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Speaker 1: You were tuned about Drive on Home of the Black

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Speaker 1: and Goal Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back. I am dal Lolli.

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Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson, and this is the Drive on

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Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio. And Matt just looking at some of

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Speaker 1: the uh, the d v o A stuff for this

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Speaker 1: football game between the Steelers and Panthers. I haven't checked

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Speaker 1: their special teams. I always look at the opponent's special

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Speaker 1: teams ranks. Let's do that while we're here. Yeah, so Carolina,

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Speaker 1: the Steelers right now are nine in total d v

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Speaker 1: o A. Okay, the Carolina Panthers, I can imagine their

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Speaker 1: offense was thirty second for a long, a long time.

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Speaker 1: The Steelers on offense are twenty in offensive d v

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Speaker 1: o A. The Panthers are twenty nine. It's just such

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Speaker 1: a hold climb out of the Steelers on defense? Are

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Speaker 1: the Panthers are nineteen? I know a lot of people

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Speaker 1: are disappointed with the Steeler defense. Isn't that bad? And

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Speaker 1: I've had people why aren't they making any big plays?

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I think their second in the league and interceptions.

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Speaker 1: They haven't had any fumbles and they haven't had you know,

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Speaker 1: the sack production. What is it? Like six of the

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Speaker 1: last games under twenty for the defense. Yeah, right, right,

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Speaker 1: if you take that all day long. Yeah, I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they've been getting run on, but that doesn't mean they're

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Speaker 1: getting gashed for points. Yeah. Points are what really matters. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, so, uh, special teams the US had to

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Speaker 1: go down. They went well. Actually they they've started inching

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Speaker 1: their way back up there and special teams right now.

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Speaker 1: And I was thinking the block kick had to the

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Speaker 1: block kick hurt them. Um the return, Yeah, the return

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Speaker 1: that they gave up. There's been a couple of things there.

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Speaker 1: Their coverage units overall have not been I think they've

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Speaker 1: been really good. Yeah, but they've just suffered and their

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Speaker 1: returns they haven't got much in the return game, especially

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Speaker 1: on punts right, and their punt team has been to

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Speaker 1: the punter has been too inconsistent for Carolina, they are eighty.

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Speaker 1: I was no clue. Yeah, Now if we look at

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Speaker 1: that over the last few weeks from from the bye

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Speaker 1: week on, because I did it with e p A

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Speaker 1: from the bottom, it was very impressive. So I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: move this. That's week nine for the Steelers. I think

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Speaker 1: I did it from ten on because they didn't play

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Speaker 1: in nine or well, Carolina played nine. Yeah, we can

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Speaker 1: include demon whatever we could go ten, that's fine, ten

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Speaker 1: through fourteen. So that's the last five games, Yeah, last

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Speaker 1: five weeks. Looking at the d v A way for

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Speaker 1: both of these teams, Carolinas will be better than what

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Speaker 1: we just said. Yeah, this is the best stretch they've had.

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Speaker 1: This is the best Dealers had. And folks, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: we've told you this before, but coaches aren't watching Week one. Nothing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: nothing like Baker Mayfield quarterback has no bearing on whatsoever.

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Speaker 1: I mean, p J. Moore at quarterback has no No,

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Speaker 1: I mean Iquan who is a much better player now

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Speaker 1: at left tackle than he was his first two games

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Speaker 1: of the of his career. You know, So these guys

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Speaker 1: break down the last four games basically so since Week ten,

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Speaker 1: the Steelers are twelve in d v o A. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that sounds about right. That meshes with the p A

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Speaker 1: stuff I did dug up in offensive d v o A.

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Speaker 1: Their eleven. Yeah, and I'm sure if you broke it

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Speaker 1: on the run pass, they'd be pretty darn high. Run

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Speaker 1: past their passing their nineteen running, their eight defensive d

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Speaker 1: v o A, their ninth overall again. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: know that it's unsightly to watch teams run on you,

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Speaker 1: and but you'll take that past defense. Their sixth in

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Speaker 1: d v o A, having exactly played passing the last

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Speaker 1: two weeks, unlike the early part of the season. Rushing

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Speaker 1: a d v o A there eight against the run.

