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Speaker 1: Radio and podcasts.

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Speaker 2: Free never sounded so good.

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Speaker 3: There's two things I want to say to open up

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Speaker 3: the three o'clock hour here, Tim Benson from Mark Madden

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Speaker 3: one O five nine the X. First of all, my

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Speaker 3: nipples are fine. Secondly, I got to talk about Joe

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Speaker 3: Flacco and what I saw on the postgame interview last night.

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Speaker 3: After the Steelers lost in Cincinnati thirty three to thirty

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Speaker 3: one on Thursday Night Football, Flacco was conducting an interview

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Speaker 3: on the field with the Prime Network video team all

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Speaker 3: seventeen hosts on the desk and Jamar Chase and Joe

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Speaker 3: Flacco at the same time. And while Flacco was speaking,

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Speaker 3: a large group of remaining fans started chanting thank you Cleveland,

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Speaker 3: Thank you Cleveland, over and over and over again. Then

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Speaker 3: they started seeing some other chant that was, well, gosh,

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Speaker 3: I can't rep okay that one on the air, but

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Speaker 3: something you Pittsburgh, Something you Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 2: And I'm thinking to myself, hmm.

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Speaker 3: So Flacco's doing this interview basically at the same time

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Speaker 3: that Mike Tomlin is wrapping up his postgame press conference,

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Speaker 3: and as I'm sure he was walking away from his

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Speaker 3: interview session, he was muttering something else about Cleveland. That

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Speaker 3: sounded a lot more like that second chance and second chant,

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Speaker 3: if I could do it in English. You know, all

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Speaker 3: of Tomlin's fears about Flacco going to Cincinnati from Cleveland,

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Speaker 3: they manifested on Thursday, and for the thirteenth time, thirteenth time,

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Speaker 3: Flaco beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. This time it occurred barely

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Speaker 3: a week after he arrived in Cincinnati. The Steelers, they

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Speaker 3: built up what a month of goodwill, and I feel

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Speaker 3: like it's just been flushed right down the toilet. So

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Speaker 3: let's get into everything that went wrong in this game,

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Speaker 3: and we'll go primarily on the defensive side first, then

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Speaker 3: we'll work our way over to the offense. There was

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Speaker 3: a little offensive graping to be had, but mainly this

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Speaker 3: was a defensive disaster. And it all goes to the

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Speaker 3: paranoia about Joe Flacco.

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Speaker 2: Paranoia.

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Speaker 3: It'll destroy you, and it destroyed the Steelers last night.

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Speaker 3: If you go back to Tomlin's Flaco comments, the ones

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Speaker 3: about Anthony Richardson, not just the ones about Andrew Berry,

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Speaker 3: but the ones about Anthony Richardson in advance of this

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Speaker 3: game that the Steelers played in Cincy, let's rewind the

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Speaker 3: tape a little bit to their trip out to Dublin

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Speaker 3: and the press conference that Tomlin had before that, when

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Speaker 3: he started talking about his memories of telling the team

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Speaker 3: to keep Anthony Richardson upright so Flacco didn't enter the game.

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Speaker 3: Now we had kind of heard about that, that there

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Speaker 3: were some rumblings about that. I think Tomlin might have

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Speaker 3: even made an allusion to that or said it off

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Speaker 3: the record or after the season. There's something that's not

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Speaker 3: the first time that was set out loud. So it

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Speaker 3: didn't really quite smack people in the face to the

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Speaker 3: degree that it should have, at least in talking about Flacko,

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Speaker 3: because we weren't ready to start talking about Cleveland yet.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure we would have brought it up before the

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Speaker 3: Cleveland game, but it wasn't sitting there on a tee

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Speaker 3: just yet. It was more like, cheez, that was a

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Speaker 3: nasty thing to say about Anthony Richardson. That was catching

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Speaker 3: astray out of nowhere for that guy. But if you

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Speaker 3: go back to those comments in advance of the Dublin game,

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Speaker 3: when he was drawing an analogy to JJ McCarthy and

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Speaker 3: Carson Wentz, Tomlin told on himself. Tomlin revealed something there.

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Speaker 2: I knew. He thought it was a fleeting comment that

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Speaker 2: more or.

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Speaker 3: Less was a good way to illustrate a story and

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Speaker 3: spin a yarn about the quarterback situation with Wentz, and

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Speaker 3: maybe big up Wentz a little bit, so it looked

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Speaker 3: like he was saying good things about the opposition before

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Speaker 3: the trip out to Dublin. But Tomlin told on himself

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Speaker 3: when it came that level of concern about Flacco, that

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Speaker 3: was a look in the window. That concern turned into

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Speaker 3: paranoia this week when he chastised Andrew Berry, the general

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Speaker 3: manager of the Browns, for trading Flacco to Cincinnati. The

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Speaker 3: Steelers proceeded to play against Flacco as if they were

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Speaker 3: paralyzed by fear over.

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Speaker 2: Him running the Bengals offense.

