January 2, 2025 • 42 mins
Prisuta, Williamson, and the Factor Back Merril Hoge, preview the final regular season game for the Steelers as they look to beat the Bengals for the second time this year and end their three-game skid.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDV Pittsburgh, brought
to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one
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Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits and
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. And now here
are your hosts, Merril Hodge, Matt Williamson and Mike Persuda.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Steelers Preview
right here on your Steelers flagship one of two point
five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network. Mike Persuda and
Matt Williamson. Kicking things off tonight as we always do.
Merril Hodge, our factor back will be along directly as
we do our best to get you ready for the
Steelers and the Bengals Saturday night at Actorshuer Stadium. Matt,
(00:45):
the last time we gathered in this setting with this format,
it was a post mortem.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, to do a.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Review every sense of the word. At Kansas City Performance
not right. Mike Tomlin called the JV and said it
sucked to be blunt. He might have been being kind.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, Isaay, he's not wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean there was some self inflicted wounds there too,
and I thought my homes played a tremendous game. But
still that was JV level football that needs to get
corrected quick.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Although it is the NFL, so it's a week to
week league. Among other things, we've seen highs, we've seen
lows sometimes.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Short week to short week to short week week. Yeah,
you know, nice to have a little break here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, we have seen bouncebacks. And I guess the thing
they hang their hat on first and foremost is the
time between that Chiefs debacle and Saturday night. They're usually
pretty good, yes, in this set of circumstances.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yes, standalone games, not that this is super relevant, but
they have a really good record on Saturdays at home.
Tomlin has a very good record, particularly at home with
long weeks compared to short and I just think the
rest emotionally, physically coaching is going to go.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
A long way.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I think emotionally, yeah, is not to be underrated in
that scenario.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Absolutely, that Daga break, relax a little bit, heal your bones,
and get back to the film.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Let's start things off the way we always do by
taking a look at the practice participation reporting. Since the
game is on Saturday this week, that means the Steelers
think today is Friday, not Thursday.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And as if these last couple, he's going to be
more confusing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, another curveball thrown at you, blowing away and the
don't swing at it. But we have actually the game
status for you, which we normally don't have on Thursday night.
The only guy questionable for the Steelers is cornerback Dante
Jackson with a back. I talked to him today after practice.
He said he tweaked it yesterday, did some individuals or
(02:41):
did the individual stuff and some team work at practice
today and he said they are sticking to the plan.
So didn't say he was playing.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Or wouldn't play, but say, what's sticking the plan?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I guess easing your way to ready, you know, doing
a lot of rehab, doing you know a little bit,
but not too much on days such as the day.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
With their receivers. And we'll get to the receivers in
second or two on this injury report. Obviously that's important.
If he couldn't go, would Trice start or do you
think it's definitely still Pierre boy?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
If I'm making the decision. It's twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Me too, Me too. I think that's an easy one.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
But it's not me making.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
No, I don't think we're in charge of it.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
They haven't made one of.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Those yet, and I'll let you know if I ever do.
But I'm not holding my breath. Three guys listed is out,
but they really don't count because they're still in the
designated twenty one day window to return from the reserve
injured list. That would be wide receiver Roman Wilson, linebacker
Cole Holcomb, and defensive lineman Logan Lee for the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
It is real quick, folks. People think that all of
a sudden they're back in the mix. You have nothing
to lose by opening their window. By the way, I mean, so,
even if they have a deep playoff run, you might
not see any of those guys.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
You might not. Yeah, that's a good point. Bengals got
some issues.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, there was interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Beyond you know, just the typical Cincinnati issues that are
great offense but no defense. Running Back Chase round ankle questionable,
has not practiced this week.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I'd be shocked if he plays.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Guy got hurt, not trying to not score a touchdown
that they decided to score on the next play next.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Why you think Burrow did that on his own?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
The way Taylor explained it after the game, he thought
the math changed when there was the injury stoppage. I'm
not buying it. I can't fathom.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It makes no sense of handling that situation the way
they handled I can't either. But they should have burned him.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
That's their problem. T Higgins questionable ankle and knee. He
of course finished the game against Denver, but limited all
week in practice.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
His contract might be on his mind.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
What do you have like a six percent chance to
go to the playoffs and he's looking at it like
I'm gonna be the highest paid free agent in the
league this year. Maybe I'm not super psyched about going.
I'm just running out there.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Certainly a relevant point. Yes, I'm sure somebody's thinking about.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Maybe someone should have opened up contract talks with me
at some point this year.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Marius Mims the right tackle ankle and hand questionable. Drew
sample tight end groing. He gets a lot of snaps.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
He's the chipper at tight end.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah yeah, questionable and cornerback Cam Taylor britt cornerback ankle,
He is questionable Matt, this.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Is Taylor BRIT's a starter. He's not particularly great. I mean,
none of their defensive starter is not named Hendrickson are
particularly great. But he's the best they.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Got, right. That's because cornerback DJ Turner and cornerback safety
Dax Hill are both on the reserve injured list. That's
a couple of first round defensive backs from where somewhere?
Logan Wilson linebacker.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Those dudes from That's college.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
It seems to be a lot of on Ir, at
least in this game. Logan Wilson, he's their best linebacker.
He's on Ir Sheldon Rankins, the defensive tackle that they had, yeah, Ir,
and even the kicker, Evan McPherson. So this is a
banged up Bengals team. Yeah, they've won four in a row. Yeah,
their offense is sublime, Yes, but this defense, uh, it's
(06:01):
not the worst in the league statistically, Matt. Watching the
Bengals play.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's hard to believe it isn't.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And looking at who they're throwing out there, it's hard
to believe it isn't.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Absolutely, that kicker thing can't be overlooked. The kicker has
been a big, big problem for them. It was a
problem last week. But their defense. I'm not trying to
pick on the Bengals, but I mean, I really think
they need seven new starters this offseason. I mean to
really field a playoff caliber defense, including getting the two
(06:30):
Michigan dudes and Wilson back and all those.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
They have major problems on that side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And I neglected to mention adding to those problems defensive ends.
Sam Hubbard out the bookend to Trey Hendrickson is out
with a knee, So yeah, they got problems. I mean,
you look at what they throw out there. Henderson's a
really good player. Yes, bj Hill is a really good tackle,
and I don't see anybody else. I like, not did
(06:56):
they throw out there?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Like who else would start for the Steelers? I mean, like.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Really thin or who would even be in a rotation
for the Steelers?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Not many?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Maybe maybe not maybe Geno Stone maybe be ready with
your third guy.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Uh maybe Josh Newton rookie corner.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Maybe probably like to have him and see him put
them in the mix.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But like guys that would see meaningful snaps on this defense,
there aren't many.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Even our old buddy Mike Hilton is still playing the Nickel.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's slowing down a little too.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
He played eighty seven percent of the snaps against Denver,
but when they got to overtime and Denver had third downs,
Hilton was not on the field.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I didn't know that, okay, but that adds up in
amassing situation, the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's good Blitzer. Yeah, it doesn't run that well, right.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The kicker you mentioned with McPherson on ir Cade York,
who had a decent rookie year for Cleveland a couple
of years ago. He has been with Cleveland, Washington and Cincinnati.
He missed a couple of field goals for the Commanders
in the opener this year and.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Then got cuts gone.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah. His career numbers twenty nine of forty one.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Which ain't good now, and this year is worse than that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Rights have a career long of fifty nine, which he
kicked this year for the Bengals, But he also joinked
one in overtime off the upright, a very makeable kick
which could have cost Cincinnati that game.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
But I mean, this team is so interesting because.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
The combustibility on offense at times it overcomes all of this.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It sometimes does, but there we had to show what
four weeks ago. I mean, they're equally as awful on
defense as they are incredibly good on offense. And the
offense now, especially if Chase Brown's not in the mix,
which I really don't expect them to, is such a
three man show. Yeah, I mean, I don't think their
O line is an asset. I mean, Burrow is unbelievably good,
(08:43):
and you could tell me he's the best player in
the league right now. I mean in terms of just
doing the most with nothing and making them The fact
that they're even in this situation is really attestament to
what Joe Burrow is doing.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
You know, I got to go back to comment made
by your partner on the Drive on the Steelers Nation Radio,
dal Lawley, who said, every Sunday in the NFL, two
of the best five quarterbacks in the league are Joe
Burrow and the guy who's playing against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
That's they're always on the field together at the same game.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
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official Steelers Pro Shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel. Jersey's
Terrible towels, Authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Matt, I noticed no authentic
memorabilia under my tree this year.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Oh it's it's in the mail round. Yeah, I'll be
there soon.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I hope it doesn't get picked off. Visit one of
the official Steelers pro shops, Breath. Those are located at
a Stadium, Grove City, Premium Mountlets, and the Tanger Outlets.
You can also gear up online at shop Steelers dot com.
We're just getting warmed up here, so you're gonna want
to keep it here because when we come back, we
welcome our Factor back, Merril Hodge to the show with
(09:58):
Matt Williamson, Mike Person. This is Steelers Preview right here
on your Steelers Flagship one o two point five DVE
and the Steelers Audio Network. Back to the Steelers Preview
show on DVE. Welcome back to the preview, Mike Pursuita
and Matt Williamson with you here on your Steeler Flagship
(10:18):
one of two point five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.
