December 2, 2024 • 42 mins
The crew is back as Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and Matt Williamson recap the Steelers massive win against the Bengals Sunday in Cincinatti.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
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(00:21):
And now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley
and Matt Williamson, and we.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you for being with us for the Point After
on this Steelers Audio Network. As you just heard alongside
Craig Wolfley and Matt Williams and I'm Rob King. We
thank you very much for being with us to Steelers
defeat the Cincinnati Bengals forty four to thirty eight. I'm
reminded of the album title by one of my favorite groups,
the unfortunately largely forgotten group Traffic, great group of the
(00:47):
late sixties early seventies shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory.
Who'd ever thought Craig Wolfley that we could have gotten
forty four points out of his Steelers team, that they
would win a shootout against Joe Burrow and this Cincinnati Bengals.
But our first reaction, brought to you by First National Bank,
Let's get started, member FDIC. That shootout happened, and it
(01:08):
was this Dealers who wanted at the end.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
No doubt about it. I mean, this is what happens
when you Outburrow the Borough, you know what I mean.
I just love the fact that they took it straight
to him and kind of put the you know, it
punched him right in the mouth and out did him
at what he does best. You know, this is what
I think mister Rooney, Mike t and Omar Cohn were
thinking when they brought Russ here in the off season.
This was, you know, the thought process that you needed
(01:34):
to be able to expand your offense and be able
to throw some points up on the board instead of
just trying to eliminate what your defense has to chop down.
So I thought it was really the fruition of an
off season of wanting to put this together, and Russ
is just coming on like Gangbusters. The man is hotter
in the bowl of Texas Chili.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your thoughts on what you saw Matt on yesterday in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Very impressive and the low hanging fruit obviously all is
all the points scored by this offense. And just to
be honest, I mean, I don't think the Steelers of
the last five years could.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Win a game of this manner, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
I mean when you play against a super high powered
offense and an elite quarterback who I thought played great.
I mean, Borrow can only do so much, and his
receivers are great. But I mean the defense that the
Steelers played against, I think we have to get out
of the way, is a really bad group. I mean
I was couldn't have been less impressed with the Bengals.
But that's what you do to bad defense, is you
drop forty four on them. And there's no way that
(02:34):
offenses of Steelers past would have been able to keep
up with such in such a game.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
And it's really encouraging.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Yeah, Matt, we've seen that. We saw that in recent vintages.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And you know again, and you know, Wolf and I
were talking about this earlier with Max Starks. You you
know that Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff, and to
their credit, they were able to do it more often
than not, had to manufacture ways to win and they
beat quality teams, but there were also times where it
just felt like, WHOA, they just simply don't have the firepower.
(03:04):
It's a league designed to let offense is loose with
the rules and the way they're interpreted. And you know,
when an opposing offense got loose, no matter how good
your defense is, that's going to happen. This judents were
simply incapable of winning a game like that. They just
did not have the quarterback play, the coordination. I think
can be thrown in that with Arthur Smith, but they
(03:25):
just simply did not have the weapons and the plan
to beat opposing offenses when they scored a lot of points.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, and I think there's a misnomer out there that
probably even a lot of our listeners. Mike Tomlin's an
old school, close to the vest, grind it out, run
and play defense type of coach. He is winning quarterbacks
not great, you know. I mean, when you have Ben
in his prime, he's going for two. Whenever they're the
first one to score a touchdown, you make it eight nothing,
(03:55):
you know. I mean so and certainly in years past,
if you threw a pick, which I'd like to talk about,
I don't understand how that was a flag side note, but.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Was insane to me. I still don't understand that.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
But you throw a pick six to start the game,
that was in itself an obstacle that the former teams
couldn't come up, you know, get over it, because I
mean you lost a turnover battle or allowed a touchdown
from UH defense or special teams. You weren't overcoming that.
