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Speaker 1: Your tune's about Drive on your twenty four to seven

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

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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Steelers Nation, It's the Drive on the Steelers

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Speaker 2: Audio Network. Here on a victory Monday, we was Shooler

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Speaker 2: and Matt Williamson with you for the next two hours

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Speaker 2: to recap Steelers thirty four Bengals twelve. And Matt, you

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Speaker 2: know this about me, I'm always trying to work the angles.

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Speaker 2: I'm always trying to think of the interesting way to

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Speaker 2: frame it and start the conversation and get into all

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Speaker 2: this different stuff. And I'm driving down here, you know,

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Speaker 2: this afternoon and thinking about man a lot to get

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Speaker 2: into from that game.

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Speaker 3: Where do we begin?

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Speaker 2: Do we start with the offense, Do we start with

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Speaker 2: the defense? Do we start with some of the injuries?

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Speaker 2: Do we start with some of the extra curriculars? And

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Speaker 2: it just kind of struck me. I heard I heard

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Speaker 2: the voice of our of our of our dear buddy Stan.

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Speaker 3: Savage in the back of my head, going root for

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Speaker 3: the story.

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Speaker 2: You know, I always remember Stan saying that when all

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Speaker 2: else fails, just root for the story because it's what's

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Speaker 2: best for business.

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Speaker 4: Matt.

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Speaker 2: How everything transpired yesterday from start to finish, the players

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Speaker 2: that were needed for the Steelers in relief, the drama

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Speaker 2: between Chase and Ramsey, couple huge defensive touchdowns for the Steelers,

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Speaker 2: everything going on with Mason Rudolph and Kenneth gain Well,

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Speaker 2: and that game yesterday was what's best for business man.

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Speaker 3: There's a million different things to discuss.

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Speaker 2: Darnell Washington killing guys the list that's like eighth on

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Speaker 2: the list, James Pierre turning in an outstanding performance. I mean,

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Speaker 2: there was probably three, four five things from this game

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Speaker 2: that would normally be the headline on any other given Sunday.

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Speaker 2: And of course the Steelers end up winning comfortably, and

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Speaker 2: what was I think one of their most complete sixty

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Speaker 2: minute performances of the season.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and I don't know how to even retort to that,

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Speaker 5: or what is number one on the list? I mean, like,

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Speaker 5: what is that?

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Speaker 2: If you're writing that, if you and I are Dale

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Speaker 2: or Jerry Dulac and we're writing the story, I don't

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Speaker 2: know what the I mean, I don't know what the

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Speaker 2: headline is.

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Speaker 5: You know, I probably would go with something on the line.

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Speaker 3: Fight setbacks Steelers role. I don't know.

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Speaker 5: I probably would go something along the lines of backup,

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Speaker 5: stepping up that.

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Speaker 3: I think is, yeah, you know what talk about Ganewell

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Speaker 3: even even you know, our our good friend of the show,

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Speaker 3: Kyle Dugger.

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Speaker 5: Is right, defensive backs call into the drive.

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Speaker 2: It's we we we We did get a couple of

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Speaker 2: tweets about that, and you actually pointed out, didn't you

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Speaker 2: and Dale had on Beanie Bishop last year?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that was true.

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Speaker 2: So hey, Steelers, defensive backs call into the drive and

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Speaker 2: you'll have interceptions and maybe even find the end zone.

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Speaker 2: But I think you're right. I think that's where. I

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Speaker 2: think that's the headline. I think that's the starting point.

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Speaker 2: We talked about it so much during training camp how

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Speaker 2: it really felt like, yeah, we still had roster questions,

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Speaker 2: who's going to be wide receiver number two? You know,

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Speaker 2: all these all these different things that we did talk about.

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Speaker 2: But I think one of the things, one of the

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Speaker 2: areas where we gave the Steelers a lot of credit was, Man,

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Speaker 2: you look at this roster at training camp and into

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Speaker 2: the preseason and at the start of the year, and

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Speaker 2: it really felt like they had quality depth pretty much everywhere.

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Speaker 2: Maybe why especially at defense, especially especially on defense, I

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Speaker 2: think maybe offensive line and wide receiver were the only

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Speaker 2: two areas that that you would question, but everybody around

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Speaker 2: the league spoiler alert once more, offensive line depth.

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Speaker 3: That's not just a Steelers thing.

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Speaker 2: And I thought that really really showed through on Sunday

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Speaker 2: thousand percent.

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Speaker 5: You know, Rudolph coming off the bench gain well, much

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Speaker 5: like he did in Dublin, having to be the guy twice.

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Speaker 5: Now he's shown that he can excel in that role. Now,

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Speaker 5: maybe he wouldn't for seventeen games in a row, but

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Speaker 5: that's not never going to be asked to him, you

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Speaker 5: know what I mean? Right right all across the defense

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Speaker 5: led by Pierre but also Echols, and you had a

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Speaker 5: handful of significant defensive injuries before you walked into that game,

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Speaker 5: of course, totally. I think another headline, which is half good,

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Speaker 5: half bad, is if we take and I know you don't,

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Speaker 5: this is how the world works, but if you take

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Speaker 5: the two defensive scores out of the equation. You had

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Speaker 5: had a hard time convincing me on Friday that that

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Speaker 5: would be the final score, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 5: because every Bengals game is like fifty to fifty one.

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Speaker 5: You I mean, like, it's not how the Bengals play football,

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Speaker 5: So half of that's good and that you really can't.

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Speaker 5: You don't have a touchdown to those football team.

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Speaker 3: It's his tech versus organ But you held him to

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Speaker 3: twelve points.

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Speaker 5: Yeah right, And on the other hand, you still didn't

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Speaker 5: produce a whole lot of points against what I still

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Speaker 5: think is a horrific defense. Feel as strong about that

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Speaker 5: as ever.

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Speaker 2: You know, I do too, And I think that one

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Speaker 2: is at least a little easier to stomach when you

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Speaker 2: consider Aaron Rodgers only played half the game and James

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Speaker 2: Warren got injured too.

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Speaker 5: You're also playing with the lead late. You know, you

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Speaker 5: don't have to push the ball down the field and

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Speaker 5: things like that, You know, right.

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Speaker 3: Good point.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I just I felt like from top to

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Speaker 2: bottom that was a all hands on deck, yeah type

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Speaker 2: type win for the Steelers.

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Speaker 3: I thought they had a solid game plan on defense.

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Speaker 5: Man, Yes, and this is defense really rounding in the forum,

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Speaker 5: coaching the pieces of the puzzle wall, fitting Ramsey at

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Speaker 5: safety next to Dug Er like I think everyone's, you know,

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Speaker 5: the three linebacker thing that happens once in a while.

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Speaker 5: I think they're coaching, in particular, starting to understand how

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Speaker 5: this should work and it wasn't the original plan from

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Speaker 5: the summer.

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Speaker 3: You know, No, it wasn't.

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Speaker 2: And I know there was frustration when it wasn't work

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Speaker 2: working out, and it felt like the Steelers were kind

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Speaker 2: of trying to do the square peg round hole just

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Speaker 2: bank continue to bang your head against the wall type.

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Speaker 2: I also think, and this is hard to do in

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Speaker 2: the NFL. You and I have talked about this many times.

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Speaker 2: Only seventeen games a year, every Sunday or Thursday or Monday,

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Speaker 2: you know, feels like you're either winning the Super Bowl

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Speaker 2: or you're picking first over all in the draft. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's not a ton of of space between. But I

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Speaker 2: think they deserve some credit for figuring it out. Maybe

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Speaker 2: it didn't happen, is you know, in this instant gratification

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Speaker 2: world that we all live in as quickly as we

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Speaker 2: all wanted, Matt, A lot of times, like box scores

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Speaker 2: can be deceiving, I think sometimes, oh a.

