Speaker 1: Welcome to the Steelers Point After Show on WDBD Pittsburgh,
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Speaker 1: And now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley,
Speaker 1: and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2: And our wonderful producer Justin Miller. Let us not forget
Speaker 2: him as we welcome you to the Point After on
Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network. It is time for our first Reaction,
Speaker 2: brought to you by First National Bank. Let's get started,
Speaker 2: Member FDIC. Steelers win by the final score of thirty
Speaker 2: two to thirteen, so the Steelers improved a fourign two.
Speaker 2: They remain tied top the AFC North, and teams over
Speaker 2: the last five seasons that have been tied or leading
Speaker 2: their division after six weeks have an eighty three percent
Speaker 2: chance of going to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: So that is very good following recent trends.
Speaker 2: So all in all the good victory for the Steelers
Speaker 2: over the Raiders as far as that is concerned, But
Speaker 2: maybe some other thoughts. Craig Wolf, we let us start
Speaker 2: with you on your first reaction.
Speaker 4: Well, my first reaction was good Zeke's nudgy wow. I mean,
Speaker 4: that was really a sensational number of a plays that
Speaker 4: he participated. I mean, if you look at some of
Speaker 4: those runs, whether he ghosted what's his name, Jack Jones
Speaker 4: or whatever, it was actual yeah, out in the open field,
Speaker 4: or he ran through tackles where he was taken on one, two, three,
Speaker 4: four Raiders at a time, you know, or he was
Speaker 4: in the middle of a rugby scrum of guys and
Speaker 4: the pile kept moving for an extra ten yards or so.
Speaker 4: He was just magnificent. I I was almost speechless watching
Speaker 4: some of his efforts, knowing that this guy just shows
Speaker 4: has been showing and displaying great combative effort in running
Speaker 4: the ball. But that was really that was over and
Speaker 4: above and beyond anything I've seen from Nagy. I think
Speaker 4: in the past he really was terrific. Matt great place
Speaker 4: to start. I thought he set the trend.
Speaker 5: It was needed, you know, a physicality mentality getting down
Speaker 5: to running the football with aggression and chunk runs as well.
Speaker 5: That's a great place to start Wolf. I also thought
Speaker 5: the defense followed suit after that first drive really put
Speaker 5: the clamps on the Raiders. Now I kind of want
Speaker 5: to get this out of the way, and I respect
Speaker 5: every NFL opponent, but this was a pretty bad football
Speaker 5: team they played. I mean, I felt like the offense
Speaker 5: had Brock Bauers and nothing else. And Max Crosby's fantastic
Speaker 5: on defense, but the rest of that unit, I would say,
Speaker 5: is subpar. But good teams wipe the floor with really
Speaker 5: bad teams, and that's exactly what the Steelers did for
Speaker 5: much of this game.
Speaker 2: I agree with all those things. Bowers looks like he's
Speaker 2: gonna be a really really good player, and the way
Speaker 2: they utilize him, I mean, I think he's going to
Speaker 2: be kind of the and is already probably at this
Speaker 2: stage just a half a dozen games into his career.
Speaker 2: The next sort of mismatch nightmare for defensive coordinators. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's just you get in no way can you guard him?
Speaker 2: The linebacker very difficult to guard him, even with the
Speaker 2: safety he moved. I mean, they throw I don't really
Speaker 2: remember too many tight ends getting passes in the flat
Speaker 2: where you have set up a blocking scheme out there,
Speaker 2: that's usually either a receiver or running back running a
Speaker 2: little swing route out to the flat, or a wide
Speaker 2: receiver you know who maybe has got you know, like
Speaker 2: a punt returner type of skills, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: They use Bowers that way.
Speaker 3: I can I can't.
Speaker 2: Remember, Matt, Can you remember tight a tight end that's
Speaker 2: really been utilized that frequently in that sort of an attack.
Speaker 2: And it's not just the fact that they were trying
Speaker 2: to get O'Connell into this. If you see other Raiders games,
Speaker 2: and I watched them all looking up to this, leading
Speaker 2: up to this game, they did the same thing with
Speaker 2: Minshew a quarterback. They throw it out to him in
Speaker 2: the flat, expect him to make a guy miss.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pretty crazy, and I've seen it with Kelsey.
Speaker 5: I'm straining my mind right now to find others, you know,
Speaker 5: maybe not to this degree.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 5: I don't think they would do it as much if
Speaker 5: they had Myers and DeVante Adams and Pat Mahomes, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean. But I mean they are easy completions.
Speaker 5: And even leading up to this game, Bowers average depth
Speaker 5: of target was very low. It was like right around
Speaker 5: five from what I remember, because they just wanted to
Speaker 5: get the ball in his hands. And I give the
Speaker 5: Seilers a lot of credit for their tackling, and it's
Speaker 5: not something people think about enough, but man, they limited
Speaker 5: him after the catch, which is a big weapon the
Speaker 5: Raiders had, and I thought that collectively they were a
Speaker 5: very good tackling defense.
Speaker 4: Well that's the Raiders weren't That's exactly That's exactly the
Speaker 4: point I was going to bring up.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Antonio Pierce made that a point of
Speaker 2: emphasis for the team this week, said we're going back
Speaker 2: to training camp, We're going to work on fundamentals. This
Speaker 2: is going to be a physical team. We need to
Speaker 2: tackle better. And then not only did they not tackle better.
Speaker 2: Wolf and I were leaving the press box and we
Speaker 2: were listening to their post game show, of course because
Speaker 2: it's it's in Las Vegas, so that's what's piping through
Speaker 2: the speakers, and the guy Wolf he was their post
Speaker 2: was railing on the lack of tackling by the Raiders
Speaker 2: and how they need to get some guys out of there,
Speaker 2: guys who want to tackle, and they don't have enough
Speaker 2: guys who actually want to tackle, and you don't ever
Speaker 2: have to worry about that with the Steelers.
Speaker 4: No, there's no question about it. I mean, we've got
Speaker 4: enough hands in the pile of tacklers. The fact is,
Speaker 4: what the Raiders were doing looked to be they just
Speaker 4: look like they didn't want to be there at some
Speaker 4: points in time. I mean, I can understand Nagee's going
Speaker 4: to put a hurting on you you come up to
Speaker 4: tackle him, but just at some moments in time, it
Speaker 4: didn't seem like this was a team that was totally
Speaker 4: that's This was a team that maybe had a couple
Speaker 4: of business decisions, as they say, and certainly some of
Speaker 4: them had to do with getting out of Nage's way
Speaker 4: rather than taking the full front force from him. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I thought their tackling was poor. I thought that it
Speaker 4: was not representative of what they hope you know, I'm
Speaker 4: sure they were hoping for. Maybe you have to understand
Speaker 4: that training camp last more than one week.
