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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 2: Our number two of the Drive here as we roll

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Speaker 2: along on a Wednesday, as the afternoon rolls into the evening,

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Speaker 2: and it's time for one of our new Wednesday traditions

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Speaker 2: here on the show. That is our college quarterback check in.

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Speaker 3: Matt gotta do it.

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Speaker 2: And I think this has been a good start. It's

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Speaker 2: been a lot of fun. We're for those who might

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Speaker 2: have missed the first couple of weeks that we did this. Listen.

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Speaker 2: I think two things are no secret Steelers fans and

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Speaker 2: football fans in general. One that the Steelers in a

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Speaker 2: high likelihood could be in the quarterback market in the

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Speaker 2: first round next year.

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Speaker 3: Yes, even if Rogers returns, even if returns certainly not young.

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Speaker 2: They've got a lot of draft capital. And that draft is,

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Speaker 2: of course on the north shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at

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Speaker 2: the end of April. Would all set up for quite

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Speaker 2: a scene. That's the first part of it. The second

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Speaker 2: part of it is too. No matter who you ask

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Speaker 2: or read or look to, they will tell you that

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Speaker 2: this is a year that is seemingly going to be

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Speaker 2: loaded for quarterbacks.

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Speaker 3: It's a lot of names.

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Speaker 2: Could be one of those years, four or five, six

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Speaker 2: guys taken in the first round, you know, maybe even

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Speaker 2: more in the top fifty. So I think it's worth,

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Speaker 2: you know, just ten minutes every week to keep an

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Speaker 2: eye on and converse.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and no question. And it's even kind of how

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Speaker 3: I view college football. Like this Saturday, I watched very little.

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Speaker 3: I didn't watch the brawl. I didn't, you know. I

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Speaker 3: my mom, my, aunt and uncle and I we played

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Speaker 3: cards for like six hours on a porch and I

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Speaker 3: agree weather and it's wonderful and had a blast, you know,

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Speaker 3: and then I put some on later, but it wasn't

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Speaker 3: real into it. I don't know exactly how these guys

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Speaker 3: did this week, but I think this segment's important. And

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Speaker 3: maybe we even throw out some other draft prospects here

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Speaker 3: and there, you know, downs from Ohio State, you know,

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Speaker 3: like to keep an eye on this dude, or the

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Speaker 3: running back from Love from Notre Dame. I guess was

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Speaker 3: tearing it up. You know, just names to know ahead

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Speaker 3: of time, because I always tell myself before the season,

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Speaker 3: and I should know better by now. I'm gonna be

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Speaker 3: ahead of the draft more than I usually am because

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Speaker 3: and then the NFL season hits and it's hard to

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Speaker 3: stay ahead of the draft more than they usually are.

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Speaker 3: So I'm glad that we can at least check in, yes,

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Speaker 3: And I think our listeners is important too, Like, probably

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Speaker 3: no one knows Robertson from uh Baylor, the quarterback, but

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Speaker 3: he was really intriguing before this year, and now he's

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Speaker 3: getting more and more intriguing. So if Baylor football is

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Speaker 3: on at three pm this weekend, maybe tune in through

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Speaker 3: a black gold lens.

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Speaker 2: You know one. And I think that's a great way

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Speaker 2: to kind of frame it. And so this again, this

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Speaker 2: is not going to be some spectacular scouting report on

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Speaker 2: all these names every week.

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Speaker 3: I'm not gonna be like, boyd you see how they

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Speaker 3: thread the needle cover two on that you know date

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Speaker 3: route right in the middle of.

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Speaker 2: The third quarter. But it's just so that by the

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Speaker 2: time we get to the middle and end of February,

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Speaker 2: when the Super Bowl is in the books and we

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Speaker 2: are fully focused on the combine, we all have a

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Speaker 2: nice baseline.

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Speaker 3: Yeah to attack. They having a good year or not?

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Speaker 2: Exactly right?

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Speaker 3: All right, how the thing's going? Are they in the

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Speaker 3: Heisman conversation or are they sounds like arch Manning's not.

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Speaker 2: Is certainly not, and I continue we can start there.

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Speaker 2: I continue to be more and more convinced that arch

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Speaker 2: Manning will not come out of the draft. Yeah, this year,

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Speaker 2: as he kind of continues to struggle. You know, they

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Speaker 2: beat up on another They beat up on San Jose

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Speaker 2: State last week, but he didn't look great. Then they

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Speaker 2: beat up on UTEP this past Saturday, but he didn't

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Speaker 2: look great. Completed just forty four percent of his passes,

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Speaker 2: one hundred and fourteen yards, one touchdown, one interception. Matt

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Speaker 2: all the eyes are on the guy because of his

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Speaker 2: last name, and you know he's at Texas, which is

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Speaker 2: one of the biggest brands in college. Sure, but it's

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Speaker 2: all like this is also his fifth start of his

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Speaker 2: college football career, you know, like.

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Speaker 3: People are on JJ McCarthy of not being good or

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Speaker 3: you know, I mean like he hasn't played, you know, right,

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Speaker 3: I mean I'm talking about relating to the NFL, you know, right.

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Speaker 2: The amount of quarterbacks at any level who just hit

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Speaker 2: the ground running and look great right away.

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Speaker 3: M hmm.

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Speaker 2: It's very the Jamis Winstons who throw five touchdowns and

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Speaker 2: look like a Heisman candidate their first year at Florida State.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't happen. Yeah, you know that that's so very rare,

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Speaker 2: and so I'm not out on arch Manning long term,

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Speaker 2: but I think he's let's let's get through this season,

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Speaker 2: let's see where he's at. I think there's a great

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Speaker 2: chance he comes back next year and then maybe he

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Speaker 2: becomes the guy that everyone thinks he can be.

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Speaker 3: Then I'm sure the scouting community got ahead of themselves

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Speaker 3: and the last thing might have something to do with it.

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Speaker 3: But people I trust, the Dane Bruglers and mcshay's, and

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Speaker 3: you know, I think there's some great draft knicks out there,

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Speaker 3: and this time of year, I just rely on them.

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Speaker 3: Whenever they tell me, I'm like, ah, you know, Kuiper whoever.

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Speaker 3: But a lot of those folks thought that he was

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Speaker 3: all that in a bag of chips before the Ohio

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Speaker 3: State came. You know, like, this dude has all the

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Speaker 3: tools you want and the traits and mental makeup pedigree.

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Speaker 3: There's something you said for that too. So he still

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Speaker 3: maybe awesome, you know, but not going. He just didn't

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Speaker 3: take the world by storm obviously, yet you.