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Speaker 5: Lot of times. Yeah, we went.

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Speaker 2: Back after the Colts game and Pierce put up a

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Speaker 2: bunch of numbers and like they had two I think

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Speaker 2: hundred yard receivers.

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Speaker 3: Pittman and Piers put a bunch of numbers.

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Speaker 2: But how it didn't really feel like that, Like, it

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Speaker 2: didn't feel like the passing attack for the Colts took

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Speaker 2: over dominated the game.

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Speaker 5: It didn't feel like the Bengals first game exactly right

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Speaker 5: when you looked at you know, Jamar Chase had sixteen

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Speaker 5: receptions for one hundred and sixty yards.

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Speaker 2: Told me and right, I think T Higgins had nine

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Speaker 2: for like nine something like that. You look at the

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Speaker 2: box score here and I think it tells the complete story.

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Speaker 2: T Higgins three receptions sixty three yards and the twenty

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Speaker 2: eight yard touchdown. Okay, but after that first drive, two

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Speaker 2: receptions for thirty some yards for T Higgins and to.

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Speaker 5: His credit, the touchdown they got him against Sawyer. Correct,

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Speaker 5: you know what I mean?

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Speaker 3: Correct?

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Speaker 2: It was a nicely schemed up player by Cincinnati there,

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Speaker 2: Jamar Chase three receptions for thirty yards.

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Speaker 3: If you would have told us, Matt those those.

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Speaker 5: That's the most unbelievable thing, incredible.

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Speaker 2: If you would have said it hurt, If you would

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Speaker 2: have said to us on Friday, or if one of

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Speaker 2: us would have made the prediction, those guys are gonna

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Speaker 2: have six catches for ninety yards between the two of them,

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Speaker 2: we would have laughed you out of the building, No.

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Speaker 5: Way, no chance.

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Speaker 2: Did you watch the game a month ago. Have you

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Speaker 2: watched them against everybody recently.

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Speaker 5: Pretty much their whole career, but especially since Flacco took over.

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Speaker 3: And it's another one of those matt We've laughed at this.

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Speaker 2: No one's screaming about that one hundred and eighty million

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Speaker 2: dollar defense. No one's screaming about the money.

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Speaker 3: They're not going. See that's what you.

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Speaker 5: Pay all that money for that defense.

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Speaker 3: Before they got it done, they made some game plans.

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Speaker 2: They adjusted, but they did I thought that they had

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Speaker 2: a They did not do the square peg round whole thing.

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Speaker 2: They came in with a different mindset. We're gonna flood

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Speaker 2: those short passing routes. We're not gonna blitz nearly as much.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, the blitz percentage going down, I think is here

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Speaker 5: to stay.

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Speaker 3: And they just Joe Flacco and company just tackle.

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Speaker 5: We're going a lot of people's ball. We're gonna play physical,

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Speaker 5: we're gonna hit, you know. Yeah, they just they look

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Speaker 5: fundamental stuff.

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Speaker 2: They were the course of sixty minutes, you know, played

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Speaker 2: out over three hours, and I think five minutes or

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Speaker 2: six minutes something like that was the final you know,

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Speaker 2: time from from opening kick to final whistle. Cincinnati really

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Speaker 2: kind of both sides of the ball, but especially on offense,

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Speaker 2: just never looked settled, never looked like they got comfortable,

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Speaker 2: never looked like they got into any kind of rhythm.

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Speaker 3: And that hasn't happened to them.

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Speaker 5: No, they've been they've been clicking, and frankly, I want

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Speaker 5: to address this too. Really since the first stealer game,

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Speaker 5: Chase been very productive too. I know that his stat

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Speaker 5: line eighteen ninety nine right is not perfect for the Steelers,

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Speaker 5: but really every step of the way, they say they

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Speaker 5: faced so many light boxes too, that his production has

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Speaker 5: been kind of like all the fantasy stuff like, oh,

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Speaker 5: he's back to the guy you drafted in the second

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Speaker 5: round of fantasy because they're they're getting him the football,

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Speaker 5: so it doesn't bother me quite as much. And I

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Speaker 5: wish I'd have talked about that a little leading up

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Speaker 5: to the game, like, don't just think because they're rushing

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Speaker 5: him was so bad the first time they met, that

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Speaker 5: you're gonna hold Brown the six carries for twelve yards.

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Speaker 5: I mean, like, sure, they're good. I mean he's good.

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Speaker 5: The other thing I think is noteworthy, I mean it's

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Speaker 5: not good it's not bad, but you talked about the

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Speaker 5: high priced defense. Like I love Cam Hayward, I love TJ. Watt,

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Speaker 5: but neither one of them were like the guys that

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Speaker 5: like took the game point, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: Great to see somebody else, Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly exactly. It's not like the studs that have

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Speaker 5: been doing it for ten years did it again? No,

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Speaker 5: it's new dudes.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's absolutely right, Matt. You know, I'm raising

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Speaker 2: to two young girls, two young daughters. It's nice when

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Speaker 2: somebody else helps, uh, you know, shoulder the load besides

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Speaker 2: my wife and I for the day. Your grandparents are

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Speaker 2: in town and pick up some slack, right, you know,

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Speaker 2: my sister comes over and hangs out with the girls

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Speaker 2: for a couple hours.

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Speaker 5: Heck, if you have to pay a babysitter just to

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Speaker 5: get out.

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Speaker 2: My wife and I know that we can get it done,

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Speaker 2: but it's nice to have somebody else help us get

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Speaker 2: it done.

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Speaker 5: Takes a village, dude, it's a village. Takes a kid

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Speaker 5: or or develop a quarterback.

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Speaker 2: I am so glad that you said that, because you're

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Speaker 2: spot on there, especially in a game where you had

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Speaker 2: no Alex high Smith as well, too, banged up in

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Speaker 2: the secondary.

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Speaker 3: Dang it, I just did it as well too, son

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Speaker 3: of them done? Would you do as well too?

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Speaker 4: Oh?

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Speaker 5: I thought you said. I was like, what's wrong with

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Speaker 5: banged up in the secondary? They were banged?

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Speaker 3: I said banged. It was the three words that I said.

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Speaker 6: After that, I never even catch it anymore. I mean

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Speaker 6: to put my radar up more I do. It's actually

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Speaker 6: become a joke. I was let Bob Labriola was laughing

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Speaker 6: with me. Someone sent an email in and said they

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Speaker 6: were a big fan of my work as well too.

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Speaker 3: Son of a gun.

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Speaker 2: At least it's a good inside joe as long as

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Speaker 2: you're laughing with me and not at me with those guys.

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Speaker 2: And it's not like those guys did nothing and were invisible.

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Speaker 2: But you're right, they were not the lone straws stirring

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Speaker 2: the drink that it's felt like at times in the past.

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Speaker 2: You had no Alex Highsmith, you had no Sleigh, you

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Speaker 2: had no Deshaun Elliott.

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Speaker 5: I mean, Holkom is a contributor.

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Speaker 2: You're right, right, right, totally, totally, uh, And I was,

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Speaker 2: I was, You're absolutely right. It was nice to see

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Speaker 2: Pierre and Dugger and a lot of other guys making plays.

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Speaker 5: How about kut of beer. I'm talking about like, I mean,

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Speaker 5: Benton's starter. But Benton and Harmon to me are leveling

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Speaker 5: up in a good way too. Ben's been really good

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Speaker 5: for a while now. We he really worried about the

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Speaker 5: beginning of the year.

