1/10/23 Hour 2 - Steve: Curtis Jacobs' Success Came After Changing LB Spots

your Steve Jones Show podcast is loading now the Steve Jones Show podcast is sponsored by Sunberry Motors North Fourth Street in Sunberry and Sunbury Motors Kia routes 11 and 15 in hwarf Sports Talk where your voice counts this is the Steve Jones Show on news radio 1070 WK now from the Sunbury motor Studio here's Steve Jones all right Sunbury Motors Fourth Street in Sunbury Sunbury Motors Kia Roots 11 and 15 El almost Warf and online at Sunbury motors.com Ford keonde best in new [Music] inventory great pre-owned inventory with the Sunbury Motors guarantee and a fabulous service department that takes care of the life of the vehicle great technicians all it's sunb Motors Fourth Street and sunb sunb Motors keywards 11 and 15 humel warp online at sunb motors.com all right Bob pomani in a moment but first our play-by-play call of the day he had Bowers as the lead Blocker in that split backfield Bennett's going to take it and stroll into the end zone touchdown student body left snap it to my athletic quarterback get a couple of lead blockers out TCU acts like they've never seen that play before in their life as nobody was there no white shirts in the area code Bennett just zipped it right over to Muscle Beach and scored easily trotting into the end zone standing up and the dogs add six more it's 23-7 Scott Howard and Eric zy I believe on the call for the Georgia Bulldog radio network back-to-back national titles for Georgia they won 65 to7 yeah with that we uh bring in the outstanding Bob pomani from Pittsburgh Bob how you been happy New Year Happy New Year to you st St appreciate it and won a game last night I 657 just as I thought yeah I think just about what everybody thought because I mean you know know with all due respect to TCU you just didn't see as a matchup that it was going be a matchup no I you know Georgia is like a machine now they've taken over for Alabama and I'm sure it was interesting last night watching on the set when David uh poock looked over straight in the eye to Nick Sabin and said hey George's taking over college football they're the best program blah blah blah he had to sit there and listen to that so he'll be motivated to try to answer that I actually thought Alabama should have gotten into the final four I was one of a few who thought that but it is what it is and they're the better team and now they're going to lose what 10 to 15 more people in the NFL and they'll just bring in more right that's exactly right they've got that pipeline they just rolled them in left in right I gotta ask you about the Steelers and how they finished because they end up nine and eight uh so what was your thought in watching how this team which had ends up 98 because of the Miracle on opening day against Cincinnati and ends up where they are what' you think well for me any time they don't get in the playoffs it's not a successful season now that doesn't mean they made uh you know bad use of some of the stuff they had going on I think it's difficult to always transition from a franchise Hall of Fame quarterback to who knows what and they were put in that position Steve but I think they probably minimized their downtime in terms of you know finding the next guy and I'm not suggesting that Kenny py could be a franchise quarterback but he certainly could be a functional one for them and somebody who who can win a lot of games and I think we saw as the year went on his stats aren't going to overblow you but the fact that he got in there midseason and then played and I thought if you really look inside the numbers on third down he was really good in those critical Downs those weighty Downs that uh you need to make plays on or else the you know the drive is over so uh they got a jump start on their on their next quarterback where a lot of teams could have taken Kenny pick and nobody took any quarterback until the third round and the Steelers were the only ones and so maybe they you know you know how teams look forever to find their next quarterback you look at Indian what they've done ever since Andrew Luck left there uh that was a tough thing for them to go through because no one thought that was coming but then they've been try quarterback after quarterback after quarterback and who knows where they're going to be next year with their quarterback situation they're not the only ones so I think this year we'll be looked at as a building block to next year and if next year turns into a playoff season which I think it could although they're in a tough Division I think you'll look back and say this was turns out to be a pretty good year for this young group offense it looked as the season was going I always felt like he had a pretty good sync with Pat fouth but it looked like as the season one he was getting into better sync with George Pickins did you see the same thing yeah totally I think both those guys are going to be very important to Kenny picket and the Steelers offense Pickins is the short-handed guy who's made a lot of plays already and I think he is trending upward to be the number one receiver here I know Deontay Johnson signed a deal in this off season but he had very straight Year and that he never scored a touchdown despite 86 receptions and 147 targets that's a lot not to get in the end zone it's not all his fault either I