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Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on

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Speaker 1: your twenty four to seven home of the Black and

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Speaker 1: Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lolly, he

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Speaker 2: is the Matt Williamson and Matt started really digging into

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Speaker 2: this game against the Indianapolis Colts.

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Speaker 1: And.

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Speaker 2: I feel pretty good about this matchup in terms of,

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Speaker 2: like you went into the game against the Patriots thinking, Okay,

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Speaker 2: this is going to be a difficult matchup for the

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Speaker 2: Steelers offense against their defense.

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Speaker 3: Insanely low over on her and things like that.

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Speaker 2: Right, the more I look at this Colts defense, the

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Speaker 2: less I feel that way about it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I think the Colts are a better team

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Speaker 3: than the Patriots. I'm not trying to put a positive

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Speaker 3: spin on it, but when you dig into a team

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Speaker 3: and you know the team you cover, you say, is

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Speaker 3: this a good matchup or a bad match And I

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Speaker 3: really think the Colt's style of play doesn't bode well

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Speaker 3: for them this week, you know, necessarily, Like I don't

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Speaker 3: think that the styles make the mess.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so often, especially if like it's like boxing

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Speaker 2: and football, Yeah, are the two sports where the matchup

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Speaker 2: means everything.

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Speaker 3: Means everything. Yeah, and this.

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Speaker 2: One to me sets up pretty well for the Steelers.

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Speaker 3: On both sides of the ball, but especially when the

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Speaker 3: Steelers have the ball, like you mentioned, I mean, we

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Speaker 3: can get into it. I mean they're a little archaic

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Speaker 3: with how they play defense and that they're the old

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Speaker 3: legion of boom. Cover three. Don't blitz a lot of range.

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Speaker 3: And I think we were talking yesterday or the day before.

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Speaker 3: If you go look at their recent draft history, everybody's

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Speaker 3: long and athletic and trying to clog up zones with

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Speaker 3: their long arms, linebackers, safety, things like that, and you know,

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Speaker 3: play fast. Don't think because they don't throw a lot

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Speaker 3: at you. I mean, they're pretty simplicity vanilla. It's pretty vanillitey. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean they don't. It's hardly at all, always a

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Speaker 3: single high safety cover three, lore lots of zone, play fast,

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Speaker 3: don't get beat over the top and get home with four,

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Speaker 3: which works and doesn't you know. And they've they've created

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Speaker 3: a lot of big plays, they've created a lot of sacks,

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Speaker 3: but they also were vulnerable.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I look at it. They play more

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Speaker 2: zone defense than any team in the league. They blitz

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Speaker 2: less than all but two teams in the league.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, hardly at all.

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Speaker 2: They can't stop the run. One hundred and forty seven

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Speaker 2: yards rushing allowed over the last seven games. And you know,

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Speaker 2: unless they score defensively or on special teams they have

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Speaker 2: they have five touchdowns, they have.

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Speaker 3: Five combined there yetah, which is what second most in

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Speaker 3: the league or something.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, if you don't do that, if you take care

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Speaker 2: of the football and the other thing about it, and

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Speaker 2: I dug more into this today, teams are getting the

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Speaker 2: ball out in under two point five seconds against them.

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Speaker 3: One of the quickness in the league.

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Speaker 2: When Mitch Trubisky gets rid of the football in under

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Speaker 2: two point five seconds, his numbers are off the charts. Good. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: like top of the league. Good this year. He's when

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Speaker 2: he thrown. When he's throwing the ball in two point

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Speaker 2: five seconds or less, this season, he has a one

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Speaker 2: zero six point seven passer rating. He has three hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifteen passing yards on thirty five of fifty completions,

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Speaker 2: with three touchdowns no interceptions. When he has the ball

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Speaker 2: for two point five seconds or more, his passer ratings

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Speaker 2: twenty two point seven.

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Speaker 3: So it's night and day. Yeah, And that.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't his numbers for his career. He's a ninety five

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Speaker 2: point five passer rating when he throws the ball less

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Speaker 2: in less than two point five seconds throughout over the

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Speaker 2: course of his career. When he holds the ball for

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Speaker 2: two point five or more seconds, it's seventy five point one.

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Speaker 3: Makes sense. I mean, so, I think there's going to

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Speaker 3: be a lot of big personnel, a lot of running.

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Speaker 3: As you mentioned, they're allowing one to forty seven over seven,

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Speaker 3: and I think a lot of almost end of Roethlisberger

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Speaker 3: like slants in quick kidders to Deonta and get it

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Speaker 3: out now, pick up six seven yards cheap, don't take

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Speaker 3: a big hit, get down, do it again, you know.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think it's going to be wait, wait, wait,

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Speaker 3: tap the ball, drive the ball down the field because

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Speaker 3: their pass rushers will get home too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, I mean, they're built, they're they're a

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Speaker 2: smaller team, they're a faster team. They they're built to

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Speaker 2: play in that dump dough.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: But I think you can bully them a little bit,

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Speaker 2: and I think if you could, you can get the

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Speaker 2: ball out quickly, get the ball to again. They're gonna

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Speaker 2: be in soft zones. Yeah, Yeah, so quick slants, quick outs,

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Speaker 2: things of that nature. You should be able to matriculate

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Speaker 2: the ball down the field and you can run against them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so a lot of teams attack them out of twelve.

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Speaker 3: They want bigger people on the field and to kind

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Speaker 3: of neutralize some of that speed and you know, face

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Speaker 3: it with physicality and big, strong people. And you suggested

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Speaker 3: even thirteen for the Steelers. We've seen that recently. Wouldn't

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Speaker 3: mind seeing Chukes out there as a six lineman here

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Speaker 3: and there as well. Lines up right, as long as

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Speaker 3: they can execute it, you know, pre snap. But you're right,

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Speaker 3: I mean, like they tackle the catch well, they have

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Speaker 3: a lot of athletes to get to the ball, and

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Speaker 3: they cause a ton of fumbles. They even recovered a lot,

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Speaker 3: but they've caused a ton and they've picked the ball

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Speaker 3: off and so that's kind of what they're You gotta

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Speaker 3: be patient, you mean, you gotta be patient and take

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Speaker 3: what you get.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not going to give you a lot over

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Speaker 2: the top, but they will allow you to move the football. Conversely,

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Speaker 2: their offense when you look at it, you know when

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Speaker 2: Blitz this season, Minshew has not been good. Yeah, and

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Speaker 2: that sets up well for the Steelers defense. You know,

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Speaker 2: I just look at you know, his his uh split.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if the Steels will have to blitz

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Speaker 3: a lot take the pressure in this game, but they

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Speaker 3: do blitz a lot, and they play a lot of man.

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Speaker 2: You know, it comes down what do you consider a

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Speaker 2: blitz you when.

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Speaker 3: They've they classified five or more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So when the Steelers have their base defense on

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Speaker 2: the field, which I don't know, they'll play a lot

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Speaker 2: of base in this game because this is a heavy,

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Speaker 2: you know, eleven eleven personnel team. But if if you

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Speaker 2: look at his numbers overall, you know, in terms of

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Speaker 2: you know, blitzes and things of that nature, he just

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Speaker 2: doesn't handle it well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I can see that. I think that's one

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Speaker 3: of the things that has kept him from being a starter.

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Speaker 3: He'll hold the ball too long, he won't recognize things.

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Speaker 3: I've been very critical the Steelers blitz pick up, but

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Speaker 3: the Colts hasn't been very good either, to be honest,

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Speaker 3: which isn't all him.

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Speaker 2: You know, his numbers again, same thing, two point five

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Speaker 2: seconds or less when he's getting the ball out in rhythm. Okay,

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Speaker 2: he's completing seventy percent of his passes eight touchdowns, two interceptions,

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Speaker 2: get a ninety two point four passer rating.

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Speaker 3: Very good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when he holds the ball for two point five

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Speaker 2: or more, completes fifty percent of his passes, three touchdowns,

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Speaker 2: six interceptions, and a sixty six point one passer rating.

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Speaker 3: So I think this is true of him and Mitch.

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Speaker 3: I guess now I think about it is they're not

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Speaker 3: as creative as they think they are, you know what

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Speaker 3: I mean.

