Special thank you to Zach Moss who rolled through to start the program today. But let's continue the football conversation with one of our favorite Stevenson Sylvester back on the Driving a Monday, Sly, Happy money man, how are we doing?
Hello?
Sly? Oops, sorry I was on mute there. Happy Monday brother, How you doing?
Thanks for joining us? You know I've done that so many times. Are you on Zoom or Google?
Lie?
Like, how are you joining us today?
Google? Meet man? Google Meat?
Yeah? Yeah.
Porter got me introduced to that man. And I much prefer doing my interviews that way. I have zero connection and issues and it just it just feels better.
Love it.
And you sound great, and I've done the mute things several times, and Sly, I've got to I'm gonna apologize right out of the gates before we ask a question, because I don't mean disrespect. Porter and I were debating this last segment as our guys, Zach Moss hopped on the team, or excuse me, hopped on the show and for the team. He's part of our team, so are you. And here's what I'll say, slide, I just want your reaction. You guys will always go down the twenty eight team,
the one that Sugar Bowl. I believe the Sugar Bowl win over Alabama is the best win in the history of Utah football, all due respect to conference championships and such. And you guys will go down as one of, if not the greatest Utah football team of all time. If I said to you that twenty nineteen is the most talented team on paper that Utah Football potentially has ever had, what would you say to me?
I wouldn't. I mean, I can't argue that that's all subjective, right, And honestly, I'm good with that. Right on paper is is not as good as results. And so we've seen that, right, Like we came into last season like this is the
best team Utah's ever had on paper. Look what happened. Right, So, as far as the comparative, like, I don't mind that, you know, twenty eighteen, you know, doing my research with you know, my Utah man brand and talking to all the old players from the past, it's about a whole bunch of undervalued guys overperforming right guys, proving people wrong, you know, day in and day out from training camp throughout the season, and even when everything is pointed to
you supposed to be winning. Everybody who was still denounce you or or think of less of you, and you still prove them wrong. And that was the mentality of those guys. So honestly, I'm more excited and privileged and honored to be a part of that style of team because that's what sports is all about than somebody who's better on paper.
For sure, well said, no argument here, but I will. I'm going to follow up with a question, and if you can solve it, you might get a phone call to go coach the Cowboys, because it's what everybody wants to know. Slide because what are the elements like twenty nineteen. I'm not trying to pick on them, but any team that's great on paper and then there's a team like you, guys who want every game in front of you, which
is all that matters. What are the most important dynamics to make sure that a team that on paper has every single thing that you could want. Talent, experience, offense, defense, special teams, and the road between day one of springball and the final day of the season that for you culminated in a Sugar Bowl went over Alabama.
How do you turn talent into results. What are some of the key dynamics.
It's leaders, end of the day. It's the type of leaders that you have. And I can humbly say that from the different teams and the things that I've seen, it's the leaders on the team and how they lead. Right. People can consider themselves a leader, but like, are you willing to do what you're asking somebody to do? Right? Like a lot of people hate their bosses, right because like they're asking me something so simple, like why don't they just do it? Right? And so it's more of
like can you lead by example? Can you are would your teammate or the person next to you believe that what you're asking them, what you're asking of them, that you're willing to do? And it's so for me, it's the leaders on the team. When I got on the Pittsburgh my first year, we went to the Super Bowl, right,
and the leaders on that team was just second to none. Right, Pittsburgh started going downhill when those guys left Pittsburgh, right, like the hines Wards, the Ben Roethlisberger's, the Willie Colowns, the Max Starks, the Troy Polamalo's, Ryan Clark's and then Ike Taylor's to Brett Keesl to Casey Hampton and James Fair, James Harrison. Like those leaders right there, they set the stage for out everything is supposed to go. Those leaders, the coaches didn't need to talk to. They knew what
to get done. Whether you had to tell in or not, you still have to go out there and earn it and execute it. And there's no prime example today more than the Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions looked great on paper, and they're going out there and executing every single week and earning their recognition. Man. So I just think that it's all about the leader on the team. It was for us in eight of going out there and putting in the work.
Yeah, and you know, that's probably a tried and true principle, you know, both in sports and in life. Right, great leaders who understand what to do, and then it probably takes a lot of humble followers, correct. I mean, doesn't matter what your talent level is like, if you've never done something before, it's probably an important element of it of a team to have people that are willing to listen to the older classmen and understand what it is
to be part of Utah football culture. Is that kind of in line with what you're thinking.
