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Speaker 1: Your tune to About Drive on your twenty four to

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Speaker 1: seven home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 2: What's going on Steelers Nation Radio?

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Speaker 3: Good afternoon, It's The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Speaker 3: Well Shuler, Matt Williamson with you here on a Monday,

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Speaker 3: as things are happening quickly. Matt woke up today, it's

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Speaker 3: October twentieth on the calendar.

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Speaker 4: All yeah, it's funny you went down that road.

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Speaker 3: Kind of nuts, you know too. I already started compiling

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Speaker 3: some stuff. We're gonna do a beefy around campus segment this.

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Speaker 2: Week on Wednesday.

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Speaker 3: Definitely started compiling stuff this morning, and I'm like, there's

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Speaker 3: five games left in the college football There's five five

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Speaker 3: weeks left in the college football regular season.

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Speaker 2: Like, this is all happening pretty quickly here.

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Speaker 4: It really is. It's funny because I thought the same

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Speaker 4: thing as I walked in, because I actually kind of

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Speaker 4: thought of Dale. Dale and I used to talk a

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Speaker 4: lot about that walk in this parking lot from the

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Speaker 4: car to the front door felt the first time, like, oh,

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Speaker 4: it gave me one of those that I don't like him. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: the autumn wind is a raider, you know, I mean, yeah.

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Speaker 2: String across the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I was still, you know, short sleeve shirt and

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Speaker 4: shorts on. Like it's pretty warm out. We have a

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Speaker 4: window open at home. I'm like, oh, it's right around

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Speaker 4: the corner, though, Like I walk out of here tonight,

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Speaker 4: it might be a little chilly.

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Speaker 2: It sure is it, sure is.

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Speaker 3: It is that time with it all the good that

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Speaker 3: comes with it, some of the negative, the weather and

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Speaker 3: the darkness and uh those things as well too. But

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Speaker 3: what that obviously means means a lot ton in the

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Speaker 3: football world. We're not quite at the halfway point, but

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Speaker 3: we're pretty stinking close here in the NFL regular season,

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Speaker 3: and of course we've got plenty to get into. On

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Speaker 3: what was a crazy eventful Sunday, Yes, and that was

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Speaker 3: just at Mile High Stadium in Denver. We will go

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Speaker 3: around the league and recap uh yeah, thirty three points

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Speaker 3: by one team in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 2: Hands up if you've seen that before.

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Speaker 3: A plenty that happened across the league, across the AFC North,

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Speaker 3: all these different things on Sunday. But we start today,

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Speaker 3: Matt with it will be a little bit of a

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Speaker 3: different week this week. Of course, we're not you know,

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Speaker 3: just doing our typical kind of hour downloading everything that

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Speaker 3: happened in the Steelers game.

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Speaker 2: On Sunday. We're gonna bump.

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Speaker 4: Up Wenesday on normal Monday is a little you know,

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Speaker 4: free time.

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Speaker 3: Little a little different, little uh like open period study

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Speaker 3: hall almost if you will here. And with that, typically

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Speaker 3: on Tuesdays we do a thing called Tuesday Rewind, where

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Speaker 3: it's just additional thoughts that you and I have when

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Speaker 3: we have time to go back and watch the game Friday. Right,

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Speaker 3: we're in here late night Thursday, back Friday.

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Speaker 4: We give I hadn't watched the twenty two at that point, right.

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Speaker 3: Of all of our thoughts on the game, but now

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Speaker 3: we've had time to rewatch it, to rethink it, to

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Speaker 3: dissect it. I've got two observations or sorry, two observations

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Speaker 3: for you on each side of the ball. So for

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Speaker 3: for my kind of Monday rewind, two offensive thoughts, two

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Speaker 3: defensive thoughts.

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Speaker 4: I bet the offensive ones are good and the defensive

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Speaker 4: ones might not be.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say one of the offensive ones is

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Speaker 3: very good.

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Speaker 2: The second is encouraging. Okay, you want to start there.

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Speaker 5: You want to let's keep everyone start with some some

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Speaker 5: sunshine on the Mondayay afternoon, and let's start with the

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Speaker 5: I think one of the biggest takeaways of that game,

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Speaker 5: if you're looking from a positivity or a glass half.

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Speaker 3: Full standpoint, I thought Jalen Warren played really wells breaking tackles,

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Speaker 3: running hard, He's fast, he's twitchy, he's tough to bring down.

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Speaker 3: He's very good in past protection as well.

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Speaker 4: Too highly accomplished receiver.

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Speaker 3: I thought he was going back and rewatching. I thought

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Speaker 3: Jalen Warren was exceptional. I thought he played really well.

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Speaker 4: So before we get too far and too far into

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Speaker 4: the sunshine and rainbow things, Bengals defense is really bad.

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Speaker 4: So I think all of our listeners know that we

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Speaker 4: said that going in watching this game. I don't think

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Speaker 4: all of a sudden, oh their defense is fine. No,

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Speaker 4: it's bad, but they're also professionals, and Jalen wasn't great

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Speaker 4: because they stunk, you know what I mean. And I

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Speaker 4: think that a lot of that's true for when the

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Speaker 4: Steelers had the ball fring with Rogers, you know, line

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Speaker 4: wherever we want to talk about. But yeah, I'm glad

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Speaker 4: you started with him because just his individual effort and

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Speaker 4: achievement that night was really, really strong. Really strong and.

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Speaker 3: If you play the seven or eight minute just Jalen

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Speaker 3: Warren cut up of that game. Yeah, you're like, that

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Speaker 3: guy looked like one of the best running backs in

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Speaker 3: the league exactly.

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Speaker 4: I mean, he looks like the top guys and had

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Speaker 4: one of the best games and not be one of

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Speaker 4: the best games of any running back in the league.

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Speaker 4: One of mine would be to kind of piggyback off that,

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Speaker 4: which I also think is encouraging in a little overdue,

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Speaker 4: but we've seen more and more of it really since

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Speaker 4: the Anderson addition, you know, seventy four is eligible. The

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Speaker 4: run game is also getting a lot more diverse. I mean,

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Speaker 4: they're they're running a wider variety of plays.

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Speaker 2: With the outside zone run talking about it, yeah, I

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Speaker 2: think that.

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Speaker 4: Was part of the problem early on, as it was predictable.

