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Speaker 1: At least. He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt

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Speaker 1: Williamson on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: M M M. Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly

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Speaker 1: here with Matt Williamson and Matt. Disappointing Sunday for the Steelers.

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Speaker 1: They lose to the Raiders seventeen at their home opener

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Speaker 1: at Heinz Field. UM lots to dig into lots of

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Speaker 1: uh look at from that game, but certainly, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: more than anything, I thought the defensive injuries kind of

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter and if you look at the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Uh, first of all, here's here's the issue

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Speaker 1: that I have that I've the one thing that I

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Speaker 1: see from the Steelers through the first two weeks. The

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Speaker 1: offense is taking too long to get started, to find

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Speaker 1: its traction if any kind of undeniable right, and the

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Speaker 1: defense has bailed them out. And the defense is they're built.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to say to play that way because

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Speaker 1: you want your offense to start faster, but they're built

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Speaker 1: for the defense to be a shutdown defense and buying

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Speaker 1: large if they have everybody there, they are a shutdown defense.

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Speaker 1: But you know, as as we often talk about you're

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Speaker 1: going going to have injuries over the course of the season.

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Speaker 1: We now know Tyson and Lulu out for an extended

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Speaker 1: period of time. So now you're down two of your

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Speaker 1: three starting defensive linemen. You know you had in the

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Speaker 1: Watt injury in the first half of that game. You

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Speaker 1: were already playing without Joe Haden and Devin Bush who

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Speaker 1: had growing injuries in practice on Friday. And if you

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Speaker 1: count two it that's five starters. That's five starters, and

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Speaker 1: some of them are Pro Bowlers and superstars and highest

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Speaker 1: paid right. Um, it's funny to me that it's almost

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Speaker 1: like you're not tough if you don't if you talk

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Speaker 1: about injuries or blame injuries in any way, And that's

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Speaker 1: just kind of the coach mentality or next man up.

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Speaker 1: And there were people commenting on my on my stuff

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Speaker 1: last night on the d K Pittsburgh Sports that you

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Speaker 1: know the Steelers of the seventies didn't miss games because

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Speaker 1: of growing injuries. Well, yeah they did, I assume they did.

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Speaker 1: They didn't call it that or something. They probably just

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Speaker 1: called it a pull muscle or a lower body injury

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Speaker 1: or Yeah, the injury reports were I don't know that

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Speaker 1: I don't know that the injury reports were as extensive

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Speaker 1: as they You know, I wasn't on Twitter, it wasn't all.

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Speaker 1: And most of the people making those comments aren't old

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Speaker 1: enough to remember the seventy you know, or they're too

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Speaker 1: old and they remember it in a different way. Right

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Speaker 1: those guys miss game. Oh by the way, Jack lambert

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Speaker 1: career ended because of turf tone. It has nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with being tough or not. No, it doesn't, you know.

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Speaker 1: And and coaches could afford that luxury. We don't have to.

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Speaker 1: I don't have to dress on two on Sundays, And

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Speaker 1: you know, injuries matter. Anyone to think they don't are crazy.

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Speaker 1: But the Steelers were the worst. I mean, the Raiders

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Speaker 1: were the better team. I mean, I firmly believe that

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Speaker 1: the Raiders impressed me very very much in that game,

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Speaker 1: especially Derek Carr. I thought he played tremendously. And that's

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Speaker 1: two games in a row that he's carved up a

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Speaker 1: really good defense. It's not it's not flukey. I will

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Speaker 1: see this about the Raiders. They've been a hot starting

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Speaker 1: team over the last few years. They were six and

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Speaker 1: three last year, right, right right? I think that's a

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Speaker 1: grouten trade and then faded down the stretch they were

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Speaker 1: the year before that, they were you know, they get

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Speaker 1: off the hot starts every year and then fade down

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Speaker 1: the stretch. So I don't know if we're going to

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Speaker 1: see that again from the from this team this year

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Speaker 1: or if the you know, maybe that's injuries on their part. Well,

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Speaker 1: I don't think they're a particularly good roster, and I

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Speaker 1: think that gets exposed as the season goes on, that

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Speaker 1: their their coaching is better than their team building. Um,

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Speaker 1: but they were the better team. They deserve to win.

