WEBVTT - HR 1 - Gerry Dulac 0:00:42.220 --> 0:00:45.419 Sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. 0:00:45.740 --> 0:00:46.500 Difficult to cure. 0:00:46.500 --> 0:00:50.060 3 o'clock hour, 105.9 The X. Tim Benz in for 0:00:50.100 --> 0:00:55.240 Mark Madden. And baseball doesn't do a lot right. It's 0:00:55.300 --> 0:00:58.700 gotten some things right lately, though. We'll forget about all 0:00:58.740 --> 0:01:00.480 those when the game goes away for a year, when 0:01:00.500 --> 0:01:01.460 this lockout happens. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:03.779 More on that to come. If we care. 0:01:03.940 --> 0:01:07.360 According to President Trump, we don't. But we'll dissect that 0:01:07.380 --> 0:01:10.459 coming up later on in the program. But the Wall 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:11.080 Street Journal. 0:01:12.850 --> 0:01:18.729 Has online today this headline. Why NFL games are dragging 0:01:18.990 --> 0:01:23.720 on longer than ever. And Andrew Beaton is the reporter 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.360 who posted this. And what he did was he sort 0:01:27.380 --> 0:01:31.760 of did a comparing contrast between how baseball has made 0:01:31.819 --> 0:01:36.920 the game quicker and more digestible and how football has 0:01:36.980 --> 0:01:40.240 gotten longer and longer. Up to the point now where 0:01:40.260 --> 0:01:45.470 it's tracking at three hours and 11 minutes and even 0:01:45.510 --> 0:01:48.290 a game like for instance the rams and the bills 0:01:48.710 --> 0:01:51.410 took three hours and 32 minutes to play and that 0:01:51.450 --> 0:01:55.250 might have been an exciting great game but it dragged 0:01:55.330 --> 0:01:58.580 because of how much dead time there was and how 0:01:58.670 --> 0:02:01.090 long of the lull how many lulls existed how many 0:02:01.170 --> 0:02:04.360 long lulls existed during the game like you could look 0:02:04.380 --> 0:02:06.300 at a game and see for instance let me see 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.200 here Back in 2017, after two seasons in which NFL 0:02:10.220 --> 0:02:13.360 games were 3-10 or longer, the league reduced its number 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.700 of commercial breaks per game and saw the action speed 0:02:15.780 --> 0:02:16.120 up again. 0:02:16.139 --> 0:02:17.100 All right. 0:02:17.220 --> 0:02:20.740 And I think you said somewhere along here, the average 0:02:20.780 --> 0:02:23.959 time had been for an NFL game 3-16. 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.020 It is now. Sorry, it is 3-16. It had been 3-11. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:28.810 There's this five minutes difference. 0:02:28.889 --> 0:02:29.149 All right. 0:02:30.540 --> 0:02:33.540 Five minutes over the course of three hours plus, you're 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.920 not going to notice. You're not going to notice on 0:02:35.940 --> 0:02:38.950 your couch a game that lasted 310 versus a game 0:02:38.970 --> 0:02:41.710 that lasted 315. 0:02:42.500 --> 0:02:46.299 You will notice, though, individually, those one-minute. 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:50.680 Lulls of a static camera shot focused on six referees 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.960 talking to each other with their hands in the air, 0:02:53.340 --> 0:02:57.400 not doing anything. You will notice the people in the stands, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.380 like we just talked about, booing those referees because they're bored, 0:03:01.410 --> 0:03:03.490 and that's going to make you bored, too, even though 0:03:03.530 --> 0:03:06.850 you have at least replays and Gene Steratore and the 0:03:06.910 --> 0:03:10.149 commentators talking about it. Those folks are just sitting there talking. 