Former University of Pittsburgh and current Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko was on 93.7 The Fan Thursday morning to talk about several topics that included a charity event he’s involved in the Pittsburgh area, his upcoming free agency situation with the Chiefs and of course his Alma mater, the Panthers. In addition to those topics he was asked about new Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, as Palko of course played for him with the Chiefs.
Palko was first asked what he knows about Haley and Tyler answered, “You know Todd will always have a special place in my heart. He\’s the first NFL coach that gave me an opportunity to put my hands underneath center and start a NFL game, and have the confidence in me. So Todd is someone that I respect a whole heck of a lot and someone that\’s, like I said, gave me my first opportunity. So we have a great relationship and I know that he\’ll continue to do a great job.”
Palko was later asked in the interview if Haley got in his face at times and was he as confrontational as everyone says he is to which Tyler replied, “I don\’t want to get into that too much. All I can say is that the Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls and they\’ve done because they\’ve made decisions in personnel and with Mr. Rooney and Kevin and Coach Tomlin now. They know what they\’re doing. Everybody has an opinion and everybody has a reason why not to like somebody or why to like somebody or why this guy can\’t do it or why this guy doesn\’t fit them or whatever. You know Todd has a long track record of success in the NFL and I don\’t really understand why people are putting the cart before the horse. He hasn\’t really coached a game yet. He hasn\’t really got the chance to coach in a mini-camp or an OTA yet. He\’s always been a great friend to me and a great resource to me as far as football. He\’s very knowledgeable at football and all that stuff you see on TV is never what it seems, positively and negatively. You know he\’s a passionate guy. He\’s from Pittsburgh and you know he grew up around football. Football is very important to him and when he doesn\’t win or when things don\’t go well, he\’s from Pittsburgh, and he\’s not that type of person.”
Palko certainly seemed to be holding something back in regards to the coaching style of Haley and you certainly can\’t blame the young quarterback for doing that. He edified Haley properly and as one would expect he would. It is no secret that Haley is a passionate coach as Palko confirmed in the interview. It would have been interesting to hear Palko asked whether or not quarterback Ben Roethlisberger called him after Haley was hired by the Steelers. Of course that is not a huge deal if he did or he didn\’t, I just think it would have been worth while to hear the answer Palko would have gave if indeed Roethlisberger did call him and what he told the Steelers quarterback. Of course Palko would have smartly skated around it with his answer, just like he did with the earlier line of questions.