And now they just show that they can play any
way you want. You want to grind it out and
play a.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Physical game and run the ball, and run the ball.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Sure, if you want to come out throwing, and the
Steelers threw through a very high percentage of the time
in the first half, yep, fine, you know that we'll
do that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Then, yeah, and then and right that would have been
the Dan bursting in this time. It was just okay,
let's go next position, that's come down and score wolf.
Let's talk about that. That non PI call live When
I called it, you know, I didn't see it because
again I'm watching the ball, and I saw pick and stumble.
I did not see Cam Taylor Britt put his hand
(04:59):
on the back of his helmet and shove him down.
I thought initially that there it was just uh, you know,
some some Yeah, sure there's contact all the time. He
was going down anyway. But then after seeing it a
couple of more times, I kind of don't understand why
that wasn't called.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well exactly so, and I think somewhere along the time
you and I got talking about it. I don't know
whether I set it on air or off air or whatever,
but I said, I just don't think, you know, I
think that should have been a penalty of some sort, because.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
I hope you did.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope I did. Yeah, that gummet. You know, sometimes
we get in these conversations you're like there or not,
I don't know, true. So anyhow I'm watching it, I'm going,
you know, if an offensive lineman did that, that would
be there'd be a penalty, you know, grabbing the back
of the helmet, throwing them down head first and all
that stuff. So I'm kind of quating that a little
(05:52):
bit of the offense all going that shit looks like
it's a penalty of illegal use of hands or pee.
I don't even know what to describe it as because
at first I thought he just slipped. That's why I
think he was slipping. Yes, there's something that was a
stumble in there. But you know, Cam Taylor Britt, whatever
his name is, he helped him along a lot, I
would say. So anyhow, Yeah, I was surprised that that
(06:16):
wasn't a penalty, and but the whole thing about it
was how these guys responded was fantastic. And you know,
when you look at these games as possible teaching tools, man,
that is a teaching tool. All right, something goes bad
like that very early in the game, you're back on
it and riding that horse back the other way. Kudos
to them that, you know, that's just a feather in
(06:36):
their cap. That's learning how to respond and respond.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, you know, Matt, I would love to have been
in a pregame offensive meeting at some point in the
latter part of last week.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
I was not invited, but it would have been great.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
It would have been great to be in there because
you know, when we look at thee.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
This week, maybe when.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We look at the numbers, you think, Okay, George Pickens
could have a monster game, the tight ends could have
monster games. The running game could be huge for the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (07:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
All those those are my preconceived notions, and I don't
know what the game plan was. I don't know whether
it changed based on what the Bengals were doing. But
the Bengals were bringing eight even nine men in the box,
just crowding the line of scrimmage, you know, apparently trying
to take away the run. I guess, I guess that
was their plan. And so what happened, Well, Russell Wilson
(07:32):
just kept finding safety valve running backs Najee Harris, Yalen Warren,
you know, over the middle of the field, little screen passes,
and that just seemed to open everything up. And again,
whether that was something they knew Cincinnati was going to do,
or was an adjustment on the fly with Russell Wilson
and with Arthur Smith, presumably, I don't know, but it
(07:53):
was not. It was as successful as I thought they
could be, but not necessarily the way I thought it
would be.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, And again I wasn't invited to the meetings either,
and I'm curious just watching on TV, it sure looked
like the veteran, probable future Hall of Fame quarterback was
adjusting a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage,
you know, more than maybe any game in a Steeler uniform,
you know, getting everyone into the right play, and to me,
that's one of the most underrated aspects of having him
(08:21):
in there. And that's not a knock on fields, it's
just rarely do they run a bad play, you know,
so much of the last five years they get themselves
into bad plays and don't get out where Wilson's in there,
changing things, moving guys around, adjusting protections, and you're right,
I mean, just analyzing the numbers today, this was by
far the quickest the balls come out of Russ's hands
(08:43):
since he's been the starter, and also his shortest average
depth of target and all those running back dumpoffs in
the middle of the field, I couldn't believe. I mean,
Peyton Wilson was out, so I'm sure that was part
of the game plan as well, but I couldn't believe that,
you know, since he didn't do more to adjust to that.