0:03:10.330 --> 0:03:12.950 drinking their beers, wondering why they're not snapping the ball next. 0:03:14.290 --> 0:03:16.489 This is a problem for the NFL. It's a real 0:03:16.550 --> 0:03:20.510 problem for the NFL. It's not just the length of game, 0:03:20.930 --> 0:03:23.750 as we talked about. It's how the game moves, how 0:03:23.790 --> 0:03:28.090 much faster the game can move. I've seen this firsthand 0:03:28.130 --> 0:03:31.350 at a much lower college level. When I did Duquesne 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.000 games a couple years ago, still do them now, there 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.120 was only one break. 0:03:35.860 --> 0:03:38.170 We broke at the quarter, and that was it. 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.600 We also had a commercial break at the two-minute timeout 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.680 when they put that on for college. And if there 0:03:44.700 --> 0:03:46.640 was ever a long injury, we had the. 0:03:46.660 --> 0:03:47.500 Opportunity to go. 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.080 But when you're just doing this with no network and 0:03:50.100 --> 0:03:52.160 a couple cameras and a truck outside of a small 0:03:52.210 --> 0:03:57.330 college stadium, boy, those games move when they're not sold. Now, 0:03:58.050 --> 0:04:01.150 we've got two extra breaks per quarter, and it feels 0:04:01.210 --> 0:04:04.830 like an NFL game, and it's not an NFL product. 0:04:04.890 --> 0:04:06.910 It's a small college FCS product. 0:04:07.590 --> 0:04:10.720 So, I felt that lull, the pace of the game, 0:04:10.780 --> 0:04:13.220 just with two extra commercial timeouts added. 0:04:13.740 --> 0:04:16.320 And again, that's at the FCS level of college football. 0:04:16.860 --> 0:04:19.760 At the NFL, when you have longer breaks, you have 0:04:19.820 --> 0:04:24.779 more TV production elements. The game reacts to what TV 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.229 does more regularly with in-stadium entertainment and what they do 0:04:29.370 --> 0:04:31.470 on the field and things of that nature to fill 0:04:31.510 --> 0:04:35.360 the gaps while they're in commercials. You can definitely feel it. 0:04:35.940 --> 0:04:39.099 But this article from the Wall Street Journal is spot on. 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.300 The game feels like it's lasting longer than it is 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.520 because we all know it doesn't have to feel this long. 0:04:47.930 --> 0:04:51.910 The length of the game is artificially enhanced by the commercials, 0:04:52.230 --> 0:04:54.690 the length of the commercials, the amount of the commercials, 0:04:55.150 --> 0:05:00.130 the constant stoppages to talk about penalties, too many penalties. 0:05:01.430 --> 0:05:05.210 The coincidental timing of this is we hardly ever get 0:05:05.270 --> 0:05:11.880 challenges anymore. Rarely do we see the red flag thrown 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.540 and then stop, go talk to the coach, tell the 0:05:16.580 --> 0:05:19.520 crowd and the television audience what's happening, go to the booth, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.089 review it. Those have kind of gone by the wayside because. 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.010 New York is coming in with expedited review, but even 0:05:28.029 --> 0:05:30.750 with that coming into play, it still slows the game 0:05:30.810 --> 0:05:35.710 down a little. You're getting more of it because sometimes 0:05:35.790 --> 0:05:38.210 coaches will think about it and then not challenge and 0:05:38.250 --> 0:05:41.900 allow the game to proceed naturally. So that's kind of 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.740 counterbalancing whatever time has been saved by lesser challenges, the 0:05:46.820 --> 0:05:50.380 amount of expedited reviews and the, you know, 15 seconds 0:05:50.420 --> 0:05:53.350 that it might take to adjudicate those as opposed to 0:05:53.370 --> 0:05:57.360 the 60 or 70 seconds, two minutes, whatever it might 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.960 be to go through a process of actually throwing the 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.260 flag and talking to the coach, et cetera. So you're 0:06:03.300 --> 0:06:06.240 not picking up as much time as you thought. And 0:06:06.260 --> 0:06:09.719 the question that I'll ask you is both as a 0:06:09.820 --> 0:06:13.280 TV viewer and as fans who go to the game, 0:06:14.060 --> 0:06:17.520 are you noticing it more? And is the TV product 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.140 for the NFL even starting to suffer? 