good morning everybody and welcome to Jason Mackey's first 10 short version podcast talking all things Pittsburgh sports we try to infuse some sort of positivity but today well I think it's going to be a little tough after what everyone saw at PNC Park yesterday anyway today is Thursday August 29th gonna talk about that Steelers named their starting quarterback surprise surprise it's gonna be Russell Wilson under Center and uh well college football is one day closer to starting as well Post Gazette rolled out a whole bunch of stuff there but of course the lead topic it has to be the Pirates and the ongoing implosion I've never seen anything like that on many different levels my column today described the postgame atmosphere feeling um you know what it was like to be in that Clubhouse I've covered some very bad games some lopsided scores some things that they've done very poorly and everybody you know sort of looks around I can't believe what I just saw um I'm not sure I've seen a more or experienced a more depressed environment after what they did uh leading 10 to three allowing 11 unanswered runs um all in the final three Innings just a complete implosion from the bullpen and it leaves obviously a whole bunch of questions to answer I think that's one of the things on on this side of the fence where you know we need to call for action or criticize or say this should happen this needs to happen there's not always a clear-cut solution and to me that's kind of where the Pirates are and I'm not saying that you know that that means Derrick Shelton should stay Andy Hayne should stay anybody should stay maybe you should fire everybody I don't know um but there are ramifications to all of that like if you magically fire Derrik Shelton does that make the bullpen pitch better probably not if you magic if you fire Andy hannes will that magically you know fix all the other W will that will that fix their fundamental problems no what if you fire Ben shington you know all three include Ben in that well you're then then you're starting the entire plan over from scratch and taking another step further and work inside of what the Pirates normally do and none of that frankly is what they normally do and I'm not excusing it but I'm just saying if you try to operate in reality um what can you expect and and if you make a move now what would your what would your through the end of the season how would you get through the end of the season not that you can't I'm just saying that is it Don Kelly um is it somebody from the outside did they pull John wayer from the announcers but I don't know I don't know um but I I think it's fair a loss like yesterday you can't avoid those questions you can't avoid the frustration you can't avoid the bigger picture and again I've been around Derek Shelton a lot and this is as emotional frustrated at his wits and whatever as I've ever seen him I wrote that in the column it's and it's not a saying like you know oh poor Derek Shelton I think it gets interpreted that way it's just everybody is wearing ing this and you're talking about if you kind of take a step back what this season is supposed to be about we're supposed to be getting better supposed to be contending all these it's so far off it's so far off and I don't know how it gets better frankly I mean somebody will need to come up with a solution because the current product is obviously not good enough they're 62 and 71 they have 29 games to go do you feel better about them you know going 16 and 13 over those I don't um they've lost 19 of 26 right now their erra in August is 5.68 last in Major League Baseball 11 games back in the Wild Card 14 and a half in the division all of this while scoring 109 runs in August which is 19th in MLB a little lower than you would expect but the offense really hasn't been the problem finishing games has been the problem Bullpen has been the problem managerial decisions has been a problem um have been a problem fundamentals defense all that stuff now I mean the offense for a large part of the season has been a trouble spot I'm not again not absolving anything but there's just you there's no one magic solution here David bnar so reliable over the past couple Seasons now it's a very fair question what do you do with them you can't keep running them out there and save situations of course not I I actually don't have a huge problem with how Shelton man the bullpen yesterday I mean maybe you could argue that you should have flipped Bednar and Chapman but I to me that's not it bednar's got to get the job done he hasn't gotten the job done that's that's where that that's where the criticism resides you know yesterday the bullpen did not execute there's no other way around it um you know but it's just it's it's really bad it's really bad there's just a lot of lot of things wrong a lot of frustration a lot of dysfunction coming out of there and it needs to turn around fast I don't have a lot of confidence that it will and I I don't know what you do I really don't uh I mean you know you can't can't feel safe right if you're Shelton Andy Haynes um even Ben I don't know I but I nobody should be feeling comfortable nobody should be feeling that the Pirates somehow met expectations I I tweeted this I think I talked about it on this podcast yesterday but I don't know how you can look at this season and say there's progress even if they win 77 or 78 games just hasn't been there are too many things that the Pirates do wrong they're incomplete with they're not getting enough out of this or that it's just a lot of a lot of falling short so all right we're going to take our usual uh Midway through break I got some football stuff to get back to on the other side couple uh more positive topics although there's a Steelers injury that kind of worries me we'll get into that but first a message from the Bradon Area Convention and visitors bureau embrace the laid-back charm of Island life while sinking your toes in the sand and discovering real authentic Florida and the Bradenton Area unspoiled Beauty and pristine beaches a vibrant waterfront downtown energized by local arts and culture fresh floran Cuisine with a flourish of Rich history and friendly locals ready to welcome you to this preserved Paradise on Florida's Gulf Coast plan your visit today at Bradenton islands.com and welcome back to first 10 of about three and a half more minutes here the Steelers said oh by the way um I had promised haor and that did not work out I ended up