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Speaker 2: The difference is that Trubisky's a better runner run, He's

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Speaker 2: a better ass for gifted.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he was an early pick and Minshew wasn't, and

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Speaker 3: you can see why physically, but like that stuff got

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Speaker 3: You got away with that at North Carolina, you got

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Speaker 3: away with that in college. And you're not Lamar, you're

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Speaker 3: not Allen where you can improvise as much as you

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Speaker 3: think you can. And I think it's especially true for Minshew.

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Speaker 3: I mean, so that's huge. I mean, those are great

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Speaker 3: things in the Steelers favor.

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Speaker 2: And the difference here is that, again, the Steelers play

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Speaker 2: more press or more man coverage than just about every

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Speaker 2: team out there, whereas the Colts don't. The Colts aren't

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Speaker 2: gonna suddenly come into this game and say you know what,

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Speaker 2: I know we play. We play zone defense eighty eight

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Speaker 2: percent of the time now, but in this game, we're

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Speaker 2: gonna play sixty percent man to man defense. That's just

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Speaker 2: not what they're gonna.

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Speaker 3: Do with Seattle cover three all day long. Gus Bradley

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Speaker 3: was on that staff. I mean, he's one of the

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Speaker 3: last ones holding on to that. The Steelers are a

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Speaker 3: little more multiple, for sure, and I'm sure Pittman will

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Speaker 3: get his He gets them every week. He gets a

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Speaker 3: lot of targets, a lot of catches, not always for

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Speaker 3: a ton of yardage. I think Keenan Allen's the only

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Speaker 3: one is more targets than him in the whole league.

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Speaker 3: But we talked about this earlier too. I think Porter

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Speaker 3: matches up well against Yeah, you know, like I trust

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Speaker 3: him more than I did against Jase.

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Speaker 2: Like if Kiviman comes out of this game and he's

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Speaker 2: got let's say, twelve targets, which isn't crazy.

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Speaker 3: For not unusual for him either.

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Speaker 2: Look up his his his game numbers, his targets this year. No,

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Speaker 2: they're crazy eleven, sixteen, thirteen, twelve, eight thirteen, two or

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry five against Cleveland, which was a weird one

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Speaker 2: because they lost that game, thirty nine thirty eight.

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Speaker 3: I bet it's a big man coverage. I bet Ward

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Speaker 3: followed him right.

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Speaker 2: Fourteen against Jacksonville, seven against Tennessee, five against the I

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Speaker 2: think I got hurt against the Rams.

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Speaker 3: Maybe not. I'm not sure.

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Speaker 2: They have one catch for fifteen yards in an overtime

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Speaker 2: game against the Ram.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, five targets that game or something.

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Speaker 2: Eleven against Baltimore, twelve against Houston, eleven against Jacksonville. So

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Speaker 2: you see a lot of double digit numbers there in

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Speaker 2: terms of the targets. But what you don't see in

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Speaker 2: some of those games like Carolina eight catches for sixty

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Speaker 2: four yards against New Orleans, eight catches for forty yards,

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Speaker 2: you know, even against Houston a couple of weeks ago,

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Speaker 2: eight catches for fifty six yards. Yeah, if he has

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Speaker 2: that kind of game, you'll take it.

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Speaker 3: The Colts can't win, No, he'll absolutely take it. So

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Speaker 3: he's a high target guy. I think he's a very

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Speaker 3: good player, and frankly, I thought he's underrated player for years.

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Speaker 3: But his yards per target aren't great. Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 3: they don't go over the top with them. It's strange.

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Speaker 3: I mean there, their receivers have very distinct roles like

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Speaker 3: Pierce's yards for outrun and stuff, or.

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Speaker 2: Pierce's running more go routes than everybody, like eighteen more

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Speaker 2: go routes than anybody else in the league.

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Speaker 3: Kind of like Pickings last year. I mean, he's just

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Speaker 3: running down the sideline time and time again, and they'll

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Speaker 3: take a shot, and they'll load up and take the shot.

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Speaker 3: But it's not a diverse Routtree downs is the slot,

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Speaker 3: and he's been quieter lately. The tight ends are just

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Speaker 3: a revolving door. But they have been throwing two backs

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Speaker 3: and tight ends a little bit more here and there.

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Speaker 3: But it's Pittman, you know, Like you said, if he

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Speaker 3: ends up with eight catches for seventy, I'd take it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he just can't be.

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Speaker 2: The guy that that you know, some of these games

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Speaker 2: he's he's only had three one hundred yard games this season,

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Speaker 2: so I don't even I don't know if I would

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Speaker 2: be I'll buy in on him having eight fort Maybe

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Speaker 2: he gets his you know, I want to hold him

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Speaker 2: to you know something. Anything under sixty yards to me

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Speaker 2: is a win.

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Speaker 3: I know, he's on a historic pace for games in

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Speaker 3: a season with eight or more catches.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got a bunch of other one, two, three, four,

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Speaker 2: first six weeks of the season.

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Speaker 3: Six in a row. I think he's got eight years

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Speaker 3: or something like seven.

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Speaker 2: There's eight, nine, ten. It's so the last three he's

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Speaker 2: been at least eight catches. Yeah, so he's got ten overall.

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Speaker 2: I forget how I how I what I read, how

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Speaker 2: they phrased it. But once he gets his next one,

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Speaker 2: he's an elite company. There's only like Cooper cup Odell Beck, Like,

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Speaker 2: there's like three or four people in history that I

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Speaker 2: have had nine or more in a season, but so

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Speaker 2: many he's gonna get. Yeah, so many of these are

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Speaker 2: just throwing the ball to the line of scrimmage and

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Speaker 2: hope he can break a tackle.

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Speaker 3: A lot. It's kind of like Deontay with Ben at

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Speaker 3: the end.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot of Antonio Brown type stuff where you're

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Speaker 2: running a lot of wide receiver screens.

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Speaker 3: But if the other if they're also a super high

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Speaker 3: rpo team, yeah, it's very high. Yeah. So sometimes it's

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Speaker 3: right at the line of scrim at Darpio boom, give

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Speaker 3: it to Pittman.

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Speaker 2: Right, But if you're playing man defense against that, yeah tackle,

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Speaker 2: the guy's in your face.

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Speaker 3: So again, I think he's a really good player. But

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Speaker 3: the receivers that would worry me most at this stage

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Speaker 3: of his career against Porter would be Tyler Lockett. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean, oh yeah, I mean he's kind of his zone.

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Speaker 3: But even either a really really crafty route runner a

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Speaker 3: Keenan Allen, I mean a guy like that, or someone

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Speaker 3: that's just a jitterbug but a big, physical, good route runner,

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Speaker 3: a good hands catcher, contested catch guy I think plays

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Speaker 3: to Porter, which just how we start a segment. I

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Speaker 3: think this matchup is good for the Steelers in terms

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Speaker 3: of what they do. Well.

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Speaker 2: Here's the thing about Porter, and this is coming from

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Speaker 2: NFL's next Gen stats. Yeah, so I'm gonna trust this.

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Speaker 2: This is coming straight from the league.

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Speaker 3: It's funny. I read that this morning, and before I did,

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Speaker 3: ESPN had a really similar one and they only highlighted

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Speaker 3: four of these six receivers. And it's ridiculously good too,

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Speaker 3: just in terms of targets that he's guarding these good guys.

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Speaker 2: He was on Calvin Ridley for sixteen to thirty one

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Speaker 2: snaps against Jacksonville. Ridley had two catches for twenty yards

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Speaker 2: on four targets. He was against DeAndre Hopkins, who's kind

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Speaker 2: of similar to Pittman a little bit. Yeah, yeah, twenty

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Speaker 2: six of thirty six snaps. Remember he followed him in

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Speaker 2: that game. Five targets, one catch, seventeen yards. Romeo Dobbs

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Speaker 2: with Green Bay was on him for nineteen of thirty

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Speaker 2: three snaps. One target, no catches, no yards. Again, nineteen

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Speaker 2: of thirty three snaps. The like, okay, he's covered, I

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Speaker 2: can't throw them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Amari Cooper with Cleveland, he was followed him thirty five

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Speaker 2: of forty one snaps, six targets, four catches, thirty four

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Speaker 2: yards in an interception. Jamar Chase twenty four of twenty

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Speaker 2: eight snaps, two targets, two catches for thirty six yards.

