Speaker 1: Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
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Speaker 1: And now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley,
Speaker 1: and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks everybody for being with us for the Point
Speaker 2: After on the Steelers Audio Network. We're so gloomy and
Speaker 2: so down that we needed somebody to pick us up.
Speaker 2: So we're also joined today by Max Starks, who could
Speaker 2: I think actually physically pick us all up at one time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely in the past in the past. You
Speaker 3: know what I can do now, I can carry the wheelbarrow.
Speaker 3: I can just put you in there. That's my closest
Speaker 3: to picking up now.
Speaker 4: You know that would be nice.
Speaker 2: We'd like that because we all need to be lifted
Speaker 2: up after this loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Our first
Speaker 2: reaction is brought to you by First National Bank. Let's
Speaker 2: get started member fdi C.
Speaker 4: So full disclosure.
Speaker 2: I was on This Morning with Max, and I was
Speaker 2: on This Morning with Wolf, and I've also listened to
Speaker 2: Matt Williamson's podcast. So but I have not heard from
Speaker 2: Matt Williamson in person. So Matt, why don't you start
Speaker 2: us off with your impressions your first reaction on what
Speaker 2: you saw last night?
Speaker 5: Well, if we want to put a Rosie spin on it,
Speaker 5: you didn't play close to your best game as a team,
Speaker 5: and you were still in it to the absolute final play.
Speaker 5: I think there's something to be said for that. But
Speaker 5: relying on massive, timely splash plays on defense is a really,
Speaker 5: really tough way to live in this league. You know,
Speaker 5: red zone turnovers, block kicks, things of that nature. And
Speaker 5: for the second week in a row, you know, Robin,
Speaker 5: you know, you and I do a lot of prep
Speaker 5: for these they not that these guys don't, but I
Speaker 5: dig into these teams so much the opponent that for
Speaker 5: the second week in a row, I kind of thought, man,
Speaker 5: I don't see an obvious path where the Colts or
Speaker 5: Cowboys could get the better of the Steelers.
Speaker 6: And for two weeks in a row now they have.
Speaker 7: That's where the statistics just drive you crazy, right right,
Speaker 7: you can't get too.
Speaker 6: Any you know, there's you know beings.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's that's that's why they played the game. Well.
Speaker 2: You know the other thing, Matt, that I was talking
Speaker 2: about this morning that I found a little more disturbing
Speaker 2: about this loss was I thought I could have isolated
Speaker 2: a lot of plays against the Colts that just didn't
Speaker 2: go this to other's way, just kind of dumb luck,
Speaker 2: bad things happening, fumbles, bounce the type here and there, interception,
Speaker 2: any one of not eight plays that turned the game,
Speaker 2: any one of eight plays that could have turned the
Speaker 2: game in the students favor where it didn't feel like
Speaker 2: the Colts would be walking off the field saying that
Speaker 2: at all. I think the Cowboys or the team walking
Speaker 2: off this field saying, man, we let it. We left
Speaker 2: a lot out there. This game could have gotten lopsided
Speaker 2: if they had, you know, not turned the ball over
Speaker 2: the red zone, not had a field goal block. This
Speaker 2: feels different to me than the Colts loss. This feels like,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, now, we might need to regroup a
Speaker 2: little bit, because that was not a good way to
Speaker 2: go out.
Speaker 6: One hundred percent.
Speaker 5: I like the way you phrased that, because you know,
Speaker 5: on offense you had plays to be made downfield that
Speaker 5: you missed. It wasn't dallasted something to make you screw
Speaker 5: up a long completion, not one run over ten yards
Speaker 5: the entire day, you know, in the running game. And
Speaker 5: the O line is a work in progress, to be kind.
Speaker 5: And then I don't frankly understand the usage of George Pickens.
Speaker 5: I mean, when there was two wide receivers on the field,
Speaker 5: he only got one snap in those personnel groupings. I mean,
Speaker 5: it makes it too easy to play against. They're short
Speaker 5: on playmakers right now. But I might blame the defense
Speaker 5: more than the offense. I mean they picked a part
Speaker 5: the Steelers defense with very little resistance once again, and
Speaker 5: I just didn't see that coming.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I when I look back at the Colts game,
Speaker 2: I thought, Okay, the defense, you know, maybe they did
Speaker 2: some things in some drives. And then then the defense
Speaker 2: rally and did a really nice job, the offense rallying
Speaker 2: did a really nice job, and just some things happened.
Speaker 2: You know, there were certainly moments, uh, you know, Max,
Speaker 2: and let's go to you next year. In this game
Speaker 2: in which you know the Steelers, they you know, they
Speaker 2: had the march in the second half that was you know,
Speaker 2: they had a very nice touchdown drive that they put up.
Speaker 2: But they they the two did not marry together. They
Speaker 2: couldn't get enough offense going to get the defense a rest.
Speaker 2: They couldn't get enough you know, defensive stops to give
Speaker 2: the offense another chance. It just it didn't go hand
Speaker 2: in hand in this game.
Speaker 8: No, I think.
Speaker 3: I think that also lends itself to the offense not
Speaker 3: getting off to a fast start, like the first drive
Speaker 3: you got points, but then to get stemied in those moments,
Speaker 3: like you said, we still we had the strip sack,
Speaker 3: we had we had big plays to be made where
Speaker 3: you needed to flip the field and we go three
Speaker 3: and out right after that.
Speaker 8: So you don't do anything.
Speaker 3: With that extra stolen possession in the game, and then
Speaker 3: by the time you need it in the second half,
Speaker 3: the defense is is depleted at that point. I mean,
Speaker 3: you think about the passwords. Pass rus was gone. Yep,
Speaker 3: you know, once once Herbid got injured on on that
Speaker 3: on that hit on on on deck and then now
Speaker 3: you had to go to Marvin Leal and then Demarvin
Speaker 3: Leo goes out with a stinger. And then and that
Speaker 3: was Jeremiah Moon who hadn't played football since the preseason,
Speaker 3: and you're asking him to play meaningful plays in the
Speaker 3: gut to have a moments and TJ's exhausted at this point,
Speaker 3: so he's on the sideline as well.
Speaker 8: And at one point Loudermilk was playing.
Speaker 3: Outside back or for us, and we went we shifted
Speaker 3: to a four down front because of that. And it
Speaker 3: just like you said, it was just two ships passing
Speaker 3: in the night, you know, when one was on in
Speaker 3: the first half, the other one was completely cold, and
Speaker 3: then the other one starts to warm up and the
Speaker 3: other one has been flamed out. It was just like
Speaker 3: you said. It was just it was not playing complimentary football.