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Speaker 1: The injuries can't be ignored. I mean, and I'm sure

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Speaker 1: there's people out there going well all last week, Williamson,

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Speaker 1: all you did was talk about all the Raiders injuries

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Speaker 1: and their short week and all that, and that's a

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Speaker 1: percent true. I mean, the Dealers when the ball kicked off,

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Speaker 1: we're in better shape than the Raiders. There's no doubt

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Speaker 1: about that. And this is not making excuses, but they

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Speaker 1: had all week to prepare for that. You know, they

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Speaker 1: knew that Josh Jacobs wasn't gonna be there and then

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Speaker 1: soe good, you know what I mean, Like, it's harder

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Speaker 1: when it gets sprung on you in game yeah, first

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Speaker 1: series of the game or whatever, first first quarter, there

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Speaker 1: goes Tyson. Oh boy, we're already down. We were already down,

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Speaker 1: Carlos Davis, And now we got one nose tackle on

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Speaker 1: the roster. No, by the way, bugs got nicked up

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Speaker 1: during the game when um he came back in, but

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Speaker 1: there was some a couple of series where he wasn't available. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Cam Hayward had to play nose tackle, you know. Uh,

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Speaker 1: then you lose t J. Watt. That's kind of a

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Speaker 1: big deal. It's a massive deal. R and boy wuld

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Speaker 1: have been a bigger deal last year. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: two guys they have behind them are high quality edge players.

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Speaker 1: And it was the only small amount of snaps, but

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Speaker 1: you end up playing a lot more snaps with those guys.

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Speaker 1: And it was a hot day. And and it's no

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Speaker 1: coincidence or no accident that the Raiders started to to

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Speaker 1: find some traction offensively later in the third quarter and

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, right, those guys get tired of

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Speaker 1: you know, as far I was gonna go with this

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Speaker 1: because I've been doing a bunch of homework on the game,

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Speaker 1: and I wrote an article about it. And seventeen defensive

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Speaker 1: players played meaningful snaps in that game. You know, fifteen

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Speaker 1: of them had to tackle. I mean lou Alu and

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Speaker 1: Witherspoon didn't. But I mean Jamir Jones played fifteen snaps,

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Speaker 1: rushed the pass or ten times. You know, he's a

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Speaker 1: find young player and guys on the team, but those

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Speaker 1: what went to watch, I mean and more of course,

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Speaker 1: you know he never would have got one pass rush snap.

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Speaker 1: And you know you've got you you got a lot

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Speaker 1: of mixing and matching and young guys out there, and

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Speaker 1: seventeen defensive players is an awful lot. You know, over

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Speaker 1: the course of the game, usually it's thirteen or fourteen.

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Speaker 1: That's fine if you've got and it's fine if you've

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Speaker 1: get your front line guys available. And I'm not including

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Speaker 1: Bush and hay right, you know that would have played all.

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Speaker 1: You know, those guys would have been involved in that.

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Speaker 1: You know, they probably would have used fifteen to seventeen

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Speaker 1: defensive players had they had those guys. Probably, But instead

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Speaker 1: of getting for five snaps fifteen fifteen snaps at the

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Speaker 1: Jamir two ago against Buffalo, he got one. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: the difference. That's the difference. That's a difference. And you

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Speaker 1: know that you know Ingram would have been fresher and

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Speaker 1: his naps might have been better. Although I thought he

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Speaker 1: played really well. I thought he played well, but again

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Speaker 1: as the as the game wears on, you start to

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Speaker 1: you know, there's going into that last possession where they

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Speaker 1: where the Bills or the Raiders got the ball back

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Speaker 1: and finally broke off a couple of runs and they

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Speaker 1: had like they were averaging one yard to per carry.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to bring that up too, because there were

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Speaker 1: a lot of positives that came out of the game

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Speaker 1: and the negatives are apparent and it's a lost and

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Speaker 1: again I thought they were the inferior team. But the

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Speaker 1: Gruden by nature, it's pretty old school, and he loves

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Speaker 1: to play with a full back with two tight ends,

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Speaker 1: you know, bigger personnel, running personnel. And they came out

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Speaker 1: in twelve personnel with a back, not Jacobs, obviously Waller

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Speaker 1: and Moreau, who is a good young player by the way,

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Speaker 1: and the Steelers countered, you know, twelve personnel with Nickel,

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Speaker 1: so the immediately you knew they're treating Waller as a

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Speaker 1: wide out, and obviously they went way either way to

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Speaker 1: take him out of the game. But where I'm going

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Speaker 1: with this is really for I know they did a

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Speaker 1: little better in the second half, but basically start to finish,

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Speaker 1: the Steelers with lighter personnel, stopped the run game killed it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, and I will say that that that old

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Speaker 1: line was not impressive for to me for the Raiders,

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Speaker 1: you know, and Leatherwood went out and it actually was

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Speaker 1: a positive for him. That was one of my over

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Speaker 1: under or one of my my guarantees for the game,

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Speaker 1: and he got it in the first half. Was he

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Speaker 1: would have he would have uh three penalties plus sax alout.