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Speaker 2: But if you remember one of those was the tip

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Speaker 2: pass it, you know what he chase. But again, if

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Speaker 2: you're only giving up, you're on him for twenty four

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Speaker 2: out of twenty eight routes that he ran and he

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Speaker 2: only cut two balls. That's a win. And then finally

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Speaker 2: Marquise Brown against Arizona, he foll he was with him

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Speaker 2: seventeen and nineteen snaps when he was on the field,

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Speaker 2: no catches, no yards, three targets. Yeah, he's doing next

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Speaker 2: level cornerback stuff.

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Speaker 3: Top of league StuffYeah hundred percent. So before I saw

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Speaker 3: this packet that came out ESPN's Fantasy they'll be like

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Speaker 3: wide receiver cornerback matchups to target, ones to avoid, and

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Speaker 3: their first one to avoid was Porter, and they're saying, well,

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Speaker 3: you're gonna play Pittman in your fantasy league. But and

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Speaker 3: they what they did is they did it's almost the

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Speaker 3: exact same thing as they started at the bye week.

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Speaker 3: So they didn't include Ridley because Porters snaps really started

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Speaker 3: to spike at the bye week, so they started there,

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Speaker 3: and they excluded Dobbs because he moved to Dobbs after

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Speaker 3: being on Watson early. You know what I mean, originally

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Speaker 3: was going to be his deal. But the one thing

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Speaker 3: I got that was a little bit different out of

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Speaker 3: it was he he traveled to the slot. Yeah, so

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Speaker 3: nine out of twenty seven of their slot reps against Hopkins, Cooper,

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Speaker 3: Chasing Brown were against Porter. That's rare. I mean, it's

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Speaker 3: a lot different to travel to the slot to the other.

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Speaker 2: Interesting thing about it is they have the number percentage

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Speaker 2: here that in which he played press coverage.

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Speaker 3: Against those guys. That's interesting.

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Speaker 2: So against Ridley it was seventy five percent of the time.

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Speaker 2: Against Hopkins, seventy six point nine percent, really high numbers.

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Speaker 2: Dobbs was forty two point one, Cooper was fifty one

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Speaker 2: point four. Jamar Chase forty one point seven. Because you

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Speaker 2: got to respect his speech.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a scary one.

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Speaker 2: Mark He's Brown sixty four point seven.

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Speaker 3: I will say, Mark, He's Brown, had a heel injury

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Speaker 3: coming in and didn't last. Yeah. I think they just

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Speaker 3: wanted to beat the crap out of him, and that.

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Speaker 2: Way, right, you put him up in his face and say, hey,

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Speaker 2: little guy, you're not getting off the line.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think he even played in the second half,

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Speaker 3: or or he came out at some point and just

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Speaker 3: never went back.

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Speaker 2: But seventy six point nine percent of the time against Hopkins. Yeah, Now,

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Speaker 2: I understand Hopkins is never going to run away from anybody. True.

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Speaker 2: I don't know the Pittman is.

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Speaker 3: Either, but we often talk about, oh, they're a really

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Speaker 3: heavy man coverage team. Well they're all under fifty percent, right,

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Speaker 3: so if you're press manning, it's seventy. I mean that's

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Speaker 3: extremely high number.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Now, and the other thing I noticed, I haven't read

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Speaker 3: this is third downs in red zone. It's like one

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Speaker 3: hundred percent. Yeah, it's that's not what he will always

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Speaker 3: be on the top guy.

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Speaker 2: Now that being said, you know, I think you press

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Speaker 2: on him, yeah, and you play off coverage everybody else,

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Speaker 2: on everybody. Well maybe maybe not in a certain situations.

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Speaker 2: I think against downs in the slot.

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Speaker 3: He worries me a little. He's been quiet lately and

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Speaker 3: he's had some injuries, and I always worry about rookies

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Speaker 3: in December or they starting to hit a rookie wall.

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Speaker 3: But he's the type of guy the Steelers have allowed

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Speaker 3: a lot of slot production over the year that if

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Speaker 3: he's on his best, I think he could have a

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Speaker 3: big game. But a big game is seven for eighty five.

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Speaker 2: Again, I don't even know that, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, maybe not I mean that much. The Nickel and Dimer.

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Speaker 2: Six year seven eight yards a catch. But Pierce is

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Speaker 2: the one who can beat you over the top with something.

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Speaker 3: Oh you play off on him, yeah, yeah, he's just

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Speaker 3: he's a run go routes and if he slants you

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Speaker 3: to death or comebacks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah he starts doing that then Okay, now we get

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Speaker 2: to adjust off of that. But that's not what he's

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Speaker 2: been doing.

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Speaker 3: And you think the pass rush is going to be

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Speaker 3: good too, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you expect to get there because well, I mean

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Speaker 2: they're they're still banging up on the line.

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Speaker 3: I just to me, I'm shocked.

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Speaker 2: I was reading something today on ESPN. Again, they had

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Speaker 2: the top ten rookie, top ten rookies in this class

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Speaker 2: thus far. Okay, Devin Witherspoon was on there. He's like

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Speaker 2: third or fourth. Okay, Porters didn't even crack the list.

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Speaker 3: That's strange. I actually saw Pro Football Focuses Top twenty today,

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Speaker 3: which I don't usually click on, and Porter didn't make

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Speaker 3: the list. I don't think I scanned it super quick.

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Speaker 3: Benton did. I'm like, maybe it's a snapcount thing. I mean,

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Speaker 3: Witherspoon's been a starter since the start. I mean, before

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Speaker 3: the bye, Porter was playing under twenty five percent of

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Speaker 3: the snaps. Now he's well over ninety. You know, he's

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Speaker 3: he's four.

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Speaker 2: Joey Porter Junior is forced a tight window on a

381
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Speaker 2: league high tight window throw on a league high fifty

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Speaker 2: nine point three percent of his passes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so even some of those when they are attempting them, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean those are a past attempt in your direction.

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Speaker 2: Some of the receptions that he's given up, Like the

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Speaker 2: quarterback's just trusting his guy, like I'm gonna throw this.

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Speaker 2: He's covering throw to yah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I got one on one with Jamar j.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna throw it and see my guy. Hopkins was

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Speaker 3: a great example.

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Speaker 2: He's he's at fifty nine point three percent. The next

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Speaker 2: closest player is Kendall Fuller. He's at forty seven point six.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Sauce Gardner's at forty two point nine.

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Speaker 3: So one thing I do know is some of these

396
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Speaker 3: stats and advanced stats, you know, what's a pressure? You know,

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Speaker 3: I'm almost certain what they do with these are the

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Speaker 3: indicators in their shoulder pads. These based on a Yeah,

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Speaker 3: this isn't subjective at all. It's if you're within a

400
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Speaker 3: yard they're calling it a tight window. I don't remember

401
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Speaker 3: if it was in that packet or somewhere else I

402
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Speaker 3: read it, but an extremely high percentage of uh, pittman.

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Speaker 3: I was calling pickings and pitman this week, but he's

404
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Speaker 3: catching a high percentage of heavily targeted throws. I forget

405
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Speaker 3: what they call them, contestant contested Yeah, So I mean

406
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Speaker 3: it's kind of both their specialties.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, most press man roots defended since Week seven, probably him.

408
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Speaker 2: Porter's at seventy three. Deontay Banks a second, it was

409
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Speaker 2: sixty eight.

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Speaker 3: Wow, and they're a big heavy you know, wake Martindale

411
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Speaker 3: six to five.

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Speaker 2: I mean he's just up on somebody's grill and saying, okay,

413
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Speaker 2: you're not going to catch the football.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know that. Even Steeler Nation knows how

415
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Speaker 3: good he's been.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's next level level.

417
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Speaker 3: Again. One of the best corners in the league right now.