Speaker 2: You know, Wolf, When I look at this game, and
Speaker 2: I just look at the drive chart in this game,
Speaker 2: and the cow Boys had one drive that had fewer
Speaker 2: than six plays. That was their second drive of the
Speaker 2: game that resulted in a punt. The Steelers had a
Speaker 2: five play drive, a three play drive, a three play drive,
Speaker 2: a four play drive, a three play drive.
Speaker 4: They had five that were under six plays.
Speaker 2: And you know, we talk about the Steelers offense wanting
Speaker 2: to have a cumulative effect.
Speaker 4: You run the game early. You run the ball early.
Speaker 2: It might not show up in positive yardage, but you
Speaker 2: want to wear the other team down. I think perhaps
Speaker 2: what we saw is the offense's inability. Even though Dallas,
Speaker 2: you know, they did run the ball more effectively as
Speaker 2: the game went on. That's not their approach, but just
Speaker 2: being out on the field, you know, getting over to
Speaker 2: the sideline and now all of a sudden you're grabbing
Speaker 2: your helmet running back out on defense again. That may
Speaker 2: have had a cumulative effect on the Steelers. Is this
Speaker 2: game more on as well?
Speaker 8: Oh, there's no question.
Speaker 7: I mean, if you look at the possession downs three
Speaker 7: of twelve, that's I'm sorry, but that's not winning football.
Speaker 7: That's not going to win you many games. And it's
Speaker 7: unfortunate because the shots were there and they took shots. Hey,
Speaker 7: you know, it's it's like Matt said earlier. You know,
Speaker 7: it's not like the Cowboys were doing something that was
Speaker 7: you know, negating whatever the Steels were doing that the
Speaker 7: throwers were there that you know, but they didn't hook up.
Speaker 7: It was either too long or underthrown or something of
Speaker 7: that nature. That kept them from being able to capitalize
Speaker 7: on on what they were doing, and that's the unfortunate thing.
Speaker 7: But if you can't roll chains on third down, you're
Speaker 7: gonna in for a long night unless you have some
Speaker 7: explosive plays in your in your your bank of plays.
Speaker 7: You know, if you're not roll, if you're not getting
Speaker 7: explosive plays every now and then, it's it turns into
Speaker 7: the you know, the Padan death March there, you know,
Speaker 7: And that's essentially what really happened for them.
Speaker 2: Max back to you on this because I think you know, uh,
Speaker 2: we saw a possession in which the Steelers had second
Speaker 2: and short, they got a pre snap penalty, then they
Speaker 2: turned it into third and short, and they got another
Speaker 2: pre snap penalty, and they're not able to overcome those things.
Speaker 2: And the Cowboys had a first and twenty after two
Speaker 2: of their own pre snap penalties, and they are built
Speaker 2: to overcome that.
Speaker 4: I understand that.
Speaker 2: I think we all understand that the offenses are built
Speaker 2: different ways. And you hope that the Steelers are on
Speaker 2: an evolutionary path that's going to get them to the
Speaker 2: point where first and twenty is not that big of
Speaker 2: a deal. Right now, it feels like it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: So separating those moments out to me, you know, I
Speaker 2: wanted to ask you and Wolf and Matt where you
Speaker 2: think this running game is right now, this ability to
Speaker 2: get into those third and manageables. You're going with a
Speaker 2: lot of heavy personnel, You've got an offensive line that
Speaker 2: you want to wear an opponent down with, and you're
Speaker 2: going against a Cowboys defense that's without it's two best players.
Speaker 2: I thought the Steelers would be able to do a
Speaker 2: better job. And Eric Kendricks is a terrific bental linebacker.
Speaker 2: I think they've got a really good young player and
Speaker 2: overshown who flies around a lot. But I thought the
Speaker 2: Steelers would be able to bring their pressure to bear
Speaker 2: on the Cowboys, and it didn't feel to me like
Speaker 2: that happened. Do you agree with my assessment and what
Speaker 2: needs to happen better?
Speaker 3: If that is the case, all right, so let's attack
Speaker 3: this because it's a multi pronged attack on this one.
Speaker 8: Yes, let's start with the latter.
Speaker 3: Defensively, we were pressuring and getting to Deak in the
Speaker 3: first half, and it was evident by the fact that
Speaker 3: he had to switch his jersey at halftime because it
Speaker 3: had so much green on the.
Speaker 8: Back of that white jersey.
Speaker 3: Second half, like you said, started to heat up the pressure,
Speaker 3: you lose a Herbic, started to heat up the pressure.
Speaker 8: You then lose a Demarvin Leal.
Speaker 3: Now you're playing cautious because you're like, we don't have
Speaker 3: enough bodies, and I get the attrition game. It happens
Speaker 3: every year. Is pick your position group. It was inside
Speaker 3: linebackers last year, it was the entire secondary a year
Speaker 3: before that. Right now it's outside linebackers.
Speaker 6: And running backs and before.
Speaker 3: And now we're dealing with running backs now on the
Speaker 3: offensive side of the ball. So I think defensively, they
Speaker 3: just ran out of gas. And when they gave you
Speaker 3: those plays early, when they blocked the field goal, when
Speaker 3: you have two red zone interceptions that help you, you know, sorry,
Speaker 3: red zone interception and then also a fumble force fumble
Speaker 3: that helps you and you don't do anything with it.
Speaker 3: And then the second half you're like, I need more possessions,
Speaker 3: like we gave you possessions, and then offensively to attack
Speaker 3: that issue, it's the run game is not where it
Speaker 3: needs to be because they don't have gel And that's
Speaker 3: the easiest way of putting it. You've rolled out different
Speaker 3: rotations just about every single week. There's somebody new in
Speaker 3: the lineup, so there's no consistency with the offensive line
Speaker 3: right now. And I said this earlier in our show.
Speaker 3: I need the in a three point stance. I can't
Speaker 3: stand a two point stance and run situations on first
Speaker 3: and ten. It bothers me. I don't care if the
Speaker 3: quarterback it feels comfortable in the shotgun. If you know
Speaker 3: you're going to run the ball, it doesn't matter if
Speaker 3: the other guy across from you knows that you're going
Speaker 3: to run the ball. It's about him stopping me. And
Speaker 3: you have to go dictate the fight as opposed to
Speaker 3: being reactionary to it. And I think you lose leverage,
Speaker 3: you lose power, you lose all of the things that
Speaker 3: make a run game effective when you're six inches higher
Speaker 3: than you should be at the initial snap of the ball.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what leads to them not making
Speaker 3: it up to the second level on backers and covering guys,
Speaker 3: And why guys slide off on the on the first
Speaker 3: level or you turn them loose trying to get to
Speaker 3: the second level is because you didn't You didn't get
Speaker 3: that guy.
