!
Hollywood Rob
2:53
Brian, why does the national media continue to label Tomlin a "genius" even though he hasn't won a playoff game in 6 years and none of his assistants have developed into championship head coaches? Seems like he's been coasting thanks to Big Ben, playing it safe and boring on offense, and hoping for hero plays to win close games in the fourth quarter.
Brian Batko
2:55
You're being a bit theatrical here, Hollywood Rob. A cursory google of "Mike Tomlin genius" pulls up hardly anything other than an old Wale freestyle that I used to play a lot back in the day. Oh, and a quote saying Mike Vrabel and Mike Tomlin are football geniuses, or close to it. Only that didn't come from any national media. It was Robert Spillane who said that.
Milio
2:55
If Mason R outplays Mitch T again this pre season, could Mason be QB#2?
Brian Batko
2:57
Doubtful, Milio. Number 1, Mitch Trubisky's being paid a lot more, which tells you how the Steelers view those two. Number 2, there's something to be said for a body of work over the course of a career versus one training camp in a vacuum, or even two training camps, or perhaps a few preseason appearances. Yes, practice matters too, but so does being a gamer. If teams based their roster decisions solely on stats from 11-on-11 camp periods and exhibition performances, you'd see some funky stuff on Sundays in September.
TJ
2:57
Hi Brian, Love what the Steelers have done this offseason. Players we have bought in are big and physical players. I do question some of the players with injury concerns but overall an A grade. Do you think Steelers sign a cover LB? they seem to be looking?
Brian Batko
2:57
Wouldn't shock me. I'm with you that the ILB group gives me the most pause of any on this team.
Colonel
2:58
It's been established that the Steelers don't fire assistant coaches after the season starts. Other than at the end of the season, is there any other time that the team would make a change? Would an assistant be let go during camp or the pre-season?
Brian Batko
2:58
In theory, it could happen. It has happened once. Al Everet, special teams coordinator, got canned in August. But there were some extenuating circumstances there, based on what I've heard/read.
Rodney Ross
2:59
When I was hurt and had to miss a season in high school, I didn't exactly want my team to flourish in my absence and not miss me on the field. Not a big deal and honestly not a surprise what Ben said about his successor (KP).
Brian Batko
3:01
Not at all. He obviously likes Pickett in a genuine way. Otherwise, he could just not extend that podcast invite, and then one day some random person on this chat could be like, "Hey Brian, do you think it's weird that Ben has had Tomlin and Cowher and Highsmith and blah blah blah on his show but never Pickett? Does he dislike him and root against him?" But we aren't living in that reality. We're in the one where Ben and Pickett drank beer and talked about Mike "The Situation" and Pauly D in Ben's basement. It was cool. In my view, Ben still came across as curmudgeonly at times - rookies should be seen and not heard, for instance - but I had zero issue with him being candid about his still-recent retirement and subsequent feelings.
Jud
3:02
Great Mailbag last week, thanks for the insight!
Brian Batko
3:03
Thanks, Jud. That's a soft place to end this. Fun chat today. And, as Jud reminds us, feel free to send mailbag questions to me via email bbatko@post-gazette.com or Twitter @BrianBatko. Always happy to answer those in longer form on Fridays. That's the time to ask me who I think is the best Steelers long-snapper of all time. Later.
Connecting…