Time now to welcome not just the Factor back, but
the guy with the answers, at least the guy I'm
hoping has the answers because Meryl Hodge joins us now.
In Meryl, I got a lot of questions, and I
gotta be completely transparent here. A couple of weeks ago,
(10:40):
I was film pretty good about your Pittsburgh Steelers, and
now I don't know what to think. I know it's
a tough stretch of schedule and three good teams and
all of that, but I was not expecting to see
what I saw. I guess the first question might as
well be what should I expect to happen next.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
Well, you're going to need significant growth and improvement in
in a short period of time. Now, you do have
a ten day window roughly, but a bigger window than
than normal, which that's always you know, listen, weeks when
you just when you play Sunday to Sunday, you know
(11:20):
you have like three days to you know, repair, recover
and get better. When you have the next couple of days,
you know, from a coaching perspective and evaluation perspective, you
just have a little more time, and I think things
can be done. There's a better chance of that happening,
and it's gonna need to happen. I mean, there's a
reason that you don't feel good about the last three
(11:41):
weeks because you just you're not as good as the
three teams that you played, and you didn't play your
very best either, and that's all fairness. Had they played
their very best, and I was like, jeezus, you know,
it's just there's not much they can do to improve.
There's a lot of areas to improve. So that's the
good thing about about where they stand. The tough thing
is that you have no room for air now.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I mean you you need to win from here on out.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
And you know, if you clean up some of the
things and get better at some of the things you
were already good at, at some point you've got a
chance every Sunday. The turnover thing is a is a
big problem, you know you and you ultimately like to
say you can control that as far as not giving
it away. That's something that still is somewhat difficult to
(12:28):
completely control, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
So, but that would be where they start.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
And then there's a bunch of things offensive and defensive
they can get better at that will help them.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Of course, they've got a lot of areas, as you
mentioned a couple of times there that aren't up to snuff,
you know, for a playoff caliber team, But what would
be priority number one? And maybe the secondary coverage bus communication?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Where would you be focusing or.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Two or three? Run the football?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's not at.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
It really isn't.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
I mean, we we wont to play a lot of
a lot of games and playoff games by doing that.
You know, there's simplicity to that, and the truth of
that is real now, you know, just to look at defensively,
the one area that they really have to get better
at is just their overall communication with each other when
teams attack that with you know, motions and bunch packages
(13:29):
and you know looks, especially when they're playing man and
they're requiring you guys defensively to communicate with each other,
pass people off. Know who you've got, Am I an
inside guy or I'm the outside guy and the vertical guy?
You know, knowing who those people are and not making
those mistakes, you know, and that has just happened too
(13:50):
much throughout the year and that. But it can be
you know, you say it can be cleaned up, and
I'm saying it can, but it's it hasn't been to
this point. So you hope the ten day stretch that
focus will be better, I think in this particular matchup.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know, Marel, let me stop you before you go
any further, because we talked a bunch of us did
today with Mika Fitzpatrick and he was talking he got
named to the Pro Bowl, and he said he was
surprised because he hasn't had what he would call a
splashy season. He's been mostly in the deep post as
a deterrent to the deep ball. So I asked him,
what have you seen during this losing streak from your
(14:28):
position in the deep post? And he said, we're having
problems with motions, stacks and bunches. Teams are watching what
the previous team did and doing the same thing. And
we've addressed that and we've worked on it. And I'm
paraphrasing him now, but he said, they're not going to
have those problems anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
What do you think took him so long? Because you've
been talking about the bunches thing all year and how
easy of a fix is that.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I watched Hard Knocks last night too, and suddenly like
they're gonna bunch us to death.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean like they know it's coming. Everyone knows it's comming.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
You.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I mean like it was kind of of course, what
do you think these guys are gonna do? You know, right?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Yeah, yeah, well listen the other way that Honestly, they're
not stopping it. I mean what they're not stopping teams
doing it now. They may be better at it, but
you're not stopping that the rest of the year.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And here's why. Because everybody gets ready for you.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
From here on out, and there's about a month left
of the season, they go back to the last month.
You have not shown for four or five weeks straight
that it's not been a problem. So everybody's gonna do it.
Even if they do it really good again this week,
you're still going to see it because people go, well,
they still have problems with it. And then we're gonna
do this little wrinkle that the Bengals didn't do because
the w ankles, the Bengals will do it. So what
(15:45):
you gotta do is you gotta show you that you
can do it, you know now, Like I said, like
they had a little more time to be more detailed
with those type of things. So maybe from a coaching perspective,
this is how I would look at the look at.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
It both ways.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
As we get a lot more reps, We get to
really walk through things, and we have a better understanding
and a better feel for each other, and we found
a better way to communicate so that we don't make
those mistakes that clearly they could feel better about that
than they've ever felt.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
And obviously Mika feels that.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Man, I trust players, you know, they they're the ones
in the between the white lines and they're the ones
doing it.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So he feels confident and he's you know, he's right too.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
We get into the Pro Bowl, Like somebody was just
asking me today about him, I'm like, you know, just
he's played really good.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
He just hasn't had, you know, like a big time interception.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
But I'll tell you this, he makes the tackles that
he's got to make that if he doesn't, there are
bigger plays than they've already given up. So from that perspective,
he's still, you know, a heck of a player and
doing a rock solid job.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I'll tell you one thing to really picked my spirits
up was I asked him if he was confident now
that that they have identified these problems with motions, stacks
and bunches, if they would get them fixed, And he said,
and I quote Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
And Meryll in fairness, I'm sure we have some listeners
that are like, well, why is it taking so long?
If the Eagles did it to you, why don't you
get it fixed? But I think you know, to be
to be truth about it, you know, why did it
take so long? That's what I'm going with this is
when you play three games in eleven days, you really
don't have as much time as people think to get
these things fixed.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Well, that's what I was just saying, Yeah, you don't
have that. Okay, you just said it. You're playing three
games in eleven days. You got about nine days to
get ready for.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
The next game. I guess there's that's why. You know,
I'm sure he feels a lot more.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
He feels a lot more confident about it than he
did then because you know one right, Yeah, we get
to your point. I remember when we get we're first
time I played Thanksgiving. You know, you're like, we're literally
handing out the game plan, we're doing a walk, doing
a practice, and we're on our way to Dallas.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Most really, you know, that's it.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
So you got to feel like, you know, whatever we
didn't do well last week, we somehow we'll get better
at it this week, and that just always doesn't translate.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
So so this.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Time should help them because one thing I was I
was getting to, you know, you got to beat your
opponent that's in front of you this week, and that's Cincinnati.
And the one thing that really stood out from the
last game, you know that they did well is they
threatened pressure. And now what I mean by that is
like they would put everybody on the line of scrimmage.
(18:17):
It'll be very obvious for fans and people often just
talk about how it's you know, you got to put
pressure on Joe Burrow. Okay, that's that's just a part
of the equation. You got to put pressure on everybody,
the wide receivers, the offensive line, the backs, and Joe
Joe Burrow. And what they do a good job is
they threatened pressure. They made them think it was pressure,
(18:40):
but at that end, they would bow, they would bail.
The only time they chose to come was actually ended
up being probably the play that wins the game for him,
is that sack, fumble.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Or return for touchdown. You know they're in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
They that that's the only time they came off of
the pressure. That they were showing where everybody was a
line of scrimming. So my point with this is, you know,
they have a lot of things that made them comfortable better.
That's another way to handle defending and covering people because
everybody tends because I'm when I'm talking from an offensive
(19:14):
perspective because I played on that side of the bass.
Once you have a tendency to speed things up, even
if they don't pressure. It's just they they influenced you
to think that way, and that's why sometimes you do
it and then you bail as you make them think
faster and you make them function faster, and then when
you do that, you see mistakes.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
So you know, they had some good.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Things that they did against them and then uh, and
I just think that they can continue to build on
that because what they're what they're what they have to defend.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Nobody's gonna shut that down.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Nobody's done it, and nobody's going to They just they
got too many good players on the other side, and
Joe Burrows is the best, you know. And but man,
if you can, if you can at least you know,
get some three and outs, create some turnovers, you know,
create a splash play, which is critical in these games
and you've got a chance, and I just.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Think that they are there.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
There, there's season to do that, They've done that, they've
experienced it, and I can think they even be better
at it this time.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You mentioned Burrow a couple times, and I think we
all know he's great, and like everybody on the planet,
I love them coming out of LSU.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
But I'm shocked he's so much.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I contend that his arm is better, he's more of
a power thrower, he's a more functional on the move player,
his feet are lighter, he's better with pocket awareness than
when he came in the league. Like I mean, every
year he seems to take a step forward in all
those regards.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Yeah, well, that's actually the best of football. The thing
that he is the absolute best is how he processes
things where he knows to go with that football within
under two seconds or two seconds tops. It's just he
was you know, he showed that at LSU a lot.
He clearly showed it in the National Championship game and
(21:04):
he's You're right, say everything that you just mentioned, you're
the spot on every one of those areas. He's gotten
better and better and better, and that's what makes the
dangerous and just all things I just talked about. That
still isn't gonna mean you're gonna shut Joe Burrow down.