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Speaker 4: And that's a hard run in itself, because if anyone's wrong,

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Speaker 4: you're wrong, you know. I mean, it's everyone has to

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Speaker 4: work in unison, and there's a lot of communication and

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Speaker 4: a lot of continuity needed, and it's a it takes

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Speaker 4: a long time for it to get going, and once

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Speaker 4: it does, it's beautiful. But in the meantime, partially by

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Speaker 4: inserting Anderson. You know you're having more. They're a variety

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Speaker 4: of runs, and I think Warren runs them all really

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Speaker 4: really well too.

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Speaker 3: You know, yes he does. And he's a good receiving back. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: is I think a great pass protection back, especially compared

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Speaker 3: to That's an area that it feels like is down

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Speaker 3: cross the board across the NFL protection running backs and

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Speaker 3: past Yeah. Yeah, yeah, He's got to be on the

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Speaker 3: short list of the best doing that right now in

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Speaker 3: the National Football League.

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Speaker 2: So that was kind of.

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Speaker 4: First because of your college background. I don't know we've

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Speaker 4: had this conversation, but like this rookie running.

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Speaker 2: Back class, I think I know where you're going.

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Speaker 4: We might have even talked it way back in draft times.

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Speaker 3: Maybe like at the combine when Hugh and Dale and

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Speaker 3: Motes and I would do like crossover hours and stuff.

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Speaker 4: And Caleb Johnson's a great example because the Steelers drafted

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Speaker 4: one of these backs, but it was considered and I

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Speaker 4: didn't disagree at the time. A great running back class.

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Speaker 4: You know, there was a lot of them drafted, a

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Speaker 4: lot drafted pretty high. You got guys with like third

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Speaker 4: second round grades in the fourth fifth round because of

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Speaker 4: the depth of it had some star power to top

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Speaker 4: with gent, but really almost all those guys, their scouting

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Speaker 4: report coming out was big questions about protection, and weirdly,

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Speaker 4: one of the only guys that going to check that

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Speaker 4: box was Henderson, and he's really struggled since he's gotten

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Speaker 4: the league in protection. So nobody's really excelled in protection.

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Speaker 4: I haven't studied every one of them every snap, but

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Speaker 4: this rookie class, and I'm wondering, with your college background,

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Speaker 4: do you think that could be a trend, you know,

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Speaker 4: like because he's got these coaches can't coach you know,

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Speaker 4: Saban can't grind it into him, or he's going to transfer,

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Speaker 4: you know, and.

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Speaker 2: They're getting paid one thousand percent.

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Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, So this is gonna keep coming.

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Speaker 3: This is this is going for for for a lot

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Speaker 3: of the reasons that you just mentioned.

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Speaker 2: Plus I think just.

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Speaker 3: Across the board, college football teams are going more and

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Speaker 3: more like there was the spread era of the turn

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Speaker 3: of the twenty first century. Right, Everything you know in

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Speaker 3: football is cyclical and it comes back around. I think

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Speaker 3: we saw that to an extent a few years ago,

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Speaker 3: but I think now there's this weird where it went

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Speaker 3: from spread kind of back to pro style. And now

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Speaker 3: it's not going back to spread in college football, but

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Speaker 3: it is much much more. Everybody has a stud quarterback, okay,

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Speaker 3: with with the transfer portal most of these you know.

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Speaker 4: This changing things is such a rapid rate.

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Speaker 3: The body the sixty the sixty some you know, power

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Speaker 3: for college football program So I think there's sixty eight

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Speaker 3: or sixty nine programs in the SEC, the Big Ten,

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Speaker 3: the ACC, in the Big twelve, the four power conferences.

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Speaker 3: There's like sixty eight or sixty nine programs. There's no

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Speaker 3: excuse for them to be dreadful at quarterback. Now, maybe

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Speaker 3: if you are for a year, okay, you missed on

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Speaker 3: some evaluations, whatever, but then go get jmu's quarterback, Go

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Speaker 3: get Kent State's quarterback, Go go get UTEP's quarterbacks.

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Speaker 4: Or someone in that division. Every division has a best guy,

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Speaker 4: exactly right.

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Speaker 3: Go get Ohio's quarterbacks, and not Ohio State, Ohio. You

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Speaker 3: you know Parker Navarro, he's actually very good. Carved up

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Speaker 3: my Mountaineers back in September.

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Speaker 4: Super quick. And this this was true when I recruited.

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Speaker 4: Finding quarterbacks in the world isn't nearly as hard as

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Speaker 4: like defensive tackles. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of

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Speaker 4: people walking the planet that look like a quarterback. There's

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Speaker 4: not many people that are six five.

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Speaker 3: Especially at the collegiate level, where now these guys rely

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Speaker 3: on their legs. That's one thing that has really mirrored

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Speaker 3: the pros. It used to be the pro style college

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Speaker 3: football quarterbacks, right, the Andrew lux and then the spread

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Speaker 3: style college football quarterbacks, the Marcus Mariotas. Yeah, now that's

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Speaker 3: kind of blending of those skill sets. We want all

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Speaker 3: of it because you can get it exactly right. Even

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Speaker 3: guys like Fernando Mendoza, who we talk about all the time,

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Speaker 3: that's more of a traditional he'll still pull it down

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Speaker 3: and take the eight or nine yards and no one

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Speaker 3: can be a stiff anymore. I think part of that,

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Speaker 3: with the mobility quarterback element, has played into this as well.

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Speaker 3: So I think you're spot on. It reminds me, Matt,

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Speaker 3: it really started back when the Steelers drafted Jalen Samuels.

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Speaker 3: You remember him out of NC State, and I remember

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Speaker 3: a lot of things there. Do it all guy, you know,

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Speaker 3: do it all guy at NCC State. But I remember

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Speaker 3: when he got drafted and we do the you know this,

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Speaker 3: I'm sure the listeners who have listened for a long

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Speaker 3: time know this. We do our draft coverage from down

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Speaker 3: on the South Side at the Steelers facility, and it's

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Speaker 3: kind of like the Steelers take a running back. Ten

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Speaker 3: minutes later, here comes Eddie faulkn Or to sit down

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Speaker 3: with us for ten minutes and talk about what they liked.

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Speaker 4: In that run. Here's what we liked about.

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Speaker 3: Caleb Johnson, you know what I mean, Here's why we

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Speaker 3: drafted him, Here's here's how he fits our offense. And

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Speaker 3: then a lot of times what's cool is the next

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Speaker 3: day when those guys fly into Pittsburgh, they'll sit down

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Speaker 3: with you know, Steelers draft Joey Porter junior twenty minutes

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Speaker 3: and you know in Wexford. But we get to sit

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Speaker 3: down with these guys for a few minutes too. I'll

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Speaker 3: never forget Jaylen Samuel sat down with us, and I mean,

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Speaker 3: I don't even remember if I was on air, you

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Speaker 3: and Dale, I mean, whatever the case may be. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: you're like the best You're like the best player Jake

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Speaker 3: on my Beer League hockey team. He doesn't leave the

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Speaker 3: ice in our sixty minute game.