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:22.940 I'll ask you as a viewer, what do I think 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:23.260 it is? 0:06:24.450 --> 0:06:29.890 I think the constant nonstop talking between the officials to 0:06:29.990 --> 0:06:33.060 sort their way through a rule book that is way 0:06:33.070 --> 0:06:35.760 too dense. And the great irony is so many of 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.700 these conversations that slow down the game are about the clock. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:40.640 They're not necessarily about. 0:06:40.660 --> 0:06:42.320 Did that guy get hold and what's the spot of 0:06:42.339 --> 0:06:44.760 the foul? It's, what is the timing on the clock? 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.479 Why did the play clock not reset? And the guys 0:06:47.500 --> 0:06:50.380 running the play clock at the stadium are confused because, well, 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.550 there was this delay that came in from New York, 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.650 so where should the play clock be? So there's 30 0:06:54.650 --> 0:06:57.330 more seconds that's added on to straighten that out. Well, 0:06:57.350 --> 0:07:01.050 if you've had the expedited review. So I do think 0:07:01.089 --> 0:07:05.550 that the broadcast product is suffering as well as the 0:07:05.630 --> 0:07:09.200 in-stadium product. I mean, I would think it'd be very 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.620 hard to go to an NFL game that like I 0:07:12.660 --> 0:07:15.480 didn't necessarily care about. Like I went to go see 0:07:15.900 --> 0:07:19.900 Saints Bucks as opposed to Steelers Bucks and get through 0:07:19.940 --> 0:07:22.240 three and a half hours without being kind of bored 0:07:22.700 --> 0:07:24.840 and thinking this might be easier to watch at home. 0:07:25.740 --> 0:07:27.960 But I'll pose it to you since you are the consumers, 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:29.620 you are the fans. And I thought this was a 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.140 spot on article from the Wall Street Journal that hit 0:07:32.180 --> 0:07:36.690 a lot of important touchstones. Is the NFL product getting 0:07:36.790 --> 0:07:41.070 too hard to watch even on television? Because it's supposed 0:07:41.090 --> 0:07:43.630 to be the best TV sport in America, but is 0:07:43.670 --> 0:07:46.170 it even bogging down from a pace point of view 0:07:46.610 --> 0:08:01.880 on TV? 412-833-9939 or 833-412-WXDX. Trey Essex, former Steeler, tweeted 0:08:01.940 --> 0:08:03.830 something to the effect of what we were just talking 0:08:03.870 --> 0:08:06.250 about with the product of the NFL. If you're just 0:08:06.290 --> 0:08:08.670 tuning in, we did a segment about the Wall Street 0:08:08.710 --> 0:08:11.170 Journal article talking about the pace of play in the 0:08:11.210 --> 0:08:15.410 NFL and how it's about five minutes longer. And it 0:08:15.450 --> 0:08:19.510 feels longer than that because the lulls in between action 0:08:19.900 --> 0:08:23.900 are longer. And I thought it was a well-written, well-framed piece. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.870 And correspondingly, this is sort of not directly associated with it. 0:08:27.970 --> 0:08:31.090 And I don't even know if Trey saw the story, but. 0:08:31.330 --> 0:08:33.130 It does jive. It does dovetail. 0:08:33.170 --> 0:08:35.590 He says, I got to say six weeks into the season, 0:08:35.610 --> 0:08:36.790 the NFL product. 0:08:36.490 --> 0:08:38.770 As a whole has gone downhill. 0:08:38.830 --> 0:08:43.570 Some in every facet, but the biggest culprit coaching, not 0:08:43.710 --> 0:08:47.030 sure I've ever seen it this bad across the board. 