That's one hundred percent, And that's kind of where I want to get back to. Like I always look at like what happened this past year, because like we had the talent we talked about, or I came into the season talking about the depth it would benefit us for when we do have injuries, people can step in and we shouldn't miss a beat. And as soon as cam
Risen got hurt, we went to straight crap. So at that point, what where were our leadleaders and what were our leaders doing, you know, to inevitably make the whole team step up and make things happen right. And so it's leaders for me. I looked at it, you know, over and over again and and just like and how they do it right? You know, you got leaders of all kinds of different stuff. People consider themselves leaders, But I think there's a certain type of leader that it is.
You know, Coach Whittinghamp says it all time, he's an alpha dog, alpha of alpha, right, But like what type of leader are you? And can you do the be the right leader that will bring a locker room together? And I just don't feel like we had that last year, So.
This is interesting.
I didn't plan on doing this today, but it's one of the things I like about interviewing you. You know, we can go in a bunch of different directions. And now I'm thinking about what the BYU players said after the Alamo Bowl postgame press conference. Conterpay a lot of the seniors in upper class and over there, and every single one of them about the leadership in the locker room from the players, and they weren't diminishing the leadership
of the coaches. But what is the difference, slide, What's what's the difference between having great leadership and your coaching staff and then having great leadership on the team with players, Because I do think it does hit different a little bit when you hear it from your peer.
It's uh for me. I interviewed Connor after after the Alamo Bowl too, and these are a lot of questions that, uh, you know, I ask him because you know, I have my own opinion, but I want to see the validity of it, right. I want to make sure that my theory or whatever I thought when I was a player, or what I think today, you know, holds true and it's the same. So yeah, But for me with all of that, it's ownership, right. You gotta you gotta be
willing to own what you're a part of. So it doesn't matter how much money you make, how long you've been there, what type of ownership do you have on the product that you're a part of. Right, And and so the coaches can't make you understand ownership. You have to understand it. It has to go to people that are on your level, that are putting in the work
that you're into, and it's it's ownership, right. And then like do you feel and if you have ownership of your product, you want the best out of your product, right. And so for me, if I put anything out there, anything that has my name attached to it, right, everybody wants to talk about in and nil, Right, anything that has my name attached to it, I want to make
sure it represents me in the best life. Right. If my name is attached to University of Utah, that's why I'm so prideful it and and why I love the university so much. If my name is attached to that, I want it to be held in the highest standard. Right. And that's what we had in two thousand and eight.
That's what I had on my team in Pittsburgh, and that's what I think a lot of championship teams have is they have ownership between each and every player, right everybody plays like talk about I have to own my you know, twelve square feet right the square feet around me. I have to own that, and I have to know that the person next to me believes that I'm gonna do that to the best of my abilities, and not only to the best of my abilities that I can
do it, he believes that I can do it. So for me and the leaders, and what I took from Connor pay was ownership, ownership of this team, ownership of the product that we're putting out there each and every week, and that people are watching and just loving what you do.
Follow up, does a quarterback have to be a leader?
I mean, you obviously play with Brian who, like you know, you had a quarterback who was a leader. And Coach Wit talked a lot about Cameron Kevin Rising how he was and I hate to say was it just doesn't sound like he's coming back. And I could keep going down the list, but you reference the Lions and look, Jared Goss a really good player. We saw him, you know, we were in the Pac twelve footprint. We saw him play Utah. I don't know if he strikes me as like one of their main leaders.
Maybe he is. I'm in the locker room.
But do you have to have a quarterback who's also one of your preeminent leaders.
Well, I think it makes the most sense, but I don't think that at the end of the day, that makes the team. I think it's the easier way when you have that guy who has the ball in his head.
It's like the point guard, right, You want your point guard to be your leader, right, Like what were the teams of the Michael Jordan's teams without like a Ron Harper or Steve Price or Steve Kerr, right, or you know Gary Payton, he was the leader of his team, right, the Chauncey Billups, right, Like they were the leaders of
the team that you look up to. So you want to have that person because they have the ball in their hands most often, to be the leader that just makes everything and everybody because they want the ball, they want to be effective. They'll look at that person more often because that person's name will more often be said.
Like if you listen to a play by play guy, they're gonna say a person's name more often, right, Like if you're just listening on the radio and somebody says, Chauncey Billups has the ball, passes it to re Hamilton, pass it back to Chauncey Billups, passes it to Rashid Wallace, hits the couldn't Tayshaun Prince. Oh, that's a goal. Who's name that they say more often in that than anything.