mean they went through two quarterbacks you know at times not sure how that was going to it looked like a restrictive play calling on the quarterbacks early on and it may have certainly hurt because they only had 12 passing touchdowns all year for a team so uh you know that's unacceptable that's got to get better but I think the experience that all these guys got this year should help them it's hard to predict the NFL as you know because You' never know you're going to see who would have thought the Rams would go five and 12 all right well Whoever thought Skyler Thompson would be playing a game to get him into the playoffs either at my Brock pie would be your offensive Rookie of the Year perhaps yeah um yeah exactly uh so when you look at the defense Minka ended up being the defensive ended up being the Team MVP uh what did you think of his performance and what is what does TJ Watt need to do I mean to me it just seems like he just needs to stay on the field because when he's on the field it it changes everything oh there's no question I mean it has it has an effect on everyone I think we saw that when he wasn't on the field they were one and six without him eight and two with him and and not that it's always his play that makes the difference but what it does is it makes defenses or I'm sorry offenses really Target him and try to minimize him and in doing so you open up opportunities for others Alex heith had 14 and a half sacks very quietly you know and that's a tremendous he led the league in forc fumbles and he didn't even get a Pro Bowl selection well he's going to be due to get a contract at the end of next year or if they decide to do it sooner it's going to cost him some money so yeah wat being healthy generally all of those guys not missing large chunks of time is important to their defense but who knows you can never tell how that's going to be their offensive line this year Steph never missed a game all five guys played every single start that's unusual but that does not mean that they shouldn't address it they need to come up with better players and increase the depth in that position right that means of course it could be free agency they do it or they could do it through the draft which then brings up the draft how amazed are you that the Steelers got a second round pick from the Bears for Chase clayo well stunned I was stunned when it happened just because I didn't first of all I thought clayo would have a good year this was a money year for him this is going to be a contract year for him it came off a bad year last year based on what we saw in his rookie season and I thought this would be a jump back I'm going to show you that I'm I'm more of what you saw in my first year as opposed to what you saw in my second year and it turned out to be none of it and so they soured on him they traded him who who would have thought a second round pick normally you know draft Capital unless you're a really really good player with some resume you're not going to get a second round pick and they did and essentially he turned into a first round pick uh because it's number 32 overall that's like a late first round pick so they're going to have um you know three of the first 40 four of the first 80 if they cash in on those guys and they come in and play immediately because more and more rookies are doing that that you know all of a sudden it could change the Dynamics of your team so it's very important and it's the first draft for Omar Khan as the general manager and Addie widle who's the assistant GM after Kevin Colbert left them with a pretty good draft class from this past season how did the fans react to watching the Steeler team play this year how' they react in terms of voice and how you know just talking to them in the street and how they react in terms of being in the seats well you do a talk show you know how it goes I do a talk show here I know how it goes people are never happy no matter what I'm sure with Penn State fans you're going to get the people who always want more um everyone always wants more but it's a very competitive league and it's very difficult to to be on top now while they didn't have a losing season they certainly fell short of their goals again and I think most of the criticism has been on the offensive coordinator Matt Canada and yesterday I I was of the belief they'd probably make a change with him but yesterday I got the feeling after listening to Mike toin and maybe they won't do that he has a year left on of contract so maybe they're gonna let him play that contract out maybe not uh I think sometimes these decisions make a week after the end of the season and we'll see but I mean most of the criticism went his Direction because quite frankly they didn't score enough points they average 18 a game and that includes you know only one time going over 30 so in the NFL quick strike lead you need more big plays more big offense we did not see that from them now could it be because they were going through a quarterback transition I think that has a lot to do with it next year will be a better indication but the question is will he be here to go through that next year all right exactly it it's a 17 Game season now and you and I both know Bob they want to go go to 18 games that's you know the NFL knows where the money is but the attri but the attrition rate is I mean are you amazed