They're not gonna score points and was balling you.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
They're still gonna do that.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
You just got to try to get as many three
and after as you can and maybe create a turnover
here and there like you did in the last matchup.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You know, Merril, I I'm as big a Borough fan
as anybody else. Jamar Chase is gonna win the triple Crown,
which almost never happens. T Higgins is a great player.
Gasecki's a really productive tight end. Chase Brown, I don't
know that he's gonna play. He's listed his question, well,
hasn't practiced all week, that he's a really good back.
I get all that, but I hear all this talk about, well,
(21:51):
Cincinnati's dangerous, and boy, you don't want to play Cincinnati
if they get in the playoffs, And I'm thinking, yeah,
I do because their defense and I mean stinks is
being kind and four of the best defenders are on
ir They can't stop anybody. I agree with you. Like
the last time the Steelers moved the ball up and down,
(22:13):
they scored points, and then they got a couple of
stops or turnovers at the right time, and they won
the game. I'm not saying this team is easy to beat,
but I think it's eminently beatable. And I would just
run back the same formula that they used in Cincinnati,
come out throwing. You had basically the same group of
eligibles as you're gonna have now, and make it work
against the defense that has struggled to stop every body.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Yeah, I mean, the greatness of the offense is at
least the equal of the badness of the defense, if
not more. I feel bad for Burrow actually, you.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Know, yeah, yeah, well yeah, you know.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
I mean, listen, Joe Burrow is still a young guy,
and he's got plenty of life in his body, you know,
at football. But you know, when you that's why teams
win championships. I mean, there's a great exam but your
best quarterback and probably not going to make the playoffs. Okay,
there's a reason for that, because it's not a very
good team because they had a compliment on the other
side to help them leave. From a special team's aspect,
(23:10):
they struggle a little bit, but you know, to build
on that they you know, their offense, you know that
Russell Wilson, that's probably his best game, you know, and
then he he's kind of and it passive team. They
rowed in the passing attack. But what he did good,
So like, okay, why did he what did he do well?
The one thing he did really well in that game,
(23:30):
it was whatever top of the drop was three step,
five step. It was okay, either or no good out
of the pocket. It's either bullet. It's either I throw
it first it too or I out. And he did
that great, and then everybody uncovered properly too when he
did vacate the pocket.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
They had some great.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Designs just by the way they play coverage, you know,
coaches did a really good job of studying that. And okay,
checked down. They went to the checkdown over the middle
of a lot. That's so how they were playing that
that Campa two. You know, the linebacker was running out,
so they just so as it back with fake just
check down over the ball, with dump it to you.
You you already got five yards and now if you
(24:10):
whatever you get after that, and they'd get seven to
ten to twelve yards off that. Then they had that
other play where they'd take a run action. I think
both sides they were doing just for some reason, things
more to the right. And once they show showed the
Bengals they were faking it, they weren't running it. They
would turn and run into their coverage zones and then
they would just dump the ball off and run the screen.
(24:31):
And so they took advantage of how they played that. So,
now are you gonna get those plays that I just
talked about. Probably not, but you gotta try them again.
You gotta see if they still are going to play
them like that. And now you assume that they'd button
some stuff up there too. But the other part of
that are.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Actually don't I watched them play Denver. I don't think
they can button anything down.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
I don't things you got.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I don't think they're good. I don't know if I'm
being clear on this.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Yeah, well I'm not.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I'm not trying to say say they are. I'm just
saying all the things that they Steelers did to the
first part of that, the way Russell Wilson played, I
would expect him to play.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Like that again.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
The ball to come out and see like top the
drop gone, it's not on move and find somebody, and
he was.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
He was awesome at that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
How do you play that well doing it that way
and then kind of de evolve as he has into
holding it and being a little uncertain and getting sacked
or throwing it away too many times or eventually bailing
and then falling down on third and two. He was
really click And I agree with you. And it seems
(25:34):
like Russell's game has regressed. Now, don't anybody listening, don't
read too much into this. He's by far their best
option right now. They're going to sink or swim with
Russell Wilson. But I think he looks a little wobbly
merylll And I'm curious how he got off kilter and
what's the confidence level of him getting back to doing what?
Speaker 6 (25:55):
Yeah, well, first of all, it does come into, okay,
the one where we talk about you're so good. He
played against Cincinnati, the three he didn't play against, he
didn't play very good against or Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
And Kansas City. Yeah, there's part of it. Now.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
The other part is, you know, they just didn't do
a very good job. But Fran wasn't just Russell Wilson offensively,
They did not do a very good job from an
offensive line perspectives of establishing anything. Of all those three games,
I don't think I saw that mass majority. They never
controlled the line of scrimmage, you know, so so it's
all starts there. So your office line didn't play as
(26:35):
good as they're capable of playing. And when that happens,
you're just going to be in trouble. I really don't
care who you got. You know, when they can't control
the line screams with some sense of consistency, you're just
gonna struggle. And when you have a quarterback us he's
five ten, so there is some limitations, and people go
(26:55):
about defending him a little different. They take some passing
lanes away, and that's just a fact.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
I mean, yeah, get.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Out of the pocket right like, if it's not there,
that's what I'm saying. It's not there right away.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Move That's why he did that. If you watch his
left that's exactly what it is. Go give Cincinnati.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
See now, those other teams I just told you about,
they were like, we ain't gonna do that. They did
a better job of keeping him there. He get an
escape route or Cincinnati wasn't as sharp on that. Those
I would expect Cincinnati to be better at this time
doesn't mean they're gonna pull it off, but I'm sure
they will try to be better at that too.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Mary, for up to you, how would you distribute the
Steeler running back touches in usage?
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Well, listen, I'm thirty.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
Is just more explosive right now, more decisive, and that's
what we need, you know, explosive and decisive. That's I
don't know, That's what I would be really emphasizing with
all of my backs even you know, that's what I
would have done with NASA years ago. It's like, you know,
we we got to get you going now, you know,
stop to jump in. You know, let's use your size
and your speed and the quickness that you do have.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Let's not dance, let's not run around the just go.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
And I think actually he been watching Jalen has has
really helped him do that because Jalen gets them all
ghost and he's the holand ghost and James is quicker,
you know, quicker. He's quicker too, and you know he's
got a lot of power behind him, you know, and
he has some speed with him. So you know, I
just when he's rolling, I would not I keep him
going you know, and there's when I get closer to
(28:24):
scoring territory, I keep him in there a little more
than I think that they.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Have, you know. But I'm not gonna I need naj too.
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
I need him because he does some good things, and
he runs well, and you know, he does some stuff
to passing game, and he helps me in the running game.
So I'm I'm just gonna ask him to do it
a little better.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:43):
But I might get thirty in there more when we
get into scoring territory.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Merl I'm going to give you a promotion now from
running backs coach to head coach. But I think we
all assume Baltimore is going to beat the snot out
of Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
So favored by like sixteen and a half or something.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Crazy, the division title. Things not happening, right, So if
you're the head coach and they play before the Steelers game,
you're gonna know this result before you start. Do you
care about staying ahead of the Chargers and being the
fifth seed or are you getting your guys out of
there quick and making sure there's no injuries going into
the playoffs. Mike Tomlin has said they need to get
the his word was stench off of them from this
(29:22):
three game losing streak. If it was me, I would
do everything I could to make sure I was as
healthy as humanly possible for the playoffs, and whatever happens
against Cincinnati happens. How would you play it?
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Well?
Speaker 6 (29:36):
Out of play it's based on how he's played it.
Here's where you can't do it as a leader. You
can't change your mind. You can't sit, you get can't
create a rule, can't create a standard and then change
your mind somewhere along the line, because then people stop
believing you.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
You know, then they can't trust you.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
So whatever atablish, whatever he established, that's what he needs
to finish with.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
That's the expectation that he's made of his team. So
whatever you know, based on what I would.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Have done, based on just because we're on the outside,
we're not on the side, I would I would have
prepared my guys that we play every Sunday to win
football games. That's what your contract says. That's what my
contract says. And unless something were to change that I
do not foresee right now that's exactly how we're gonna
approach it.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
But i'd have done that.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
You do that in training camp, and you re establish
that every day. And now we're in the moment of truth.
We're staying true to what I have said all year.
That's how we're gonna play. We're playing to win this
game and beat this team, and then we're gonna get
ready for the playoffs. So I wouldn't put any They
would have no doubt in their mind where I stood
even before the next week come around.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Merrill that aside, and this isn't a knock on Wilson.
Would you would you have a fields package?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Assuming he's.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
Funny, said that I actually thought this would be a
great time with the time that you had. Is yeah,
you need to do everything you can offensively. He is,
by the way, right, Yeah, I assume, so yeah, I
would definitely do Yeah, that's funny, said that I was
thinking about that.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
I bet you we see him in some packages.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Boy, Third and two be a good time.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Yeah, you know, anytime that you can push some fear
thread in them and I'll be able to and he
can run it or throw it.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Be ready for both.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Meryl fascinating is always uh looking forward to next week.