It's the point guard. Same thing with the quarterback. Quarterback takes the snap from center, they're gonna see the name of this guy who's delivering the ball to handing the ball off and orchestrating to play more often than not. So I think it's easier when it's the quarterback for it to be your team to like, you can't have a team without your quarterback being the leader. I don't agree with that because I've been a part of teams where quarterbacks are not the vocal leader, but you know,
they go out there and execute. They lead by example, so they're a type of leader. To be the head honcho leader. That's the raw raw guy. I don't think it's completely necessary, but again, you just got to have make sure that that person is bought in and has ownership of his twelve square space and makes it happen. But at the end of the day, the quarterback being the leader doesn't have to be it for you to
have a team. But I do think it's the easiest to get your entire team to buy in because everybody knows football is the most people, right. You have to have the most people on the same page than any other sport that's out there, And if your quarterback is at the helm of it, it just makes it easier to do that.
One more question about this before we get accused of hosting a Ted Talk.
Talking football.
I'm just curious, because you know, college or pro, Who's who's the best leader you ever played with in your career?
Oh, my gosh, the best leader as a player. There's been a few, right Like Uh, for me, I love James Ferrier. James Ferrier when I got to the NFL, he was just a guy that everybody looked up to. And as far as if we go, we go the way James Ferry goes. That's Troy Polamalud, that's Ryan Clark, that's Ike Taylor, that's Brett Keesol, They looked at James Ferry, even offensively, you know Willie Cologne, you know Marquise Pouncy, min In Hall, even Roethlisberger. They looked at James Ferry.
He was one of the best examples of the head haunchho and it came so natural to him because he was so cool, like you wouldn't even I don't know, you know, just as a guy that you looked up to, respected, know's gonna put in the work and and everybody believed in. I thought James Ferrier was one of the best leaders I was ever around.
Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff.
All right, let's move off of it and actually talk some football now, and let's do a little college. We'll end with pro and I'll set you loose on a Monday. Do you like this new format now that we've seen it unfold, Because it's one thing to say, hey, I like the idea of twelve teams or the premise is sound, but you have to see what it's like. You have to witness how it unfolds before you can actually have
a fully baked opinion. So, now that we have a final Ohio State Notre Dame, what do you make of our first experience as college football fans witnessing this twelve team CFP man.
I loved it one. It automatically got me thinking of the future. What are the next few years gonna be like now that the players know what it's gonna be like and the possibilities of it. Right now that each team understands, like, Okay, Boise State got in it and SMU got in it, we could be one of the Indiana got it. We could be one of those teams. And we have a possibility. I'm Indiana. If I beat Notre Dame, I can go play Georgia and I could beat Georgia. Right. I scored more points on Notre Dame
than Georgia scored on Notre Dame. Right, I can do that, and then I can beat the next team. And I
like it. It's just more possible when you've seen it done and the possibilities of you making it happen, right, Like even our twenty eighteen about us breaking into the BCS and beating teams like that, we've seen it done, right, We've seen the four team, you know, break the BCS, or even before that in two thousand and three, when they were just beating teams like Texas A and M in North Carolina, and then then just everybody they lined up against, they just they they demolished them, right, And
even the year before in two thousand and seven when UCLA was ranked number eleven in the country and they came into the rights Eycle Stadium and we just beat the brakes off of them. So we knew it was possible by the examples of the years before us, right, And now that this has been done, I just think that other schools are looking at that like like we always had an epifty, like, oh, maybe we could do it. But you've seen in Arizona State take Texas to the break.
Arizona State possibly should have won in many examples, right, take that field goal that bounced on the ground but bounced through the uprights. Technically they won, right. Imagine them playing against Ohio State, right and not losing it in the last two minutes of the game, right, and not throwing a freaking pitch on goal to go situations Oh so stupid. But I think the possibility that other schools are now looking at in this twelfteen format is just great.
And I just think that the years to come are just going to be that much more interesting, that much more intriguing. I think it brings that much more fire to regular season games to get to the opportunity to be a part of the playoffs.
So I asked you prior to the semi final, kind of what your God told you about these games? And I remember, I know you did a good job of breaking down why ultimately every game is kind of its own thing and it's all about matchups. And as a guy that played for Utah to beat Alabama and the Sugar Bowl in two thousand and eight when not a lot of people thought you would, you're well equipped to talk about how any team can beat any other team on any given day. But it feels like nobody believes that.
Marcus Reeman, by the way, what impressive, dude. How about your first coaching job in life is just Notre Dame. You know, at the age of thirty five and now at the age of thirty ninety has a chance to win a national championship.
Against his team that his alma mater.
Exactly it didn't.
Know it was his alma mater. That's that's even more.
Insane awesome storylines. But Vegas isn't giving Notre Dame much of a chance. The general public, according to the money, giving them almost zero chance at all. Ohio State's an eight point favor. Do you think the Irish have a fighting chance? No pun intended.