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Speaker 2: That's you.

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Speaker 3: During the draft, Jaylen Samuel sits down and he said

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Speaker 3: something along the lines to us. You know, we said

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Speaker 3: you played a lot of running back, h back, some

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Speaker 3: tight ends.

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Speaker 4: He actually did tight end drills with the combine.

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Speaker 2: Now and he mentioned I never once pass pro Deenensi State.

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Speaker 4: Remember that, like, never won, never one.

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Speaker 3: They asked me to pass protect catchers. He was one

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Speaker 3: of the best pass catchers, running back versatile. They never

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Speaker 3: he said, I never, I never did pass Prodensi State.

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Speaker 3: And I remember all of us kind of being like, Oh,

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Speaker 3: that's something. Backs on backers is going to be interesting

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Speaker 3: with this couple months from now when we get to Latrobe.

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Speaker 4: Remember one second, we're talking about how everyone has quarterbacks

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Speaker 4: now and I adn't thought about that from the college level,

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Speaker 4: because you can go pluck them from a college.

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Speaker 2: Look at pitt here.

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Speaker 3: I mean, Pitts had like five different quarterbacks in the

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Speaker 3: last six years starting.

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Speaker 4: You know, maybe they actually have one now.

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Speaker 3: You know COVID doesn't work, Get him out of him.

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Speaker 3: You know, Eli Holstein doesn't work, Get him out of here.

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Speaker 4: But not only can you pluck him from lesser programs

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Speaker 4: than you, but I'm watching that game last night, the

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Speaker 4: Niner game, and they show a picture of in Bama

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Speaker 4: colors smoking cigars.

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Speaker 3: That's the tradition. They when those two teams play, the

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Speaker 3: winning teams.

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Speaker 4: And mac and it's like, not all three would ever

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Speaker 4: still be there, no check, no chant, no chick. That

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Speaker 4: one of them will go down a level or go

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Speaker 4: to Auburn.

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Speaker 3: Or or they might go down a level for a year,

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Speaker 3: kill it and then wind up at Florida State.

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Speaker 4: Right right, right, yeah, no way, the three of them

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Speaker 4: are sitting there waiting for each other.

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Speaker 2: Either absolutely not, absolutely not.

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Speaker 3: I think the only place that still gets away with

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Speaker 3: that is the wide receiver room at Ohio State manages

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Speaker 3: to stay loaded because they just have such a reputation

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Speaker 3: one year start, one year in your first round pick,

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Speaker 3: but recruit other than that. It's even more difficult for

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Speaker 3: Alabama's and Georgia's of the world to build depth because, yeah,

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Speaker 3: you might pay me a little bit more than this

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Speaker 3: ACC or Big twelve school, but I don't care.

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Speaker 2: I want to go start. I want to go quarter

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Speaker 2: second exactly right.

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Speaker 4: Maybe that true freshman lives with that, but you know, right.

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Speaker 3: So, when Jalen Samuels was coming to Pittsburgh, matt it

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Speaker 3: was kind of an eyebrow raiser.

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Speaker 2: This guy's never.

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Speaker 3: Passed prode But it also made a little bit of sense.

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Speaker 3: At the time. You had Ben Roethlisberger still that was

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Speaker 3: the year coming up that he had the major elbow surgery,

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Speaker 3: but he was coming off a five thousand yard passing

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Speaker 3: season where him and Ab and Juju lit it up.

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Speaker 4: Was older, but there was no reason to worry about it.

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Speaker 3: Just had one of the top five seasons of his career. Okay,

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Speaker 3: Ab was gone, you traded him to the Raiders that offseason,

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Speaker 3: but everybody was crazy high on Juju had over a

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Speaker 3: thousand yards his rookie season. At that point, James Connor

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Speaker 3: was coming off of his first real crack at it

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Speaker 3: where he made the Pro Bowl filling in for Lev

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Speaker 3: Bell who sat out that entire year. So it was like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: they just drafted a running back who never passed pros.

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Speaker 3: But James Connor's not afraid to stick his fan and

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Speaker 3: his face in the fan. They got Juju, they got

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Speaker 3: some other young pieces. They're gonna still throw the football

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Speaker 3: like crazy, you know, like it made some sense in

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Speaker 3: that context. Now I think that that is not to

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Speaker 3: that extent where that guy's gonna sit down with us

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Speaker 3: and be like I never did any pass pro but

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Speaker 3: you referenced Caleb Johnson, he did very little of it

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Speaker 3: his time at Iowa.

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Speaker 4: They never threw and they probably wanted him flairing out.

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Speaker 2: Because he's one of the best gas exactly right.

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Speaker 4: But you mentioned Ohio State receivers, Well, those two backs

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Speaker 4: pass prode because they didn't need him. Do you guys catch.

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Speaker 2: And Jeremiah Smith and all.

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Speaker 4: These get five star tight ends. I'm sure that we

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Speaker 4: never throw to anyway exactly.

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Speaker 2: Right, exactly right.

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Speaker 3: So there is again it's cyclical at every level, and

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Speaker 3: that is I think you are spot on. That is

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Speaker 3: a real thing in college football, right.

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Speaker 4: So we should get used to bad protectors coming in

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Speaker 4: the league. I think I think that's going to be

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Speaker 4: at least a short term trend.

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Speaker 3: I think so adds up or just maybe not even bad,

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Speaker 3: but just guys who are haven't have haven't had very

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Speaker 3: little experience, very.

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Speaker 2: Little spin in that regard.

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Speaker 3: But that's why I think the value to kind of

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Speaker 3: get back to where we started. The value of Jalen

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Speaker 3: Warren is immense, and it was on display Thursday night.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I've been calling for I pat myself in

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Speaker 4: the back here pretty much. For six months, I've been

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Speaker 4: saying I would extend this guy, and I haven't heard

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Speaker 4: many other analysts even mentioning that. I'm like, he's I'm

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Speaker 4: not big on giving running back second contracts. It usually

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Speaker 4: doesn't work out great, but his situation was very unique.

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Speaker 4: He got him at a somewhat of a discount because

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Speaker 4: he hasn't made a ton of money. But if he

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Speaker 4: were to hit the open market off after the season,

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Speaker 4: how he's playing and how he's played really every step

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Speaker 4: of his career, he would make way more than he

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Speaker 4: does now, absolutely way.