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Speaker 1: He had the false start right before he left the game.

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Speaker 1: Then I thought, take that over and that was you know,

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Speaker 1: if you think about that series of plays. The Raiders

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Speaker 1: were down to the two at the end of the

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Speaker 1: first half, ended up kicking a field goal from the

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Speaker 1: twenty two. The defense was pretty right, right, you know

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Speaker 1: that that's that's something that you look at and you

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Speaker 1: go that should be something you carry over into the

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Speaker 1: second half. And the Steelers really didn't. Again, they didn't

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Speaker 1: get going offensive. They had a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: little burst there and and when they had a touchdown

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Speaker 1: driving a second quarter, but they can't they can't wait

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Speaker 1: to start in the fourth quarter every week offensively, I

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Speaker 1: mean the offense has issues. I mean there's no question

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Speaker 1: about that. Um it's some other note on kind of

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Speaker 1: goes without saying. But when we saw what versus Leatherwood

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Speaker 1: it was, it was Yeah, it was a heavyweight boxing

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Speaker 1: of a lightweight. Yeah, it was me trying to guard Shack.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was a total mismatch that the Steelers

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Speaker 1: didn't get a chance. He might have finished that game

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Speaker 1: with three right right, right right. I mean that was

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Speaker 1: the path they were on, especially if they couldn't run

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Speaker 1: the ball at all. I did want to give the

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Speaker 1: Raiders peripheral receivers credit. You know, Renfro kind of did

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Speaker 1: his cold Beasley impressing from He made a hell of

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Speaker 1: a catch in the fourth quarter. It was a post

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Speaker 1: down the middle and in car threw it a little

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Speaker 1: high and he went up and got it. It was

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Speaker 1: it was a big third down. I think it was

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Speaker 1: third and ten, and uh yeah, I just made a

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Speaker 1: heck of a play on that one. And I really thought,

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Speaker 1: you know that the Raiders everybody looked at that that

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Speaker 1: you know, long pass they give up to rugs and

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Speaker 1: why did that happen? They ran Waller underneath that. If

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Speaker 1: you watch me, he comes up, you know, to help

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Speaker 1: with Waller and they and they took because the Steelers

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Speaker 1: were so intent on, hey, we're not gonna let Waller

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Speaker 1: be you know, beat us here taking him out of

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Speaker 1: the game. It hurt him in that in that situation.

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Speaker 1: It did, and it was Weatherspoon was the cover guy

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Speaker 1: and he was what he played four or five snaps,

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Speaker 1: I mean, so that was very new for him. You

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Speaker 1: wonder if Hayden would have done the same thing. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's not gonna run with Rugs, but nobody rugs to

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Speaker 1: seven guys like differently. You know, I was talking with

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Speaker 1: my colleague Dan Kovakovitch. He's sitting beside me during the games. Well,

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Speaker 1: he just ran by him. I said, you realize that's

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Speaker 1: a four to seven guys like, he's gonna run anybody.

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Speaker 1: And Ruggs hasn't been super successful in this league. And

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Speaker 1: clearly they should have taken Judy or Lamb in the

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Speaker 1: first round. He was the first receiver taken. But you

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Speaker 1: understand what they're logical, everyone's gonna cusick. I mean, but

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Speaker 1: they didn't want this guy draft to set up plays

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Speaker 1: like that when everyone's Key and Waller in the run.

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Speaker 1: I mean the other guys get paid too. I mean

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Speaker 1: there's logic behind taking him over Lamb and Judy, although

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Speaker 1: we all rolled our eyes when they did it, because

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Speaker 1: they want that speed element at once in a while,

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Speaker 1: they'll get one on one and nobody can run with

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Speaker 1: a guy. Doesn't make it okay, I mean, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: excuse it. You know, Manka didn't play it real well,

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Speaker 1: but his responsibilities were certainly more concerned with Waller. You know,

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Speaker 1: young Corner didn't play great, but nobody's gonna run one

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Speaker 1: on one with him. It was a really, really nice

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Speaker 1: pass that he ran under. I think he just threw

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Speaker 1: it up. If it's kind of like the past a

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Speaker 1: week before against Baltimore where Car just says, Okay, I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna throw this up as far as I can

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Speaker 1: and and we're gonna run under it, hopefully. I don't

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Speaker 1: even I don't even know if he saw the completion

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Speaker 1: of the play because he just heaved it. He did

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Speaker 1: heave it and it but it came out. I mean

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Speaker 1: it was a not everyone can make that throw. I

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Speaker 1: mean it was a credit. I mean he saw it.