418
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Speaker 2: Yeah, again, if you look at that tight that tight

419
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Speaker 2: window throw, he's a fifty nine point three percent. Sauce

420
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Speaker 2: Gardeners at forty two point nine.

421
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Speaker 3: Yeah's as good as anybody.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, people will tell you Sauce Gardner is the best

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Speaker 2: corner in the league right now. Well yeah, I mean,

424
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Speaker 2: and he doesn't travel to the slot, but he didn't

425
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Speaker 2: go with it. He doesn't travel with the other team's

426
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Speaker 2: best receiver.

427
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Speaker 3: Two or three weeks ago, somebody tweeted us saying, is

428
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Speaker 3: it time we started looking at Porter's rookie year like

429
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Speaker 3: Sauces You know, I know it started later, but yes,

430
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Speaker 3: the answer is yes, Yeah, And they're being asked to

431
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Speaker 3: do different things. Sauce was a left right guy. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Porter has a line across from the top wide receiver

433
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Speaker 2: on the majority of the roots and six of his

434
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Speaker 2: seven starts.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

436
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,360
Speaker 2: The only one he did was Taekwon Thornton last week.

437
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:56,880
Speaker 3: Because they don't have a top receiver. Yeah.

438
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did that forty three point three percent of

439
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 2: the time against Against Taekwon Thornton, he had three targets.

440
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,119
Speaker 3: Another reason why the Patriots are a bad matchup in

441
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:05,960
Speaker 3: the Yeah, I mean.

442
00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,720
Speaker 2: You don't know who their number one guy is. This situation,

443
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,200
Speaker 2: you know where the ball is going to go.

444
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 3: A huge funnel to p Yeah. Again, the second one

445
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 3: was started receiver in the league behind Keenan Allen.

446
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,919
Speaker 2: So I just think some of that stuff that they

447
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,439
Speaker 2: throw him at the line of scrimmage, I don't know

448
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:21,640
Speaker 2: that you're going to be able to do that. When

449
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,080
Speaker 2: Joey Porter's up in his grill.

450
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,399
Speaker 3: He's going to have to tackle though. I mean, I

451
00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 3: know that's the big knock on him. I frankly haven't

452
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 3: seen it that much. I mean, if Penn State his

453
00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:34,240
Speaker 3: last like eight games, he had like three targets or

454
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:34,840
Speaker 3: something crazy.

455
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:36,320
Speaker 2: I think the key for Porter.

456
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:37,919
Speaker 3: I don't know that he's a bad tackler.

457
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:39,440
Speaker 2: He is getting the guy in the ground before he

458
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,399
Speaker 2: gets ahead of steam. I know he missed some tackles

459
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,439
Speaker 2: early in the season because he's trying to get a

460
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 2: guy who's running after the catch. Again, if you're playing

461
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,000
Speaker 2: press man and the guy catches the football, you're probably

462
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:50,399
Speaker 2: gonna make the tackle, hauls.

463
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:51,840
Speaker 3: It in and you just kind of drag him the ground.

464
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 3: Yeah whatever. I mean, he hasn't had to do a

465
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,840
Speaker 3: lot of it, is my point, I guess with tackling.

466
00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:57,760
Speaker 2: But he's got long arms and that usually helps.

467
00:20:57,800 --> 00:20:59,760
Speaker 3: And he's not bashful. I mean he'll stick his face

468
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:01,480
Speaker 3: in there, but he does duck his head a little

469
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 3: bit too in space.

470
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,160
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just think that's going to be a fun

471
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:05,920
Speaker 2: matchup to watch.

472
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,440
Speaker 3: One of the most pivotal and most fun for sure,

473
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,080
Speaker 3: you know, like Cam Hayward versus Nelson's another fun one,

474
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 3: you know, just heavyweight type of fight. Yeah, and where

475
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 3: they both kind of play to each other strengths.

476
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,400
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I just look at the at the overall

477
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,679
Speaker 2: matchup because of that, and I think the Steelers defense

478
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 2: negates some of what they want to do and I

479
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,520
Speaker 2: think the Steelers offense is set up to take advantage

480
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 2: of what the Colts want to do.

481
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think it's a great matchup for the Colts.

482
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:37,320
Speaker 3: I think the Colts are playing better than the Steelers

483
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 3: right now. It's in their building. I'm not saying, oh,

484
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 3: Steelers are just don't even worry about it in the bag.

485
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 3: But the way that this team plays is the polar

486
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 3: opposite of the Patriots. I mean even their defensive tackles

487
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,439
Speaker 3: in New England are three hundred and fifty pounds and

488
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,240
Speaker 3: you can't move them. These guys are all long, linear

489
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 3: to Forest Buckner looking dudes, you know, Like it's totally

490
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 3: different style of team building.

491
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna get to a break. He is Matt Williamson.

492
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 2: I am Dale Lollie. You're listening to the Drive. You're

493
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,640
Speaker 2: on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with more right after.

494
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

495
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: on your twenty four to seven home of the Black

496
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio.

497
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 2: Welcome back. I am Dale Lolli. He is the Matt

498
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,879
Speaker 2: Williamson and it is a it's a Wednesday here in Pittsburgh.

499
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 2: But it's actually it's actually a Thursday.

500
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm a little screwed up this week, but it's

501
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:37,119
Speaker 3: all right. Everything's kind of goofy.

502
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 2: But tomorrow is a Friday on a Thursday, with Thursday

503
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 2: stuff also mixed in for us.

504
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of a Thursday plus Thursday and a

505
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 3: half or something like that.

506
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,640
Speaker 2: We have a little extra things to do. But one

507
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,359
Speaker 2: thing that we do have here is the Steelers injury

508
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:57,640
Speaker 2: report and the report from Indianapolis. And the Steelers injury report, well,

509
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,840
Speaker 2: there's a lot of names on there. Doesn't look all

510
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,840
Speaker 2: that bad. Good good, So not practicing and we know

511
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 2: he's out as Kenny Pickett. Deontay Johnson didn't practice today.

512
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:10,359
Speaker 2: He's got a little bit of a knee issue. But

513
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 2: again they're practicing indoors because they're going to play indoors.

514
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,360
Speaker 2: So yeah, so they just kind of sat him out,

515
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,400
Speaker 2: just a little bit of a hey, don't.

516
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 3: You've mentioned this, and I don't kind of paraphrase it

517
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 3: sounds like lower body ankles and knees.

518
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,119
Speaker 2: They don't practice indoor indoors, they don't do as much. Yeah, uh,

519
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 2: full practice nauseia Harris, he missed yesterday with that knee

520
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 2: issue that didn't keep him out of the game. He's fine.

521
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 2: Demante Case was that with an ankle yesterday. He was

522
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 2: a full participant today, James Pierre full participant. He's dealing

523
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 2: with the shoulder at Landon Roberts didn't practice yesterday, he

524
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 2: was limited today. He's getting back there and he said

525
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 2: he's fine. He's they're just giving him some extra rest.

526
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,679
Speaker 2: Alex high Smith for the second consecutive day limited what

527
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,679
Speaker 2: you want, but he obviously didn't suffer a setback when

528
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,879
Speaker 2: he went through the stuff yesterday. He's also he's got

529
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,120
Speaker 2: a concussion, but it's also it was also a bit

530
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 2: of a neck where his neck got kind of hyper

531
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 2: extended backwards. So you take it easier with him than

532
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 2: you do with t. J. Watton, for example, who is

533
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 2: a full participant today.

534
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,720
Speaker 3: Wow, So what we didn't want was limited yesterday for

535
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 3: those two d Yeah. Yeah, so that that would have

536
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,120
Speaker 3: been a setback. Yeah, So they're on pace. That's great.

537
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 2: They gave Isaac sam all Over the day off again today.

538
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 2: He's still doing with that shoulder, but again he played

539
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,200
Speaker 2: through that last Thursday, so I expect him to be fine.

540
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 3: Uh. He gets veteran days here and there too. Yeah.

541
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 2: Yeah. Then Keanu Benton also limited with that oblique. You know,

542
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 2: he played through that last Thursday. And then Cam Hayward

543
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 2: who was limited yesterday with the groin, Was he full

544
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:44,399
Speaker 2: participant today?

