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

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

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Speaker 1: Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to a three and oh Monday here in Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 2: The Steelers getting off the to a three and oh

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Speaker 2: start with a twenty to ten beatdown of the Los

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Speaker 2: Angeles Chargers on Sunday. I want to take partial credit

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Speaker 2: for that, Matt, because I said, no.

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Speaker 3: Were you out there blocking and tackling. Yes, that's exactly

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Speaker 3: what happened. I said.

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Speaker 2: This was actually my o R the collum that I

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Speaker 2: do in the Observer Reporter every Sunday picking the games.

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Speaker 2: I said, if Justin Herbert plays sixteen thirteen, if Herbert

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Speaker 2: doesn't play twenty to ten, all right, it for that

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Speaker 2: because he played, but he didn't finish right right, right,

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Speaker 2: and they could have used him at the end.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I thought he played quite well. To be he's

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Speaker 3: playing really well.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, I actually said to somebody at halftime, I'm like,

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Speaker 2: it might have been Jerry Dulex sitting beside me, and

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Speaker 2: I said, you know, he had looked really good in

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Speaker 2: the first half. I said, let's see what it's like

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Speaker 2: in the second half. The adrenaline and everything starts to

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Speaker 2: wear off a little bit.

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Speaker 4: And you knew he's beating up on it. And it

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Speaker 4: was highly questionable all week and blew up. They couldn't

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Speaker 4: run the football.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, that was you know, the Chargers, much

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Speaker 2: like the Steelers, are built to run the football. And

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Speaker 2: but that was the one thing that we talked about

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Speaker 2: last week, that that you you know, Herbert's a good quarterback,

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Speaker 2: no question, and they had the advantage at quarterback because.

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Speaker 4: Of him, and Harbaugh hadn't really needed to use them

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Speaker 4: to this point of the season, so his numbers were low.

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Speaker 4: Not that that Tomlin was shocked, you know what Herbert

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Speaker 4: was capable of, but even like the touchdown pass was

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Speaker 4: a blown coverage, but he was so sharp that he

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Speaker 4: saw it.

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Speaker 3: He saw it immediately, just let it fly.

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Speaker 4: But they had no time to react, no time to

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Speaker 4: react as much space as make it covers most quarterbacks.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, basic was out lit a laser, you know,

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Speaker 4: and you know there's no defense for that. So he

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Speaker 4: played great. But I don't think the Steelers won be Okay,

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Speaker 4: let's get this out of the way. They would have

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Speaker 4: won the game regardless, They would have won the game regardless.

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Speaker 4: It was trending that way. Now, I'm sure there's some

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Speaker 4: Charger fans going. Sure would have been nice to have

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Speaker 4: Bosa Slater Alton Herbert for the whole game. Alt went

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Speaker 4: out very late. But I mean, they might be the

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Speaker 4: four guys you pick that you at least want to lose.

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Speaker 4: But the game was trending that way anyway.

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Speaker 3: Steelers.

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Speaker 2: The Steelers were beating them up physically, yes, and that's

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Speaker 2: why some of those guys left the game that too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they were.

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Speaker 2: They were the more physical team at the line of scrimage.

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Speaker 2: Although the Chargers defense was game I'll give them more credit.

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Speaker 3: They thought they were flat out better than I thought.

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Speaker 2: Their linebackers were. But they're linebackers were just attacking the

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Speaker 2: line of scrimmage, attacking, and they saying, Okay, we're gonna

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Speaker 2: make just We're gonna make Justin Fields beat us throwing

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Speaker 2: the football. We're not gonna let them run the ball, yep.

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Speaker 2: And we're not going to let the Steelers run the ball.

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Speaker 4: And I bet Harbaugh turns Derwin James back into a

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Speaker 4: Pro Bowl or two. He was flying around the field

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Speaker 4: and like sometimes too much, sometimes too hurt them on

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Speaker 4: that one drive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he had a he had a personal file, Mac

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Speaker 2: had a personal file. Then they had something else. Uh,

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Speaker 2: they had a third on that drive.

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Speaker 4: The third quarter defensive penalty fest that the Chargers were

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Speaker 4: going through, Yeah, there was like a three three series

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Speaker 4: stretcher two series stretch where every other play their defense

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Speaker 4: was taking a penalty.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and two of them were of personal files to

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Speaker 2: James and Mack, who were their two best defensive guys

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Speaker 2: on the field.

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Speaker 3: You can't do that in that situation.

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Speaker 4: So Steelers didn't run the ball on paper great in

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Speaker 4: the first half either, you know what I mean. Obviously

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Speaker 4: both game plans were run the football, take away the run.

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Speaker 4: But I thought that they were the more physical running game,

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Speaker 4: and I had more faith even my more of my

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Speaker 4: halftime notes where I have more faith that the Steeler

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Speaker 4: run game will pop in the second half than I

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Speaker 4: do the Chargers.

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Speaker 3: And that's what happened.

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Speaker 2: They just kept they just kept pounding away, and finally

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Speaker 2: Harris starts breaking off some longer runs and they put

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Speaker 2: Patterson in there and he's runs.

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Speaker 3: Like a I don't know, Yeah, I would not want

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Speaker 3: to tackle him. No, he's such an odd runner because

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Speaker 3: it's all knees and high.

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Speaker 4: High knees, like you're gonna take one right in a chin, right,

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Speaker 4: almost like an Eddie George.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like and he's six too, I mean

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Speaker 2: he's as big as Eddie George, right, yeah, over all

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Speaker 2: the Steelers.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean two hund and fifty four yards the

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Speaker 4: minus five, Yeah, you don't see.

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Speaker 2: That was his dominant a performance offensively and defensively, even

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Speaker 2: though the score didn't necessarily no, I mean, I.

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Speaker 3: Mean they kneeled on the one day and yeah, they

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Speaker 3: get a bunched.

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Speaker 2: One in their Nagy falls two inches from no farther.

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Speaker 2: He's in the end zone, and it's twenty seven to ten,

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Speaker 2: and they outscored him, you know, they outscored him by

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Speaker 2: what would have been twenty four to nothing or whatever,

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Speaker 2: twenty to nothing in the second half.

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Speaker 4: It's no time to complain, but I do this like

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Speaker 4: hearing things on Monday after a game like that. They

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Speaker 4: should have scored more, you know, like they knew that

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Speaker 4: the Chargers were dead in the water, you know, and

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Speaker 4: they were still aggressive enough. I mean, they ran a

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Speaker 4: lot of plays in the second half and were doing

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Speaker 4: whatever they wanted. There's no reason to do leaf lick

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Speaker 4: or double reverses just just to get the thirty points.

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Speaker 2: No, you know that whole you know, got to score

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Speaker 2: thirty points thing that was. That was a Todd Haley

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Speaker 2: Ben Roethlisberger thing back in like twenty and they needed

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Speaker 2: to do that when a defense wasn't as good as

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Speaker 2: it is now.

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Speaker 3: Right, and the league was different then too.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot easier comp with explosive plays, you know,

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Speaker 4: I mean it's just a different world. But no, I

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Speaker 4: thought the offense, particularly fields, was clearly the best it

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Speaker 4: spent all year. Yeah, and that Chargers d was better

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Speaker 4: than I thought. I sold them short.

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Speaker 3: Now he played well and you know, did what they

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Speaker 3: needed to do.

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Speaker 2: Forced a couple of balls. But you have to do

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Speaker 2: that at times, you know, if everything's on your plate.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, right, and then you know teams know now,

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Speaker 4: well in week one, so much of it was roll

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Speaker 4: outside the numbers, avoid those two safeties.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, really really good by the way, and great, by

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Speaker 3: the way, did you yeah, did you watch the Falcons

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Speaker 3: and Chiefs last?

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Speaker 5: Right?