Speaker 2: I am curious to get both of your guys' opinions
Speaker 2: as to you know, it looked to me like there
Speaker 2: was less contact in the backfield for Naji. Naji gets
Speaker 2: contacted in the backfield a lot. I don't know whether
Speaker 2: that is something defenses are doing. And certainly the Raiders
Speaker 2: were selling out early to try to stop the run.
Speaker 2: I mean they were bringing all kinds of you know,
Speaker 2: sort of designed run blitz pressures to stop the running game.
Speaker 2: I don't know whether he is hit in the backfield
Speaker 2: a lot because of that, because of the blocking, and again,
Speaker 2: at least they had the same starting unit out there.
Speaker 2: We'll hear about Zach Frazer's injury. More about that tomorrow,
Speaker 2: I think. But whether it's continuity in the offensive line,
Speaker 2: whether it's just the Raiders not being a very good opponent.
Speaker 2: But Naji had more room to run he when he
Speaker 2: got the ball, he wasn't being hit in the backfield
Speaker 2: as much. And because of that, we saw some different
Speaker 2: things from him on the two runs. On that touchdown drive,
Speaker 2: the twenty six yard er he made. I don't know
Speaker 2: if I've ever seen Najy do this. He made Jack
Speaker 2: Jones fall down. Now, he makes lots of people fall
Speaker 2: down when they run into him, but he made him
Speaker 2: fall down by juking him. Jack Jones fell to the turf.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a defensive back, a lighter guy, supposedly
Speaker 2: you know, you would think more nimble coming up to
Speaker 2: hit Naji, and Nagy faked him out so badly he
Speaker 2: fell down. And then the move he made before he
Speaker 2: broke to the sideline on the thirty six yard touchdown
Speaker 2: run was also you know, him putting some moves on
Speaker 2: and then showing some bursts.
Speaker 3: To the outside.
Speaker 2: So, guys, do you know why maybe there was less
Speaker 2: contact for Naji in the backfield? Is it any of
Speaker 2: those things that I mentioned previously?
Speaker 4: Wolf Well I said, Number one is you had an
Speaker 4: offensive line that at least had a couple had a
Speaker 4: game together, right, you know what I mean? So there
Speaker 4: was an understanding of what's going on. Second of all,
Speaker 4: there was a couple of design blitzes that hit. But
Speaker 4: for instance, the one that that no, you didn't have
Speaker 4: a chance at it, it was in the backfield. Yes,
Speaker 4: you got three on three on the back side, and
Speaker 4: then you have a blitzer come down. If you don't
Speaker 4: audible out of that, you're in trouble, which they were.
Speaker 4: But so you've got that. But really what's been going
Speaker 4: on is at times you're not getting a hat on
Speaker 4: a hat and you have a mess of you know,
Speaker 4: of players at the line. Of scrimmage and he gets
Speaker 4: hit and has to battle his way to the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage. Well, we're seeing less of that. As these
Speaker 4: guys get more experienced, Mason McCormick and the other guys,
Speaker 4: you know, as they get more experience in their their
Speaker 4: vision grows wider than the A and B gaps and
Speaker 4: sea gaps, and you start to see the big picture.
Speaker 4: As Chuck Nolways used to say to me, say, you've
Speaker 4: got to see the big picture. You've got to see
Speaker 4: it from you know, three hundred feet. You got to
Speaker 4: see what motion does in this case. You've got to
Speaker 4: see what a shift does to the defense in this case.
Speaker 4: And as Tounch always put he goes, Craig, you got
Speaker 4: to get out of your left guard. Only you know
Speaker 4: sell he said, you got to see the whole thing.
Speaker 4: Because Tounch played all every position. I plum played one
Speaker 4: for the first eight years of my career. So the
Speaker 4: point is, you know, I think the guys are getting
Speaker 4: a little more well rounded and seeing what's going on
Speaker 4: and understanding and understanding how a blitz can hit you
Speaker 4: and affect you. And you're not having the bus where
Speaker 4: you got, you know, no hat on a hat on
Speaker 4: any guy. Matt totally agree.
Speaker 5: I felt like there were fewer leaks in the damn
Speaker 5: than ever. You know, that nobody was really a liability
Speaker 5: rewatching it. Darnott Washington had some down moments. Not that
Speaker 5: I'm worried at all about him as a blocker. It
Speaker 5: just wasn't his day, I guess. But all in all,
Speaker 5: I'm with Wolf. I don't have much to add to it.
Speaker 5: I think that it's maturity, continuity, a little more experience
Speaker 5: understanding what defenses are trying to do against you. And
Speaker 5: I didn't see anyone that was a liability. I mean,
Speaker 5: of course, like Max Crosby gives people problems, but I
Speaker 5: mean there was there's down times, but there wasn't a
Speaker 5: weak link.
Speaker 2: Well, Matt, here's the other thing too that I got
Speaker 2: to thinking about today. I would have to look up
Speaker 2: the specific moments, but the last I believe the last
Speaker 2: two years, the Steelers running game midway maybe you know
Speaker 2: a little beyond midway. The season right around that midway mark, anyway,
Speaker 2: began to take off, began to take hold, and in fact,
Speaker 2: going into last year, I think people thought, Okay, let's
Speaker 2: look how well they ran the ball at the end
Speaker 2: of last year, that's certainly going to carry over into
Speaker 2: the beginning of the twenty twenty three season. Well, it didn't,
Speaker 2: And I think maybe we had similar expectations with this team.
Speaker 2: Look at the way they ran the ball toward the
Speaker 2: end of the season and now at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the season not running it quite as well. I guess
Speaker 2: my question would be, you know, again, are these case
Speaker 2: by every year different? Is there something about a running team?
Speaker 2: Maybe the other defenses are getting more fatigued. Does the
Speaker 2: season wears on Maybe the fact that you've continued to
Speaker 2: slam your head against the wall that makes you more
Speaker 2: prepared in week eight than the more tired guys are
Speaker 2: getting in a week. I don't know what the explanation is,
Speaker 2: because it's been a trend and now here we are,
Speaker 2: hopefully this trend is beginning in week six for the Steelers,
Speaker 2: were we can expect to see more of this dominating
Speaker 2: running team.
