Ian Eagle breaks down Steelers' new QB room and season outlook

welcome into the believe in Steeler show I'm Mark Bergen joined today by the voice of the NFL on CBS you can also hear him the voice of the final four Ian Eagle Ian I was listening to one of our previous shows you tried to warn me Ike and I were in Indianapolis for the NFL combine you tried to warn me about the shrimp cocktail at St Elmo Steakhouse but uh welcome into believe in Steelers it's good to see you I I think that there's a natural tendency to downplay it that people think no it's it's not it's not that spicy I can handle it it's real it's real My Man Mark May my first year my first game at CBS could not handle the fire he he was not prepared so I've seen it I've seen it up close he had to get up and exit the table to recover this it's something it's something and the good thing for me is like it went away that heat dissipates pretty quickly but it'll put hair on your chest yeah I could open up my shirt right now and and show you the results yes uh you've been with the NFL and CBS for a long long time ion uh what I want to ask you you know the Steelers have had a lot of quarterback turnover turnover the quarterback room entirely you got Russell Wilson Justin Fields going into this season I remember we asked you when Ben rothberger retired what it's like for you as an announcer uh Russell Wilson Justin fields at the helm for the Pittsburgh Steelers what's that like for you because it's like I can not believe Kenny picket Mason Rudolph Mitch trabis are all on other teams entering this season feel like in the NFL it's pretty straightforward you have certain amount of teams that join one classification which is they've got the quarterback down pat they know who their guy is uh they either did it through the draft did it through a trade did it through free agency but they made an organizational decision that this is the direction they're going in as we know there are times where teams get lucky and fortunate and in the case of the San Francisco 49ers I'm not sure that was the plan at all but Brock pie turned out to be the guy then you have a list of teams that are not in that category it's a mystery and the Steelers obviously are a part of that group you just don't know you don't know what direction this is going to take you don't know if it's going to be a positive you don't know it's going to be hanging over their head the entire season they obviously rolled the dice this off season hoping that there might be a little something left for Russell Wilson or that they're hitting the Fields business at the right time with the right coaching and the right surrounding pieces and the right culture so many things have to go right for you to feel really good about the quarterback position and the Steelers right now just you don't know and that's an uncomfortable place to be in because you could feel really positive about what you've done in other rooms in in your facility other position groups but if that quarterback position is not taken care of that will continue to be the headline week in and week out I think the turnover for the Steelers I can't remember a time in all my years of doing the NFL on CBS where I've seen more roster turnover for a Pittsburgh team than this year Omar Khan made a lot of changes and clearly they're trying to change the trajectory of this organization but it does start at QB and here we are getting ready for the regular season we just don't know how it's going to play out I'm with you there and I'm going to piggyback off this because the Steelers fans are frustrated with the lack of playoff success in recent history you've got to go back to January of 2017 from your last playoff game my push back has always been who's been the Steelers quarterback and you had Ben at the end of a Hall of Fame career but really rothberger since then you've been in a bit of what I'll call quarterback Purgatory Fair very fair and we could go example by example around the NFL and see which teams have sustained success and which teams have been either a flash in the pan because they put it together for one year or have not been a playoff Contender because of that one position so it means so much it's the most important position in sports I'm not trying to be over dramatic but it is it it's the most important position in sports and if you don't feel like you're covered in that area Steeler fans were not accustomed to this because of Ben rothberger you just wrote in credibility whether or not you won the Super Bowl that requires so many other storylines for us to analyze but to be competitive to be a contender to be credible week in and week out you got to have the QB and the Steelers obviously have gone through uh quite a change in how they're viewed around the league based on the fact that Ben rothberger is no longer playing in the NFL so you know that's why the teams that pivot the Packers as an example to go from Favre to Rogers now Jordan love they've done it the right way and there are those that may have criticized Aaron Rogers was not thrilled to be sitting the way that he did behind Brett Favre and waiting but that's what the situation required and then when he was given the chance to be the guy he was ready for it as we know Hall of Fame career Jordan love took a little while he had to sit he had to watch and then he had to make mistakes and now he is someone that the Packers are relying on to be the guy for the next 10 12 years you know that's the succession plan that you look for in the NFL it's hard to script it that way you mentioned the other quarterback Talent around the league I look at it not just in the division but across the AFC and it's like okay so what's the recipe if you do want to have that playoff success yeah look in the division right right in your own backyard look at what Cleveland did in order to deliver a franchise quarterback and what they viewed as one because they were in desperate times you know it's it's interesting I've done a lot of Browns games through the years since they reentered the league and there was one graphic for TV that would live on and on and on no matter what crew was covering the Browns it was this one graphic that would be a part of pregame production meetings every single year and almost every single Browns uh broadcast and that's how many quarterbacks they've had since they re-entered the league in 1999 the