The Pomp And Joe Show
11 AM: Are QBs more NFL-ready out of college now, the Pirates should make a run at Eugenio Suarez
19 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: How important is it to have an offensive-minded coach for the Steelers?
All right, we're back with our number two of the show. Mine is Joe. He is off today. He'll be back tomorrow, and then I'll rejoin him on Wednesday. Sean Meyer is behind the glass. Taking your phone calls at 412-928-9370. We have a lot to talk about in case you just got up. In case you're riding around and you hadn't heard, Sean McDermott joins a list of fired head coaches.
And this one is a very interesting one because – I thought they were going to win that game. I thought if they did win that game that this would not be happening. You could say the same about a lot of scenarios, I suppose. But, man, that's a harsh reality for a guy who I thought did a pretty good job leading his team against Jacksonville to win on the road, Sean.
And then yesterday, or Saturday's game, I thought they should have won it. I thought they were somewhat jobbed by their one call on Brandon Cooks. If that's called a catch, which yesterday was the same play, and it was called a catch, that one was called an interception, they kick a field goal and they don't even go to overtime.
And I think the argument, and Joe certainly made this, is that it's more on the lack of talent around Josh Allen than coaching blunders at this point. Now, there's no doubt McDermott probably at this point had been given enough opportunities in nine years with Josh Allen the last several years. They've been a favorite and they haven't been able to get to the Super Bowl yet.
And they had some really crushing defeats like that one against the Chiefs where it seemed for sure that they were moving on and found a way to lose the game. But I do think you're starting to see teams now that are having pretty successful seasons saying we're moving on from a head coach because if we can't get over the hump,
After multiple years with an elite quarterback, we need to try something different. So the first move you make is to try to bring in a different coach, maybe not even a better head coach, but just a different coach to see if that guy fits a little bit better with your QB.
But to your point and Joe's point, now both cases in Buffalo and in Cleveland, the head coaches let go when it seemed like he wasn't really the problem. The problem could have been roster composition. Now, No one will know how much input Sean McDermott had on his roster. No one will know how much Kevin Stefanski had on his, although I believe Stefanski did not have as much as probably he wanted.
I thought the owner got involved too much in the meddling of this thing, which led to the disaster of Deshaun Watson, and he pays the price for that. But Atlanta may be better off for getting him, but there's still a lot of guys out there.
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Chapter 2: Are quarterbacks more NFL-ready coming out of college today?
We want to hear what you have to say about who you think should be the next Steelers head coach and what direction they should be at 412-928-9370. Fan Twitter is brought to you by South Hills Key and Peters Township. Visit them at SouthHillsKey.net.
And the text line is brought to you by Edgar Snyder & Associates, a personal injury law firm where they always say there's never a fee unless they get money for you. We got a lot of callers here, Sean. Where do we go next?
We are going to go to Neil, who is a big fan of the YouTube chat, apparently.
Hello, Neil, on YouTube. What's up? Hey, Bob. Good morning, and thank you for taking my call. And shout-out to the YouTube friends today. Here's my take on the head coaching situation for the Steelers. I think, realistically, this could happen. Not saying it's going to happen, but the head coach would be Chris Shula. He would bring in Nate Schilhaus, his OC.
His defensive coordinator would be Raheem Morris because of the familiarity of it. And for the quarterback situation... Jimmy Garoppolo is a free agent. He would know the offense that Shield House would implement. I ain't saying he's the answer, but he could be a bridge signing to a two- or three-year deal and go into the 27 draft and draft your quarterback.
Let Mason, Jimmy G, and Will Howard compete for the starting job. That's my take. I mean, I don't think it's going to happen.
I have been preaching the same thing about the first part of that, about a Shula and a Shield House combination. I don't know if that's going to work because there's so many openings now that – They may each have opportunities as a head coach or not. I mean, they could, you know, there are a lot of things that could change, but Raheem Morris is a good call there.
I'm sure there are going to be people out there looking for a defensive coordinator of his caliber. But as far as Garoppolo, I'm beyond that right now.
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Chapter 3: What are the Steelers' immediate needs on the defensive line?
I understand what your take is, but another bridge. We have so many bridges here. This bridge has been a long, extending one, and pretty soon it's going to be like the Golden Gate Bridge. It's getting too long. They've got to figure this quarterback thing out, and you're right. It may not be this year, but I don't know if Garoppolo's the guy I'd be looking at.