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Speaker 3: The Steelers acted like they weren't facing Joe Flacco, that

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Speaker 3: they were facing Joe Cool, Joe Burrow, or Joe Montana.

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Speaker 3: Like I said before, and Jamar Chase, Well, if Flacco

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Speaker 3: looked like Joe Montana, then Chase looked like Jerry Rice.

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Speaker 3: Sixteen passes on twenty three targets for one hundred and

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Speaker 3: sixty one yards in a touchdown. He could have thrown

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Speaker 3: the ball to Chase fifty times. I'm not exaggerating. You

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Speaker 3: could basically have doubled that number. But Chase Brown was running,

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Speaker 3: got to keep him involved. Te Higgins is on the

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Speaker 3: other side, he had ninety six yards receiving, got to

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Speaker 3: keep him involved. They literally kind of like what the

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Speaker 3: Steelers been doing all year playing with one receiver in DK.

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Speaker 3: That approach of what Flacco did with Chase is moving

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Speaker 3: forward what Rogers should do with Dkay. But t wasn't

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Speaker 3: bad either, was he touchdown ninety six yards six receptions,

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Speaker 3: basically the game winning catch. So Flacco finishes with what

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Speaker 3: three forty two, three touchdowns, thirty one to forty seven,

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Speaker 3: a passer rating of one zero eight point six, and yes,

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Speaker 3: he even ran for thirteen yards.

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Speaker 2: That looked like it was going to be a huge play.

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Speaker 3: It kind of got lost in the mix, but what

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Speaker 3: a dagger that would have been if Cincinnati ended up

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Speaker 3: finishing that drive. So Flacco's now five hundred lifetime against

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Speaker 3: the Steelers, including postseason games, and apparently he's going to

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Speaker 3: live rent free in Tomlin's head for all eternity. But

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Speaker 3: it is my belief that Tomlin started to lose this

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Speaker 3: game on Monday, or maybe he even started to lose

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Speaker 3: that game on the way back to his house from

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Speaker 3: the Cleveland game. I don't know, but on Monday at

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Speaker 3: that press conference, that's when this loss started. When Tomlin

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Speaker 3: kicked the hornet's nest, had everybody buzzing about how much

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Speaker 3: of a boogieyman Flaco was. And I think the players

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Speaker 3: hurt it. I think the players bought into it. I

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Speaker 3: think the players turned him into way too much. I

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Speaker 3: think if that was an attempt to get the player's

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Speaker 3: attention to say, hey, the Bengals don't stink as bad

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Speaker 3: anymore because Flacco is in there because instead of Jake Browning,

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Speaker 3: then it backfired and he didn't need to do it

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Speaker 3: to that degree, but he did eight three, three, four,

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Speaker 3: one two ninety nine thirty nine. And then he get

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Speaker 3: to the run game. The Bengals had the worst rushing

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Speaker 3: yardage per game average in football fifty six yards per game,

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Speaker 3: thirty yards worse than any other team in football, and

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Speaker 3: then on Thursday they put up one for two on

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Speaker 3: twenty three attempts. As a team, Chase brown he hadn't

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Speaker 3: exceeded forty seven yards all year. He winds up in

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Speaker 3: one oh eight at one point in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 3: During the broadcast, Kirk Herbstreet pointed out, this number is

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Speaker 3: ridiculous when you're supposed to be ready for the other

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Speaker 3: team to run. Even when they've got a hot quarterback

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Speaker 3: and two great receivers, you kind of think run on

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Speaker 3: first and ten. They averaged eleven yards per carry on

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Speaker 3: first and ten runs. The Steelers rush defense had become

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Speaker 3: a punchline around these parts based on the failures at

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Speaker 3: the end of the twenty twenty four season. That carried

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Speaker 3: over through the first three weeks of twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 3: when they gave up four hundred and eighteen yards to

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Speaker 3: the Jets, Seahawks and the Patriots. Out of the Patriots,

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Speaker 3: on was a little fluky, Drake May had some scrambles

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Speaker 3: on passing plays.

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Speaker 2: Not the same thing, but it's in the mix.

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Speaker 4: Now.

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Speaker 3: Minnesota and Cleveland, you watch those two games, you're thinking, oh, well,

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Speaker 3: maybe things are fixed. You watch those two games and

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Speaker 3: maybe you think to yourself, Okay, a little bit of

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Speaker 3: a carryover. They got Harmon in there, now are getting better.

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Speaker 3: They only averaged sixty seven yards those two teams against

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Speaker 3: the Steelers run defense. It looked like you'd gotten over

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Speaker 3: the trauma, well, so much of that notion and in

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Speaker 3: all the defense passing game, run game they allowed four

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Speaker 3: hundred and seventy yards against Cincinnati, And the biggest thing

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Speaker 3: about that is the big play defensive players totally absent

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Speaker 3: in this game. The Bengals ran seventy two plays, the

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Speaker 3: Steelers created, no turnovers, two sacks, one reel early, one

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Speaker 3: reel eight, nothing in between, and three tackles for loss TJ.