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Speaker 1: He recognized it as soon as as soon as Mike

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Speaker 1: As steps up on Waller, he let the ball pay,

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Speaker 1: let it fly. Yeah, all right, and most guys don't

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Speaker 1: run under that either. The rare speed was there again,

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Speaker 1: miss this one play and it was that was the backbreaker,

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Speaker 1: of course, But even with all their issues, they were

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Speaker 1: in it basically till then. You know, when there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of issues on the offensive side of the ball. Um.

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Speaker 1: I had some other defensive note. Oh, I you know,

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Speaker 1: I mentioned that Renfro was really good. I thought Moreau

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Speaker 1: was really good. Um Drake against own coverage, gave them

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Speaker 1: some easy completions, that's you know, but they knew that

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Speaker 1: going in, like we take Waller away, these other guys

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Speaker 1: they step up, they'll step up. And they did step up.

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Speaker 1: And I thought Edwards played well too. So I don't know,

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of I've been killing the Raiders all offseason

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Speaker 1: and I'm not saying I'm wrong. But they were good.

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Speaker 1: They were good. They were good, but it mattered. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, it was a sixteen fourteen game with eleven

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Speaker 1: fifteen left in the game. You know, as poorly as

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Speaker 1: the Steelers offense had played to that point, the Raiders

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Speaker 1: have some problems too. Yeah. Um, but they gotta figure

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Speaker 1: out how to get this offense kickstarted sooner I did.

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Speaker 1: There were some things that I did, like offensively, that

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Speaker 1: I think may pay dividends down the road. They did

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Speaker 1: finally hit a couple of They not only attempted some

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Speaker 1: deep passes down the field, they hit a couple of those.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't just hey, let's throw it down there and

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Speaker 1: see if we can get a past interference penalty. Um,

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Speaker 1: but I think, you know, much like last year, there

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Speaker 1: might be an overreliance on throwing the ball down the field,

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Speaker 1: like where's the intermedium would say it's all short or

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Speaker 1: their bombs. Yeah, and they usually go routes down the

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Speaker 1: sidelines to they're not even deep crossers or posts or again,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of blades of grass that aren't getting attacked.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the I didn't look

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Speaker 1: at yesterday's heat map, but if I'm sure, it's a

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Speaker 1: lot pretty similar to last year. Was a pretty similar

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Speaker 1: to last week's, you know. I mean, and there's reasons

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Speaker 1: for that. I mean in that I don't think they

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Speaker 1: trust their protection, you know, And I can understand that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the old line scheme, Ben, the old line

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Speaker 1: is the biggest problem with the offense in my opinion.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's below the line. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: a work in progress. But this doesn't come as a shock.

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Speaker 1: We didn't, you know, I said, how can you blame

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Speaker 1: the defense for this loss? You know, the um the

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Speaker 1: offense needs to carry the defense when they're when they're

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Speaker 1: like that, I'm like, you realize what you're saying there.

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Speaker 1: We all knew going into this season that the offense

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Speaker 1: was going to be a work in progress. The defense

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Speaker 1: had to The coaching staff knows this too, Yeah, right right.

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Speaker 1: The defense has to kind of carry things here, and

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Speaker 1: they did. And that's a tough way to wait in

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Speaker 1: this week, it really is. But you better you can

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Speaker 1: rely on the homes to get the ball. Last, you know,

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Speaker 1: you got to score more than two touchdowns in the

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Speaker 1: first you know, fifty minutes of a game. Yeah, without

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Speaker 1: quest and um side notice. And to make sure I

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Speaker 1: throw it out there before I forget. I thought the

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Speaker 1: Steelers were great on special teams. Both kickers, you know,

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Speaker 1: specialists had really good days covered well Ray Ray had

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Speaker 1: some um some nice returns. So it wasn't like a

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Speaker 1: super hidden yardage problem or something like that that you

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Speaker 1: can blame there. They weren't heavily penalized, but the penalties

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Speaker 1: hurt them, you know, without question. And the big thing

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Speaker 1: is I wish I had the numbers in front. Actually

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Speaker 1: I know it off the top of my head. Is

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Speaker 1: they had I think that Steelers got the ball eleven times.

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Speaker 1: They had eleven drives, but two of them really don't count.