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Speaker 2: Know, correct correct, Another I think right after arch Manning.

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Speaker 2: The name that a lot of other football fans who

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Speaker 2: might not be huge college football fans, are familiar with

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Speaker 2: is Leonora Sellers, the quarterback of South Carolina. Speaking of traits,

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Speaker 2: he might be like, he's the one that you and

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Speaker 2: I have said the last couple of weeks. If you're

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Speaker 2: putting a chip on the first quarterback off the board,

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Speaker 2: he's the odds on favorite.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he's kind of becoming the prototype.

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Speaker 2: He might even be the odds on favorite to be

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Speaker 2: the first overall pick, not just the first quarterback taken.

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Speaker 3: I don't see many people talking about him that way,

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Speaker 3: but I've been doing this a long time, and those

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Speaker 3: are the kind of guys that go first overall. Well.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately for him, Matt, in the second quarter of Saturday's

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Speaker 2: South Carolina loss to Vanderbilt, he got hit in the

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Speaker 2: head and did not return. The guy from Vanderbilt who

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Speaker 2: hit him was called for targeting in a jacket game like,

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Speaker 2: so that tells you the type of hit concussion type concerns.

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Speaker 2: He did not return. His status for this weekend is

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Speaker 2: up in the air. So hey, it still only September.

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Speaker 2: I mean, even if he misses a week he could

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Speaker 2: come back still be the guy that we all think

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Speaker 2: that he is. But an unfortunate Saturday for South Carolina

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Speaker 2: and for An Leonora's sellers as they lose him in

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Speaker 2: the first half and maybe even now potentially for another

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Speaker 2: week or something.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's certainly newsworthy him.

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Speaker 2: Then, very newsworthy. Kid Klubnick from Clemson another name that

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Speaker 2: we've discussed plenty in here if we want to stay

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Speaker 2: in the state of South Carolina. With their quarterbacks. They

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Speaker 2: lost to Georgia Tech on the last second field goal

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Speaker 2: Clemson did, and he was kind of uninspiring in that performance.

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Speaker 2: Not terrible, but not a quarterback driving his team to

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Speaker 2: victory in a close game. Fifteen of twenty six, two

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Speaker 2: hundred and six yards, one touchdown, one interception, did run

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Speaker 2: for seventeen or for sixty two yards part of me

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Speaker 2: in a touchdown as well too, So not again, not

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Speaker 2: a poor performance, but not a We're gonna go on

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Speaker 2: the road against a tough Georgia Tech team and I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna put the team on my back and We're gonna

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Speaker 2: find a way to get this done. Yeah, like a

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Speaker 2: stock neutral almost.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I mean it certainly didn't.

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Speaker 2: He's not it's not the reason they lost. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: but but he you know, I did not have the

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Speaker 2: day that that I think.

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Speaker 3: That he was he said, didn't blow me away or anything.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, correct. And I would say the same about Garrett Nusmeyer,

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Speaker 2: the the LSU quarterback who, of course everyone's familiar with

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Speaker 2: him and his father. They went to Florida, to the

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Speaker 2: swamp there in Gainesville. They beat the Gators twenty to ten,

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Speaker 2: leaning on their defense. He did what he had to

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Speaker 2: do fifteen of twenty seven, two hundred twenty yards, one touchdown,

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Speaker 2: one interception. You know, he to start the season three touchdowns,

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Speaker 2: two interceptions. You know his team is in good spot

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Speaker 2: for LSU. Yeah, he's still warming up to the task

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Speaker 2: a little bit, right they are. He's another one of

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Speaker 2: those I wouldn't say his stocks up. I wouldn't say

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Speaker 2: his stocks down, just kind of neutral. And I think

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Speaker 2: we'll really start to learn more here as they get

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Speaker 2: into conference place.

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Speaker 3: These last two uh nussing in club Nick, It's not

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Speaker 3: like there's skyrocketing towards the heisman or right, we do

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Speaker 3: have who would be the favorite? Is there anybody right now?

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Speaker 2: You want my honest answer, Yeah, probably your boy John Mattier.

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Speaker 3: That makes sense, Okay, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, I think, and it's so hard to tell through

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Speaker 2: three weeks.

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Speaker 3: Of course, I know that's an unfair question.

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Speaker 2: But they had a they've they've blown out the teams

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Speaker 2: they're supposed to blow out. They killed Temple at Lincoln

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Speaker 2: Financial Stadium in Philadelphia this past Saturday. They obviously had

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Speaker 2: that big win against Michigan. He was, he was really good.

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Speaker 2: He was. And again it's against Temple, I know, but

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Speaker 2: he was. He was really good in all three games.

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Speaker 2: You know what, to a guy that I don't think

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Speaker 2: has nearly the NFL buzz that he had the last

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Speaker 2: couple of years when he was at Georgia. Now Carson

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Speaker 2: Beck at Miami.

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Speaker 3: It's been a lot better. From what I understand, it's been.

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Speaker 2: A lot better. Yeah, and they've had a couple of

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Speaker 2: big wins to start the season, and so he might

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Speaker 2: be on that. As you know, it's it's so so

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Speaker 2: often the quarterbacks early on in the year who were

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Speaker 2: putting up big numbers and leading their teams to important victories.

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Speaker 3: It's not the young Ohio State receiver or I mean.

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Speaker 2: He Jeremiah Smith. I mean, he would certainly be in

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Speaker 2: the conversation, he's he's unbelievable. But but yeah, I think

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Speaker 2: I think Matier and Beck would be you know at

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Speaker 2: that Ohio State it's a top five you know team

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Speaker 2: as well too. But your boy Matier again, albeit against Temple,

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Speaker 2: had a had a very impressive performance. I thought as

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Speaker 2: well too. So those are the guys that I would

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Speaker 2: kind of put at the forefront right now. Like I said,

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Speaker 2: Carson Beck, I mean completely.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure is draft stocks going up to.

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Speaker 2: His And they played South Florida, which some people might

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Speaker 2: see on paper and go, huh, South Florida just beat

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Speaker 2: the Florida Gators last week. They're ranked eight seinh in

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Speaker 2: the country. Like they're a pretty good program.

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Speaker 3: I was a pit like when South Florida was a

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Speaker 3: to the to the Big East and we're like, oh,

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Speaker 3: that's just waters it down. Then you do homework on

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Speaker 3: like they're a big school and they could recruit and

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Speaker 3: it's a hotbed and that's on the that's on a

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Speaker 3: throwaway program.

