U mad, bro? Steelers fans love — and hate — Jameis Winston, plus other balanced reactions

This week’s “U mad, bro?” is pretty intense.

Especially about the idea of Jameis Winston coming to Pittsburgh.

I mean, for something that is probably never going to happen, boy, are people fired up about it!

Also, Steelers fans spit fire about the NFL Draft, Minkah Fitzpatrick and the crazy idea about moving the NFL to The Greenbrier.

Howard heard my podcast with Jay Recher of WDAE radio in Tampa Bay. He hated when Recher endorsed the notion of Jameis Winston becoming Ben Roethlisberger’s backup quarterback.

“This guy Recher can go to hell! If Winston is now a model citizen, then Tampa should have kept him. Recher also probably thought Chris Archer was a good fit for the Pirates. The Steelers should have never traded (Josh) Dobbs to the Jaguars. And the Pirates should have never traded for a mediocre at best pitcher.”

Whoa! Comin’ up and in a little early in the count there, aren’t you, Howie?

Look, I’m not exactly buying the Winston rehabilitation spin either. But I’m more worried about his 30 interceptions than whether he tries to hit up Joe’s Crab Shack in Station Square.

That said, he’s better than either Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges.

Sorry, Howard. He’s better than Dobbs, too.

By the way, if you are Archer reading this right now, aren’t you thinking, “How did I get dragged into this? The Tampa thing? Really?”

Gary comes at me with some heat about Winston, too. Except he’s on the other side of the fence. He wants me to be more on board with the Steelers trying to sign him.

Much more on board, it appears.

I’ll endorse it if he comes bargain basement cheap. Beyond that, I wouldn’t sign him.

That’s not enough for Gary.

“The Steelers backup QBs are XFL guys for sure. Winston’s picks? GO WATCH!! How many more were not his fault? The team was awful! He had to throw all the time. Do you think the defensive guys are afraid of the run game? No! They are standing 30 yards down the field waiting.

Are you a (expletive) (politically incorrect word) (expletive). Morons like you write (expletive) and kill the guy for nothing?

THE coach calls the plays. Maybe you don’t understand football. No running game. No choice but to pass. Interceptions are part of the game if you do that. DUH!”

I’m not sure if Gary is Winston’s best friend. His agent. A random Buccaneers fan. Or president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Florida State alumni club.

Regardless, he’s a real (expletive).

Now, some of what Gary is saying is right. Tampa wasn’t good (7-9). Winston led the NFL in pass attempts. The Bucs were 28th in yards per rush (3.7). And yeah, the coach calls the plays.

But that same coach (Bruce Arians) called the plays in Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger. And that seemed to work out better.

Meanwhile, the Steelers also had 3.7 yards per rush, and for as “awful” as the Bucs were, the Steelers were only one game better (8-8). So, if those problems were excuses for Winston in Tampa, they are going to have to be overcome in Pittsburgh, too, should Winston ever get here and replace Roethlisberger.

And how in the world do you excuse away 30 interceptions? No quarterback with over 14 picks made the playoffs. And he more than doubled that mark.

But I’m just a moron who doesn’t know football.

Duh!

Brad wasn’t wild about Mike Florio’s idea on Pro Football Talk about making The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia a permanent destination for the NFL in 2020.

“Does Mike Florio’s social distancing activity consist of pursuing a career in really outlandish and bad fiction? Maybe that NFL/Greenbrier idea should be quarantined forever with the hope that it doesn’t spread to other rational thinking people.”

That’s a good call. At least we know that covid-19 can’t spread via the internet.

Florio’s idea did.

In the comments section of my column about the Steelers potentially trading up in the draft, David replied. And he was pretty dismissive of my hope that the Steelers could figure out a way to either trade up or find a way to gather more picks.

“They are not trading up. And whether Benz wants to hear it or not, they INDEED made their 2020 first round pick last season with (Minkah) Fitzpatrick. And by any and all definitions it was a great pick.”

No.

They didn’t.

Fitzpatrick was on the 2019 team. Hence, he is not a 2020 pick. The 2020 draft is supposed to allow teams to improve on 2019. And the Steelers need improvement.

Remember, for as good as Fitzpatrick is, they were only 8-8 last year. Fitzpatrick is good. There was a price to pay to get him. This is the price.

This shouldn’t be so hard to figure out, folks. It’s a pretty simple concept.

The only thing that David said that makes sense is that Fitzpatrick was worth the trade.

Isn’t that enough?

Do we really need this semantics dance as if to infer that the Steelers got even more of a steal in nabbing Fitzpatrick than they actually did? Why do we keep playing this mental game by pretending there was no price to pay for attaining him?

It’s kind of childish, actually.

“Gregg Lloyd” commented on the column where I ripped Adam Schefter for throwing shade at the NFL’s decision to move forward with the draft amid the covid-19 pandemic.

“Schefter is a dork. I applaud the NFL for not overreacting, when overreacting is all the rage.

There is absolutely ZERO reason to cancel this draft. I don’t say this often but great decision Goodell!!

This will be the highest rated draft in history and it would be clearly and overwhelmingly the highest rated program in quite some time. It will break viewing records.

So much for ‘tone.’”

Hey. When Gregg Lloyd is right, he’s right.

And you don’t want to make Gregg Lloyd mad!

Oh, wait. That’s Gre”gg” Lloyd. With a two Gs at the end.

Ah. Got it.