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Speaker 3: More make I think he'd make way more than nause

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Speaker 3: he got on the oh oh yeah, yeah, yeah, not

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Speaker 3: even close, not even close, right, right right.

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Speaker 4: I'm not saying to make Saquon money, but he'd make

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Speaker 4: a lot four teams competing for him.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I think you are spot on there. And again,

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Speaker 3: I think his value has been on display all season,

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Speaker 3: but especially Thursday night.

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Speaker 4: He was phenomenal.

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Speaker 2: He was great, he was outstanding, let's a break here more.

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Speaker 4: It was also the healthiest and the most action he's gotten.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think a lot of it and against

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Speaker 3: against it, it's still an NFL defense. It's it's not

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Speaker 3: Ohio State against Akron, but it is. It is an

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Speaker 3: encouraging guy, encouraging He did exactly what you wanted to

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Speaker 3: see him do on Thursday night. A few more Monday

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Speaker 3: rewind observations as we roll along here Wesh Ruler, Matt Williams,

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Speaker 3: and it's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the

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Speaker 3: Steelers Audio Network.

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Speaker 1: Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven

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Speaker 1: home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 3: Continuing with our Monday rewind here some I guess second

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Speaker 3: watch observations from Bengals thirty three, Steelers thirty one on

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Speaker 3: Thursday night. We'll stick with the offense here before we

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Speaker 3: transition to the defense matter. Roman Wilson, nice to see you. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean I he was clearly wide receiver number two and.

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Speaker 4: Was my biggest takeaway. I trusted him to be the two.

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Speaker 3: Scotty Miller's snap count was way down single digits, I

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Speaker 3: believe single digits as well, where wis was like thirty

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Speaker 3: three thirty four.

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Speaker 4: It was a big jump, like Metcalf only missed one

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Speaker 4: snap and then they didn't play a ton of two receivers.

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Speaker 4: They didn't play much. But if there was a second round.

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Speaker 2: Played a lot.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, most always Wilson, all the.

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Speaker 3: Titans played a lot. They attashi, Yeah, yeah, yeah, they

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Speaker 3: attacked with those guys. I know you had some really

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Speaker 3: good middle of the field stats from the offense, but yeah,

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Speaker 3: it was it was noticeable Roman Wilson was out there

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Speaker 3: and Matt not just in you're you know, we trust

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Speaker 3: you in run blocking and we think you're pretty good

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Speaker 3: in that department.

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Speaker 2: I mean he was running routes as well too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, thirty snaps and I think like eighteen or nineteen

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Speaker 3: routes ran I want to say, felt like it was

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Speaker 3: a encouraging step in the right direction. Again, can he

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Speaker 3: be a regular part of this offense? How much can

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Speaker 3: he contribute? All those things remain to be seen. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: but you need to at least have that level of

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Speaker 3: getting out on the field and that trust factor, and

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Speaker 3: you need to get some spin out there to get

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Speaker 3: to a point that we are all hopeful that he

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Speaker 3: can get to.

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Speaker 2: And I thought that was a step in the right direction.

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Speaker 4: Yes, Now, a couple things and not all of them

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Speaker 4: are going to be positive. I think that it's a

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Speaker 4: step in the right direction that they don't look at

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Speaker 4: him as only a slot as a third receiver, you know,

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Speaker 4: like he lined up often outside the numbers in two

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Speaker 4: receiver sets because there was hardly ever three receiver sets

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Speaker 4: because they was played so much tight end stuff. And

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Speaker 4: we mentioned the other receiver is not getting a lot.

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Speaker 4: And he made some catches, he made some plays, some

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Speaker 4: inbreaking routes. He looked the part as a pass catre

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Speaker 4: and a route runner. So again, these are all positives.

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Speaker 4: My concern isn't with him and the wide receiver trade

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Speaker 4: talks is gonna keep eating up. Yeah, I mean that's

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Speaker 4: the way as it probably should. It should, and I

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Speaker 4: got no problem with that. We could do a whole

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Speaker 4: segment on at some point.

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Speaker 2: But then you feel you get Calvin Austin back, you

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Speaker 2: start to feel really good about that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, but I wonder are they sitting there they

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Speaker 4: are internally? Are they going, Man, we really need the

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Speaker 4: trade for a receiver because everything we try isn't good enough,

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Speaker 4: including Roman, you know what I mean, Like we put

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Speaker 4: Miller out there a bunch and it didn't really change

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Speaker 4: the game much. Putting Wilson out there, at least we'll

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Speaker 4: give him a cry like they taken is Wilson getting

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Speaker 4: a chance by default rather than oh, he's clearly the

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Speaker 4: best guy. I think that's a fair U and that's yeah,

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Speaker 4: I don't think we know the answer. They'll never tell us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, right, And and maybe it's a little bit

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Speaker 2: of both at this time.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, And maybe that was step one towards will I

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Speaker 4: am better than the other guys, you know.

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Speaker 3: Or maybe it was step one towards them all looking

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Speaker 3: at each other in a meeting room and going all right,

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Speaker 3: we got to get aggressive and trade somebody, right, Yeah, yeah, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I think it's certainly one of those like you come

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Speaker 3: into a y in the road, you know what I mean, Yeah, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: you go left and you live with what you got,

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Speaker 3: or you go you know, door number two, and you

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Speaker 3: go out and you bring somebody in.

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Speaker 4: If they trade for Rashid Shaheed tomorrow. I think we'll

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Speaker 4: know the answer.

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Speaker 2: Exactly right.

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Speaker 3: This week, right, I think I think we'll get a

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Speaker 3: pretty and I think either way we'll get that answer,

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Speaker 3: might be sooner rather than later. We might have to

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Speaker 3: wait another week or two, but I do think and.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if we will get down back Sunday

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Speaker 4: or not. But he can't be too far off. They

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Speaker 4: didn't put him on.

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Speaker 3: I was going to say, didn't put him on IR,

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Speaker 3: So I would agree with you. Look and see if

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Speaker 3: he gets gets you know, maybe they they active well

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Speaker 3: I guess they never mind, they wouldn't have to activate him.

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Speaker 2: That will be if he was coming off of IR.

439
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,680
Speaker 3: But we'll see what his usage looks like here as

440
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,280
Speaker 3: we get a little bit into this week.