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Speaker 3: Watt had one tackle with half a sack, and there

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Speaker 3: was like fifty five minutes of the game where you

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Speaker 3: didn't know he was there.

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Speaker 2: He was getting shut out until late in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 3: For all the crap we gave Miles Garrett coming off

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Speaker 3: of his performance in Pittsburgh with Cleveland, Watt basically just

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Speaker 3: turned in the same thing against Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: They split that big.

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Speaker 3: Sack with Hayward, so it felt like he had more

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Speaker 3: of an packed Hayward, by the way, only had two

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Speaker 3: solo tackles along with that half sack. But the alleged

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Speaker 3: vaunted pass rush that looked like it had woken up

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Speaker 3: against Minnesota and Cleveland sixteen quarterback hicks six sacks last

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Speaker 3: week against Cleveland, it got to Flacco behind a leaky

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Speaker 3: offensive line just twice herbig that Pro Bowl push, well

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Speaker 3: that's on pause. Didn't play much. One solo tackle, no sacks,

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Speaker 3: one quarterback hit Harmon. He was a real spark at first.

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Speaker 3: I don't know what for two weeks since he's been

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Speaker 3: back from injury. Not on Thursday. Two tackles and a

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Speaker 3: goose egg. Besides that, and the reconfigured secondary, which was

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Speaker 3: allegedly built, was stopping Higgins and Chase. In mind, it

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Speaker 3: was roasted all night, Ramsey Slay, Joey Porter Junior. They

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Speaker 3: took turns getting torn apart. The Steelers create no turnovers,

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Speaker 3: and yet the Bengals have a league leading eleven giveaways.

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Speaker 3: There were eight of fifteen on third down conversions, and

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Speaker 3: they held onto the ball for over thirty four minutes.

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Speaker 3: So none of the big play aspect of the Steelers

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Speaker 3: that we saw against Cleveland and against Minnesota and frankly

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Speaker 3: against the Jets and Patriots too, none of that existed

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Speaker 3: against a team that's ripe to allow those things to

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Speaker 3: ruin their offensive flow, and the Steelers never let it

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Speaker 3: come to fruition even on offense. Rogers, Yeah, he hit

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Speaker 3: Pat fayre move for the sixty eight yard touchdown and

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Speaker 3: DK of the thirty nine yard reception, but Metcalf was

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Speaker 3: really quiet after that.

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Speaker 2: Just two more catches and eleven more yards.

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Speaker 3: And then the last thing I want to say about this,

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Speaker 3: and maybe we'll get into the offense specifically more later

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Speaker 3: on in the show. But yet again, penalties were a

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Speaker 3: problem for the Steelers, not as bad as last week.

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Speaker 3: It was seven as opposed to ten. I think it

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Speaker 3: was six in the first half. They cleaned it up

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Speaker 3: in the second half, but they were costly. You know,

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Speaker 3: the tush push thing was costly. But they got the

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Speaker 3: penalty there that erased a first down and resulted in

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Speaker 3: a field goal instead of a first down, keeping a

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Speaker 3: drive alive that could have turned into a touchdown. And

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Speaker 3: of course that play that tush push had to exist

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Speaker 3: because a war in touchdown was erased due to a

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Speaker 3: hold by Zach Frasier. Then again, I guess you could argue,

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Speaker 3: and you'd probably be right. Would Ward have even gotten

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Speaker 3: into the end zone if it weren't from the hole

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Speaker 3: for Fraser in the first place. So I know, that's

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Speaker 3: a lot to get to, that's a lot to digest,

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Speaker 3: or you can just say Hey, the defense sure sucks again,

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Speaker 3: doesn't it? And that'll be fine too. Eight three, three,

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Speaker 3: four one two ninety nine thirty nine. Scott calling from Aliquippa.

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Speaker 3: You're on one o five nine.

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Speaker 2: The x's up, Tim, How you doing good? Scott?

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Speaker 5: I never felt this way at a game on There

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Speaker 5: was no lack of confidence on the defense. I mean,

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Speaker 5: it was almost to the point where I thought Friar.

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Speaker 2: Moves should have slid because you just just.

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Speaker 3: Know that Plaka was gonna okay, it's a time out

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Speaker 3: of time about because like I was waiting for somebody to

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Speaker 3: say that. Tom and I addressed this in the two

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Speaker 3: o'clock hour. It's not the same thing as what Higgins did.

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Speaker 3: They needed a touchdown there. It wasn't Higgins sliding to

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Speaker 3: set up a twenty four yard chip shot field goal.

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Speaker 3: There's no guarantee they're going to score a touchdown.

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Speaker 2: That wasn't a.

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Speaker 3: Play that you talk to the ball carrier and say

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Speaker 3: get down because you get a.

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Speaker 2: Chip shot green goal. So like, you know, I know

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Speaker 2: what you're saying, Like.