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Speaker 2: They would be one of the teams that would give

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Speaker 2: WVU grief every year because they were the only ones

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Speaker 2: with the speed to run with rich Rodriguez.

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Speaker 3: You know, they were fat.

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Speaker 2: The speed advantage that WV had with the Pat Whites

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Speaker 2: and the Steve Slayton's and the Noel Divines was negated

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Speaker 2: by those South Florida boys. They could fly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we recruited that area.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, Carson beck three hundred and forty yards eighty

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Speaker 2: two percent of his passes. He completed three touchdowns as

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Speaker 2: they they comfortably beat the number eighteen ranked South Florida

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Speaker 2: Bulls forty nine to twelve. Good start to the season. Four.

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Speaker 3: Miami's been impressive overall.

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Speaker 2: Huh very much. Yeah, I thought so very much. So

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Speaker 2: I thought that there was because they are one of

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Speaker 2: those teams, Matt you know. Notre Dame was like this

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Speaker 2: for a while until last year when they really broke

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Speaker 2: through and made it to the National Championship Game. But

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Speaker 2: Miami's been one of those teams that starts in the

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Speaker 2: top ten every year and finishes eight and four. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know, like he doesn't have a bad year. Not

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Speaker 2: like they're terrible or anything, but they seem to be

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Speaker 2: consistently overhyped. So far, so good in that regard for

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Speaker 2: Miami this year and then maybe the last one to maybe.

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Speaker 3: Edge guy and they got to tackle that are going

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Speaker 3: to probably get in the first round.

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Speaker 2: Two, they could end up having a couple of first

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Speaker 2: round picks, and Mario Christobal, who's now I think can

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Speaker 2: do his third year, fourth year there, I want to say,

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Speaker 2: old head coach at Oregon before Dan Lanning.

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Speaker 3: I know some people that know him personally that think

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Speaker 3: he's great.

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Speaker 2: The I hear that same thing as well too from

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Speaker 2: college football higher and I think, you know, his first

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Speaker 2: year or two, I think it wasn't quite the quick

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Speaker 2: turnaround maybe that they expected, and I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of people were, you know, trying to throw salt on

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Speaker 2: those wounds. But now maybe a year later, but it

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Speaker 2: seems like Miami is kind of back to where they

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Speaker 2: expect to be and they've got all kinds of resources.

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Speaker 2: Obviously there first overall pick last year, you know, first

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Speaker 2: overall pick last year does not hurt certainly, and could

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Speaker 2: have another quarterback taken in the first round this year

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Speaker 2: if Carson Beck can keep it up. Last one for you,

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Speaker 2: Matt for the for the local angle in because he

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Speaker 2: deserves to be mentioned in this conversation as well too.

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Speaker 2: Drew Aller of Penn State. You know they dominated Villanova

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Speaker 2: fifty two to six. Another one of those like, it's

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Speaker 2: stock neutral. You know, he did his job.

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Speaker 3: What you prove against.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to bring our guy Fernando Mendoza into this

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 3: Mention, don't they have Illinois coming up?

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Speaker 1: They have?

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Speaker 2: I was just gonna say, Matt, if you want to

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Speaker 2: watch a game this Saturday, three thirty, number nine Illinois

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Speaker 2: travels to number nineteen Indiana.

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Speaker 3: They the legit top twenty teams. And are they playing

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Speaker 3: like that?

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Speaker 2: I think so?

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Speaker 3: They hang with Michigan or.

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Speaker 2: I see, I think Michigan's a weird case this year.

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Speaker 3: Wisconsin or I was just like, I wasn't gonna say

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Speaker 3: Penn State.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if those teams. I don't think those

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Speaker 2: teams are on the same level as Penn State, Ohio State,

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Speaker 2: ls you you know, Georgia. I was even just keeping

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Speaker 2: in the Big ten, but I but I think they're

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Speaker 2: in that second tier just Big ten anymore, right, They

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Speaker 2: to me are not in that tier of favorites, but

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Speaker 2: they're in that second tier of could definitely make the

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Speaker 2: playoff and could give somebody really tough out and that

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Speaker 2: one way.

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Speaker 3: That's that's great for them.

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Speaker 2: It sure is for both of those programs that are

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Speaker 2: traditionally basketball schools and you know, football powerhouses both in

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Speaker 2: the Top twenty. That's kind of like the they're equivalent

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Speaker 2: of the backyard brawl, you know, those two those two goals.

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Speaker 2: So three point thirty a Top twenty matchup between Illinois

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Speaker 2: and Indiana this Saturday will be one to keep an

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Speaker 2: eye on. When we land in Providence. It'll be about halftime.

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Speaker 3: Okay, and so one of the feature games this week

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Speaker 3: that it.

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Speaker 2: Would be one of the games I'll be rushing back

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Speaker 2: to the hotel or the restaurant or wherever watch. Mendoza

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Speaker 2: wouldn't blow me away.

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Speaker 3: If he ends up in black and gold.

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Speaker 2: It would not with me either. So he's also kind

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Speaker 2: of in that Drew Aller camp of I think he's

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Speaker 2: played pretty well. The competition hasn't been great. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Mendoza dominated Indiana State this He was like nineteen of twenty,

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Speaker 2: you know, with like three or four touchdowns and a

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Speaker 2: couple hundred yards before they took him out. And actually

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Speaker 2: I didn't realize this, but it's his younger brother who's

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Speaker 2: his backups at Indiana right now. Just so you go

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Speaker 2: for Mendoza to Mendoza. Yeah, there in the middle of

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Speaker 2: a blowout. But yes, that's a uh maybe we'll start

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Speaker 2: doing that too, thrown out a game or two for

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Speaker 2: everybody you know with their black and gold glasses to

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Speaker 2: keep an eye on in the college football slate, watch

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Speaker 2: Mendoza against the top ten opponent this week.

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Speaker 3: So we should mention at least going into the college weekend. Absolutely,

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Speaker 3: maybe it's Stevard and buzz through it and watch Justice

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Speaker 3: Rows or whatever.

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Speaker 2: You know, right, maybe you're right sitting Yeah you're not

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Speaker 2: sitting there and watching for three and a half hours,

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Speaker 2: but it's something that you can go back and watch

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Speaker 2: the condensed twenty minute highlight package or whatever.

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Speaker 3: When Mendoza's not on in the field, just fast forward through.

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Speaker 2: It exactly right, exactly right. And so yeah, so that

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Speaker 2: is a big one I think for this weekend between

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Speaker 2: those two teams, Texas Tech and Utah, another top twenty

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Speaker 2: battle will be a lot of fun.