A little programming note for our listeners. We're gonna have
a two hour show next week as we get you
ready for the Steelers in their first playoff game, Uh
wherever that is and whoever that's against. And uh we're
gonna double down on the Factor back next week. So Merril, Uh,
keep the pipes rested and ready to go, and we'll
(31:41):
talk to you next week.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Thank you, boys, I'll be ready go Steelers.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Get that was Merril Hodge, our Factor back here on
the preview. Uh, still a lot more to get to
before we call it a night, So keep it here
with Matt Williamson, Mike Persuda. This is Steelers Preview right
here on your Steelers Flagship one or two point five
DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Welcome back, great stuff with Meryl as always, Yeah, good
stuff for sure. You know a lot of times we'll
kind of scratch the surface on a subject or two
and then we count on Meryl to really take that
deep dive and he does that so well. The defensive
issues for the Steelers are real and yeah, you know,
statistically since the buy, it's been night and day. Absolutely
(32:32):
they've played four really good offenses if you count the
Ravens twice but that's eight games where they have not
resembled what they did prior to that.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
No, and I don't think that I'm not gonna say
that they were overrated the first half of the year,
but if you look at the offense as they played,
they were pretty favorable. And the level of competition is
night and day then versus now. But I also think
when you play as many snaps as you did in
Philly to start that three and eleven, three games and
(32:59):
eleven and stretch, it's gonna have a ripple effect for
weeks to help. Yeah, this this rest, I think is
gonna go a long way.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I thought the other really key point for Merril. He
talked about takeaway, giveaway, and it's obviously it's been so
critical to the Steelers from Yeah, it's critical to everybody, but.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
They're a little more reliant than others.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So, yeah, you can protect the ball, but you can't
really count on we're gonna go get a turnover. Now,
the other team got to help you out sometimes, I know,
and it's a hard thing to Okay, we're gonna get
two takeaways against this guy, We're gonna get four takeaways
against this guy, and the takeaways have not been there.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
They haven't been though.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Those are the greater race of for him on defense, yep.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
And some of it's just causing fumbles and not being
able to fall on them, or tipping balls and not
be able to haul them in, you know, some bad
luck of course. But on the flip side, this is
how the whole Bengal season is gone, like all of
a sudden. The Bengals defense, which I think is really
really horrible over the last coup, over this win streak,
at least is generating sacks and taking the ball away.
(33:59):
So that's keeping the head above water on that side
of the ball a little bit more. But on the
on the flip side, Burrows taking more sacks and the
offense has turned the ball over during the stretch, you know,
like it's always even Stephen with this team.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
What to Expect is brought to you by Brian Patton
and associates. It's all about the benefits. And one compelling
aspect of this rematch, Matt to me is the Steelers
already have a game plan, a blueprint, a path to victory.
They went to act not actressure pay Corpse Stadium in
Cincinnati on December the first and they came out throwing.
(34:33):
They had to pedal down. Yeah, and they aggressively pursued
points and they got got them. They got the takeaways
at the right time, and they ended up they fell
behind seven to nothing and then lo and behold. At
one point they had a forty one to seventeen lead.
It was forty one to twenty four in the fourth quarter,
and then they got a little sloppy at the end
of the game. Unless Cincinnati close it up, forty four
(34:57):
to thirty eight was your final and the Steelers ended
up getting a pretty critical third down at the end
of the game to keep the ball away from Cincinnati.
But for what to expect, I wanted to pick your
brain and get an idea as to what you expect
from the Steelers defense that was. It was interesting to me.
Denver put its best cornerback, Patser Tan on Jamar Chase,
(35:19):
and Sirtan's one of the best in the business, probably
a defensive Player of the Year candidate. Did a really
good job on Jamar Chase, but that left Riley Moss
to cover t Higgins.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
They disrobed anyone not named Tan. Yeah, I had a
bunch of targets too, and.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
They particularly picked on Moss and Higgins went off and
after the game, Moss said, sometimes you gotta eat a
bleef sandwich. The Steelers, conversely, when they played Cincinnati the
first time, they put their best cover guy, Joey Porter Junior,
on Higgins and decided to cover Chase by committee. Do
you expect them to do the same thing in this matchup?
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I think so, just because the style of receivers that
they're dealing with, and Certain's the best coroner the league,
and he's going to always line up against the ones.
I mean, that's just why he's the best corner league.
Porter's not there yet. And I also think Porter stylistically
would much rather go against George Pickens than Antonio Brown,
(36:21):
you know what I mean, the shorter, shiftier guy. He's
a little long legged.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
For Brer physical guy like physical guy.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
And Chase by no means is deficient in any area.
But Higgins is just more of the Porter style to
me physical down the sidelines, catch point type of dude,
go up and get it, and if he can hold that,
if that battle is a wash, you would hope you
(36:49):
could keep Chase, you know, from blowing up after the
catch in particular, you know a lot of the short stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you just tackle the catch.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Baturally, catch is something day and I've talked about all week.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
And if you have no you give yourself a chance
to tackle.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
The cats exactly exactly a couple bodies around Chase. You
know he's gonna be used near the lines, used everywhere,
but near the line of scrimmage, slants, crosses, that kind
of thing. If you can at least get him on
the ground, it goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
So you would agree with me. I think that was
a good plan and I would run it back.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I would too, So the Jackson injury doesn't change my opinion.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I think he's gonna play. I don't know for a fact,
but yeah, it doesn't change mine out And you can
give him all the help he needs. Yeah, and just
help no matter what, can split with his T. Higgins
reps and you win the game that way. At least
you win the game that way on defense. That's uh.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
But you know you get a lot of quick hitters
in short game, quick game.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know that's what to expect. Brought to you by
Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits Uh,
you know, we touched on this earlier in the event
that Jackson can't play, and would we go with Trice
or James Pierre. Do they need to get Trice on
the field anyway, because he gives you another press man
(38:04):
option along with Porter. One of the things that.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
Really I wish we knew that answer better at this
point of Trice's career.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah. One of the things that astounded me about the
Kansas City game was that drive where it was sixteen
to ten and the Chiefs went down and stuck it
in the end zone and took a two score lead
early in the fourth quarter. The cushions were seven, eight,
ten yards off the ball, and Patrick Mahomes just had
the flankers screen the stop route or the comeback whenever
(38:33):
he needed it.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Whenever you won. And the ball came out remarkably quick, right,
and he was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
You can't give him that much room and expect your
rush to get there. You just can't.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Even before this game, I've been really harping on I mean,
everyone's attacking the Steelers similarly in that balls have come
out quick. We don't want to protect long against these
guys and the burrows and Mahomes are remarkably good at it.
And I think the counter is if you get some
big corners pressing and banging guys to line of scrimmage
and disrupting the timing of the Bill walshle style routes,
(39:03):
you at least have a chance, you know, I mean,
at least you can make them double pat the ball.
And to me, I would love to see if Trice
can do that. And I know people have given coach
Austin a hard time. Why aren't you adjusting these things?
And I think the biggest reason. You only have one
man corner and that's Porter and he's been out too,
you know, so it's like now you've a little bit
(39:24):
longer week.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
I didn't notice that this is much of an issue
in the Philly, in Baltimore games.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
I really apparent in Kansas City. Oh and you know
the Bengals are going to attack.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
You that way, because yeah, it's on tape, right. We
talked about the make a fitzpatch of comments into trouble
with motion and stacks and bunches.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Well you got to get that a ton.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
If somebody's gonna give you five yards, I think Burrow's
gonna take.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
It absolutely and much like Mahomes did. And Mahomes good everything,
but Burrow's best in the league when the ball comes
out at two point five or less, and his numbers
are phenomenal. And how do you think everyone's going to
attack the Steelers exactly like.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Russell Wilson was a revelation when he first started to play.
I think during this losing streak, I'm not trying to
pin it on him. I still think he's their best option. Yeah,
but the fumble in Baltimore, the pick six in Baltimore,
the pick in the end zone against Kansas City, even
though George Pickens has a lot of culpability there for
(40:23):
not running his route and drawing the safety over, as
Merrill told us last week, Wilson still got to look
and make sure that safety's not there.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
It doesn't mean throw it.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, yeah, right, especially on second down. So what's your
faith that Russell Wilson can get it back together and
be the revelation that he was and not the guy
he's been here in this losing streak.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Revelation's a big word.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
I'm not sure I'm there, but I think he can
play better against a terrible deal, I mean, level competition,
has something to do with it, but we so often
talk about pass rush plan from a Steelers defensive perspective.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Keep Lamar bottled up.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Jaydeon Daniels, Well, I think people and merriln mentioned this briefly.
I want to stick with it. They have a pass
rush play with Wilson, you know, and I don't know
the Bengals can execute it, but playoff teams will be
able to execute.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
It's not the most underrated aspect of football.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I think it absolutely is.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I mean, I really think like the Belichicks and the
super smart defensive coordinators start their prep that week with
what's our pass rush plan, you know, and go there.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
It's a good place to start. We'll see if the
Steelers can figure it out. That's going to do it
for us. Thanks to Merril for joining us as he
always does. Thanks to Justin Miller for definitely punching the
buttons and working the switches and keeping everything that he
does over there up and running. Next week, we got
a little present for you, a little delayed Christmas present,
(41:43):
two hours of preview as we get you ready for
the playoffs. So we'll have some new things in store
for that show until then, for Matt Williamson on Mike Persuda.
