A lot of people got their Steelers throwback jerseys in a bunch over Todd Haley's statements on the official Cleveland Browns website Friday.
If you missed it, Haley said: “This is probably one of the best – if not the best – quarterbacks rooms, in general, that I’ve had. The group, in general, is what I’m excited about. I think that it’s an intelligent, intelligent group, with ability to throw the football and make plays with their legs, some of them. When you have that, I think that good things happen. Competition is created in the room, even though they’re working hard together to help each other and get better as a group.”
He then went on to say this about starter Tyrod Taylor: “I thought that Tyrod has done a tremendous, tremendous job of establishing himself as the leader of this offense. His car is there every morning in his spot when I get here in the morning, and it’s there when I’m leaving. That’s what you’re looking for in the leader of your offense. I think that he’s done a great job with understanding the terminology, concepts and all of the different things. Like I said, we threw a lot at him. He’s more of a show-what-to-do, more than by talking. I’ve really been impressed and encouraged by him.”
Some have taken those comments as a shot at Ben Roethlisberger. Of course, they forget Haley also has coached Kurt Warner. And he was passing game coordinator in Dallas with Tony Romo. So he's worked directly with some good quarterbacks.
So do I think he was throwing darts at Roethlisberger with his comments? No, not at all. All apologies to Stephen Stills, but you've got to "love the one you're with."
In this case for Haley, that's Taylor, Baker Mayfield and Drew Stanton.
Is he supposed to say, "This is probably one of the worst -- if not the worst -- quarterback rooms in general, that I've had?" His job is to coach the Cleveland Browns and part of doing that is pumping up your guys.
Nobody seriously believes Taylor, Mayfield and Stanton are better than Roethlisberger, Warner or Romo. Now, Matt Cassell, whom Haley had at quarterback in Kansas City, that's another matter.
• When the news of Martavis Bryant possibly being suspended -- again -- early Friday morning, I have to admit, I cringed as I wrote a piece on it for DKPittsburghSports.com.
I knew what the reaction would be for most. Celebratory. "I knew it." All of the typical stuff.
If Bryant did test positive again for a banned substance, those people are right. He messed up again and is probably done in the NFL.
But, what if Bryant's potential suspension stems from him missing an appointment with his therapist? That's all part of this, as well. Under the rules of his reinstatement back into the NFL, Bryant had to agree to continue to seek drug counseling from a league-approved therapist.
Missing even one of those meetings is a violation of the terms of his reinstatement. And that could very well be what we're looking at in this situation.
The Steelers were pretty certain Bryant had put his pot smoking behind him. They were willing to keep him in 2018 and, as Kevin Colbert told me adamantly at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, the team had no intention of trading Bryant, despite the reports that they were "listening" to offers.
It wasn't because they knew Bryant was going to be suspended. The NFL would have known about any possible violation of the terms of Bryant's reinstatement long before the Steelers ever got wind of it. That's the way the league's substance abuse policy works. The teams really aren't involved in the process.
The Steelers traded Bryant because it made sense in the long-term for their team. They weren't going to re-sign Bryant at the end of the season. If he had a big season, he was going to cost too much, much more than they would be willing to pay. And if he had a poor season, well, enough said.
But the plan, all along, was to get what they could out of Bryant and then let him walk because the potential return on trade offers wasn't worth it.
It was only when the Raiders bowled them over by offering a pick at the top of the third round that the Steelers had to make the deal, even though it left them weakened at wide receiver.
They were able to take a step toward fixing that issue the following day when they selected James Washington in the second round, but that was a roll of the dice. Obviously, they didn't know Washington or a receiver they had rated highly would be available in the second round.
And it meant passing on quarterback Mason Rudolph, a player the team wanted to take in the second round.
As good fortune had it, the Steelers got Washington and packaged a seventh-round pick with the third-round selection they got from the Raiders to move up a few spots to get ahead of Cincinnati in the third round and take Rudolph.
But that doesn't mean anyone was high-fiving at Steelers headquarters when they heard about the possibility of Bryant being suspended again.
They got younger at receiver. They also got their potential quarterback of the future.
The Steelers made what they thought was a good trade -- and it was. That's all.
• The Ravens are looking at packages that include both Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson on the field at the same time. And they're doing it with the idea of putting Jackson at quarterback and using Flacco somewhere else on the field.
Like Flacco split wide is really going to scare opposing defenses.
• Restoring Hope, a Bob Baffert-trained horse and 37-1 longshot to win the Belmont Stakes is being accused of serving as a blocker for Justify in its run for the Triple Crown.
Baffert also trains Justify.
Is that cheating? Well, it happens in NASCAR races and in track and field all the time.
The question now is if Restoring Hope's owners will get a percentage of Justify's future stud fees, which had a $60 million deal in place before it won the Belmont. Winning the Triple Crown tacked on another $15 million to that deal.
• Some extra cash might have made that deal worthwhile for Restoring Hope's owners, but what about the poor horse?
Justify's owners are getting $75 million, of which they will likely give some percentage to the owner of Restoring Hope. And Justify, he gets to handle the stud part of the deal.
Poor Restoring Hope, the best he can hope for is a, "I ran blocker for the Triple Crown winner and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
• Lance Lysowski's Friday Insider lede on Felipe Vasquez tipping pitches elicited some interesting comments.
But one thing worth noting is if Vasquez was consistently hitting 100 miles per hour like he did last season and pounding the strike zone with whatever he was throwing, he could yell out what's coming. It doesn't make it any easier to hit.
The problem for Vasquez has not only been that his velocity is down -- though he's still throwing 97ish on a regular basis -- but his control has been really bad compared to last year.
In 2017, Vasquez walked 20 batters in 75 1/3 innings. This season, he has 15 walks in 27 1/3 innings going into Saturday's game. At his current pace, if he gets to the same number of innings as last year, he would have about 45 walks, more than twice what he had last season.
Some of that could be because opponents know to lay off his off-speed stuff out of the zone, but if he was showing better fastball command and velocity, it wouldn't matter as much.
• Despite fans' apprehension about the Steelers, they are regularly among the top five teams in any oddsmakers' picks to win the Super Bowl in 2018.
You see the team's warts and issues and they're magnified because you're a fan of the team. But if you take a look around, every team in the league has its problem areas.
The Steelers have fewer problems and more stars than most.
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