Speaker 5: I'm sure this is more of wolf Sally. You're talking
Speaker 5: about the left guard over here. I mean, he would
Speaker 5: know this better than I would, But I do think
Speaker 5: there's something to that. And last year it seemed to
Speaker 5: get triggered by putting Roger Jones in the lineup. It
Speaker 5: wasn't the coordinator change. It was you know, getting him
Speaker 5: out there, weaponizing him as a poler as well as
Speaker 5: some of the other guys. And I've been saying this
Speaker 5: all along, even though they drafted well on the offensive line,
Speaker 5: and I like all three of those young dudes. I
Speaker 5: just thought, you know, early growing pains is going to
Speaker 5: be in the cards for the offensive line no matter what.
Speaker 5: Let alone when all these injuries have hit. And boy,
Speaker 5: this frasier thing absolutely worries me along those lines. But
Speaker 5: you also mentioned the weather and the fatigue of the season.
Speaker 5: You know, everyone always talks about pounding the rock until
Speaker 5: it eventually, you know, breaks. I think some of that
Speaker 5: goes through the course of the year too. If you
Speaker 5: stick with a running game. Stick with a running game
Speaker 5: gets harder and harder to deal with as the season
Speaker 5: goes on, as the weather changes. You know, Derrick Henry
Speaker 5: has better numbers in December than he has September.
Speaker 4: You know. Now, let's not forget the fact that we've
Speaker 4: got a new offensive coordinator. Sure, you've got Arthur Smith.
Speaker 4: As I always talk about two fisted, double chin strap guy.
Speaker 4: That is as subtle as a frying pan to the forehead.
Speaker 4: It's all about bringing some power, bringing some heat, bringing
Speaker 4: some physicality, which is he's very good at. And you
Speaker 4: can see, you know the attitude of Arthur Smith being
Speaker 4: picked up by the players. You know they love this,
Speaker 4: they enjoys. I mean, there was nothing better then in
Speaker 4: the second half when you're grounding and pounding on the
Speaker 4: defense and those guys are starting to bicker with each
Speaker 4: other and their body language says I'm tired, this hurts,
Speaker 4: this stucks, you know, I mean, you know they get
Speaker 4: all upset about Hey, that's great because you want to
Speaker 4: pile it on. And if you have an offensive coordinator
Speaker 4: that allows you to go after it like that and
Speaker 4: go and deal with them physically. Man, that's just a
Speaker 4: lot of fun. I can't even begin to tell you
Speaker 4: how much fun that is.
Speaker 2: Well, Nagi's thirty six yard run was the first touchdown
Speaker 2: run was the first touchdown run by a Steerer's running
Speaker 2: back this year. And before we get to justin fields,
Speaker 2: which will do next segment, Matt really encouraging to see
Speaker 2: Jalen Warren out there. We've talked a lot about injuries,
Speaker 2: and again we'll wait and see what the case is
Speaker 2: with Zach Frazier. I mean, it's it's unbelievable that you know,
Speaker 2: you felt like, Wow, the offensive line's got great depth,
Speaker 2: The outside linebacker position's got great depth, the running back
Speaker 2: position has great depth. And now you know you're calling
Speaker 2: up guys from the practice clouded outside linebacker. You're down
Speaker 2: three or four guys on the offensive line, and you're
Speaker 2: down the two guys behind Nijee Harris at the running
Speaker 2: back position that I think we all expected to really
Speaker 2: help this running attack. Don't know when Cordero Patterson's going
Speaker 2: to be back. It wasn't a breakthrough game. It wasn't
Speaker 2: a I'm back kind of game for Jalen Warren necessarily,
Speaker 2: but the fact that he is back, I think is
Speaker 2: extremely significant for what this offense wants.
Speaker 5: To do one hundred percent and real quick. And that
Speaker 5: outside line group that got basically called off off the street,
Speaker 5: off practice squad, they didn't have the most challenging of
Speaker 5: NFL Sundays, but I thought they were not a liability
Speaker 5: and that's all I wanted from that group. So that
Speaker 5: was good from a depth perspective as well. Warren didn't
Speaker 5: look like last year's Warren quite yet, but I thought
Speaker 5: that was a perfect game to kind of knock some
Speaker 5: of that rust off. And I very much believe the
Speaker 5: best is yet to come for him for the rest
Speaker 5: of the season, and he could really spark plug this
Speaker 5: you spark this offense in both phases run hand pass,
Speaker 5: had really nice blitz pick up at one point too there,
Speaker 5: and you know, helped out on third downs. So no,
Speaker 5: I think that situations in pretty good hands right now.
Speaker 4: It's going to evolve and it'll continue to evolve. He's
Speaker 4: a ballardbuster. It's like Matt talked about it. He picks
Speaker 4: up the blitz. He's going to do things that maybe
Speaker 4: on the third down that you know, you'd like to
Speaker 4: get him the ball and get it out in open
Speaker 4: field and get some first downs. But a lot of
Speaker 4: what he does is just just impaling defensive backs and
Speaker 4: so forth. Guys that are on a blitz man. You know,
Speaker 4: let me tell you something, your quarterback, Justin, You're gonna oh,
Speaker 4: Justin's I going, yeah, I'm glad I got the ballardbuster back.
Speaker 2: Well, the Steelers win that game obviously against the Raiders
Speaker 2: to improve to four and two on the season. So
Speaker 2: a really, really nice victory for the Steelers in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: Up next, we're gonna continue to examine the offense, look
Speaker 2: at the quarterback position, We'll look at the defense. Special
Speaker 2: teams should also get a round of applause as well.
Speaker 2: That's when we continue on the point After on the
Speaker 2: Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 4: Back to the point after on DVD.
Speaker 2: Harris the loan setback. We'll get to pitch the Steelers
Speaker 2: trying to seal the edge. Naji Oh, We're gonna slide
Speaker 2: inside one tackle, get.
Speaker 3: Down the sideline.
Speaker 2: Naji Harris crazy towards the endo, scrawls out, is he in?
Speaker 3: Touchdown? Steelers? What a run by Naji Harris.
Speaker 2: The play of the game is brought to you by
Speaker 2: S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
Speaker 2: oh two. stBank dot com s and T Bank member
Speaker 2: fdi C. So it's great to see the running game
Speaker 2: going and Naji Harrison for a huge part of that.
Speaker 2: Great to see that first touchdown run by a Steelers
Speaker 2: running back on this season. We hadn't seen that until
Speaker 2: Nagi's thirty six yard first. So good stuff happening in
Speaker 2: the running game. In the thirty two to thirteen victory.