Thanks for finding us, however, and wherever you found us,
this has been Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers
flagship one O two point five DVE and the Steelers
(42:04):
Audio Network. Good Night, everybody,
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDV Pittsburgh, brought
to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers by
Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits and
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. And now here
are your hosts, Merril Hodge, Matt Williamson and Mike Persuda.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Steelers Preview
right here on your Steelers flagship one of two point
five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network. Mike Persuda and
Matt Williamson. Kicking things off tonight as we always do.
Merril Hodge, our factor back will be along directly as
we do our best to get you ready for the
Steelers and the Bengals Saturday night at Actorshuer Stadium. Matt,
(00:45):
the last time we gathered in this setting with this format,
it was a post mortem.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, to do a.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Review every sense of the word. At Kansas City Performance
not right. Mike Tomlin called the JV and said it
sucked to be blunt. He might have been being kind.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, Isaay, he's not wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean there was some self inflicted wounds there too,
and I thought my homes played a tremendous game. But
still that was JV level football that needs to get
corrected quick.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Although it is the NFL, so it's a week to
week league. Among other things, we've seen highs, we've seen
lows sometimes.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Short week to short week to short week week. Yeah,
you know, nice to have a little break here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, we have seen bouncebacks. And I guess the thing
they hang their hat on first and foremost is the
time between that Chiefs debacle and Saturday night. They're usually
pretty good, yes, in this set of circumstances.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yes, standalone games, not that this is super relevant, but
they have a really good record on Saturdays at home.
Tomlin has a very good record, particularly at home with
long weeks compared to short and I just think the
rest emotionally, physically coaching is going to go.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
A long way.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I think emotionally, yeah, is not to be underrated in
that scenario.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Absolutely, that Daga break, relax a little bit, heal your bones,
and get back to the film.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Let's start things off the way we always do by
taking a look at the practice participation reporting. Since the
game is on Saturday this week, that means the Steelers
think today is Friday, not Thursday.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And as if these last couple, he's going to be
more confusing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, another curveball thrown at you, blowing away and the
don't swing at it. But we have actually the game
status for you, which we normally don't have on Thursday night.
The only guy questionable for the Steelers is cornerback Dante
Jackson with a back. I talked to him today after practice.
He said he tweaked it yesterday, did some individuals or
(02:41):
did the individual stuff and some team work at practice
today and he said they are sticking to the plan.
So didn't say he was playing.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Or wouldn't play, but say, what's sticking the plan?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I guess easing your way to ready, you know, doing
a lot of rehab, doing you know a little bit,
but not too much on days such as the day.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
With their receivers. And we'll get to the receivers in
second or two on this injury report. Obviously that's important.
If he couldn't go, would Trice start or do you
think it's definitely still Pierre boy?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
If I'm making the decision. It's twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Me too, Me too. I think that's an easy one.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
But it's not me making.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
No, I don't think we're in charge of it.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
They haven't made one of.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Those yet, and I'll let you know if I ever do.
But I'm not holding my breath. Three guys listed is out,
but they really don't count because they're still in the
designated twenty one day window to return from the reserve
injured list. That would be wide receiver Roman Wilson, linebacker
Cole Holcomb, and defensive lineman Logan Lee for the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
It is real quick, folks. People think that all of
a sudden they're back in the mix. You have nothing
to lose by opening their window. By the way, I mean, so,
even if they have a deep playoff run, you might
not see any of those guys.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
You might not. Yeah, that's a good point. Bengals got
some issues.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, there was interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Beyond you know, just the typical Cincinnati issues that are
great offense but no defense. Running Back Chase round ankle questionable,
has not practiced this week.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I'd be shocked if he plays.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Guy got hurt, not trying to not score a touchdown
that they decided to score on the next play next.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Why you think Burrow did that on his own?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
The way Taylor explained it after the game, he thought
the math changed when there was the injury stoppage. I'm
not buying it. I can't fathom.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It makes no sense of handling that situation the way
they handled I can't either. But they should have burned him.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
That's their problem. T Higgins questionable ankle and knee. He
of course finished the game against Denver, but limited all
week in practice.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
His contract might be on his mind.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
What do you have like a six percent chance to
go to the playoffs and he's looking at it like
I'm gonna be the highest paid free agent in the
league this year. Maybe I'm not super psyched about going.
I'm just running out there.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Certainly a relevant point. Yes, I'm sure somebody's thinking about.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Maybe someone should have opened up contract talks with me
at some point this year.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Marius Mims the right tackle ankle and hand questionable. Drew
sample tight end groing. He gets a lot of snaps.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
He's the chipper at tight end.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah yeah, questionable and cornerback Cam Taylor britt cornerback ankle,
He is questionable Matt, this.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Is Taylor BRIT's a starter. He's not particularly great. I mean,
none of their defensive starter is not named Hendrickson are
particularly great. But he's the best they.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Got, right. That's because cornerback DJ Turner and cornerback safety
Dax Hill are both on the reserve injured list. That's
a couple of first round defensive backs from where somewhere?
Logan Wilson linebacker.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Those dudes from That's college.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
It seems to be a lot of on Ir, at
least in this game. Logan Wilson, he's their best linebacker.
He's on Ir Sheldon Rankins, the defensive tackle that they had, yeah, Ir,
and even the kicker, Evan McPherson. So this is a
banged up Bengals team. Yeah, they've won four in a row. Yeah,
their offense is sublime, Yes, but this defense, uh, it's
(06:01):
not the worst in the league statistically, Matt. Watching the
Bengals play.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's hard to believe it isn't.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And looking at who they're throwing out there, it's hard
to believe it isn't.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Absolutely, that kicker thing can't be overlooked. The kicker has
been a big, big problem for them. It was a
problem last week. But their defense. I'm not trying to
pick on the Bengals, but I mean, I really think
they need seven new starters this offseason. I mean to
really field a playoff caliber defense, including getting the two
(06:30):
Michigan dudes and Wilson back and all those.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
They have major problems on that side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And I neglected to mention adding to those problems defensive ends.
Sam Hubbard out the bookend to Trey Hendrickson is out
with a knee, So yeah, they got problems. I mean,
you look at what they throw out there. Henderson's a
really good player. Yes, bj Hill is a really good tackle,
and I don't see anybody else. I like, not did
(06:56):
they throw out there?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Like who else would start for the Steelers? I mean, like.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Really thin or who would even be in a rotation
for the Steelers?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Not many?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Maybe maybe not maybe Geno Stone maybe be ready with
your third guy.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Uh maybe Josh Newton rookie corner.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Maybe probably like to have him and see him put
them in the mix.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
But like guys that would see meaningful snaps on this defense,
there aren't many.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Even our old buddy Mike Hilton is still playing the Nickel.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's slowing down a little too.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
He played eighty seven percent of the snaps against Denver,
but when they got to overtime and Denver had third downs,
Hilton was not on the field.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I didn't know that, okay, but that adds up in
amassing situation, the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's good Blitzer. Yeah, it doesn't run that well, right.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The kicker you mentioned with McPherson on ir Cade York,
who had a decent rookie year for Cleveland a couple
of years ago. He has been with Cleveland, Washington and Cincinnati.
He missed a couple of field goals for the Commanders
in the opener this year and.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Then got cuts gone.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah. His career numbers twenty nine of forty one.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Which ain't good now, and this year is worse than that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Rights have a career long of fifty nine, which he
kicked this year for the Bengals, But he also joinked
one in overtime off the upright, a very makeable kick
which could have cost Cincinnati that game.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
But I mean, this team is so interesting because.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
The combustibility on offense at times it overcomes all of this.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It sometimes does, but there we had to show what
four weeks ago. I mean, they're equally as awful on
defense as they are incredibly good on offense. And the
offense now, especially if Chase Brown's not in the mix,
which I really don't expect them to, is such a
three man show. Yeah, I mean, I don't think their
O line is an asset. I mean, Burrow is unbelievably good,
(08:43):
and you could tell me he's the best player in
the league right now. I mean in terms of just
doing the most with nothing and making them The fact
that they're even in this situation is really attestament to
what Joe Burrow is doing.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
You know, I got to go back to comment made
by your partner on the Drive on the Steelers Nation Radio,
dal Lawley, who said, every Sunday in the NFL, two
of the best five quarterbacks in the league are Joe
Burrow and the guy who's playing against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
That's they're always on the field together at the same game.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
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official Steelers Pro Shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel. Jersey's
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Speaker 3 (09:33):
Oh it's it's in the mail round. Yeah, I'll be
there soon.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I hope it doesn't get picked off. Visit one of
the official Steelers pro shops, Breath. Those are located at
a Stadium, Grove City, Premium Mountlets, and the Tanger Outlets.
You can also gear up online at shop Steelers dot com.
We're just getting warmed up here, so you're gonna want
to keep it here because when we come back, we
welcome our Factor back, Merril Hodge to the show with
(09:58):
Matt Williamson, Mike Person. This is Steelers Preview right here
on your Steelers Flagship one o two point five DVE
and the Steelers Audio Network. Back to the Steelers Preview
show on DVE. Welcome back to the preview, Mike Pursuita
and Matt Williamson with you here on your Steeler Flagship
(10:18):
one of two point five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.