recording hold my cutter with Greg Brown and Michael McKenry last night and that ran along and we weren't able to link up on time so I do want to get something with Jeff but that's the reason you're not watching him I should have that offered that off the top but anyway uh so the Steelers named Russell Wilson their starting quarterback which I found funny maybe Mike Tomlin has to do that anybody who's been around there you know that Russell Wilson's the quarterback it's not really a great mystery although it does seem nationally that that was a thing um not a thing my take away from that honestly is there probably going to need both guys Russell Wilson can be the starter I don't think we've heard the last of Justin fields and I don't know if that means you know Russell Wilson can't go wire to wire and they need to bring in Justin fields at some point if they do I like what I've seen in the preseason I also think and this was discussed a little bit the Steelers would be wise to put in some sort of package or packages that include Justin Fields as a change up option I I think that we're talking about somebody who's rushed for more than 2200 yards in three seasons had over a th yards in 2022 14 career rushing touchdowns this guy can help the Steelers and he's a dual threat it's not like you're putting somebody back there that really can't throw the ball I mean they would be wise to do this yes you're running a little bit of a risk with your backup quarterback but I think they'll be fine if I mean you you'd rather have Fields obviously but if it ends up being Kyle Allen if something disastrous happens I don't know but I would I would like to see them put in a package for Justin fields and feature his athleticism a little bit on the other side Isaac sealo out with a pectoral injury suffered in Wednesday's practice our Jerry Dak is reporting expected to miss about a month I think uh is what Jerry wrote it's going to be a decision on whether he goes on the IR or not or on IR or not uh this is beginning to concern me the offensive line has been very banged up as much as I've been impressed by Zack Fraser and you know you want to think that things are going to be fine with Brad Rick Jones Troy fanu um Dan Moore Jr keeps hanging around and hanging around Ray falo wrote about that I believe it was Ry uh yesterday and and he's right you know like they can't get rid of Dan Moore but it this is a banged up group right now and it can't really afford to be a banged up group uh Spencer Anderson will likely get the first crack at replacing sealo and he's got all of two NFL snaps on his resume Zack Frasier obviously has none F tanu whenever he gets in has none he's also nursing an injury and I think there are some legitimate concerns whether he can get back in time for the Falcons game you've got James Daniels with some measure of experience you have Dan Moore and you have brodick Jones who has not played particularly well this preseason can say he's on the wrong side maybe but we're talking about a Steelers offense that is banking on being physical that is banking on running the ball that is also banking on Russell Wilson having enough time to throw down field and now they're really really banged up so concern there we'll see what happens college football wise can't wait to check this out myself I have not yet tore into it um it's going to be my afternoon probably to print and read and highlight and get all nerdy uh I've got some prep work to do for pit West Virginia I love doing that stuff I'm covering that one on Saturday and I just love reading about storylines writing them down um highlighting stuff memorizing numbers I turn it into a college class but I think that's one of the things that I've enjoyed so much about college football is just learning more so if you're like me uh make sure you get a post cazette today you can learn more about uh Duane pit Penn State West Virginia there's all kinds of stuff in there my contribution was a column comparing patard DOI and James Franklin who's under more pressure my answer um to not bear the lead maybe I did that a little bit too much in the column but would be Nardi it's Nardi uh I think Penn State has a better chance of reaching you know what should be its first goal I mean they obviously have many goals but you look at the college football playoff expanding to 12 teams you would think based on how Penn State has fared over the past you know six years or so they've generally been in the top 10 top 15 you would expect them to make the playoff um pit on the other hand is coming off a three and N season and there's a long way to go our Joe starky wrote kind of a contrasting column about you know excuse me seven wins isn't isn't great or it shouldn't be good enough or whatever and that's fine I completely respect Joe's opinion but there's still a long way to go between three and nine and seven and five so I I think it's a steeper Hill for Nardi to climb you've got some understandable questions of quarterback Nate garnell Eli Holstein who's going to take care of that they lost a lot on the defensive line Pit's defense for so many years has been predicated on pressuring the quarterback and wreaking havoc they didn't do enough of that last year so I to me that's that's the the bigger thing and Penn State should be bolstered by its offense I'm really looking for Penn State to have a strong offensive season I think there's plenty up front I really like Drew Aller the running back combination they have KRON Allen Nick Singleton very very good I think the defense can be nasty Abdul Carter preseason All-American really really good player looking forward to seeing him West vir just I I think Frankland is set up better for what they need to achieve than Pit is but I mean these are two very very important guys to you know we're now I can't believe this when I looked it up I'm both we're talking double- digit tenure for both of them at their respective schools and big seasons for each make sure you read about all of that make sure you like And subscribe you can get these videos every day um as well as plenty of other stuff from our Post Gazette writers and columnist to be back here one more time this week before taking a break for the weekend and uh talk talk to you then thank you for watching first time everybody thank you for checking out this content for Post cazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports coverage the post cazette has to offer visit postgazette.com [Music]