Speaker 2: Up at that assessment by by Max Starks. But you know, Matt,
Speaker 2: I would expect I still expect more from this running game.
Speaker 2: And if you're going to be built this way, you
Speaker 2: know you're going against a team that I thought they
Speaker 2: would be able to wear down with the running game.
Speaker 2: Now again, you know hand in glove right, you don't
Speaker 2: get enough going offensively, you don't get the ball back
Speaker 2: quickly enough. I think in this instance, even though the
Speaker 2: defense in the second half didn't get the job done,
Speaker 2: I think it was more a case of attrition. I
Speaker 2: would like to see more from the offense as far
Speaker 2: as being able to run the ball. You're built to
Speaker 2: run the ball. You're going with heavy sets. You have
Speaker 2: a big, physical runner, and I know he was dinged
Speaker 2: up and had to leave the game for a while,
Speaker 2: but it just never felt like the running game got
Speaker 2: the traction that it would need to get in a
Speaker 2: game like this in order to provide the winning margin.
Speaker 5: Yeah, one hundred percent. And the best defense is less defense.
Speaker 5: And the Steelers played way too much defense last night,
Speaker 5: I mean, and they were shot at the end. I
Speaker 5: thought it would be the other way around. I mean,
Speaker 5: with Parsons and Lawrence by far their best guys up
Speaker 5: front being out for the game, and then niel In
Speaker 5: getting get hurt right.
Speaker 8: Off the bat.
Speaker 5: They had seven guys for four spots across their defensive line,
Speaker 5: and frankly, besides Lynn Bell Jos who played really well,
Speaker 5: I mean he was an anchor in the middle. By
Speaker 5: the way, he's in a full grown man, none of
Speaker 5: them were super.
Speaker 8: Impressed and a half.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean he's a handful, there's no question.
Speaker 5: But between those seven for four spots, I thought they
Speaker 5: would wear them down consistently.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 5: I do think we knew that the offensive line, even
Speaker 5: in training camp, was going to be a work in progress,
Speaker 5: but I don't think any of us thought they would
Speaker 5: start four different line combinations and three or four guys
Speaker 5: making their first start ever over the course of five games.
Speaker 5: And as we mentioned, I mean, the cluster injuries at
Speaker 5: running back are certainly a factor. I'm not picking on nausea,
Speaker 5: but he doesn't seem to be making any more yardage
Speaker 5: than what's blocked. And I would have loved to have
Speaker 5: seen a healthy Warren from last year what he could
Speaker 5: have done in that situation. But it's a group effort,
Speaker 5: and I don't think people scared. Are super scared of
Speaker 5: the passing game. You know, you're not backing people off
Speaker 5: the line of scrimmage. I keep going back to wys
Speaker 5: and pickings on the field war and I think the
Speaker 5: offense is becoming too easy to play against.
Speaker 2: Well, you wonder wolf, you know, if you're not able
Speaker 2: to run the ball the way you want to sometimes,
Speaker 2: I mean, are we seeing teams selling out to stop
Speaker 2: the run? Are we seeing teams flying up? And this
Speaker 2: is a question I should say this. Bob Briola asked
Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin this, and Mike Tomlin said, yeah, he does
Speaker 2: think that teams are committing to stop the Steelers run,
Speaker 2: but they still are, you know, expect to be able
Speaker 2: to run the ball. So is it just a matter
Speaker 2: of this or mostly a matter of this offensive line
Speaker 2: gelling together, getting some continuity together and also maybe getting
Speaker 2: your running back core healthy for this running game to
Speaker 2: start to succeed. Or is there more to it?
Speaker 7: No, I really think it's about getting your offensive line
Speaker 7: to gel and getting your people back.
Speaker 8: I mean.
Speaker 7: Mike Domlind also referenced the fact of having a primary
Speaker 7: and an auxiliary runner and what that means as far
Speaker 7: as defensively how you get defensive back filling certain run
Speaker 7: lanes on certain downs and distances versus certain personnel packages.
Speaker 7: That creates a better opportunity for the auxiliary runner on
Speaker 7: third downs and so forth, on draws, screens, things.
Speaker 8: Of that like that. That that that is different, you know.
Speaker 7: So yeah, you know, I'd love to have cordero and
Speaker 7: have them a jail and healthy and back again.
Speaker 8: Right now.
Speaker 7: Naji's the guy. Now, he's he's very durable, and he's
Speaker 7: he's a punchier in the mouth type guy. But you've
Speaker 7: got to be able to script more plays, get him better. Uh,
Speaker 7: running lanes open there and that's got to be something. Yeah,
Speaker 7: it's got to be more linear if you ask. In
Speaker 7: my mind, I'd like to see more traps, you know,
Speaker 7: the short traps. He's built for that thing, man, I
Speaker 7: mean you you hand that ball off and skidaddle through
Speaker 7: one of those two three gaps. Well in my day
Speaker 7: we call them. Yeah, I forgot. This is more modern era,
Speaker 7: you know. So, but you know that would I think
Speaker 7: that would be great and be built. He's, like I said,
Speaker 7: built for that sort of thing. But again, remember there
Speaker 7: were opportunities there, you know, just because if you overthrow.
Speaker 7: I can't I counter Hayward on the sidelines. Okay, doesn't
Speaker 7: mean that the offense is wrong.
Speaker 8: It was right.
Speaker 7: It went to the it just didn't get completed, you
Speaker 7: know what I mean. There's there's got to be more
Speaker 7: explosive runs. But if you go and check some of
Speaker 7: the runs, if guys don't slide off the duos, if
Speaker 7: guys at the tight end position do blocking duos with
Speaker 7: the with the offensive tackles, if they're doing something and
Speaker 7: they're getting the blocks right, he's gonna be able to
Speaker 7: gain yardage there. So it's it's not the function just
Speaker 7: only of scripting plays and this and that. You've got
Speaker 7: to execute as always. Guys got to win their one
Speaker 7: eleventh and you can't run away from not winning your
Speaker 7: one eleventh. It's there, it's on tape, Okay.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot to get to there, really good
Speaker 2: points brought up, and a lot more to dive into. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: we're diving into a Steelers loss. They lose twenty to
Speaker 2: seventeen to the Cowboys, drops them back to three and
Speaker 2: two on the season. We're gonna have more analysis of
Speaker 2: this game when we continue on the point after on
Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3: Back to the point after on DVD I formation.