545
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 3: Good? Good? I mean he's gonna be key up against

546
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,440
Speaker 3: Nelson and well, yeah, you know they're gonna try to.

547
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,239
Speaker 2: Their run defense with Cam Hayward on the field, and

548
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 2: without Cam Hayward on the field is nuts.

549
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 3: It's a whole yard different. It's three point five verse

550
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 3: four point five. And they don't and allow big runs

551
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:01,399
Speaker 3: when he's out there.

552
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 2: And we're not talking him now at this point about

553
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:05,280
Speaker 2: a small sample size.

554
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 3: Oh this is for the whole year.

555
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 2: This is now. You know, he's been back for four

556
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,719
Speaker 2: games and they don't Nobody runs the ball on them,

557
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:13,679
Speaker 2: and those four like you're gonna you might get to

558
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 2: one hundred yards, but it's gonna take you thirty carries

559
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 2: to get there.

560
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 3: And it's by snap, it's not even by game. And

561
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 3: he's on the feet, he's there. They allow three point

562
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 3: five on the ground when he isn't they allow four

563
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 3: point five on the ground.

564
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,040
Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, so it's it's night and day, and.

565
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 3: He was there for Week one against McCaffrey.

566
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,439
Speaker 2: Right first couple of series.

567
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think he was he there for the

568
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 3: long run or whatever.

569
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was off the field at that point. But

570
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,440
Speaker 2: the Colts, on the other hand, looks kind of similar

571
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 2: to what they were at yesterday. Now today they had

572
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 2: a regular practice.

573
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,360
Speaker 3: They walked through yesterday you weren't aware, So.

574
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 2: Not practicing today. Offensive tackle Braden Smith. That's huge, that's huge.

575
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,199
Speaker 2: He's a pretty good player. Yeah, man, he's there starting

576
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 2: right tackle, and if they don't have him, then it

577
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 2: looks probably starting Blake Freeland again. Yeah, they did sign.

578
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 2: This tells you how concerned they are about this. They

579
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 2: signed the guy from Green Bay who was retired off

580
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:13,119
Speaker 2: this couch.

581
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,880
Speaker 3: Yeah maybe I forget his name. I thought I had too.

582
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 3: But we always tell you, guys, if you're if you're

583
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 3: signing people for the bottom of your roster early in

584
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 3: the week, you don't think the starter is gonna play.

585
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 2: Jared Veldt veld here, Oh they'll do. Yeah, he'd been

586
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 2: retired and he hasn't playing in a wow like he

587
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 2: was pretty bad at Yeah, So I mean, what another

588
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:35,879
Speaker 2: six eight type of thing. I don't know what kind

589
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 2: of shape he's in at this point, but he's not

590
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 2: playing this week. They just signed him because they you know,

591
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,399
Speaker 2: maybe they look at at uh, Brady Smith and like you,

592
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,959
Speaker 2: he's gonna miss a few more weeks. And Freeland there

593
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 2: is a work in progress. Yeah, he was a year

594
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 2: away from being a year away. Jonathan Taylor also not practicing.

595
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,000
Speaker 3: It's not shocking he's not gonna play maybe next week.

596
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 2: Limited DeForest Buckner with a back and Sagan a Lobi

597
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 2: with a hip. He's a linebacker.

598
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 3: I think he's probably a special team yeah, guy player. Yeah,

599
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 3: but if he's he's fighting something.

600
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 2: He's been dealing with the back issue. Now, if that's

601
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 2: if he's eighty percent of the Forest Buckner, he's still

602
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,640
Speaker 2: better than a lot of guys. But that's a They

603
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 2: need one hundred percent of the Forest Buckner for their

604
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 2: defense to work, right.

605
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, he's very very important. He's kind of

606
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 3: their Cam Hayward. Yeah, you know yeah.

607
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 2: Uh. Full participants for them were Juju Brents, the cornerback,

608
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 2: linebacker Zayer Franklin with an illness, cornerback Jalen Jones with

609
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 2: an ankle, tight end Will Mallory with ribbons issue and

610
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 2: linebacker E. J. Speed with the knee. Well, there's two

611
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 2: of their starting linebackers.

612
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 3: Yes, speeding Franklin. The guys are out there all the time.

613
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 3: Franklin's the leading tackler in the league right now. I

614
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,640
Speaker 3: mean he's kind of the reason Leonard's not there.

615
00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:58,640
Speaker 2: Yeah for what that's worse?

616
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think coach Domlin called him out in

617
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 3: the press conference or something this week, you know, mention him. Yeah.

618
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,119
Speaker 2: I mean he's active and he gets you know, he's

619
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 2: he's he's good, he's good.

620
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 3: He's not.

621
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 2: I just don't know that. Somebody tweeted out the other

622
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 2: day that something about a Kello Weatherspoon and Robert Spelaine.

623
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 2: I think it was, uh and Spallaine's like fifth in

624
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,640
Speaker 2: the league in tackles. Well, whooped dee Dick ding dong.

625
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.

626
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 2: He's I was playing every down and the inside line

627
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,680
Speaker 2: middle linebacker. I should say, for a bad defense that's

628
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 2: getting run on like crazy, I would hope that he

629
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 2: has a lot of tackles.

630
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,119
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think they're happy with Splaine. But

631
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 3: we mentioned this early in the season. I don't think

632
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 3: he'd have made the Seilos final roster.

633
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, would he be playing now, Oh yeah,

634
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 2: you'd love that now, right, But you weren't going to

635
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 2: keep him around.

636
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 3: Hoping three guys get hurt. I mean, preparing for three

637
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 3: guys to get hurt. Right along those lines, it sounds

638
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 3: like Martinez is gonna get a bump and play. That's

639
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 3: that's speculation at this point. Yeah, I mean it's something

640
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 3: I would be in favor of after seeing what he

641
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 3: did in that last game versus Walker, since he's been

642
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 3: called up.

643
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean, you know, I think the Steelers,

644
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 2: you know, certainly the other thing about this game, Steelers

645
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 2: are going to be playing with eight full days rest.

646
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 2: Colts will be playing with five.

647
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a big difference. It's a huge difference, and

648
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 3: I think that matters a lot this late in the year, especially.

649
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 3: I keep going back to the physicality of it all.

650
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 3: I mean, I really think you try to push them

651
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:35,160
Speaker 3: around when you're on offense with Washington and extra tight

652
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 3: ends and maybe even a little bit of pony, but

653
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 3: you know, an extra offensive lineman. Again, they're built for speed,

654
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 3: They're built for a dome. They're not built for physicality.

655
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 3: In the trenches.

656
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then you know, you look at the number

657
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 2: of plays that Cincinnati ran against them last week, probably

658
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 2: pretty hot. Thirty two running plays, was it, and then

659
00:29:54,560 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 2: another twenty five passing whereas the Colts, I mean they

660
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 2: they threw the ball, they dropped back to past forty

661
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 2: two times. But those thirty two rushing attempts by the

662
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 2: by the Bengals had the they wear on you a

663
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 2: little bit. Yeah.

664
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 3: And they're also a lot of the passing short too,

665
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 3: and tackling mixing not five yeah, five yards on the

666
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 3: field or whatever too. You're not just bumping dudes out

667
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 3: of bounds.

668
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 2: That to me is another key in this game. And

669
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 2: if you look at what the Bengals did against them, yeah,

670
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 2: with the running backs in the passing game.

671
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 3: You mentioned their quarterback got the ball out really quick.

672
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 3: Two point five for the game. I mean, that's that's

673
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 3: hard to do, but they have.

674
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 2: They had three catches for forty six yards from Joe Mixon.

675
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 2: He had a forty five yard er.

676
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 3: Yeah.

677
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 2: And then his backup, Chase Brown had three catches for

678
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 2: eighty yards. He had a fifty four yard catch and run.

679
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 2: Now against those zone defenses, against.

680
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 3: His own defenses and you know, Brown looks like he's

681
00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 3: a promising player. I think Mixing is kind of on

682
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 3: his last legs. To the Bengals credit, they started using

683
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 3: their backs more with Browning now than they did against

684
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 3: the Steelers or certainly with Burrow Smart. I mean, it

685
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 3: makes through quarterbacks life easier. It's not because Mixing and

686
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 3: Brown are tremendous backfield, but Steelers are a better backfield, right,

687
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 3: and they also have a backup quarterback and I don't

688
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 3: know what numbers off the top of my head.