list is incredible some names on there where you think to yourself wow really he started in the NFL yes the Browns have cycled through so many QBs so I think there was a sense in Cleveland that hey we gota we got to put an end to this and that's why they went out and acquired Deshawn Watson who was going through some stuff and it wasn't simple it was messy and even now it's not simple it still feels a bit messy so it's not a simple fix and I know Steelers fans are are frustrated they're as passionate a fan group as I find in my travels around the NFL uh but welcome to the rest of the League this is how it feels when you don't have that position on lockdown Ian you've met with a lot of players a lot of coaches Mike Tomlin entering his 18th season with the Steelers uh at this point I'm sure there's a lot of things that you bring up year in and year out what are those conversations like behind the scenes when you meet with the players and coaches before a broadcast I think I've told you before among the coaches that we deal with there is no one better at that part of the job than Mike Tomlin he is open he is direct he tells you basically as you get started ask me whatever you want he comes from the philosophy of uh there are no tough questions only tough answers so Mike is very transparent in in those meetings if he doesn't want want to deal with something he won't and he'll be honest about that but it's rare that that we ever get to that place but that's also based on many many years of meeting with him and the frequency in which we do it and also the dynamic the interpersonal skills and the familiarity the fact of the matter is there is a trust factor that comes into those meetings for players and for coaches if they see broadcasters over and over again I do think there's a comfort level that that comes with that or there's maybe an experience or interaction or moment that takes the relationship in a different direction sometimes not in a positive way if things are perceived in a certain manner or what ends up happening which I've noticed is it's almost like a game of telephone oftentimes the players don't watch the game with the sound on after the fact but family members do and friends do and they'll get a text that night or the next day detailing how somebody took a shot at them or something was misperceived so we've dealt with those it's all part of the deal obviously you've been doing this job a long time and your credibility means a lot and your reputation means a great deal when when you're working these games for for Mike Tomlin no topic is off limits he's someone that is very much an open book in those sit down production meetings yeah absolutely absolutely and he's got a new offensive coordinator and Arthur Smith coming over for the Falcons obviously a lot of experience as the offensive coordinator in Tennessee what do you expect his role to be with the Steelers in trying to get this offense back right for the 2024 season expect a lot of play action more than anything else look at what Atlanta did in that category compared to what Pittsburgh had been doing under Matt Canada that is an area where I believe Arthur Smith thinks the offense should start where you're not giving anything away there are options off the line of scrimmage and you're forcing the defense to make some decisions early so you can potentially take advantage of whether it's timing matchup look we don't know exactly who's going to be running the offense and they bring different things to the table Russell Wilson last year if you look at the numbers for Russell he really did listen to Shawn pton he did limit his mistakes he had some large mistakes at times and at bad moments in games but the numbers would tell you that he did listen to what Shawn pton was preaching it just didn't translate into consistent winds and then look the dynamic part of what Russell brought to the field for so many years as a member of the Seahawks it just wasn't quite there everything was off just a beat so when he used to be able to avoid escape and make something happen now you would see maybe the avoid but not quite the Escape or the avoid the escape and then an complete pass down the field or a bounce towards a receiver as opposed to a clean connection for Fields called a few of his games there are Dynamic moments there is no denying the Highlight because he can create that real game in and game out the questions with Fields have been in the big moment will he deliver will he deliver the game-winning play will he manage and command the offense and just don't know that even after all his time in Chicago we can't answer that question yet the early answers have been no but it doesn't mean in the right system with the right players and the right coaching the right culture that that can't turn around we've seen many impressive second acts in the NFL there is no doubting his raw talent and ability and now it's a question of putting it all together and doing it in a way that leads to winning football you mentioned the playaction pass in the very first preseason game probably the Steelers best offensive play it's a play action from fields to Van Jefferson down the field and I'm looking at this I'm like where has this been with this offense for several years now and that's where when going back to last year you fire Matt Canada midseason well the Steelers hadn't fired a coordinator or head coach since 1941 midseason you got to go back to the World War II era yeah that was building as we know not just last year but in previous Seasons as well you know sometimes it's just not the right fit and I think based on so many circumstances the end of Ben rothberg's career the ushering in of a new era the fact that the quarterback position was still very much a work in progress it didn't feel like a good fit with picket with Canada with the system with trust the defense had certainly done a good enough job for this team to continue to be in the playoff mix the fact that this team was still finishing with the record that they finished with is often something that we discuss in regards to Mike Tomlin that even in the the adverse circumstances that he finds a way finds ways to win but it wasn't translating into being a a real honest contender in the AFC and that's ultimately what your goal is to be middle of the pack in professional sports means that you're not doing enough to actually contend