Speaker 2: Prescott gets a snap, gives to Towns and the ball
Speaker 2: is loose and Prescott pounces on it back at the
Speaker 2: four yard line. Downle was hit, ball came loose, and
Speaker 2: now this changes a complexion of everything. The Cowboys forced
Speaker 2: to use a timeout. The ball is back near the
Speaker 2: five yard line. It's gonna be third in goal from there.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 2: The play of the game is brought to you by
Speaker 2: S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
Speaker 2: oh two. stBank dot com s and T Bank member
Speaker 2: fdi C. And you're thinking, look, man, you know they're
Speaker 2: gonna they have three chances to run the ball in
Speaker 2: from the one foot line. The Landon Roberts makes that
Speaker 2: big hit, You're thinking, well, wait a minute, this is
Speaker 2: a different deal altogether, trying to score from two plays
Speaker 2: from the four and a half, then three played from
Speaker 2: the half. Unfortunately, we all know what happened on that
Speaker 2: last final play. And by the way, a doff of
Speaker 2: the cap to Dak Prescott. That was a tremendous throw, Matt.
Speaker 2: He had to make it. I thought he made a
Speaker 2: couple of superlative throws and one to Ceedee Lamb along
Speaker 2: the sideline that play at the end of the game
Speaker 2: to show why that's why the Cowboys paid him sixty
Speaker 2: million dollars.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's a really good player. I mean, he's a
Speaker 5: top ten quarterback all day long. That's seen things. And
Speaker 5: when you get a tire defense, he's going to exploit
Speaker 5: a time and time again a couple things when I
Speaker 5: listened to that, though, Rob, you mentioned last segment, you
Speaker 5: know there was eight to ten plays in that Colts
Speaker 5: game that you know, by an inch if the Steelers
Speaker 5: would have got it, it would have been the difference in
Speaker 5: the game. That was one in this Dallas game that
Speaker 5: had they fallen on that fumble, would be in a
Speaker 5: lot of different spirits right now. But you also mentioned
Speaker 5: you know that I kind of like take a Godfather
Speaker 5: approach of these games too, and think of those around you,
Speaker 5: think of those around you, think, and if this was
Speaker 5: a Cowboys podcast, I'd be like, man, we may have
Speaker 5: found a running game and this Tolbert guy could be
Speaker 5: a really good number two receiver for us, and maybe
Speaker 5: the defense is better than we thought without Micaeh Parsons.
Speaker 6: So you do have to give the opponent some credit.
Speaker 2: To Yeah, and that was one that could have gone
Speaker 2: the Steeler's way, but three others did go the Steelers
Speaker 2: way and a block field goal, so there was plenty
Speaker 2: that went the Steelers' way. I just you know, when
Speaker 2: you look at the yardage total, I mean the Cowboys
Speaker 2: wolf basically doubled the Steelers up in this game. And yeah,
Speaker 2: you had a moment, and I think if the Steelers
Speaker 2: had won this game, it would have felt like an escape.
Speaker 4: It would have felt like a Houdini act.
Speaker 2: Whereas if they'd beaten Indianapolis, I would have felt like
Speaker 2: it was a good, methodical, solid comeback, you know, good
Speaker 2: character win of a team that got punched early and
Speaker 2: found itself on the canvas and got up and was
Speaker 2: able to finish the fight and win by decision. This
Speaker 2: one felt like they were getting out pointed all night.
Speaker 2: To continue the boxing analogy.
Speaker 7: Well, I mean it would be snatching victory from the
Speaker 7: jaws of defeat. I mean, you know, that's basically what
Speaker 7: I thought they were gonna do with that hit by
Speaker 7: Big General by Landon Roberts. Come on, and I don't
Speaker 7: know about you, but I was like losing my mind.
Speaker 7: I'm thinking they can come.
Speaker 8: Back now and they can hold the fort right here,
Speaker 8: right now, and forget everything because winning covers.
Speaker 7: A ton of sins, right yeah. And then all of
Speaker 7: a sudden, Dak did his job on the next play,
Speaker 7: and so a couple of plays later. But you know,
Speaker 7: for that moment, man like, it brought such hope, and
Speaker 7: that's one of the things that I hope the guys
Speaker 7: don't let extinguish. You've got to keep that hope candle
Speaker 7: burning at all times, and it can't be just hoped.
Speaker 7: It's got to be backed up with a ton of
Speaker 7: work and everything else that you gotta do to get
Speaker 7: the job done. But you cannot let this thing become
Speaker 7: now two losses heading to a third, you can't. You
Speaker 7: can stack wins and you can stack losses, and this
Speaker 7: is something they've got to avoid.
Speaker 2: You know, Max, I want to go back to Wolf
Speaker 2: was talking about the Connor Hayward shot up the sideline.
Speaker 2: I believe it was Wolf talking about that that just
Speaker 2: eluded Connor Hayward. You know, it grazed off his fingertips.
Speaker 2: It was a pretty well thrown ball. It was a
Speaker 2: heck of an effort by Connor Hayward. It falls incomplete,
Speaker 2: and it feels like the Steelers are at a point
Speaker 2: now where we're seeing a few more things. We're seeing
Speaker 2: a few more over the last couple of weeks designed
Speaker 2: runs for justin fields. They're trying to find different ways
Speaker 2: to manufacturer yards, to move the sticks to manufacture points.
Speaker 2: It seems pretty obvious that this is not what the
Speaker 2: Cowboys can do with Dak Prescott yet. And by the way,
Speaker 2: nice audition with Dowbell, as Matt mentioned, their most probably
Speaker 2: their most effective running game. They came in as the
Speaker 2: worst running team in the league in Dowdell, who's been
Speaker 2: a career backup, really kind of had a nice game
Speaker 2: for the Cowboys to help out Prescott. But Prescott, I mean,
Speaker 2: you're throwing for three hundred and fifty plus yards. That
Speaker 2: is what you expect your quarterback to do. Doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like the Steelers are there yet offensively, and they're not
Speaker 2: really kind of designed to be that way. So when
Speaker 2: you have the opportunity to hit those plays, it kind
Speaker 2: of hurts when you don't. And it was fields just
Speaker 2: missing Hayward. Hayward was pretty open, it was a pretty
Speaker 2: well thrown ball. It was almost a pretty good catch.
Speaker 2: But almost doesn't quite get it done.
Speaker 8: Nah, you know, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: I mean close only counts of hand grenades and horseshoes, right,
Speaker 3: And in a football game, a matter of inches is
Speaker 3: what separates a victory from a defeat. And right there
Speaker 3: that was one of the prime examples where just three
Speaker 3: to four inches a little bit shorter, you know, makes
Speaker 3: a big play happen because you know, as you kind
Speaker 3: of look at the big plays in the game Matt
Speaker 3: mentioned earlier, no run over ten yards and you had
Speaker 3: a handful of you know, those team plus plays. Kyle
Speaker 3: Allen actually had one of them in the passing game.