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Speaker 4: I didn't realize Justin Simmons has picked off Mahomes more

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Speaker 4: than anyone in Mahomes's history. At the six to one

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Speaker 4: and Baits is awesome. But you know that was week

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Speaker 4: one and I don't if it took the Falcons by surprise,

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Speaker 4: but you put that on tape. Teams aren't gonna let

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Speaker 4: you roll fields gently to his right or to the left,

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Speaker 4: and if there was nothing open outside the numbers run

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Speaker 4: they kept him in the pocket. Yeah, and he won

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Speaker 4: doing quarterback things from the pocket way better than I've

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Speaker 4: ever seen him do. And it was very impressive to me. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: absolutely in the Steelers defense. Yeah, that was just Since

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Speaker 4: the year two thousand, there have been seven instances where

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Speaker 4: a team has held another team to minus yardage in

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Speaker 4: second half of a game. Seven times since two thousand.

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Speaker 3: That's thirty minutes of football.

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Speaker 2: The Steelers have done it twice. The first one came

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Speaker 2: in two thousand and one against Detroit when they held

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Speaker 2: them to minus seven yards. Yesterday was the fifth best

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Speaker 2: looking at this, it was Buffalo against the Jets in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two held them to minus sixteen yards. Number

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Speaker 2: two is in twenty fifteen Denver, which we know that

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Speaker 2: was a really good defense. By the way Buffalo led

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two is the number one defense in

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Speaker 2: the league. Denver in twenty fifteen was the number one

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Speaker 2: defense in the league. They rode that to a Super

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Speaker 2: Bowl with the ghost.

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Speaker 3: Of Peyton Manning.

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Speaker 2: They held Oakland to minus twelve yards and a half

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Speaker 2: in the first half too.

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Speaker 3: That was in general unless than fifties crazy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the Steelers in two thousand and one against Detroit

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Speaker 2: was the third best output minus seven. Four was the

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Speaker 2: Rams against Washington in twenty twenty minus six yards, and

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Speaker 2: then you had the Steelers in Sunday's game minus five

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Speaker 2: yards in the second half of that game.

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Speaker 3: The Steelers also have.

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Speaker 2: Another one where they held a team do zero yards

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Speaker 2: out against Carolina in two thousand and two. So they

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Speaker 2: show up quite often on this list of the top

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Speaker 2: because that's not summarising.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and while you're looking, I wanted to double check

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Speaker 4: this one too. So the Steelers the first team in

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Speaker 4: the last twenty years and only the eighth since nineteen

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Speaker 4: seventy to allow three hundred or fewer yards and ten

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Speaker 4: fewer points in each of their first three games.

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Speaker 3: Do you get that from my ten thoughts? I don't know.

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Speaker 3: Somebody tweeted it at me, which probably stole for They

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Speaker 3: probably stole from my thoughts.

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Speaker 4: We all pillaged from one another. I think up a

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Speaker 4: lot of stats. They're not all my own.

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Speaker 3: I also texted you last night.

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Speaker 2: This game was the first time since twenty twenty the

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Speaker 2: Steelers lost the turnover battle.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and won the football game. That's encouraging.

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Speaker 2: It shows you how well the defenses and the offense

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Speaker 2: as well can overcome losing the turnover battle.

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Speaker 3: Lose one, it's long like I threw a pick games over.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, you can't lose three, can't lose at

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Speaker 2: three nothing. But you lost it one nothing and you

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Speaker 2: still won hands still won the game handily.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it wasn't like but at least they blocked the

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Speaker 4: kick and their field goal kicker got hurt because.

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Speaker 3: The Steelers defense didn't have a turnover in that.

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Speaker 4: Game, right right right, and the second half it didn't

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Speaker 4: matter at all. Yeah, and I didn't even think that

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Speaker 4: was a bad turnover by field He got a little unlucky.

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Speaker 3: It was in the perfect pass. But you know, yeah, So.

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Speaker 2: I mean you look at changing everybody's well, the Steelers,

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Speaker 2: they just they have to turn the other team over.

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Speaker 3: They can't win. They didn't do that. No, they didn't

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Speaker 3: do that.

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Speaker 4: I mean it's going to be obviously part of the formula.

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Speaker 4: That doesn't mean this thrown around the yard sixty times

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Speaker 4: out of empty you know, I mean, but the fact

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Speaker 4: that they can overcome it. Their time of possession was great.

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Speaker 2: It was twenty to ten in the second half time possession. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: two thirds of the two thirds of the time of

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Speaker 2: possession in the second half.

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Speaker 4: Like, it was extreme, and that helps the defense so much.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's such common knowledge that the best

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Speaker 4: way to play good defense is play less defense. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: you know, I saw this today. Wat's played eight percent

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Speaker 4: of the snap because they're only out He's not getting tired, right,

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Speaker 4: I wondering why isn't de Marvin Leel playing more?

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Speaker 2: Well, he's been practicing an outside linebacker because with moon

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Speaker 2: on ir he hasn't been working at defensive tackle. He's

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Speaker 2: been the see he's been the second team outside linebackers.

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Speaker 3: Those guys are never coming off the field, right, because

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Speaker 3: they're not getting tired and they're productive and nobody's getting

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Speaker 3: long sustained drives on them.

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Speaker 4: So in the meantime, if high Smith's going to miss time,

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Speaker 4: we'll figure that out. I don't know any answers on that.

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Speaker 4: The rotation of her big Leal and Watt should be good,

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Speaker 4: you know. I mean, you're not gonna ask her big

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Speaker 4: to play every snap.

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Speaker 2: I mean, so this week Leo probably gets fifteen snaps

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Speaker 2: out there because he's.

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Speaker 4: A difficult different type than her big. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 4: he's a banger against big tackles and things. Yeah, they're

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Speaker 4: in a really good spot defensively, in particular.

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Speaker 2: It's defensively they are playing better than any defense.

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Speaker 3: In the league. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: The only one that's closed is Minnesota, which yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 4: I've been saying the Steelers d's the best in the

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Speaker 4: league now for a week or two. That vice one

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Speaker 4: is hard to play against. But I would definitely take

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Speaker 4: the Steelers, and they better personnel too.

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Speaker 2: And even Flores, Brian Flores, who's their defensive coordinator now

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Speaker 2: comes from spent a year in this system, and I

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Speaker 2: wonder how much of what he learned, you know, what

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Speaker 2: he incorporated into that Minnesota defense that he learned here. Oh,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure, you know, just some little It may not

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Speaker 2: be a lot, might be a lot, It may just

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Speaker 2: be some tweaks here and there. But I bet somebody

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Speaker 2: in the Steeler system learned something from Flora's too, right,

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Speaker 2: you know, associate your guy, yourself with great.

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Speaker 3: People at what you do too, and learn from one another.

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Speaker 2: But but you also have and this is the thing

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Speaker 2: about this defense that that really struck me yesterday. I

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Speaker 2: don't care how you want to play. You want to

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Speaker 2: put a bunch of wide receivers on the field, they

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Speaker 2: can work, they can work against that you want to

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Speaker 2: put you want to go heavy and try to run

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Speaker 2: the football. They got an answer for that. M This

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Speaker 2: is what they didn't have in previous in some previous

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Speaker 2: seasons when they had you know, okay, you're gonna you're

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Speaker 2: gonna do this. Let you think back to twenty seventeen

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Speaker 2: when they were, okay, we got how do we how

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Speaker 2: do we beat the Patriots?

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Speaker 3: Oh right, well, we gotta we got.

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Speaker 2: To play a lot of man on the back end,

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Speaker 2: and we gotta you know, we got to get lighter

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Speaker 2: coverage guys at linebacker, you know, to be able to

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Speaker 2: combat that.

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Speaker 3: Well, then the Jaguars come in and run the ball

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Speaker 3: down their throat and they're just big and physical, and yeah,

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Speaker 3: don't play that way, right, And this team can do that.

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Speaker 2: This team can go in against the Cincinnati Bengals, who

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Speaker 2: are going to see tonight and they want to go

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Speaker 2: three wide and and go you know, eleven personnel and

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Speaker 2: try to throw the ball all over the art.

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Speaker 4: Fine, have at it. Yeah, it's great that they're playing

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Speaker 4: so much more, Nickel. It's something we've talked about a lot.