and you're not doing enough to get a really good draft pick so you're just stuck in the middle and that's what it's felt like for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the last several years so the hope is that a new philosophy offensively Arthur Smith did do terrific things in Tennessee there were moments in Atlanta as the head coach there's no doubt he's got a creative offensive mind he's going to go at it from a different angle than when Matt Canada was doing and we have to also keep in mind this is for the good and the bad by the way preseason we can overreact oh yeah in a positive manner when you've got a couple of starters in there going against the opponent's number two defensive players or vice versa and then you can react in a negative manner where you don't really get a whole lot going meanwhile most teams are going as vanilla as possible they want nothing on tape to give anything away for that regular season opener that's what all of this is is leading to winning your first week not winning your first second or third preseason game so I've learned a long time ago not to necessarily take what we're seeing in the preseason and automatically assume it's gonna spill over into the regular season that's for the plus side and that's for the negative side so if there's any Solace that Steelers fans can take out of this preseason is that one may have Absolut absolutely nothing to do with the other it's like a War reenactment and I stole this analogy from my guy Dave damek it looks like the real thing it feels the right like the real thing it is not the real thing no no and it's by Design in many ways and there's a reason why I think the NFL is seriously pondering changing up the scheduling going to 18 regular season games two preseason games we just feel this major shift in the preseason of most coaches and it's a generational thing just because you did something in the 70s or the 80s or the 90s or the yachs doesn't mean that you're going to do it the same way in modern times but the shift is real where those joint practices have taken on a much larger scope of importance than the preseason games and for the NF fell which Prides itself on the games meaning so much every regular season game takes on so much meaning and importance because of where it fits into the grand scheme of the regular season and the playoff picture to have these preseason games that don't have that same general Vibe and feeling is something the NFL is trying to address it's not a simple solution the games are not exactly well attended and you don't know most of the names that are participating because the The rosters are so large and the cutdown day is now after the third preseason game used to be you would get a little bit of a roster cut down with each week that went by so then you were forced to maybe play some guys in the last preseason game that were going to make your team and that would be potentially even a factor on your team and now that's not the case you're going to see a lot of second third fourth stringers on that third preseason game so yes it looks like it it sounds like it it feels like it a little bit but it isn't quite it yeah yeah I'm with you there and it's an inevitability that it moves to 18 games I for Here's my thought process right like I look at Neil wion ratings and we've had Lee Steinberg the legendary agent represents Patrick Mahomes on I think it was something like 92 or 93 of the top 100 watch broadcasts yeah last year were the NFL so that shows me all I need to know about this country's fascination with not just football not just college football but the NFL now with the Olympics I'm curious to see if 2024 is going to be the same way but for the last three seasons that number has increased increased increased we've seen the NFL go after Christmas Day the Steelers are playing the Chiefs on Christmas Day this year and the question I have is is when you move to an 18 game regular season this is kind of more rhetorical but are you going after Labor day as well which is all always traditionally been reserved for college football do you move the season up do you move it back to me it's an inevitability that you move to 18 games and it makes a lot of sense for a lot of the reasons you also outline for why we'll see the Reg season schedule expand yeah I think the NFL is very interested in doing that I also think they want the Players Association to be on board they don't want to do this with the Players Association not accepting of the circumstances as to why and that requires some deeper conversations and a deeper understanding obviously there are finances involved as well that's one more game per season and while we can say well it's the same number it's the same pool between preseason and regular season we understand that it's it's a longer hall for the players and we're already in that bi-week setup do we have to go to a second buy is there a way of giving these players a break at some point the last thing you want if you're the NFL is for head coaches to adopt the load management Theory and treat one of their regular season games like a throwaway because they know they've got to keep their guys healthy over an 18 Game season they've avoided that as we know other sports have not and it's become a hot button issue the part for scheduling it would shock me for them to go earlier I think if anything they're going later and they're going into President's Day and they're looking at the Super Bowl being the Sunday before President's Day and then got a national holiday on Monday which I love it I love it a lot of people already are are getting behind if they can look at that Sunday as oh wait a second I have nowhere to be Monday morning I can just enjoy myself and cut loose and not think about all the stuff piling up on my desk or in my laptop for the next day that to me seems much more realistic than moving it up a week and I do think they like the current structure which is final three season game you don't turn around and start your regular season right away you have that final preseason game it's almost like you have a bi-week baked in you've got that week off for everyone to reload get your roster set and now be rejuvenated as you start the regular season all right there's two more things I want to ask you and I'll make sure I get to both of them so I want to ask you about this when I've got the best of the business