Speaker 2: Matt let's start with you first year as we then
Speaker 2: talk about the other part of that big running attack,
Speaker 2: and that was justin Fields, carrying the ball eleven times
Speaker 2: for fifty nine yards and scoring twice in this game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's absolutely a weapon with his legs. I mean,
Speaker 5: that's no secret. I think that early in the season
Speaker 5: they're getting to know him, he's getting to know them
Speaker 5: new system. You don't have an established Russell Wilson on
Speaker 5: the sideline active that I didn't think that. I thought
Speaker 5: they were a little reluctant to totally unleash his legs
Speaker 5: early in the season because anybody to watch him with
Speaker 5: the Bears saw, wow, you know, this guy is zero
Speaker 5: to sixty in no time. And we hadn't seen a
Speaker 5: lot of that yet, but it's starting to really expand
Speaker 5: and it's a good outlet for him when in doubt,
Speaker 5: just use those legs. I mean, the same thing that's
Speaker 5: going on with Jayden Dan and guys like that.
Speaker 2: Well, I think one of the other things, and we
Speaker 2: sort of made mention of it in the last part
Speaker 2: of the last segment, is the fact that you know,
Speaker 2: he has got the freedom to make a read and
Speaker 2: if he sees something in a certain way. Okay, you've
Speaker 2: called the pass for the average quarterback who doesn't have mobility.
Speaker 2: The blitz is coming. You've got to try to find
Speaker 2: the safety value. You've got to find the quick throw.
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes that quick throw can mean great things.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it can be a pressured and poor throw. Well,
Speaker 2: justin Fields has the capability of getting back there and
Speaker 2: immediately taking off and when you look at you know
Speaker 2: the last First of all, he has five rushing touchdowns
Speaker 2: in the last four weeks, but in two of the
Speaker 2: last three weeks eleven carries fifty nine yards, and then
Speaker 2: two weeks ago in the loss at Indianapolis, it was
Speaker 2: ten carries for fifty five yards, also scoring two touchdowns
Speaker 2: in that game. So we can talk all we want
Speaker 2: about quarterback rating, and his rating has been very, very solid,
Speaker 2: a little bit above average. Not wowing you with yardage numbers,
Speaker 2: not wowing you with touchdown numbers. But the rating doesn't
Speaker 2: take into account what he's doing carrying the ball, which
Speaker 2: is a huge part of what this Yeelers are doing
Speaker 2: offensively right now.
Speaker 4: Well, there's no question about it. Look, he's growing into
Speaker 4: the role. I mean, as we see him go through
Speaker 4: this process of expanding his offensive weaponry. You know, you
Speaker 4: take a look at it. Okay, we got you got
Speaker 4: an opportunity, you got the man coverage, you got a blitz.
Speaker 4: You know, you got pitting nop. You can head right
Speaker 4: up the field. You can, you know, beat the blitz.
Speaker 4: You know those are great, Well you roll them out. Now,
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, as he was rolling up, what
Speaker 4: a nice throw that was to Calvin Austin, right, that
Speaker 4: was just a nice job of throwing across his body
Speaker 4: and doing a good job. You know. Now we also
Speaker 4: see times where he put three throws together that you know,
Speaker 4: you had to have to believe that justin sitting and going,
Speaker 4: oh man, you know, they kind of got away from
Speaker 4: me those three throws down to you know, Friar mooth
Speaker 4: and so forth. But you know what, but it didn't
Speaker 4: affect him for the rest of the game. It's not
Speaker 4: like he went into the tank or anything like that.
Speaker 4: He fought his way out of it, was able to
Speaker 4: roll the chain some more in the second half and
Speaker 4: everything and do the job that he needed to do.
Speaker 4: And he's growing into a role and I think his
Speaker 4: confidence has got to be there. I think when he's
Speaker 4: in the huddle, the other ten guys are looking at
Speaker 4: him with confident eyes, you know, and it to me
Speaker 4: it all comes together and the result of good play
Speaker 4: and positive, positive, you know stuff on the field where
Speaker 4: he is doing the things he needs to do to
Speaker 4: get this team down into the end zone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think growing is that's the key word, Matt,
Speaker 2: that a lot of Steelers fans are looking at right now.
Speaker 2: And I think that if they're looking objectively, they're probably
Speaker 2: just they just are questioning, is that what's going on?
Speaker 2: There are some people that have already made up their minds, absolutely,
Speaker 2: I can see it with Justin Fields. Others who haven't,
Speaker 2: you know, I have them they need to throw for
Speaker 2: more yards and square or more points. I think when
Speaker 2: you're looking at this offense, first of all, they're doing
Speaker 2: what they need to do to win games. We'll get
Speaker 2: to that in a moment, but you know, as far
Speaker 2: as just trying to isolate Justin Fields beyond that, which
Speaker 2: is very difficult to separate from because that's his job
Speaker 2: is to try to win games. But I think that
Speaker 2: you need to be looking at this. Hopefully, if you're
Speaker 2: a Steelers fan, the hope is that this is these
Speaker 2: are signs of maturity. He is a player who's getting
Speaker 2: better than the player that you know, we saw towards
Speaker 2: the latter part of his time in the Bears. He's
Speaker 2: the guy that the Bears took in the first round.
Speaker 2: He's a guy that just needs a little more evolution,
Speaker 2: a little more being surrounded by better talent, weeks and
Speaker 2: weeks to grow into this, to get the technique better,
Speaker 2: and those sort of things to be the kind of
Speaker 2: quarterback that can, if needed, throw for two hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty five yards and three touchdowns in a game against
Speaker 2: the Chiefs or what have you when you need the offense.
Speaker 2: Is that the way you kind of see what we
Speaker 2: should be looking at and what fans should be looking at,
Speaker 2: because I think that's what fans are looking at right
Speaker 2: now with him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think it's just society nowadays. But it
Speaker 5: seems like many Stealer fans, as you mentioned, have already
Speaker 5: made their mind up. You're either a Fields guy or
Speaker 5: a Wilson guy, right, Why can't you be both? You know,
Speaker 5: I don't understand why, right, right? I mean, I think
Speaker 5: there's great arguments, great cases for both players, and they
Speaker 5: are very different in a lot of ways. And I
Speaker 5: also urge people to realize any development in football, but
Speaker 5: especially quarterbacks.
Speaker 4: Is not linear.
Speaker 5: You just don't keep taking steps forward. There's going to
Speaker 5: be setbacks. There's going to be times where you don't
Speaker 5: look so great, but then the next week you look phenomenal.
Speaker 5: And I didn't love the way Justin threw the ball yesterday.
Speaker 5: I thought his accuracy was one of the worst it's
Speaker 5: been in a Seiler uniform. But to think he's not
Speaker 5: getting better since the time, you know, from last year,
Speaker 5: even his end of his beaar days or even just
Speaker 5: starting with week one till now is crazy. He's definitely improved, yep.
Speaker 2: And I also to you know, I like the rating
Speaker 2: statistic because it puts some emphasis on touchdown to turnover ratio.
