ESPN’s Jeff Saturday: Steelers’ Rodgers/ McCarthy Blowups are No Big Deal

The news broke while Jeff Saturday was on the line: Sean Payton is changing the play-calling dynamic in Denver, moving to what Adam Schefter described as a more collaborative approach. Rich asked how that works. Saturday was already laughing.

"We're going to say whatever we need to say to make this as gentle as possible," he said. Then he got serious about the mechanics. To Saturday, this is "no different than Andy Reid" and the coordinators who have shaped his game plans. A head coach who also calls plays has a mountain of other responsibilities during the week, and Saturday saw it firsthand in Green Bay with Mike McCarthy, when Tom Clements was "the quote offensive coordinator" who ran the installs Wednesday through Saturday. In Denver, he expects the large majority of that work to go to Davis Webb, "like it did Tom Clements."

What Payton brings, Saturday said, is rhythm. "He gets his quarterback in a rhythm and his offense in a rhythm as quick as anybody." That is what the Broncos are missing: a pathway for Bo Nix to get comfortable early so he can take over the game in the third and fourth quarters. Saturday pointed back to a halftime a few weeks ago when Payton noted the team had dialed up five runs and needed to get things going. Payton will still make the final call, just like Reid does, and may "provide a little juice" if a game starts slipping away. But Webb "is still going to be very involved in the day-to-day operations."

Rich wanted the sideline logistics. Does Webb hold the play sheet while Payton overrules? Does Payton just take a drive? How does that get communicated through a headset with the clock running and the crowd roaring? Saturday admitted he does not know yet. "I don't think we'll be able to know until we see how it operates this first time." His guess is that Webb keeps calling plays while Payton helps structure them, starting with the opening 15. Play sheets are broken down by situation, first down, second short, second long, third medium and so on, and Payton might rearrange Webb's favorites for a specific defense so that Webb is effectively calling the game in the order Payton wanted.

Then Rich turned to Pittsburgh. Saturday spent 2012 in Green Bay, so Rich asked whether McCarthy was getting Aaron Rodgers the play call on time, to Rodgers's liking.

"Not always," Saturday said. He had already made a similar comment elsewhere and heard he was taking shots. He was not. "You've seen me and Peyton screaming at each other on the sideline," he said. "If you think we all get along all the time, you are sorely mistaken. You got a bunch of alpha dudes in the room. We all think we're right." When the players walk off the field, even after saying all kinds of horrible things to each other, "it's water under the bridge. It's not personal for us."

The difference now, Saturday said, is the cameras. Fans are "in the most intimate seat you can be in," which is why coaches cover their mouths with play cards. "If you think you can play in the NFL without being highly emotional, you're lying to yourself," he said, whether it is Andy Reid and Travis Kelce or Rodgers and McCarthy. "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."

Rich agreed, noting that Reid was invited to Kelce's wedding after their Super Bowl sideline moment. "The only issue is if it lingers," he said, especially if the losses start piling up. So he played the tape of Rodgers with the media on Wednesday. Asked whether plays were coming in later than he would like, Rodgers said, "I'm not going to touch that one." Asked about his talks with McCarthy, he said, "Mike and I have talked," and that "it's always ironed out." His closer: "We've had a lot of success together."

Saturday's translation was immediate. "He still got the red hiney," he said, adding that he was trying to "church it up" because the show was on Disney. "He's still a little angry and he should be, bro. You're losing." Rodgers is a throwback who wants to get to the line like Peyton, Tom and Drew so he can assess the defense and change the play. If the call comes in short, he loses that ability. Saturday noted Payton struggled with the same issue with Nix last year. "At some point, it becomes the play caller's responsibility," he said. "If you got to get it in by 20, get it in by 20, bro. Like it's my job to go block that big son of a gun across the line from me, it's your job to have it in at 20."

He also allowed that "Aaron's Aaron," a guy who "likes to get little jabs in when he can," while McCarthy is trying to calm things down. Saturday was not sure the Steelers are good enough to keep winning, but "I don't think a little squabble on a Thursday night's going to affect that."