I mean, those guys are five yards easy completions, turn around,
(09:03):
go get another eight yards after the catch or whatever,
no matter who the back was.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
It was wonderful.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, Logan Wilson, by the way, yeah yeah, lead a tackler,
good player outside Hendrickson there their best defensive player, Matt
Before I go back to Wolf, I have to wonder,
because we're calling the game live. Obviously, I'm not watching
a screen on some of those dump offfs on. I
thicked him myself. I wonder if on a screen it's
just Naji Harris. I mean, he was so ultimate. Nobody
(09:29):
around him, Yeah, nobody.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Just take a few steps down the field, turn around
and get what you can after and he did plenty
of that work as well. I mean, so it was
easy pickens, and you know, there's something to be said
for a quarterback that'll take the layups.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Well, the easy pickings came a little later.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, you're not you're not going to You're not going
to see that. No defenders out of forty two inch TV.
You better have an eighty inch TV if you're gonna
see so, I mean, it was just it was the
space between Naji Harris and the closest Bengal defender now
a trunk. As the game went on, they made an
adjustment they were.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah they were running cover too. Yeah, you got that
middle linebacker going deep. What I loved And I'm sorry
I didn't mean to just jump in like this, but
I love the way Russ went after him. Okay, you
want to do that. I'm gonna keep doing it, tom
Brady over and over. I'm gonna I'm gonna cut you
with a thousand cuts until you stop the bleeding stop.
(10:22):
That's it. And I just thought that was fabulous, great
job by him.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Well the other thing too, that we kind of discussed
a little bit wolf earlier, and I think that, you know,
Matt obviously brings up a great point about you know,
the great quarterbacks, you know, the Ben Roethlisbergers.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And the Peyton Wilson are Peyton Wilson.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Poor Peyton Wilson getting a lot of mention for playing
for the Bengals and playing quarterback, you know, Peyton Manning,
Tom Brady, Russell Wilson. You know, the ability to see
what's out there that comes with experience. But if it
was just experience, Tom Brady wouldn't be a broadcaster, he'd
(10:59):
still be playing, you know. So you still have to
have you still have to have the arm strength and
the ability to go with that. When you match that up,
that's when and few people have the ability. Few people
get to be in the league long enough or have
the acuity to be able to see what's out in
the field. Russell Wilson, to me, looks like he still
(11:20):
got that blend of both. I mean, the arm is
still strong again. The word I always used it all camp.
Every time I think about him, the word that comes
to mind, the adjective is crisp. Everything he does is
crisp ball on a line, tight spiral, quick decisions. But
he's it's not just the mental part, although that is huge.
(11:41):
The physical ability is there as well, and we're seeing
the marriage of both of those with Russell.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Wilson, no doubt about it. And I think, you know,
you hit a spot on in all areas. The one
area I would say is also the knowledge and ability
to throw a touch ball. Those two balls that hierarching
moon balls, My goodness, many that is just really that's
a gift, you know, I go all the way back,
you know, I mean, you don't see many quarterbacks that
(12:07):
have that sort of ability to do it over and
over and over again. And he's really proven himself very
very capable of, you know, throwing, having a wide range
of throws off that same arm.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And Matt just to you know, wrap up this portion
of the show again, to go back to where we began.