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Speaker 1: Against the run, yeah, special teams thirty one. That's when

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Speaker 1: started started to become a problem. Panthers are fifteenth in

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Speaker 1: d v o A since Week ten. It's light years

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Speaker 1: different than what they are for the season or early

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Speaker 1: in the year. I mean they were they were Houston

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Speaker 1: Texans offensively still no passing game, no passing game there, No,

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Speaker 1: they wait the passing game more than a run. Their

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Speaker 1: twenty second in passing d v o A, seventeen rush

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Speaker 1: running d v A. I guess any explosive runs. It's

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Speaker 1: volume based. Yeah, I almost said they're not good at running.

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Speaker 1: They are because it pays off. But you don't watch

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Speaker 1: many runs and be like, wow, that was really well

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Speaker 1: blocked in a great running you know, great ball carrier.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's just three three yards, big ballot up

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Speaker 1: like I've got I've got Deonte Foreman on my on

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Speaker 1: my fantasy team. And every week I go intore going through.

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Speaker 1: I want to start him this week because five catches

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Speaker 1: all years, it's gonna it's gonna be like twenty two

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Speaker 1: carries for eighty yards, right or six maybe he falls

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Speaker 1: into the end zone exactly exactly, and he's their best back.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you know, I mean so, yeah, they're good at

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Speaker 1: running the ball and it's effective. They're adamant about running, yes,

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Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean that they're a great running team. Uh.

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Speaker 1: It's not like something chick Henry, No, it's it is not.

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Speaker 1: Their fourth in defensive d v o A. See that

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Speaker 1: doesn't shock me, although they've played some bad teams lately,

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Speaker 1: but I think their defense is very legit. Like I

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Speaker 1: think if you looked at who's played Denver and they're

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Speaker 1: one of them, right right right, that would that would

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Speaker 1: that's certainly a factor into that. Uh second in passing

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Speaker 1: d v o A. Defensively, defensively, I can see that

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Speaker 1: their corners have really come on and they could rush

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Speaker 1: the past for pretty well. Yeah, tenth in rushing d

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Speaker 1: v o A. Okay, yeah, I love the special teams.

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Speaker 1: Since since the so they've been above average and special

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Speaker 1: teams now in for the whole season. Yeah, I don't

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Speaker 1: even know their specialists are off top man, I mean

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Speaker 1: the kickers and who their return guys are and all

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Speaker 1: those dudes. Kind of nondescript group. Yeah, it kind of is. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so you know, I look at that's these teams are

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Speaker 1: playing not their best right this minute, but their best

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Speaker 1: certainly better than they were earlier in the year. If

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Speaker 1: you look at the offensive line rankings, Ok, I bet

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Speaker 1: that's going up for them dramatically. Steelers are twelve. Remember

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Speaker 1: last week they were eleven, So there's still this is

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Speaker 1: for the whole season, for the whole season, right, They've

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Speaker 1: been very good. Caroline and we all would have taken

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Speaker 1: twelve months ago, Caroline where is Carolina? Carolina is fifth.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't shock me. It's come a long way. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think Kwana who is going to be a star.

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Speaker 1: Guys like Bozeman are pretty good. They they played to

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Speaker 1: their strengths. They don't make these guys go backwards too

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Speaker 1: often either. You right again, that's played your strengths. Yeah. Now,

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Speaker 1: part of that's also they don't pass the ball at all.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're not taking any sacks. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: keep talking about Kwanau. I mean he's the first round pick,

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Speaker 1: he's a six pick in the draft or whatever. But

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Speaker 1: his questions coming out, we're passed, bro, you know. I

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Speaker 1: mean he's a real big, physical maller that had some

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Speaker 1: work to do pass sets and things like that. Well,

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Speaker 1: let's not ask him to do it so much. Interesting

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Speaker 1: to note here the Steelers run blocking this year. They

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Speaker 1: are second overall and in power blocking power blocking. Remember

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Speaker 1: we've we've talked about this now for several weeks. How

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Speaker 1: power running in the NFL is where it's coming. That's

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Speaker 1: that's where you should be, you know, making your hay Um.