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Speaker 3: Utah has two highly sought after offensive tackles.

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Speaker 2: Yes they open.

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Speaker 3: The Steelers aren't in the offensive tackle market. We've talked

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Speaker 3: about this with Broderick before, but they have two tackles

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Speaker 3: that are probably going in the first round.

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Speaker 2: You will you know this, Matt One of the there's

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Speaker 2: only like one or two things that I don't absolutely

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Speaker 2: love about my job.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: Number one is working with you. No, I love working

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Speaker 2: with you. Number one is how often we have to

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Speaker 2: work on holidays and major times of the year and

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Speaker 2: stuff like that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Number two is it requires me to miss WVU games

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Speaker 2: at Mountaineer Field, where I have to give my season

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Speaker 2: tickets to my parents or to somebody else.

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Speaker 3: That's probably ahead of on your list than working on you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't tell my wife. No, it certainly is

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Speaker 2: next week though, maybe the one time I won't be

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Speaker 2: as upset to give up my WVU tickets because I'll

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Speaker 2: be in Dublin, Ireland. I mean, that's a fair sacrifice

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Speaker 2: to be But Utah not this Saturday, but next Saturday,

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Speaker 2: Utah comes to Morgantown, and that's the game I'll miss

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Speaker 2: when we're in Ireland. And I'm really kind of bummed

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Speaker 2: about not being able to see that Utah team in person,

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Speaker 2: because I think they're really good. I think they're well coached,

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Speaker 2: and I think they they've always got NFL prospects behind.

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Speaker 3: We might be sitting at Guinness or Jamison or something

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Speaker 3: like that, and you're watching on your phone some way,

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Speaker 3: shape or form, not hating life too bad.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that it's like a noon

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Speaker 2: or a three thirty kickoff, so that it will be

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Speaker 2: you know, because if it's an.

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Speaker 3: Eight still haven't figured out the times will be five

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Speaker 3: hours ahead. We'll be five hours I don't know what

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Speaker 3: that means.

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Speaker 2: You'll figure it out. Yeah, yeah, But Auburn and Oklahoma

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Speaker 2: host Auburn this weekend in another top twenty five matchups,

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Speaker 2: So a good a good test for for a tier uh,

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Speaker 2: with you know, an SEC ranked.

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Speaker 3: Team a big time edge guy to at Auburn. Yes, exactly,

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Speaker 3: Ryan Backer two. It's also so those are.

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Speaker 2: Those are some of the you know, South Carolina goes

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Speaker 2: to Missouri, which is normally one. I'd tell people to watch.

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Speaker 2: We'll wait and see what sellers status is. Uh And

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Speaker 2: sorry I was wrong. The Illinois Indiana game is seven

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Speaker 2: thirty at night, not three thirty.

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Speaker 3: Good, there's a better chance I'll actually watch it.

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Speaker 2: Better better chance I think for most people to sit

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Speaker 2: down and watch that one as well too. So there's

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Speaker 2: kind of your college quarterback, your college conversation of the week.

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Speaker 2: As we'll continue to keep an eye on that as

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Speaker 2: we roll along throughout the regular season. But Matt, I

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Speaker 2: want to get into some hodgepodge of statistics, some hodgepodge

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Speaker 2: of randomness when we return, as we'll you know, start

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Speaker 2: turning the page a little bit and looking ahead to

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Speaker 2: this weekend's contest against the New England Patriots. We'll do

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Speaker 2: all that. We'll talk to our buddy Chris Halleck here

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Speaker 2: in our number two plenty more to get to West Shuler,

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Speaker 2: Matt Williamson, It is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio

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Speaker 2: on the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

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Speaker 1: About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of

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Speaker 1: the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 2: Back on the Drive here on a Wednesday, We're going

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Speaker 2: to talk to our buddy Chris Halleck in about fifteen

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Speaker 2: minutes from dk Pittsburgh Sports. Get all the latest on

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Speaker 2: the South Side from him. Of course. Chris another guy

401
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Speaker 2: who knew and worked with our brother Dale Lowley closely,

402
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Speaker 2: so we will obviously get his get his thoughts and

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Speaker 2: his memories and his appreciations of Dale here in a

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Speaker 2: few minutes as well too. I think that'll kind of

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Speaker 2: be a fitting way to bookend the show.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I know, Chris really really looks up to

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Speaker 3: him professionally, you know, and took him under his wing

408
00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:32,840
Speaker 3: at DK and all that stuff and pull back curtain.

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Speaker 3: I say that lot lately. I texted Chris today and

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Speaker 3: gave him the news, and you know, he's really broken

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Speaker 3: up about it. I think he's writing something for DK's website.

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Speaker 3: We'll ask him about it and all those things too.

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Speaker 3: But I also told him very Dale like fashion like

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Speaker 3: Dale wasn't. I think my exact words were, Dale wasn't

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Speaker 3: super keen on the new wave of reporters. Correct, kind

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Speaker 3: of an old school dude.

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Speaker 2: If you're under the age of thirty. He probably wasn't

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Speaker 2: to hip.

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Speaker 3: To what Chris he's He was a big fan, you know,

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Speaker 3: and that's a big compliment because a lot of that

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Speaker 3: group was not Dale's bag, you know.

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Speaker 2: It was it was he was. He was an old

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Speaker 2: school guy with an old school mentality, right and uh,

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Speaker 2: and didn't have time for some of this new age

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Speaker 2: nonsense raft right. But I think I think he did

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Speaker 2: not consider me riff raff and did not Paleck riff

427
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Speaker 2: raff and so uh and so yes, we were. We

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Speaker 2: were both very fortunate to I think have that mentorship

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Speaker 2: and that friendship certainly with Dale.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 2: Something that we'll talk to with Chris about here in

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Speaker 2: just a few minutes. Matt, the Hodgepodge of stats, the

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Speaker 2: Hodgepodge of randomness for a few minutes. But yeah, heavy

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Speaker 2: last night, Yes, before we uh, And I do want

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Speaker 2: to get to some of the things that you tweeted

436
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,120
Speaker 2: out and put out there, but I wanted to run

437
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Speaker 2: this past you first. Last year, the Steelers defense, according

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Speaker 2: to NFL next Gen Stats, had the second lowest missed

439
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:55,840
Speaker 2: tackle rate in the NFL.

440
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:57,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I actually put this one out too.

441
00:19:57,760 --> 00:19:58,560
Speaker 2: Did you put this one out here?

442
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,119
Speaker 3: Yeah? Really good tackling group.