Speaker 2: But you have to have that touchdown. So he had
Speaker 2: a lower rating in this last game. But you know,
Speaker 2: think about this, if that throw to pickings in the
Speaker 2: end zone where I think I think George would tell
Speaker 2: you that he would catch that, you know, nine times
Speaker 2: out of ten, even though it was well defended. But George,
Speaker 2: he's got such great hands that that's one I think
Speaker 2: he normally hauls in. Now, your ratings in the nineties, right,
Speaker 2: I mean no interception.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but he also bailed out on an interception too.
Speaker 3: And don't.
Speaker 4: You know when he was strapped across that was only
Speaker 4: a step there, So.
Speaker 5: I mean yeah, I'm also I mean he's from one
Speaker 5: interception all year.
Speaker 2: And that's true, and right, you can't and you're right,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't be cherry picking one moment. I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: what could have happened. You know that it could have
Speaker 2: the rating could have been higher. But the sequence Wolf
Speaker 2: was talking about your your left, you're supposed to layer
Speaker 2: feather of throw in over defender to George Pickens. I
Speaker 2: wonder if I wonder if he didn't see that defender
Speaker 2: of the last minute, because it looked like he was
Speaker 2: trying to fire it in there. It didn't look like
Speaker 2: there was a lane to fire it in there that
Speaker 2: was high in a way. And then the one to
Speaker 2: friar Mouth I think was the one that was probably
Speaker 2: of the three throws the easiest.
Speaker 3: You're your move to your left. You got to drop
Speaker 3: a ball over a guy.
Speaker 2: You'd like to be able to make that throw, but
Speaker 2: it's not quite as simple as it looks. And then
Speaker 2: nor was the one the third one to Pickens, where
Speaker 2: he also had to do the same thing rolling to
Speaker 2: his right. The one to Friarmuth, I think is a
Speaker 2: It's not the easiest throw you'll ever make, but I
Speaker 2: think it's one that you know, again, nine times out
Speaker 2: of ten, Justin's probably gonna hit him right between the eights.
Speaker 2: So that three throw sequence. And then you know, again,
Speaker 2: if we're gonna quibble the throw to Pickens where Pickens
Speaker 2: caught the ball at to three, if he throws it
Speaker 2: out a little further, it's that's probably a touchdown there,
Speaker 2: And you know, we're looking at the offensive output maybe
Speaker 2: a little bit differently. But again, I think your point's
Speaker 2: a good one, Matt, is that in totality is he
Speaker 2: getting better week after week? Are is there going to
Speaker 2: be more put on his plate when necessary? But this
Speaker 2: gets me back wolf to the biggest point. So yes,
Speaker 2: we're all you know, fans are wondering, is are we
Speaker 2: seeing the evolution of a young quarterback who's going to
Speaker 2: be here for a while And we're seeing the first
Speaker 2: steps on the path to proving why he was a
Speaker 2: first to overall pick. But again, development goes hand in hand,
Speaker 2: Actually it doesn't really go hand in hand. Winning leads
Speaker 2: the way. Development is a step behind, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're walking down the sideway, sidewalk developments
Speaker 2: behind winning the game. And when you get into games
Speaker 2: like this, you have to be able to what you're
Speaker 2: looking at your assets as a team. What do we have, Well,
Speaker 2: we have a defense, it's the highest paid in the
Speaker 2: league and has proven to be very good at stopping opponents.
Speaker 2: We have an offense. It's maybe evolving right now. So
Speaker 2: what does the offense need to do? Well, largely run
Speaker 2: the ball and not turn it over. And that's what
Speaker 2: they did exactly.
Speaker 4: And that's the point of growing, you know. I mean
Speaker 4: the thing about it is, it's not as you said,
Speaker 4: And what's really important to remember, as Matt said, it's
Speaker 4: not a linear thing. You know, you're gonna have ups
Speaker 4: and downs, and you know the thing about it is
Speaker 4: you're gonna have coaching that's trying to elevate your game.
Speaker 4: I remember back as I was a rookie, and you know,
Speaker 4: pass protection was I came from a run blocking school.
Speaker 4: I mean, pass pro was just kind of like one
Speaker 4: of those things you did when you know it was
Speaker 4: too long to run the ball.
Speaker 3: You know, you and.
Speaker 4: The fact is, you know, my offensive line coach said, hey,
Speaker 4: you gotta do this, God is. But if I stuffed
Speaker 4: the guy, you'd be like, Okay, bottom line is, you
Speaker 4: got the job done, you know. And that's what Justin's
Speaker 4: doing right now. It's a bottom line thing at times,
Speaker 4: and he's getting the job done. He's got those legs,
Speaker 4: he's using them to extend drives, which is something we
Speaker 4: so desperately needed. And he's keeping the offense out there
Speaker 4: doing those sorts of things. And like I said, no,
Speaker 4: it wasn't the best throwing day for him yesterday, but
Speaker 4: Dad Gummett, when you throw three like he did in
Speaker 4: a row, you start to wonder, oh, is there something
Speaker 4: going on here or that? And he comes back and
Speaker 4: he just settles down and finishes the job and wins
Speaker 4: the day. You know, That's what it's all about, man,
Speaker 4: It's about winning and how you get there. I know
Speaker 4: you want to have nice stats, and I know that
Speaker 4: you want to look good doing it, and I know
Speaker 4: that you want to look like it's a smooth operation offensively,
Speaker 4: But sometimes it's choppy water and you are bailing water
Speaker 4: and you are paddling as hard as you can and
Speaker 4: to do that, you know, it takes all hands on deck,
Speaker 4: and I think that's what we're getting right now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so Rob, I heard an interview once with Brett
Speaker 5: Farv and he said, all NFL quarterbacks can hit the door.
Speaker 5: The really good ones can hit the doorknob. The great
Speaker 5: ones put it through the keyhole. And I don't think
Speaker 5: Fields will ever be a keyhole accuracy guy, but he's
Speaker 5: shown bouts of being a doorknob accuracy guy, and I
Speaker 5: think he can get to that point consistently in not
Speaker 5: a long, long stretch of time. And if you mix
Speaker 5: that with his legs and you only throw an interception
Speaker 5: once a month or so, you can win a lot.
Speaker 2: Of games, right And I think we should also remember
Speaker 2: again if you're looking for little pieces of the wall,
Speaker 2: the building block that is going to be justin Fields
Speaker 2: leading you to success in the postseason. I'll bring you
Speaker 2: back to that game against Dallas. You know, he led
Speaker 2: them for a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to
Speaker 2: give them a seventeen to thirteen lead. That's what you
Speaker 2: want to be able to do. I mean to me, guys,
Speaker 2: an offense has to be able to have the character
Speaker 2: to score when you want to you know, the defense
Speaker 2: brings an attitude and we're going to shut you down.