0:08:47.990 --> 0:08:50.610 And I subtweeted Trey on that. And I said, it's 0:08:50.670 --> 0:08:54.010 bad because they do too frigging much of it. The 0:08:54.050 --> 0:08:58.770 game is really overcoached. They'd probably pick up some time 0:08:58.970 --> 0:09:00.790 and just pick up the pace if they just let 0:09:00.809 --> 0:09:04.140 the players play more. The game is overcoached from a 0:09:04.220 --> 0:09:10.540 scheme and play calling perspective and undercoached from a fundamental perspective, 0:09:10.580 --> 0:09:13.970 like locking and tackling, the basics. I don't think there's 0:09:14.010 --> 0:09:17.290 enough good coaching there. I think the coaches are high 0:09:17.309 --> 0:09:19.510 on their own supply when they come to think of 0:09:19.530 --> 0:09:23.720 themselves as such schematic geniuses too much passing not enough 0:09:23.780 --> 0:09:26.860 running things like that they all play into the pace 0:09:26.900 --> 0:09:30.200 of the game the usage of timeouts spiking the ball 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.620 stopping the clock manipulating the clock all that goes in 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.480 lockstep with the wall street journal thing it's just coincidental 0:09:37.500 --> 0:09:41.020 i believe that trey put this out there but they 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.969 go hand in glove joe and ocean city you're on 0:09:43.970 --> 0:09:44.190 105.9 the x. 0:09:46.730 --> 0:09:48.729 Tim, I wanted to talk about what you were saying 0:09:48.790 --> 0:09:51.160 with the rest, but quickly about what you were saying 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.020 about the coaching. I kind of agree with that in 0:09:54.059 --> 0:09:56.790 a point. until you don't look at the age of 0:09:56.830 --> 0:09:59.480 these coaches now man i mean it's like every head 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.140 coach is i don't know whatever if they're good if 0:10:02.179 --> 0:10:03.540 they're qualified. 0:10:03.500 --> 0:10:05.359 Well you're saying they're too young and like mccarthy's an 0:10:05.420 --> 0:10:07.300 outlier then basically right i. 0:10:07.100 --> 0:10:09.000 Think they're kind of maybe feel like they might got 0:10:09.020 --> 0:10:10.920 a little bit i don't know i mean that's not 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:12.520 the reason for my call but i just kind of 0:10:12.540 --> 0:10:14.340 heard you say that They're. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:15.700 All weird on analytics. 0:10:15.740 --> 0:10:18.380 The analytics say you can get X number of more 0:10:18.740 --> 0:10:21.350 plays off if you run the clock a little bit faster, 0:10:21.429 --> 0:10:24.350 but you can also slow the game down with incompletions 0:10:24.410 --> 0:10:25.350 and things like that. 0:10:25.370 --> 0:10:27.230 I get what you're saying. 0:10:28.230 --> 0:10:33.380 Too much of that. The thing with the Europeans, I've 0:10:33.390 --> 0:10:37.780 got some European friends in Maryland. They like the NFL 0:10:37.820 --> 0:10:40.480 as a product. They like the violence, but they don't 0:10:40.580 --> 0:10:43.300 get the pace Because, you know, they're so used to 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:47.319 watching their version of football nonstop. But the pace, I think, 0:10:47.380 --> 0:10:49.090 is what gets them. And then you try to start 0:10:49.130 --> 0:10:51.410 talking rules. And like you said, there's too many rules. 0:10:51.450 --> 0:10:54.430 So that thing Big Cat said, I could get behind that. 0:10:54.450 --> 0:10:56.450 Well, yeah, he's right about that. And you're right about that. 0:10:56.530 --> 0:11:00.360 And even the folks that might not understand why the 0:11:00.390 --> 0:11:01.380 pace is what it is. 0:11:01.660 --> 0:11:02.120 I know this. 