uh your pop culture references when you're announcing Travis Kelce blank space in the end zone does this come off the top of the head is this something that you think about before going into a broadcast so the timing of that they're playing Jacksonville that's the week that rumors surfaced that Kelsey and Taylor Swift might be seeing one another might be the early stages of a relationship but it was not full-blown at that point by any stretch there were no Taylor Swift sightings if anything they were just talking at that point at least publicly so I thought to myself all right if something happens here with Kelsey I might be able to slip something in that enough of the audience will get I I certainly did not think that it was going to connect in that manner and to be perfectly honest the way in which I delivered it on the touchdown that was only based on if Travis Kelce scored a touchdown and it's in the flow of the action I did not have a specific line picked out I just knew and was cognizant that there might be an opening so I go for it I bake it into the call so I didn't make it seem as if it was something completely different if you are not familiar with Taylor Swift and you heard that touchdown call I don't think you would even question it it just would be part of the call so my phone starts buzzing very rapidly after the call and Charles Davis gives me a high five Charles is a bigger Swifty than I am he had seen her in concert that summer but that was it we said nothing else and I just see the text messages rolling in rolling in Rolling In and I'm not talking about oh I got 10 text mess I'm talking about hundreds I thought to myself what is going on now I'm still locked in you're calling the rest of the game so game ends we get in the car we head over to the airport we had some time to kill and we ended up going into the airport club together as a group our production team and somebody on on our team at that point is on their phone and looks up and he says I am I said yeah goes you're on TMZ I said what I I quickly scroll over the call is on TMZ and then the thing just exploded Adam Scher tweeted it and I think that got the ball rolling as well and then it was Unreal the next few days there were pictures I could send you a picture that I have saved on my phone of Kelsey and Swift and me in the middle I found it to be among the most comical things that have ever happened in my life it's it's pretty pretty bizarre and and hilarious and then obviously the relationship really did take off of course so I I like to think that uh you manifested it I played yeah I played a a rather small role in in this Union see I'm a Seinfeld fan my favorite reference you've made was the real and spectacular Joe Johnson game winner and they shot they had a shot of Seinfeld for like it couldn't even been a full second it was like half of a frame and I know you're doing the game with Greg Anthony that's my favorite call that you have as someone who's a huge Seinfeld fan yeah I've worked in a few Seinfeld references through the years that one in particular we had showed Jerry early in the game and that was it and now the gamewinner hits our director John Wilson ends up going through a Litany of shots after the gamewinner and then Jerry pops in and that was the first thing that just popped into my head Greg Anthony who does consume a lot of Television a lot was not a Seinfeld Watcher so that that reference went completely over his head although he agreed I said that was real and that was spectacular and Greg said yes it was but he just viewed it as as a call which is very funny after the game I I said to him you a Seinfield guy he's like no never saw the show Before I Let You Go Ian I just want to say this your son Noah during the Paris Olympics the golden dagger call with Steph Curry's Brilliance in the final against France uh got to be a proud Dad but he was terrific with his play byplay alongside Dwayne Wade really really enjoyed listening to him throughout the Olympics with his basketball coverage uh and he learned from the best so I think that's a testament too but I want to make sure I mentioned that too I really really enjoyed listening to him throughout this summer when we normally have that lull period from like the dog days of summer to baseball like do anything to get us to football season I thought he was spectacular mark I I was on a Darkness Retreat for two weeks so I missed the whole thing I'm not even sure what you're alluding to the Olympics no it was it was fantastic where were you when uh when he made that call in the finale where were you watching watching in my home my wife downstairs I was upstairs because I had so much nervous energy I was basically doing laps around the house and I think it was a combination of how close the game was and then the fact that it was my son calling the game and I don't get nervous for me I've done this so long now I I have anticipation when I do these games as a broadcaster and you've put in all this work and you've put on all this time and effort and you want to deliver and you want to do well in your job but I can't say that I I have nervousness on a personal level there's nervousness as a parent because I I have no say on that it's whatever comes out of his mouth in the moment so yeah really proud it was thrilling for our family and my wife and I just I don't know looked at each other a hundred times over the course of the two weeks when no was calling men's and women's action and and thought to our ourselves how how did this possibly happen a lot of a lot of Pride you know we we obviously changed this this guy's diapers quite a bit as recently as two weeks ago that's what makes it so troubling that's Ian Eagle you can hear him the NFL on CBS This fall Ian I hope the uh the burner still going strong oh yeah I'm locked in ready for the season I know this is normally my my right of passage when you and I speak I believe it's it's four years in a row now that the summer is officially over the fall is here and that means football season and hopefully that means a few games in Pittsburgh where I always enjoy my time so all the best Mark appreciate it I and thank you for your time today he's I Eagle I'm Mark Bergen thanks for watching another edition of the believe in Steelers show I'll see you later this week previewing Steelers and lions preseason finale until then take care so long everybody