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Speaker 2: I was just gonna say we and I don't when

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Speaker 2: I when I say that, typically I don't mean you

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Speaker 2: and I. I mean the collective we, Steelers, media, Steelers fans,

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Speaker 2: everybody involved in this, in this sphere of Steelers fandom

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Speaker 2: and content and media. He was at the forefront of

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Speaker 2: a lot negative conversation the first few games.

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Speaker 3: In the year.

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Speaker 2: So much ability there, and I think, I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of people like you and I and I think

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Speaker 2: the people who don't just do this for clicks and

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Speaker 2: you know, really trying and analyze and be thoughtful.

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Speaker 3: Talked about how he wasn't.

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Speaker 2: Being deployed in the most ideal situation but that but

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Speaker 2: how it still looked really bad and he was struggling.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Game four, Week four in Dublin in Ireland.

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Speaker 3: He gets back.

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Speaker 2: Harmon returns the week before he settles back into a

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Speaker 2: more appropriate role. He takes I mean he was great

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Speaker 2: against the Vikings and Ble and Matt he has been.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad that you mentioned him as well too. I

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Speaker 2: think Keanu Benton deserves a lot of props. I think

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Speaker 2: at times earlier in the year it was quiet. Last

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Speaker 2: few weeks it's been loud. I mean he has been. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: he has been consistently showing up, consistent TFLs, consistently getting

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Speaker 2: after quarterbacks, and much better in the run game where

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Speaker 2: he was struggling the first few games of the year.

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Speaker 5: That was what we're saying. I mean, there's some some

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Speaker 5: early tape from twenty twenty twenty five here where he's

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Speaker 5: just getting driven back in the Linebackers like, why is

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Speaker 5: the Queen and Wilson making more plays? I'm talking like

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Speaker 5: week one, week two. I'm like, yeah, because Benton's in

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Speaker 5: their life, right. They got a three hundred pounds twenty

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Speaker 5: pound guy pushing a three hundred pound guy on top

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Speaker 5: of them. That's a big reason why they can't because

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Speaker 5: there's nowhere to go because they're getting squashed. No, I'm

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Speaker 5: real happy with the defense, and particularly at corner. I

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Speaker 5: was worried we'd be like, oh, defense is building good momentum,

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Speaker 5: but then Flato through for four to twenty and Chase

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Speaker 5: you know, ripped Pierre apart or something like that could

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Speaker 5: definitely happen, you know, against this offense. But I'm confident,

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Speaker 5: you know, they got another test coming up against Chicago

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Speaker 5: that's sort of similar in that they're real good on offense,

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Speaker 5: real questionable on defense, and much different challenge, Kayleb Williams.

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Speaker 5: Couldn't be any different than Flash Show and you know,

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Speaker 5: different schemes and new coach and all that stuff. Unfamiliar

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Speaker 5: opponent and I'm not trying to get ahead of ourselves.

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Speaker 5: Steelers always struggle in Chicago. You talk, I was talking

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Speaker 5: to pursuitos or very.

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Speaker 3: Right, but it is true.

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Speaker 5: Rogers is good there, but if you'll see him, you know.

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Speaker 5: But like I feel confident that they'll do well against

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Speaker 5: the Bears too. This isn't just a I kind of

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Speaker 5: feel like, whoever, what are our offense they play? They

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Speaker 5: should be able to play in a variety of manners

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Speaker 5: and a little more, a lot more fundamentally sound now,

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Speaker 5: not putting players in position not to succeed. And I

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Speaker 5: think they're in a good, really good spot defensively. Yes,

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Speaker 5: the offense. I still have a lot of concerns, you know, right, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Especially with some of the injuries now that are piling up.

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Speaker 2: I think that's well said by you. I just I

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Speaker 2: keep looking at that receiving box score for Cincinnats. Yoshavas

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Speaker 2: had a great game against the Steelers a couple months

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Speaker 2: ago through receptions for twenty yards. I mean, well done

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Speaker 2: to everybody involved there under two hundred yards passing for Cincinnati.

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Speaker 5: I don't want to pop the balloon, but I did

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Speaker 5: want to ask you something since you were at the game,

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Speaker 5: because Rob brought it up to me earlier today that

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Speaker 5: wind was an issue for both passing. Oh yeah, okay,

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Speaker 5: I mean it's not like that was nothing now.

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Speaker 3: I actually this was one of the things I had.

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Speaker 5: Writen Eagles game last night. I mean, like the wind

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Speaker 5: was whipping across Pa.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it was. You know, there's no doubt it was chilly.

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Speaker 2: We had we had the window open like we always

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Speaker 2: do for the broadcast, but we all had our jackets

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Speaker 2: on because it was that wind was whipping. In the pregame,

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Speaker 2: you know, the you're watching the goalposts, goal post themselves,

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Speaker 2: the flags are going all which directions north, south, east west.

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Speaker 2: The goalposts themselves were moving, so it was it was

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Speaker 2: definitely windy down there, without a doubt. I think that's

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Speaker 2: certainly played a factor. One of the things I did

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Speaker 2: have in my notes though, was and I you know,

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Speaker 2: this was in the first half, obviously before he exited

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Speaker 2: the game, but I wrote down, Man, Aaron Rodgers continues

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Speaker 2: to miss some guys high and or long. Is that

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Speaker 2: becoming a pattern? Or is that just because of the

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Speaker 2: weather conditions.

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Speaker 5: I think it's a fair question.

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Speaker 3: I think it's a fair question. But again, he ends

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Speaker 3: up it was a lot.

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Speaker 5: In the kicking game. But I think both coaches new

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Speaker 5: I don't want to be returning punts. I don't want

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Speaker 5: to try field goals as much as I possibly can either.

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Speaker 2: You know, yes, and and you saw for for I

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Speaker 2: was almost said both quarterbacks, but I think all three

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Speaker 2: quarterbacks you saw that be a factor.

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Speaker 5: Like I I like to put myself in the seat

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Speaker 5: of a lot of our listeners that weren't at the game,

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Speaker 5: because I wasn't at the game. I'm sitting there watching too,

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Speaker 5: and they brought it up, and I knew it was

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Speaker 5: an issue. And I live in Pittsburgh, and I know

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Speaker 5: that's windy out, you know, but I wasn't on in

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Speaker 5: the stands, and it sounded like it was probably a

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Speaker 5: bigger issue than just US television watchers would have known.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it was.

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Speaker 2: I would say it was the first time all year

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Speaker 2: with some where you really had to take the elements

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Speaker 2: into a yeah, yeah, like.

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Speaker 3: It matters for a Steelers game, Okay.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Actually been pretty fortunate to this point that there

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Speaker 2: hasn't been a pouring down, cats and dogs, buckets raging

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Speaker 2: type game Boby Field.

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Speaker 5: Yes you haven't laughing now to Windy City, it always has, like.

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Speaker 3: Maybe it was.

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Speaker 2: For the Steelers in that regard, you know, nice tune

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Speaker 2: up of hey, here's a little taste of what you

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Speaker 2: could get next week in Chicago.

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Speaker 3: I looked it actually doesn't look too bad, as.

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Speaker 5: A man knows, but it looks like that looks like.

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Speaker 2: Slow fifties for next weekend in Chicago. But this time

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Speaker 2: of year, that could change overnight, certainly, very quickly. But yeah, no,

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Speaker 2: I'm glad that you brought that up, because that was

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Speaker 2: definitely a factor. That was that was certainly a factor,

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Speaker 2: and I think that you know, the way that the

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Speaker 2: game played out was Cincinnati having to stretch the field

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Speaker 2: a little bit more and trying to play catch up

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Speaker 2: probably helped the Steelers. You know, that was probably a

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Speaker 2: benefit for the Steelers, Yeah, as much as it was

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Speaker 2: a detriment for Cincinnati. And with the.