Rich framed the stakes for a quarterback in his 40s whose edge is beating defenses with his brain. Rodgers still has the arm, Rich said, pointing to the back-shoulder touchdown to Darnell Washington, but his superpower is getting into a position to see the field and win that way. Saturday expanded on it with his own career. Football intelligence climbs as athleticism declines, and in his final years of a 14-year career he was not as strong or fast as he was at 25, but he knew how to get there first, sometimes with a fake head bob to send a defensive lineman the wrong way. Rodgers wants that same edge, plus the cadence, because "one of his other superpowers is getting the other team to jump offsides." With the play arriving late, that disappears. "If it's 3, 2, 1, that defensive lineman, brother, he's firing off the freaking rock like a rifle." And when it goes wrong, Saturday said, "the problem for players is we're the ones taking the majority of the criticism."

With Week 5 kicking off that night, Rich gave Saturday the floor on the matchups. He started with Bears at Packers and the two head coaches. He thought Matt LaFleur was smart and measured in keeping the focus on the players. He loves that Ben Johnson "does his own thing, man. He lives in his own world," and came into the league "with a level of swag that very few coaches have." What Saturday respected even more was Johnson going to his third quarterback, Case Keenum, without making it an excuse. "That dude was like, we're going to beat him with Case Keenum." Whatever Green Bay has looked like, "this rivalry will bring the best out of both of them."

On Bills and Rams, Saturday rejected the Matthew Stafford versus Josh Allen framing. "I will tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, the team that wins is going to be the most physical team that can run the ball." He watched the Rams climb back into the Eagles game behind Kyren Williams and physicality, and felt the Bills went the other way. He wants to see James Cook. He pointed to the Patriots game, where Allen threw an interception on second down with over a minute left and all of Buffalo's timeouts. Allen may be Superman, but in those moments, "if you can rely on a physical part of your game and go beat people up, that's the way that you go close games out." His bottom line for the weekend: "Blocking, tackling, running. Like that stuff matters."

Rich asked whether 49ers at Seahawks is the battle for the best team in the NFL. Saturday said yes. He called Mike Macdonald against Kyle Shanahan another fantastic coaching matchup, noting Macdonald holds a 3-2 edge and has held Shanahan's offense to around 18 and a half points. "That's insane." Both teams are banged up, but Brock Purdy is "playing lights out," the protection has been strong and the run game is on point. Seattle won with Drew Lock as a backup for a couple of weeks, Sam Darnold is coming back, and they lost to the Commanders, a game Saturday said they "had no business" losing. With the three best teams, minus Chicago, in one division, he called it a must-win for the home team. "This counts for two." Rich added that the Melbourne game was technically a Niners visit to the Rams, so a win in Seattle would give San Francisco its two toughest division road wins and a 5-0 start.

That left the 4-0 Chiefs and Kenneth Walker III, a former Super Bowl MVP with the Seahawks who now carries the ball in Kansas City. Rich noted Reid is committed to Walker, who is on pace for a 2,000-yard season, and said this is why he thinks Kansas City may be more dangerous than in previous years.

"This is my favorite part of the NFL," Saturday said. Reid is a "former O-lineman who has fallen in love with the passing attack," and now he has Walker. "This dude is a freaking freight train. And he is not taking him off the tracks. I love it." Saturday had worried when the Chiefs talked early about balancing Walker's carries. His response as an offensive lineman: "Don't take my dude out, bro. Let him ride. Like he's hot." Moving forward on the ground protects the quarterback, and Walker is producing "5-yard gains, 50-yard gains." Saturday called it "high reward, low risk."

That brought him to Patrick Mahomes. Saturday traced Mahomes from the Tyreek Hill and Kelce years of throwing it all over the field, to managing games and getting hit while the defense won, to handing the ball off now. He does not do GOAT comparisons, but "Patrick Mahomes is in a class by himself," partly because of how he leads. "There's nothing more fun to watch for an offensive lineman than a quarterback who's willing to die to himself to let everybody else shine."

His one concern is receiver. Thornton going down was "a massive loss" because he was really picking up his game, and Saturday believes the Chiefs need one more pass catcher to help Rice and Kelce, even with Worthy still there. He has heard Tyreek Hill's name, among others. Rich closed with the stat that frames all of it: Mahomes has not had a 1,000-yard rusher since Kareem Hunt's rookie season in 2017, and he may have another one by Week 8.

Rich told Saturday the show needs him on more often. "Heck yeah, brother. I'm always in."