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Speaker 4: But their dime package isn't bad, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 4: Assuming Trice is healthy and Jackson's fine, and they got

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Speaker 4: all their dudes, they can throw six defensive backs out

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Speaker 4: there that can hang. There's no doubt in my mind.

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Speaker 4: I thought Beingie Bishop played his best game too. I mean,

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Speaker 4: he was a concern for me and a long So

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Speaker 4: this is more up your alley than mine. But from

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Speaker 4: what I saw, and I don't remember exactly what the

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Speaker 4: content was along those lines. Somebody asked coach Tomlin about

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Speaker 4: I think it was an offensive player, and he's like,

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Speaker 4: we just like guys that can do a lot, you

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Speaker 4: know that, And I think that very much applies to

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Speaker 4: the defense.

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Speaker 3: Elliott's a great.

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Speaker 4: Example, you know, like, we don't just bring guys in

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Speaker 4: here can only play one role.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it could help us beat the Ravens

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Speaker 3: or whatever. Well you saw it with Cordero Patterson yesterday.

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Speaker 2: They lose Van Jefferson in that game, right, Cordero Patterson

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Speaker 2: splitting out wide as a wide receiver.

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Speaker 3: I think that's who they actually asked late in the game.

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Speaker 4: He's running, he's running the clock out with with Naugie Harris, like, yeah,

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Speaker 4: you know, I mean even a Scotty Miller. He's emergency

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Speaker 4: holder slash. You know, it can do a lot of

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Speaker 4: stuff for you, you know, So.

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Speaker 3: I know Scotty Miller. Maybe he's useful.

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Speaker 2: He made the biggest play in the first half of

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Speaker 2: their offense. I talked to him about it, like he

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Speaker 2: was tackled short of the sticks on that on their

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Speaker 2: touchdown drive. Yeah, on third down, if he gets tackled there,

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Speaker 2: they're kicking a field goal.

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Speaker 3: It's ten three at the half. It's a different field. Different.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he breaks a tackle on Sante Samuel, who is

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Speaker 2: their best cornerback player, and breaks a tackle and gets

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Speaker 2: twenty yards on that huge play.

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Speaker 4: And by no means folks by implying that Austin and Miller,

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Speaker 4: I UK and DeVante Adams turned into one.

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Speaker 3: Although is doing nothing, he looks really slow.

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Speaker 4: And I'm wondering about Jamar Chaston, I too. Some of

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Speaker 4: these guys that sat out aren't playing well early in

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Speaker 4: the season, but they're they're tripping in you know what

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Speaker 4: I mean. Miller and Austin are useful pieces. They're not

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Speaker 4: just oh man, think i'm a picking on Alan Robinson,

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Speaker 4: but Lake or Gunner. Like, there's times that they've had

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Speaker 4: to throw out some receivers the last couple of years

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Speaker 4: for meaningful snaps that aren't really helping the team in

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Speaker 4: the in the passing game.

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Speaker 3: No, I'm with you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the Steelers now at three and oh. Teams

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Speaker 2: that start three and oh since the year twenty two thousand,

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Speaker 2: seventy five point two percent chance of.

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Speaker 3: Making the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, fifty one point five percent chance of winning your division.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty significant, pretty significant, especially considering the rest of

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Speaker 2: the division. Regardless of what Cincinnati does tonight, right, at worst,

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Speaker 2: at best, they're all one win. Well, yeah, one and

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Speaker 2: two puts you with a twenty five point one percent

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Speaker 2: chance to make the playoffs, any twelve point five percent

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Speaker 2: chance to win the division.

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Speaker 4: Let's go down that road for a second and we'll

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Speaker 4: do talk about more this week. It's very very early

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Speaker 4: to dig a grave for anything. Yeah, the Browns look shot,

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Speaker 4: They're done. Miami looks shot. I mean team Jacksonville. After tonight,

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Speaker 4: we might be like, could be shot, should be shot. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: you go zero and three. You've got a four teams

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Speaker 4: out of one hundred and sixty two.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, since two thousand have made the playoffs, that's two

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Speaker 2: point five percent.

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Speaker 3: We might get together next Monday and be like the

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Speaker 3: culture shot.

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Speaker 4: And all of a sudden, you know, New England aren't going,

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Speaker 4: des not go, and Titans aren't going. Seven spots becomes

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Speaker 4: very feasible. And I was just on Mark Madden Show

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Speaker 4: and he asked me, you know, the Steelers the favorite

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Speaker 4: to win the North. I'm like, that's a tough question.

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Speaker 4: But if I have three wins, now, I bet they

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Speaker 4: win three or four in the division. You'd have to

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Speaker 4: fall on your face ten times to not be the

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Speaker 4: leader in the clubhouse. Yeah, you know that ain't happening.

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Speaker 3: No, I mean you still have Washington.

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Speaker 2: That's the other thing about this early part of the season,

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Speaker 2: when you look at who the other teams have lost to.

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Speaker 2: The Browns just lost the Giants yesterday, right, badly, badly

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Speaker 2: badly at home.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The Ravens Dallas are next. They got they can't stop

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Speaker 2: the run to save their life either. No, the Ravens

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Speaker 2: lost to the Raiders, yeah, at home at home. The

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Speaker 2: Bengals lost to the Patriots at home last year. Those

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Speaker 2: are the teams the Steelers lost year. This team isn't

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Speaker 2: losing to those teams.

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Speaker 3: I don't think so either, you know, I mean the

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Speaker 3: defense is too damn good.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean they have a no line and they

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Speaker 4: have a defense that should those things travel.

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Speaker 3: They travel. And you still have of those teams that

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Speaker 3: you just mentioned.

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Speaker 2: The Steelers don't play the Patriots this year, but they

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Speaker 2: play the Giants.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Here Washington, they play Washington, they play the Raiders. I mean,

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Speaker 2: they still have those games on the schedule. Now, you

386
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Speaker 2: can trip up and lose one of those games.

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Speaker 3: They can lose the Colts.

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Speaker 2: It's the NFL team. Yeah, it's the NFL. You can

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Speaker 2: lose anybody. But the thing to me about it is

390
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Speaker 2: that those teams.

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Speaker 3: Are not going to win all the ones they quote

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Speaker 3: should win. It's not how the league work. Those teams

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Speaker 3: lost those games at home. Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And you know when you think about last season, why

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Speaker 2: why didn't the Steelers win the division? Well, they lost

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Speaker 2: to the Cardinals and the Patriots at home. If they

397
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Speaker 2: win those two games, they win the division.

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Speaker 4: They win the division, let alone more than that, right,

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Speaker 4: and your hosting the playoff games.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, see how chips.

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00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,760
Speaker 2: Lay so don't don't miss those layouts, which the other

402
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,400
Speaker 2: teams already have done, and you win the division.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: And Mark's follow up questions like, when's the next time

405
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Speaker 4: you'll pick the Steelers to lose, I'm like, of course,

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Speaker 4: this is highly subject to change. Yeah, but if they

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Speaker 4: played a wide healthy But if they played today, I'm

408
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Speaker 4: picking them to beat the Colts, I'm beating them. I'm

409
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Speaker 4: picking them to beat Dallas. I'm picking them to beat

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Speaker 4: the Jets and the Giants. Yeah, I mean, very subject

411
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Speaker 4: to change. Right, Rogers might turn into the MVP and

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Speaker 4: light in the league. Tell me, Yeah, tell me who's

413
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Speaker 4: available for those games. But if they played today, I

414
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Speaker 4: would pick them to win their next four. Now, I'm

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Speaker 4: not predicting they go seven to zero, but if they're

416
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Speaker 4: six and one, they're going to the playoffs and they're

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Speaker 4: probably going to win the division. Yeah, that's where that's

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Speaker 4: how six in.

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Speaker 3: Their AFC North games. No, there's no way they've.

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Speaker 2: Been in history shows tells us that's not going to happen, right,

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Speaker 2: I mean, they've just been too good. Yeah, they and

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Speaker 2: they They've won seven of the last eight against the Ravens,

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Speaker 2: you know they they.