443
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:01,560
Speaker 2: Really good tackling group last year.

444
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 3: So this is from and I hardly ever reference tackle

445
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,119
Speaker 3: stats because, first of all, a tackle gets really overblown

446
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 3: depending what building you're in. Blah blah blah.

447
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 2: Lewis got a tackle on every play in Baltimore, even

448
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:15,800
Speaker 2: if he was five yards away from the ballcarrier.

449
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,320
Speaker 3: And frankly, who's calling a mistackle like this? That's a

450
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,879
Speaker 3: little gray to me. But these are straight from NFL

451
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,159
Speaker 3: dot Com. They're totally impartial, So maybe they're a tackle

452
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 3: or two off that I wouldn't have called or whatever,

453
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 3: but they have no agenda, so I thought it was

454
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 3: worthwhile bringing this one up too. It's a fair evaluation, yeah,

455
00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 3: as fair as you're gonna get in this realm.

456
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,719
Speaker 2: He's adatic, right, right. So from having the second best

457
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,280
Speaker 2: rate in this regard last year, second lowest amount of mistackles,

458
00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,640
Speaker 2: second second best. Yeah, yeah, through two games, they are

459
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:51,200
Speaker 2: on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Yeah, they

460
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,320
Speaker 2: are missing tackles at a league high rate eighteen point

461
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 2: two percent of the time, twenty eight miss tackles already

462
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:00,240
Speaker 2: through two games.

463
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,800
Speaker 3: So I don't know how to take this, but I

464
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 3: think it adds up. You know, you watch the games.

465
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,280
Speaker 3: They are not getting people on the ground as well

466
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,080
Speaker 3: as they should. I mean, I think that's safe to

467
00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:15,200
Speaker 3: say now. I guess you could look at it half full,

468
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 3: half empty, like a bunch of new defenders. Did they

469
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 3: did they bring in a bunch of bad tacklers, you know,

470
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,879
Speaker 3: compared to last year. Perhaps, But there's a lot of

471
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 3: the same guys too, Like Minka.

472
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,080
Speaker 2: Was a great tackler, Like that's outstanding.

473
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,000
Speaker 3: That one's not going to be replaced. Well, he's one

474
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 3: of the reasons for sure. But I also look at

475
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 3: it and be like, that's pretty correctable. Though maybe that's

476
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 3: just early season fatigue, playing with your buddies, you know,

477
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,720
Speaker 3: those type of things. I'm betting that they're not at

478
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 3: the bottom of league when the season's over. You know,

479
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 3: it seems pretty correctable to me for a talented defense.

480
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 2: I think that that is one of those things that

481
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 2: you can look at and you can say, Okay, we

482
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 2: can improve here.

483
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 3: We have to get better there, we will get better there.

484
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,240
Speaker 2: Right, we've been great here recently, and we need to

485
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,920
Speaker 2: give back to that department here sooner rather than later.

486
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,400
Speaker 3: If you'd a bunch of little guys that were too

487
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,560
Speaker 3: small for their position that are getting steamrolled, or slow

488
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:15,120
Speaker 3: guys that barely get there, okay, maybe it won't get better. Well,

489
00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,920
Speaker 3: they don't know, Matt.

490
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 2: Another thing that we've kind of been tracking discussing following

491
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,119
Speaker 2: since the offseason into the start of the season is

492
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 2: the Steelers sack differential. We talked about that last year.

493
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,400
Speaker 2: We talked a lot about how they finished with forty

494
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,480
Speaker 2: sacks dead average, sixteenth in the league in an area

495
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,639
Speaker 2: where for a long time before that they accelerated. They

496
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,880
Speaker 2: were number one in the league. For five straight four

497
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 2: or five straight years they were top three, top five,

498
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,399
Speaker 2: a lot around there as well, too. The sack numbers

499
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 2: have not been there. The sack differential certainly reflects that

500
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 2: when Aaron Rodgers has been sacked seven times through two games.

501
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 2: But what's maybe kind of worrying about that is that

502
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 2: the Steelers are blitzing forty one percent of the time

503
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 2: so far on defense. That's third highest in the NFL.

504
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 3: I'll take you even one step further. And I can't

505
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 3: remember if I put this on Twitter within the same

506
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 3: hour of doing that or not. I think I did.

507
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 3: But Steeler opposing quarterbacks, so it wasn't an excuse, it

508
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 3: was truth. But man, they can't get home because ball's

509
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 3: coming out too early. Well it's not I mean Steeler

510
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 3: opposing quarterbacks, and a lot of it's because they they

511
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 3: faced fields. You know, it's such a small sample size.

512
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,520
Speaker 3: Time to throw against the Steelers is very high. It's

513
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 3: into the three second neighborhood. So if you just look

514
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 3: at numbers, which hey, I love numbers, ball's coming out slow.

515
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,160
Speaker 3: You're blitzing like crazy, and blitz rates don't always tell

516
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 3: you this, but I can promise you when the Steelers

517
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 3: blitz They bring six at a higher percentage than most

518
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,000
Speaker 3: defenses that bring five. You know, like, so they're big

519
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,879
Speaker 3: blitzes too, and you're still not getting the sacks. That's terrible.

520
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 3: This team stinks kill everybody, you know, a terrible you know,

521
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 3: and that's stuck. Great. If there was a stat for

522
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,120
Speaker 3: just miss sacks, I bet the Steelers would be leading

523
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,200
Speaker 3: the league by a million, by the way, because they've

524
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 3: had a little a lot of bad luck of if

525
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,400
Speaker 3: this quarterback holds the ball for one split second more,

526
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 3: or if they could just got fields on the ground.

527
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,480
Speaker 3: You know, like they're really close to having a lot

528
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 3: of sacks, and nobody cares about that. Horseshoes and hand grenades,

529
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.

530
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 2: In fact, we said mock Miles Garrett for that when

531
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 2: people would talk about pass rush win rate.

532
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 3: I know, but their pass rusher in weight, their pressures,

533
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,479
Speaker 3: it's affecting the game. I think that'll come to you

534
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 3: know what I mean. It's just they haven't had the sacks,

535
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,400
Speaker 3: but they are dialing up blitzes. People are like, nothing

536
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 3: ever changes around here. One thing I would like to

537
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:55,399
Speaker 3: see change schematically is I'm still seeing too much off

538
00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 3: coverage mixed with the blitzes. Okay, so get town there

539
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 3: and rattle cages, and maybe Porter being out had something

540
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 3: to do with that. You know, that man coverage is great,

541
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 3: but if it's off man and they're they're throwing hot,

542
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,199
Speaker 3: you're not giving that guy enough. You're giving that that

543
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,320
Speaker 3: state that corner too much cushion to come up and

544
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,239
Speaker 3: make anything happen or make the make Darnald pat that

545
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 3: ball just zero point three seconds longer, and I think

546
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 3: the sack numbers would have been higher, you know. So

547
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 3: that's how you evaluate things throughout the course of the year.