441
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,080
Speaker 4: That's a good one. I mean, I think that's definitely

442
00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 4: a positive for him. And you've got you probably get

443
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 4: a million tweets of Rum Wilson a bust. Why is

444
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 4: he never out there like he was out there this time?

445
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:54,720
Speaker 4: He was?

446
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 3: And again that doesn't mean that they're satisfied any of

447
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,600
Speaker 3: that stuff, but you at least needed to see this

448
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,480
Speaker 3: the step in this direction, I think, to really start

449
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 3: to be able to make that decision, make that judgment,

450
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,399
Speaker 3: all right, Matt. So those are the two offensive ones,

451
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,639
Speaker 3: and both the Jalen Warrens certainly, and that Roman Wilson too.

452
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,120
Speaker 3: I would say on the more positive side of things,

453
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 3: let's flip to the defense and a little bit more.

454
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:20,919
Speaker 2: The negative side yeah things here.

455
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,800
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna use this example super quick because I

456
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 4: just recorded Peacock and Williamson's in our national podcast and

457
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 4: as you would guess, my co host Peacock, he's on

458
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 4: the West coast.

459
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,400
Speaker 2: Niners guy, right, Niners guy.

460
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,560
Speaker 4: He watches every game like we do, but the Thursday

461
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 4: night or he had something family related, he only watched

462
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 4: like the first quarter. And he immediately asked me today

463
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 4: because we couldn't record a show Friday. So it's the

464
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,159
Speaker 4: first time we've broken down Steelers Bengals, gotcha? And he

465
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 4: opens it up by Matt. I only watched the first

466
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:55,920
Speaker 4: quarter and I thought this game is gonna be fifty

467
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,399
Speaker 4: two to nothing the Steelers. He's like, how can a

468
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 4: team on both sides of the ball dominate the trenches

469
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:04,360
Speaker 4: the way they didn't? Remember? You only saw the first

470
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,680
Speaker 4: quarter and still lose this game. I'm like the clock

471
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,200
Speaker 4: struck midnight when the second quarter showed up, or something,

472
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 4: a potion fell on the stadium or something. I don't

473
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 4: know what happened, but as soon as.

474
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,880
Speaker 2: The second quarter showed down into a pumpkin, it was.

475
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 4: Like, all of a sudden, the whole defense was tired

476
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:21,920
Speaker 4: on a short week and didn't want to be there

477
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,760
Speaker 4: and just got pushed around like it was from that

478
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,360
Speaker 4: It's weird that you only watched the first quarter, because

479
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 4: that's when everything changed.

480
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:30,960
Speaker 2: If you only watched the first quarter, you would have

481
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 2: liked this awesome.

482
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,360
Speaker 3: You would have thought the Steelers are going to win

483
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,520
Speaker 3: this game, like they didn't, you know, twenty three to

484
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 3: nine or thirty to thirteen something.

485
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 4: He started with, like the d lines just whipping them.

486
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, if you only watch the second quarter,

487
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 3: you probably thought the Steelers lost fifty to ten.

488
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean.

489
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,360
Speaker 3: Certainly a tale of two quarters there, and so yeah,

490
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,640
Speaker 3: let's let's get into some of this not so great.

491
00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 3: Let's let's talk bigger picture first. It just continues to

492
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 3: be obvious, whether you look at the time of possession,

493
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,119
Speaker 3: whether you look at the snapcounts, that this defense is

494
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 3: on the field.

495
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 4: Too much time, possessions getting worse.

496
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 3: That doesn't excuse their performance, but there is some.

497
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 4: Times it's it's gonna be a huge problem.

498
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,399
Speaker 3: There's some rhyme to that reason. Matt, why is that

499
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 3: and how do they get that moving in the right direction.

500
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,879
Speaker 3: I know it was like twenty snaps more for the

501
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 3: defense than the offense.

502
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 2: Again, this is something.

503
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 4: Even winning and on winning streaks. I mean, basically they're

504
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 4: like twenty six minutes of time possession for the year.

505
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 3: It got skewed a little bit at the end of

506
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,480
Speaker 3: that Browns game. So yeah, I'll give them that. Yeah yeah,

507
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,879
Speaker 3: because for most, for eighty eighty five percent of that

508
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,000
Speaker 3: Browns game, the time of possession in the snap counts

509
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,960
Speaker 3: were well in your favor and then it's skewed a

510
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:44,440
Speaker 3: little bit.

511
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 4: At the end. Yeah. Yeah.

512
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,119
Speaker 2: But other than that, Matt, this is like something that

513
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:48,640
Speaker 2: we've been.

514
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,200
Speaker 4: Problem every week.

515
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, every week, even when they're even when they're winning,

516
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:54,480
Speaker 3: even when they were sitting at four and one, this

517
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 3: was still something that felt like it could bite you

518
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,880
Speaker 3: at some point. Your defense can't be playing twenty more

519
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 3: snaps than your offense every week.

520
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,879
Speaker 4: And we was talking about you know, like when you

521
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,880
Speaker 4: go to the doctor, you know, I got this rash, Well,

522
00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:09,439
Speaker 4: what have you been eating? What do you try different

523
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,480
Speaker 4: dryer sheets or whatever, you know. But it's on both

524
00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,119
Speaker 4: sides of the ball. I mean, they haven't run the

525
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,240
Speaker 4: ball well enough and getting enough first downs and eat clock.

526
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 4: Because one thing about Rogers career, and it still holds

527
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 4: true of the Steelers, is he always he helps time

528
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 4: of possession more than a lot of quarterbacks.

529
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:27,640
Speaker 2: He takes his time.

530
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:29,200
Speaker 4: Because he takes his time, he comes to the line

531
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 4: of scrimmage, clock's ticking. You know, he's gonna survey things

532
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 4: he's I mean, yes, he can play hurry up like

533
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 4: any great quarterback, but more often than not, he eats

534
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 4: a lot of clock.

535
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 2: He wants to see what the defense is trying to do.

536
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 3: It's just his style may show their you know, play

537
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 3: chicken and be the last one to blink.

538
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,720
Speaker 4: Yeah. But a big thing with the defense though, they're

539
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,960
Speaker 4: just giving out too much yards. I mean they flat

540
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 4: out are like like a lot of their drives per

541
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 4: drive stats or pull I mean, especially like yards per drive.