Speaker 3: To the the offense, you.
Speaker 2: Need to be explosive, but you have to at least
Speaker 2: have the character to be able to score when the
Speaker 2: team needs you to score, to be able to go
Speaker 2: on a drive when a team needs you to be
Speaker 2: able to go on a drive and give that defense
Speaker 2: a rest. And even in a loss against Dallas, he
Speaker 2: marched the team down the field after the turnover and
Speaker 2: scored a touchdown that gave them a game. They gave
Speaker 2: them the lead and a chance to win that game
Speaker 2: against Dallas. So again, is that, you know, three hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy yards passing and three touchdown. No, it isn't,
Speaker 2: But is it maybe another piece of the building block.
Speaker 2: I'd like to think it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no question about it. Look, let's go back
Speaker 4: to two thousand and four. Young man named Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 4: took the field and you know it was thrown for
Speaker 4: a buck fifty bucks seventy five, had a powerful running
Speaker 4: game behind him. Steel has just had a great day
Speaker 4: running the ball yesterday. Even if part of it is
Speaker 4: your quarterback's legs, good for that, all right, But you
Speaker 4: got a good defense. The defense got what three takeaways
Speaker 4: night's job, I believe it was, you know. And by
Speaker 4: the way, we haven't even mentioned that TJ. Watt, Who
Speaker 4: I gotta tell you, man, this guy gets chipped more
Speaker 4: than a stone statue with a you know, a guy
Speaker 4: doing a some sort of you know, a statue type thing,
Speaker 4: chip it away. This guy gets chipped all the time,
Speaker 4: and not just by one. Sometimes I saw like three
Speaker 4: guys at one point in time. He's trying to weave
Speaker 4: his way through and yet to be able to affect
Speaker 4: the game to the outcome of the way he was.
Speaker 4: He threw what we used to call a number nine
Speaker 4: the overhand right on, punching down on two footballs, knocking
Speaker 4: it out. It was tremendous. So, I mean, if you
Speaker 4: got the defense that's playing like that, and you've got
Speaker 4: an offense where you've got a number of people that
Speaker 4: have got their hands in the pile doing those things,
Speaker 4: but you've got a quarterback that if you need to run,
Speaker 4: he can run it. If you need to pass, he's
Speaker 4: going to pass it. And if you need to stuff
Speaker 4: yourself in the keyhole, he's capable of doing it, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna talk about that defense more. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about the special teams, which is certainly worthy
Speaker 2: of praise as well. And we're going to take a
Speaker 2: sneak peek ahead to the game coming up against Aaron
Speaker 2: Rodgers and the Jets. When we continue in the Point
Speaker 2: After on this year, there's audio network back.
Speaker 4: To the point after on DV E.
Speaker 2: O'Connell gets a snap back to pass raiders. Feeling some
Speaker 2: pressure in O'Connell is slung down Cam Hayward, playing his
Speaker 2: two hundredth career game, and Hayward sacks him back at
Speaker 2: the three yard line the Sack Humbert Hunger segment. The
Speaker 2: Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the Greater
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate at
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. Cam Heyward two hundredth game and
Speaker 2: Wolf I just thought he was everywhere in this game.
Speaker 2: The sack tackles at the line of scrimmager in the backfield.
Speaker 2: I thought Cam Hayward was very, very noticeable for the Steelers.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, the lion King was on the problem. I
Speaker 4: tell you you know, it was interesting to watch because
Speaker 4: this guy every time you hear people talk about his
Speaker 4: age and everything, like, I don't know, you know, it's
Speaker 4: a bad thing. You just look at him, go, he
Speaker 4: don't look like a fourteenth season guy, you know. I
Speaker 4: mean he just plays with such intensity, he plays with
Speaker 4: such power and technique. I mean, it's all coming together
Speaker 4: for him. That sack that he had was really, really good, man.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was just fun watching him beat the
Speaker 4: pants off the guy. And then of course you know
Speaker 4: he almost got home a couple of other times too.
Speaker 4: So his influence and his ability to marshal the resources
Speaker 4: of the defense is huge, and I can't say enough
Speaker 4: good things about the fact. Glad that he's in the lineup.
Speaker 2: You know, Matt Antonio Peers was asked about Cam Hayward
Speaker 2: this week and he said prior to the game that
Speaker 2: that's where it all start to the Coos defense is
Speaker 2: Cam Heyward up front and he destroys people, and you know,
Speaker 2: he's an all time great and he looked like it.
Speaker 2: You know, I thought again, and I always preface this
Speaker 2: the same way. I'm careful about saying a guy is
Speaker 2: extra motivated, because look, if you're motivated at one hundred
Speaker 2: percent and a lot of these guys are how do
Speaker 2: you add extra to that? You know, when you say
Speaker 2: he's going to be extra motivated, Well, what does that
Speaker 2: mean he's only playing at seventy percent all these other years?
Speaker 3: No, of course not.
Speaker 2: But I thought a couple of guys who would would
Speaker 2: have that little chip on their shoulder going into this
Speaker 2: season would be Russ Wilson.
Speaker 3: And we talked a little bit.
Speaker 2: About this, I think in the past Cam Hayward, because
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson, you know, a nine time Pro bowler, and
Speaker 2: he gets to Denver and things just go off the
Speaker 2: rails for him, and I want, I'm sure he would
Speaker 2: like to remind people that, yeah, I'm a nine time
Speaker 2: Pro bowler, I'm a Super Bowl champ. This is who
Speaker 2: I am. I got plenty of good football left and
Speaker 2: yes I'm on my way to Canton. And I think
Speaker 2: Cam Hayward was hearing how kind of a down years
Speaker 2: Cam getting older, and well, games like that make you
Speaker 2: realize that he doesn't look like he's getting that much older.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And not that I doubted Cam at any point,
Speaker 5: but many times on the air I mentioned I don't
Speaker 5: know what he is right now, you know, I mean
Speaker 5: that was a training camp that was at the preseason.