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Speaker 3: It does, it does go through your head because you're

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Speaker 3: thinking to yourself, they're just gonna allow a score anyway.

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Speaker 2: But It's not like they're gonna be able.

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Speaker 3: To wind off the entire time on the clock when

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Speaker 3: they did that, So like Cincinnati was still going to

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Speaker 3: get the ball back and still have a chance to

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Speaker 3: kick a field goal, take the seven, and then rely

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Speaker 3: on your one hundred and fifty eight million dollar defense

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Speaker 3: to make a friggin stop Like that shouldn't be part

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Speaker 3: of the annalysis.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, So we're foign too, right.

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Speaker 5: That was an absolutely terrible game. Three games are really

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Speaker 5: going to define this, right, I mean, if we go

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Speaker 5: one and two, or if we go two and one,

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Speaker 5: or if we go zero to three, right, I think

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Speaker 5: we're really going to see what this team's about in

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Speaker 5: the next three games, because this is the real test,

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Speaker 5: don't you think?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 4: I do.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think you're facing three teams that are

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Speaker 3: very likely playoff teams. The Packers might be the biggest

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Speaker 3: question just because of the state of the NFC versus

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Speaker 3: the state of the AFC. But I do think you're

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Speaker 3: facing three teams that are all going to be in

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Speaker 3: the playoff mix at the very least come January, and

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Speaker 3: I feel like they're gonna be fortunate to go one

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Speaker 3: and two. Honestly, if they had eked out that win

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Speaker 3: last night against Cincinnati, even if they won it convincingly,

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Speaker 3: I might have told you they'd be lucky to go

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Speaker 3: one and two. But generally speaking, this happens with Tomlin

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Speaker 3: Steelers teams. Right, they lose this game every year.

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Speaker 6: Happen last year?

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Speaker 5: Often, it happens almost every year.

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Speaker 3: Yes, they go six and one with Russ and they

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Speaker 3: lose the game to the Browns. You're saying, how do

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Speaker 3: that happen? And then of course they lose five in

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Speaker 3: a row thanks to call Scott eight three to three,

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Speaker 3: four one two ninety nine, thirty nine. Speaking of the

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Speaker 3: comps to last year, I want to address that week

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Speaker 3: come back because there's a little numerical nugget that we

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Speaker 3: need to focus on as it relates to the Steelers.

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Speaker 2: We'll do that week come back. One O five nine

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Speaker 2: The X.

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Speaker 7: It's the Pens against the Sharks. Game time is at ten,

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Speaker 7: Our coverage starts at nine. Listen to every game and

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Speaker 7: the best Pens coverage on your home of the Pittsburgh

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Speaker 7: Penguins one O five nine b X iHeartRadio All three.

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Speaker 2: At the X at one O five nine.

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Speaker 3: Jeer, I wonder if pro Football Talk's gonna have the

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Speaker 3: Steelers in their top five power rankings again this week.

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Speaker 3: Hough does that look silly? Eight three three four one

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Speaker 3: two ninety nine thirty nine. I want your response to

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Speaker 3: what the Steelers did last night, what the Steelers didn't

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Speaker 3: do last night, and what the Steelers have to do

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Speaker 3: now to regain all that goodwill that they built up

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Speaker 3: over the first month of the season.

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Speaker 2: That's actually kind of where I want to focus here now.

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Speaker 4: Uh.

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Speaker 2: If you just want to.

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Speaker 3: Bitch about the defense, bitch about the defense, I'm here

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Speaker 3: with you. Eight three three four one two ninety nine

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Speaker 3: thirty nine. If you want to talk about how the

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Speaker 3: offense screwed up here and there a little bit, we're

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Speaker 3: gonna get into that. There is room to discuss there.

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Speaker 3: I'll do it with you too. Eight three three four

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Speaker 3: one two ninety nine thirty nine. But if you want

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Speaker 3: to talk big picture, and I know Mike Tomlin's not

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Speaker 3: a big picture guy, he said that, although I don't

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Speaker 3: know how that jibes with what happened this past week

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Speaker 3: with the whole Flacco thing, But if you look big picture,

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Speaker 3: where the Steelers are. I will pose this question to listeners.

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Speaker 3: If you were somebody that was buying in before last night.

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Speaker 3: If you were someone who saw a Pro Football Talk

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Speaker 3: this week and said, yeah, Steelers rated fifth in the

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Speaker 3: power rankings, that's about.

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Speaker 2: Right, that's where they should be.

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Speaker 3: If you are that person, say the last night's loss

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Speaker 3: flush all that. I have a hard time speaking to

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Speaker 3: that because I'm not that person, but I would think

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Speaker 3: that it should. But I do want to hear from

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Speaker 3: you if you were a true believer going into last night, was.

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Speaker 2: Your faith tested?

