I’m heading to New Jersey for the Sweet 16 Thursday after this posts. So, I’m in a March Madness frame of mind.
That said, here are our brackets for “U mad, bro?” this week.
• Aaron Rodgers is the No. 1 seed in the “What are the Steelers doing at quarterback?” region.
• Mark Malone is the No. 1 seed in the “Could it really get worse?” region.
• The Pirates are the No. 1 seed in the “I’ve given up on Major League Baseball” region.
• And I’m the No. 1 seed in the “Why do you guys in the media always tell me things I don’t want to hear?” region.
Good luck. I hope you all win your office pools.
We begin with “Yoi&DoubleYoi” on social media. He’s pushing back on criticism of Aaron Rodgers potentially becoming the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback.
He won't blink in the playoffs. We'll finally win a game this year.
— Yoi and Double Yoi (@realMcD714) March 25, 2025
Since the Steelers last won a playoff game in 2016, Rodgers is 2-3 in postseason play. He’s 11-10 in his career during postseason games. So he has blinked.
But I’m less concerned about him blinking and more concerned about you opening your eyes. You don’t think the Steelers are still getting the guy who carved them up in the Super Bowl 15 years ago, do you?
Forget blink reflexes, youjust might want to get your vision checked.
Someone calling themselves @FacewashKing wants us to relax about Steelers quarterback concerns.
We'll be fine... In about 8 years, Josh Allen will be available.
— Facewash (@facewashking) March 26, 2025
In eight years,maybe that’s when they will really call about Trevor Lawrence.
Mike says that we have to stop speculating during the NFL offseason.
”Ya know…you and the other skeptics need to make up your mind. Do you want the Steelers to be terrible so they can get a franchise QB in the 2026 draft, or do you want them to be the best they can this year? Do you want the o-line to struggle, or will rookies get progressively better in their sophomore season? Did Najee deserve a new contract, or did we need to let him walk? So on and so forth. Let’s just see what happens, can we report on facts vs. constant speculation?”
Mike, I’ll answer your questions in order.
No, I don’t think it’s wise to throw a ton of money at any of the aging veteran quarterbacks because “the best that they can be” is probably only nine wins. It’s better to avoid doing that, draft high next year, and forget about setting the goal of just advancing the “non-losing season” streak.
No, I don’t “want” the O-line to struggle. And yes, the young players should improve there. But you can’t just “want” it to get better and assume that it will, either.
And, yes, it was probably best to let Najee Harris walk in free agency. But am I out of line for pointing out that they still don’t have a true No.1 replacement yet?
As a sports columnist — paid to give my opinion — do you think I should just reprint box scores the Monday morning after games and never look ahead to anything ever again?
“Let’s just see what happens?” Boy, that really sounds like a compelling title for a daily column. I’m sure that’ll sell a lot of papers and get a lot of people interested in reading online.
My lesson in recent Steelers QB history caused Dustin great pain.
My head hurts from trying to keep track of this article. Good job
— Dustin Emler (@dustin_eml44276) March 26, 2025
Thank you for saying that because that was exactly the tone I was trying to convey. I mean, my own head hurt writing it.
Frogger 33 got burned by my suggestion that Lipscomb would be a good sleeper in your NCAA brackets.
@TimBenzPGH ty for the Lipscomb heads up today????
— Frogger33 (@jason85765761) March 21, 2025
Hey, they can’t all be Drake! At least I got them right.
This guy is attempting to lend some perspective to the QB quandary.
An uncle told me, "youhaven't seem anything til you lived thru Malone, Woodley, Campbell, Bono, and Blackledge."
— Relaxed Styles (@Relaxed_Styles) March 26, 2025
Does that make you my nephew?
P.S.: I’d kill for Steve Bono right now.
Finally we end with a baseball thought from Steve B in Murrysville in advance of Opening Day for the Pirates.
“6 words: Baseball…Salary…Cap…Otherwise…No…Point”
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Steve, I’ll play along and reply to you in six words of my own.
Not…gonna…happen…in…our…lifetimes.
Talk to you from Steelers training camp, I guess.
Listen: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski talk about the Steelers offseason and QB concerns