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Speaker 5: Wind away of your passing game, that favors the Steelers more.

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Speaker 3: Than it does a bank totally, totally.

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Speaker 2: If the win could somehow take away twenty percent of

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Speaker 2: your defense, that would favor Cincinnati more than it would

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Speaker 2: the Steelers. Actually, So yeah, that I think did work

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Speaker 2: out in the favor of the Black and Gold. That's

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Speaker 2: why they call it home field advantage.

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Speaker 5: Baby. Every game is different in every place you plays.

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Speaker 3: It is.

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Speaker 2: Steelers moved to six and four, Cincinnati falls to three

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00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,520
Speaker 2: and seven. You can stick a fork in the Bengals.

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00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,280
Speaker 2: They are done and it'll be interesting to see what

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Speaker 2: the rest of the year looks like from them. Does

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Speaker 2: Joe Burrow still try and rush back at this point?

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Speaker 2: Do you just sit at ten Hendrickson done for the year.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: A lot of crossroads, a lot of big questions for

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Speaker 2: Cincinnati that are hard to find the answers to. But

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Speaker 2: fortunately we do not have to concern ourselves with any

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Speaker 2: of that.

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Speaker 3: One of the guys that.

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Speaker 5: Would be nice beat the Ravens in a week or

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Speaker 5: two though.

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Speaker 3: That's a good point.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, all right, Michiel might have a little something for

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Speaker 5: his old team. Who knows.

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Speaker 3: Just get one more win, Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: That's all you need there, One more win, baby, and

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Speaker 2: uh and help the Steelers out a little bit in

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Speaker 2: the process. One guy who typically has some answers and

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Speaker 2: some good things to say is, of course, the voice

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Speaker 2: of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rob King.

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Speaker 3: We will talk to him when we return on the

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Speaker 3: other side.

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Speaker 2: Get all of his thoughts on the Steelers victory over

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Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday. Kinger, when we return more AFC

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Speaker 2: North talk on the other side. Wes Sheeler, Matt Williamson.

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Speaker 2: It's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers

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Speaker 2: Audio Network.

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Speaker 1: You were tuned about Drive on your twenty four to

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

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00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,879
Speaker 2: Back on the drive here as we roll along on

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Speaker 2: a victory Monday as the Steelers take care of.

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Speaker 3: Business against the Bengals. Joining us now is the man who.

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Speaker 2: Brought you all of the action on the Steelers flagship

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00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,680
Speaker 2: DVE on the Steelers Audio Network. The voice of the

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Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers and of course the co host of in the.

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Speaker 3: Locker Room as well, Rob King.

442
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:53,600
Speaker 2: The King is in the Castle, King or thank you

443
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:56,400
Speaker 2: for taking the time as always here on a Monday,

444
00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,640
Speaker 2: And you know, Matt and I kind of started talking

445
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,439
Speaker 2: about just all the different storylines and how much it

446
00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,000
Speaker 2: felt like went on during this game. But I don't know,

447
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,520
Speaker 2: I feel like the biggest kind of you know, thing

448
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,080
Speaker 2: that you have to discuss is what felt like perhaps

449
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,560
Speaker 2: the most complete sixty minute performance that we've seen from

450
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 2: this defense all season, I think, especially when you consider

451
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 2: the level of competition and the way the Bengals offense

452
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,760
Speaker 2: had been playing for the last month or so.

453
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,199
Speaker 4: I agree with that. And it's interesting too, isn't it

454
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,800
Speaker 4: that the Citis have had to do that with some

455
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,720
Speaker 4: different personnel than we expected to see at the beginning

456
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,159
Speaker 4: of the season. Remember they drew it up and it

457
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,159
Speaker 4: was going to be Ramsey, you know, following around the

458
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,800
Speaker 4: other team's top receiver or playing in the slot, Slay

459
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:46,960
Speaker 4: on the outside, Joey Porter Junior on the outside, Deshaun

460
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,400
Speaker 4: Elliott at strong safety, jant thorn Hill at pre safety,

461
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,440
Speaker 4: well Elliott's hurt Wan Thornhill is out. Ramsey's at pre

462
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,240
Speaker 4: safety slays out. The only guy starting in the position

463
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 4: you expected is Joey Porter Jr. Which is your congratulations

464
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,440
Speaker 4: to the to the uh you know, at least the

465
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:07,600
Speaker 4: daff of the cap, to the personnel department for scrambling

466
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,919
Speaker 4: around and finding players in the offseason and during the

467
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 4: season with the trade for Dugger who could step up

468
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,160
Speaker 4: and play big roles. And then of course kudos too,

469
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 4: you know, in particular, you know Dugger made the big play,

470
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,480
Speaker 4: But you know Eccles and Pierre. I mean, I think

471
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 4: if you went into this game, you know, just to

472
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,760
Speaker 4: this fan, you might think, oh, you know, look what

473
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 4: Higgins and and Chase did when we had the guys

474
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:31,760
Speaker 4: we wanted in their corner in the first meeting, and

475
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 4: now we have, you know, our fourth and fifth corners

476
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 4: in there were those guys stepped up and really for

477
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 4: the for the at least the second traate week for

478
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 4: Eccles and the second rate work for Pierre, really played

479
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 4: good ball games for the Steelers.

480
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was very impressed with the corners, but I

481
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,359
Speaker 5: know two guys you've been impressed with pretty much every

482
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,239
Speaker 5: step of the way that I think are improving, are

483
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,680
Speaker 5: the two young defensive linemen, and that that's obviously why

484
00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,879
Speaker 5: he Black's a good young defensive lineman too, but he's

485
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,679
Speaker 5: not starter. Benton and Harmon Rob We've talked about a

486
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,679
Speaker 5: lot on and off the air all season, but I

487
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,200
Speaker 5: think both those guys are really taking into a new level.

488
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:15,120
Speaker 4: I totally agree with you. I thought Benton was disruptive yesterday,

489
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 4: even if he didn't have the stats to back it up.

490
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,919
Speaker 4: I thought he played a good game in Harmon. You know,

491
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 4: I think that the defensive line has long been considered

492
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,199
Speaker 4: by some people an area of concern, and it was

493
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 4: especially an area of concern last year when you didn't

494
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,840
Speaker 4: stop the run against the Ravens, and you didn't stop

495
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 4: the run against the Eagles. Then you played the Ravens

496
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,439
Speaker 4: in the playoffs and didn't stop the run again, and

497
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 4: you know that was fresh in our minds. And you

498
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,680
Speaker 4: go out and get a quality at quality gets hurt

499
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,240
Speaker 4: on the defensive line. But you know, the investment of Harmon,

500
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 4: and you know Benton in his third year, supplementing what

501
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 4: we know Cam Hayward can do, has made a big,

502
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 4: big difference on this team. You know, I think where

503
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 4: I agree with Wes's assertion that this was a very good,

504
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,360
Speaker 4: olid all around game. I still think there's more there.

505
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 4: I think it's trending in the right direction in a

506
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 4: number of different ways. I thought they played a good

507
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 4: game against the Chargers. I just thought they were out

508
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 4: there too long. Yeah, in LA. You know, I think

509
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 4: this is a defense that's capable of, you know, beginning

510
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 4: to slowly as we move down the stretch here constrict

511
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 4: what a defense, what an offense is able to do

512
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 4: in both fascets running and passing. Now they ran a

513
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 4: little bit last week. It's hard to take away everything,

514
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 4: especially from an offense. It's averaging, you know, the last

515
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 4: three games they came in, averaging almost thirty eight points

516
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 4: a game. But to be able to do what they did,

517
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,040
Speaker 4: I thought it was a complete effort. But I'm encouraged

518
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:41,920
Speaker 4: by the fact that I still think there's more there,

519
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 4: and those guys up front that are a big reason

520
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:44,639
Speaker 4: I think that.