Time now to welcome not just the Factor back, but
the guy with the answers, at least the guy I'm
hoping has the answers because Meryl Hodge joins us now.
In Meryl, I got a lot of questions, and I
gotta be completely transparent here. A couple of weeks ago,
(10:40):
I was film pretty good about your Pittsburgh Steelers, and
now I don't know what to think. I know it's
a tough stretch of schedule and three good teams and
all of that, but I was not expecting to see
what I saw. I guess the first question might as
well be what should I expect to happen next.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
Well, you're going to need significant growth and improvement in
in a short period of time. Now, you do have
a ten day window roughly, but a bigger window than
than normal, which that's always you know, listen, weeks when
you just when you play Sunday to Sunday, you know
(11:20):
you have like three days to you know, repair, recover
and get better. When you have the next couple of days,
you know, from a coaching perspective and evaluation perspective, you
just have a little more time, and I think things
can be done. There's a better chance of that happening,
and it's gonna need to happen. I mean, there's a
reason that you don't feel good about the last three
(11:41):
weeks because you just you're not as good as the
three teams that you played, and you didn't play your
very best either, and that's all fairness. Had they played
their very best, and I was like, jeezus, you know,
it's just there's not much they can do to improve.
There's a lot of areas to improve. So that's the
good thing about about where they stand. The tough thing
is that you have no room for air now.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I mean you you need to win from here on out.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
And you know, if you clean up some of the
things and get better at some of the things you
were already good at, at some point you've got a
chance every Sunday. The turnover thing is a is a
big problem, you know you and you ultimately like to
say you can control that as far as not giving
it away. That's something that still is somewhat difficult to
(12:28):
completely control, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
So, but that would be where they start.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
And then there's a bunch of things offensive and defensive
they can get better at that will help them.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Of course, they've got a lot of areas, as you
mentioned a couple of times there that aren't up to snuff,
you know, for a playoff caliber team, But what would
be priority number one? And maybe the secondary coverage bus communication?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Where would you be focusing or.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Two or three? Run the football?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's not at.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
It really isn't.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
I mean, we we wont to play a lot of
a lot of games and playoff games by doing that.
You know, there's simplicity to that, and the truth of
that is real now, you know, just to look at defensively,
the one area that they really have to get better
at is just their overall communication with each other when
teams attack that with you know, motions and bunch packages
(13:29):
and you know looks, especially when they're playing man and
they're requiring you guys defensively to communicate with each other,
pass people off. Know who you've got, Am I an
inside guy or I'm the outside guy and the vertical guy?
You know, knowing who those people are and not making
those mistakes, you know, and that has just happened too
(13:50):
much throughout the year and that. But it can be
you know, you say it can be cleaned up, and
I'm saying it can, but it's it hasn't been to
this point. So you hope the ten day stretch that
focus will be better, I think in this particular matchup.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know, Marel, let me stop you before you go
any further, because we talked a bunch of us did
today with Mika Fitzpatrick and he was talking he got
named to the Pro Bowl, and he said he was
surprised because he hasn't had what he would call a
splashy season. He's been mostly in the deep post as
a deterrent to the deep ball. So I asked him,
what have you seen during this losing streak from your
(14:28):
position in the deep post? And he said, we're having
problems with motions, stacks and bunches. Teams are watching what
the previous team did and doing the same thing. And
we've addressed that and we've worked on it. And I'm
paraphrasing him now, but he said, they're not going to
have those problems anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
What do you think took him so long? Because you've
been talking about the bunches thing all year and how
easy of a fix is that.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I watched Hard Knocks last night too, and suddenly like
they're gonna bunch us to death.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean like they know it's coming. Everyone knows it's comming.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
You.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I mean like it was kind of of course, what
do you think these guys are gonna do? You know, right?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Yeah, yeah, well listen the other way that Honestly, they're
not stopping it. I mean what they're not stopping teams
doing it now. They may be better at it, but
you're not stopping that the rest of the year.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And here's why. Because everybody gets ready for you.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
From here on out, and there's about a month left
of the season, they go back to the last month.
You have not shown for four or five weeks straight
that it's not been a problem. So everybody's gonna do it.
Even if they do it really good again this week,
you're still going to see it because people go, well,
they still have problems with it. And then we're gonna
do this little wrinkle that the Bengals didn't do because
the w ankles, the Bengals will do it. So what
(15:45):
you gotta do is you gotta show you that you
can do it, you know now, Like I said, like
they had a little more time to be more detailed
with those type of things. So maybe from a coaching perspective,
this is how I would look at the look at.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
It both ways.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
As we get a lot more reps, We get to
really walk through things, and we have a better understanding
and a better feel for each other, and we found
a better way to communicate so that we don't make
those mistakes that clearly they could feel better about that
than they've ever felt.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
And obviously Mika feels that.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Man, I trust players, you know, they they're the ones
in the between the white lines and they're the ones
doing it.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So he feels confident and he's you know, he's right too.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
We get into the Pro Bowl, Like somebody was just
asking me today about him, I'm like, you know, just
he's played really good.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
He just hasn't had, you know, like a big time interception.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
But I'll tell you this, he makes the tackles that
he's got to make that if he doesn't, there are
bigger plays than they've already given up. So from that perspective,
he's still, you know, a heck of a player and
doing a rock solid job.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I'll tell you one thing to really picked my spirits
up was I asked him if he was confident now
that that they have identified these problems with motions, stacks
and bunches, if they would get them fixed, And he said,
and I quote Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
And Meryll in fairness, I'm sure we have some listeners
that are like, well, why is it taking so long?
If the Eagles did it to you, why don't you
get it fixed? But I think you know, to be
to be truth about it, you know, why did it
take so long? That's what I'm going with this is
when you play three games in eleven days, you really
don't have as much time as people think to get
these things fixed.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Well, that's what I was just saying, Yeah, you don't
have that. Okay, you just said it. You're playing three
games in eleven days. You got about nine days to
get ready for.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
The next game. I guess there's that's why. You know,
I'm sure he feels a lot more.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
He feels a lot more confident about it than he
did then because you know one right, Yeah, we get
to your point. I remember when we get we're first
time I played Thanksgiving. You know, you're like, we're literally
handing out the game plan, we're doing a walk, doing
a practice, and we're on our way to Dallas.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Most really, you know, that's it.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
So you got to feel like, you know, whatever we
didn't do well last week, we somehow we'll get better
at it this week, and that just always doesn't translate.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
So so this.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
Time should help them because one thing I was I
was getting to, you know, you got to beat your
opponent that's in front of you this week, and that's Cincinnati.
And the one thing that really stood out from the
last game, you know that they did well is they
threatened pressure. And now what I mean by that is
like they would put everybody on the line of scrimmage.
(18:17):
It'll be very obvious for fans and people often just
talk about how it's you know, you got to put
pressure on Joe Burrow. Okay, that's that's just a part
of the equation. You got to put pressure on everybody,
the wide receivers, the offensive line, the backs, and Joe
Joe Burrow. And what they do a good job is
they threatened pressure. They made them think it was pressure,
(18:40):
but at that end, they would bow, they would bail.
The only time they chose to come was actually ended
up being probably the play that wins the game for him,
is that sack, fumble.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Or return for touchdown. You know they're in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
They that that's the only time they came off of
the pressure. That they were showing where everybody was a
line of scrimming. So my point with this is, you know,
they have a lot of things that made them comfortable better.
That's another way to handle defending and covering people because
everybody tends because I'm when I'm talking from an offensive
(19:14):
perspective because I played on that side of the bass.
Once you have a tendency to speed things up, even
if they don't pressure. It's just they they influenced you
to think that way, and that's why sometimes you do
it and then you bail as you make them think
faster and you make them function faster, and then when
you do that, you see mistakes.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
So you know, they had some good.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Things that they did against them and then uh, and
I just think that they can continue to build on
that because what they're what they're what they have to defend.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Nobody's gonna shut that down.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Nobody's done it, and nobody's going to They just they
got too many good players on the other side, and
Joe Burrows is the best, you know. And but man,
if you can, if you can at least you know,
get some three and outs, create some turnovers, you know,
create a splash play, which is critical in these games
and you've got a chance, and I just.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Think that they are there.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
There, there's season to do that, They've done that, they've
experienced it, and I can think they even be better
at it this time.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You mentioned Burrow a couple times, and I think we
all know he's great, and like everybody on the planet,
I love them coming out of LSU.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
But I'm shocked he's so much.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I contend that his arm is better, he's more of
a power thrower, he's a more functional on the move player,
his feet are lighter, he's better with pocket awareness than
when he came in the league. Like I mean, every
year he seems to take a step forward in all
those regards.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Yeah, well, that's actually the best of football. The thing
that he is the absolute best is how he processes
things where he knows to go with that football within
under two seconds or two seconds tops. It's just he
was you know, he showed that at LSU a lot.
He clearly showed it in the National Championship game and
(21:04):
he's You're right, say everything that you just mentioned, you're
the spot on every one of those areas. He's gotten
better and better and better, and that's what makes the
dangerous and just all things I just talked about. That
still isn't gonna mean you're gonna shut Joe Burrow down.