Speaker 5: Of course, they took a lot off his plate. They're
Speaker 5: not going to beat him up in those environments. They're
Speaker 5: going to save him for now. And I just had
Speaker 5: I had concerns, you know, because last year didn't go
Speaker 5: as Cam would have liked. I'm sure he'd be the
Speaker 5: first to admit that that was all injury riddled. But
Speaker 5: I thought the year before twenty twenty two was actually
Speaker 5: Hayward's best year as a pro. I think twenty twenty
Speaker 5: four might even be better. I mean, like he's a
Speaker 5: fine wine that just gets better and better. His technique improves.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's that Dale and I always talk about
Speaker 5: how he is that old man game at the Why
Speaker 5: where he just gets every rebound and you don't know
Speaker 5: how he did it. Yeah, yeah, never, He's not chasing
Speaker 5: loose balls left and right, but he's pulling down every
Speaker 5: rebound and smart, and you know his strength and power
Speaker 5: is going to translate for years.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I decided that I gave up playing hoops. I decided
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be the old man game the Why.
Speaker 2: But I know that guy you're talking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean sharp Eldows, Yeah right.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, you're you're you know, you're quicker than him,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden you go to get around
Speaker 2: him and he's standing in your path.
Speaker 3: How did he get there? What is that? Was that
Speaker 3: a hook shot? He just what the heck? And the yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean so right? Yeah, good style. Love that analogy.
Speaker 3: That's tremendous.
Speaker 2: You know, Wolf, When I was looking at this game,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the things that I liked so
Speaker 2: much about the offseason acquisitions for this Yeelers on defense was,
Speaker 2: you know, if you're acting Cam Hayward to have a
Speaker 2: bounce back, and you have Keanu Benton, who's a player
Speaker 2: on the rise, and you have TJ. Watt and high
Speaker 2: Smith and Herbig and of course Highsmith and Herbig get hurt,
Speaker 2: but you have those forces on the outside. Then you
Speaker 2: add to that Patrick Queen and Peyton Wilson. You team
Speaker 2: them together with the Landon Roberts. We know what Mink
Speaker 2: is capable of doing with a little bit of help,
Speaker 2: So you bring into Shaun Elliet, you get Dante Jackson,
Speaker 2: and again we do have to preface this, it's not
Speaker 2: a very talented Oakland team they're going against. But the
Speaker 2: Steelers there was a lot of wow performances out there
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 3: For the Steelers defensively, MIKEA.
Speaker 2: Fitzpatrick had thirteen tackles, Deshaun Elliott added a half a
Speaker 2: dozen tackles. He was tied with Peyton Wilson in that department.
Speaker 2: I thought of Landon Roberts was very noticeable, as was
Speaker 2: as was Patrick Queen in that middle linebacker position, and
Speaker 2: Peyton Wilson, and then you get a third interception from
Speaker 2: Dante Jackson. I just thought on all three levels, the
Speaker 2: Steelers caused problems for the Raiders defensively.
Speaker 4: There's no question I think you laid it out there
Speaker 4: very very well. I mean all three levels. You know
Speaker 4: I've been I can't tell you the last month to
Speaker 4: Shawn Elliott. It just seems to be standing out over
Speaker 4: and over again. And one of the things that was
Speaker 4: just amazing to me was how he closed on a
Speaker 4: guy on it. I believe it was second half. Was
Speaker 4: a possession down crossing route in the middle, and he
Speaker 4: came up and he was about three yards short first contact. Now,
Speaker 4: this is a situation where you and I have a
Speaker 4: wide receiver running laterally and a guy trying to close
Speaker 4: on him. You might get dragged to the first down,
Speaker 4: you might be able to, you know, be out fought
Speaker 4: for the first down. Deshaun Elliott just kept accelerating his
Speaker 4: legs as he drove through the tackle to wipe the
Speaker 4: guy out. I mean he didn't come in with him.
Speaker 4: He caught the ball maybe three three and a half
Speaker 4: yards from the first down, and he finished about five
Speaker 4: yards from the first down when he hit the turf.
Speaker 4: And I thought, what a great job of open field
Speaker 4: tackling and not giving away the sticks on that route.
Speaker 4: That was just a superb job by him. And you
Speaker 4: know he's made plays in the run box, you know,
Speaker 4: doing things from the backside, slashing into the B gap
Speaker 4: and dropping guys and that, and I think he was
Speaker 4: a great acquisition. And Dante Jackson was another guy you
Speaker 4: know that has done so very well. And then the
Speaker 4: back end Meca is makea man. And then you got
Speaker 4: Joey Porter. I like, what's cooking back there? Yeah, rob
Speaker 4: along those lines. You know, I have a scouting front
Speaker 4: office background, and Wolf kind of mentioned it. And I
Speaker 4: know it's almost Halloween, so these guys aren't new anymore.
Speaker 4: But what additions Jackson and Elliott have made to the
Speaker 4: back end playmakers, versatility, and you mentioned Queen. I thought
Speaker 4: this was clearly his best game in a Steeler uniform,
Speaker 4: no question about it.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't disagree with that.
Speaker 4: It all wolf Well, just the fact thirteen tackles. I mean,
Speaker 4: this guy was coast to coast, you know, I mean
Speaker 4: I love it. I mean it was just just to
Speaker 4: watch him. He was his seed do and his his
Speaker 4: ability to get on the hit and take guys down.
Speaker 4: It was very apparent. You know. I think he's just
Speaker 4: settling in. I think that's part and parcel of what
Speaker 4: it is. He's getting real comfortable, he's realizing some of
Speaker 4: the gap responsibilities and how some of the guys handle it.
Speaker 4: And by the way, let's not forget Larry Ogan job.
Speaker 4: He's been playing very well. Also. He eats up a
Speaker 4: lot of meat up front of those big, big, heavy
Speaker 4: hoofers and does a good job of turning loose the linebackers.
Speaker 4: And the Landon Roberts is a Landon Roberts just one
Speaker 4: of the toughest hitters. And then you got the young
Speaker 4: man Peyton Wilson. So I like that parent of Spare
Speaker 4: is now again coming to fruition. But the acquisitions in
Speaker 4: the off season is like you said, on all three levels,
Speaker 4: they are all contributing.
Speaker 2: Yep, and the development of the guys and the continued
Speaker 2: development of the young guys along the defensive line being
Speaker 2: able to spell guys the starters. That's a good mix.
Speaker 2: I think right now for this Tethers as well, and
Speaker 2: I think Matt, you know, we would be I would
Speaker 2: be remiss if I did not bring up special teams.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're covering players that are so good
Speaker 2: they're almost automatic, you know, Mary of them you had
Speaker 2: to go in two assists? Okay, yeah, but what else
Speaker 2: did anybody else?
Speaker 3: Do you know exactly?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Crosby had to go on an assist, But what
Speaker 2: about you know, McCutchen had two hits, But what about
Speaker 2: you know, so you look, you know, Boswell four more
Speaker 2: field goals, you know, another one from over fifty of
Speaker 2: forty eight yard or Jeremiah Moon blocks a punt. Minka
Speaker 2: Fitzpatrick does a nice job of Listen, you know, you
Speaker 2: expect to be able to cover an on side kick,
Speaker 2: but you still have to do it, and Minka did it.