548
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 2: Though you know, uh it is three point zero four

549
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 2: seconds average time to throw that second highest in the NFL,

550
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 2: only behind Atlanta.

551
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 3: Yeah. So, so they're holding the ball away and you're

552
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 3: bringing extra pressure, and it's not that's aulting in sacks,

553
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 3: but I bet that one does.

554
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 2: I would wager that way too, I would live that

555
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 2: way too. But this is another thing that will keep

556
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,120
Speaker 2: an eye on is along here. That would be one

557
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:52,359
Speaker 2: of it.

558
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 3: You're gonna be aggressive. If they're gonna hold the ball,

559
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,880
Speaker 3: and you're gonna super agressive bringing extra pressure, you better

560
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 3: get sacked, especially with these these pass rushers.

561
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 2: It is where the Steelers spend their money. Is what

562
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 2: the defense is predicated upon is getting after quarterbacks and

563
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 2: making life miserable for those guys. And they have not

564
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 2: done enough of that through one hundred and nine minutes.

565
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,159
Speaker 3: And I don't think TJ. Watt forgot how to put

566
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 3: quarterbacks on their back, or Cam Hayward for that matter.

567
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 3: And I still think Benton and Harmon are quality interior

568
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,359
Speaker 3: pass rushers, and I know her BIG's really good at

569
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:22,320
Speaker 3: what he does off the edge. Just put it in

570
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 3: terms of sacks. Doesn't sound like Highsmith's going to be

571
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 3: gone a super long time. You know who knows knock

572
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,199
Speaker 3: on wood and if you're bringing past, you bringing an

573
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,199
Speaker 3: extra pressure. I know Ramsey's a good blitzer. I know

574
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 3: Queen's a good blitzer. I know Wilson's a good blitzer.

575
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 3: Now let's see the results.

576
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 2: Yes, it's time to see the fruits of that labor.

577
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, And again I'm confident that will

578
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 2: be the case, but we need to see it, and

579
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 2: I think we need to see it soon if if

580
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,200
Speaker 2: we're going to kind of get turned back into what

581
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,640
Speaker 2: we think this defense can be is capable of being

582
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 2: that's that's where it starts.

583
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 3: And I'm not here to blow smoke. I mean, like

584
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,080
Speaker 3: I just said, boy, either tackle numbers are terrible. I

585
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 3: think they'll get better. They're the the stats pass rush

586
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 3: wise and we just went over aren't flattering. But I

587
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 3: think they'll get better. I do believe that, or I

588
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 3: wouldn't set it. But the run defense, I don't know

589
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 3: if we'll get better. Needs to, but I don't have

590
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,239
Speaker 3: like as much proof that it will as those other

591
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 3: two things. Although better tackling would help.

592
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 2: Ecosystem. Yeah, yeah, that's that's.

593
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 3: Maybe they're tackling on. Finishing sacks hasn't been great. It

594
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 3: wasn't against fields. It was not and part is because

595
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 3: he's hard to tackle. But everybody's hard to tackle, and.

596
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 2: There's there's a lot of players, a lot of ball carriers, quarterbacks,

597
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 2: wide receivers, running backs that are difficult to bring to

598
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 2: the ground. Yeah, the kind of overall numbers are not great, Matt.

599
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 2: You know the via True Media, which I know you're

600
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 2: a huge fan of.

601
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 3: I just actually got a subscription like a week or

602
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 3: so ago. I need a tutorial. Mean, I might have

603
00:27:57,960 --> 00:27:59,640
Speaker 3: to go on YouTube and see if somebody will coach

604
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 3: me up. But it's a lot to digest. But that's

605
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 3: where a lot of these numbers come from.

606
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 2: Fans analytics through two weeks, which is important to note, Yes,

607
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 2: two weeks, but also, as Mike Tomlin said, you know

608
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 2: two weeks is where you start to see trends.

609
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, defense needs to change.

610
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 2: Defensive sex success rate thirty first out of thirty two teams.

611
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 3: Yeah. Again, We've talked to a lot of success rate stuff.

612
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,880
Speaker 3: Steelers run game has not been when.

613
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 2: You're giving us four plus on first down.

614
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 3: Yeah. Again, when you lose success rate repeatedly, I think

615
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 3: a lot of it directly just says you're losing at

616
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage. You know, yes, maybe you're not

617
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 3: allowing big plays the guys the secondary are playing well

618
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 3: or whatever, but if you're losing the line of scrimmage,

619
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 3: you're giving the the opponent to make successful plays.

620
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 2: EPA per play for the Steelers defense twenty ninth out

621
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 2: of thirty two team. Yeah, EPA per drive for the

622
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 2: Steelers defense twenty nine out of thirty two teams. Points

623
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 2: allowed for the Steelers defense, Stop me if you're seeing

624
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 2: a theme here twenty ninth out of thirty two teams

625
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 2: right right right, yards per play and yards per game

626
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 2: for the Steelers defense twenty ninth thirty two teams.

627
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 3: So how the defense is playing right now, it's unacceptable.

628
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 3: I mean, I think everyone in the if we went

629
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,480
Speaker 3: to a defensive meeting room right now, they'd all tell

630
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 3: you that's not what we are, that's not what we

631
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 3: should be. It can't be, can't be.

632
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again there's there is a lot of well

633
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 2: known symptoms that fit that diagnosis, but that the man

634
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 2: the run, defense, the tackling and and the getting after quarterbacks,

635
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 2: I think is kind of the first real good place

636
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 2: one and two on the grace board of where we're

637
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 2: starting this week and where we're starting Sunday up in

638
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 2: New England.

639
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny. I did a podcast you can find

640
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 3: it on Steelers dot com that I do with Tom Offerman,

641
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 3: and we always break down matchups and I record them

642
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 3: Tuesday night. I think it's up there now. And I said,

643
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 3: there's fewer individual matchups in this in this particular game

644
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 3: that I'm interested in, you know, like Smith the jig

645
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 3: versus Ramsey, you know, I mean, there's always ones you highlight.

646
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 3: And I kind of of thought this game was more

647
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 3: about what the Steelers do. Just get better, concentrate on

648
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 3: yourself as opposed to this running back first linebacker match up.