This portion of the show what we're seeing here. A
Steelers offense averaging twenty nine points per game under Russell
Wilson five and one. I believe that scoring would be
fourth in the NFL extrapolated over the course of the
full season. So it is just it just gives this
(12:43):
team a different feel. It gives me, and I'm sure
to a lot of other fans, the confidence that you
can go beat a top team or a top scoring
offense and not have absolutely everything and more go your
way in order to win a game like that.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Yeah, I don't have a lot more to add to that,
but I think you said it extremely well.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
And then reading some of the quotes, you know, from
the guys who were.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
In the huddle with Wilson, a lot of them kept referencing, man,
Russ was even more confident in this game than ever,
you know, I mean, even I'm sure right after that
pick six you could have easily dropped your head or
oh man, that's something. How we wanted to start on
the road against a desperate team and Joe Burrow's over there.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What we're gonna do now?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I mean, 'n waivering? I mean, and I do think
Crisp is a great adjective for him. Even going back
to Camp.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Steve is winn By the final score of forty four
to thirty eight, they improve on the season to nine
and three. We'll talk a little bit more about that.
We're certainly going to touch on the defense, and much
more still to come when we resume in the point
after on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Back to the point after on DVKE.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Wilson gets a snap, looking now under Durest, we'll fling
to his right, fine fire mot Insigne to five pind
a touchdown for Pat fryar moon.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The play of the game is brought to you by
S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
oh two. stBank dot com S and T Bank member
fdi C. Great to see Pat Fryarmouth having a strong
game for this year. There's lots of guys on the
receiving end, nine but ten different receivers for this Yeelers.
Pat Friarmouth had six catches sixty eight yards, so he
(14:25):
tied Naji Harrish for the team lead and receptions. Also
had that touchdown twenty five yarder for the score. Guys, again,
you know a lot of varied weapons and There's a
lot of talk about a number two receiver, and I
totally understand that.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
I get it. But when I look at Friarmouth.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And then Harris, and then Warren, and then Pickens and
then Patterson and then Austin and then Pruitt, Jefferson's karnic
gets a catch the way they've used Darnell Washington. You know,
you look over at Cincinnati Wolf and it's hard to
beat that one two combination. In fact, it's the best.
I believe it's the best one two combination in the
NFL as far as you know, Higgins and Chase.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
And yet the.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Distribution for this dealers added up to a victory, you know,
four hundred and fourteen yards receiving three hundred and nine,
which is a great day for Burrows and the Bengals,
but proving that you know, you can get it done
with a personnel you have on hand.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
No question about it. Look, I mean right now, after
that game, the running backs they all together they had
thirteen completions one hundred and forty six yards tight ends,
nine passes, ninety nine yards one TD. We're not even
talking about the great catches of Calvin Austin. You talk
about under duress kad zooks Man. I mean, guy tried
to you know, it was a keen Gaither Davis, you know,
(15:42):
just just nailed him that one, and I got I
gotta tell you, this guy is tougher than Woodpecker lips Man.
This guy gets up, shakes it off, comes back for more.
And I love that about that. This young man. What
an attitude, what courage to go and run those routes
like that, knowing that some guys were trying to put
the heater. They just did a great job. I mean,
(16:02):
you know, kudos to him. I just thought it was
a great job. You've got people on the other side
that are terrific performers. You want a rise to that level,
and you want to compete and show that, Hey, I'm
capable not only of being out here on this field,
but I can one up.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah. I mean Austin is you know, I love him.
I love his game. I love the fact that he's tough.
You know, he and Beanie Bishop Matt going back to camp,
were constantly working against each other and constantly trying to
make each other better. You know, Austin has become you know,
(16:37):
a couple of games in a row now where he's
caught a touchdown pass, he's become it seems a bigger
part of the offense. It also looked back in camp
like after practice Russell Wilson was doing a lot of
work with Calvin Austin again and that that work was
cut short with a calf injury with Russell Wilson. But
he seems to be one of the beneficiaries of Russell
(16:58):
Wilson being this year their starting quarterback one.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Hundred percent and kind of when we could rewind a
little bit here too, is Yes, it would be great
to have at Higgins opposite Pickens. Of course, Hey, the
Chiefs would like a new left tackle too, you know,
the Bills would like something, the Ravens could use something,
the Great Lions and Eagles teams his pieces that they
could use as well. But ten different Steelers caught passes yesterday.