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Speaker 3: Or do you just chalk it up to a divisional

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Speaker 3: road game Thursday night? It happens, It's happened to Tom

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Speaker 3: when this whole time he's been coaching the Steelers, and hey,

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Speaker 3: did you hear he's never had a losing season eight three, three,

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Speaker 3: four one two ninety nine thirty nine there.

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Speaker 2: Because I want you to consider this.

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Speaker 3: If you're still bought in and you still think that

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Speaker 3: this year is going to be different, well let's consider

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Speaker 3: a few things. They're four and two right now, that's

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Speaker 3: what they were. When Justin Fields is a quarterback, Aaron

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Speaker 3: Rodgers has won four of his first six games as

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Speaker 3: the Steels quarterback. And that's good. And he's been good,

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Speaker 3: very good. Better than I expected. If you go down

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Speaker 3: the list of everything that's wrong with the Steelers, I

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Speaker 3: got to go a while before I get to Aaron Rodgers,

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Speaker 3: that's for sure, And I don't even know if I

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Speaker 3: get to Aaron Rodgers at all. For the most part,

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Speaker 3: he's been very good. I did see a few cracks

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Speaker 3: last night when he came to his temperament dealing with

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Speaker 3: the teammates and kind of keeping as cool during a

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Speaker 3: game when players screw up, whether that's Roderick Jones jumping

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Speaker 3: on his back like a lunatic or Jalen Warren screwing

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Speaker 3: up apparently on the flea flicker. At least that's the

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Speaker 3: tale that was told. Warranted reasons to be upset, sure,

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Speaker 3: but he's also the guy that chucked that interception for

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Speaker 3: no apparent reason, way over DK Metcalf's head and to

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Speaker 3: awaiting safety.

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Speaker 2: So Rogers isn't without blame.

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Speaker 3: But he's been very good, and he made some really

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Speaker 3: nice plays last night, especially that throw that he made

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Speaker 3: to DK Metcalf and then moving around the way that

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Speaker 3: he did before finding John hu Smith for that touchdown.

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Speaker 3: But for as much as we're singing his praises, we

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Speaker 3: do remember that Russ Wilson won six of his first

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Speaker 3: seven games here, don't we. I feel like I constantly

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Speaker 3: bring that up, whether I'm here hosting for Mark or

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Speaker 3: on nine seventy or writing in the trip, like I

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Speaker 3: feel it's my duty to remind people that we liked

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Speaker 3: Russell Wilson a lot for a while too, and people

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Speaker 3: like to pretend that we didn't because this year is different.

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Speaker 3: This year's better Russ. It's amazing Tomlin got him to

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Speaker 3: ten wins with Russ, and Fields they are where they

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Speaker 3: were with Fields last year. Russ won six of his

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Speaker 3: first seven. You know, I said this about Rogers when

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Speaker 3: he eventually got signed, and I said this about Rogers

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Speaker 3: before he got signed that if you want to make

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Speaker 3: the argument to go through everything that they went through

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Speaker 3: to get Rogers, the argument is he's probably good enough

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Speaker 3: that you're never gonna get the zero to five stretch

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Speaker 3: that Russ allowed to happen. From his point of view,

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Speaker 3: it wasn't all Russ by far. It was mainly the

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Speaker 3: defense last year, just like it was last night. But

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Speaker 3: Russ did contribute to a certain degree by just not

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Speaker 3: being good enough anymore as the quarterback. So I always

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Speaker 3: thought that Rogers was gonna be good enough that zero

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Speaker 3: to five would never happen under his watch. But I

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Speaker 3: also wondered out loud, is he ever gonna give him

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Speaker 3: a stretch where they've won six to seven and he's

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Speaker 3: the biggest reason why, because that was kind of the

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Speaker 3: case with Russ, as much as we pretend like it

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Speaker 3: never happened. And so far for and two has been

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Speaker 3: pretty good, but it wasn't good enough for justin Fields,

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Speaker 3: not just in terms of him getting benched for Russ,

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Speaker 3: but in terms of them wanting to give him money

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Speaker 3: to the degree that the Jets did, upon further review,

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Speaker 3: probably a good idea they didn't. Probably a good idea

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Speaker 3: that they have Rogers at a better number. I'm not

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Speaker 3: trying to make that correlation. I'm just trying to couch

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Speaker 3: some of the belief that people automatically feel things have

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Speaker 3: to be better because they're better at the quarterback position.

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Speaker 3: It's got to translate the wins, not just in the

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Speaker 3: manner I just described to the regular season, but it's

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Speaker 3: got to be for a postseason victory too. Mark's calling

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Speaker 3: from Mars Mark, you're on one to five nine.

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Speaker 6: The X.

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Speaker 1: Any thanks for taking my call. I try not to

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Speaker 1: get too high or too low through the season. Each

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Speaker 1: game is a small sample size, but I'm feeling pretty

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Speaker 1: down about the game yesterday. I think they gave up

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Speaker 1: so much. And I don't know if I harken back

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Speaker 1: to Tomlin against Brady, where he's just afraid of what

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Speaker 1: they're going to do, so they don't like there was

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Speaker 1: no pressure. I don't know how many backs we had

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Speaker 1: rushing the quarterback, but it didn't seem like that.