521
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:50,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, absolutely, And you know, I I think that's

522
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 2: well said. What you're kind of hearkening back to about

523
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 2: the Chargers and just kind of only being able to

524
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 2: hold off the dam for so long. Hopefully that's something

525
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 2: they continue to build on going forward. Talented Bears offense

526
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 2: that we got to see here in a few days obviously,

527
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 2: and what then Josh Allen and that Buffalo offense after that.

528
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 2: It's a good time for what feels like the Steelers

529
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,159
Speaker 2: defense to be hitting their stride. Little different story on

530
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 2: the offensive side of the football. Kinger some big injuries,

531
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 2: namely to Aaron Rodgers and Jalen Warren. But I gotta

532
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 2: tell you one thing that I kind of take away

533
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 2: from from yesterday's win as well, too, is it's nice

534
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 2: having Kenneth Gainwell in the fold man.

535
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:31,400
Speaker 3: I think two times this.

536
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 2: Year you've really needed him in Dublin against Minnesota and

537
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 2: then on Sunday yesterday against the Bengals, and both times

538
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 2: he comes through with multi touchdown performances.

539
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 4: Yeah. You know, I harken back a little bit to

540
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 4: camp this summer and thinking that the Sooners had great depth,

541
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 4: and we talked about that on defense and the depth

542
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 4: and adaptability of a guy like Jalen Ramsey. That's not

543
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 4: that easy to switch from from slot corner to corner

544
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 4: to pre shafety and you know, echoes emerging and uh,

545
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 4: you know, Pierre emerging. You can say the same thing

546
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 4: about game Bo Game Well has never really had the

547
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,679
Speaker 4: opportunity to be that guy. Well, he got an opportunity

548
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 4: in Minnesota and ran for ninety nine yards. You know,

549
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 4: he was a career number one guy they had to

550
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 4: lean on. So I think you feel really good about

551
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 4: what he can do. And that came to fruition on Sunday.

552
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 4: You needed him because Ron was out, and you also

553
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 4: utilized him in the past game where he had seven

554
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 4: receptions for eighty one yards and a pair of touchdowns.

555
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,360
Speaker 4: So yeah, he he definitely came through for the offense.

556
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 4: You know, you're signing kind of saying, Look, they the

557
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 4: offense I think still needs to be more consistent, but

558
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 4: they've shown they've shown the character to help you win

559
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 4: six games. You know, other than the game against the Chargers. Uh,

560
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 4: you know, the offense has at least had moments, has

561
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 4: at least been able to capitalize in most games this season.

562
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,400
Speaker 4: Give him a short field, will capitalize. You know, need

563
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 4: a big drive. They've been able to produce enough of those,

564
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 4: whether it's the first drive of a game, tone setting

565
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 4: or taking a turnover and turning it into points. I

566
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 4: think the cit As have been the offense has been

567
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 4: pretty good at that, and guys like gain Well other

568
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,400
Speaker 4: guys that have been able to contribute offensively are part

569
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 4: of that. But I still would like to see more consistent,

570
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 4: more consistency offensively. I mean that talks about this all

571
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 4: the time that the defense that defends least usually defends best,

572
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 4: and so I think we're seeing the defense round in

573
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 4: the form. I think, you know, going up to Chicago,

574
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,360
Speaker 4: the offense can continue to you know, I think we've

575
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 4: seen elements. If they can put it all together for

576
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 4: a few games, I think it's gonna be fun to watch.

577
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:46,399
Speaker 5: So Rob, I want to go back to the cornerback

578
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 5: situation and pecking order and future usage. We know Porter

579
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 5: is gonna be out there every snap good and I

580
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 5: think he's playing really well. I thought I was worried

581
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 5: and would have been, you know, justify that Pierre were

582
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 5: to come back to earth against Chase and Higgins, and

583
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 5: you know, Eccles had some low moments, but I thought

584
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,880
Speaker 5: that got overblown against the Chargers in Maconkie. But those

585
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 5: two were phenomenal and way out kicked my expectations for

586
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 5: this particular matchup. I'd have a hard time taking either

587
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 5: off the field. And I think Eckles has pretty much

588
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 5: solidified himself as the starting slot anyway you cut it.

589
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 5: But you also have a Sante Samuel out there, which hey, great,

590
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 5: you can ease him into things or not or whatever.

591
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 5: But I tend to think Slay all of a sudden

592
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 5: might be last on that list.

593
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 4: It'd be interesting. You know, there's an old adage in sports.

594
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:42,600
Speaker 4: I don't know how true it is in football that

595
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,400
Speaker 4: you know you don't lose your job with an injury, right,

596
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 4: So it's a fallback plan that says, listen, you know,

597
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 4: no matter how good the other guy is, we don't

598
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 4: want to play mental mind games with you, because the

599
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 4: other thing you don't necessarily want. I don't think is

600
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 4: James Pierre looking over his shoulder. Well, if I make

601
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 4: a mistake or two, am I out and his sleigh in.

602
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 4: So this is These are the kind of things, among

603
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 4: many others, that I think Mike Tomlin is really really

604
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 4: good at communicating with his team, letting him know what

605
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 4: the expectations are. You know, would have been very easy

606
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 4: for Examp Well to bench Keysjean Williams after the muff

607
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 4: punt late in the game against the Chargers, but he

608
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 4: left the game. I think it was a concussion, right,

609
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 4: He had a concussion and had to leave the game,

610
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,160
Speaker 4: but he was back out there, returning the next week.

611
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 4: So that's one area where I really, among said many others,

612
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 4: that I trust Mike Tomlin and the way he deals

613
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 4: with people and the way he communicates with people to

614
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,560
Speaker 4: be able to maximize that at first. Blush, Matt, It's

615
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 4: hard for me to disagree with you. These guys have

616
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 4: been good and they've earned the right to play in

617
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 4: my opinion. But we'll see, Rob.

618
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 2: King, I tell you what it's uh uh, you know,

619
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 2: it's a It was a fun game, I think, from

620
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 2: a lot of different perspectives, a lot of different storylines,

621
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,960
Speaker 2: a lot of different things going on, some injuries, backup quarterback,

622
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 2: divisional rivalry stuff, uh King, or just you know, just

623
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 2: do me a favor and make sure you're not hawking

624
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 2: Lugi's on anybody the rest of the week.

625
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 3: Okay, Oh no.

626
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 4: No, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my Lugis to myself.

627
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 4: And by the way, I've talked about it very little

628
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 4: on the airways today and not really sure why, but

629
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 4: kudos to Mason Rudolph for coming in yeah, really, you know,

630
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 4: what a what a pros pro coming in and changing

631
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 4: things of the line of scrimmage and and you know,

632
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 4: getting people into the right situations and the team into

633
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 4: the right situation, and you know, not shrinking from the moment,

634
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 4: and you know, just going out there and and proving

635
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 4: once again his works as we've seen in the past.

636
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 4: But kudos to him for a great job. And now

637
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,239
Speaker 4: on to Chicago. We got all week to talk about it,

638
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 4: but another big game coming up, guys.

639
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 5: No doubt, And yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Rudolph because

640
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 5: you said it perfectly. But I think that's exactly what

641
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 5: you want in your number two quarterback. You know, come

642
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 5: in when when you're not super prepared, or maybe he

643
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 5: has to play a stretch here for a month or

644
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 5: the rest of the season. I don't know, but you're

645
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 5: fine with it. You know. It's a professional.