(17:24):
I mean that's a huge number, and that's making I mean,
you don't have Chase in Higgins and no one's gonna
pretend like you do. And frankly, I don't know what
Mike Williams is going to bring to the table this year,
good or bad, you know, I mean, he hasn't blown
me away. It doesn't seem to get open with regularity.
But the guys like Austin are You're getting the most
out of them, and it looks like they're best football
(17:44):
is ahead of them. And we mentioned the running backs, catches, passes.
This is a defense that was notoriously bad against tight ends.
For Iromuth ripped them up yet again like he did
last year. You know, and you're moving these guys around.
I thought it was a really good Arthur Smith game
in that regard to.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, a lot of different weapons, Wolf, a lot of utilization.
And I also think, and you've been in a locker
room at the NFL level, when you start to win,
you know, there's very little caring of or less caring certainly. Look,
everybody wants to be part of the win. And when
you reach the NFL, you're such a good player that
(18:23):
your team's your experience, your own experience is usually your
teams have won because of you, you know what I mean.
And as you the further you go up, you know,
it was it was interesting listening to Mike Tomlin talk
football with Bob Labriola about how he was a punter
when he was younger and a lot of times he
would just you know, catch the put and run.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
He wouldn't even bother punning it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, well, you know, you could dominate when you're
a really good athlete, you dominate. Then the closer you
get up to the top, the more great athletes you
have around you. But once you start winning, you know,
people don't care that much about who's getting to who's
getting the touches, who's getting the credit. It's it's you know,
it's easier I think, to pull together as a team
(19:07):
when that team is having.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Success, unquestionably. So look, you don't want to be the
guy that they're winning in spite of you, you know,
I mean that that's that's a down, down trender. The
fact of the matter is when when you when you
start winning, there's this feeling, this contagious thing that winning
begets winning and and it's really great to be part
of something like that. It feels, like Chuck used to
(19:31):
talk about it like being like a rolling down the
hill snowball that keeps gathering size and things as they
go along. And Chuck was always about, you know, if
you would just raise your performance level, each one in
this locker room. Back then it was forty five guys
each one in this locker room by by one percent,
you'd have a forty five percent increase in product productivity. Well,
(19:53):
you know what, that makes a lot of sense when
you see how teams start to pick up steam throughout
the season. I think this is what's happening with the
Steelers off right Now. You've got Russ playing some of
the best ball he's probably played in the last decade.
I mean, that was his second most passing total of
his career. This guy is not done yet. It's not
like he's he's expended. And you know what you've got,
(20:14):
as Joe Namath in the La Rams uniform, No, you know,
you've got a guy that's still very capable of putting
up big numbers and when his team needed him to
do that, when he needed a step forward and become
that guy, that guy in the huddle that you look
at and you you know, there's like I always say,
there's ten pairs of eyeballs staring at that guy in
the huddle and they got to believe in that guy. Well,
(20:36):
that guy did the job and did it very very well.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And rob along those lines, just talking about this offense,
it's a real Belichick thing. Do your job and it sounds,
you know, rudimentary, but it isn't at all. I mean,
scronic in Austin couldn't be any different as slot receivers.
Hayward and Washington couldn't be any different as tight ends
other than they walk in the tight end room together
(21:00):
every day. The running backs are all very different. The
receivers have varied skill sets. And I know we're you know,
into December now, but Russ has only played six games
with these guys, and Arthur Smith has only coached these
guys for what twelve or thirteen or whatever it is.