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Speaker 3: Well. Yeah, and we've talked about that a lot from

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Speaker 3: an offensive perspective this year, that their offense has felt

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Speaker 3: limited because they've been trying to coach away from what

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Speaker 3: they can't do right, Like they can't pass protect, so

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Speaker 3: Rogers has to get rid of the ball fast. They

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Speaker 3: don't have a number two widers, so everything has to

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Speaker 3: go to DK. They can't play Friarmouth as much as

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Speaker 3: they probably want, as much as they probably want to,

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Speaker 3: because they have to put Spencer Anderson and Darnell Washington out.

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Speaker 3: There are blocks, like they coach away from opening it

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Speaker 3: up because they have to be conservative and protect Rogers

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Speaker 3: and this you're right, the same thing happened on defense

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Speaker 3: last night because they were so paranoid about what was

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Speaker 3: going to happen if they rushed Flacco that they were

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Speaker 3: gonna get burned and he would complete a lot of

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Speaker 3: passes to Higgins and Chase. So they played coverage, and

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00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,960
Speaker 3: guess what happened. He completed a lot of passes to

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Speaker 3: Higgins and Chase.

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Speaker 2: It was gonna happen anyway, Gore.

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Speaker 6: And to your point, there's sometimes where I feel like

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Speaker 6: this offense looks interesting where there's there's there someone gets

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Speaker 6: a reception that I forgot that they were even.

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Speaker 1: On the team. And then there's another time where they

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Speaker 1: you have to turn the DK and quadruple coverage that

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Speaker 1: you have to force that in. It just it seems

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Speaker 1: like there's things don't add up. I'll leave it there right.

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Speaker 3: You know what, we got to talk about the offense

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Speaker 3: a little bit too. We'll do that's a good segue.

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Speaker 3: We'll talk about the offense and their role in this.

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Speaker 3: We come back one of five nine the X.

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00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:20,159
Speaker 2: The Spirits Summer News. Join us for the XS Halloween.

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Speaker 2: This is Atino Mobile. This is What's trending from Iheartsports,

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Speaker 2: presented by Levin Furniture and Mattress.

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Speaker 9: The Steelers three game winning streak hits over after they

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Speaker 9: were stunned by the Bengals on Thursday Night.

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Speaker 2: Football Pittsburgo hosts Green Bay next Sunday.

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Speaker 9: Terry Smith makes his Penn State head coaching debut tomorrow

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Speaker 9: at Iowa.

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Speaker 2: After James Franklin's firing bom Pitt, they.

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Speaker 9: Visit Syracuse and with rumors of other job offers swirling,

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Speaker 9: Indiana football coach Kurt Signetti has signed an eight year,

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Speaker 9: ninety three million dollar extension. I'm Scott David said. It's

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Speaker 9: the anniversary sale and always a component of any nice date.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for making my day.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, what you said the exit one oh five nine.

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Speaker 3: Clearly, the Steelers defense was the biggest culprit in the

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Speaker 3: club's thirty three thirty one loss to the Cincinnati Bengals

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Speaker 3: on Thursday night. But as the recently departed, as Freeley

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Speaker 3: once wrote for Kiss, as you're hearing right now, there

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Speaker 3: are two sides of a coin. And let's talk about

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Speaker 3: what happened with the Steelers offense last night. Yeah, I know,

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Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty eight yards on twenty two receptions

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Speaker 3: for t Higgins and Jamar Chase. They allowed one hundred

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Speaker 3: and forty two yards of rushing to Chase Brown, who

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Speaker 3: had been an absentee lead back basically for the Bengals

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Speaker 3: throughout the course of this season, four hundred and seventy

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Speaker 3: yards in total defense.

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Speaker 2: They allowed what else happened? Oh yeah, Joe Flacco.

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Speaker 3: Re emerged again and beat the Steelers for a thirteenth time.

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Speaker 2: How do you do that?

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Speaker 3: Throwing for over three hundred yards and looking like he

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Speaker 3: was en route to another Super Bowl, like he took

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Speaker 3: the Ravens to what was that now, uh, fifteen years ago,

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Speaker 3: whatever it might have been. So, yeah, the defense is

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Speaker 3: the biggest point of analysis. The defense is the biggest gripe.

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Speaker 3: It was like ninety percent of the reason why the

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Speaker 3: Steelers lost last night. So let's talk about the other

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Speaker 3: ten because there were some offensive things that are worth

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Speaker 3: discussing here, and one thing that we do have to acknowledge.

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Speaker 3: Even though I just talked about how well Aaron Rodgers

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Speaker 3: is playing, he threw two interceptions, one of them not

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Speaker 3: on him, that was on DK. DK has to hold

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Speaker 3: onto that ball as great of a play as it

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Speaker 3: was from the defensive back who took it away from him.