I doubt you're Amazed by the attrition rate because of how physical the league is but what about the product and what does it look like in after Thanksgiving compared to what it looks like in October well I mean all you have to do is look at the Miami and Jets game that the Steelers needed the Jets to win and see Joe flacko Versus Skyler Thompson that's all you need to do and he looked down at some of these other teams with these quarterbacks who were banged up and you know Mike White is is is somebody they wanted in New York because Zack Wilson wasn't doing it I mean it is tough there's a lot of injuries in place and you end up and that's why I think Steve these guys protect the quarterback so much but also in doing that you open up so much subjectivity on what is a roughing to passer call what isn't and you know you want to protect sure but you can't take away you know some of the the abilities of these defensive players to make play cam Hayward got called for a roughing this week and I couldn't believe it all he did was tackle Deshawn Watson because he you know flung him around it was viewed as roughing but you know I'm sorry uh it's a delicate line to walk but I understand what the league is trying to do they want to keep their star players in the games so that they don't have Skyler Thompson versus Joe Flo at the end of the year well they did that but they still ended up with Skyler Thompson against Joe flacko at the end of the year uh and that's your point and and I I gotta ask you about Lamar Jackson for a moment because this is two straight years where the last five and a half games he's not a factor and his contract's up and he does he he is his own agent what do you think the Ravens should do and what do you think will happen well um you know he's his own agent and that's I don't know that's I mean you save money but you may cost yourself money too I don't know but then again this is a league where all those numbers are out there he knows where he would fit in I'm sure he's looking at Deshawn Watson's contract and saying I'm better than that I've won an MVP I deserve at least that so I don't think you need an agent to tell you that but you do need an agent for some other things as well pardon the phone it just went off here so but I think my my guess would be my guess would be that he's going to be franchised because they won't be able to make a deal that's suitable to the Ravens uh I think they'd want to get a deal done but the numbers will be different and when they're different it normally means there's an impass and they do have two years to franchise if they want to do it so uh he won't like it but he's going to make a whole bunch of money in one year if that's the case but that I think that's that's where we are with that my guess would be he's going to be franchised great Point Bob always a pleasure my friend thanks so much get that phone take care of it and and when we do the distraction it's always great to talk to you no Bob tell him I said hi all right we'll do they'll be honored thanks brother appreciate you all right see you the great Bob pomani he's one of the the best in the business God oh you listen to that mean that voice to go with all that you know that knowledge is so great okay we'll take a break God you can tell what I when I texted you oh right before because I wasn't sure we're going to get him with all everything happening over there with him so this is what he he says haven't heard from a man haven't heard from rube yet still working on Bob so I texted you back do you wake up with the goal of killing [Laughter] us you guys have to I hope the audience understands the Rapport that we have cuz he knows I'm just kidding him right this where you back me up yes yes no say it with more conviction I sent you back crying laughter emojis I know you were just kidding do wake up every day with the goal of killing us maybe that's what Cowboy fans will be saying next week oh I'm sorry did I say that you know there is a big part of me that does want the Steeler the Eagles to play the Cowboys only from a show point of view from a show point of view no you know what I I'm I'm there with you for entertainment and now I'm going to be there next week I think it would be epic but at the same time that would make me the most nervous matchup in fact I think that that guy in that guy in the 1980 NFC Championship Game he like Dallas here at the vet is one of your relatives I think if you go back with your parents you say is that like Aunt Uncle cousin I'm telling you n all them are Giants fans oh really yeah I come from a fan a fan of giant fans remember everybody all my family is based in Jersey City North Jersey everybody's New York Giants in fact I'm still reminded to this day that my maternal grandfather was still rolling in his grave to this day because I'm an eagle fan yeah but there were other reasons too no I'm just get the lingerie on the deck call the janitor I don't know his grandfather everybody okay so please I'm just kidding H but your father's an Eagles fan right he is but but but because of me see I he my my dad was not into sports whatsoever he didn't give one iota about sports growing up until I showed up and then when I started to get into sports in second grade which the Eagles were the first love through my friends at school then he started to get it into it and now he loves