I mean, you're still kind of learning how do.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I best use these pieces of the puzzle.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yep. I think that's a great point.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And the fact, you know, when you mentioned the Belichick thing,
one of the things that always impressed me about them
is they seem to very more than other teams. I thought,
very game plan specific. Yes, that that's you know, instead
of saying, hey, this is what we do, this is
how we do it, this is how we're going to
attack you. They had the personnel and the ability to
(21:48):
you know, do what you're referring to. Tom Brady might
come out in a game and hand off sixteen straight times,
or he might throw it sixteen straight times. We saw
yesterday with Russell Wilson. Okay, you want to pack the box,
all right, Well we're gonna make you pay and so
and then now other teams are gonna say, well, maybe
we sit back in and cover two and have seven
(22:08):
in the box with some lighter personnel.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Okay, great, then we'll ram it down your throat.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And that's a really really good position to be able
to be in as an offense.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Unselfish too.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I mean, that's a Belichick trade too, and I think
the Steeler defense does the same thing. I'm gonna keep
Lamar or Jayden Daniels in the pocket and not worry
about sacks even though I'm TJ Watt and I could
probably get three sacks in this game, you know. I
mean we've said that a lot of these Mondays unselfish,
right wolf.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I continue to be impressed with Naji Harris and his
style of running and the kind of the tone he
sets for this team. We're seeing Jalen Warren pick up
obviously he was injured earlier. He is, as Mike Tomlina
likes to say, jumping on a moving train. But I
(22:58):
think it's what six straight games now with fifty nine
or more yards from scrimmage six in a row now
for him, we saw Cordero Patterson put his hand in
the piles. As a group, this running back units as
the weather begins to turn and you might have to
become reliant upon the run more. It's comforting to me
(23:20):
to know that you have this group of backs, and
this group of backs seems to be pointing in the
right direction as his team gets ready for the stretch
run and hopefully a deep playoff run as well.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Absolutely, I mean just to keep the not the kryptonite,
but keep the banana split pie or whatever it was
away from n because we need that superman that he was.
You know, That's what I love about this guy again,
to watch him compete. I don't know if a running
back that competes harder than Naji Harris. I mean, you
watch him. As I've said before, he is part running
(23:51):
back and part you know, cage fighter. This guy really
comes pack in a punch and really delivers blows back.
He's very consistent in handling the ball, I mean, durable
and doesn't put it. I don't even want to mention
what he doesn't do. Okay, so we'll just we'll leave
it at that because we don't want to jinx some
you know what I mean. But the fact is he
comes through and does over and over what you ask
(24:14):
of him and more Jayalen Warren again, that ability to explode,
to cut back, to do those things and Cordero Patterson,
but you have some nice runs. Yesterday that was very nice.
I mean, whether he bounced it to the outside and
that one zone then cut back, you know, it just
was a very heads he moved by him. And I
love the way these three guys compete. Because you've got
(24:34):
a first, second down, third down, you bring Jalen in,
you either dump it to him on a screen out
of the flat something like that. He can do that,
or you know, he's a ballardbuster you want to blitz.
You know, he's a hill Impaleia, you know what I mean.
That's y yeah, I mean, you know, so you've got
three really good backs doing the job like like nobody's business.
(24:55):
And I hope it just keeps continuing and we have
good health going towards the end of the sea, because
those three guys are going to be really big, God
willing they head into the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Matt yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
And to be very honest, the last two or three
games leading up to this one, I was starting to
worry about nausea a little bit. I'm like, man, the
wear and tear of the season is starting to get
to him. He's had a heavy workload and a few
backs have endured as much punishment as him up to
this season. Maybe the second half of the year isn't
going to be real kind to him. And I actually
thought Patterson looked a little heavy footed in the last
(25:28):
couple of games too, But ten days off, you know,
these guys are dedicated, they get a little bit of rest.
They both look tremendous. I thought it was one of
the best Harris has looked in a Steeler uniform.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
And Wolf's right. I mean, there aren't many backs.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
There's nobody that's more reliable, but there's not many backs
that are more upper body centric with their running style.