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.679 Whenever I talk to somebody who is seeing the NFL 0:11:04.700 --> 0:11:07.800 for the first time from overseas, they always bring up 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.670 the huddles. They say, why are they all standing in 0:11:10.710 --> 0:11:14.230 a huddle all the time? Like after every dead ball 0:11:14.450 --> 0:11:16.189 or even they even talk about the refs. 0:11:16.270 --> 0:11:19.750 Why are the refs always huddling? And at least from we. 0:11:19.690 --> 0:11:21.170 Know why the refs are huddling because they can't figure 0:11:21.210 --> 0:11:23.490 out their own rule book because it's too complicated. But 0:11:23.530 --> 0:11:25.660 from a player point of view, they're so used to 0:11:25.700 --> 0:11:28.500 the constant motion of soccer, even though nothing is happening 0:11:28.540 --> 0:11:31.060 a lot of times in soccer, the ball is moving 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.059 and the players are moving. Unlike in football where they stand, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:36.860 they get together, they talk about it, then they come 0:11:36.900 --> 0:11:39.050 up to the line of scrimmage. So Yeah, I've heard 0:11:39.090 --> 0:11:42.050 that same complaint, but the huddle, the visual of it, 0:11:42.250 --> 0:11:45.610 and the feel of it to foreign sports fans is 0:11:45.650 --> 0:11:48.510 like us watching a soccer game and not knowing what 0:11:48.550 --> 0:11:53.860 the clock is. Americans have an allergic reaction to not 0:11:53.929 --> 0:11:56.760 knowing exactly how much time there is in a sporting event. 0:11:57.059 --> 0:11:59.380 To European soccer fans, it's like, oh, the refs are 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.719 doing it. You know, like we were riding in the streets, 0:12:02.780 --> 0:12:05.020 not like real riding the streets in France, but riding 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.760 in the streets about what happened with Michigan because there's 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:08.960 one tenth of a second left. 0:12:08.980 --> 0:12:12.340 You know, like that gave us hives over there. They 0:12:12.380 --> 0:12:14.250 wouldn't care. Like, OK, that's just like injury time. 0:12:15.260 --> 0:12:17.709 So it's yeah, it's it's a matter of what you're 0:12:17.830 --> 0:12:22.510 used to. And they just have this pushback to. how 0:12:22.570 --> 0:12:26.740 many times they get together and talk during a football game. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.220 And if every drive was like a two minute drill, 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.090 I think they'd love it, but it isn't, which is 0:12:33.570 --> 0:12:36.230 where the filler comes in. Like big cat was talking about, 0:12:36.250 --> 0:12:39.050 like you can talk over that stuff and not even 0:12:39.110 --> 0:12:42.450 notice the huddle. Because you've shown three replays of the 0:12:42.490 --> 0:12:45.050 previous play. You're going down to the sideline. 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:46.580 You're cutting over to the coach. 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.380 You're cutting over to players yelling at the coordinator upstairs 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.460 like TJ was. The visuals of other things give you 0:12:53.500 --> 0:12:55.959 something to pay attention to that isn't the players just 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.700 standing there doing nothing, which is what the folks in 0:12:58.720 --> 0:12:59.560 the stands are getting. 0:13:00.350 --> 0:13:02.330 Yeah, it's adding to the drama. I mean, it's just 0:13:02.370 --> 0:13:03.910 kind of more of the story. It just kind of 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.540 adds more to the story. But the commercials, too, man. 0:13:06.860 --> 0:13:08.800 I mean, it's like you get somebody that goes down, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.640 gets a turnover. There was just a commercial. Somebody gets 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.320 a turnover, goes down, kicks a field goal, and then 0:13:14.620 --> 0:13:17.339 you're back at commercial. They can't understand that either. They're like, well, 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.580 we were just at commercial, and then that guy scores, 0:13:19.620 --> 0:13:21.689 and now we've got to go back. So I don't know. 0:13:21.830 --> 0:13:25.210 There's a lot to be done there. But that same 0:13:25.250 --> 0:13:28.590 big catch said, I can go with that. I totally 0:13:28.630 --> 0:13:30.569 agree with that. I see where he's going. I like 0:13:30.610 --> 0:13:31.110 that a lot. 0:13:31.210 --> 0:13:32.310 Appreciate the call. Thank you. 0:13:32.330 --> 0:13:42.780 833-412-9939 or tweet me at TimBenzPGH. Wanted to bring up 0:13:42.820 --> 0:13:44.820 another football topic here in a couple minutes that we 0:13:44.860 --> 0:13:48.560 have and credit to Gino Antemarino, who's been filling in 0:13:48.580 --> 0:13:49.980 for Jerry while he's been in France. