Famous rapper and Steelers super fan Snoop Dogg appeared on the ManningCast, a broadcast of Monday Night Football that features the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, where they give their takes on the game and interview guests.
In this segment, the Manning brothers asked Snoop Dogg about how he became a Steelers fan, who he likes on the team currently and how he thinks the team should go into the future with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger after the conclusion of this season.
“Well in the 70s, you know, watching your dad [Archie Manning] and watching the Steelers and the Raiders and the Cowboys and the teams from the 70s, I fell in love with they great defense, the way they moved the ball, just the way they played football,” Snoop Dogg said about how he became a fan of the Steelers. “It was fun to watch as a kid and as I got older, I fell more in love with them because I got a chance to meet the players, I got to meet coach [Bill] Cowher and Ben Roethlisberger, you know, Jerome Bettis and the rest of the guys and you know, I became a part of Steeler Nation.”
“That’s great company”, Snoop Dogg said after learning that Harris broke the franchise record for rushing yards as a rookie. “I like Najee Harris. I think we don’t get him involved enough, but I think, you know, he’s learning the system and learning how to play football, learning how to block and learning how to use his hands…
Snoop Dogg also spends much of his time coaching youth football in his own league, called the Snoop Youth Football League. Two current players in the NFL right now that played in that league are New York Giants wide receiver John Ross and Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
“We got JuJu Smith-[Schuster] too,” Snoop Dogg said. “He’s on IR right now, but when he come back I’m pretty sure JuJu gon’ do what he love doing. The kids love him. Like, the kids that we coach we like to give them personality and let them be great guys on the field and off the field and not just be superstars, but come back to the community and inspire the youth to do what they do.”
“I didn’t like that at all,” Snoop Dogg said after Ben Roethlisberger threw a short pass to tight end Pat Friermuth that resulted in fourth down. “We’re getting to a point now where Ben is calling his own plays. Ben ain’t listening to the man in the headset, he’s calling his own.”
In a moment where Snoop Dogg and the Manning brothers were talking about outside linebacker T.J. Watt, he chose to highlight his appreciation for Watt and him being the little brother, while also using that logic to compare Peyton and Eli to each other.
You know I like T.J. Watt because he’s the baby brother, Snoop said. I like brothers like you [Peyton] and Eli, like him and J.J. [Watt]. It’s something about that baby brother. That baby brother just plays with a little bit more intensity when he gets his moment.”
Peyton Manning asked Snoop Dogg about his thoughts on how the team should progress after this season with Roethlisberger likely retiring.
“I’m definitely going after Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, off the top,” Snoop Dogg You gotta go with one of those veterans right there that’s savvy enough to come in and take the team to the promised land because we’re just a quarterback away if you ask me. So I’m definitely going for one of those two guys. And if it don’t work out then I’m going in the draft…
Peyton Manning also asked Snoop Dogg about who his favorite Steelers player was when he was growing up in the 1970s as a young Steelers fan.
“I loved Mean Joe Greene,” Snoop Dogg said. “I loved Donnie Shell, I loved Jack Lambert, I loved Jack Ham. I loved Rocky Bleier, the old-school fullback to open up the whole. I loved Lynn Swann with his ballet catches on the sideline, John Stallworth. I mean, I just loved the whole get-down, the way we played. We played with a spirit, a spirit of ‘We love to win, WE hate to lose.’ It’s something about a spirit of a team that can rub off onto the fanbase and that’s what happened. It rubbed off on me in the 70s, to where it’s 2022 and I’m still a Steelers fan like it was 1975.”