I mean, he's throwing blows and I mean his hands
are so busy and he's such long arms. It's a
real asset.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
At one hundred and twenty nine scrimmage yards for him yesterday,
moves over a thousand year arts from scrimmage and becomes
the first stupid running back to do that over the
first four seasons of his career. So very impressive stuff
from Naji Harris. Tone setting stuff from Naji Harris as well. Again,
a non busy day for Corlis weightment only one punt
(26:16):
that was good to see. If you're gonna quibble, you
sure hate to see that block field goal. And again
we don't know whether you know whether Cincinnati would have
gone for two in some of those other earlier touchdown
drives and maybe gotten it, but boy, it sure would
have been nice to have a nine point lead. But
that's you know, we're quibbling a little bit, as long
(26:37):
as that doesn't become a problem. And again, Chris Boswell
has just been, you know wolf. He is so consistent
that we almost are guilty of overlooking how great he is.
We're not, but maybe fans are. In general. I believe
he's one shy of the single season record for most
fifty yard field goals in NFL history, as he banged
(26:59):
another one through yesterday.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's what I think is so remarkable is, you know,
his accuracy is ridiculous, but his accuracy beyond fifty yards
is even more ridiculous. And to think that, you know,
you're dealing in the Northeast with the weather conditions that
generally face Northeastern football in December November, that sort of thing.
That's a tough thing for him to be able to
have to deal with. Yet he deals with it very
(27:22):
very well. And the fact of the matter is, I
think he's been up from the Wizard of Baz to
Legatron is Max started calling that. I mean, because the
guy is just really hitting some remarkable numbers. And to
hit almost fifty percent of the points score thus far,
on one hand, you look at it and go, well,
it doesn't say much for your red zone. But on
the other hand, if you don't make those points, you
(27:45):
ain't going to be sitting at nine and three. So
he's done a great job of being the kicker they
need him to be whenever they need him to be,
and however they need him to be.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Yet two wins with six field goals, Yeah, that's bad.
That's pretty incredible, pretty incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
You know who the best kicker in NFL history, in
my opinion, is the guy in Baltimore, and he is
falling off a cliff at an unbelievable level this year
and costing his team games.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
Where our guys getting better.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yeah, it is, it's remarkable, it really is.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
All right, this students win by the final score of
forty four to thirty eight. We have moregan to talk
about defense. Look forward a little bit to this week's
game as well. When we continue on the point After
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Back to the point after on DV.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Earl gets a snap here come to students, pressure and
remember big this strip sack and it's picked up by Wilson,
and Wilson's gonna go in for the score. Peyton Wilson
touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers on the strip sack.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
The Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate
at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. You know tough when you
give up thirty eight points or see thirty eight points
on the board. They only technically gave up already one
points because of the pick six. But wolf the Steelers defense,
I mean, you can't say, oh Man, brilliant performance, but
(29:06):
what you can say is brilliant performance when you needed it.
They needed some big plays. They got some big plays.
That was a big one for sure. The interception was
a big one for sure by our man Dante Action
Jackson now a career high interceptions with him for him
with five. The students defense made the big plays when
they needed to make the big plays.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Oh man, did they? And by the way, you know,
the problem is when you got those surprise plays that
Aliso come out of nowhere. You hear Rob making this
great call and he was like, because I'm surprised by
you know, like shut.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Up, yo, we love that man, come on, you know.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
But anyhow, the point is what a job by the defense?
I mean, Cam Hayward, are you kidding me? This guy
just I mean abusive corpse over Cordy Cody Ford. I mean,
that's a big cheese whopper of a guard. And that
fourteen year veteran that quote unquote who called him the
old man the other day. I don't want to call
him that because I see him now and then, and
(30:08):
you know, like I don't want to make be made
into a ballard. So but you know, I mean you
look at him and he's got what five tackles, had
a sack, had a pass defense He's got eight passes defense.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah, I mean, are you kidding me? There's defensive backs
don't have that many, you know, And yet he is
able to go out and do the things he's done,
and with that one armed stab when he when he
locks out on a guy, it's like watching what I
don't know, just he just drives them back into the quarterback.
