Here’s what I’ve learned over the past week:
• I need to give Aaron Rodgers another chance to be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback.
• I also need to give Will Howard a chance to be the Steelers’ quarterback.
• I’m being too hard on the Mike McCarthy hire.
• I’m not being hard enough on Mike Tomlin going out the door.
Aside from that, everything I’ve written over the past week has been spot on.
I appreciate your feedback, as well as your concern about the Pirates, Pitt basketball and my college alma mater.
You are all very kind and caring people. Let’s see proof of that in this week’s “U mad, bro?”
This guy disagreed with my assessment that Aaron Rodgers shouldn’t be Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback next year.
“I’m not in favor of bringing Aaron back, but who do you suggest that is better that’s available?”
Somebody else.
Somebody who isn’t 43 years old and didn’t just go 1-5 against playoff teams last year.
Here’s a message from Stan.
The Steelers Should be studied in business schools for how to destroy a franchise. They are building for the past. They fill the team with has-been’s and never-were’s.
— Stan Barrington (@BarringtonStan) January 30, 2026
How did you count Juan Thornhill? As a never-was or a has-been?
Or both?
Howard is “Team Howard” … Will Howard. Go figure.
“Do you think the Patriots thought Brady was their future when they drafted him in that 6th round? We’ll never know about Howard unless and until THEY PLAY HIM!”
Howard, did you think Omar Jacobs, Landry Jones or Mason Rudolph were the future? Or do you just think that of Howard because it’s necessary to believe that now since there is no clear starter as opposed to those guys who were drafted behind Ben Roethlisberger?
By the way, all those guys were drafted earlier than Howard was.
Will Howard-mania is based around his college resume, a matter of convenience with no obvious franchise QB in front of him and the sixth-round-Brady coincidence.
It’s not because of his draft stock or anything that you’ve seen of him as a pro, because no one has seen anything of him as a pro.
If Howard proves to be worth anything as a player, it’ll be because he has to be played. Brady played because of an injury to Drew Bledsoe. Howard may have to play because there is no better choice.
I’d prefer looking for a better choice before they have to go to Howard. If one can’t be found, so be it. It’s cross our fingers hope for the best at that point, I guess.
But let’s avoid pretending that having Howard start Game 1 of 2026 would be for any other reason besides that.
Jake wants me to fanboy out for new Steelers’ head coach Mike McCarthy.
“Why so negative against Mike McCarthy? You and practically every other local sports commentator seem to have decided that choosing McCarthy as the Steelers’ new coach is the same as keeping Tomlin… C’mon, man…Stop with the negativity…give the guy a chance.
“Besides, he can’t possibly be as bad as Tomlin, who was a bigger failure than most people will admit…by that I mean he not only failed to develop a QB, he set the franchise back at least 5 years by choosing guys like Pickett, Trubisky, Wilson, Fields…and Mason Rudolph. Tomlin also failed to develop other positions…he wasted myriad first-round picks on the OL, which is still merely mediocre at best. And he kept a declining TJ Watt, and wasted a ton of money on him.”
So, you don’t want me to say that McCarthy is basically the same guy as Tomlin (even though, as I pointed out, he had one playoff win in his last seven seasons, as Tomlin failed to win one in his last nine).
Yet, for McCarthy to be better than Tomlin, he needs to be better than 10-7, win the AFC North and win a playoff game. He will have to do so with a 43-year-old Rodgers coming back, Rudolph or Howard.
You understand what you’re saying, right?
You don’t want me to point that out because he speaks with a familiar accent, n’at? Would you be so pro-McCarthy if he were from anywhere else but Pittsburgh?
You’re trying to inflate your expectations of what McCarthy can be by tearing down Tomlin. Your complaints about Tomlin may be valid. But complaints about Tomlin don’t make McCarthy better.
It’s not my job to “give him a chance.” Art Rooney II already did that. My job is to talk about why that was wise or unwise to do.
I think it’s a conservative, safe, low-ceiling hire. Sorry if that’s the wrong thing to say in your mind because you prefer to see McCarthy’s tires pumped.
But something tells me if he were from Greenwich, Conn., instead of Greenfield, you’d be less put off by the opinion.
After their latest brutal loss to North Carolina on Monday night, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde sent this post about my beleaguered Syracuse Orange basketball team.
Syracuse basketball needs an intervention. It’s too important to the college game to be this bad.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) February 3, 2026
When I reposted that, Robert replied.
Do you think it’s possible to include Pitt in this intervention?
— Robert Hutcheson (@bhutch333) February 3, 2026
Please, Robert. One crisis at a time, OK?
Finally, Rich V has an idea about how to help the Pirates.
“UPMC and PNC recently donated millions to Da ‘Burg for rescue/EMS vehicles and plow trucks, respectively. Seems like now would be a good time for ole Bob Wins-Nutting to go hat-in-hand looking for corporate donations in order buy some power hitters for the batting order! What do you think?”
I’m assuming that’s how they already got Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn. I prefer to get my street plowed before I worry about the Pirates getting a third baseman.