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Speaker 1: The Panthers are eleven that that doesn't surprise me either.

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Speaker 1: But fifth for the Steelers or second for the second

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Speaker 1: for the Steelers is wow. Yeah. I mean I've been

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Speaker 1: a little critical of the Steelers about I've seen I

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Speaker 1: don't love gentry and Gunner and some of these skill

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Speaker 1: guys that don't offer a lot as weapons. But it

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Speaker 1: has been a collective effort in terms of run blocking,

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Speaker 1: and you know that that does pay off. They don't

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Speaker 1: have the Ray Ray McCloud's out there that don't block anybody,

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Speaker 1: you know, And I do think the offensive line, dan

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Speaker 1: More in particular is better run blocking than they are

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Speaker 1: in protection. But earlier in the year I thought they

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Speaker 1: were better in protection, especially chookes and you know, but collectively,

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Speaker 1: and some of this I think goes back to conversations

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Speaker 1: we had a couple of weeks ago. They're much better

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Speaker 1: with the double teams and the timing of it all,

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Speaker 1: and you know, coming off the ball and how long

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Speaker 1: do I stay on this block before going to second

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Speaker 1: and level And that's that's playing together, right. So I

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Speaker 1: had this conversation with myself on a private podcast type

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Speaker 1: of thing. The fact that they've been so healthy offensive

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Speaker 1: line wise, I think it's wonderful. But it's also very

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Speaker 1: fortunate too, you know, like that continuity I think is

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Speaker 1: going to pay off whether they throw in one more

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Speaker 1: or two and more starters anyway. So that's wonderful. But

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Speaker 1: they also don't have the excuse of while they've had

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Speaker 1: all these injuries, you know what I mean, excuse because

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Speaker 1: they've played well and they've played better than anybody could

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Speaker 1: have imagined this year. You know, uh, looking at the

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Speaker 1: down and distance stuff here, this is fascinating. So Carolina

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Speaker 1: on first down in terms of d V O A

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Speaker 1: is thirty second in the league. They must run the

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Speaker 1: ball just every first down that they get. I bet

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Speaker 1: it's second and eight all the time. Yeah, which they're

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Speaker 1: okay with, right, but it's never do they ever get

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Speaker 1: a first down on first down? I bet not many. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll bet it doesn't happen often. I bet they're at

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Speaker 1: the bott in the league with that. Yeah. Uh. Second

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Speaker 1: and short there twenty five and d v O A,

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Speaker 1: which you wouldn't think second mid their twenty three, second

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Speaker 1: and long they're eleventh. Okay, wow, I wouldn't think anything,

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Speaker 1: and long would be above average. So all second downs

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Speaker 1: they are fourteenth overall in d v O A, the

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Speaker 1: middle of the powerful one first down, middle of the road,

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Speaker 1: and second, third and fourth and short there twelve is

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Speaker 1: terrible bit right, Third and fourth in mid minus forty

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Speaker 1: seven point four, by the way, that's hideous. Yeah uh.

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Speaker 1: And then they are third and fourth and long they're

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Speaker 1: twenty seven minus fifty two point two or fifty seven

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Speaker 1: point two. That's hideous. It's reiterates everything we've been saying

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Speaker 1: all week and what we said in the first segment.

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Speaker 1: If you can do whatever it takes to get them

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Speaker 1: to third and medium or worse. They aren't real capable

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Speaker 1: of hurting it. In fact, you get them the third down,

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Speaker 1: as we mentioned in the previous segment, where they convert,

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Speaker 1: they're bady nine into in all third and fourth down

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Speaker 1: d b os. And mind you, they've converted what ten

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Speaker 1: out of fourteen four thousands this year or something. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're not a real It wasn't a stat related thing,

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Speaker 1: but they've been good on fourth. But I would be

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Speaker 1: curious how much of that was with p J. Walker.