Speaker 3: And a screen that went short that was taken long
Speaker 3: by Nause, a short route by George that was taken
Speaker 3: long on extra effort. That was it for explosives in
Speaker 3: that game.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker 3: It's hard to live that way. And I get if
Speaker 3: you want to create, like we talked about the attrition game,
Speaker 3: smash smash, smash and then hopefully it crashes. But having
Speaker 3: Nase run laterally on those wide toss zones not effective.
Speaker 3: That's not using his skill set. Now, that's more Jalen Warren,
Speaker 3: that's more Cordero Patterson. That's where those guys, Excel. You
Speaker 3: knew that Nase was going to be your lead back
Speaker 3: in this game. Run the counters, as Wolfe said, run
Speaker 3: the interior stuff between the tackles. Let him be a
Speaker 3: battering ram. When you throw him out there like a pendulum.
Speaker 3: That's the problem you're gonna get. You're gonna get a
Speaker 3: lot more negative plays, a lot more zero yardage plays
Speaker 3: than you will positive plays. And I thought that was
Speaker 3: an execcution thing from the coaching aspect as far as
Speaker 3: calling that game, that they didn't take advantage of the
Speaker 3: personnel they had in there. And you can throw as
Speaker 3: many big personnels out there as you want, but if
Speaker 3: you're not running big personnel, big boy, flex your muscles
Speaker 3: on top of the guy plays, it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3: And I think also the other issue was you're not
Speaker 3: in a three point stance with thirteen personnel in a
Speaker 3: short yardage situation. I don't care how, I don't care
Speaker 3: if your hercules, you're not getting it because lim Val Joseph,
Speaker 3: guess what, he's not moving, He's he's not.
Speaker 8: Going anywhere, and he is in a three point stance.
Speaker 8: Everybody on defense is on a three point stance. Why
Speaker 8: aren't you.
Speaker 3: They've already created about a foot of leverage on you,
Speaker 3: so matter, and then you're not having to take the
Speaker 3: extra step at the line of scrimmage going forward to
Speaker 3: try and gather yourself to get back to that leverage
Speaker 3: position as opposed to starting out there.
Speaker 6: Does it shock you?
Speaker 5: I know, there's a new coordinator and he's to do
Speaker 5: things different than.
Speaker 8: The old one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but when they put Roderick Jones in the lineup
Speaker 5: for the second half of last year, we saw pollers
Speaker 5: everywhere weaponizing offensive lineman draps, as Wolf mentioned.
Speaker 6: It shocks me. We don't see nearly as much this year.
Speaker 3: No, and we don't see nearly as much. And I think,
Speaker 3: you know, is this trying to say I'm separating my
Speaker 3: philosophy from yours. Is this a philosophical difference trying to
Speaker 3: distinguish yourself or is it basically, you know, saying that
Speaker 3: practical application, I'm not looking at my personnel and I
Speaker 3: just can put anything out there and they should execute it,
Speaker 3: you know. And I think that's where you kind of
Speaker 3: struggle with seeing what that is man. And I think
Speaker 3: that that's my biggest concern is, you know, are we
Speaker 3: getting too fancy for fancy's sake, as opposed to just
Speaker 3: putting your hand in the dirt and just saying, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna punch that guy in the mouth of me.
Speaker 8: So give me a man, let me point it out.
Speaker 5: It's a lot different if you don't plan on re
Speaker 5: signing nause and you're gonna do that big picture. But
Speaker 5: to beat the Cowboys on this day, I don't care
Speaker 5: about who's gonna come back next year.
Speaker 6: I you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: About next year.
Speaker 3: I'm living for today and today and everything. When you
Speaker 3: talked about it, when you do when you do your research,
Speaker 3: we're watching these games prepping for this game. There was
Speaker 3: no stat category that the Steelers were good at that
Speaker 3: the that the Dallas Cowboys were also good at. It
Speaker 3: was a deficiency in things that we thought we were
Speaker 3: strong at, and we didn't do that. Look like a
Speaker 3: great matchup, I mean on paper, was like, man, this
Speaker 3: is gonna be great because they're week against the run,
Speaker 3: they have to sell out and now that puts one
Speaker 3: on one situation on the outside we could throw away
Speaker 3: out of eight man box. And we did none of that.
Speaker 3: And that was the one thing that was really frustrating.
Speaker 3: And like you said, it wasn't executing your personnel to
Speaker 3: the best of their abilities.
Speaker 8: And so let me just say this.
Speaker 7: You remember this too, when even when you got eight
Speaker 7: man boxes, you can still run successfully against eight man boxes.
Speaker 7: But I will also tell you what Russ Grimm, you know,
Speaker 7: a Hall of famer and was the line coach for Max.
Speaker 8: What did he used to say about the eighth man.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's the running back guy. Yeah there you go, Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: So let me so this is I'm going to go
Speaker 2: down a football rabbit hole that that Matt has discovered.
Speaker 4: So Matt, I want to get back to you and
Speaker 4: special teams.
Speaker 2: Remind me if I forget Wolf and Max, I want
Speaker 2: to ask you guys both, so a lot of times
Speaker 2: we'll see you know, the thought is, hey, a certain
Speaker 2: receiver will be better as a slot receiver. A guy
Speaker 2: who is a really good, you know, four to three
Speaker 2: rush and might not be a good fit on a
Speaker 2: three to four, right, So you want certain personnel for
Speaker 2: certain schemes. My question for both of you guys along
Speaker 2: the offensive line, we're seeing it seems to me again
Speaker 2: more zone blocking than we're seeing trapping and pulling in
Speaker 2: that sort of thing. Does the scheme make a difference
Speaker 2: to the offensive lineman? Are you looking for certain guys
Speaker 2: who fit certain schemes or can can offensive lineman block?
Speaker 2: No matter what the scheme, how important is the scheme
Speaker 2: and the personnel marrying together for offensive linemen?
Speaker 7: Well, I will say, if you want to go all
Speaker 7: the way back to the eighties seventies, okay, Chuck Nole,
Speaker 7: we never had anybody over sixty three. You know why
Speaker 7: because we ran such an intrinsic a trapping game that
Speaker 7: I mean essentially off we come off the bus trapping. Okay,
Speaker 7: I mean we're trapping everything. You pull the center, you
Speaker 7: pull the guards, pull the tackle, wham with the tight ends,
Speaker 7: what have you. The fact of the matter was they
Speaker 7: it was Chuck's philosophy that you had to be an
Speaker 7: under an up guy. You couldn't if you're six five
Speaker 7: sixty six. It's tough for you to bend to get
Speaker 7: underneath linebackers on two and three traps. If you're that tall,
Speaker 7: you know you're not gonna have that leverage. So that
Speaker 7: was in my mind. Yes, that was all about.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 8: Players were designed for or you got players for the scheme.