football yeah yeah my dad loved Penn State football he loved the Giants and he loved the Yankees okay uh because remember when you know my dad was younger there was no AFL okay so the Giants were the NFL team it was so there's no AFL right uh my mom uh love the Giants but again same story when she's growing up the Boston Patriots don't exist right uh and she loved the Red Sox well then it turned out my brother loved the Yankees Giants I was a Giants Red Sox fan but see then that's where I branded off cuz you know my father liked hockey um but it didn't you know but he um he liked hockey when the Whalers came into existence and he went to a couple of games and he he really enjoyed it the only reason he liked basketball was because I announced it and all seriousness the only reason he liked basketball was if I was announcing the game he was interested if if wasn't he had no interest in basketball yeah that's basically where my dad stands he's not a big basketball guy right and in hockey um if if if it wasn't going to a Whalers game he had no interest in hockey okay that's the same way he likes going to hockey but he won't watch on TV right now you know he you know meanwhile I mean I grow up like you know know really into hockey love Bobby or you know I mean like love hockey uh I mean their times were I would rather watch college basket let's take college basketball out of it because I obviously I'll watch college basketball all the time and and part of it's my job but part of it is I just enjoy college basketball but I'd rather watch an NHL game than an NBA game just the way it is now if it's an NHL game and like say the Celtics are on okay then I'll watch the Celtics but but it reflects in the ratings like I said the top 100 shows of last year 94 were Sports 82 were the NFL none were the NBA and none more Major League Baseball and believe me you know how much I love baseball love it so you're going to go to the game with your father he has brought what he's I guess I was told he went over to CVS today and bought two bottles of moin I don't know what that's about but if it's the Cowboys oh yeah it's going to be pretty epic it is if it is the Cowboys all right and the Eagles are the better team so this is not a case of all right the Eagles are the better team but that's going to be some week if the Cowboys beat the Bucks and the Vikings beat the Giants and who else has to let's see in Seattle yeah Seattle play San Francisco yeah so if it turns out that way where the Vikings 49ers and Cowboys [Music] win yeah it'll be a Jugger out of a weekend for the NFC it'll be Dallas and Philadelphia right you will be sitting there on every play just I mean almost in the trance you're getting nervous [Laughter] now oh the other you know the other item he bought paper bag for you to blow into yeah he uh this will be our first game since 2019 actually okay what was the last game you went to um it was on it was the jjr thinka Whitey drop game against Detroit do the Eagles know your bad luck all right as we come back with more in a moment here on news radio 1070 WK okay [Music] there's something to be said about a sale with a handshake a service technician who really knows what he's doing and can explain it in English what the problem is there's nothing better than having that friend you could trust in the area that's Sunberry Motors where you get selection knowledgeable salespeople and prices that fit your budget and more important that friend you can trust welcome to Sunberry Motors Kia Ford and Hyundai you could chop other dealers and compare prices but at Sunberry Motors you get their lowest price promise they research the current used vehicle market and guarantee their used car prices are the lowest if you find a lower price Sunberry Motors will beat it three dealers Allin one see their full new and pre-own inventory at Sunberry motors.com pick out a vehicle you like and schedule your test drive online follow them on Facebook Sunberry Motors Ford and Hyundai North Forth Street Sunberry and sunberry Motors Kia routes 11 and 15 in Hummels Warf [Music] yeah maybe they could play [Music] Seattle that would be the best case scenario in my book but we'll see but actually my dad and I have an overall 20 and5 record by the way we're just on our first losing streak ever so you've lost five times correct but we've won 20 and a lot of them have been blowouts so you lost five times correct taking your calls at 8795 9565 this is the Steve Jones Show on news radio 1070 WK now from the Sunbury motor Studio here's Steve Jones all right Sunbury motors for Street in Sunbury Sunbury Motors Kia routs 11 and 15 humel waren [Music] online at Sunbury motors.com Ford ke the best in new inventory all with great warranties those warranties mean so much fabulous pre-owned inventory and again because you have sunber Motors going over each one with a fine tooth comb it's the sunb motors guarantee which means so much and a fabulous service department with terrific technitions that back it all up at Sunbury Motors Fourth Street in Sunbury Sunbury Motors KY Roots 11 and 15 nwarf online at Sunbury motors.com uh let's see uh the latest intermat rankings are out Penn State is number one as the Dual me team Michigan is four they're in the Jordan Center I I think that's a Jordan Su D me believe it is and then uh Michigan State which is 29 uh Gary Steen