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Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I bet most of them are

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Speaker 1: all fourth and ones too, because I think on fourth

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Speaker 1: and third their punting every time, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: They have bet their fourth in very shorts. So again

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Speaker 1: all all plays their minus sixteen point one there twenty

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Speaker 1: nine in the league. On the who's worst than them

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Speaker 1: on third and fourth? I'll bet the I'll bet Tampa

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Speaker 1: Bay third and fourth and long because the Tampa Bay

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Speaker 1: is Tampa's hideous on first down too, because that's why

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Speaker 1: they're always in third and fourth, and Tampa's on third

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Speaker 1: and fourth and long is minus twenty eight point three. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so they're not a quick favorite. Yeah, who the best

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Speaker 1: and worst in the league on first down. On first down,

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Speaker 1: I think Tampa's awful. So first down, the best team

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Speaker 1: on first down is Philadelphia, not surprising. Yeah, Miami is second.

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Speaker 1: They're twenty two point eight, and Miami is twenty one

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Speaker 1: point six, Kansas City seventeen point nine, Atlanta seventeen point nine. Interesting, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean without it, they'd be in trouble. Caroline is worst,

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Speaker 1: as we said, minus minus twenty six point nine. They're

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Speaker 1: as bad as those guys are good. Yeah, Indianapolis is

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Speaker 1: second worst, Arizona third worst at minus twenty one point four,

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Speaker 1: and then everybody else is. They're in the teens or

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Speaker 1: those those three teams are minus twenty or lower. They

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Speaker 1: are twenty eight actually on first out, but it's minus twelve.

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Speaker 1: They're like ter Yeah, twice as good as Carolina. Carolina,

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Speaker 1: they're only a couple of ranks ahead of them. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: If you look at the Steelers overall first down, it's

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Speaker 1: minus twelve second down, minus seven teen point seven on

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Speaker 1: second short, so that's seven. They're twelve in the league

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Speaker 1: on second mid their sixteenth in the league on second

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Speaker 1: and long m uh seventeen on all second downs, third

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Speaker 1: and fourth and third and fourth and short their sixth

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Speaker 1: best in the league. They they had I think I

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Speaker 1: don't know that they've missed on a third. I think

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Speaker 1: at one point they had converted all of their third

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Speaker 1: and ones this year, like they had. Whether it be

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Speaker 1: quarterback sneaks, whether it be Derek Watt, whether it be

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Speaker 1: Nag Harris, didn't matter who it was, they convert those.

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Speaker 1: That's interesting too, because there have been a couple Watts.

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Speaker 1: There's certainly been some sneaks that we haven't seen for

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Speaker 1: we've even seen we saw a pick and score on

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Speaker 1: a on a fourth or thirty one from the goal line. Uh. There,

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Speaker 1: fourteen on third and fourth in mid range six point

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Speaker 1: plus six point three, So I haven't heard any bad ones. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: twenty five on third and fourth and long minus third

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Speaker 1: minus thirty six. So that's I can see that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean that's a rookie quarterback, but fourteen on all

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Speaker 1: third and fourth downs, and that has to be skyrocketing. Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's been going up every Yeah, because since like over

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Speaker 1: the last five weeks are hitting down, which is phenomenal,

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Speaker 1: and it's close to lead in the league. All plays

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Speaker 1: are twenty at minus three point seven. Again, Carolina is

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Speaker 1: twenty nine and minus sixteen point one. Huge difference difference,

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Speaker 1: huge difference difference. Yeah, that that bears out what we've

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Speaker 1: been saying. There's not a lot of big surprises there.

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Speaker 1: I do think that first down stuff is interesting about

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Speaker 1: when Carolina has a ball, Yeah, I mean second and eight.

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Speaker 1: I feel like the defense is happy and the offense

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Speaker 1: isn't that sad either. If you're a Carolina you know, like,

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Speaker 1: let's just start every series second at eighty and that's

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Speaker 1: kind of what they do, it really is, you know,

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Speaker 1: and then go from there. If we can get the

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Speaker 1: third and four, we either will pick up the first

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Speaker 1: down running it then or we'll punt and live another day.