Speaker 8: You didn't. You couldn't have six to eight guys like Max.
Speaker 7: It would be tough for him to pull turn up
Speaker 7: in the hole and then have some guys six two
Speaker 7: six ' one trying, you know, meeting him in the
Speaker 7: hole and he's got to try to bend and get under.
Speaker 7: But you put him in a zone blocking scheme and
Speaker 7: some of the man blocking schemes where you got all
Speaker 7: that hamhock power that Max has got and design that that. Yeah,
Speaker 7: he fits that perfectly. So that's kind of like the
Speaker 7: obvious thing about it. You can still run some quick
Speaker 7: traps on the inside, and I think Isaac runs them fine.
Speaker 7: I think Mason's going to be fine with it. It's
Speaker 7: just a situation of getting used to it. But those
Speaker 7: zone blocking schemes and so forth, that's what everybody runs nowadays.
Speaker 7: You know, whether it's inside outside, the duo blocks all
Speaker 7: that stuff, it's everybody runs pretty much the same thing.
Speaker 7: It's finding guys that work well together and have the
Speaker 7: right body circumference, which obviously means you got to be big.
Speaker 6: And real quick.
Speaker 5: To expand on Rob's question, from my understanding, I've never
Speaker 5: done that. You guys have zone blocking schemes, take more reps,
Speaker 5: you know, more knowing the guy next to you, more timing,
Speaker 5: and they haven't had any of that, you know, in terms.
Speaker 6: Of who's on the field.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a trust thing when you run zone because
Speaker 3: you're you're because the difference between zone and man is
Speaker 3: area versus person. And when you're in a zone blocking scheme,
Speaker 3: if we're working Quotelo, I'll just call it a slip
Speaker 3: block on the back side, meaning we're taking the down
Speaker 3: line in two of us and one of us works
Speaker 3: to the back or whether he blits his black side
Speaker 3: to create a cutback lane or whether he fast flows
Speaker 3: over the top. Now that guy has to be quicker
Speaker 3: on the front side. I will say this offensive I
Speaker 3: was gonna say offensive lineman. Nowadays it matters who your
Speaker 3: running back is and understanding what your running back sees.
Speaker 3: So it's more of a marriage of the offensive line
Speaker 3: with the running back versus the offensive line to the
Speaker 3: scheme nowadays and.
Speaker 7: Thinking in no greater terms do you need to go
Speaker 7: than leve Bell? Yeah, And leve Bell was the perfect
Speaker 7: for the guy to just say, hey, look this is
Speaker 7: the guy that sets up his offensive line, who understood
Speaker 7: the second level guys and understood about the need of
Speaker 7: patience sometimes and letting a whole develop.
Speaker 5: The best thay I've I can ever remember is like
Speaker 5: when Mike Shanahan was with Denver. We're playing in altitude.
Speaker 5: Everyone's going to be gassed. So we won two hundred
Speaker 5: and seventy pounds. Linemen that are quick out of their
Speaker 5: stance and they move together as one and they're never
Speaker 5: going to get tired. And give me Clinton Portis who
Speaker 5: will stick us foot in the ground and find a
Speaker 5: crack and go.
Speaker 3: Terrell Davis, Yeah, right, or another one a guy who's like,
Speaker 3: I'm reading everything at the line of scrimmage and once
Speaker 3: I see my hole, I'm hitting it one hundred miles
Speaker 3: an hour to miles zone and we just yeah, we
Speaker 3: have different guys for that. We have a lot of
Speaker 3: different personnel types in that running back room, especially when
Speaker 3: you think Cordero to Jalen to Nause, all three are different.
Speaker 3: So you would think you would cater the run scheme
Speaker 3: to each of those guys strengths because you have that
Speaker 3: versailit because office line is going to block it regardless.
Speaker 3: They just need to know who's back there and what
Speaker 3: we're running at. That given time.
Speaker 2: All right, much more to get to, including special teams
Speaker 2: and including an historic night, which we will get to
Speaker 2: when we continue in the point after on this stee
Speaker 2: there's audio network back.
Speaker 8: To the point after on DVE.
Speaker 2: Snap back to Prescott looking looking out to the left.
Speaker 2: Has time now he doesn't have time. The ball is
Speaker 2: out and it's gonna be recovered. Well, that's either still
Speaker 2: battling for herbig comes away with it and give half
Speaker 2: a sack to Trent Jordan TJ.
Speaker 8: What that is?
Speaker 4: Career sack number one hundred for him.
Speaker 2: He has entered the history books as the second fastest
Speaker 2: to ever get one hundred sacks. And the Sack Hunger
Speaker 2: segment is brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community
Speaker 2: Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate at Pittsburgh Food
Speaker 2: Bank dot org. Matt Williamson TJ. Watt is he's a great,
Speaker 2: great football player.
Speaker 6: He's a great, great football player. And this is last week.
Speaker 5: I've been asked a bunch of where's the stack on
Speaker 5: the Steeler defensive All time list, and you know, crazy
Speaker 5: things like that. And I think if he never played
Speaker 5: another down he would be a Hall of Famer today.
Speaker 5: And with all respect to Reggie White, who's unbelievable, who
Speaker 5: has the record for reaching one hundred sacks. Reggie White
Speaker 5: got to play his formidable years in the USFL. He
Speaker 5: came into the NFL as a full grown man, you know, Yeah.
Speaker 8: He left as a full grown man.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I can just say that from experience, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, Matt, I did want to ask you about about
Speaker 2: special teams. But as long as we're on TJ Watt, Max,
Speaker 2: you want to weigh in on the greatness of TJ.
Speaker 8: I'm glad I'm retired. That's number one.
Speaker 3: Glad that he would have been a teammate of mine
Speaker 3: versus an adversary. But no, I think when you think
Speaker 3: of the greatness that is TJ. Watt like, he steps
Speaker 3: up in those big moments and he never shies away
Speaker 3: from the limelight. When the play needs to be made,
Speaker 3: he can usually do it as long as he's not
Speaker 3: being held by two and three guys and not getting
Speaker 3: it and not getting a flag for it. I think
Speaker 3: you know what TJ brings, the intimidation that he brings
Speaker 3: to offensive tackles and opposing offenses. They have to pay
Speaker 3: particular attention to him. He is a guy that's a
Speaker 3: focal point. When you look across the ball, you need
Speaker 3: to say a where is ninety B? Where is thirty nine?