646
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 4: Yeah he is, and he you know, it shows that

647
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 4: he's prepared, right, it shows that he's not just like wow,

648
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 4: Darren jobs. So you know, I'm going to be sitting

649
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 4: here in the meeting thinking about, you know what, I

650
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 4: want to get a giant eagle after the game for

651
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 4: dinner or after practice for dinner, right, you know, he's

652
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 4: clearly not doing that and so and that shows. It

653
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 4: shows when he comes in, and that's appreciated by his teammates.

654
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,239
Speaker 4: Anytime a guy comes in and has to fill in,

655
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 4: I mean, he's he's not just your number two quarterback.

656
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 4: He's a number two quarterback behind a first ballot, four

657
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 4: time MVP, first ballot, Hall of Famer, superstar quarterback. And

658
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 4: he came in and the offense didn't misspeak.

659
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 2: Well said, well said, And that is what you want

660
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 2: for your backup quarterback. And hey, hopefully it's not too

661
00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 2: long for Aaron Rodgers. Maybe he's good to go in

662
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 2: the Windy City. Maybe he does need a week or

663
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,840
Speaker 2: so on the sidelines, but I think we all have

664
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 2: faith that Mason can captain the ship in the absence

665
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 2: of Aaron Rodgers. Great stuff from our friend from the

666
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,480
Speaker 2: Voice of the Steelers co host of in the Locker Room,

667
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 2: Rob King King or thank you for taking the time

668
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 2: on Monday, Man.

669
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you soon.

670
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 4: Always fun. Thanks for having me on.

671
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 2: Guys, there he goes the King exiting the castle. Yeah,

672
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 2: you know what, let's talk a little bit more about that.

673
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 3: Mason. Rudolph Trot because I think I think you're right.

674
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,239
Speaker 2: I don't think we've highlight in a crazy game with

675
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 2: a million different things going on, where normally that might

676
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 2: be at the forefront of the conversation. Let's let's talk

677
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 2: a little bit more about that and and Mason's performance

678
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 2: in relief of Aaron Rodgers will do all that and

679
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 2: more to wrap up the first hour of the show

680
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:55,960
Speaker 2: when we return West Shueler. Matt Williamson, it is the

681
00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 2: Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network, your.

682
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: Tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven home

683
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

684
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 2: Back on the Drive here on a victory Monday, and Matt,

685
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 2: let's piggybacking off of how we kind of ended things

686
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 2: there with Rob King, Let's talk a little bit more

687
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 2: about this quarterback situation that the Steelers currently find themselves in.

688
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 5: I assume Tuesday will get more news.

689
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 2: Yes, Tomorrow's yes, about twenty hours or so from now,

690
00:32:57,600 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 2: you know that'll be at the forefront.

691
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 3: I'm sure.

692
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 2: I'm sure Mike tom will even address it before he

693
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 2: opens things up for questions.

694
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 3: Starting quarterback, it's the starting quarterback.

695
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 5: It's Jayleen Warren. I want to know about I mean

696
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 5: a lot of these guys.

697
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, Alex Hi Smith R.

698
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 5: Yeah, they didn't seem too far away, yeah.

699
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 2: Right right, you know, so, yeah, there will obviously be

700
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 2: a ton around Aaron Rodgers.

701
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 5: I mean that this rail thing, but I mean that's

702
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 5: more of a middle of the week conversation. But He's

703
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 5: Samuel could be looming out there, right.

704
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 2: It would be a good time to have that happen,

705
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 2: because you know, you just as many bodies as you

706
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 2: can get in the secondary at this point.

707
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 5: But now we go to talk about the quarterback situation.

708
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 2: We do and we need to give some some some

709
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 2: props to Mason Rudolph. But first, the latest, uh, via

710
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 2: Adam Schefter is and I'm sure everybody saw this last night,

711
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 2: but uh, the initial thought, initial concern is that Aaron

712
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 2: Rodgers has a slight break, a slight fracture in his

713
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: left wrist. I'm sure undergoing more tests probably today or

714
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 2: this morning already, And according to Chef there, it is

715
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 2: shaping up to be Mason Rudolph versus the Bears next week.

716
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:11,959
Speaker 2: But there's also reports out there that Aaron Rodgers wants to.

717
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,240
Speaker 3: Go and and and thinks he could be ready.

718
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 2: So again, hopefully by tomorrow's show at least Thursday or

719
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 2: Friday shows, we'll have some more clarity in that regard.

720
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 5: If you can on the practice field by Wednesday.

721
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:27,360
Speaker 3: Of course, of course.

722
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 2: And I know a lot of people are thinking it's

723
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,280
Speaker 2: his off it's not his throwing hands, so come.

724
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 5: On his left hand, he'll be fine, all right.

725
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 3: You should see the way that these guys snap the football.

726
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 6: I mean it's taking.

727
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 3: A stand up under center.

728
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,360
Speaker 2: Is a violent I mean they are thrusting that football.

729
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 3: Into your hands.

730
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 5: And of course he would wear some sort of cast

731
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 5: or apparatus or some.

732
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 2: Handling, but it's not Hey, Patrick Willis, go out there

733
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,920
Speaker 2: and put a big club on and to mall people,

734
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:02,760
Speaker 2: right right, right different for a quarterback.

735
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 5: I mean, you gotta have strength of two hands on

736
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 5: the football in the pocket. I mean, like does that

737
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 5: lead the fumbles, let alone from the snap a hand off,

738
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 5: you know, even just manipulating you know, his offense he

739
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 5: holds a ball with one or two hands, running around

740
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 5: the pocket or trying to shrug someone off with his

741
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,960
Speaker 5: left hand. Right, there's a lot to it, you know,

742
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,399
Speaker 5: And not to mention he's gonna get hit in the.

743
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 2: Game, not to mention it could get worse, no wait,

744
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 2: no doubt, and likely would if you were to play

745
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 2: and get hit throughout the course of the game as

746
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 2: you as you said.

747
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 5: So who knows? And again I hate playing doctor.

748
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 3: Saying and me too.

749
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,360
Speaker 2: But you know, it's it is one of I always

750
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 2: laugh when it's like a slight fracture, a slight break.

751
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 2: It's easy for us to say it's the old adage

752
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,840
Speaker 2: of no irisk like it's it's like getting pregnant, Matt.

753
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,760
Speaker 2: No one's a little bit pregnant. No one's slightly pregnant.

754
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 2: You're either pregnant or you're not. The broken bone, yeah,

755
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 2: either have a concussion or you don't. Either fractured your

756
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,440
Speaker 2: bone or you did it. And now I understand obviously

757
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,960
Speaker 2: there's severity to these things clean break versus pose a fracture.

758
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 2: It's like with you know, with tissue, with soft tissue injuries.

759
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 2: There's a difference between you know, like a tear and

760
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 2: a full rip in your hamstring or your quad or

761
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be. But at forty one years old,

762
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 2: with hopefully a stretch run here and a playoff appearance

763
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 2: coming up shortly to me, I feel like, and I

764
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 2: should add this as well too, confidence in your backup

765
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 2: and your number two who would have to go in there.

766
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,479
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like.

767
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 5: You're not throwing Duck Hodges out there.

768
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 2: I feel I feel like you have to You're not

769
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 2: throwing she Door Sanders out there.

770
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 3: A we'll talk about that a little bit now or not.

771
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like you gotta you gotta air on

772
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 2: the side of caution as much as you know, Aaron

773
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,040
Speaker 2: wants to be out there, particularly in Chicago against an

774
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,280
Speaker 2: old rival that he has owned.

775
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Ben Roethlisberger going to Cleveland, you know what

776
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 3: I mean, Here comes your father walking through the gates

777
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:01,360
Speaker 3: of the stair.

778
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,280
Speaker 5: Fans aren't real fond of Aaron Rodgers.