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.660 We're going to hear from Jerry in just a little bit, actually. 0:13:53.059 --> 0:13:55.960 Gino filled in on the Monday Night Quarterback show on 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.320 Fox Sports Pittsburgh 970 with me, as well as countdown 0:13:59.340 --> 0:14:02.630 to kickoff yesterday at the Mount Lebanon Saloon. And he 0:14:02.650 --> 0:14:06.330 brought up this point, which I thought was kind of interesting. 0:14:07.390 --> 0:14:09.850 And I guess I didn't think of it this way, 0:14:10.730 --> 0:14:13.690 but the way he framed it, we were talking about 0:14:13.750 --> 0:14:16.290 these next two games the Steelers have coming up. And 0:14:16.309 --> 0:14:18.970 this sort of four-pack of games that they've had since 0:14:19.050 --> 0:14:21.630 the Browns lost. And how all four of these games 0:14:21.690 --> 0:14:23.570 are winnable. As I said earlier, I'll put up the show, 0:14:23.610 --> 0:14:25.989 they should be 6-2. They probably won't be because they'll 0:14:26.010 --> 0:14:30.090 drop one. And I don't know if it was subconscious 0:14:30.510 --> 0:14:32.010 or if he really meant to say it. Because I 0:14:32.470 --> 0:14:34.930 asked him, do you really mean it when you say this? 0:14:34.970 --> 0:14:37.270 He goes, they can't lose the Browns a second time. 0:14:38.190 --> 0:14:39.710 He kept saying it, they can't lose the Browns a 0:14:39.730 --> 0:14:45.000 second time. And I'm thinking to myself, is that really true? Like, 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:50.480 I know emotionally, Steelers fans can't envision getting swept by 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:54.020 the Browns in a regular season series. I know from 0:14:54.500 --> 0:14:57.890 just the pit of your stomach, you can't handle the 0:14:57.990 --> 0:15:02.990 thought of Cleveland winning here. It's only happened twice since 0:15:03.130 --> 0:15:05.650 Akershire Stadium was built. Once in the regular season back 0:15:05.690 --> 0:15:08.610 in 03, and then, of course, the playoff game in 0:15:10.090 --> 0:15:13.750 COVID conditions with hardly anybody in the stands. So, like, 0:15:13.770 --> 0:15:16.630 you think about that notion, and yeah, he's probably got 0:15:16.650 --> 0:15:20.960 a point. You can't possibly lose to the Browns twice 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:22.800 before you get deep into November. 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.080 But I think you can this year. Actually, I mean, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:29.070 they could afford it. 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.380 You might not like it, but you could afford it 0:15:33.500 --> 0:15:36.510 if you manage to sweep the Bengals the next week 0:15:36.570 --> 0:15:39.810 and conclude that back half, or you go 3-3 in 0:15:39.870 --> 0:15:42.390 the division, or four and two in the division, you 0:15:42.410 --> 0:15:45.450 sweep the Ravens too. Like you still get to 10 0:15:45.450 --> 0:15:48.250 wins and you're probably going to be in good shape. 0:15:48.310 --> 0:15:52.270 If you win the right variables, especially on the AFC 0:15:52.310 --> 0:15:55.110 side after the buy. And the other part of that is, 0:15:55.810 --> 0:15:57.770 are we sure the Browns are really going to be 0:15:57.790 --> 0:15:59.830 in first place still in the second half of the season, 0:15:59.850 --> 0:16:02.660 just because they beat the Steelers twice. Like they could 0:16:02.700 --> 0:16:06.260 be six and two at the game mark for themselves 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.100 as well. Just like Pittsburgh. And like, do you really 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:13.989 think that they're going to be, What, six, seven wins 0:16:14.010 --> 0:16:15.350 in the back half of their bye, too? 0:16:15.550 --> 0:16:16.210 I don't think so. 0:16:17.550 --> 0:16:20.530 So it's not like you're ceding control of the division 0:16:20.700 --> 0:16:25.000 early to Baltimore in recent years because this is the 0:16:25.060 --> 0:16:26.760 same Browns team that just went on the road and 0:16:26.780 --> 0:16:29.160 lost to the Jets. I'm not even sure they're going 0:16:29.180 --> 0:16:33.030 to beat the Titans. They probably will. They should. 