649
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 3: You know, sure, get back to running the ball at

650
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 3: just a little more consistent clip, Get better at tackling,

651
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 3: get better at your fundamentals. Get better at your own

652
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 3: thing as opposed to outside influence.

653
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,000
Speaker 2: You know, landscape your own yard. Yeah, yeah, who cares

654
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 2: how nice the tree looks and your neighbors, who cares

655
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 2: how green the grass is across the road? Just landscape

656
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 2: your own yard and get it.

657
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 3: Looking at some weeds growing.

658
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 2: Man, there's some weeds grow, and there's some dry patches.

659
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 3: But you can pull those weeds.

660
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 2: You sure can. You can get some fertilizer, you can

661
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 2: get some water, you can get some gloves on, and

662
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 2: you can get the work. But yeah, as we'll continue

663
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,880
Speaker 2: to track all year, sacked differential now sits at minus four.

664
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 2: Explicive play differential sits at minus twelve. That's that can't

665
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 2: happen when we're when we're here next Wednesday, revisiting this,

666
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 2: that sack differential needs to be closer to zero, and

667
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 2: that exposed to play differential needs to at least be

668
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 2: into single digit negatives.

669
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 3: Fortunately, turnover differential still hasn't been bad, you know, but

670
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 3: those secondary categories that are very telling have been, no doubt,

671
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 3: no doubt.

672
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 2: We'll talk about all these things and more to close

673
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 2: down shop with our buddy Chris Hallick on the other side,

674
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,880
Speaker 2: West Schuler, Matt Williamson. It is the Drive on Steelers

675
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 2: Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

676
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 1: About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of

677
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

678
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 2: Well, bad news. We've had issues in this building, this

679
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 2: entire iHeart Studios with the phone lines over the last

680
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 2: week or so. I know it's affected Dve, it's affected

681
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 2: Mark Madden, it's affected everybody. Unfortunately, right as we went

682
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 2: to try and call our buddy Chris Halleck, we have

683
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 2: an issue with the phone lines in this studio once

684
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 2: again and unable to well at least right now in

685
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 2: this moment, get an engineer to fix it for us.

686
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 2: So we're gonna have to pun on our buddy Chris Hallick. Fortunately,

687
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 2: maybe we'll try and get him on tomorrow or Friday.

688
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 2: If not, we'll definitely talk to him next week obviously

689
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 2: as well too. We're just gonna have to kind of

690
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 2: wait and see what this phone situation is here, the.

691
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 3: Dale situation side. I want to get some practice stuff

692
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 3: out of him. I got to pick his brain on

693
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 3: a couple of just football things. But I also want

694
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 3: to hear is you know, take on Dale as well.

695
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 3: Hope it doesn't affect Labs and Missy later in the

696
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 3: week two, but we'll see.

697
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully we'll get that. Like I said, all squared

698
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 2: away here and good for tomorrow. But for now, instead

699
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 2: of that, Matt, I pulled a couple tweets that we

700
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 2: can get to to get us out of here, if

701
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 2: that's all right with you. Andrew tweets us and says

702
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 2: would like to hear you guys opinion on the defensive scheme,

703
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:00,959
Speaker 2: not putting players in the best situation sometimes hanging them

704
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 2: out to dry.

705
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mentioned, you know, off coverage. Yeah, coverage stuff.

706
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,240
Speaker 3: I mean maybe that needs to firm up. They are,

707
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 3: I mean, they're they're a very static defense, and I

708
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 3: think that needs to be examined. And what I mean

709
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 3: by that is, even without Menka, they're predominantly a single

710
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 3: high defense. Fine, I mean that's not the end of

711
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 3: the world. You are what you are. But they also

712
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 3: don't move nearly as much as other defenses right before

713
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 3: the snap or at the snap. And I think quarterbacks

714
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 3: are kind of knowing where people are at, and these

715
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 3: offensive coordinators and coordinators and quarterbacks are just so smart

716
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 3: that a lot of a lot of disruption sacks across

717
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,520
Speaker 3: the league happen when you just make that quarterback have

718
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 3: to double look at where things are at ball snapped.

719
00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 3: I'm in the shotgun, get the ball, second guest for

720
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 3: a half second, Yeah, a millisecond. You know, just that

721
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 3: those safeties are exactly where I thought they were fine

722
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 3: or they're not. And I think they should re examine

723
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 3: making that quarterback when he gets the ball in his

724
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 3: hands that first instant of a down at least think

725
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 3: about things more. Yeah, you know, whether that's a man

726
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 3: coverage and bump and run off coverages. Okay, I'm just

727
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 3: get out there. I'm reading the blitz or safety rotation,

728
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,879
Speaker 3: rocking and rolling the safeties whatever. But I think they've

729
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 3: been a little static, and we know they've been static

730
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:41,080
Speaker 3: with their defensive lineman. Hayward lines up here, Wat lines

731
00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 3: up here. That doesn't bother me as much. I mean,

732
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 3: there's something to be said for having players being the

733
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 3: most comfortable spot they could be, but there's certainly is

734
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 3: value across the league. To Chris Jones, walks around the

735
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:57,879
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage and says, you're my huncle Berry.

736
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 2: Right swing State. Samson tweets us and says, I know

737
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 2: we can't afford to hit for him to get hurt

738
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 2: because of the depth of position, But I think Calvin

739
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 2: Austin would be a fantastic kick returner thoughts.

740
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 3: I'm gonna fight you on that, because even with the

741
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 3: new kickoff rules, I think a great punt returner doesn't

742
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:25,240
Speaker 3: equal great kickoff returner. Yeah, I mean, because a punt

743
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 3: returner has to be more Austin jukie and what I

744
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 3: mean by that twitch the ball twitchy makes him miss

745
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 3: left right, get up, feel as quick as I can.

746
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:38,800
Speaker 3: If I get eight yards on a punt return, pretty

747
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 3: happy about it. Before someone drags or drags you down

748
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 3: eight return eight yards on a kickoff return, I'm not

749
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,879
Speaker 3: happy about it. And why I say I'm not sure

750
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,879
Speaker 3: that Austin would be a great kickoff returner because he's

751
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 3: not a tackle breaker. Yeah, I mean, kickoff return collisions

752
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,920
Speaker 3: are more and they're trying to get away from it.