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Speaker 3: I would Cleveland to deal with the Steelers pass rounds

425
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Speaker 3: right now. They might go through four quarterbacks just in

426
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Speaker 3: that game. They're in a bad spot. They are awful. Yeah, yeah,

427
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Speaker 3: So anyways, let's get to a break. We're overdue for that.

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Speaker 3: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lawley.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll be joined by the Voice

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Speaker 2: of the Steelers, Rob King.

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

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

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Speaker 1: Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 3: And we are back. I'm Dale Lolly.

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Speaker 2: He is the Matt Williamson and we're joined on the

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Speaker 2: phone line now by.

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Speaker 3: The voice of the Steelers, Rob King. How you doing, Kinger, I'm.

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00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:28,280
Speaker 5: Doing well, Dale Man. How you guys doing?

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00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,960
Speaker 3: Swell? Fantastic beautiful day and the bird go.

441
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,000
Speaker 5: It's a pretty good, pretty good deal to be three

442
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,320
Speaker 5: and l what twenty six, twenty seven. Other teams would

443
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:41,639
Speaker 5: love to be able to say that so yeah, good

444
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,240
Speaker 5: spot for the Stewarts to be in, for sure.

445
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:49,320
Speaker 2: Absolutely rob That game yesterday to me was a It

446
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 2: was very much, especially early on, a war of attrition.

447
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,399
Speaker 2: And then the Chargers go down and score, and Herbert

448
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,080
Speaker 2: starts warming up a little bit, and I'm like, hmm,

449
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,399
Speaker 2: can the Steelers keep up with them? And then Fields

450
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,719
Speaker 2: goes down and leads a touchdown drive right after that.

451
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,440
Speaker 2: How how did you see that first half yesterday?

452
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,640
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a great response by the Steelers, and

453
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 5: you know, it really didn't feel like either team had

454
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,120
Speaker 5: established what they came into the game to establish, which

455
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 5: was running the football. You know, when the Steelers got

456
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:23,920
Speaker 5: the lead, they were the plutal way late. I wonder

457
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:26,280
Speaker 5: what would have happened. You know, had the Chargers gotten

458
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:27,760
Speaker 5: the lead, they certainly would have been trying to do

459
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,040
Speaker 5: the same thing. But the Steelers made the big play

460
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 5: as a defense, I mean negative five yards in the

461
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,200
Speaker 5: second half. But you know, as they went into the break,

462
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:39,320
Speaker 5: it just felt like neither team had really gotten going

463
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 5: what they wanted to get going, and yet neither team

464
00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 5: had totally abandoned that either. So you know, landing trying

465
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 5: to land some time I've used the boxing analogy because

466
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,679
Speaker 5: Mike Tomlin did in the pregame show, you know, landing

467
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,680
Speaker 5: body blows to try to soften up the opponent. I

468
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,320
Speaker 5: think the Steelers were able to do that. And yeah,

469
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,560
Speaker 5: it was one big play by Herbert on what appeared

470
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 5: to be a broken coverage. Looked like the identical play

471
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,360
Speaker 5: that Atlanta ran last night for a touchdown. It's sort

472
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:06,880
Speaker 5: of a fake to the you know, fake screen out

473
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 5: to the left and then hit the guy in a quick,

474
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,840
Speaker 5: you know, out and up pattern. So you know, they

475
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,040
Speaker 5: got pooled by one play. But other than that, it

476
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,600
Speaker 5: was kind of an even first half with each quarterback

477
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,040
Speaker 5: doing what they needed to do, but nothing really explosive

478
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 5: happening down the field.

479
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 4: So you guys, Rob were at the game. I was

480
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:28,120
Speaker 4: watching on TV as I always do, and you guys

481
00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,439
Speaker 4: have more of an all twenty two vantage point than

482
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,880
Speaker 4: I did. And today I was able to watch some

483
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,399
Speaker 4: all twenty two of the offense and I was blown

484
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:42,200
Speaker 4: away by fields manipulating defenses, throwing with anticipation and timing.

485
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 4: A totally different player than he was in Chicago. Is

486
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 4: that something you saw yesterday?

487
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,640
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think what he has been able to do

488
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,400
Speaker 5: is you know, and I saw some of the subtleties

489
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 5: I think that you're talking about, just you.

490
00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 3: Know, looking off of safety here and there and things

491
00:21:59,400 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 3: like that.

492
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 5: It freeze that single high safety just for a moment,

493
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,520
Speaker 5: you know, to the to the left of center, because

494
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 5: you're coming back to the right of center. And that

495
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,440
Speaker 5: makes all the difference in the world between a completion

496
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 5: and incompletion and an interception, you know, if you can

497
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,000
Speaker 5: do those little quarterback y type of things. But then

498
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 5: also you know, with that comes the need to deliver

499
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,199
Speaker 5: the ball on time inaccurately. And I thought justin Fields

500
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,879
Speaker 5: did both delivered the ball on time and accurately throughout

501
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:26,680
Speaker 5: the course of the game.

502
00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, and for a lot of that game, Rob But

503
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,520
Speaker 2: you know, the Steelers really didn't start running the ball

504
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 2: well until late in that game, so a lot of

505
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,320
Speaker 2: that early was was really on Fields Fields back.

506
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,359
Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean the charges were clearly you know, they played,

507
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 5: they showed some cover two which you love to run against.

508
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,560
Speaker 5: And it looked to me and again, you know, calling

509
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,240
Speaker 5: the game, I'm more ball centric than all twenty two centric, you.

510
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 3: Know, but as a snap of the ball, everybody was

511
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 3: coming downhill.

512
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, everyone's coming downhill, and they rotated from some

513
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,439
Speaker 5: cover or two looks into some covered three looks, And

514
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 5: for newer football fans, that means three guys covering the

515
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,480
Speaker 5: back end of the field, So eight guys up towards

516
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 5: the line of scrimmage, where as a cover two has

517
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 5: your two deep safeties the cornerbacks playing off, so only

518
00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 5: seven really going against the run and four guarding against

519
00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 5: the pass. To kind of put that in simple terms,

520
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 5: I know the guys listening to your show, the fans

521
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:25,119
Speaker 5: usually are far more advanced than that, but yeah, I know,

522
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 5: I know you did it. Just it just felt like,

523
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 5: you know, they were they were rotating into a lot

524
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 5: of those things and trying to stop the Steelers run.

525
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,880
Speaker 5: You know, this game, it seemed pretty simple. Run the ball,

526
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 5: stop the run, don't turn it over. Let your edge

527
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 5: guys in a matchup of elite edge guys on both teams,

528
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,680
Speaker 5: let your edge guys be the ones who made the difference. Well,

529
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,680
Speaker 5: as the game more on, you know, the Steiers stopped

530
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,719
Speaker 5: the run, try to stop the run early, but as

531
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,120
Speaker 5: the game more on, the Steers we have to run

532
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 5: the ball. The only thing the Steelers didn't do out

533
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 5: of those four things that I thought were pretty simple

534
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 5: keys to the game, and you never know, you know,

535
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 5: Fields and Herbert had to do their parts certainly, and

536
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:05,920
Speaker 5: then Fields throughout the course of the game was able

537
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 5: to make some big plays. The one thing that Steelers

538
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 5: didn't do was win the turnover battle, and it's the

539
00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,199
Speaker 5: first time and they did, but fifteen and one in

540
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,160
Speaker 5: the last sixteen games in which they lost.

541
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,680
Speaker 2: They had won one since two thousand, Rob, they were

542
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 2: eighteen and one, So.

543
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,919
Speaker 5: Eighteen in one I had to mean it made a

544
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 5: short shrift the great statistic. Yeah, that's an even better statistic.

545
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,400
Speaker 5: So you know, I think that they was mission accomplished

546
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 5: with most things except for the one turnover, and that

547
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 5: was enough to get him to win.

548
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 4: So, Rob, you and I and Wolfe were talking on

549
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 4: a different venue about nause Harris and the attitude and

550
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 4: how in some ways he's becoming the face of the offense.

551
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 4: His stats might not blow you away, but there's a

552
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 4: lot more that he brings to the table and just that.