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Speaker 1: One of them was the end of the game, you know,

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Speaker 1: which was meaningless the first half, and one of there

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Speaker 1: was one at the end of the first half. So

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Speaker 1: they had nine drives, which isn't great, you know. I

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Speaker 1: mean usually you have double digits, and they didn't maximize them,

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Speaker 1: of course. But a big thing too that I went

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Speaker 1: back and I did the math on it, simple arithmetic,

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Speaker 1: because that's as much I can do. Is I added

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Speaker 1: up all their third and seven third and eight third

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Speaker 1: and one, added up all the one seven eights divided

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Speaker 1: by their third down attempts, and their average third down

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Speaker 1: was third and seven point six. I'm gonna cut it,

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Speaker 1: and it's not gonna cut it. Get win on first down, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you don't even you should even get the

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Speaker 1: third down as much as they have been let alone

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Speaker 1: in such bad third down situations. Some of that I

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Speaker 1: think is also because of starting field position. The Steelers

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Speaker 1: two best drives where the opening drive they get to

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Speaker 1: ball to their own thirty two. Yeah, right, raded, decent

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Speaker 1: return and right. And then in the with the last

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Speaker 1: punt that the Raiders had, Um, they get the ball

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Speaker 1: at their thirty two. In those two situations, you know,

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Speaker 1: the drives after that, the eight, Yeah, that's not that's

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Speaker 1: not going to be very conducive to a long drive.

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Speaker 1: The thirteen, the seventeen, the twenty five, and twenty five,

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Speaker 1: like you just couldn't you know, get anything going there.

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Speaker 1: The Raiders were, you know, they get a field goal.

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Speaker 1: They after the interception, they get the ball to Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: thirty nine. They get a field goal they started at

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Speaker 1: their own thirty eight. Yeah. Uh, they did have a

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Speaker 1: field goal drive at the end of the first half

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Speaker 1: that they started at their own twenty five. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know those are you know that extra ten yards or

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Speaker 1: fifteen yards is a field goal. Put your struggling as

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Speaker 1: much as the offense is. Everything's hard already, you know,

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Speaker 1: and this league is not forgiving, of course, Um, but

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Speaker 1: you can't they don't have a bread and butter. They

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Speaker 1: don't have an identity. You know, you get the ball

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Speaker 1: in the eight, but I can handle the nausey on

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Speaker 1: a power play and I'm gonna get the second and

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Speaker 1: four not there, you can get five there. It's a huge,

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Speaker 1: huge difference, right or I mean my once, I'm not

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Speaker 1: an excess and nose guy, but I think they might

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Speaker 1: have to throw short passes the nausey on on first

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Speaker 1: alan a little bit more, you know. I mean not

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Speaker 1: that they're super predictable, it's just there kind of easy

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Speaker 1: to play against in that people are still crowding the box.

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Speaker 1: You know, they have that three high shell with the

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Speaker 1: middle safety and an Abram type guys near the line

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Speaker 1: of scrimmage, and they're taking away short throws and runs

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Speaker 1: and it just there's not of people to block it up.

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Speaker 1: That's why I think, you know, hitting as spread the

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Speaker 1: ball up, hitting a couple of those deeper passes makes

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Speaker 1: it range right exactly. You gotta back him out of

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Speaker 1: the box. It's like last year, um, And that's easier

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Speaker 1: said than done. You know, you do have two big

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Speaker 1: tight ends that can stress the middle of the field. Again,

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Speaker 1: there are some positives and I think that's one of

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Speaker 1: them as the youngster. And we started seeing Friar Moves

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Speaker 1: get involved a little bit more, certainly more than he

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Speaker 1: did the first week. Um, you know, you hit Claypool

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Speaker 1: down the sideline for a long game, and you hit

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Speaker 1: the Ante Johnson for a long game. There's were the

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Speaker 1: two touchdown drives. Yeah, you know we're we're a long

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Speaker 1: play at Ante john Weapons look great. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to see Claypool come down a little bit

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Speaker 1: more often. Was was you know the first wouldn't kill? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the first pass to the end zone. I saw somebody

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Speaker 1: on Twitter was was ripping Roethlisborrow. I look at that

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Speaker 1: ball placement. It hit him in the hands. Make that

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Speaker 1: he dropped it? Yeah, or he it came up, bounced

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Speaker 1: off of his his He had inside position on the

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Speaker 1: cornerback and Roethlisberger threw it inside. That was on purpose,

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Speaker 1: by the way, I thought that was my throw. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's not a ball placement thing to me. He comes,

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Speaker 1: he's uncontested, goes up for the ball, hits his hands,

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Speaker 1: bounces off of his hands, and in Casey Hayward gets

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Speaker 1: a hand on it and he gets a pass break up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: if if Claypole a touchdown, right, Um, even Ben's there's