0:16:33.430 --> 0:16:35.050 But I thought they should beat the Jets after they 0:16:35.070 --> 0:16:36.410 beat the Steelers, and they didn't. 0:16:37.990 --> 0:16:38.340 So.... 0:16:40.070 --> 0:16:42.750 I know it feels odd to say it, but because 0:16:42.810 --> 0:16:45.190 it's so early in the season and there's so much 0:16:45.290 --> 0:16:49.450 calendar left for Cleveland, they probably could, in a weird way, 0:16:49.610 --> 0:16:52.609 afford that loss more than anybody wants to think right now. 0:16:52.670 --> 0:16:55.150 You lose twice to the Browns, you might feel like, oh, God, 0:16:55.170 --> 0:16:58.410 the season's over. But you're 5-3, eight games into a 0:16:58.430 --> 0:17:02.740 17-game season, and you look in the back half of it, Houston, 0:17:02.750 --> 0:17:04.710 while playing better of late, isn't as daunting as it 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:05.899 felt coming into the season. 0:17:06.980 --> 0:17:08.100 Philadelphia, for as. 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:10.420 tough as it is to win in philly they never 0:17:10.460 --> 0:17:12.840 do it they'll probably still lose there anyway but they're 0:17:12.859 --> 0:17:17.090 down jalen hurts um let's see when lamar comes back 0:17:17.150 --> 0:17:18.910 if he ever comes back and how he comes back 0:17:18.970 --> 0:17:24.030 for baltimore you know there are definitely lily pads to 0:17:24.130 --> 0:17:25.929 jump on if you're the steelers in the second half 0:17:25.950 --> 0:17:30.440 of the schedule too so i i got his point 0:17:30.700 --> 0:17:33.639 and i understand stanley the emotional component of you can't 0:17:33.740 --> 0:17:36.460 lose to the browns twice but i kind of think 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.190 you can If you beat the Bengals the next week 0:17:39.230 --> 0:17:41.890 coming out of the bye. If you at least split 0:17:41.910 --> 0:17:44.040 with the Ravens or beat the Ravens twice, you sure can. 0:17:44.060 --> 0:17:46.920 Then you're 4-2 in the division. Because I'm pretty sure 0:17:46.940 --> 0:17:49.240 the Browns aren't going to be in first place in 0:17:49.260 --> 0:17:50.800 the North by the end of the year, even if 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:52.619 they do beat Pittsburgh again. 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:52.700 412-833-9939. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:18:02.060 Or tweet me at TimBenzPGH. All right, when we come back, 0:18:02.100 --> 0:18:04.710 Jerry Dulac from France. He's up next on 105.9 The X. 0:18:06.490 --> 0:18:08.609 It's the 3 o'clock hour of the Mark Madden Show. 0:18:08.690 --> 0:18:12.330 Tim Benz in for Mark today. I am here in Bridgeville. 0:18:12.490 --> 0:18:15.419 Jerry Dulac, who is often my partner in Bridgeville for 0:18:15.460 --> 0:18:19.200 Monday Night Quarterback on Fox Sports Pittsburgh 970, is in 0:18:19.300 --> 0:18:20.220 somewhere a bit more. 0:18:20.140 --> 0:18:22.140 Interesting right now, Paris, France. 0:18:22.220 --> 0:18:24.600 That's where the Steelers are playing on Sunday against the 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.630 New Orleans Saints. Jerry out there for the Steelers Radio 0:18:27.650 --> 0:18:30.650 Network and for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He joins me right 0:18:30.710 --> 0:18:33.189 now to talk about everything going on in France in 0:18:33.230 --> 0:18:36.890 advance of the game and the game itself. Jerry, where 0:18:36.990 --> 0:18:39.320 are you and what's it like over there? Because there's 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.720 been so much talk about the protests and whatnot. 