689
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:22,480
Speaker 2: One of the best receiving backs in the league.

690
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And I mean a Nausey's even more physical

691
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 3: than Mixing, And between the two of them receiving and running,

692
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 3: they put up a lot of yardage last week.

693
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean if you look at it,

694
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 2: Mixing had twenty one carries for seventy nine yards and

695
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 2: Brown added another twenty five to that. Then he had

696
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 2: in the one hundred and twenty six receiving yard. Those

697
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 2: guys were over two hundred yards of offense.

698
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, and a lot of touches. I mean yeah, all

699
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 3: was in their hands a lot and it was working.

700
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 2: So yeah, they didn't stop it.

701
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,840
Speaker 3: No, And again it gets the ball quick. I think

702
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 3: the steel both the Steeler backs are going to touch

703
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 3: the ball a.

704
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 2: Lot, and they both catched the ball well very yeah. Yeah,

705
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 2: so yeah, I would expect that to be a mode

706
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 2: of operation this week against this this this defense.

707
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 3: They also they took some shots.

708
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:10,479
Speaker 2: It was he had a forty six yard catch from

709
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 2: t Higgins in that game as well.

710
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 3: Okay, so it wasn't all just short stuff.

711
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 2: There's a lot of short stuff trying to get some

712
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 2: catch and run and that kind of thing. But you

713
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 2: do take some they start crowding the ball, Yeah, they start,

714
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 2: they start sneaking up on them. Okay, we're gonna throw

715
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 2: one over the top.

716
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 3: So and they're outside corners aren't great. Yeah, I mean

717
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 3: they're young guys like Brents and you know, guys who

718
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 3: want to try.

719
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 2: So you know, if I come out and I try

720
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 2: to suck them up in there, running the football, getting

721
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 2: the ball quickly, and then once they they get sucked

722
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 2: up in there, now maybe you try something down the

723
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 2: field the George Pickens, maybe a back shoulder or you know,

724
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 2: to get a chunk.

725
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, I could see picking second half being better than

726
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,480
Speaker 3: his first half. Yeah, of this game, you know, he's

727
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 3: not his own killer. But again, if you're gonna get

728
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 3: i mean, cover three turns in the man real quick, right, yeah,

729
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 3: I mean you're Cover three is the three man shell

730
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 3: and they each have a third of the So by

731
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 3: the time Pickens is deep into a stem, it's you

732
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 3: and you and him.

733
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the difference is where if it's man defense,

734
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 2: the corner has his back to the quarterback a lot

735
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 2: of times. If it's zone, he's back pedaling.

736
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's paddling and watching the whole thing in front

737
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 3: of him. Yeah, you know, worried about run sport as

738
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 3: well and stuff, and yeah, the free can come help

739
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 3: them and things like that, but you can get one

740
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 3: on one down sidelines. Yeah.

741
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 2: So if you look at that Pickens, Actually they're two

742
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 2: best guys in terms of yards per route run against

743
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 2: zone defenses this year? Are Warren and Pickens?

744
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 3: Are they really?

745
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 2: Warren's at one point seventy nine your yards per route

746
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 2: run against zones and Pickens is at one point seven

747
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 2: to two.

748
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 3: Really, Okay, because as a rookie he was much much

749
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 3: better against man than zone.

750
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 2: He and Deontay are both great against man.

751
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, and say they are exceled that way.

752
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's been Pickens has been the much more.

753
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 2: He's been the more productive guy. Now Deontay's gotten I

754
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 2: think more passes thrown his way, probably in zone, but

755
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 2: in the but I think some of the Pickens deeper

756
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 2: stuff has come against the zone type.

757
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 3: Stuff and I've been thinking it's more of a Deonte game.

758
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,279
Speaker 3: But it's also a good opportunity to quick slant the

759
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 3: Pickens time and time again and.

760
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 2: Let him run with the ball.

761
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,359
Speaker 3: He's got a better chance of breaking tackles and doing

762
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,720
Speaker 3: more after the catch. I think from a physical standpoint,

763
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 3: and I.

764
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 2: Think, to me, Matt, I would get him involved early.

765
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 2: And this is something Ben Roethlisberger always used to talk about.

766
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 2: He would try he would try to get everybody a

767
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 2: touch early in the game to make them feel like

768
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,799
Speaker 2: they were part of it, not let things, you know go.

769
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 2: Your first target is you know, with two minutes left

770
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 2: the second quarter.

771
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:39,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, get.

772
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,359
Speaker 2: Them, get them a target, because you know, often think

773
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 2: about it this way. If you're at your job and

774
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 2: you have the okay, you're going to do this, but

775
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 2: if this happens, then you're going to do that. Well,

776
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 2: if the first seventeen times that you do something, it

777
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,360
Speaker 2: happens this way, but then on the eighteenth time the

778
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 2: other thing happens. Yeah, you're gonna start get to get

779
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 2: into Okay, I'm just gonna It's not like I'm gonna

780
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 2: stamp this paper. But then I get this one. I

781
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,279
Speaker 2: gotta I gotta staple this one, you know.

782
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 3: Yeah.

783
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 2: Meanwhile you pick it up and you've already put the

784
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 2: stamp down it. Oh no, that was the one I

785
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 2: have to staple.

786
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 3: Just fall under a routine. And again, I hate to

787
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,600
Speaker 3: turn like you just lose interest. I mean, it's not

788
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 3: like pickings. It's gonna be like I'm a part of

789
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 3: the game plan this week. But you do want those

790
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,560
Speaker 3: guys taking a hit early, you know, getting their blood

791
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,319
Speaker 3: flow and all that stuff. I mean all the good

792
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 3: quarterbacks say that. Yeah, I try to get the bike ball,

793
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,440
Speaker 3: especially in my top guys, but everybody early.

794
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 2: I also think this could be because they play so

795
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 2: much zone firemouth.

796
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're interior guys, aren't great cover players.

797
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 2: Like just go find a spot in the zone and

798
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 2: sit down.

799
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,359
Speaker 3: Sit down, drill it to them. Yeah, I think there's

800
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 3: plenty of matchups in their favor if They're sharp with

801
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,880
Speaker 3: their zone reads and Trubisky's accurate.

802
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 2: The ball would come out on top, getting the ball

803
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:54,480
Speaker 2: out quickly. Yeah, you know, and you it's funny. I

804
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 2: wrote something about this on Steelers dot Com today and

805
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,360
Speaker 2: immediately when you go into the into the calm of it,

806
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 2: it's all negative stuff. This sounds like what their their

807
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 2: game plan was when you know, the last couple of

808
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 2: years of Ben.

809
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,240
Speaker 3: Okay, no, it's gonna be similar.

810
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 2: They won a good number of games the last couple

811
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 2: of years with Ben. Yeah, you know, you do what

812
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 2: you need to do to win the game.

813
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 3: I mean that the ending career Ben, his time to

814
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,839
Speaker 3: throw was very, very low, But so was Brady's when

815
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 3: he's winning super Bowls, right, yeah, I mean, part of

816
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,120
Speaker 3: it's because those guys are such good processors.

817
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 2: Not everybody as Patrick Mahomes back there running around and

818
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 2: yeah you know, yeah, giving twenty five yards and then

819
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:37,920
Speaker 2: throwing the ball, you know, sixty yards past the line

820
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 2: of scrimmage because he's got that kind of arm strength.

821
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 3: I think there's a misnomer that low time to throw

822
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,360
Speaker 3: is bad. It's not. It's just a different way of

823
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 3: doing things. Like it's not like all the best guys

824
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,040
Speaker 3: have high times to throw and all the bad guys

825
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 3: have low times to throw. It's it's different styles. Like

826
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,719
Speaker 3: Justin Fields is high. He runs around like crazy, also

827
00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:59,799
Speaker 3: takes a ton of sacks, especially early in his career,

828
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 3: you know. And it's not always the run around guys,

829
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,399
Speaker 3: you know, So that's not necessarily a bad thing.