And if I did, it certainly would not be on a multi-year contract. It'll be one year if it's that.
Right, I agree with you there, Bob. I'm just saying he would know the Shield House offense because he'd be coming from McVeigh. That just makes sense. It kind of would just help out with everybody there to implement the offense. But, yeah, Garoppolo is not a long-term answer.
Thanks, Neil. Appreciate you watching on the YouTube. That's a thought, Sean, that a lot of people are going to have. They need to figure out. If I were to ask you, what do you think your quarterback room would look like right now? Because I think both Mason and Will will be back. The next question is, who joins them?
Yeah, you would probably think it's going to be a veteran that you're looking at as maybe a one- or two-year guy here. I don't think that they're – Will is being thrown out there. You might have to commit. to him a little bit longer, right? I mean, I believe someone said it could look something like Justin Fields' contract with the Jets.
That would be a little intriguing, but to me, I would rather go the route of, I don't want to say tanking because we know they're not going to do that. I would rather get a bridge guy or try a Will Howard and then go in with the game plan to get the quarterback the following year.
The pitfall to that, because we make this mistake, it seems like almost every year once we get to the spring is thinking next year's the year that the college quarterbacks are going to be an elite group. And it almost never works out like you anticipate.
When you start looking two years ahead, by the time the draft rolls around, you realize it's either not as good as we anticipated or, to your point, guys come out of nowhere that we're not on the radar whatsoever.
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Chapter 4: How does the pressure of expectations affect college football teams?
So there's no way even a year ahead of time you can anticipate a given year's draft how it'll be for the quarterback group.
No, you can't. And that's why we were saying the same exact thing last year at this time. 2026 is going to be a big year. Nine guys will be in position to be taken. Doesn't matter where you're picked, you're going to get a quarterback. Well, it doesn't always work out that way. And that's where they are right now.
So that's the most important thing that the new head coach is going to have to try to figure out in conjunction with Omar Khan. Andy Weidel, and the entire management staff, what direction they go to with their quarterback. And I would not be chasing this thing. I would not make a reach. I know a lot of people believe they're going to have to take one no matter what. I wouldn't do that.
If you didn't think that guy was going to be worthy of it, I still think this team has a lot of pieces that needs to be filled. And if you can do that, ultimately whoever is that quarterback comes in, if it's 2027, then at least you have people around him who can get the job done to help him as a young quarterback. 412-928-9370. Next. We are going to go Roy in Virginia. Roy is in Virginia.
Now he's on the fan. Hey, Roy.
Hey, Bob. How's it going, buddy? Love listening to you guys.
Thank you.
So tons of things we could talk about, obviously, but in light of what you guys are talking about now, I think the most important thing for the Steelers moving forward with this quarterback situation, which obviously is number one in the land of sports as quarterback position is is getting the correct scheme around him.
And what I'm saying is I love Chris Shuler, and that would be my pick as well, but only if he can bring his buddy Nate. I am scared of another defensive-minded coach to come in in a league where it seems like if you don't get your quarterback right, you're going to be, you know, middle-of-the-road type team or worse.
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Chapter 5: What impact does player personality have on team dynamics?
And I think you bring up some names. You know, you bring up Mac Jones. You know, what did he do with the Patriots before he got out there with Kyle Shanahan? Now, all of a sudden, he looks like he could be a decent quarterback. I think it's the scheme that put him there. Brock Purdy, what does he do in Arizona if he gets drafted there? Probably never heard of him.
You know, Caleb Williams, I know he's a young guy. I get that. Maybe he just, you know, progressed a little bit. But it's funny you bring Ben Johnson in. You know, Detroit seems to slack a little bit on offense. And next thing you know, Caleb Williams looks like the next, you know, top five guy in the league all of a sudden or something.
And you mentioned Sam Darnold. He's the biggest example of this.
Yeah, Sam Darnold. He may have progressed in his career. I agree with that. But all of a sudden, he goes out to Minnesota. Hey, man, he's rolling out there. And next thing you know, he keeps it going with Kubiak in Seattle. Both guys being great offensive schemes out there with Minnesota. He's got a young guy he's working with now, but great schemes. Drake May, another young guy. I get it.
He needed some time, but it's awful funny. He looks 10 times different under Josh McDaniels. who might not have been a great head coach, but we can all agree he's been a really good offensive coordinator, especially, I guess, learning the position with Brady in his pocket. So the point I'm trying to make is I think we have got to get the right scheme in Pittsburgh, and I'm okay with Chris Shula.