They're not gonna score points and was balling you.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
They're still gonna do that.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
You just got to try to get as many three
and after as you can and maybe create a turnover
here and there like you did in the last matchup.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You know, Merril, I I'm as big a Borough fan
as anybody else. Jamar Chase is gonna win the triple Crown,
which almost never happens. T Higgins is a great player.
Gasecki's a really productive tight end. Chase Brown, I don't
know that he's gonna play. He's listed his question, well,
hasn't practiced all week, that he's a really good back.
I get all that, but I hear all this talk about, well,
(21:51):
Cincinnati's dangerous, and boy, you don't want to play Cincinnati
if they get in the playoffs, And I'm thinking, yeah,
I do because their defense and I mean stinks is
being kind and four of the best defenders are on
ir They can't stop anybody. I agree with you. Like
the last time the Steelers moved the ball up and down,
(22:13):
they scored points, and then they got a couple of
stops or turnovers at the right time, and they won
the game. I'm not saying this team is easy to beat,
but I think it's eminently beatable. And I would just
run back the same formula that they used in Cincinnati,
come out throwing. You had basically the same group of
eligibles as you're gonna have now, and make it work
against the defense that has struggled to stop every body.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Yeah, I mean, the greatness of the offense is at
least the equal of the badness of the defense, if
not more. I feel bad for Burrow actually, you.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Know, yeah, yeah, well yeah, you know.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
I mean, listen, Joe Burrow is still a young guy,
and he's got plenty of life in his body, you know,
at football. But you know, when you that's why teams
win championships. I mean, there's a great exam but your
best quarterback and probably not going to make the playoffs. Okay,
there's a reason for that, because it's not a very
good team because they had a compliment on the other
side to help them leave. From a special team's aspect,
(23:10):
they struggle a little bit, but you know, to build
on that they you know, their offense, you know that
Russell Wilson, that's probably his best game, you know, and
then he he's kind of and it passive team. They
rowed in the passing attack. But what he did good,
So like, okay, why did he what did he do well?
The one thing he did really well in that game,
(23:30):
it was whatever top of the drop was three step,
five step. It was okay, either or no good out
of the pocket. It's either bullet. It's either I throw
it first it too or I out. And he did
that great, and then everybody uncovered properly too when he
did vacate the pocket.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
They had some great.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Designs just by the way they play coverage, you know,
coaches did a really good job of studying that. And okay,
checked down. They went to the checkdown over the middle
of a lot. That's so how they were playing that
that Campa two. You know, the linebacker was running out,
so they just so as it back with fake just
check down over the ball, with dump it to you.
You you already got five yards and now if you
(24:10):
whatever you get after that, and they'd get seven to
ten to twelve yards off that. Then they had that
other play where they'd take a run action. I think
both sides they were doing just for some reason, things
more to the right. And once they show showed the
Bengals they were faking it, they weren't running it. They
would turn and run into their coverage zones and then
they would just dump the ball off and run the screen.
(24:31):
And so they took advantage of how they played that. So,
now are you gonna get those plays that I just
talked about. Probably not, but you gotta try them again.
You gotta see if they still are going to play
them like that. And now you assume that they'd button
some stuff up there too. But the other part of
that are.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Actually don't I watched them play Denver. I don't think
they can button anything down.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
I don't things you got.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I don't think they're good. I don't know if I'm
being clear on this.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Yeah, well I'm not.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
I'm not trying to say say they are. I'm just
saying all the things that they Steelers did to the
first part of that, the way Russell Wilson played, I
would expect him to play.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Like that again.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
The ball to come out and see like top the
drop gone, it's not on move and find somebody, and
he was.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
He was awesome at that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
How do you play that well doing it that way
and then kind of de evolve as he has into
holding it and being a little uncertain and getting sacked
or throwing it away too many times or eventually bailing
and then falling down on third and two. He was
really click And I agree with you. And it seems
(25:34):
like Russell's game has regressed. Now, don't anybody listening, don't
read too much into this. He's by far their best
option right now. They're going to sink or swim with
Russell Wilson. But I think he looks a little wobbly
merylll And I'm curious how he got off kilter and
what's the confidence level of him getting back to doing what?
Speaker 6 (25:55):
Yeah, well, first of all, it does come into, okay,
the one where we talk about you're so good. He
played against Cincinnati, the three he didn't play against, he
didn't play very good against or Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
And Kansas City. Yeah, there's part of it. Now.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
The other part is, you know, they just didn't do
a very good job. But Fran wasn't just Russell Wilson offensively,
They did not do a very good job from an
offensive line perspectives of establishing anything. Of all those three games,
I don't think I saw that mass majority. They never
controlled the line of scrimmage, you know, so so it's
all starts there. So your office line didn't play as
(26:35):
good as they're capable of playing. And when that happens,
you're just going to be in trouble. I really don't
care who you got. You know, when they can't control
the line screams with some sense of consistency, you're just
gonna struggle. And when you have a quarterback us he's
five ten, so there is some limitations, and people go
(26:55):
about defending him a little different. They take some passing
lanes away, and that's just a fact.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
I mean, yeah, get.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Out of the pocket right like, if it's not there,
that's what I'm saying. It's not there right away.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Move That's why he did that. If you watch his
left that's exactly what it is. Go give Cincinnati.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
See now, those other teams I just told you about,
they were like, we ain't gonna do that. They did
a better job of keeping him there. He get an
escape route or Cincinnati wasn't as sharp on that. Those
I would expect Cincinnati to be better at this time
doesn't mean they're gonna pull it off, but I'm sure
they will try to be better at that too.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Mary, for up to you, how would you distribute the
Steeler running back touches in usage?
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Well, listen, I'm thirty.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
Is just more explosive right now, more decisive, and that's
what we need, you know, explosive and decisive. That's I
don't know, That's what I would be really emphasizing with
all of my backs even you know, that's what I
would have done with NASA years ago. It's like, you know,
we we got to get you going now, you know,
stop to jump in. You know, let's use your size
and your speed and the quickness that you do have.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Let's not dance, let's not run around the just go.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
And I think actually he been watching Jalen has has
really helped him do that because Jalen gets them all
ghost and he's the holand ghost and James is quicker,
you know, quicker. He's quicker too, and you know he's
got a lot of power behind him, you know, and
he has some speed with him. So you know, I
just when he's rolling, I would not I keep him
going you know, and there's when I get closer to
(28:24):
scoring territory, I keep him in there a little more
than I think that they.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Have, you know. But I'm not gonna I need naj too.
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
I need him because he does some good things, and
he runs well, and you know, he does some stuff
to passing game, and he helps me in the running game.
So I'm I'm just gonna ask him to do it
a little better.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:43):
But I might get thirty in there more when we
get into scoring territory.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Merl I'm going to give you a promotion now from
running backs coach to head coach. But I think we
all assume Baltimore is going to beat the snot out
of Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
So favored by like sixteen and a half or something.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Crazy, the division title. Things not happening, right, So if
you're the head coach and they play before the Steelers game,
you're gonna know this result before you start. Do you
care about staying ahead of the Chargers and being the
fifth seed or are you getting your guys out of
there quick and making sure there's no injuries going into
the playoffs. Mike Tomlin has said they need to get
the his word was stench off of them from this
(29:22):
three game losing streak. If it was me, I would
do everything I could to make sure I was as
healthy as humanly possible for the playoffs, and whatever happens
against Cincinnati happens. How would you play it?
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Well?
Speaker 6 (29:36):
Out of play it's based on how he's played it.
Here's where you can't do it as a leader. You
can't change your mind. You can't sit, you get can't
create a rule, can't create a standard and then change
your mind somewhere along the line, because then people stop
believing you.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
You know, then they can't trust you.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
So whatever atablish, whatever he established, that's what he needs
to finish with.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
That's the expectation that he's made of his team. So
whatever you know, based on what I would.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Have done, based on just because we're on the outside,
we're not on the side, I would I would have
prepared my guys that we play every Sunday to win
football games. That's what your contract says. That's what my
contract says. And unless something were to change that I
do not foresee right now that's exactly how we're gonna
approach it.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
But i'd have done that.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
You do that in training camp, and you re establish
that every day. And now we're in the moment of truth.
We're staying true to what I have said all year.
That's how we're gonna play. We're playing to win this
game and beat this team, and then we're gonna get
ready for the playoffs. So I wouldn't put any They
would have no doubt in their mind where I stood
even before the next week come around.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Merrill that aside, and this isn't a knock on Wilson.
Would you would you have a fields package?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Assuming he's.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
Funny, said that I actually thought this would be a
great time with the time that you had. Is yeah,
you need to do everything you can offensively. He is,
by the way, right, Yeah, I assume, so yeah, I
would definitely do Yeah, that's funny, said that I was
thinking about that.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
I bet you we see him in some packages.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Boy, Third and two be a good time.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Yeah, you know, anytime that you can push some fear
thread in them and I'll be able to and he
can run it or throw it.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Be ready for both.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Meryl fascinating is always uh looking forward to next week.