542
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 4: And they probably got a lot worse. These are things

543
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 4: I do Tuesday after every team lay and I'm sure

544
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 4: they got worse. But they're not too reliant because they're

545
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 4: great at it. But the good things are the splash things,

546
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,520
Speaker 4: you know, the takeaways, the sacks, the bad and passes,

547
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 4: the force fumbles, and they're tremendous at it. But when

548
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,160
Speaker 4: you didn't get them, you see that, man, You guys

549
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 4: are on the field a lot and on a down

550
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,679
Speaker 4: by down basis you're not playing well enough. I mean,

551
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 4: it's kind of the more so than I blame the offense.

552
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 4: At least the offense start running the ball and you know,

553
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 4: like kind of did their share, but play by play

554
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 4: it's like, man, you're still allowing this team to get

555
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:43,400
Speaker 4: first downs.

556
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 3: Yes, way too many mistackles in this game. We had

557
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 3: talked about how against Minnesota and Cleveland it felt like

558
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 3: that was moving in the right direction, much much better

559
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 3: after a rocky start that reared it's ugly head again

560
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,919
Speaker 3: on Thursday nights, certainly, and it's.

561
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:02,120
Speaker 4: Such an avalanche because if you're if you're bad at

562
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 4: that and don't get better, well you're gonna be on

563
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 4: the field to you more. And then you're on the

564
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 4: field to you no more then and then you get

565
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 4: more tired, and then you miss an extra tackle. And I'm

566
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 4: not excusing it, but you see it a lot on

567
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 4: the road on a Thursday night. So if that's only one,

568
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be super you know, super critical. Yeah, all right,

569
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 4: you know, okay, But it's been a theme.

570
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 3: It certainly has, and a not a good theme, a

571
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 3: discouraging one in fact. And with that Matt one thing

572
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,639
Speaker 3: that confused me and I have not been the first

573
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 3: person to raise this point in the last few days

574
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 3: since that game on Thursday night, But when you go

575
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 3: back and watch it, it really stands out. You i know,

576
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 3: mentioned this even on Friday, before we had a chance

577
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 3: to do our our rewind our rewatch here. There was

578
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 3: a lot of you know, wailing and moaning and gnashing

579
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,919
Speaker 3: of teeth and pulling hair out about Jamar Chase and

580
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 3: t Higgins. Yeah, and why didn't they try something different?

581
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:02,919
Speaker 3: And you kind of pointed out they did. I mean,

582
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 3: they lined up different guys on them, They tried different every.

583
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 2: Everybody, everybody.

584
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 3: It wasn't just Ramsey, it wasn't just Sligh, it wasn't

585
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 3: just Echoes, it wasn't just Sean Elliott.

586
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 4: You know, sometimes Michael Jordan gets his against matter who. Sometimes,

587
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 4: like Chase was Michael Jordan.

588
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 3: Sometimes you could play the perfect you know, neutral zone

589
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 3: trap and Lemu will still have a hatcher yea. But

590
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 3: one thing that it felt like, and this correlates with

591
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 3: how quickly Joe Flacco was getting rid of the football.

592
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 2: Again, I'm not I'm not Neil Armstrong landing on the

593
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 2: moon here. A lot of people have.

594
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 3: Been talking about this the last couple of days. But

595
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,679
Speaker 3: when your pass rush is struggling to get home and

596
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 3: the quarterback is getting rid of the ball so early.

597
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,440
Speaker 3: Why don't you get up on someone's face, getting someone's

598
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 3: grill some press man coverage, get your hands on these

599
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 3: guys and make Joe Flacco have to tap the ball

600
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 3: for an extra half second.

601
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,680
Speaker 4: There's many different ways to play man coverage, yes, many

602
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:55,280
Speaker 4: different that.

603
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 2: You could play man coverage but still be off the ball.

604
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, right. I mean you can play press, you

605
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 4: could play mirror match, you can play off, you know,

606
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 4: and it's still my guy. It's it's man coverage. So

607
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 4: I saw a lot of man coverage, but I hardly

608
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 4: saw any press man The confusing part, which I don't

609
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 4: care at all if that if the game starts that way,

610
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,879
Speaker 4: you know. Oh, I didn't think they would be getting

611
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 4: out there getting it out of his hands in two

612
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,959
Speaker 4: point four seconds, which is Ben Aaron Rodgers fast, you know.

613
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 4: But when that's the theme and they're just ripping you apart,

614
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 4: like some of the Chase numbers, all the numbers are

615
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 4: are awesome, obviously, I mean it's fantasy stats and his

616
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 4: catches and targets and all that. It'd be one of

617
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 4: the best performances a wide receipver, he was phenomenal, but

618
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 4: his average depth of target was really short, you know,

619
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 4: And it wasn't like they had a hard time tackling him.

620
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,520
Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't great, but they weren't like he

621
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 4: hit it like the Metcalf Minnesota game. Yes, that's not

622
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 4: where the stats came.

623
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 3: He didn't take a six yard reception and turn it

624
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 3: into an eighty yard touchdown. Yeah, I mean it was

625
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 3: Randy Moss and people down the but.

626
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 4: It was like you were giving Jordan layups, you know,

627
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 4: like you didn't even make Curry shoot from half court,

628
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like, yes, he's awesome and

629
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 4: he's gonna take advantage of it, and you're.

630
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 2: Giving him an open jump shot from the corner.

631
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 4: And I referenced the podcast I did today. I didn't

632
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,719
Speaker 4: even hear this postgame. Maybe you did, but when they

633
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 4: interviewed Flacco, he basically said, I don't know the playbook.

634
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 4: I just threw it to the really good guy that

635
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 4: was open all the time. You know, like we're playing

636
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 4: in the backyard, you know, like I'm gonna draft that

637
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 4: kid first. He's the best kid at Recess, and I'm

638
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 4: gonna throw it to him every time, and he happens

639
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 4: to be open all the time. Like I don't know

640
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 4: the plays, he wouldn't even draw him up.

641
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like that can't happen, No, it cannot.

642
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 4: And to expand on it, I mean it doesn't reflect

643
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 4: well on coaching, clearly. And but a lot of their

644
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 4: runs and I noticed this when I watched the All

645
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 4: twenty two. But John Ledyard, who have reference, they think

646
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 4: he does really good work. Yeah, yeah, he broke down

647
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 4: on YouTube. I think it was eight of Brown's big runs, okay,

648
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 4: and and they weren't they were like nine yarders, ten yarders,

649
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 4: but every one of them on the What the breakdown

650
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 4: he did was on purpose was flack okay in the

651
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 4: line and basically pointed at the B gap or the

652
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 4: C gap or whatever and said we're gonna run there.

