Pat McAfee won’t tolerate “f–king losers on television” taking shots at his friend and former Colts teammate Jeff Saturday.
During his YouTube show on Monday, McAfee went off about Bill Cowher and his criticism of Saturday, who the Colts named their interim head coach last Monday after the team fired Frank Reich.
Cowher — who spent 15 years as head coach of the Steelers, winning a Super Bowl in 2006 — said that the Saturday hire is “a disgrace to the coaching profession” during CBS’s pregame show Sunday.
“He got hired at 34 in his hometown to be the head coach of the f–king Pittsburgh Steelers, so if he maybe caught a lot of fire whenever he got hired for not earning and deserving the job that he took and he now wants to project that on Jeff Saturday, he can take that up with himself,” McAfee said, adding that he has respect for Cowher.
“But Bill Cowher, shut the f–k up, dude. He said why didn’t [Colts senior defensive assistant] John Fox get the job. Why didn’t [Colts defensive coordinator] Gus Bradley get the job? It’s their first year in the building, and, to be honest, the team has stunk since they got there.”
The Colts were a disappointing 3-5-1 before the Saturday hire. Indianapolis defeated the Raiders 25-20 in Saturday’s coaching debut on Sunday.
“You think [Colts owner] Jim Irsay, who wants to hire an interim coach, goes, ‘You know what, these guys just got here and although they’re doing O.K., the defense isn’t bad,” McAfee said. “Do I want to hire these guys who don’t know anybody here? They’re just working with the D. They don’t know the building. They don’t know how we operate. They literally just f—ing got here and our team hasn’t been good.’
“Jim Irsay says, do I want to hire them, or does Jim Irsay say, ‘You know what, give me a guy who played 13 years here. Give me a guy who is in our Ring of Honor. Give me a guy that has won a Super Bowl here. Give me a guy that has sweat, bled and puked on this field for this program, who has built the Lucas Oil Stadium, the stadium in which we call home, alongside Peyton Manning and others. Give me a guy who wants to be a coach, has been a coach and maybe understands what this program is supposed to be and he hires him, and they all take shots.’”
Interim head coach Jeff Saturday of the Indianapolis Colts during a game against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 13, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty ImagesMcAfee went on to say that the “the backlash was absurd” from critics who acted like “puppets” — including Joe Thomas — on television reacting to the Saturday hire.
“It was a wild week last week,” McAfee said. “Everybody was taking shots at a couple of friends of mine in the organization, and they get a f–king win, the other quarterback’s crying at a press conference, I mean this is a lot better than where we had been, so congrats to Jeff, and f–k off to all you parrots on TV.”
Former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher looks on during a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 30, 2019 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA. Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesCowher, along with other sports media talking heads, pointed out that Saturday has no prior coaching experience at the NFL or college level. The 47-year-old served as head coach for the Hebron Christian Academy high school football team in Dacula, Georgia.
Saturday has remained close with Irsay since his playing days, and was a consultant for the Colts prior to taking the interim head coach job. He is also in the team’s Ring Of Honor.
Saturday was a center for the Colts for 13 seasons from 1999-2011, winning a Super Bowl with Indianapolis in 2007. He earned six Pro Bowl nods and was named First-Team All-Pro twice.
The Colts host the Eagles on Sunday.