Hey, anytime you lace them up, you have a fighting chance. And so I'm always for a game not being one before it's played right, And I think that these odds and lines from Vegas is just more motivation and bullet toed board material than anything. And so it's all about how you line up right. I didn't think Notre Dame would do what they did against Georgia, but let alone Georgia have as bad a receivers as they did. I didn't think they could drop the ball that many times.
I thought, you know, the matchup against Penn State was very equal, and as it was, it was twenty four to twenty four to the last second, right, And so you know, I think this matchup going into Ohio State, I do think Ohio State has the has the edge. But you've seen in this Texas game, it's never over. Like Ohio State started on fire and then they got one penalty and they went right back in the tank
and Texas kind of came back in the game. But it was fourteen twenty one and Texas has one yard to game to make it twenty one twenty one, and they don't make it happen. Like that game was close until the end. You know, you can look at twenty eight to fourteen and like, oh they had it handily. No, Ohio State did not have that handley. And that's what I was talking about, you know the other week, is that like Texas can make it happen, right, And so I think that's gonna be the same situation in this
National Championship game. Is it's going to be exciting. I think it's gonna be a great matchup. And if you can put a game plan together in thing is possible, right, It's it's uh, it's It's not like the NBA Finals where you have to score four games. You have to win four games against a single opponent to actually win it. This is sudden death, man, you got one opportunity to to make this happen. I love this and I think
it's gonna be a great matchup. I do give the edge to Ohio State when you look at the offense the defense, I give it to them. I don't think it's gonna be an eight point game. I think it will be a little closer. But these National championship games are are are always interesting. And here's one thing that I if if Notre Dame pulls this out, Uh, it's because I believe they have more heart than anybody in
this bracket. The way that they play, they want it more and I and that's all about the leader, uh, and Marcus Freeman to instill that in him right like the coach for the Lions. Uh, he's he's instilling the ability to want it more in his players than the opponent. That Vikings game at the end of the season was awesome, and I think that's exactly what Marcus Freeman is doing in his Notre Dame f Irish fighting Irish and so I just think it's gonna be a great game.
Because of that, I will do a little NFL slide and I'll set you loose. And one of the coolest things, in my opinion about your football career is you played college football for Kyle Winningham and pro football for Mike Tomlin.
Like that's a really really cool thing, man.
That makes you That puts you in a very small group, you know the deal though, I mean it's been eight years since the Steelers playoff win, the longest playoff droughts in seventy two. Mike's streak of eighteen consecutive non losing seasons is insane. But you know the standard in Pittsburgh, and look, I'm a fan. I don't think they should do anything. I don't think they will, but there's a lot of noise around your former head coach. I just want to get your thoughts on it.
I'm just, I just I don't think it's coming from Steeler fans. I think it's coming more from just, you know, outside opinion is But like, who else are you going to get right? Who's gonna replace Mike Tomlin. Steelers have had three coaches in the last forty five years. Here's my thing, everybody who always has an opinion of something, is there someone else you have in mind that would do a better job, because it's not right the Steeler mentality and how they do it, from the roster that
they assemble, from the ownership that they have. You have to have a certain personality fit that and do that right. And I do think I think the Steelers have slipped up and just been able. But this is football, man, and that's why I'm saying, like, it's not like the NBA playoffs where you get four opportunities against a single opponent. It's sudden death and if you don't make it happen, it's good. But you look at the talent in the
West the last fifteen twenty years. Look at the last twenty five years, Right, it was the Patriots, Tom Brady, Right, you got the all kinds of teams in the AFC have been making noise for Carson Palmer and in the same division we've been Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Raves have been in the same division for the last twenty five years. Like, it is not easy to win in the AFC, right, And I want to do more research to see how many Super Bowls the AFC in the
last twenty five years have won over the NFC. But like, it's not easy to win in the AFC. It's a
sudden depth deal. I'm telling you, you'd be a lot more hurt if you were a Steelers fan and having a losing record every year then going to the playoffs and losing, right, Like, what if you were the Browns, What if you were the Jets, what if you were you know, some of these other lowly teams that may have one good year in the last ten to fifteen years, there's literally a possibility every single year with the Steelers,
and so you got to keep that. I think, you know, Mike Tomlin is trying to figure it out and navigate this new day and age with what type of personnel that we need to have, right, Like, look at that game against Baltimore and you've just seen a lot of
lackluster effort. How do you motivate guys that you're paying so all this money, right, Like, you got to do that and out how do you motivate guys you know that they got to want it themselves, right And then for me, I'm watching that game and I'm just like, how the hell do the Pittsburgh Steelers defense look like they've never seen or heard or played against Lamar Jackson before? That first drive was abysmal And I'm just like, where's
your technique? What were you practicing all week? It was just it was terrible, and I'm just like, you know, it was going to be an uphill battle because one Baltimore's surging at the end of the season, which is
what you want to do. They got a talented roster, but you know that going in, you know that you know they're beatable, that's for sure, but you know it's it's just I don't know, I just felt like, you know, there was a certain point of the game where the players felt like, oh man, we can't win this, and they just stopped fighting and so it just sucked. But I've been down twenty one points to an opponent and
we've came back and won. And that's what the Steelers were, and they just they just didn't have that mentality of that we could overcome and that was just unfortunate.