A little programming note for our listeners. We're gonna have
a two hour show next week as we get you
ready for the Steelers in their first playoff game, Uh
wherever that is and whoever that's against. And uh we're
gonna double down on the Factor back next week. So Merril, Uh,
keep the pipes rested and ready to go, and we'll
(31:41):
talk to you next week.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Thank you, boys, I'll be ready go Steelers.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Get that was Merril Hodge, our Factor back here on
the preview. Uh, still a lot more to get to
before we call it a night, So keep it here
with Matt Williamson, Mike Persuda. This is Steelers Preview right
here on your Steelers Flagship one or two point five
DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Welcome back, great stuff with Meryl as always, Yeah, good
stuff for sure. You know a lot of times we'll
kind of scratch the surface on a subject or two
and then we count on Meryl to really take that
deep dive and he does that so well. The defensive
issues for the Steelers are real and yeah, you know,
statistically since the buy, it's been night and day. Absolutely
(32:32):
they've played four really good offenses if you count the
Ravens twice but that's eight games where they have not
resembled what they did prior to that.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
No, and I don't think that I'm not gonna say
that they were overrated the first half of the year,
but if you look at the offense as they played,
they were pretty favorable. And the level of competition is
night and day then versus now. But I also think
when you play as many snaps as you did in
Philly to start that three and eleven, three games and
(32:59):
eleven and stretch, it's gonna have a ripple effect for
weeks to help. Yeah, this this rest, I think is
gonna go a long way.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I thought the other really key point for Merril. He
talked about takeaway, giveaway, and it's obviously it's been so
critical to the Steelers from Yeah, it's critical to everybody, but.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
They're a little more reliant than others.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So, yeah, you can protect the ball, but you can't
really count on we're gonna go get a turnover. Now,
the other team got to help you out sometimes, I know,
and it's a hard thing to Okay, we're gonna get
two takeaways against this guy, We're gonna get four takeaways
against this guy, and the takeaways have not been there.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
They haven't been though.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Those are the greater race of for him on defense, yep.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
And some of it's just causing fumbles and not being
able to fall on them, or tipping balls and not
be able to haul them in, you know, some bad
luck of course. But on the flip side, this is
how the whole Bengal season is gone, like all of
a sudden. The Bengals defense, which I think is really
really horrible over the last coup, over this win streak,
at least is generating sacks and taking the ball away.
(33:59):
So that's keeping the head above water on that side
of the ball a little bit more. But on the
on the flip side, Burrows taking more sacks and the
offense has turned the ball over during the stretch, you know,
like it's always even Stephen with this team.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
What to Expect is brought to you by Brian Patton
and associates. It's all about the benefits. And one compelling
aspect of this rematch, Matt to me is the Steelers
already have a game plan, a blueprint, a path to victory.
They went to act not actressure pay Corpse Stadium in
Cincinnati on December the first and they came out throwing.
(34:33):
They had to pedal down. Yeah, and they aggressively pursued
points and they got got them. They got the takeaways
at the right time, and they ended up they fell
behind seven to nothing and then lo and behold. At
one point they had a forty one to seventeen lead.
It was forty one to twenty four in the fourth quarter,
and then they got a little sloppy at the end
of the game. Unless Cincinnati close it up, forty four
(34:57):
to thirty eight was your final and the Steelers ended
up getting a pretty critical third down at the end
of the game to keep the ball away from Cincinnati.
But for what to expect, I wanted to pick your
brain and get an idea as to what you expect
from the Steelers defense that was. It was interesting to me.
Denver put its best cornerback, Patser Tan on Jamar Chase,
(35:19):
and Sirtan's one of the best in the business, probably
a defensive Player of the Year candidate. Did a really
good job on Jamar Chase, but that left Riley Moss
to cover t Higgins.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
They disrobed anyone not named Tan. Yeah, I had a
bunch of targets too, and.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
They particularly picked on Moss and Higgins went off and
after the game, Moss said, sometimes you gotta eat a
bleef sandwich. The Steelers, conversely, when they played Cincinnati the
first time, they put their best cover guy, Joey Porter Junior,
on Higgins and decided to cover Chase by committee. Do
you expect them to do the same thing in this matchup?
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I think so, just because the style of receivers that
they're dealing with, and Certain's the best coroner the league,
and he's going to always line up against the ones.
I mean, that's just why he's the best corner league.
Porter's not there yet. And I also think Porter stylistically
would much rather go against George Pickens than Antonio Brown,
(36:21):
you know what I mean, the shorter, shiftier guy. He's
a little long legged.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
For Brer physical guy like physical guy.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
And Chase by no means is deficient in any area.
But Higgins is just more of the Porter style to
me physical down the sidelines, catch point type of dude,
go up and get it, and if he can hold that,
if that battle is a wash, you would hope you
(36:49):
could keep Chase, you know, from blowing up after the
catch in particular, you know a lot of the short stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you just tackle the catch.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Baturally, catch is something day and I've talked about all week.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
And if you have no you give yourself a chance
to tackle.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
The cats exactly exactly a couple bodies around Chase. You
know he's gonna be used near the lines, used everywhere,
but near the line of scrimmage, slants, crosses, that kind
of thing. If you can at least get him on
the ground, it goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
So you would agree with me. I think that was
a good plan and I would run it back.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I would too, So the Jackson injury doesn't change my opinion.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I think he's gonna play. I don't know for a fact,
but yeah, it doesn't change mine out And you can
give him all the help he needs. Yeah, and just
help no matter what, can split with his T. Higgins
reps and you win the game that way. At least
you win the game that way on defense. That's uh.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
But you know you get a lot of quick hitters
in short game, quick game.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know that's what to expect. Brought to you by
Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits Uh,
you know, we touched on this earlier in the event
that Jackson can't play, and would we go with Trice
or James Pierre. Do they need to get Trice on
the field anyway, because he gives you another press man
(38:04):
option along with Porter. One of the things that.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
Really I wish we knew that answer better at this
point of Trice's career.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah. One of the things that astounded me about the
Kansas City game was that drive where it was sixteen
to ten and the Chiefs went down and stuck it
in the end zone and took a two score lead
early in the fourth quarter. The cushions were seven, eight,
ten yards off the ball, and Patrick Mahomes just had
the flankers screen the stop route or the comeback whenever
(38:33):
he needed it.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Whenever you won. And the ball came out remarkably quick, right,
and he was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
You can't give him that much room and expect your
rush to get there. You just can't.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Even before this game, I've been really harping on I mean,
everyone's attacking the Steelers similarly in that balls have come
out quick. We don't want to protect long against these
guys and the burrows and Mahomes are remarkably good at it.
And I think the counter is if you get some
big corners pressing and banging guys to line of scrimmage
and disrupting the timing of the Bill walshle style routes,
(39:03):
you at least have a chance, you know, I mean,
at least you can make them double pat the ball.
And to me, I would love to see if Trice
can do that. And I know people have given coach
Austin a hard time. Why aren't you adjusting these things?
And I think the biggest reason. You only have one
man corner and that's Porter and he's been out too,
you know, so it's like now you've a little bit
(39:24):
longer week.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
I didn't notice that this is much of an issue
in the Philly, in Baltimore games.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
I really apparent in Kansas City. Oh and you know
the Bengals are going to attack.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
You that way, because yeah, it's on tape, right. We
talked about the make a fitzpatch of comments into trouble
with motion and stacks and bunches.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Well you got to get that a ton.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
If somebody's gonna give you five yards, I think Burrow's
gonna take.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
It absolutely and much like Mahomes did. And Mahomes good everything,
but Burrow's best in the league when the ball comes
out at two point five or less, and his numbers
are phenomenal. And how do you think everyone's going to
attack the Steelers exactly like.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Russell Wilson was a revelation when he first started to play.
I think during this losing streak, I'm not trying to
pin it on him. I still think he's their best option. Yeah,
but the fumble in Baltimore, the pick six in Baltimore,
the pick in the end zone against Kansas City, even
though George Pickens has a lot of culpability there for
(40:23):
not running his route and drawing the safety over, as
Merrill told us last week, Wilson still got to look
and make sure that safety's not there.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
It doesn't mean throw it.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, yeah, right, especially on second down. So what's your
faith that Russell Wilson can get it back together and
be the revelation that he was and not the guy
he's been here in this losing streak.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Revelation's a big word.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
I'm not sure I'm there, but I think he can
play better against a terrible deal, I mean, level competition,
has something to do with it, but we so often
talk about pass rush plan from a Steelers defensive perspective.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Keep Lamar bottled up.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Jaydeon Daniels, Well, I think people and merriln mentioned this briefly.
I want to stick with it. They have a pass
rush play with Wilson, you know, and I don't know
the Bengals can execute it, but playoff teams will be
able to execute.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
It's not the most underrated aspect of football.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I think it absolutely is.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I mean, I really think like the Belichicks and the
super smart defensive coordinators start their prep that week with
what's our pass rush plan, you know, and go there.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
It's a good place to start. We'll see if the
Steelers can figure it out. That's going to do it
for us. Thanks to Merril for joining us as he
always does. Thanks to Justin Miller for definitely punching the
buttons and working the switches and keeping everything that he
does over there up and running. Next week, we got
a little present for you, a little delayed Christmas present,
(41:43):
two hours of preview as we get you ready for
the playoffs. So we'll have some new things in store
for that show until then, for Matt Williamson on Mike Persuda.
Thanks for finding us, however, and wherever you found us,
this has been Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers
flagship one O two point five DVE and the Steelers
(42:04):
Audio Network. Good Night, everybody,
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