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Speaker 3: Turner made a fantastic play in wrangling that ball free,

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00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 3: and it was a good ball by Rogers and DK

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00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 3: for being the most physical receiver in the league.

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Speaker 2: According to Man, he.

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Speaker 3: Just has to hold onto that ball. The other throw,

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Speaker 3: kind of like some analysts pointed out. I think it

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Speaker 3: was Ryan Fitzpatrick who said, at first, not a great

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Speaker 3: throw to make in that pattern.

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Speaker 2: If you're gonna go fifty to fifty.

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Speaker 3: On it, don't do it when it's not really fifty

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Speaker 3: to fifty because the safety has nobody else to guard.

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00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 3: There was nobody else to take the safety's eyes away,

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Speaker 3: so it became one on two and Rogers just overthrew

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Speaker 3: him anyway, and you got what. You got, a turnover,

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Speaker 3: which the Steelers, as we all know, are allergic to,

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Speaker 3: and then you get two when you can't get any yourself,

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Speaker 3: and that's a big reason why they lost the game.

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Speaker 3: So those issues aside, I still would have liked to

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00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 3: have seen Metcalf involve more. He had the great thirty

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00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 3: nine yard reception, fantastic throwing catch, but then besides that,

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00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 3: just five targets fifty yards the night, so I only

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00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 3: had eleven other yards after the thirty nine yarder beyond Metcalf.

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Speaker 3: Same old story when it comes to the wide receivers.

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Speaker 3: Roman Wilson did have a big third down catch for

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Speaker 3: thirteen yards. He did have a big catch that got

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Speaker 3: wiped out by the Broderick Jones hold. That wasn't his

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00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 3: fault so he flashed. But come on, what are we

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Speaker 3: talking about. Aside from that thirteen yarder for Wilson, he

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00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 3: and Miller and Scornack and Keishawn Williams combined for just

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Speaker 3: two more catches in thirteen yards. Yeah, they still need

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00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 3: another wide receiver if they're going to be a serious

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Speaker 3: playoff contender. But how do we talk about serious playoff

510
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 3: contenders of the defense like that. I know, just get

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Speaker 3: another wide receiver. You need one anyway. Eight three, three,

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Speaker 3: four one two ninety nine thirty nine. Here's something else

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Speaker 3: the Steelers have to be criticized for when it comes

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Speaker 3: to their offensive approach yesterday, as good as it was

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00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 3: in terms of points and total yards and everything else,

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00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 3: they don't do tricky well. They don't do cute well.

517
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Speaker 3: They don't outsmart you well. Like you know, the tush push.

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Speaker 3: I liked it the first time I saw it. It

519
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 3: was interesting, but they screwed it up. So, like you know,

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Speaker 3: the Eagles are ninety nine out of one hundred on

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00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 3: their tush pushes. The Steelers are one for two. They

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00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 3: screwed it up with a penalty. And I don't think

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Speaker 3: it was just McCormick. I think Vaotanam moved too. If

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00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 3: not first, what else happened? Oh yeah, there's that overly tricky,

525
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 3: overly intricate play that they ran to Darnell Washington, Like

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00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 3: you're gonna throw him a screen.

527
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 2: Like that, Just he doesn't need to juke and shake people.

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00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 3: Just let him run over guys or get open, turn

529
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 3: around and look for the ball to hit him in

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00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,720
Speaker 3: the hands. And of course they also screwed up the

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Speaker 3: flea flicker, which apparently everybody else knew what's checked out of.

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Speaker 2: And Jalen Warren didn't.

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Speaker 3: But we always talk about communication problems on defense. I

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Speaker 3: guess there was an issue there on offense as well.

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Speaker 3: And whatever you do, I know people want to do this,

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Speaker 3: and this might be a theme throughout the day if

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Speaker 3: somebody really wants.

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Speaker 2: To make the case for it.

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Speaker 3: One area of blame on the offense that I don't

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Speaker 3: think is appropriate is I've heard it twice already. We've

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Speaker 3: only taken two or three phone calls in the first

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00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 3: hour so far because we've had so much to go

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Speaker 3: over to set the table. But I've already heard a

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Speaker 3: couple of times, had it on Twitter, had it in

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00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 3: my email, so I've gotten in multiple places. This notion

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Speaker 3: that Pat Fryarmuth should have gone down to me is bonkers.

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Speaker 2: T Higgins.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Pat Fryarmuth, No, I know you're saying that, and

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Speaker 3: you're thinking that because you have a defeatist attitude about

550
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 3: the defense, and you should, but that's not the offense's fault.

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Speaker 3: This is going back to like two thousand and two

552
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,640
Speaker 3: when they were winning games thirty something to thirty something

553
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: when Maddox was the quarterback. I scored too quick. Their

554
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 3: defense costs a high hundred and fifty eight million dollars.