553
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,119
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think he does. Man, I think and Dale,

554
00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 5: I think there's an intangible effect that he had as

555
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 5: on the game. You know that that will that want

556
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 5: to and you know, you'll see him go downfield and

557
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 5: then you know he's he's throwing one guy, literally throwing

558
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 5: guys to the ground. I mean, I don't remember too

559
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,520
Speaker 5: many Bunny backs doing that, taking that free on that

560
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 5: stiff arm and just taking a guy and grabbing him,

561
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 5: you know, not Yeah, just just throw them into the ground.

562
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:25,479
Speaker 5: And then and then when he gets stood up, Now,

563
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, you see five offensive linemen and

564
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,159
Speaker 5: it's the old rugby scrum and they're getting in there

565
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 5: and they're pushing down field. And I just think that

566
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 5: he I think he brings that attitude and I think

567
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 5: that that's it is an intangible thing, but it's you know, stylistically,

568
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,959
Speaker 5: if you're the Steelers and you're trying to wear a

569
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 5: team down, you know that's what you're that's sort of

570
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 5: part of your DNA. We're gonna have a physical offensive line.

571
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 5: That offensive line is going to bring their will to

572
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 5: your defensive line. And right behind that is a two

573
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 5: hundred and forty pounds running back who is also going

574
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 5: to hit you like a sledgehammer again and again and again.

575
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 5: You know, Ton Joking used to say that about Jerome

576
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 5: bettis that as the game war on you know players,

577
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 5: I think I think to actually took it from from

578
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,159
Speaker 5: somebody else, but that you know, guys would come up with,

579
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 5: oh boy, I don't know, coach just took a bad

580
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:19,679
Speaker 5: angle and.

581
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 3: Make some business decisions.

582
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, they get.

583
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 4: To Jerome used to say, nobody wants to tackle the

584
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 4: fat guy in the fourth court.

585
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:32,919
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's that's much more. Simply put them on and

586
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 5: then you bring Cordero Patterson behind that. And let's not

587
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 5: forget when he's wealth, when he's healthy. Jaalen Warren runs

588
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 5: the exact same way. But Naji's the guy that's getting

589
00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 5: most of the carries, doing most of the work and

590
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 5: sort of laying the groundwork for that attitude that I

591
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 5: think is the kind of attitude that the Steelers wont

592
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,920
Speaker 5: you know interesting quote I think it was it was

593
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 5: before the Broncos game and their coach said, you know,

594
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 5: when you're facing this Steelers, you better get ready to

595
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 5: go into a dark place. Well, that's what I want

596
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 5: to hear if I'm the Steelers, I want to think

597
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 5: of that before the game even starts. And then, by

598
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 5: the way, here's the proof in the pudding. You know,

599
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 5: as we ram it down your throat A bunch of times,

600
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 5: so I think it's I think Nagi does set that tone,

601
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 5: and I do think he plays and has value beyond

602
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 5: just the raw statistics.

603
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 2: And on the other side of the ball, Rob cam

604
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 2: Hayward brings some of that same physical just nastiness to it.

605
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,920
Speaker 2: There was a play yesterday where he didn't make the play.

606
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,880
Speaker 2: The play was away from him to the other side

607
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 2: of the line, and the Chargers tried to block him

608
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 2: with a tight end and he just took the tight

609
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 2: end and just threw him out of the ball.

610
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 3: That's an embarrassing what are you doing like eight yards?

611
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:57,959
Speaker 2: But he made some plays yesterday where it was like

612
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 2: even if if he didn't get a tackle, he was

613
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,399
Speaker 2: just driving the guards back into the into the backfield

614
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 2: and just he didn't have The stats weren't great yesterday for.

615
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 3: But he was. He was definitely a factor there.

616
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 2: He had four tackles, a sack, two tackles for losses

617
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,960
Speaker 2: and that doesn't even begin to say what kind of game.

618
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 4: He is and the penetration he caused just have it.

619
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 4: As the handoffs were being said, I mean, there's nothing

620
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:25,400
Speaker 4: running backs hate more.

621
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, there are a bunch of players in this team

622
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 5: you know, there's an old saying that's that's you know,

623
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 5: it's amazing what you can accomplish together when no one

624
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 5: cares who gets the credit, you know, And and I

625
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 5: think there's an element of that with his Steelers defense.

626
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 5: You know, Patrick Queen I thought was more noticeable in

627
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 5: this game. But but you know, you're you're right about

628
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 5: and you know, I think Deshaun Elliott's one of those

629
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,320
Speaker 5: guys that helps you set a tone. But Kim Heyward's

630
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 5: your captain, and I think that you know, he obviously

631
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 5: had an injury plague season a year ago, and I'm

632
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,720
Speaker 5: sure he heard the whole you know, just Cam, we're

633
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:02,480
Speaker 5: gonna hang it out.

634
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 3: Oh, we talked about that yesterday. Yesterday after the game.

635
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 2: We're actually talking after the game, and he said something

636
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 2: about the coaching staff making and somebody asked him about,

637
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 2: you know, what changed in the second half, and he said,

638
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 2: we made we made some good adjustments in the second

639
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 2: you know at the halftime that you know, our coaching

640
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 2: staff is pretty good at making adjustments in those kinds,

641
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 2: you know, at halftime and fixing the issues that we had.

642
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 2: And I said to him, like, wait, according to social media,

643
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 2: your coaching staff never makes any adjustments, and he goes, well,

644
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 2: there's there's a lot of stuff said on social media

645
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 2: that you know, it just gets put out there.

646
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 3: Don't get me started on that.

647
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 2: And I knew exactly what he was talking about, because

648
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 2: all off season long, why would you pay Cam Hayward,

649
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 2: why would you do this? He's he's trade him, he's

650
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 2: washed up, he's done. He hears all that stuff, you know,

651
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 2: and poking that bear. No, don't don't get any going.

652
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 5: And again, you know I have to. I'm always I

653
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 5: try to be careful when I say those kind of

654
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 5: things because and I agree one hundred percent with what

655
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 5: you guys are saying and where we're going here. But

656
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 5: you know, look, he's a professional. He's always going to

657
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 5: be giving everything go right. It's not like suddenly he

658
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 5: wakes up all I've been insulted, not play well. I mean,

659
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 5: you know, he's always been a great player, and great

660
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 5: players don't get to be great players without working extremely hard.

661
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 5: Whatever motivates him. But a little extra motivation is never

662
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 5: a terrible thing in life. And I think Cam, and

663
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 5: I think Russell Wilson, if we see him at some

664
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 5: point this season, I think He's got a little extra

665
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 5: motivation as well, So I think that's good to have

666
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 5: on a team. But yes, look he's the captain, you

667
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 5: know that. That's who Cam Hayward is. He's he's a

668
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 5: leader on that team, and so to have him be disruptive,

669
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 5: and you know, Dale and I briefly talked about this

670
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 5: with Wolfe. Matt and I with wolf on an earlier show.

671
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 5: You know, Cam Hayward and Quentin Nelson this week. Can't wait.

672
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 5: Two old war horses. You know, Cam's a little older

673
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,719
Speaker 5: than Nelson, but two great players just going at it,

674
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 5: and and two guys that their teams rely on to

675
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 5: sort of set the tone for him. Nelson on the

676
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 5: offensive line, six time Pro War, six season, six Pro Bowls,

677
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 5: hard to do much better than that, and then Cam

678
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,719
Speaker 5: Hayward on the other side. I can't wait for that

679
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 5: sort of matchup within the matchup. But yeah, you're absolutely right,

680
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 5: Cam Hayward is, you know, he's the tone senter, a

681
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 5: tone setter for sure on that defense.

682
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 4: So I think the Steelers got another one of those

683
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 4: type of guys in Zach Frasier. And by no means

684
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 4: can you compare him to Cam Hayward. Talk to me

685
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 4: in a decade, you know. I mean, yes, that's right, right.

686
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not saying he's pouncy and webby rolled

687
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 4: into one with the sprinkle of Dermonni Dawson. But his

688
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 4: style of play is to the echo of the whistle.