Speaker 2: And I just thought there was a lot to like
Speaker 2: about this Dealer's Special team's performance. In this game, and
Speaker 2: you know, I corless Weightman did a nice job kicking
Speaker 2: the ball, averaging nearly forty six yards per kick and
Speaker 2: getting two inside the twenty. So I just thought, I
Speaker 2: think a go off of the cap to special teams
Speaker 2: because I thought they were, you know, a sizable part
Speaker 2: of his victory.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a great point. And I don't study or
Speaker 5: know a ton of special teams tape in x's and
Speaker 5: o's and those type of things. But obviously Danny Smith
Speaker 5: has a real pension and a real talent for creating
Speaker 5: opportunities to block kicks and punts, you know. I mean
Speaker 5: that's just been true year after years since he's been here. Boswell,
Speaker 5: I'm not a big believer in Hall of Fame kickers
Speaker 5: and whatnot. I think Justin Tucker should go. But if
Speaker 5: Tucker should go, Boswell's got a case. I mean, he's
Speaker 5: that good year after year. And the fact that we
Speaker 5: don't even talk about Weightman this far into the season
Speaker 5: I think is really significant. When when Johnston went down,
Speaker 5: I was flat out concerned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agreed, because he was. Look, you went into
Speaker 2: this offseason Wolf thinking, Okay, we hope the offense is
Speaker 2: going to get better with the addition to the quarterback
Speaker 2: position in with some help along the offensive line. You know,
Speaker 2: we'd like to think the defense, with the additions we've
Speaker 2: made there, is going to go from very good to elite,
Speaker 2: and we're gonna add to special teams. You go out
Speaker 2: and you sign a punter like Cam Johnson and then
Speaker 2: you get the greatest kickoff return man in history in
Speaker 2: Cordero Patterson. When you think the kickoff return is going
Speaker 2: to be bigger than it's kind of turned out to be,
Speaker 2: this was clearly an area hit the steam.
Speaker 3: Right you bring back Matta Kavich.
Speaker 2: This was clearly, you know, an intention to this team
Speaker 2: to make sure that that third part of the game offense, defense,
Speaker 2: special teams, that the special teams are going to be
Speaker 2: on the plus side of the ledger. I don't think
Speaker 2: there's any question through six weeks that they've been on
Speaker 2: the plus side of the ledgers. Blocked field goal, you know,
Speaker 2: blocked punt, doing a solid job in the punting game,
Speaker 2: Calvin Austin in the return game.
Speaker 3: I just think it's been a positive for the Steelers.
Speaker 4: There's no question about it. And one of the things
Speaker 4: that you think about with a punter like that is.
Speaker 4: You know, there's an old saying in football. You know
Speaker 4: it's okay to punt. You know, there's times when your
Speaker 4: offense is struggling a little bit, and you know what,
Speaker 4: don't stretch yourself and put your the win in jeopardy.
Speaker 4: You know, punt the ball, you know, get that defense
Speaker 4: and keep them backed up, that sort of thing, and
Speaker 4: he's able to execute that. I mean, he keeps it
Speaker 4: inside that, you know, the coffin corner does a nice
Speaker 4: job with that. The one thing that that just blew
Speaker 4: me away Ryan watching Brian Johnson up at training camp
Speaker 4: was the fact that he would kick the ball within
Speaker 4: five yards of the sideline and they'd be seventy yard bombs,
Speaker 4: sixty yard bombs, but he could place them within five
Speaker 4: I just, how do you die?
Speaker 5: Every club in the bag?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Every club in the bag,
Speaker 4: which you know I only had a putter.
Speaker 3: Wait when I brought up every club in the bag,
Speaker 3: you didn't like it.
Speaker 4: Well, here's the thing about.
Speaker 3: It, and I stole it from Matt.
Speaker 4: You know, but I just I just had a flashback
Speaker 4: to playing in them McCollen and play and on the
Speaker 4: putt butt, you know what I mean? Sure where the
Speaker 4: girls defeated us.
Speaker 2: As we are doing this show, we are waiting for
Speaker 2: the Jets game to get started on Monday Night Football,
Speaker 2: So we don't know if it's going to be a
Speaker 2: Jets game coming in, a Jets team coming in three
Speaker 2: and three or two and four. They fired their coach,
Speaker 2: they still have Aaron Rodgers. I think they fired their coach,
Speaker 2: Matt because they feel like they're off to a disappointing start.
Speaker 2: I think they're a team, you know, they're a team
Speaker 2: that some people were predicting would get to the super
Speaker 2: Bowl this year. I think it's a team that's dissatisfied
Speaker 2: clearly with where they are. I also think it's the
Speaker 2: kind of team, like if you separate the sort of
Speaker 2: teams in the AFC, you know, you kind of expect
Speaker 2: the Chiefs to be up there, maybe even with all
Speaker 2: the players they've lost. You expect the Bills to be
Speaker 2: up there. Everybody else is trying to get there. I
Speaker 2: think the Steelers and Jets are two teams that are
Speaker 2: trying to get back to that level where they're hey, legitimate,
Speaker 2: everybody knows we're a contender kind of thing, you know, Baltimore.
Speaker 2: I think we can throw into that that group as well.
Speaker 3: Really intriguing game coming up on Sunday night.
Speaker 5: One hundred percent, and I'm already pretty deep into Matt stats.
Speaker 5: I got two pages here and I've even seen the
Speaker 5: Jets play this week. But one thing I know for
Speaker 5: certain is tonight will be Jeff albricks first game as
Speaker 5: an NFL head coach, and next week will be Mike
Speaker 5: Tomlins three hundredth so a little bit of a discrepancy there,
Speaker 5: But in terms of the Jets, I think rob more
Speaker 5: than maybe any team in the league. And considering the
Speaker 5: age of their quarterback. We talked about offseasons, they pushed
Speaker 5: all their chips in. They went and got Tyron Smith
Speaker 5: and Morgan Moses and all these older, once and still
Speaker 5: productive players to try to win. Now you know, like
Speaker 5: they're mortgaging the future to some degree and pushing their
Speaker 5: chips in and it didn't kind of go to plan,
Speaker 5: and the head coach suffered for it. So really curious
Speaker 5: to see what tonight looks with a new head coach.
Speaker 4: Well, it'll be interesting because I doubt he's going to
Speaker 4: go in for a hug with Aaron Rodgers, right I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we all saw that video. Yeah, that was that
Speaker 2: was interesting stuff. Well, looking forward to that one.
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