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  • Do you think that Baker can upset the Steelers with without their head coach?

  • Yes, I do.

  • I think he can.

  • And in fact, I'm not backing off the pick.

  • Even without Stefanski, who is the coach of the year, in my opinion, look, Baker Mayfield looked to me like he had something special in college, and he looked to the Browns also because they used the number one overall pick in the draft on him, even though he didn't have a great 40 time and he won that tall and he had a big enough arm.

  • It was a big, but there were guys with bigger arms and he was accurate.

  • But it wasn't like he was Drew Brees or someone like that, right, But they saw something special in him.

  • They drafted him number one overall.

  • Ryan Clark.

  • It was you who said, I think the most devastating thing about Baker Mayfield on this show on first take.

  • Eventually.

  • At some point earlier in this season, you said, Look, it's just all right, he's okay.

  • And that was devastating in terms of the perception off Baker, Mayfield and I resisted it first.

  • You know, look, he's had something special once.

  • What happened?

  • Well, maybe it was, You know, Oklahoma and and and and the Big 12 and guy receivers were wide open, and it really wasn't that good, and I kind of bought into that after a while.

  • But you know what?

  • He turned it around, and he's looking kind of special again.

  • Is he independently great, like, is he great, no matter what the circumstance, like Aaron Rodgers of Patrick Mahomes or No, no, he's not that guy, even a guy like Justin Herbert.

  • You could see Mawr talent, right?

  • He's not that guy.

  • He's like most quarterbacks.

  • It depends on the circumstance.

  • So when he had Hugh Jackson the worst coaching football that year, he was no good Greg Williams.

  • He got better, but Greg Williams made a call to play call so bad this year, he's out of football, Maybe permanently now, right?

  • Freddie Kitchens was maybe the worst coach that season or one of them, and he finally got a good coach and you can see in the right circumstances he can ball.

  • He can ball.

  • But Ryan, here's the thing.

  • Just cause Stefanski is not there doesn't mean the circumstances aren't right for Baker Mayfield.

  • He's got an excellent offensive line, like a head coach, as you know better than I do.

  • It's like in boxing when you see a corner man.

  • Yeah, important work is done in the corner on the night of the fight.

  • But is that the most important work?

  • No.

  • The most important work is in the training camp, right?

  • Coming up with strategy, making sure you're in shape, making sure all the I's air died in the teaser cross.

  • All the technique is right.

  • The attitude is right.

  • That's what Stefanski is done.

  • It's not like a zone blocking scheme in the run game goes away because Stefanski is not there.

  • It's not like arguably, it's certainly an elite offensive line goes away because Stefanski is not there.

  • That stuff still there.

  • So the question is, do you believe that Baker Mayfield can deliver under pressure?

  • I do.

  • Listen, I don't disagree that Baker Mayfield at times can deliver under pressure.

  • This is not going to be an attack and trash Baker Mayfield session for me because we've watched throughout the second half of this season.

  • Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens.

  • You go back to the game, they lose Odell Beckham Jr against the Cincinnati Bengals.

  • We've seen him be special, but all of those special moments go and coincide with Kevin Stefanski.

  • There's not a time we come on this show on a Monday morning and we're talking Mags or Stephen A is talking, and we separate Baker, Mayfield and Kevin Stefanski.

  • Everything that we see about his growth, the things we see about his progression, the things we see about his success come from Kevin Stefanski being able to manage Baker Mayfield through the run game and dial up the correct place to get people open and put Baker Mayfield in the situation to where he's comfortable.

  • That's gone, and I know you talk about the head coach and the work being done throughout the week, schematically putting the programs together, making sure everything is set in the right place.

  • But they don't get that right, even though they're on zoom calls and he could be a part of that.

  • He doesn't get toe, watch it on the field and see Baker Mayfield go through it and correct it.

  • And the other part about this Dominique, say something very, very smart this morning, he said.

  • You know, the decision making and the analytics of being a head coach.

  • Some of those things where science, right, they're scientific.

  • You can teach somebody those, or you can hand somebody a sheet that says, This is when you go for two.

  • This is when you go for it on fourth down.

  • But play calling is an art and one and artistry right.

  • You have to have a level or a base level of talent, right?

  • You have to have a level of talent to be able to do that.

  • Kevin Stefanski has that.

  • But the art part of it is, is that I can feel I can move when when this line is a little bit off.

  • I know how to change that and adjust that and make that work.

  • That's what Kevin Stefanski has been for this team.

  • When the run game needed to be great, he understood how to get it there.

  • When he knew he had to get a big fourth down conversion, he knew that it was best to give Baker Mayfield the ball as a keeper so he could have an extra blocker.

  • These are all the things that Kevin Stefanski knows and feels that have allowed Baker Mayfield to be in this position.

  • They're missing other offensive coaches.

  • They don't have an opportunity to get in the building.

  • And this team hasn't had any continuity for three weeks.

  • And by the way, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked a little good on defense against the Cleveland Browns.

  • Mason Rudolph was able to get the ball down the field, even though Warren and Johnson were out in the back end for Cleveland.

  • And I think they've seen some things that say right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a better team than the Cleveland Browns, and I believe Kevin Stefanski is worth at least a touchdown.

  • They do not win this game.

  • Well, look, is it harder for them to win?

  • Yes.

  • And after I said the thing about corner men, you know, cashes Clay before he was Mohammed Ali, right before he fought Sonny Liston and Liston's corner rub.

  • You know, liniment on his gloves of God in clay's eyes.

  • He couldn't see.

  • He wanted to quit his corner, man, Angelo Dundee had to push him out.

  • Or maybe he loses.

  • I'm not discounting play calling for Stefanski in a title fight here, right?

  • Like I, which is what it is.

  • Even though it's the first round, it's a F C.

  • North Steelers, Braun's third meeting this year.

  • Here's something, though, that you're not taking Consider into consideration.

  • I don't think the Steelers destroyed the Browns the first time they curb stuff in the first time they played the next time they played.

  • Now the Browns win.

  • Now.

  • Was it closer than it ought to have been considering?

  • No.

  • Roethlisberger?

  • Yes, it waas, but clearly a trend in the right direction.

  • You have an ascending team in Cleveland and a Baker Mayfield, who's gonna have to put his big boy pants on right.

  • He's not going to have Stefanski there, not just for confidence, but you're right for play calling, and Stefanski controls the offense.

  • He is going to have to do it himself.

  • This is one of those moments where they are underdogs.

  • The odds are stacked against them.

  • They are on the road.

  • They are they are supposed to lose.

  • Do you think Baker Mayfield is the kind of guy who can get you a win there, and what does that really mean?

  • Because they're going to run the ball and they really can.

  • They could block for the run, and they got backs who can really run?

  • Do you think that Baker can complete the necessary plays down the field to get it done?

  • I do.

  • That's the bottom line is I believe that.

  • Then do what you gotta get there.

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Do you think that Baker can upset the Steelers with without their head coach?

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