779
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 3: They are not.

780
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:04,200
Speaker 4: Yeah.

781
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a little history there. There's a little jealousy there,

782
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 2: much like the Cleveland Browns and Ben Roethlisberger.

783
00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,319
Speaker 5: There's a lot of football decisions, you know, Like I'm

784
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 5: fourth down. I like to look at it like, what

785
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 5: does my opponent want me to do? Well, the opponent's

786
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 5: fans don't want Rogers walk in that stadium. I can

787
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,160
Speaker 5: just promise you that they have a lot of bad

788
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 5: memories of that.

789
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 3: Yes, they do.

790
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do, but that's we will wait and see.

791
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 2: This is still very early days in terms of this conversation,

792
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,759
Speaker 2: but I just hope that they're going to air on

793
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 2: the side of caution and safety and being conservative as

794
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 2: opposed to.

795
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 3: I bet they do.

796
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 2: Let's rush them back out there, and you might have to.

797
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:44,959
Speaker 2: It might be a like a you gotta tell Aaron

798
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 2: Rodgers woe instead of sick of moment. You know, hey,

799
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 2: I get that this one means a lot to you

800
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,120
Speaker 2: in that stadium against that franchise, but we got a

801
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:54,120
Speaker 2: lot more to play for than just a November win

802
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:54,760
Speaker 2: in Chicago.

803
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 5: And the other aspect of it you touched on ninety

804
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 5: percent of it, and I agree with everything you said.

805
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:01,360
Speaker 5: But the other aspect of it is you did just

806
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 5: get a win over a division foe. You're in better

807
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 5: shape in terms of standings, you know, the need for

808
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 5: a win than you were two days ago. And this

809
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 5: is an NFC team, So it just doesn't mean as much,

810
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,399
Speaker 5: you know. I mean, it's not, oh, You're gonna lose

811
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:21,120
Speaker 5: the tie breaker to the Jags because of this loss.

812
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's on AFC game. It's not a

813
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:24,080
Speaker 5: division game.

814
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 2: No, it is not and obviously you want to keep

815
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 2: that distance between you and Baltimore. But at the same time, again,

816
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 2: the bigger picture is you've got a lot of important

817
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 2: AFC games coming down the stretch at the Bills and

818
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:38,320
Speaker 2: a couple of week.

819
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:40,320
Speaker 5: Right in the heat of the in the middle of

820
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 5: the playoff rus.

821
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 2: You've got two against the Ravens and and Matt Again,

822
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing in this for me, I

823
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 2: know he said, we talked more about Mason Rudolph in

824
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,960
Speaker 2: this segment. The biggest thing for me is it's it's

825
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 2: it's hashtag. With all due respect to these guys that

826
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,760
Speaker 2: I'm about to throw under the bus, it's not Duck Hodges,

827
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 2: it's not shdor Sanders.

828
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 5: To proven backup that's here for this reason.

829
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 2: It's a proven backup that I mean literally, you and

830
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 2: I we did some over and unders before the season,

831
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,360
Speaker 2: and one of them was over under one and a

832
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,359
Speaker 2: half meaningful games of action for Mason Rudolph this year.

833
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, we word a half.

834
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 3: We're right there.

835
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:23,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And that is why, as Mike Tomlin said

836
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 2: in his postgame and I thought it was a very

837
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 2: good way to put it. This is what this is

838
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 2: an exact quote, but I'm paraphrasing. He basically said, this

839
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,719
Speaker 2: is why we value Mason Rudolph as a member of

840
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 2: this collective. Yeah, is because you trust him in situations

841
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 2: like this, not just to avoid all disaster and get

842
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 2: you out of the stadium, but to literally step in

843
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 2: and navigate that ship and keep your rolling. And I

844
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,440
Speaker 2: thought he'd all be it against a poor defense and

845
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 2: all that different stuff, But at halftime, here you go.

846
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 2: You know, it's not like he had a whole week

847
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 2: to prepare like he would in this case. I think

848
00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 2: you have to feel about as confident going for I'm

849
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 2: one of the best ever future Hall of Famer to

850
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 2: a backup. I think this is about as confident in

851
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 2: the backup realistically as you could hope for.

852
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:09,920
Speaker 5: Right And I've gotten this question a million times and

853
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:11,719
Speaker 5: you will too. And I'm not avoiding it in this

854
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,560
Speaker 5: conversation because I don't really know the answer. But you

855
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 5: can make the argument that his half of football was

856
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 5: better than Rogers, I mean, or that then the last

857
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,880
Speaker 5: three havebs of football of Rogers. I'm not avoiding the

858
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 5: fact that Rogers hasn't played his best of late. And

859
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,719
Speaker 5: I think Rudolpho a high quality dude, and it took

860
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:30,960
Speaker 5: a lot of people a lot of time here to

861
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 5: realize that. I mean, I know he went to Tennessee

862
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 5: for a while, but before that, he became the darling,

863
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 5: you know, right there at the end, mostly because the

864
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:42,800
Speaker 5: people around him were before him were so bad. Yeah,

865
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 5: but that doesn't discredit what he did at the end

866
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,320
Speaker 5: of that stint or what he did yesterday. And now's

867
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,920
Speaker 5: not the time about to talk about who the future

868
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 5: quarterback is or draft or any of that stuff. But

869
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,200
Speaker 5: it wouldn't shock me one bit if the plan is

870
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 5: next year, Mason, you're going to start week one and

871
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 5: Noora Sellers is gonna be.

872
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 3: I tell you what, he looked great.

873
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,400
Speaker 2: Lenora Sellers was looking like Lenora's Sellers again on Saturday.

874
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that on Wednesday.

875
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 2: Don't get me too excited. I I'm with you. There's

876
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 2: a reason they brought him back. There's a reason that

877
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 2: they value him like they do. I think everything you

878
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 2: said about Aaron Rodgers.

879
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:23,000
Speaker 3: Listen.

880
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:25,719
Speaker 2: I know there's a lot of people and this is

881
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:27,879
Speaker 2: another one of those I tell you this all the time.

882
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 2: I realized Twitter is not a real place. I realized,

883
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,360
Speaker 2: social media, YouTube comments, all that stuff, it's not a

884
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 2: real place. There's a lot of people out there that

885
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 2: last night in this morning are like, just stick with Maason,

886
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 2: He's better than Aaron.

887
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 3: Anyways. I ain't going there.

888
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:43,839
Speaker 5: I'm not going there either, But.

889
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,759
Speaker 2: I agree with what you said that it's not like

890
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,600
Speaker 2: Aaron had been lighting the world on fire his last

891
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 2: handful of halves of football.

892
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 5: If he got hurt week five, nobody even throw it.

893
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:55,719
Speaker 2: Out there, correct, correct, And that maybe that maybe that's

894
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 2: the final piece of this.

895
00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 3: Matt Am.

896
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:00,799
Speaker 2: I crazy, as we talk this out in real time

897
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 2: to think that maybe even a week off might do

898
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:04,919
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers a lot of good.

899
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,240
Speaker 5: I was thinking that too, you know, like, as you said,

900
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 5: err on the side of caution, but Rogers, sometimes it

901
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,080
Speaker 5: happens though so many guys, you know, a little bit

902
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 5: of time away from the game, whether you're mostly for

903
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:22,240
Speaker 5: young dudes. But I mean Flacco went to the couch

904
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 5: and then came back and played way better than before

905
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 5: he went to the couch, you know. I mean, I

906
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,160
Speaker 5: don't know they'd be bad for him at all, not

907
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 5: to humble him or anything.

908
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,520
Speaker 3: Like that, but just have a chance to breathe.