653
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 4: And the series I may won the gap, you know,

654
00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 4: Like I don't know if it's an alignment error. I

655
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 4: don't know if it's coaching errors. But it happened more

656
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 4: than once. Who cares, you know, someone lines up wrong

657
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 4: or it's gonna talking. And there were one or two

658
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 4: of those where someone motioned and they're in the middle

659
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 4: of talking and the ball gets snapped and you don't

660
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 4: get your gap. That happens every game, okay, but this

661
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 4: was five to eight alignment. There's no one in the

662
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 4: B gap and they don't see any linebackers that are

663
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 4: getting ready to fill and they didn't. And thank the

664
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 4: Lord for Elliott. Elliott made every one of those plays.

665
00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 4: I mean, he comes seven, eight thirty right and he

666
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 4: smashes Brown and played tremendous against the run. But he's

667
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 4: on the third level, you know, I mean, or somewhere between.

668
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 3: The second tackle right, you want an attack.

669
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 4: It was not his B gap and they're just running.

670
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 2: You know.

671
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 4: It's smart quarterbacking. Rogers were done the same thing, like

672
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,040
Speaker 4: we're going to adjust to run right at this bubble

673
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 4: where there's nobody at and there wasn't like that. It

674
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 4: almost looked like there was no one assigned to it.

675
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: Yeah.

676
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 3: I think that's very well said. And that is again,

677
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 3: like you said, fool me once. Okay, it's it's it's

678
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 3: seventy some snaps a game. You're not going to be

679
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 3: perfectly aligned, right every single one once or twice? All right,

680
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 3: five six, seven, eight times? Unacceptable? Can't happen.

681
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,720
Speaker 4: And again I'm not making shoses. But it also looks

682
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 4: like fatigue, you know, like you make more mental errors

683
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 4: when you're on the and this is.

684
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 2: Makes cowards of us, all right, absolutely.

685
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 4: And why was the first quarter good and then all

686
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,120
Speaker 4: of a sudden the second quarter and on it wasn't

687
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 4: nobody ran to the balls much as they did they

688
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,320
Speaker 4: had the last couple of games. They didn't tackle as well,

689
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,480
Speaker 4: They weren't as mentally sharp, they didn't play with the

690
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 4: same energy. And I think that's twofold. Why it's not

691
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 4: Tomlin should run them after practice and run the steps

692
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 4: and kill them. And they're No one's in good shape.

693
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 4: They've been on the field too much this year already.

694
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 4: And they played a short game on the road. Now,

695
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 4: if I see it Sunday night, after you have ten

696
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 4: days rest at home, and so Sunday night Rogers versus

697
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 4: the Packers, Now I'm really gonna work now Now it's

698
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 4: like I'm waving a red flag.

699
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, five or whatever.

700
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, But if you're seeing the same stuff or lack

701
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 4: of a fatigue looks like an issue in the unless

702
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 4: it's you know, you're eighty plays in and late in

703
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 4: the fourth quarter exactly right, like Giants Broncos exactly. I mean,

704
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 4: the league does that all the time. The damn just

705
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 4: breaks and the defense can't keep up anymore. But this

706
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 4: was too early for that, way too way too wait early, Matt.

707
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 3: One more thing that I want to rewind run past you.

708
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 3: We'll do that on the other side to close down

709
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 3: the first hour, and then we will lead off with

710
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 3: Rob King in our number two, so plenty more to

711
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 3: get to. We will go around the league in the

712
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 3: second hour and talk about a crazy Sunday across the

713
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 3: NFL as well. West Shuler, Matt Williamson, It's the Drive

714
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 3: on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network, your tuns.

715
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of

716
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

717
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 3: Our buddy Rob King gonna join us about five or

718
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 3: six minutes from now before we get to that one

719
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 3: last thing that I want to run.

720
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 2: Past your Matthews, I get something too, Okay, sounds good.

721
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 2: You want you want to go first? You want me

722
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 2: to go first? Yeah, because maybe maybe we'll be aligned here.

723
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 2: Maybe it'll be the same.

724
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 4: They don't know that we will because pull the curtain back.

725
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 4: You were using the potty, you know, between segments, I'm

726
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 4: chat with TV here a little bit, you know, and

727
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,239
Speaker 4: just kind of off the record, you really are right right,

728
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 4: right right, you know, just you know a little tinkle

729
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 4: and uh, it should have said this too, and this

730
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 4: isn't like me going back being harsh on the defensive

731
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 4: staff or whatever. My bet from a head coaching perspective is, well,

732
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 4: why didn't you press? Why didn't you put extra guys

733
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 4: in the box and defend the run? Was probably we

734
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 4: look at this game knowing Bengals defense things, and they

735
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 4: can't stop us. So the thing we can't allow is

736
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 4: the eighty ard er over the top. So if Flacco,

737
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:05,320
Speaker 4: who's straight off the couch, is new to this team

738
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 4: and nickels and dimes us to death to make this

739
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 4: a competitive game, so be it. You can't take everything away.

740
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,640
Speaker 4: There's no perfect defense or defense, and we are tackling

741
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 4: the catch and we are making them sustain long drives

742
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,399
Speaker 4: and they get paid too. They did it, But I

743
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 4: bet that was the logic afterwards was we would have

744
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:27,919
Speaker 4: loved to see him walk down and press, and maybe

745
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,839
Speaker 4: that would have worked better, maybe they'd have won. I'd

746
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 4: love to see them cover every gap a little bit

747
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 4: better in the run game one hundred percent, and some

748
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,719
Speaker 4: of those were just probably mental errors and or coaching

749
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 4: problems or alignment issues or whatever. But I also bet

750
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 4: going into that game and through the game, which held

751
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:48,040
Speaker 4: up was we know we're gonna let up points, but

752
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 4: we're gonna get more of them because they can't stop

753
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 4: us at all. Yeah, you know, And it's so weird

754
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 4: to have that philosophy because since the year you're talking

755
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 4: about with ben Light in the World on Fire, you've

756
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 4: never had an offense where you actually think that. It's

757
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 4: always like, we can't allow twenty points. Correct, Well, you

758
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 4: can allow twenty points in that game, do you know

759
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 4: what I mean?

760
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 2: You could allow thirty points in that game and still.

761
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 4: Right right right, it's like, okay, we know we'll give

762
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 4: a point point and if they just we just can't

763
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 4: allow the ad R or you know, the home run over.

764
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 2: The top exactly like, well, Joe's gonna throw it.

765
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 3: Well, we'll do the gunfight thing with them, and we'll

766
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:22,600
Speaker 3: shoot them more than they'll shoot us.

767
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we'll hit them more than they hit us.