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Speaker 1: still young receivers, you know, I mean and Deante. They

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Speaker 1: made a big deal of it on the air, stopped

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Speaker 1: running or semi interception. I mean, I don't know that

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Speaker 1: it would have been a completion or not an interception.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what would have happened, but there was

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Speaker 1: something missing there. And once in a while you will

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Speaker 1: see Ben go to one of the receivers with his

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Speaker 1: hands kind of in the air and unhappy with things. Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's an accident. Although I think he's

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Speaker 1: the third most potent of the guys. Juju now two

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Speaker 1: weeks in a row has led the receivers and snaps. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: not by leaps a bounce, but I don't know that

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Speaker 1: he had to catch in the second half of the time.

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Speaker 1: It was very quiet. He's useful, but he also plays

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Speaker 1: into what the defense wants, right, I mean his average

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Speaker 1: that the targets so short, and he's good at it,

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Speaker 1: and he really could be a guy if the intermediate

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Speaker 1: and deep stuff starts hitting, because he'll break it. He'll

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Speaker 1: run over. Yeah right, I mean he's useful, but they

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Speaker 1: don't need him to be good right now. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what he does, they got plenty of at the moment.

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Speaker 1: I wonder though, the thing that I was wondering is

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Speaker 1: if the Bengals seeing Roethlisberger be aggressive down the field

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Speaker 1: a little bit and hit some of those throws that

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Speaker 1: make a difference in how they game plan this week.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I need to watch it more, but

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Speaker 1: I still kind to get the feeling with Ben on

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Speaker 1: the deep throws that a little of them are just

404
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna chuck it up in that neighborhood. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it might be being a little too harsh on him,

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Speaker 1: because I need to watch yesterday's again and again to

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Speaker 1: see if I still get that feel. But maybe it's

408
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Speaker 1: just a bad taste of my mouth from last year.

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Speaker 1: You know that you mentioned, you know they're not just

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Speaker 1: throwing it deep to get a past interferences. It has

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Speaker 1: a desperates the wrong word. But it seems like they're

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Speaker 1: searching still for the deep ball or anything past ten yards.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's just me not having confidence in it because

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Speaker 1: I haven't seen it click in a while. Yeah, here's

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Speaker 1: what I'm looking at on that Roethlisberger averaged his intended

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Speaker 1: area just day was nine. That's good, which was in

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Speaker 1: the upper part of the you know, yeah, fortunately he

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Speaker 1: took two. He helped. He had two point five seconds

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Speaker 1: to get the ball of his hand. Two three, two three.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't the fastest guy in the in the league

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Speaker 1: this week getting rid of the football and that need

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Speaker 1: to change. Like I wrote something and it's like two

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Speaker 1: point three. Everyone's like, oh, that's good. Like no, not always,

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Speaker 1: you know, like he needs he needs to hold it

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Speaker 1: a little longer. His average completed are yards was, um,

426
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:54,280
Speaker 1: I thought he was while you looked at it. I

427
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,840
Speaker 1: thought he was noticeably better in this game than against Buffalo.

428
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:58,800
Speaker 1: I thought so as well a lot of people. His

429
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: ball doesn't have the same zip on it. I mean

430
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 1: maybe not the ten year version probably, but I thought

431
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: he looked better than he did. I mean, this guy

432
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:11,159
Speaker 1: still through yards in a game. You'd like to have

433
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,159
Speaker 1: a running game to compliment that a little bit. And

434
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:15,720
Speaker 1: I thought, I mean, I think we know what he

435
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:17,359
Speaker 1: is at the stage of his career. He's not the

436
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,680
Speaker 1: superstar pro bowler that he once was. He needs help.

437
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,959
Speaker 1: He's late career. Eilway and the whole offseason told us this,

438
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,359
Speaker 1: I mean, this is what we've we've known to be

439
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,199
Speaker 1: true some semblance of a running game would go a

440
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 1: long way. Yeah. Is the past to the clay pool

441
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,320
Speaker 1: was forty eight point seven yards in the air. Mhm.

442
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 1: That was one of the highest you know, depth of

443
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,359
Speaker 1: completion in the league this year. Um. You know, so

444
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,639
Speaker 1: he was actually his his uh air yards to the

445
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 1: sticks was actually past the sticks. They were actually throwing

446
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 1: past you know. That was one of the things where

447
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,160
Speaker 1: they keep throwing short of the sticks. Right, Okay, let's

448
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 1: find some balance there, you know. I mean it's easier

449
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,359
Speaker 1: said than done. I don't know how to make it happen.