830
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, well no, I mean I think about it from

831
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:13,280
Speaker 2: the perspective of the teams that have been playing against

832
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:14,840
Speaker 2: the Steelers this year and have gotten rid of the

833
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 2: get the ball quickly because they don't you know, hey,

834
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,399
Speaker 2: we're not gonna be able to block these guys right right,

835
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 2: And people, why didn't the Steelers have any sacks? Well,

836
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 2: the ball was coming out in you know, one point

837
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 2: eight seconds. Yeah, you get to tackle the catch.

838
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 3: That's really been the case of the last month or two.

839
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 3: Two teams are really getting it out quick, even speeding

840
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,160
Speaker 3: that up, which I'm sure Minshew's going to try to do,

841
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,719
Speaker 3: and you mentioned he's his numbers are better under two

842
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,759
Speaker 3: point five. Yeah, I'm sure they're going to try to

843
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,280
Speaker 3: scheme that stuff up, probably to Pittman more than anybody.

844
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 3: But if Porter's playing press, you know, it makes it

845
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,080
Speaker 3: tough yeah, with those long arms and you know, disrupting things.

846
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I mean that's the one thing that they

847
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 2: didn't have in years past, where you know when you

848
00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 2: look at okay, teams are getting the ball quickly, well

849
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 2: we're you know, you're playing off man or even off

850
00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,719
Speaker 2: zone on them. Yeah, you're gonna give up those quick

851
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 2: slants and you're gonna.

852
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,680
Speaker 3: Give up remember like the Brady years versus both.

853
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, they backed off ten yards. Well yeah, yeah, they're

854
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,799
Speaker 2: gonna come up on that of the catch because they

855
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 2: didn't have those guys. They didn't have a press man guy.

856
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,759
Speaker 3: And that was the weakness of that particular defense, and

857
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,319
Speaker 3: three or four quarterbacks in the league could really exploit it.

858
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 3: But the other twenty six or whatever was doing fine,

859
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 3: you know.

860
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I just think it's a fascinating matchup. And

861
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,479
Speaker 2: that's how that's what I would do against them. Again.

862
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 2: I look at what Browning did last week, and people

863
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:35,719
Speaker 2: either Jake Browning threw for two hundred and seventy five

864
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 2: yards and two touchdowns. I would love to see and

865
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,360
Speaker 2: I watched the tape of this one, how much of

866
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 2: that was after the catch lot? I mean, I'll bet

867
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 2: you three quarters of his two hundred and seventy five

868
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 2: passing yards were react.

869
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,120
Speaker 3: Oh I think so yeah, I mean I could even

870
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 3: look it up, I guess, but so much of it

871
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,239
Speaker 3: to the mix and dump off and the brown dump off.

872
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 2: And that's that's ninety four yards right there, No, ninety

873
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:02,320
Speaker 2: nine yards right there, of yards after the catch behind quarterback,

874
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 2: those are behind a line of scrimmage.

875
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, So that's good coaching, folks. I mean, but

876
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 3: I've heard this conversation, like, boy, Browning really reminds me

877
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,560
Speaker 3: of Burrow, like you're not watching, you're not watching. The

878
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:19,880
Speaker 3: same difficulty is night and day. Yeah, he's extremely accurate,

879
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 3: but boy, what they're asking him to do compared to Joe,

880
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 3: I mean no, no, no, no, no, they've revamped their offense completely.

881
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean everything is short. They're getting the ball

882
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,800
Speaker 2: out of his hands in under two point five seconds.

883
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:31,879
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, yes, I mean chase behind the line

884
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:33,959
Speaker 3: of scrimmage. I mean he's had a ton of targets.

885
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:36,839
Speaker 2: Trying to get the yards after the catch, and that's

886
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,719
Speaker 2: you know, watch here the Steelers do that. Well, there's

887
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 2: nothing that says that they can't and there's nothing to

888
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 2: say they want to do that.

889
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, but the Bengals are painting the barn red, right,

890
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's what coaching is all about.

891
00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 2: Yep, we're going to get to another break. He is

892
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,799
Speaker 2: the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lawlly. You're listening to

893
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 2: the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back

894
00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:59,400
Speaker 2: with more right after.

895
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

896
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: on your twenty four to seven home of the Black

897
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 1: and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio.

898
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 2: Welcome back. I am Dale Lollie. He is the Matt

899
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 2: Williamson and this is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio.

900
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 3: And Steeler fans, you can gear up with.

901
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 2: The latest sideline apparel, hats or jerseys of your favorite players,

902
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 2: authentic memorabilia, custom items, and exclusives you can only find

903
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,160
Speaker 2: directly from a team at one of the official Steelers

904
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:39,920
Speaker 2: Pro shops. They're located at Akershuer Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,

905
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 2: or Tanga Outlets, or you can visit online at Shop

906
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 2: dot Steelers dot com.

907
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,799
Speaker 3: Matt is someone a Christmas present? Yes, get on absolutely.

908
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,840
Speaker 2: The league announced today they'll be adding a game in

909
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four in so Paulo Brazil. And they're also

910
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,360
Speaker 2: going to be doing a total of up to eight

911
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,720
Speaker 2: international games a year starting in twenty twenty five.

912
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:07,239
Speaker 3: Were there six this year?

913
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:08,520
Speaker 2: I believe that's the case.

914
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, so I mean it's amping up.

915
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 2: Yeah apparently, and there it went from four to eight.

916
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 3: There was like four this year.

917
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:16,879
Speaker 2: There was only four this year. It sounded like more.

918
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,440
Speaker 3: Okay, it did seem like more. I thought there's more

919
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:20,160
Speaker 3: nine o'clock starts than that, but maybe not.

920
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:23,440
Speaker 2: That includes the Jaguars play a game every year in London.

921
00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 3: Okay, that's a fixture now.

922
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 2: Huh so there could be up to nine international games.

923
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:31,319
Speaker 3: Oh that's an addition too. Yeah, that's just one of

924
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 3: their home games every year. Yeah, London game. Okay. Interesting.

925
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,239
Speaker 3: It must be successful, I mean financially, I'm sure, but

926
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,160
Speaker 3: also in terms of teams not complaining about the travel and.

927
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,360
Speaker 2: All generating additional interest in Europe.

928
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 3: And yeah, so Steelers sort of seem due.

929
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,279
Speaker 2: Yeah. They haven't done it since twenty thirteen when they

930
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 2: played the Minnesota Vikings over in London. I was there

931
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,200
Speaker 2: for that game. There were a lot of Steeler fans

932
00:41:58,200 --> 00:41:59,879
Speaker 2: there for that game, A lot of Vikings fans there

933
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:04,800
Speaker 2: that game as well. Vikings in England that's never happened

934
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:11,360
Speaker 2: before successful there. Yeah, yeah, but I mean the Steelers

935
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 2: are kind of overdue for one of these. The thing

936
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:17,959
Speaker 2: is like the game in say Apollo in Brazil that's

937
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 2: been already approved. I believe that Dolphins are the only

938
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 2: team that can host that because that's their international market.

939
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:27,720
Speaker 2: They're the only team that has Brazil is an international market.

940
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,760
Speaker 3: So along those lines, if there's a game in Ireland,

941
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 3: the Steelers would host it.

942
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't think that's going to happen for

943
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 2: a couple of years, stay, I mean it doesn't like yeah,

944
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:37,520
Speaker 2: but it will.

945
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 3: I mean, they do want that to happen. Okay, So

946
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,320
Speaker 3: if people don't know, now, with a seventeen game schedule

947
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 3: every other year, you get eight home games, nine home games,

948
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:48,319
Speaker 3: eight home games. Next year is an eight home game one,

949
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:49,960
Speaker 3: you'd hate that to be seven.

950
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 2: I think what we're working towards here is that it

951
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,239
Speaker 2: won't be too long before every team plays an international

952
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 2: game every year. It's already set up where you have

953
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 2: to play one. I think it's every eight years.

954
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:03,840
Speaker 3: You have to.

955
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, every team in the league will play one.

956
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 3: Every eight years, and the Jags are their own deal.