555
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:06,719
Speaker 3: Stop somebody. I saw dan Orlowski's tweet, the ESPN analyst

556
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 3: and former quarterback. He said, I really should bring this

557
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 3: up because I want to make sure I get this

558
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 3: exactly right. He was talking about how bad the Steelers

559
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 3: looked on tape. You know, that game ended pretty late

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00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 3: last night. I'll give him credit.

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Speaker 2: He was up. It looks like at six o'clock in

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Speaker 2: the morning.

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Speaker 3: He tweeted this at six twenty three in the morning,

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00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 3: so he must have been watching tape pretty extensively in

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Speaker 3: the four or five o'clock hour. And he tweets out,

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Speaker 3: if you saw the whole game, the Steelers defensive tape

567
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 3: is shocking. It's only shocking if you're allowing yourself to

568
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 3: be shocked because you've been in denial over what you

569
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 3: watched the last few years. But here we are back

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00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 3: to the defense again, where I meant to spend this

571
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 3: segment talking about the offense, but I guess I've said

572
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,320
Speaker 3: enough the whole thing about them trying to be tricky,

573
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 3: Like they don't do tricky well. They got to be

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00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 3: careful when they try to be tricky. And I'll ask

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00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 3: this question, and this is a legitimate question. Is a

576
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 3: little hindsight, it's a little second guessing. But I did

577
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 3: think about it when Rogers threw the interception after Cincinnati

578
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 3: had just scored, like, do they really need to get

579
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 3: into a pinball wizard game with Jamar Chase and t Higgins,

580
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 3: Like was that the best time to dial up the

581
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 3: deep shot?

582
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,120
Speaker 2: Or do you try to run Warren there?

583
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 3: Because maybe if you just kept it on the ground,

584
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 3: Warren as a career high and you get the same

585
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 3: effect of scoring the touchdown that you're going for in

586
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 3: one big chunk because Warren has demoralized them early running

587
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 3: the football because he was moving last night. I loved

588
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 3: the way Warren played last night again. Eight three to three, four,

589
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 3: nine thirty nine. Let's go to terminator. Who's calling from Washington? Terminator,

590
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 3: you're on one O five nine the.

591
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 6: X, Hey out the ball.

592
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Speaker 4: I just wanted to make a comment that game is

593
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 4: kind of sickening to watch last night, But you got

594
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 4: to give it up to Cincinnati because they came to

595
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 4: play and they played way better than the Steelers did.

596
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 4: They outplayed us. That's just what it boils down to.

597
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 4: Fire mouth, and Warren had an excellent game. The rest

598
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 4: of the team sucked.

599
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 2: Him up in.

600
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 3: I thought Rogers was good aside from the pick. I

601
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 3: thought he made a lot of plays. I thought he

602
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 3: was good aside from the interception. And you know, the

603
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 3: offensive line, for its woes, he didn't get sacked last night,

604
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 3: did he. They opened up a lot of holes for

605
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:15,560
Speaker 3: warn didn't they. So I mean, I do think a

606
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 3: lot went right on offense. But I know what you're saying.

607
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 3: I just can't be reductive enough to say, hey, tip

608
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 3: your cap to the other team when that was a

609
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 3: game that the Steelers were supposed to win on the road,

610
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 3: because that quarterback had been there for ten minutes, and

611
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 3: even though he's an experienced guy, you've got to be

612
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 3: able to figure out some sort of way to get around.

613
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 3: I know they he's beaten them a dozen times going

614
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:39,880
Speaker 3: to that game. Well he's lost to him thirteen times too.

615
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 3: You've beaten that guy thirteen times. In that situation, it

616
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 3: calls for a fourteenth win over that quarterback. Seriously, four

617
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 3: one two, Well, that's true A three, three, four one

618
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 3: two ninety nine thirty nine. You could tweet me as

619
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 3: well at Tim Benn's PGH tell you what we're gonna

620
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 3: break a little bit early. We got Charlie Batch. At

621
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 3: the top of the hour, we'll get his analysis. I

622
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 3: do want to let the next segment breathe a little

623
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 3: bit because there is some news coming out from Cleveland

624
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 3: about their reaction to what we talked about at length

625
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 3: over this week about the turf at Akroscher Stadium. So

626
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 3: they've got some things to say that you might want

627
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 3: to hear. This is one oh five nine The X one.

628
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 8: Oh five nine d X has your shot at x

629
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Speaker 8: dra cash because we're nice. Thirteen times a day, nine

630
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 8: am through nine pm, the X will give you the

631
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 8: keyword at the top of every hour.

632
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Speaker 2: Enterate a wxdx.

633
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Speaker 8: Dot com and you could win one thousand dollars jesting.

634
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Speaker 2: You can spread it on the bed and roll around

635
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 2: at one thousand dollars or whatever, it's your money.

636
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Speaker 8: Listen all day for your chance at some extra cash.

637
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Speaker 8: On one oh five to nine the X Romo West

638
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Speaker 8: North Shore and one oh five

639
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 2: Nine The X Present