Speaker 3: And then usually what comes it? Oh, my god, ninety
Speaker 3: seven still here. You know, it's that sequential type of
Speaker 3: formidability that they present. And would you know that you
Speaker 3: have to play essentially with ten guys being available versus
Speaker 3: eleven because you're going to dedicate one extra guy than
Speaker 3: what's necessary to TJ Watt on any given play. That
Speaker 3: usually makes your defensive job a lot easier. And the
Speaker 3: problem is all of those support guys have been injured
Speaker 3: because Alex Heismith was one of those guys that provided
Speaker 3: that secondary impact to where you're like, man, we have
Speaker 3: to get past this initial push of and phase of
Speaker 3: guys and herbig came in and was giving you that
Speaker 3: same Alex Heighsmith type of production until he got injured
Speaker 3: in the game. And I think that allows you to
Speaker 3: focus in on well, you know there's lesser talent on
Speaker 3: the other side. You can then focus your attentions the
Speaker 3: other way and they just wore TJ.
Speaker 8: Down in the game.
Speaker 3: But he is truly a difference maker and an X
Speaker 3: factor for any team, and thank.
Speaker 8: God he is a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Speaker 6: They don't have herbig Leal or high Smith.
Speaker 8: Next week.
Speaker 6: That's gonna be a four guys blocking him.
Speaker 8: Yeah, overload.
Speaker 2: It is gonna be a chore. And and the question
Speaker 2: does come up, and you're hearing it more and more.
Speaker 2: But I think that you know, at some point, you know,
Speaker 2: you can only be so great, right and if you're
Speaker 2: being mentioned with you know, Joe Green and Troy Polamalu
Speaker 2: Wolf and you know Mel Blont, I mean, the list
Speaker 2: goes on and on first year, there's great and I
Speaker 2: just think to fit comfortably in that group is an
Speaker 2: awfully good place to be.
Speaker 7: There's no question about it. I mean, you watch that
Speaker 7: young man compete out there, and you'll love the fire.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's the first thing you feel coming off
Speaker 7: of man. The dude is on fire. And when he's
Speaker 7: at it, when he's at his best, it's a full
Speaker 7: flame on like that guy in the Fantastic I mean,
Speaker 7: it's just.
Speaker 8: It's really amazing to watch.
Speaker 7: And you see, you know, look at I mean TJ
Speaker 7: is wide, he's six four two fifty something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 7: you see these giant six foot eight guys looking around
Speaker 7: when they come out that first snap.
Speaker 8: And they're going, Okay, do I got the wall? Do
Speaker 8: I got the chip? Do I got the running back?
Speaker 8: Over here? You'll keep it all, you.
Speaker 3: Know, Hey, hey, tight end, tight end?
Speaker 8: You know what I'm tight? You're not loose splitting out exactly.
Speaker 7: I mean it's really funny because the intimidation factor that
Speaker 7: he brings with him, because he will come.
Speaker 8: Out of nowhere.
Speaker 7: It's it's like he'll ghost move a guy, he'll go
Speaker 7: run through a guy, he'll duck into the inside. He's
Speaker 7: got all his his trapping hands work that he does
Speaker 7: when he runs the arcane, and he's got this football IQ.
Speaker 7: Remember the the interception he had last year when he
Speaker 7: dropped back and you know, things like that. You go, wow,
Speaker 7: that's that's football on another level. You know, I'm a
Speaker 7: checkers guy. He's he's at that with that three piece
Speaker 7: Chinese checkers chest whatever it.
Speaker 3: Ish, Chinese checkers multi dimensional, it looks like yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: You know, okay, so yes, the intimidation factor, the greatness
Speaker 2: factor that he is a Steelers all time great factor,
Speaker 2: all that's wonderful. Before we put a rap on this game,
Speaker 2: I did want to Matt bring up one more thing,
Speaker 2: because I think by and large this was a plus
Speaker 2: for the Special Special Teams. You know, the net for
Speaker 2: weight and it was only forty point four. There was
Speaker 2: a touchback in which Edmunds, you know, almost got the ball.
Speaker 4: He was in.
Speaker 2: Really good position and it just skipped past him. I
Speaker 2: don't know if he lost his footing or lost sight
Speaker 2: of the ball, but I thought Weightman did a nice
Speaker 2: job punting. You know, Turpin got one kickoff return for
Speaker 2: thirty eight yards. Anytime that guy touches the ball, if
Speaker 2: you're not a Cowboys fan, and we were not Cowboys fans,
Speaker 2: that's for sure, it is you are holding your breath
Speaker 2: because he is just so electric. So all things considered,
Speaker 2: and then you block a field go And now I'm
Speaker 2: looking at Anger. Anger had one punt yesterday. The Cowboys
Speaker 2: punted once in this game. That's not the Special Teams
Speaker 2: unit's fault. I thought, when you throw the block, uh,
Speaker 2: you know field goal in there, and you know Boswell
Speaker 2: being accurate with his kicks, that this was a you know,
Speaker 2: the AFC Player of the Month, Special Teams Player of
Speaker 2: the Month, Chris Boswell. I think that this has to
Speaker 2: be looked at as one area that the Studers, I
Speaker 2: think unequivocally would have to say, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was a positive in this game.
Speaker 5: And I was really excited to watch Johnston, especially from
Speaker 5: what we've seen at Punters in the last couple of years,
Speaker 5: because I thought he was going to be a real
Speaker 5: weapon and weightman is good. I mean, certainly improvement over
Speaker 5: the last couple of years. And I one hundred percent
Speaker 5: agree with everything you said. But that Aubrey character for
Speaker 5: Dallas is pretty decent too, And I was really intrigued
Speaker 5: with his kickoffs. I mean, I would have loved to
Speaker 5: see Quardall Patterson be actually able to return a kick.
Speaker 5: He should Before this game, the Steelers have returned one
Speaker 5: kick all year. They just plasted out of the end zone.
Speaker 5: But Aubrey has that funky lands it in the zone
Speaker 5: every time, makes it tough on you, which is a
Speaker 5: really interesting strategy I think other kickers are going to
Speaker 5: adapt to. But boy, wouldn't have been nice have Quarterrell,
Speaker 5: you know, returning one two or even Warren you know.
Speaker 2: By the way, I hope more teams do it because
Speaker 2: it adds much want to add a play. By the way,
Speaker 2: my apologies to all English teachers. I think I threw
Speaker 2: a b in the word unequivocal. I think I made
Speaker 2: it unequivocable.
Speaker 6: Or none of us have ever bought the name or anything.
Speaker 2: We're all looking for well, looking for that away right
Speaker 2: now to come inf So guys is to their's head
Speaker 2: on the road, and you know, we don't want to
Speaker 2: have to dig too deep into this matchup other Wolf
Speaker 2: and to say that this just feels like an important
Speaker 2: game at this point of the season, because you don't
Speaker 2: want losing to become a habit. You've lost two games
Speaker 2: that you've had opportunities to win. I think that you
Speaker 2: go four and two and you're flying back across the
Speaker 2: country with two more primetime games coming up to close
Speaker 2: out October, and you're feeling pretty good about where you are.