957
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 2: And the Jags you can you can take one of

958
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,440
Speaker 2: the other teams out of the equation by having them

959
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:14,719
Speaker 2: play the Jags. But the Jags are going to do

960
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 2: that every year. Yeah, so at some point here the

961
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:20,279
Speaker 2: Steelers are going to be.

962
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 3: Up and it sounds like it won't be long before

963
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 3: it's every four years or every three years, or you're

964
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 3: let alone every year like you mentioned.

965
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, you would think you'd take.

966
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 3: The teams not a home game away if you have eight,

967
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 3: like you if a Steelers are happy to go there

968
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:38,080
Speaker 3: next year, you would hope it'd be an away game technically, yeah,

969
00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 3: you know, just because the team that has nine could

970
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:41,919
Speaker 3: lose it an NFC team or whatever.

971
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:46,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we'll see. I mean, you only play three

972
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,600
Speaker 2: road games potentially against and if against other conference teams

973
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:54,439
Speaker 2: right right, and it could be two given the year.

974
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 3: I wonder if the Jags are going to start doing

975
00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,440
Speaker 3: back to backs all the time now. I think they

976
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 3: want them both have to be easier on the team.

977
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:05,880
Speaker 2: Well, that would be an interesting thing about it, Like

978
00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:09,719
Speaker 2: when you when you start talking about having team move

979
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,840
Speaker 2: over there, I think you need multiple teams to play

980
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 2: in Europe to really expand that, then then you can

981
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,239
Speaker 2: make that a division over there, because I mean even

982
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:25,439
Speaker 2: right now, if you look at it, like for years

983
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,799
Speaker 2: the Arizona Cardinals were in the NFC East. Oh yeah,

984
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,919
Speaker 2: I mean that's a you know, a five hour flight Dallas. Yeah.

985
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:34,919
Speaker 3: I mean they're not exactly an East Coast team.

986
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 2: No, so you're you've got you know, if you're traveling

987
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 2: three or four hours to get to New York, you know, Philadelphia, Washington,

988
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 2: what's the difference.

989
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 3: Realignment as a whole wouldn't break my heart, but they don't.

990
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 3: I mean, you don't want the Ravens and Steelers to

991
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:51,880
Speaker 3: be in different conferences. Dallas's designed come with such a

992
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:52,920
Speaker 3: rival that's this is.

993
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:56,719
Speaker 2: A completely different conversation, Like if I were rebuilding the

994
00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:58,799
Speaker 2: entire thing, you know.

995
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 3: To me, I'm just if there's two europe teams, would

996
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:04,719
Speaker 3: they still play Tennessee, Houston and Indy?

997
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:05,200
Speaker 2: Yeah?

998
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:06,880
Speaker 3: Like why play like New England?

999
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:09,840
Speaker 2: Why is Miami in the AFC East not the AFC South?

1000
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:13,640
Speaker 2: Right they are they're flying over Jacksonville? Yeah, to get

1001
00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:14,440
Speaker 2: to their other games.

1002
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:17,600
Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's a lot of that going on. But yeah,

1003
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 3: what was I gonna say about that, I don't know,

1004
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,640
Speaker 3: but I do think more and more europe stuff, more

1005
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 3: and more overseas stuff is coming and travels easier now

1006
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:28,200
Speaker 3: than it was ten years ago too.

1007
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 2: It is you know, it's certainly easier than it was

1008
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,239
Speaker 2: twenty or twenty five years ago, you know. So, I mean,

1009
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,319
Speaker 2: this is this is coming and it's it's something that

1010
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:38,440
Speaker 2: I think fans have really embraced it as well. In

1011
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 2: terms of the EC there, you see a lot of

1012
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 2: people travel to those games. There's a lot of military.

1013
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:46,759
Speaker 2: That's a good point in some of these areas that

1014
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,799
Speaker 2: they go to the games, and again a way to

1015
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 2: to to grow the sport.

1016
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 3: I'm sure it'll never be like hockey or basketball or baseball,

1017
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:58,280
Speaker 3: but will there be a day when with the twentieth

1018
00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:02,800
Speaker 3: pick in the draft the Steelers take defensive ben from German,

1019
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:05,640
Speaker 3: you know, some college in Germany or whatever like that.

1020
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:08,839
Speaker 3: They're pumping out NFL players from over there. This might

1021
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 3: be a generation away, but I bet they're playing more

1022
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,280
Speaker 3: and more high school football, but they're.

1023
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,239
Speaker 2: Getting to that point. They certainly are doing that in

1024
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 2: the league has has certainly kind of fostered that. If

1025
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:22,359
Speaker 2: you remember they had the international players the Steelers had

1026
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:25,000
Speaker 2: William Scotland Williamson.

1027
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, Christian Williamson.

1028
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know they found him at one of those

1029
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,799
Speaker 2: international camps and that that's still going on, right, Yeah,

1030
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:32,400
Speaker 2: they still they still do some of those things, and

1031
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 2: so again, you know, anything that grows the gain there

1032
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:39,200
Speaker 2: there are a lot of great athletes running around the

1033
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,040
Speaker 2: world out there, right that could certainly play in the

1034
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 2: NFL if they had more training.

1035
00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:45,120
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's better than I do. But

1036
00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:49,720
Speaker 3: when I was a kid, like doctor j Bird, Magic Jordan,

1037
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:55,680
Speaker 3: I don't remember many from Jocovic, Yeah, right, I mean

1038
00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:00,000
Speaker 3: there weren't Russians and Chinese and Europeans in the NBA

1039
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:01,880
Speaker 3: that I recall. Now there's tons.

1040
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:03,920
Speaker 2: Now there's tons, and they're they're very good players.

1041
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 3: And yeah, they've uped the they've stepped everything up, you know, right.

1042
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:08,719
Speaker 2: So you know, there's no reason not to do that.

1043
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:11,640
Speaker 2: Baseball has done it as well. I mean, sure, it's

1044
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 2: it's an international sport. There's no reason. I understand, it's

1045
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:18,919
Speaker 2: American football, and it's different from you know, football world

1046
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,960
Speaker 2: what they call football everywhere else, but in some ways

1047
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 2: it's not you know, there's not much of a difference

1048
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,400
Speaker 2: in terms of the physicality between football and rugby.

1049
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:29,880
Speaker 3: No, you're hundercent, right. I mean I remember having the

1050
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:33,040
Speaker 3: conversation with Fojoko in Mini caamp too, and he was

1051
00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:36,040
Speaker 3: talking about all the Pauli's, you know, like there was

1052
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:38,880
Speaker 3: like Sew back then, then Troy. Now there's tons, you know,

1053
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 3: So it's great. I mean if if the Islanders love it,

1054
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,120
Speaker 3: why wouldn't the Europeans love it? And or whatever?

1055
00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,799
Speaker 2: I mean, big strong, fast dudes all over the.

1056
00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:54,399
Speaker 3: World, absolutely, no doubt. I mean, start dipping into Australia

1057
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:55,640
Speaker 3: and Africa and who knows.

1058
00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:57,359
Speaker 2: I mean, look at I mean there's there's a ton

1059
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 2: of people of Nigerian descent in the league. You know,

1060
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:05,399
Speaker 2: whether they grew up here or they they were born

1061
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:06,359
Speaker 2: there and then moved here.

1062
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 3: Sure, but there's a lot of them. There's a lot.

1063
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:11,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the same thing you mentioned that the Polynesians,

1064
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,080
Speaker 2: the Islanders.

1065
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 3: You know, it's caught on.

1066
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 2: It's a big man's game and the strong fast Yeah,

1067
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 2: some of these some of these cultures have a lot

1068
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:23,680
Speaker 2: of big, strong fast guys.

1069
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah, and so no, I think it's just tip

1070
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:28,040
Speaker 3: of the iceberg with all that stuff. Yeah.

1071
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:30,840
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we're gonna get to another break. He is Matt Williamson.

1072
00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,399
Speaker 2: I am Dale, Lollie. You're listening to the drive here

1073
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:35,719
Speaker 2: on Steelers Nation Radio. That's going to do it for

1074
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 2: our number one. We will be back with our number

1075
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 2: two right after this