still not ranked at 125 we all know Gary's had his struggles this year Roman Bravo young one at 133 B Bartlett's number four at 141 Shane vaness is 15 at 149 Levi Haynes got in there at 16 at 157 Alex fundo is 16 at 165 Carter stach 1 at 175 four Aaron Brooks's number one at 184 maxen is number four at 197 and Greg Kirk Fleet is uh one at 285 okay so there you go that is the story and Michigan's in the Jordan Center uh next on Friday the 20th and then Michigan state will be in recck Hall on the 22nd so Friday night the 20th a week from Friday Michigan and the Jordan Center that should be a wild and rockus crowd that night that's the first of two in the BJC the other one of course being Iowa Curtis Jacobs announcing today officially putting out that he's coming back for the 2023 season to Penn State so that's now Hunter NORAD Adisa Isaac Curtis Jacobs Devon Ellies all saying that they will be back now if you want to go to the NFL draft you have until Monday to make that announcement transfer portal closes I believe it's Wednesday the 18th so a week from tomorrow and then does not open up again until the first week of May Penn State finishing seventh in both polls it's amazing with with Jacobs you when they moved him in the Box the traffic pattern is different now he's going to when they go with their um three downline package the dollar package so forth he and Carter are out there together and so they're both inside together but that's a different role it just seemed like Jacob's season really took off when he moved back to the field linebacker spot and I think I want to say it was the he started doing it in the Michigan game he started doing it there he didn't start there but he started doing it there and then went out there for the Minnesota game and he had what a 14 tackle night felt like he was all over the field he was um he was one of the five best players on the field that night and I thought that he played terrific football against Michigan State he played really well against you know Maryland he played I thought he played really well in the Rose Bowl Jacob's a good player he is a really good player and getting him back is one of the many pluses and I talked about yesterday about a Isaac now when he plays next year he will be more than two years removed from the ailles and the um and that's normally when you do see somebody with that type of injury really take off is usually a couple years out from it every injury has its own timetable as to when you're really back that's one of them that usually takes a year and a half to two years that's why I give him so much credit I thought the last five games of the season six games of the Season he played terrific then there's the Carlos karea story get the lingerie on the deck called the janitor who was thought to be the last option really going into this thing was the Minnesota Twins the team he played with last year and the twins made him an offer and the twins made him a big offer so it's not like they didn't sit there and try to resign him uh but he first made a 13-year $350 million deal with the Giants and they're going through the physical looking at the ankle they don't like it there's a problem they cancel the pr press conference then he reaches an agreement with the Mets 12 years 3:15 okay it's all good we've reached an agreement we had a letter of an agreement we gave them time to execute it they advised us they still had questions they still wanted to talk to other people other doctors yada yada yada guess what and then Met's owner Steve Cohen opted to talk about the agreement before the physical we needed one more thing and this is it he said he say this was important this puts us over the top this is a good team I hope it's a good team then all of a sudden the Mets had a concern with Korea's physical uhoh so the J the Mets them walked away from Korea's physical worried about long-term well-being of the ankle okay so now he's agreed with the twins and it's a six-year deal worth $200 million now if there is any team in major league baseball that has an excellent handle on Carlos Korea's ankle it is obviously the Minnesota Twins because they checked him every day he's only 28 um and you know there a lot of people thought he was the number three free agent behind Aaron judge and Jacob deg Grom okay so he's back with Minnesota so there you go and I will say this that you know people thought that the the Twins were brought back in it just with the idea like hey look you know hey we'll show them that's we got another offer going on here okay great uh that's not what happened they were serious about um bringing him back to Minnesota and they were serious negotiations uh let's see guy I thought was a really good kicker Nathaniel Vos for Ohio un University kicked against Penn State like yeah you watching this guy's pretty good yeah he's going to transfer to Wisconsin Wisconsin's doing a lot of transfers that usually happens uh when uh when a new coaching staff comes in and that's what's happening with them they're getting a lot of transfers oh speaking of Short Stops or short stop maybe second basem Trevor's story at elbow surgery uh he's going to miss a significant portion of the 2023 season um no offense but like you couldn't have done this in October it's bother you that much you couldn't have done it in October it's always love these surgeries that