689
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 4: It fits this town and this organization extremely well. He's

690
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 4: already making the pre snap calls like he's he's already

691
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 4: way ahead of expectations.

692
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 5: I love the nickname that will put on him, the

693
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 5: Morgantown Maler. That's about right. That's his kind of play.

694
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 5: You know, I thought Andy Widel old offensive lineman himself, right.

695
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 5: You know, he talked to the media a couple of

696
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 5: weeks ago. It was during the preseason, and you know,

697
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 5: he said something that's kind of basic, but it's also

698
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 5: shows that you're being true to yourself. He said, if

699
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 5: you want to be a smart, tough, physical team, then

700
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:33,640
Speaker 5: you need to draft smart, tough, physical players, right. I mean,

701
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 5: it only goes you know, I think, and I think

702
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 5: sometimes you get organizations that say, well, we'll get them

703
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 5: in our we'll do this, or we'll do that, or

704
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 5: we're gonna the Steelers. They want to be a smart

705
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 5: physical team, So they're gonna look for smart, physical players.

706
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 5: That's what Zach Frasier is. He brings that attitude. You're right,

707
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 5: he brings an attitude to the offensive line, a play

708
00:32:55,400 --> 00:33:00,040
Speaker 5: to the whistle. You know, that's that can be in

709
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 5: and I think that you know, we haven't seen cmodel

710
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 5: yet this year. He's that kind of player for sure.

711
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 5: You know. So you're trying to build that identity, that

712
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 5: toughness you need that. You need players that play with

713
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 5: that kind of toughness, and Zach Fraser definitely does that.

714
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 5: You know, through three games, you know, he's already stood out.

715
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 5: I mean people, you know, look three games in and

716
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 5: this can turn. I don't think it's going to, but

717
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 5: it can do it. About face, we understand that things change,

718
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,959
Speaker 5: Rookies can hit the wall, things can happen. But you know,

719
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 5: you like to be the team in which people are saying, hey,

720
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:37,840
Speaker 5: Zach Fraser, that might have been the steal of the draft. Hey,

721
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 5: you know, fields, that might have been the best trade

722
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 5: of the offseason. You'd like to be the team where

723
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 5: the accolades are being pointed in your direction. Again, three

724
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 5: games in, you know, we have to we have to

725
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 5: temper that a little bit, but it's still nice to

726
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,239
Speaker 5: hear outsiders saying that about people like Fraser and of

727
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 5: course Fields as I just mentioned as well.

728
00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, Rob, but since you since you mentioned Isaac Sayamalu,

729
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,960
Speaker 2: this is gonna be an interesting week this week. We

730
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 2: know now Troy Fatanu follow Tanu well done?

731
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 3: How about uh when.

732
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 2: Goes on i R on Saturday. Reports out there that

733
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 2: he might be back for the playoffs. We'll see, but

734
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 2: we all know, you know, we also know the Steelers

735
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,880
Speaker 2: are without uh Nate Herbig.

736
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 3: Cooks Rise is not available at the moment.

737
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,240
Speaker 2: Cooks is still not available until after this game against

738
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,760
Speaker 2: the Colts, then they can activate him. I would assume

739
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 2: that happens.

740
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 5: Uh.

741
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 2: You know, the offensive line depth has been tested on

742
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 2: this team. We got to see Mason McCormick get his

743
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 2: feet wet as that extra blocker.

744
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 3: In this game.

745
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 2: You know, that offensive line depth that they wanted to

746
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 2: they went into the preseason with is is really being

747
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 2: tested at this point. It'd be nice to get through

748
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 2: this game against the Colts. We'll see if Sam Alho plays,

749
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 2: you'll definitely probably get Cooked back.

750
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 3: But they're getting a little thin up there.

751
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,000
Speaker 4: And they've been remarkably for fortunate the last couple of

752
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 4: years with offensive line injuries, and now.

753
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,240
Speaker 3: It's like move and real quick back to Andry White.

754
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 4: I believe this for an office believes in theyre always

755
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 4: won an extra o lineman. Did they have to draft

756
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 4: McCormick after taking those other two? No, but kind of

757
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 4: happy they did.

758
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, Gordon Gecko, greed is good, right, give me one more,

759
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 5: Give me more. If you want to be greedy with

760
00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 5: offensive lineman, that's okay with me, because of because of

761
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,800
Speaker 5: this reason, and because there are you know, there aren't

762
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 5: that many really really good offensive linemen. It's it's there's

763
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:37,680
Speaker 5: a scarcity in the game. Few teams can go as

764
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:39,799
Speaker 5: deep as the Steelers. You know, the three of us

765
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 5: were marveling at their depth up in the throw. Well,

766
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 5: this is why you had that depth because of the

767
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 5: injuries that you just mentioned. I mean, two guys lost

768
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 5: for the year, and and that.

769
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,479
Speaker 3: Would be devastating for most teams. Yeah, they would be done.

770
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 5: And then right, and then CMO hasn't even played and

771
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 5: he's he going to this year. If you're identifying the

772
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 5: leader and your best offensive lineman, you're pointing to him,

773
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 5: that's your guy. That's the one right there, and you've

774
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 5: been out without him. Uh, so these are substantial losses.

775
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 5: At this offensive line has suffered three guys and so

776
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 5: and then you're still bringing in a sixth offensive lineman.

777
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 5: By the way, and you just mentioned Cook, another guy

778
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 5: is coming back. So the depth, this depth has been tested.

779
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 5: It's enviable depth. Now it's it's it's not quite so

780
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:31,479
Speaker 5: enviable anymore. When uh, you know, of the nine guys

781
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 5: we just mentioned, two of them are out for the year.

782
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:36,840
Speaker 5: So that does or you know, at least for the

783
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 5: for the regular season in the case of Taltano if

784
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,319
Speaker 5: the reports are correct. So that is being tested. You

785
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,000
Speaker 5: hope that that's about it. On the injury front. My goodness,

786
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 5: you could use some uh you know, you've had your

787
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,720
Speaker 5: share of misfortune. Now you could use maybe some better

788
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,279
Speaker 5: fortune from this offensive line. But yeah, that's why you

789
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,160
Speaker 5: draft a guy like McCormick. And I do think that

790
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 5: when they get Simalu back and you know, now you

791
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 5: can kind of rest back and say, okay, assuming he

792
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 5: goes in and takes that left guard spot and nobody

793
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 5: else is nicked up. You know, Anderson is a guy

794
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 5: with great versatility. He's gone out there and acquitted himself

795
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 5: well as the starting left guard for the first three

796
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:16,240
Speaker 5: weeks and I think probably four weeks of the season,

797
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 5: McCormick's gotten his feet wet. And now maybe you can

798
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 5: you can exhale a little bit and say okay, and

799
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,800
Speaker 5: you get cooked back for that, you know, as another tackle,

800
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,839
Speaker 5: maybe you can feel better about your depth again. But yeah,

801
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 5: it is sorely has been sorely tested at this point

802
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:31,480
Speaker 5: of the season.

803
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 4: And I hadn't thought about until you two are having

804
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 4: this conversation, But there's some players that haven't really contributed

805
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 4: yet that will you know, Sutton Siamalu, maybe Roman Wilson,

806
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 4: maybe Russell Wilson. I would even throw Warren in that

807
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 4: in that mix. We know what he's capable of and

808
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 4: just hasn't been asked to do it yet. I mean

809
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 4: that's still coming.