I really love that guy.
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Chapter 6: How should the Steelers approach their quarterback situation?
I think he did a great job last night. You know, he seemed to have an answer on a lot of big plays and had – And I like what he did there. And he fits what we like to do as far as head coaching. But I really believe if we don't get the offensive scheme or the offensive side of the coordinator position solved, I think we could be in trouble. Last thing I'll say is.
You seem helpless and hopeless sometimes. I feel that way. We don't know about Will Howard. Mason Rudolph, I like that guy, but we're not going to do anything with him overall. And so it seems a little helpless. It doesn't matter if we get a top five pick, if we get a top 20 pick, or if we pick a six-round Will Howard.
If you don't develop the guy, he could just be another Tim Couch or another dud that nobody's heard about.
Thanks, Roy. Appreciate the call from Virginia. And, yeah, I do agree with that. I mean, developing is very important. You have to be able to have somebody in charge. And, yes, an offensive coordinator is huge. A quarterback coach is huge. And for many years, the Steelers did not have one of those.
So, although I will say this, I don't know if the Steelers will go so far as to hire an offensive guy as their head coach. I still think they're going to stick to what has been a tried and true kind of way of dealing with this when they get a chance, and it's not that often that they do.
So a little bit of a tangent here, but I think it'll tie in. I'm not a fan of what college football is now with all the transfers and the NIL and guys getting so much money. I think most people agree with that.
One benefit, however, is I do think you will get more polished quarterbacks entering the NFL because guys like Dante Moore at Oregon, who probably would have been the second pick, certainly would have been a first round pick. He's now staying. quarterbacks that typically would have come out after three years are now saying, maybe I'll stay four, even five years.
Does that make it a little bit safer of a bet taking a quarterback when you get a guy who's been there an extra year or two as opposed to a decade ago when they were all seemingly coming out early?
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of signing Eugenio Suarez for the Pirates?
Or you could be misled into thinking, well, that guy finally figured it out, took five years. Can he pick it? Can he pick it? And then the next thing you know, you're believing what you see in the fifth year, but you ignore what you saw in the first four. Not that it was bad. I'm not trying to say that. I thought he had a great Pitt career. My point is,
If you go down that route and believe what you see in development, that's a good point. It can happen that way, but it can also go the other way and you can be deceived.
We have seen a lot of quarterbacks in recent years as first-year players or certainly second-year guys make major impacts. Jaden Daniels a year ago, C.J. Stroud his first year, these were guys right out of the gate who were – at least mid-tier NFL starting quarterback.
So I do think the reality is you could get a guy, and as a rookie, he could lead you to the playoffs now, which felt like it never happened a few decades ago.
And you can also see a guy growing here, too, like Bryce Young. The first year down there, of course, that was... Drake May was good as a rookie, but he took a massive step this year. A massive step, yeah. So... I mean, it happens quickly, and that's why you see turnarounds so quickly. Who goes from worst to first? Jacksonville did. Worst to first? New England did.
All these teams can change based on what you put around your team, how you develop your team, and who leads your team. Who's next, Sean? We'll go out to New Kensington with Zach. What's up, Zach? How are you?
Hi, Bob.
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Chapter 8: How do recent trades affect the competitive landscape in MLB?
Big fan, big fan.
Thank you.
Uh, you guys are talking about, you know, the Steelers head coaching. I'll go on with that. I wanted to talk about the Texans and the Patriots, but you can do that too. All right. Well, you know, with that game last night, um, the one thing I noticed is I felt like D'Amico Ryan lost the game for them and it wasn't for any decision that he made. I felt like it was a decision that he didn't make.
Do you know what I'm referring to?
Is that the fourth down when they punted instead of, you know, it was late in the game, they were down?
No, you're thinking way too sharp.
Well, they should have taken out the quarterback. That was my big takeaway.
Yeah. I would have benched him at halftime. So that's where I was going. Why in hockey is it acceptable to take out a star goalie when they let in four easy goals in one of the playoffs? But with this quarterback, was his ego too fragile or – Was it like a changing of the guards? Why was he afraid to take out who apparently was the worst player on the field?
And it goes back, Zach, to last week in Pittsburgh. He was the one reason the Steelers were kept in the game. He was making terrible decisions and throws. He had three interceptions last week. That had to be in the back of D'Amico Ryan's mind. When that first half, that seven interceptions in five quarters of football.
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