Well, and we could reduce it pretty simply where you know, Mike and the Steelers had such a great run when they had a much better option on a quarterback. And I think Russ did a pretty admirable job after he was left for dead in Denver. But did they run it back with Russell Wilson next year?
What do you think?
No? No, No, I don't think so. I think you know, you you played great with Russell Wilson. Hopefully that Justin Fields was able to learn a lot of things with Russell and and then he can attack this offseason like that. But I was thinking about it too. Right after the meeting, I would have Russell Wilson and and Justin Fields sit down.
If I'm Mike Tomlin, I know this office too because I've said it there multiple times, but like I'd sit in both of my office and being like, yo, Russ, you know, we did sign to a one year deal, but we're gonna work. But Justin is our starter. If you want to go test the market, that's great. If you don't find anything that you like, because you're getting paid thirty forty million dollars a year from Denver not
to play for them. Anyway, if you want to come back, we would love to have you as a backup, but this will be Justin Field's offense going forward. And that's exactly how I would tell him. I think Russell Wilson would be professional and understand that. I think he probably understands that already, and that's how I would go about it. But you give the keys to Justin Fields. He's the younger guy. He's got a lot of potential. He led this team great. There were things that he can learn.
He's been able to sit and this is what a lot of these college kids don't freaking understand is like, it's okay to sit a year, It's okay to sit down and learn. Everybody's like, oh I can play faster here. That doesn't mean good things for your future, right You're
wasting years potential opportunity there. And so like, I think Justin Fields was able to sit and be humble, but I think that Pittsburgh needs to vocalize that this is Justin Field's team and instill all the confidence that you can in him.
All right side before I set you loose my two parter and it could be the same. They're not mutually exclusive. But who do you think will win the Super Bowl? And who do you want to win the Super Bowl?
Oh man, it's it's it's gonna be crazy. You know, we haven't seen the guys that had the first round by in the playoffs yet Houston looked absolutely amazing. So I can't wait to see that Kansas City Houston matchup. You know, Uh, the Baltimore Buffalo matchup is going to be an instant classic. My team's been the Commanders all year because my boy BJ's over there killing it and watching Jayden Daniels just overcome so much. I just can't
wait to see what he does against Detroit. Detroit has so many injuries on defense that they may be susceptible to be getting beat by by the Commanders. You have no idea, but I just think that one there's just so many teams that have the opportunity to make this happen. You'd want to get Josh Allen to finally overcome the hump, right, Get over Baltimore, get over Kansas City, get to that super Bowl and show your stuff. I'm hoping I can see a Buffalo Philadelphia super Bowl. It's kind of what
I think. And then I just I think Philadelphia is too deep, and so the Eagles might win the Super Bowl this year.
All right, sol, I appreciate the time. Man, always good stuff. Happy Monday, have a great week, and we'll chat soon.
All right, brother, talk to you soon.
Stevens and Sylvesteria one of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah with some fiery takes today twenty nineteen, Utah robster Man. I think it's the most talented team the coach what's ever had. So I played in two thousand and eight. They beat Bam and the Sugar Bowl. They won all their games so there's a bit of a mic drop there. Yeah, the Tomlin thing is interesting. I mean, you're not going to talk to anybody that covers football that doesn't think he's a great coach.
It was Alex Smith himself.
I was listening to Alex talk about how archaic the offense is and it might be time to upgrade. I don't know, man, but the results just haven't been there in the playoffs. It has been eight years since the Steelers won a playoff game. It's the longest playoff droughts since nineteen seventy two. They have the same amount of playoff victories as the Jets over the past eight years, which is zero. But Tomlin has eighteenth straight non losing seasons, which is wild.
So we'll see. I don't think they're gonna move on from him.
During their first ten seasons, the Steelers ranked tied for fifth with eight postseason victories, and they won Super Bowls under Mike and you know, his results are what they are. So we'll see if they decide to make a little bit of a change. But appreciate slaves time