happened in January what this just happen like suddenly his elbow he like January what the heck he did not have a full reconstruction C with Tommy John so he might be able to play some this year all the Yankees are completely healthy and uh the what the Phillies have done you the quiet you know what the Phillies have quietly done they've been bolstering their Bullpen you notice that yes they have that was a nice trade they made with the Tigers the day yeah I mean and the key to any Bullpen uh the key to any bullpen in this day and age to me is how many guys can give you career years or maybe their second best year ever that's that's about what it comes down to with bullpens can they give you either their best year or maybe their second best year ever and you can you get at least a couple of guys to do that and that is what to me that is what it comes down to every team year after year you look at Houston some of those guys had career years this year in their Bullpen made a big difference Phillies got really good years out of the bullpen got him to the World Series speaking of money roquan Smith dealt by the Bears to the Ravens is going to get a fiveyear $100 million deal to make him the highest paid linebacker in the history of the NFL 45 million of it is fully guaranteed 60 million there's an additional 20 million in other guarantees oh and by the way he keeps all of it no agent he negotiated the dealm self wonder if he'd be willing to help out Lamar Jackson on his deal but you know what Bob's right they may just franchise him you know that they may just franchise him you're allowed to do that and the reason you know and I've said this over and over again I always love when when people blame NFL teams on the franchise thing no offense but the Players Association agree to it why they you know maybe once but you're allowed to franchise somebody twice and the Players Association agreed to this they're always always a lot I always mentioned there a lot of myths in sports one is you know in college basketball oh College basketball's one and dun roll no that's an NBA that's an NBA role college basketball just has to live through it but that is an NBA role it's not a college basketball role it's like in the just like the NFL as a rule of three years and then you can go well the NBA you're allowed to be 19 and one and done that's one of the great myths college basketball that's stupid college basketball one and done no it's an NBA role hey maybe uh Roan Smith can negotiate your next deal sure why not I mean this one turned out pretty well yeah I'll take it and U they're grading out the new coaches in the NFL their teams CBS did this I could care less about this stuff but glit is for entertainment purposes Brian dble A minus Kevin okell the Vikings got B+ from CBS Mike McDaniel got C+ Matt eil FL of the Bears got a D+ Doug Peterson a minus Dennis Allen the Saints C minus Tai BS Tampa Bay D+ were the Bucks under 500 I thought they were over five I thought they end up N9 and eight yeah nine and eight yeah they've got hero is eight and nine Josh McDaniels D+ interim Steve wils of the Panthers got a name got an A minus Jerry Ro rosberger the Broncos got a B+ and Jeff Saturday got a D+ it's interesting how Black Monday came up just Saturday was not fired yet that's right oh I can hear him in the background what is he doing now I think we're getting things organized for the rest of the week you know we got rally in the Valley tomorrow for boys Hoops Chum seils Grove yeah but you do understand I've been in the building I know we have offices like standing outside bellowing outside the studio is not you know oh I Was Wrong by the way Tampa was eight and nine so they lose the last game yeah the Falcons beat him 30 to 17 but they pulled Tom Brady like halfway through the game okay all right so yeah they were eight and nine but either way I I would have given the same thing to Todd blls I honestly don't think he's a good head coach I think he's a good I think he's one of those coaches that he's a good coordinator but he's not a good head coach okay we come back wrap it up at a moment brought to you by Sunbury Motors on news radio 1070w we talked a lot a lot this week about you know we should be confident you know again you know did we feel like we played a great game today no not by any means but this team should should be confident right and that doesn't mean cocky it means confident I'm going to guess that was ston Bennett oh no that was Nick serani sorry from uh from uh the post game on Sunday oh sounded scared to death to me um just kidding they should be confident they I mean they've been the best team all year you know it's it's interesting what was one of the toughest games they had Detroit opening game it was that was the one Merill told us he was worried about exactly right and I was right there with him it's a tough hard-nosed team as I closed yesterday's show I said what what a group of Pros Pros they find out before the game they're out and they played they played their guts out I was listening to the game all the way back from Philly wow so big day today with Curtis Jacobs adding his name to Adis Isaac and others about returning Devon Ellie for Penn State Penn State finished seventh in both polls Junior Day is coming up this weekend interesting times I would get into everybody's rankings for 23 but I don't care yet