753
00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 3: But if they can't, one or more people both running

754
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 3: closer to full speed at one another, as opposed to

755
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 3: a punt returner not yet up the for full speed

756
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 3: having to make somebody miss. So you want more running

757
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 3: back style kickoff returners and Austin style punt returners. And

758
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 3: he doesn't make a good point too. They can't afford

759
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 3: Calvin Austin to get.

760
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 2: That would be right, worst case scenario, right almost, I mean,

761
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 2: other than losing DK Metcalf, that would be.

762
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 3: I don't think he brings you enough to go down

763
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,920
Speaker 3: that road, you know. I mean, is he better than

764
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:41,240
Speaker 3: Johnson Warren Gainwell? Probably not in that capacity in space

765
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 3: with the ball in his hands, yes, But a good

766
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 3: punt returner is not a good kick returner. I mean

767
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 3: there's Devin Hester that is. I mean there's people in

768
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 3: history that are don't get me wrong, but Dangelo Hall right,

769
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:53,839
Speaker 3: I mean Antonio Brown I don't think would have been

770
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 3: a good kick returner because he's smaller, you know, I mean,

771
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,320
Speaker 3: he's not going to break arm tacule set. Yeah, running

772
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:01,600
Speaker 3: at a faster speed.

773
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 2: Matt, last one to get us out of here. This

774
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 2: is a fun one from j T. Little random, but

775
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 2: what's the most spontaneous thing you two have ever done?

776
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 3: Wow?

777
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 2: I'm assuming he doesn't mean together, means just lifetimes. I've

778
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,360
Speaker 2: got an answer for you, actually, if you need to

779
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 2: think about it for a second.

780
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 3: I'm sure mine's not for public consumption.

781
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,360
Speaker 2: Probably you share a couple of those. I think I

782
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 2: might have told you this story before though, But on

783
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 2: a random Friday night in November of twenty eleven at

784
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 2: call I was a junior in college. Me and two

785
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,600
Speaker 2: of my other buddies from WU who were also from Pittsburgh, Okay,

786
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 2: one was from your neck of the woods, Upper Saint Claire,

787
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:47,520
Speaker 2: Mount Levitt and the other one was from Beaver We

788
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 2: realized on this Friday, Hey, the Mountaineers play in Cincinnati

789
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:55,280
Speaker 2: tomorrow and the Steelers play in Cincinnati on Sunday.

790
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 3: Why don't we go.

791
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,319
Speaker 2: After some drinks on a Friday? Right at Idea, it

792
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 2: was a noon game in Cincinnati for the for the

793
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 2: Mountaineers on Saturday, it's about a four hour drive, so

794
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: late on a Friday night, we're like, hey, seven am,

795
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:12,319
Speaker 2: we're all getting up and.

796
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 3: We're going to I thought you're gonna go Friday night

797
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 3: We thought about it, but again and driving, none of

798
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 3: us were we're capable of driving at that point.

799
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 2: We uh, we were like, we're gonna get up early

800
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,760
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning. We're gonna drive to Cincinnati. We're gonna scalp

801
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 2: tickets to the game. You know, back in the physical

802
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 2: era when this still happened all the time.

803
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 3: We're gonna go watch throw in on a cheap hotel

804
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:29,799
Speaker 3: or something.

805
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 2: We're gonna watch the Mountaineers play play play, Cincinnati play

806
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 2: the Bearcats. Then we'll throw down on a cheap hotel.

807
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 2: We'd all just kind of turned twenty one around this

808
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 2: same time period as.

809
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 3: We to hit the bars and stuff.

810
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,319
Speaker 2: And then we'll get up Sunday, we'll scalp tickets, we'll

811
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,399
Speaker 2: go to the Steelers game. We did it, followed through.

812
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 2: We followed through on it. We got up Saturday somehow

813
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 2: on time and made it there for kickoff.

814
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:54,760
Speaker 3: That's a that's a that's the.

815
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 2: Herd struggle twenty one years old. Staying up late on

816
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 2: Friday night, Mountaineers won on a blocked field goal on

817
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 2: the last play of the game. We were up three.

818
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 3: Cincinnati Travis Kelce was on that.

819
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 2: I think he was probably was I think he was.

820
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 2: We were up three, they had like a forty yard

821
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 2: field goal, should have made it type situation to force overtime.

822
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:13,759
Speaker 2: We blocked it on the last play of the game

823
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,279
Speaker 2: to win, and then the Steelers beat the Bengals by

824
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,840
Speaker 2: a touchdown. I think twenty four to seventeen was the

825
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 2: final score on Sunday. That was the most spontaneous thing

826
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,839
Speaker 2: that ended up with two very good results for your

827
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 2: boy as well too. That I think I've done nice

828
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 2: that is at least shareable on airs.

829
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not coming up with anything to be honest

830
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 3: with you, and if I would, I probably would incriminate

831
00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 3: me in bad ways. But so I'm gonna bypass that question.

832
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,359
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, we'll save, We'll save. We'll

833
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:48,719
Speaker 2: save that one for the back pocket, maybe save. But yeah,

834
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 2: sorry for a little bit of the audible here at

835
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,479
Speaker 2: the end of the show for everybody. But I think

836
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,040
Speaker 2: I think you'll bear with us and understand we will

837
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 2: do our best to catch up with our buddies.

838
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,240
Speaker 3: Has been the around here.

839
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 2: Certainly has not been the day around here. Thanks to

840
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 2: everybody who tuned in. A lot of you too, just

841
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 2: kind of offering kind words and and and so.

842
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 3: We've got a million tweets even the two hours we've

843
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 3: been on the air, and thank you.

844
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:14,319
Speaker 2: And you know we won't respond or acknowledge all of them,

845
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:15,319
Speaker 2: but know that it means a lot.

846
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,160
Speaker 3: Yeah. I hit like on a bunch of them. Thank you, Yeah,

847
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 3: a lot of kind words about the drive in general

848
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,320
Speaker 3: and loving it over the years.

849
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 2: And thank you, and needless to say, Matt, for you

850
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:26,640
Speaker 2: and for our listeners. I know you know this, and

851
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:28,759
Speaker 2: I'm sure they do too, but this will be far

852
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,400
Speaker 2: from the only day that we talk about and honor

853
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,839
Speaker 2: our friend Dale Lolly going. Of course, of course, big

854
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:38,240
Speaker 2: thanks to Matt, big thanks to our YouTube producer mister TV,

855
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 2: and to each and every one of you for for

856
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,919
Speaker 2: rocking and rolling with us on an emotional day here.

857
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 2: Take care, everybody, be good to each other. We'll talk

858
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 2: to you tomorrow. You know where to find us Steelers

859
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:49,760
Speaker 2: Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.