450
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,639
Speaker 1: But the running game will get better when people get

451
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,159
Speaker 1: out of the box. People will get out of the

452
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: box when you start torturing them in the mid the

453
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: you know, different areas of the field throwing. It's the

454
00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,159
Speaker 1: same thing we said over and over yesterday. You know,

455
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,119
Speaker 1: both these things. Is a team game, um. And to me,

456
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 1: it starts with the line. I mean, if the line

457
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 1: were better, all those things would start to ripple effect down,

458
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 1: you know. And see I didn't think the line. I

459
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,040
Speaker 1: didn't think it was herr. I don't think the line

460
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: played awful. Yesterday. People were like well Ben got hit

461
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,199
Speaker 1: ten times. Yeah, he held the ball longer. They were

462
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 1: running more more stuff down the field. They were trying

463
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:38,640
Speaker 1: to I think they were really trying to go after

464
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,600
Speaker 1: the safeties. Yeah, I think you're right about that, and

465
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,160
Speaker 1: so they he was holding the ball longer. They were

466
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,879
Speaker 1: you know, even the sacks were kind of coverage sex.

467
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 1: Yeah they weren't. Someone just got whipped and looked. There

468
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,960
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of There wasn't a lot of snaps

469
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,360
Speaker 1: of the offensive lineman really looking bad, like out died

470
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,199
Speaker 1: last week, you know, and like boy, that kind of

471
00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,880
Speaker 1: their leatherwood wherever, right, I mean, like what he looks

472
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 1: like he's in trouble. But they also don't have a

473
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,640
Speaker 1: guy I'm running behind this one or the continuity or

474
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: you know, there's not any positives either though, you know

475
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,560
Speaker 1: what I mean. I agree, even even Doughtson I thought

476
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 1: had a tough day. I thought Chokes played a little better.

477
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,400
Speaker 1: Everyone wants to kill Chukes for some reason. I thought

478
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,639
Speaker 1: he was okay, you know, because it's low hanging for

479
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: if you don't know what you're looking for, you just

480
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 1: continue to pole on what everybody else is saying, whether

481
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,320
Speaker 1: it's true or not whether it's true or not. That's

482
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:27,399
Speaker 1: that's what I've come to realize. It's kind of like

483
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 1: the people killing Tomlin for kicking, you know, punting on

484
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,639
Speaker 1: fourth and one from his own thirty four with wouldn't

485
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,240
Speaker 1: have done that. I was very critical of that too,

486
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: But that's not why they lost. It's not where they lost.

487
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: It's not lost what they got out of that with

488
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,199
Speaker 1: like it's you're damned if you do or damned if

489
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,120
Speaker 1: you don't as a coach, because immediately after after John

490
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,399
Speaker 1: Harbaugh goes for it in that situation, so you know

491
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,199
Speaker 1: it's fourth and short. You got Lamar Jackson, if you

492
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,520
Speaker 1: if you and you just get in there aggressive, you

493
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: just got handed a gift like they the Chiefs just

494
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,359
Speaker 1: fumbled to get a hand you a gift. You've got

495
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,800
Speaker 1: the best running quarterback, not just in the game today,

496
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: of all freaking times, right and just special, special, rare dude. Right,

497
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: and well you look a little cardball, asked Lamar if

498
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: you wanted to go? Of course, of course Lamar wanted

499
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 1: to go. All players want to go. That's funny to

500
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: me too, is you know I think Tomlin knows Ben's answer.

501
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,920
Speaker 1: There's no reasons been with him for you know, fifteen years.

502
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:23,920
Speaker 1: He knows bun Ben's gonna want to go for it.

503
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 1: But you're at true in thirty four. Yeah, I would

504
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,479
Speaker 1: have went for it, would not have. I mean at

505
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 1: the time, I was like, why didn't you go? And

506
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna talk on both sides. And I

507
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: don't think that's why they lost though, I mean it's not.

508
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: I mean, they got any stretch, they got the punt,

509
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 1: they get the ball. Here's the thing about that out

510
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: actually pretty well. Tomlin also knows Gruden. And what did

511
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 1: Gruden do when he got the ball back there. Well,

512
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,720
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to milk some clock here. So he

513
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: ran the ball three times. They hadn't run the ball. Yeah,

514
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 1: so he knew they weren't gonna they probably Okay, I know, John,

515
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,320
Speaker 1: he's probably not gonna throw the ball here. We're gonna

516
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 1: get the ball back. If we get we're gonna get

517
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 1: to stop here. We stopped to run all day long,

518
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 1: and they did it. Took two and a half minutes

519
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 1: off the clock. They go down. And I thought that

520
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,399
Speaker 1: the crazier decision as opposed to punning, it was sending

521
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 1: Boss while out there for a fifty six yard field goal.