0:18:42.940 --> 0:18:44.060 Are you seeing much of that? 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:46.360 Well, Tim, I am not. 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.180 I am staying down by the Eiffel Tower a few 0:18:50.220 --> 0:18:53.810 blocks from there. You know, as you know, because I 0:18:53.850 --> 0:18:59.930 missed the Monday night show, I got here Tuesday mid-afternoon. 0:19:01.150 --> 0:19:04.780 And it's Thursday and I have yet to see anything 0:19:05.340 --> 0:19:11.580 that even remotely resembles a demonstration, a protest, a gathering, nothing. 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:13.530 It's been quiet here. 0:19:14.850 --> 0:19:19.570 And so, you know, I've heard there might be some 0:19:19.630 --> 0:19:23.730 demonstration planned for Saturday down by the Bastille, but all 0:19:23.750 --> 0:19:26.830 the popular tourist attractions, the Arc de Triomphe, where they 0:19:26.930 --> 0:19:30.620 said there were protests before, whether it's the Eiffel Tower, 0:19:31.500 --> 0:19:34.000 you go right through them, you know, the Louvre was quiet. 0:19:34.470 --> 0:19:37.649 I was through there. Tim, I've seen nothing. 0:19:37.810 --> 0:19:40.359 And that's not to dismiss anything that might have happened 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.960 or something that might occur. All I can tell you 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.960 is that Paris right now is the same as it 0:19:46.050 --> 0:19:46.990 was last. 0:19:46.750 --> 0:19:49.750 Year when I visited here after the Dublin game. Except 0:19:49.810 --> 0:19:53.200 a little. chillier for sure so you're in the louvre huh. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.020 I would i have been to the louvre yes i 0:19:57.300 --> 0:19:59.459 haven't gone in the louvre but i've been to the louvre. 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:00.899 All right i was just wondering who the mona lisa's 0:20:00.940 --> 0:20:01.810 planning to pick. 0:20:02.350 --> 0:20:06.250 Yeah no haven't haven't been uh there did that last 0:20:06.290 --> 0:20:09.969 year tim including Versailles and a few other things. I'd 0:20:09.990 --> 0:20:11.530 love to go to Normandy, but it's a little too 0:20:11.570 --> 0:20:16.170 far away for a short trip. But, yeah, I'm a 0:20:16.210 --> 0:20:18.190 big fan of Paris. It's a beautiful city. It's an 0:20:18.230 --> 0:20:21.610 amazing city. And you can drive by that and go 0:20:21.670 --> 0:20:23.859 by that Eiffel Tower a million times. I think I 0:20:23.890 --> 0:20:25.740 sent you a picture as I was driving by. 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:26.780 Yeah, good shot. 0:20:27.660 --> 0:20:28.260 In the Uber. 0:20:28.460 --> 0:20:30.540 And no matter how many times you look at it, 0:20:30.540 --> 0:20:34.340 it just blows you away, you know, the enormity of 0:20:34.380 --> 0:20:35.280 it and the majesty of it. 0:20:35.710 --> 0:20:38.370 I'm encouraging Chris Adamski, our colleague at the Trib, who's 0:20:38.790 --> 0:20:41.710 heading over there as we speak, to find Versailles and 0:20:41.780 --> 0:20:44.439 stand there with a sign that says it's pronounced Versailles. 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:46.420 Yes, that's correct, Tim. 0:20:46.500 --> 0:20:49.740 Yeah, but if he's going to Versailles, he's going to 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.480 get in an Uber and pay a pretty penny because 0:20:52.619 --> 0:20:55.419 it's a good 45, 50 minutes outside of town. 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.649 So I'm guessing he ain't going there. 0:20:58.310 --> 0:21:01.030 Jerry Dulac in France right now, getting you set for 0:21:01.109 --> 0:21:03.030 Steelers and Saints on Sunday. 0:21:03.170 --> 0:21:05.449 I asked you who the Mona Lisa's picking. Who are 0:21:05.490 --> 0:21:07.719 you picking? On paper, it looks like this should be 0:21:07.740 --> 0:21:10.500 a Steelers win. Is it as easy as that, though? 0:21:11.380 --> 0:21:13.240 Yeah, you know, Tim, you look at the Saints. They've 0:21:13.260 --> 0:21:14.419