909
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,960
Speaker 5: I mean, had his knees and back and shoulders and

910
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 5: things that aren't on the injury list don't feel great

911
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,839
Speaker 5: right now either, you know what I mean? Yeah, right, Matt.

912
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 2: If he was just a normal forty one year old,

913
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 2: I think that would be the case, and you know,

914
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 2: the weather starts to turn right. But especially when you

915
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 2: take the hits that he's taken over the.

916
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 5: Last couple of weeks, he might come back a new guy.

917
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 1: He might.

918
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 3: He might come back with some renewed energy, some new vigor.

919
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 2: It's it's not like and you said it perfectly, not

920
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:58,080
Speaker 2: to humble him, or you need to sit down and

921
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 2: think about what's going on here.

922
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:01,840
Speaker 3: Might just be nice for him to breathe for a

923
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 3: Sunday and more.

924
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,439
Speaker 5: I think it through too, like, Hey, things aren't going

925
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 5: great on the offensive side of the ball. It's not disaster,

926
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 5: but it's not going great. I haven't done called them

927
00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:13,680
Speaker 5: San Diego in a long time, but the Chargers was

928
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 5: a disaster. You know, Sure, yesterday wasn't great, especially considering

929
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 5: the opponent's bad on defense. But I also think it

930
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 5: might not be bad for the whole organization, the coaching

931
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 5: staff to gain plan and execute a start to finish

932
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 5: Rudolph game and therefore put some of the skill guys

933
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,879
Speaker 5: in different situations, you know, and we saw a lot

934
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 5: of yesterday. I mean, this is something we'll talk about

935
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:40,279
Speaker 5: in the second hour or tomorrow or Wednesday. Wilson looked

936
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 5: like he took over as the number two to compare

937
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 5: to Austin Glad Washington. Washington's role keeps growing, you know

938
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,759
Speaker 5: what I mean. And so is Warren going to be there?

939
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 5: You know, like you might learn more about the offense

940
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:57,279
Speaker 5: with Rudolph as your quarterback too, even for a game man.

941
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,959
Speaker 2: That's a very interesting point that I completely agree with. Yeah,

942
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:07,359
Speaker 2: Metcat Steelers snap counts are important, but for skill position guys,

943
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,719
Speaker 2: I like the routes, run count.

944
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:11,640
Speaker 5: And situations and stuff like that too.

945
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:16,319
Speaker 2: Routes run by the Steelers yesterday, Metcalf thirty three, gain

946
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:21,239
Speaker 2: Well twenty six, Wilson twenty one, ok. Number three, one

947
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 2: more than Washington who was at twenty, John who at eighteen,

948
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,200
Speaker 2: Friarmouth at fourteen, Calvin Austin all the way down to

949
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 2: the bottom at twelve.

950
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:33,800
Speaker 5: Yeah. So again, I have already started compile Matt's stats

951
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 5: for the Bears have so in two receiver sets yesterday,

952
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,400
Speaker 5: Wilson played fifty three percent of snaps obviously metcaps. On

953
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 5: the other side, Austin only played twenty percent of snaps

954
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,440
Speaker 5: in two receiver sets. I think that's pretty telling. And

955
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:52,680
Speaker 5: Austin's now been held under thirty five receiving yards in

956
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 5: six of his last seven games. Like, I think he

957
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 5: might be in the doghouse a little bit and he's

958
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:58,040
Speaker 5: not producing.

959
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 3: I think there's some of that, and I just think.

960
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 5: And maybe Wilson's coming on. I mean, like it could be.

961
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:08,440
Speaker 3: A combination combination of things. I also think there's some.

962
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,400
Speaker 5: It's not like Wilson got eight balls yesterday though, either.

963
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:15,080
Speaker 2: The way the offense is operated is not necessarily conducive

964
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 2: to Calvian Austin's skill set tree.

965
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:18,479
Speaker 3: It was one thing.

966
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,879
Speaker 2: Last year when he's really fast and he can run

967
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,440
Speaker 2: those nine routes, those go routes and get underneath the

968
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 2: Russ moonballs.

969
00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 3: That's not what they're doing. They're not doing any of

970
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 3: that this year.

971
00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 5: No, No, they're not just chucking it up and holding ball.

972
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:30,719
Speaker 3: I think I think that's a big part of it

973
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:31,319
Speaker 3: as well too.

974
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:33,759
Speaker 5: So I think this was interesting with Washington too. Because

975
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 5: it's extreme. An eleven personnel, one back, one tight end,

976
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:43,440
Speaker 5: three receivers. Washington is the loan tight end on ninety

977
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 5: percent of those snaps on just the eleven personnel.

978
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 3: So there's no disguise in that anymore. He's the guy.

979
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,399
Speaker 5: He's the guy. But what's weird is when they had

980
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 5: two tight ends on the field, so there's double the

981
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,640
Speaker 5: opportunity be out there, and he was out there thirty

982
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 5: six percent of the time, but ninety with one tight

983
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:01,480
Speaker 5: end on the field.

984
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 3: Interesting.

985
00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 5: Now, I have no problem with the ninety part, but

986
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 5: that I'm pulling them off right right right. I mean

987
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:10,359
Speaker 5: some of it might be throwing situations. We just want

988
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 5: our best to past catchers.

989
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:15,040
Speaker 3: But it's hard. He's not one of those at this point.

990
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:17,400
Speaker 5: And see how hard it is to tackle that guy.

991
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:22,960
Speaker 2: Right, rumbling, bumbling, stumbling, Matt, you got to get your

992
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:24,359
Speaker 2: son at Darnell Washington.

993
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:28,640
Speaker 5: Jersey told dude off the air. He texts me he's

994
00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:30,960
Speaker 5: like that. I'm in love with Darnell Washington, and I've

995
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 5: been telling him since week one. Anytime touchdown bet on daring.

996
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 5: Now the books have caught on, and it used to

997
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 5: show plus eleven hundred oh yeah, right, yeah, yeah, retire.

998
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:46,399
Speaker 5: He's like, should I get a Darnel Washington Jersey. I'm

999
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 5: my god. That's He's like, he does have a ton

1000
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:51,759
Speaker 5: of money and he's buying. I'm like, I'll pay for it.

1001
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 5: That's a good one.

1002
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:56,439
Speaker 3: Christmas is right around the corner. Son. Gotta love it, Matt.

1003
00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:58,640
Speaker 2: When we come back to start Hour number two, breaking

1004
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 2: news from Adam Schefter, y one Thornhills signed to the

1005
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:05,240
Speaker 2: Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad. That's not actually it, but Schefter

1006
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:09,200
Speaker 2: did just tweet something out as it relates.

1007
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:10,600
Speaker 3: To Hakka Lugie Gate.

1008
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 2: Oh boy, is that a good name that works one

1009
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,799
Speaker 2: of Hakka Loogie That is a island in Hawaii. It's

1010
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,080
Speaker 2: also something that Jamar Chase wanted to do against Jalen

1011
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:23,880
Speaker 2: Ramsey yesterday. Plenty more to get into from that game,

1012
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:26,600
Speaker 2: and we will continue to do that in Hour number

1013
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 2: two as well as go around the league and talk

1014
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,279
Speaker 2: about Remember we teed it up on Friday. It was

1015
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:33,800
Speaker 2: a real separation Sunday and a lot of playoff in

1016
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 2: division races around the league. We will recap all of

1017
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:41,239
Speaker 2: that action fun Sunday across the NFL in our number two,

1018
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,399
Speaker 2: all of that and more as we roll along West

1019
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:44,440
Speaker 2: Shouler Matt Williamson.

1020
00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:45,000
Speaker 3: Halfway home.

1021
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,640
Speaker 2: It's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers

1022
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:48,400
Speaker 2: Audio Network