522
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 1: I yelled the TVA that one too, like this rarely

523
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: goes well, you know me, I'm playing that to get

524
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: you know, they were they were, you know, they faced

525
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,200
Speaker 1: third and ten. They're like, okay, try at least get

526
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 1: five yards or something to make that's where you run

527
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,399
Speaker 1: somebody in an underneath pattern, just to try to get

528
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,360
Speaker 1: a little bit closer. The kick barely made it through

529
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,439
Speaker 1: the uprights. Now it made it. Wonderful kick. Yeah, but

530
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: if they missed that, people are killing him for that.

531
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,119
Speaker 1: Like you're always going to be second guests on decisions

532
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,199
Speaker 1: like that. But they can't think about that stuff. Punning

533
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: on third, fourth and short from not if you're a

534
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: midfield I get it, which is where the Ravens were.

535
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 1: They're also at midfield there. You know. If they don't

536
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,160
Speaker 1: get that, the Chiefs aren't in field goal range right now,

537
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 1: they're still gonna They're still gonna make a couple of plays.

538
00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: You don't make that games over the last eight minutes

539
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 1: of that game are moot because you've already put them

540
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 1: in field goal range. Now they're gonna go up two

541
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,919
Speaker 1: touchdowns and forget about it. The game's over. Yeah, I

542
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: still I would have went for it there. And I

543
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 1: also realized in the end it did work out pretty

544
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 1: well because, like you said, Gruden ran it three times

545
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 1: in a row on third down. If I were the Raiders,

546
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: there's no way I would have run it and third

547
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: and eight third mate, And like, I forget how the

548
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: play was too. It's like they know they totally punted them,

549
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: and they totally through the dialing away and he didn't

550
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:30,399
Speaker 1: gain enough time to do it. I thought that was

551
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: a coaching air. And frankly, whenever they trotted out of

552
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 1: Boswell for the longest kick in stadium histery, I was like,

553
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: this is this is crazy. You know he's gonna miss it.

554
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 1: Then the midfield. So I mean, all three of those

555
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: things I kind of differed with. Some of them worked out,

556
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 1: some didn't. But you're right. I mean, the coaches get

557
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:50,119
Speaker 1: killed when if it's sto six week out of win,

558
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 1: no one thinks about half that stuff. But I mean

559
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: that's not why they lost. I mean it's easy to

560
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,200
Speaker 1: sit you know again, if you're playing that on that

561
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 1: go for it all the time on mad and yeah,

562
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 1: you hit pause and get up to go to the kitchen,

563
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: get a sandwich, have a drink it over. Okay, I'm

564
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: gonna come back, go back to the game. Okay, now, okay,

565
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:13,119
Speaker 1: here's what we're gonna run. This decision seconds you get

566
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: your punt team on the field, you don't want to

567
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 1: have to use the time out. No, No, they were

568
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 1: super valuable. But again people harp on that that's not

569
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 1: why they lost. I mean, I'm pretty open about how

570
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: I would have done it. Loves me, it would have

571
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 1: worked out better. Um, you know, and you're right, if

572
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: you don't get it, the game is over. I mean,

573
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. I just thought the defense

574
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,480
Speaker 1: was It's obviously the strength of the team, but the

575
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: defense was andling a little bit, and it played a

576
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: lot of snaps, and it wasn't the beginning of the game.

577
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: Defense you know to rely on. But it's still your

578
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: better unit, right, you know. I mean, it's some one

579
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: that you have to trust. Yeah, And they didn't take

580
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 1: a tough recipe in today's NFL didn't take the ball

581
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 1: away again, didn't. That's actually the article I wrote. I

582
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,720
Speaker 1: finished it by saying, there's a lot of that, here's

583
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff that went wrong and right, blah,

584
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: blah blah. In the end, if this defense doesn't make

585
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: big plays let alone. I mean, the defense didn't play badly,

586
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: but they almost have to make big plays, and they

587
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: didn't make enough of those to beat a quality opponents.

588
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 1: Two more sacks, one more takeaway. You know, like you're

589
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: in it right, and that's the hard thing to count on, man, right,

590
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 1: I agree, But we're gonna take a break. He is

591
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,680
Speaker 1: Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lelly. You're listening to the Drive

592
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: here on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll go around the league

593
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 1: talk about everything else that happened uh in Week two

594
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 1: right after this