U mad, bro?: Football fans attack overtime changes, 'MNF' booth; defend Steelers QB strategy; Kenny Pickett's hands

We have quite the cornucopia of Pittsburgh sports fan complaints this week in “U mad, bro?”

Folks are angry about NFL overtime and the new “Monday Night Football” booth. Pitt fans are getting defensive about Kenny Pickett. Steelers fans want to defend the wall when it comes to second guessing their quarterback strategy. We’ve got it all.

And the Penguins haven’t even lost in the first round of the playoffs again … yet. And the Pirates haven’t traded away anyone important during spring training … yet.

All good things come to those who wait. So, you’ll just have to be patient for those emails in future “U mad, bro?” posts.

For now, though, there is plenty to absorb.

Kenneth agrees with me on this week’s NFL overtime rules change. Neither of us understand why the NFL expanded the overtime possession rules for just the postseason when the league spends so much time preaching the importance of regular season games.

I certainly agree about differentiating regular and post season. Makes no sense to me at all.

— RealKennethD#IStandWithUkraine (@RealKennethD) March 30, 2022

Look at it this way, Kenneth. It’ll be 2023 next offseason. We live in an era where every squeaky wheel gets as much grease as it wants. The NFL used to be immune to that way of thinking. It isn’t anymore.

As Roger Goodell said himself after this week’s rule change, “We always listen to the fans.”

OK.

So do what works in modern society. The next time the Steelers — or whoever your favorite team is — gets jobbed in the regular season because they didn’t get a possession in overtime, just complain on Twitter and act the victim because a break didn’t go your way.

Boom! Problem solved. Just make sure you @-mention the @NFL so they can see it. Because shame is a greater currency than the dollar in America these days.

Well, until 2024 when someone inevitably complains again and they have “to listen to fans” once more and change the rules all over again.

Frank thinks he has a better suggestion for overtime.

Who ever has possession at the end of regulation keeps possession. Just like the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters

— Frank (@BrunofromMars22) March 30, 2022

Nah. Sorry, Frank. It’s not just the end of a quarter. It’s the end of a half. The second quarter doesn’t bleed through halftime and resume at the start of the third quarter, does it?

People like the manipulation of the clock and the struggle against time. It’s inherent to the game, and it is inherent to the fourth quarter of close games.

Your suggestion may make overtime cleaner to decide. It’d also make a lot of late, close games much more boring.

At the end of my post about the recent Tyreek Hill trade, I took a playful jab at Kenny Pickett’s hand size.

Like, no one has done that already.

I shouldn’t be surprised, but at least one Pitt fan took it a little too seriously.

You had a great article going until you had to take a shot at Pickett and Pitt Fans in the last sentence. Literally brings zero context to rest of your accurate take on the Steelers WR position and NFL’s WR market.

— Chad Melberg (@berg017) March 24, 2022

Oh, Chad, you misunderstood. I didn’t “have” to take a shot. I chose to do so.

How come? Well, I knew it would get this reaction. That’s why. And it makes me laugh.

Pitt fans are so predictably defensive when it comes to stuff like this, sometimes I just can’t resist.

Plus, I’m a little fed up at the non-stop dismissal I get from the Pitt fan base regarding any mention I make about any other quarterback in the draft class besides Pickett. It gets a little thick.

If I even bring up the names Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Sam Howell, etc., it’s taken as an intentional swat at Pickett. Which isn’t the case.

It’s Pitt fan paranoia, and it’s silly.

What if — and I know this is a tough concept for some Panthers fans to grasp — some other team drafts Pickett before the Steelers do at No. 20? Should the first time you read the words “Malik” and “Willis” be when it’s running on a crawl on the bottom of the screen after the Steelers select on draft night?

So, I decided to take a little poke. Purpose served.

Chuck didn’t like me mentioning Marc-Andre Fleury’s debut with the Wild when I was guest hosting for Mark Madden on 105.9 The X on Friday.

“Can we not talk about Fleury? He’s now three teams and four seasons removed from here. Let it go.”

It was a 30-second reference, one time, during a three-hour show. Maybe it’s you who should let it go.

I’m going to file this under the Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown category of, “The more you tell me you don’t care that they are gone, the more I know you do care.”

I mean, honestly, it probably took you longer to send that message than it did for me to reference it on the air.

In last week’s “U mad, bro?”, Frank didn’t like me bringing up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams as teams that turned their fortunes around quickly by acquiring a star veteran quarterback.

“Read your column this morning. The Bucs and Rams situations were entirely different than the Steelers. Those teams had the rest of the roster set before they made the moves for Brady and Stafford respectively. The Steelers don’t have the roster that would appeal to an elite QB.

If all you needed was a QB, as you say, then Deshaun Watson wouldn’t have gone 4-12 in 2020 with the Texans and Stafford wouldn’t have endured all those losing seasons in Detroit! Get it?”

Aside from dismissing the concept of tanking a season, I didn’t say a quarterback was “all” you need. I said it’s essential. And I said a good QB makes up for a lot of other shortcomings.

The Rams and Bucs did not have all the pieces in place before they got their QBs. Von Miller came after Stafford. So did Odell Beckham Jr.

In Tampa, they got Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield all after Brady.

And is Green Bay’s roster all that appealing without Aaron Rodgers?

Get it?

One more thing. How bad do you think Houston and Detroit would’ve been if they didn’t have Watson and Stafford in recent years? I think their failures make a greater statement about those franchises than it does about those quarterbacks or the position itself.

Finally, Kent has a take I wasn’t expecting on Joe Buck and Troy Aikman taking over the “Monday Night Football” broadcast.

“I feel Buck/Troy have too many teeth. That takes away the game … in fact I tune them out.”

I have reached out to ESPN public relations. They insist that both men have the exact number of teeth they should have. Thirty-two apiece.

But, hey, when Aikman is in town to call a Steelers game next year, ask him yourself. Maybe he’ll let you count his teeth.

Then knock yours out.

Let me know how that goes.