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Speaker 1: Because our defense playing pretty well, you know. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: are the kind of the the poster child for that

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Speaker 1: playing that kind of football. Yeah, they really are, and

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Speaker 1: they're becoming more and more. And what shocks me is

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Speaker 1: their games. There aren't many plays run because you would

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Speaker 1: think the clocks always run it. Yeah, and so that

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Speaker 1: makes sense. I mean, they don't ever play fast. They

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Speaker 1: don't run the line of scrimmage to staff the ball

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Speaker 1: time and time again. They don't go hurry up out

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Speaker 1: of nowhere and say we're gonna throw tempo at you know,

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Speaker 1: they just don't. They do the same thing. They hand

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Speaker 1: the ball off, getting addle, walk up the line, scrimmage

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Speaker 1: with big people, keep them fresh, hand the ball off,

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Speaker 1: getting do it again. It's very repetitive and it can

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Speaker 1: be mundane to play against. I do think I just

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Speaker 1: called up. I never looked at this one. But the

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Speaker 1: score d v O A by score gap by score. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So when you're when you're losing big, how you playing?

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Speaker 1: Ok uh? For the zoomably forced to throw for the

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Speaker 1: Steelers is you'll take that plus eight point four. For

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Speaker 1: Carolina it's thirty minus. They don't play well from behind.

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Speaker 1: That gets back to what we were talking about, heavily

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Speaker 1: in the first segment, tie or losing by just a

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Speaker 1: little bit small, dude, that's what they'll just play the

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Speaker 1: same strategy. The Steelers are one, Carolina is thirty. I

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Speaker 1: thought they'd be okay there because they could just stay

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Speaker 1: in their formula winning small. The Steelers are are they

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Speaker 1: at here? They are twenty at minus seven point seven

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Speaker 1: with a like a one score leader. Carolina is sixteenth

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Speaker 1: at five point three. That's where if they get a

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Speaker 1: lead on you, you're in trouble, yeah, right, right right,

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Speaker 1: then they're playing in their wheel, winning big, and probably

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Speaker 1: neither team has getten a lot of that this ue.

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Speaker 1: The Steelers are eighteen. Carolina is where they had on

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Speaker 1: here there and then can't be a ton of snaps

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Speaker 1: and winning big late and close. The Steelers are twenty

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Speaker 1: four at minus third team point for Carolina is sixteen

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Speaker 1: at point four. Because I think there's a very good

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Speaker 1: chance this upcoming game we'll be late and close, right,

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Speaker 1: And that's what you don't want, you wanted. That's why

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Speaker 1: I you know, if Mr Robiski does start this game

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Speaker 1: as we expect, I want them to be aggressive. I

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Speaker 1: don't want them to back off. Um we're not saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: throw picks left and right right, throwing a triple coverage,

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Speaker 1: but I don't want them darting it if he's not sure,

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Speaker 1: or you know that, throwing in the seats, if Pickens

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Speaker 1: is one on one, that kind of stuff. Now, I

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Speaker 1: think you want to be aggressive, be aggressive and try

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Speaker 1: to put points on the board. That's it. I can

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Speaker 1: see why they're good though at fourth and they're they're

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Speaker 1: late and close because you're tired, right, you've been stopping

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Speaker 1: the run now for fifty five minutes. It's like they

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Speaker 1: may not be good at it, but this kwando dude

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Speaker 1: has been all over me in the eighth offensive lineman

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Speaker 1: and like maybe I missed the tackle. You know, they've

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Speaker 1: hit the linebacker, has been taken, you know, three hund

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Speaker 1: pounders in the face, al right, right right, And Foreman's

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Speaker 1: not fun to tackle. And he's not right back, but

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Speaker 1: he's not fun to tackle. No, he's I said something

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Speaker 1: in Mike Pursuit about that today. And like watching Foreman run,

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Speaker 1: you'd like see nausea. Harris run a little bit more

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Speaker 1: like that. He has like nothing to lose, hair on fire.

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Speaker 1: He just runs like he is just I'm a he

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Speaker 1: runs like he thinks he's a three hundred pound dude. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: like he's drum Yeah. I mean yeah, I'm gonna I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna make you tackle me. I'm gonna run right through

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Speaker 1: the middle of you. I think his history, I mean

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Speaker 1: he went to Texas. I think he was like a

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Speaker 1: five star um, had some injuries at Texas, came the

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Speaker 1: league and blew out his A c L and he

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Speaker 1: wasn't very successful, you know, And I think he thought

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Speaker 1: he was better than he was, and then post the injury,

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Speaker 1: I think he realizes I'm probably not gonna last much longer.