768
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,359
Speaker 4: And I bet that's the logic behind it that the

769
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 4: coaches can't tell which it wasn't terrible logic, No, no, no

770
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 4: it's not. But as you said, it obviously did not work,

771
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 4: did not work right right in the end you were short.

772
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 3: And with that, Matt, I guess what my kind of

773
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 3: final thing does piggyback off that a little bit. I

774
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 3: know I've said this to you before. I've said this

775
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 3: many times on this network, on different shows. I have

776
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,239
Speaker 3: to remind myself all the time that Twitter that x

777
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 3: is not a real place, right, Okay, it's fifty percent

778
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 3: anonymous people who don't even have their real name, and the.

779
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 4: Picture of comments section is a little.

780
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:58,920
Speaker 2: It's it's where people go to get angry.

781
00:36:59,120 --> 00:36:59,319
Speaker 4: Yeah.

782
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's why I always hesitate when you read a

783
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,200
Speaker 3: restaurant review on Google or on Yelp or whatever, or

784
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 3: a review about a landscaping company, because it's like, the

785
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:09,279
Speaker 3: only people that get online to voice their opinion are

786
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 3: people that are ticked off. Yeah, you know, like that's

787
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 3: people don't get online to be like, man, that restaurant

788
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:16,319
Speaker 3: was amazing, best chicken par I ever had.

789
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 2: It was like the waiter was a jerk and my

790
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:19,080
Speaker 2: pasta was cold.

791
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 4: You know, And if they are good, it's probably because

792
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,800
Speaker 4: it's their their mother or something exactly.

793
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 3: Right, exactly right, But a lot of people were crushing,

794
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 3: were crushing Sleigh and saying, you know, he's he's old

795
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,720
Speaker 3: and he lost a step and it really showed.

796
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,319
Speaker 2: And I don't want to make it seem like I'm

797
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 2: saying he had a good game.

798
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:38,920
Speaker 4: He did not, No, he didn't.

799
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 2: But is that a.

800
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:45,720
Speaker 3: One off against a lute Studs and Higgins and Chase

801
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,080
Speaker 3: or is there is there more cause for concern?

802
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 4: There more cause for concern, not like, oh he shot

803
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 4: he stinks terrible signing. I mean, it's not Frankly Patrick

804
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:01,240
Speaker 4: Peterson at the same age, you know, who had amazing career,

805
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 4: but at the end it's ugly. But along the Peterson

806
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 4: lines corners that age rarely aged graceful. Yeah, and he

807
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 4: is not yelling.

808
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:12,720
Speaker 2: Off the position. In a young man's game.

809
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 4: It's so reactionary. And even if you know every tricks

810
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 4: of the trade, there's times he's got to open up

811
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 4: and run or flip your hips or be an athlete

812
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 4: or change direction. And if your old man body doesn't

813
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 4: do it like he used to while you're in trouble.

814
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 3: Sure, there's not a lot of thirty seven to thirty

815
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 3: eight year old Cam Hayward's at that position, still doing

816
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:29,759
Speaker 3: it at a high level.

817
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 4: I mean, over thirty is a red flag, and I

818
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:33,040
Speaker 4: think he's thirty three.

819
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 2: I think you are correct.

820
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he came up a good year with the Eagles,

821
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:37,439
Speaker 4: you know, but where they also had a great pass

822
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,440
Speaker 4: rush and they had other things going their way. And

823
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 4: I didn't object to the signing. But at this stage

824
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 4: of the season, I'm starting to worry and would consider

825
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,239
Speaker 4: for the first time playing eCos over like a few

826
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,879
Speaker 4: have three corners on the field, because Eckles is pretty good.

827
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 4: That's part of it, right, It's not like how the

828
00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 4: corner room has been innother years. It's like we don't

829
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:04,359
Speaker 4: got anybody, right, So in this case, I'm not sure

830
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:05,800
Speaker 4: he's one of your best three corners.

831
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 3: I think that's a fair question to ask at this point.

832
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,919
Speaker 3: It's a the echos. It's good to have that kind

833
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 3: of that guy off the bench, you know, that guy

834
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 3: in your bullpen. Yeah, that's a position group that you

835
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:21,719
Speaker 3: would really like to have one extra at, and it

836
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 3: feels like the Steelers do. But yeah, but that's something

837
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,359
Speaker 3: that you know, I'm sure if he were sitting here

838
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 3: with us, he would tell you I didn't play a

839
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 3: good game on Thursday night in Cincinnati.

840
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 4: Rams will tell you that. Portal will tell you that.

841
00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 4: I mean the corners.

842
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,720
Speaker 3: And again, I'm not saying it's def con with him either,

843
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,919
Speaker 3: but I'm leaning a little bit more towards the there's

844
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,440
Speaker 3: some cause for concern there as opposed to it was

845
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 3: just a one off against a pair of great wide receivers.

846
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, and they were great. I mean.

847
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:49,960
Speaker 2: They were great, and they are great.

848
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,879
Speaker 4: I'm sure there was a night where Michael Jordan put

849
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,320
Speaker 4: up seventy points.

850
00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 2: And had the best defender in the league on him.

851
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 4: And I'm saying we weren't talking about that because he

852
00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 4: was just roasting everybody they put on him. He's dunking

853
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 4: on the seven footers, he's going past the six footers

854
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,359
Speaker 4: that are supposed to be quicker that he's don't kind

855
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 4: of you know, beating everybody in front of him because

856
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 4: he was the best player on the field. Yeah, Chase

857
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 4: the best player in the field.

858
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,680
Speaker 2: And maybe that stuff again too, when you're when you're

859
00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 2: on a short week.

860
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 4: And everyone gets magnified.

861
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:18,719
Speaker 3: If you're twenty seven years old, you can get over

862
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 3: that a little bit easier than if you're thirty three

863
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 3: years old.

864
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 4: That's probably the worst environment you could ask to it.

865
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 4: Definitely is against those receivers on the road in the

866
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 4: short week.

867
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,359
Speaker 3: Definitely, I'm with you on that one hundred percent. That's

868
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:30,960
Speaker 3: an hour in the books. Hour number two. We'll talk

869
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 3: to Rob King, we'll go around the league. Yeah, and

870
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,000
Speaker 3: we've got a pair another double header of Monday night

871
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 3: football games to discuss and late review late one tonight,

872
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:42,799
Speaker 3: so plenty to get to in our number two West

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Speaker 3: Huuler Matt Williamson halfway home. It's the Drive on Steelers

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Speaker 3: Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network