Speaker 8: So you're asking me about the Rays, you know, I.
Speaker 4: Ask you about the importance of the game.
Speaker 2: And by the way, another great rivalry game, right exactly,
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: You know, when the Cowboys would come off.
Speaker 7: Of the eighties, that was was big the seventies, and
Speaker 7: now the Raiders, who you know, that's another team that
Speaker 7: I hate.
Speaker 8: It's trying to get right now.
Speaker 7: But the point is, yes, this is a very important game.
Speaker 7: This is a game where look at you've you've now
Speaker 7: stacked you stacked three wins together. Now you've stacked two
Speaker 7: losses together. You don't want to continue the losses. Those
Speaker 7: things are as infectious as COVID for crying out loud,
Speaker 7: you know, And so you want to make sure you
Speaker 7: stop the bleeding. And you got to stop the bleeding
Speaker 7: this week. This is a great opportunity against the Raiders
Speaker 7: team and I think you can get after. But at
Speaker 7: the same point in time, I thought you're gonna get
Speaker 7: after the Cowboys.
Speaker 8: Too, you know.
Speaker 7: So the challenge is before them and they yes, and
Speaker 7: like you said, but you know what, here's the beauty
Speaker 7: of it.
Speaker 8: They can do it.
Speaker 7: I mean it's right there in front of them, and
Speaker 7: they've got to put together their best performances and collectively
Speaker 7: do it as a team.
Speaker 3: Well I was just waiting for it. Yeah, you're waiting
Speaker 3: for that great team performance. We've seen phases and separate points,
Speaker 3: but we haven't seen the entire team, all three fase
Speaker 3: that's gonna come play play in concert with each other.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I think that one of the things, uh that is
Speaker 2: One of the many, many things it's so cool about
Speaker 2: the Steelers is to have these rivals. When you think
Speaker 2: about rivalries mostly you're thinking about teams within the division.
Speaker 2: You know, histories that go way back. You know, the
Speaker 2: the Packers and the Bears, the Rams and the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers out west. You know, anybody in the the
Speaker 2: NFC East, the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Giants, the Red Well, sorry,
Speaker 2: the Command yeah now the well well done, Max, thanks
Speaker 2: for looking out. But you know, we talked about the
Speaker 2: Steelers Cowboys rivalry. You know, they've only played now thirty
Speaker 2: four times in their history, including the playoffs. That's not
Speaker 2: a lot of meetings. The Steelers and Ravens, you know,
Speaker 2: have have played more than that in a in a
Speaker 2: shorter period of time because they're in the same division.
Speaker 2: But it's not a conference versus conference Max Stevens versus Cowboys,
Speaker 2: which makes that unique. But it is also not a
Speaker 2: divisional game. It's not an opponent you see every single year,
Speaker 2: and yet the enmity between the two sides continues to
Speaker 2: exist and it is a great rivalry. We talked in
Speaker 2: the pregame yesterday about the Cowboys and the Steelers being
Speaker 2: different styles, right, a boxer versus a slugger.
Speaker 4: Kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Well, this is two teams kind of like the Steves
Speaker 2: and Ravens, you know that would fight in the phone
Speaker 2: booth because that's the kind of styles that they play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean, you know, Steelers Cowboys was
Speaker 3: Hatfields and McCoy's of NFL. You know, it's just it's
Speaker 3: a deep rooted historical rivalry. And like you said, it
Speaker 3: stends back to an era when they played in Super
Speaker 3: Bowls and they got and the Steelers got the better
Speaker 3: of them. Early Cowboys come back, they get their one
Speaker 3: punch in the nineties and there was an argument over
Speaker 3: who was America's team, and you know that whole conjecture
Speaker 3: that went on. So there was all these little animosity
Speaker 3: moments that would bleed into that historical relevance of only
Speaker 3: seeing each other once every four years. And you had
Speaker 3: the additional opportunity and also both of these teams are
Speaker 3: the top two all time and playing in primetime. You know,
Speaker 3: Cowboys have one hundred and six stealers played in ninety eight.
Speaker 3: Now they both have one extra to add to that
Speaker 3: after last night or this morning, however you want to
Speaker 3: count it. And that's what I think is is is
Speaker 3: what breeds that It breeds across decades, it breeds across
Speaker 3: family generations. You know that disgust comes in and it
Speaker 3: only continues to further anebriate itself and just come to
Speaker 3: a head all the time every time they see each other.
Speaker 3: But like you said, another one, and the rivalry is
Speaker 3: going to be this Raider squad is going to be,
Speaker 3: you know, as Al Davis versus the Chief, AFL versus
Speaker 3: NFL merger, the Bad Boys versus the Golden Boys. However
Speaker 3: you want to look at it, it's always been a
Speaker 3: crux and they've always met at critical junctures in those
Speaker 3: seventies and eighties, and it's been a slugfest. And it's
Speaker 3: going to be interesting to see how we deal with
Speaker 3: the rebound of going off a one rivalry game and
Speaker 3: going into the next rivalry game.
Speaker 6: Matt, so I do urge people to check it out.
Speaker 5: It's a little after the fact, but Dale wrote a
Speaker 5: great article on Steelers dot Com. Just like since the
Speaker 5: merger in nineteen seventy, the Dallas has the most division titles.
Speaker 5: Since then, Steelers or second Steelers have the most wins.
Speaker 5: Dallas a second, there's just all this long list where
Speaker 5: they're the top two winningest organization since the seventies, and
Speaker 5: kind of put a bow on and look the next
Speaker 5: week too. I mean, I was born in nineteen seventy three,
Speaker 5: and by the time I was probably five years old,
Speaker 5: it was ingrained to me that the team you hate most,
Speaker 5: Matt is the Raiders. Then it's the Cowboys. Then we'll
Speaker 5: worry about the Oilers and the Bengals and the Browns.
Speaker 5: Later we got them under control.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff, can't wait. Guys, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Special guest star Max Starks.
Speaker 4: Max thinks you're.
Speaker 8: Being with us my pleasure.
Speaker 2: Gear up with the latest game day necessities the Official
Speaker 2: Steelers Pro shops. Get the latest sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible towels,
Speaker 2: authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only find directly
Speaker 2: from the team. Visit one of the Official Steelers pro
Speaker 2: shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City, Premium Mountlets, or
Speaker 2: Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot Steelers
Speaker 2: dot com. For Matt Williamson, Max Starks, Craig Wolfley, I'm
Speaker 2: Rob King. Thanks for listening to the point after on
Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network,