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Speaker 1: I have to run like this to stay employed. And

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Speaker 1: he does. He runs harding it, yeah, and he runs hard.

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Speaker 1: Not to Naji doesn't run hard, brings everything every snap, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's like downhill, he's like he's carrying a hammer in

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Speaker 1: his hand. Is he's he's running into you and he's

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Speaker 1: smacking you in the head with the hammer. Every every

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Speaker 1: bit of a punishment he can dull out he does.

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Speaker 1: He's left. I think Najy could do more of that

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Speaker 1: is pound running back. I don't disagree with you. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think he's you know again, I like what he's done,

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Speaker 1: especially over the last five or six weeks. Um Naja

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Speaker 1: uses a lot of his upper body. He's a very

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Speaker 1: handsy runner. You know, he's got super long arms and

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Speaker 1: huge hands and that's stiff arm or he likes to

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Speaker 1: swat dudes like he's a boxer in the ring somehow.

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Speaker 1: And I'm fine with that. But I'd like to see

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Speaker 1: bring your butt to you know, bring your your thickness

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Speaker 1: in your you get out on the edge against the

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Speaker 1: defensive back, make him pay. Yeah, I mean it wouldn't

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Speaker 1: break my heart to see him tuck that ball with

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Speaker 1: two hands, get like a bowling ball and just bring

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Speaker 1: all that weight. You put your shoulder right into his

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Speaker 1: clavical and a stern him, I should say, and just okay,

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Speaker 1: see if you can take this. Yeah, is that upper

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Speaker 1: body running is great? But then you don't bring quite

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Speaker 1: as much force either, you know. Yeah, Um, so it's

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Speaker 1: gonna again an interesting matchup this week is uh, I

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Speaker 1: just I think that the quarterback that makes the big,

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Speaker 1: big mistake. We mentioned the turnover stats for Carolina yesterday, Um,

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Speaker 1: if they can turn them over, I mean, real question.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he's won the last two games, he's been

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Speaker 1: their best quarterback. Maybe he's getting better, but since he's

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Speaker 1: been in the league, he's like last in every category

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Speaker 1: on the planet. And his his successor, Zack Wilson, starting

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Speaker 1: to challenge him, right, I mean like these have been

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Speaker 1: in the last five years, like the two worst quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: in every category you can find that actually played meaningful snaps,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I'm not talking about the the

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Speaker 1: Rams jokers that have been in there. I mean against

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Speaker 1: Denvery through the ball nineteen times last week against Seattle

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Speaker 1: through a twenty four times, which they probably thought was

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Speaker 1: too much. Yeah, I mean they ran about forty They

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Speaker 1: ran a ton of play is and they the ball

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Speaker 1: for like thirty nine minutes. But you gotta you know again,

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Speaker 1: three point seven yards passed the line of scrimmages average.

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Speaker 1: He average five yards per tempt last week against Seattle attempt. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's very very low, very low. Um so, And that's

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Speaker 1: not who he is. No, I mean that they've had

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Speaker 1: the real him in problems are I'm a five star recruit.

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Speaker 1: I'm I went to us, right, you know, I can

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Speaker 1: do all these things, you know, and then it's like Nemo,

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Speaker 1: you think you can do all these things that you can't,

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Speaker 1: but you can't. Yeah, we're gonna take another break. He

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Speaker 1: is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Ally. You're listening to

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Speaker 1: the Drive. You're on Steelers Nation Radio and you can

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Speaker 1: subscribe now to our show on the Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Every episode we do is available for you to download,

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Speaker 1: uh subscribe today through the Steeler's mobile app, the I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, and wherever you find your podcast. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna take a break. When we come back, it's time

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Speaker 1: for the Fantasy Football Focus and Matt wants to do

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Speaker 1: a little something into a little wrinkle, something something, find

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Speaker 1: out what it is when you come back right after

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Speaker 1: this