810
00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:58,799
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know. And again you know, Dale,

811
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,560
Speaker 5: Matt and I were having this conver and you and

812
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,319
Speaker 5: I may probably had this conversation too, that you know,

813
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 5: no team has got incredible depth at every position. You

814
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 5: just can't have it. But when you think about where

815
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,800
Speaker 5: the Steelers and so people I think going into this

816
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 5: team would have said well, what about the wide receiver

817
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 5: position and what about the cornerback position? And you know,

818
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,839
Speaker 5: of course, Russell Wilson coming off a year in which

819
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 5: he was benched for the final two games by his coach,

820
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,400
Speaker 5: Justin Fields, a former first round pick who was supposed

821
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 5: to be his backup, of course you had you know,

822
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 5: where where's the quarterback position going to go? Right? I

823
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 5: think right now it's gone well, and you like where

824
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 5: the arrows pointed. But as far as the depth of

825
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,400
Speaker 5: those teams, you know, the offensive line has been tested,

826
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 5: the cornerback depth not quite as deep. You're hoping on

827
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 5: Trice and you're hoping you can get through till Sutton

828
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:49,600
Speaker 5: comes back later on in the season. But again you can't. No,

829
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 5: no teams like, well we got eight cornerbacks, don't worry

830
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,879
Speaker 5: about six string guys at three time Pro Bowl. Come on, man,

831
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,839
Speaker 5: that that just doesn't happen. Those are tough positions to fill.

832
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 5: So you hope that Jackson's okay, and we went back

833
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:03,760
Speaker 5: in the game and Trice is gonna be okay because

834
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,720
Speaker 5: Trice has been you know, you hoped, right, you hoped

835
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 5: on Trice and you hoped on Rush. But I mean,

836
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,239
Speaker 5: my goodness. I think about Corey Trice, right, flashed in

837
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,359
Speaker 5: the offseason last year, didn't get any games, got hurt,

838
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,399
Speaker 5: He's been out for a year, and then to come

839
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,840
Speaker 5: back and look the way he's looked. H It's hard

840
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,120
Speaker 5: not to get excited about what Corey Trice is going

841
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 5: to be able to do. So, you know, the depth

842
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,880
Speaker 5: has been tested in some key spots. But this Yearlers, again,

843
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,279
Speaker 5: they'd still have some guys in some positions that are

844
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 5: coming back. We're talking earlier about well, you know, kind

845
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 5: of fortunate that the Chargers, you know, Joey Bosa went

846
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,360
Speaker 5: down some other Okay, well yeah, but what about Cimalu?

847
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 5: What about Alex Heismith? Yeah, you know, what about your

848
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:45,320
Speaker 5: starting quarterback?

849
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 2: The Steelers had to play snaps yesterday with James Pierre

850
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,640
Speaker 2: on the field, right, Yeah, but they just signed earlier

851
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 2: in the week, you know.

852
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 5: Yeah, wonderful special teams player. We've seen him play some

853
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:56,800
Speaker 5: defensive Yeah.

854
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 2: No, absolutely, as long he's never done it. But he

855
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 2: hadn't been in training camp all year.

856
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was. He was available to any team out there,

857
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:08,200
Speaker 5: that's right. So, but again, nice to have a guy

858
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 5: that comes in and and knows what you want to

859
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 5: do defensively, but for sure that's you know, that is uh.

860
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:16,760
Speaker 5: And and by the way, you lost a great special

861
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,319
Speaker 5: teamer too, So you know, the Steelers had their share

862
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 5: of injuries as well early on, and and you hope

863
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 5: that that kind of evens out and and they don't

864
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,840
Speaker 5: continue to get dinged up. They've got great depth on

865
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 5: this roster, you know, I think that again, the three

866
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,600
Speaker 5: of us have been talking about that really all, you know,

867
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,240
Speaker 5: since the beginning of camp. This is I think these guys,

868
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 5: the Steelers front office, Omark con and company have assembled

869
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 5: a very deep roster again, but what about to ivers. Okay,

870
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,279
Speaker 5: we get it, like I just said, you're not going

871
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 5: to have every single position is not going to be

872
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:56,480
Speaker 5: you know, teaming with all pros. However, I think that, uh,

873
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:01,719
Speaker 5: you know, within within reasonable expectations, this rosters, you know,

874
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 5: when they began the season, is about as deep as

875
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:04,320
Speaker 5: you can be.

876
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:06,439
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I know you got a role. But the last

877
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 4: thing I'm throw in two is you kind of mentioned it.

878
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:12,600
Speaker 4: We didn't even mention Scronic or Johnston getting injured. I

879
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 4: mean you mentioned special teamers. Those guys looked really, really

880
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 4: good at what they were brought here.

881
00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 3: To do.

882
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean Cam Johnson, you know, and and Scronic

883
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 5: was right, I mean too bad for him obviously, you know,

884
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 5: to be hurt like that. And same with Cam Johnson,

885
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 5: who who looked like you know. But the addition of

886
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:34,040
Speaker 5: he and Cordero Patterson, although they're not you know, getting

887
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:39,040
Speaker 5: any kickoffs to return, turned to me the Steelers special

888
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 5: teams into a real real strength on paper heading into

889
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 5: the season. But by the way, man hats off the

890
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 5: Corlus hatemen, well, he has been phenomenal. He has been great.

891
00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,239
Speaker 5: But yees, Cam Johnson, you know again a guy that

892
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:56,520
Speaker 5: was really well liked by his teammates and a real

893
00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 5: difference maker, top punter. Yeah, so this sus have for

894
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 5: sure had their share of injuries.

895
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 3: Our guest has been and they're three and oh that's

896
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 3: the bottom line.

897
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 2: Our guest has been Rob King, the voice of the

898
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steios.

899
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 3: Get that.

900
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 2: That was a nice little ceremony thing for Billy Hillgrove yesterday.

901
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 2: Glad to see Billy. I didn't get a chance to

902
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:16,359
Speaker 2: see him, see him in person. We text back and

903
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,359
Speaker 2: forth all the time though still to this day. But

904
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 2: glad to see him honored for that home opener and

905
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,560
Speaker 2: I saw you guys put out a photo that you

906
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,719
Speaker 2: got to see. You got to see Billy yesterday, so

907
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 2: that was very nice. But Rob King has been our guest.

908
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,760
Speaker 2: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening

909
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,279
Speaker 2: to the Drive here in the Steelers Radio Network. We'll

910
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 2: be back with more right after this.

911
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on

912
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and

913
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: Gold Steelers Nation.

914
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:55,319
Speaker 3: Radio and welcome back. I am Dale Lolly. He is

915
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 3: the Matt Williamson. And I thought the end of our

916
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 3: call there with Rob was a good point there by

917
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,319
Speaker 3: all of us. Oh yeah, that the Steelers.

918
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,879
Speaker 2: Are doing what they're doing right now, Matt. They've had

919
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,839
Speaker 2: four different offensive linemen now get their first offensive, get

920
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 2: their first snaps in the NFL designed Fraser.

921
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,799
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, but I mean you still had to

922
00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:19,520
Speaker 4: do it right like the Herbig had to get it

923
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:21,239
Speaker 4: hurt for Fraser to take over to you know.

924
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 2: Anderson was dealing with a little something yesterday. I saw

925
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:26,080
Speaker 2: him that he was on the sideline flexing his knee

926
00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 2: a little bit.

927
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:27,759
Speaker 3: Wasn's actually what was going on?

928
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 2: There was something there he was in and out of

929
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 2: the game a little bit. They were getting McCormick out there. Yeah,

930
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,880
Speaker 2: then they went with a sixth offensive line looking.

931
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 3: Which they was in the cards. Was in the cards.

932
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 3: They wanted to do that stuff. Last week, I.

933
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,360
Speaker 4: Thought Anderson might have been struggling. They didn't because I

934
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 4: didn't think he played great. I thought Daniels and Fraser

935
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 4: were much better than Andrews on the left side.

936
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,960
Speaker 3: I didn't know if he was getting replaced or just

937
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:51,400
Speaker 3: nobody mentioned anything.

938
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,080
Speaker 2: And I saw him on the sideline when he was

939
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:54,719
Speaker 2: out and he was down there kind of flexing his

940
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:56,319
Speaker 2: left knee, and I'm like, is he dealing with a

941
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,439
Speaker 2: little something. Usually that's a good sign if if they're

942
00:43:58,520 --> 00:43:59,479
Speaker 2: doing something like that.

943
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's going on there. I hope it doesn't pop

944
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:04,879
Speaker 4: up tomorrow that he's on the injury report or something.

945
00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you've had that. You lost your punter in

946
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:10,320
Speaker 3: the middle of a game.

947
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 4: Right, that's a small thing, but you thought you found

948
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 4: a gunner, and it's Goronic and he.

949
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,439
Speaker 2: Lost two big special teams guys with Matta Kaevich as well,

950
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:19,839
Speaker 2: you know.

951
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 4: But some of it's positive, Like I mentioned, it's so

952
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:25,000
Speaker 4: Sutton out there and you've done this well.

953
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,240
Speaker 2: With months ago we're talking about Roman. Was Roman Wilson

954
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:28,840
Speaker 2: gonna be the number two receiver on this team. He

955
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 2: hasn't played it down yet, but he might. Yeah, you

956
00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 2: might have a quarterback that right, Their starting quarterback hasn't

957
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:37,600
Speaker 2: played the first three games and you're in you're three and.

958
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, And I really think Warren's in that conversation too.

959
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,080
Speaker 4: Yeah he has not or look quite the same, but

960
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 4: I bet he will.

961
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're they're kind of easing him back into it.

962
00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:48,560
Speaker 2: They don't want to get, you know, put too much

963
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:51,840
Speaker 2: on his plate. Hey, don't stress it too much. And

964
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,359
Speaker 2: five weeks you get Sutton back. Yeah, that's not that long. Yeah,

965
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 2: and you know we'll see, Like you know, Russell Rolson

966
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,400
Speaker 2: is ready to play. And look, Justin Fields is played,

967
00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:03,959
Speaker 2: he's played well. Yeah, yeah, he can't take it away

968
00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:05,879
Speaker 2: from him.

969
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:07,960
Speaker 3: I still think.

970
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 2: At the end of the day when this is at

971
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,759
Speaker 2: some point, Russell Wilson is going to be healthy, right,

972
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:18,280
Speaker 2: and I still think he's going to be the starting quarterback.

973
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:22,879
Speaker 2: This may open their This may this start may make

974
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 2: them look at Justin Fields differently.

975
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 4: At the end of the year, Fields differently. Now, Yeah,

976
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,240
Speaker 4: I mean, I know that's very reactive from one game.

977
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:33,319
Speaker 4: And this is we kept Rob long. This is a

978
00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:35,320
Speaker 4: short radio segment just to pull back the curtain, so

979
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:36,640
Speaker 4: I don't have a lot of time to get into

980
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:40,719
Speaker 4: this huge topic. But I feel like I'm being contradictory

981
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 4: what I've said all along. I'm very interested in keeping

982
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 4: Fields as a starter right now until further review, I mean,

983
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 4: or at least in the short term, because he really

984
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 4: impressed me that much. Yes, well, we can't take it

985
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:55,239
Speaker 4: away from him. I use things I hadn't seen from

986
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 4: him in the past.

987
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:00,399
Speaker 3: To me, I just think that you brought you brought

988
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 3: Wilson in for a reason. Oh he's started done nothing wrong. No,

989
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:05,399
Speaker 3: and this is the last time.

990
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:08,719
Speaker 2: The last time we saw him, you know. Yeah, it

991
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,880
Speaker 2: was a short time in a preseason game, but I

992
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,840
Speaker 2: saw him complete a twenty five yard out to George Pickens.

993
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 2: That was a pure arm strength throw that he anticipated

994
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:22,399
Speaker 2: the outcut and trusted like, okay, give me that. Give

995
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:23,680
Speaker 2: me a guy's going to throw the ball into the

996
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:25,160
Speaker 2: end zone and throw a touchdown passes.

997
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 3: And I've been saying all along, he's a starter. He's

998
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 3: a starter. He'd be my starter.

999
00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:29,839
Speaker 4: He'd be my starter, and a lot of that's because

1000
00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:32,440
Speaker 4: what I saw in camp and where he's been around

1001
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,960
Speaker 4: the around the block, and the professionalism and all that

1002
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:39,520
Speaker 4: stuff really matters. And I'm sure he'll play sometime this year,

1003
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:40,040
Speaker 4: you know.

1004
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 3: One way or I mean, just think of the injuries, right, I.

1005
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,839
Speaker 4: Mean it's likely, I mean, even if Field's lightening it up.

1006
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:50,560
Speaker 4: But I would say through three games, this quarterback situation

1007
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 4: has gone a lot better than I expected.

1008
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 2: It's certainly better than a lot of people looked at

1009
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:55,720
Speaker 2: I think National Week.

1010
00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 3: Right like, oh, thats gonna be, well the worst quarter

1011
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:57,920
Speaker 3: there's gonna.

1012
00:46:57,680 --> 00:46:59,440
Speaker 2: Be awful there. You know this is gonna be Tomlin's

1013
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,480
Speaker 2: first losing season. Well, we were saying all along that

1014
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 2: wasn't going to be the case because this team was

1015
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 2: going to be really good on defense, as we've been

1016
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 2: pretty consistently said, and the depth that they.

1017
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 4: Have, and I believe this to be a fact, whether

1018
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:14,759
Speaker 4: he remains a starter or not, they're three and oh

1019
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 4: with their backup quarterback.

1020
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:17,400
Speaker 3: Yes, you know what I mean. I mean, the plan

1021
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:18,720
Speaker 3: was Wilson to be the starter.

1022
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 4: Having would be no other team in the league that

1023
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,040
Speaker 4: you could say that exactly exactly.

1024
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:25,080
Speaker 3: You know, like, what did the Charger are going to

1025
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 3: do if Herbert can play next year?

1026
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 2: I mean you could say Sam, you could say Sam

1027
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:30,200
Speaker 2: Donald was the was the backup.

1028
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 4: Packers actually count they and Willis, which is amazing.

1029
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:36,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, and he's played well.

1030
00:47:36,680 --> 00:47:39,360
Speaker 4: Donald's a different story. Donald's probably he was going to

1031
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:39,920
Speaker 4: be the starter.

1032
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:41,520
Speaker 3: He was going to be a starter. Yeah he was.

1033
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 3: He was the better player in Week one, Yeah, than

1034
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:44,080
Speaker 3: the rookie.

1035
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 2: Right, but yeah, I mean so you know, the two

1036
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 2: franchises and one of the things we talked about in

1037
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:51,799
Speaker 2: the off season with the Packers, look at the depth

1038
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 2: that they have in that offense and.

1039
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 4: All that youth and depth and right, yeah, and you

1040
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 4: brought the Vikings. I think that's the only defense in

1041
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:01,920
Speaker 4: the league that can compete with the Steelers for best

1042
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 4: in the league. Right now, that stuff still matters, that Aaron.

1043
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:06,239
Speaker 2: Jones is turning, that yards of the ground running and

1044
00:48:06,280 --> 00:48:10,799
Speaker 2: defense still matter in the NFL, you know, maybe more

1045
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:11,800
Speaker 2: than it has in a while.

1046
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:14,759
Speaker 3: Yeah. The Steelers have been ahead of the curve on this.

1047
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 2: Yeah that you know that that this is this is

1048
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:19,920
Speaker 2: where the league is going. And they were they were

1049
00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:22,279
Speaker 2: ahead of it. They got they were they might have

1050
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:25,799
Speaker 2: been the trend setter up. I mean people, is it

1051
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:28,600
Speaker 2: too big a is it too big of a thought

1052
00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 2: to say that? People looked at the at the Steelers

1053
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 2: this offseason, how is Mike Tomlin winning all these games?

1054
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:36,520
Speaker 2: If that with with those quarterbacks? Oh yeah, and they say,

1055
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,400
Speaker 2: well we can do that. He's going to do that

1056
00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:41,719
Speaker 2: than it is to go find a franchise quarterback.

1057
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 4: I mean free agency showed that teams were paying running

1058
00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 4: backs and guards in a lineman. Yeah right, I mean

1059
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:47,880
Speaker 4: money talks.

1060
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,239
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, let's get to a break.

1061
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for our number one of

1062
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 2: the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Uh, Matt

1063
00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 2: and I will be back with our number the two

1064
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 2: of the Drive right after this