And you gotta love that. It's just something that I'm
sure the other guys he's teaching those techniques to, but
(30:42):
he is just really on the inside, but just having
a phenomenal year.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Uh he is.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He was the guy I really wanted to talk about first, Matt,
because it's been incredible. I mean, it's incredible, the injuries
last year, and you know, so a lot of lot
of fans wondering, a lot of media people wondering should
this guy be brought back going into this game. I
pointed this out earlier on the show with Max and Wolf.
You know PFF, right, we love him when they agree
(31:13):
with us and what we think, and we don't like
him when they don't. But I love this one. He
was the highest rated interior offensive lineman by PFF in
the entire NFL, and that was before this game, and
he was just a force to be reckoned within this game.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
With all respect to Russell Wilson, who was unbelievable and
we already talked about. And I thought Joe Burrow did
a lot with a little as well. I thought Cam
Hayward was the best player on the field and was
as good as you're ever going to see a defensive
tackle play that's you know, I mean not named Jill Green, yeah,
or maybe Aaron Donald, you know, but along those lines,
in those PFF grades, I truly believe, and I study
(31:50):
the entire league that he's been the best defensive tackle
in football this year, better than Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence,
all these great players, and he's you know, as a team,
but starting with him, they they swat down a pass
or to a game, I mean that's a huge place.
Sometimes they lead to a pick. They have the most
(32:11):
They forced fumbles at a ridiculous rate. I was just
reading this before we hit record. Probably doesn't shock anyone
that Miles Garrett and t. J. Watt lead the league
with force for sack fumbles. They both have three, But
so does Nick Herbig. He plays half the snaps those
guys do over the course of the year. Those are
the three leaders, and two of them are in Pittsburgh.
(32:31):
You know, like happens all the time. It can't be
an accident, and it has to reflect on coaching too.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Let me ask you, this isn't I'm looking. I'm looking
all this. I'm going to realize he's not on my
chart I'm looking from but he's Yeah. Maybe here's my point.
I think he was leading force fumbles last year.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
I think did.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, are you kidding me?
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Crazy?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
They must success le crews, you know, and they work
in I know they were kind of you see it
and everything, and they work on hard and what it shows.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I mean J Watt and five forced fumbles tied him.
I think with that they gave him the league lead.
And Herbig that's five overall and Herbig has four. And
right like you said, Matt, he's been playing about half
the snaps.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
I have no doubt that t. J.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Watt is the best player in football at causing fumbles.
I have no doubt that Cam Hayward is the best
defensive lineman at swatting down passes. But it is trickling
down to those around them. I mean that's leadership. I
mean that can't be an accident.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
By the way, it didn't have any effect in the game.
But the Cam Hayward hit on Chase Brown in the backfield,
I mean.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
He had two or three that he is flattened people.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
You could not have if your plan was in practice. Okay, Chase,
we're gonna have you stand stock still. Okay, we're gonna
put the ball in here. You're gonna stand stock still here,
look over here, doant I don't want you looking. And
now Cam you get to run for four yards and
plow into him. I mean, my goodness, but Chase Brown
must have wondered what in the world just happened. I
(34:04):
mean I have I don't know, as I it's impossible
to be quicker penetrating than that. Hayward must have been untouched.
Well if I don't know, if you saw the replay,
he must he had to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
He shot the gap on the on the guard. Yeah,
he just blew right across his face and and you
know what, he hit Chase Brown so hard he gave
him a factory reset. I mean, I'm telling you that
was just a devastating hit and that's what you want
to see down there, and you know that comes from
that's got to be experienced, that's got to be scouting report,
and that's got to be just having that intuitive I
(34:34):
know what's coming down here. He shot the gap, did
exactly as he should have, plus a whole lot more.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
Yeah, I may have whimpered on the air, even though
I mean it was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
It was amazing how quickly he got through that gap
and her big you know, Peyton Wilson scoops up a
couple of fumbles in this game. You know, that was
great to see for the Steelers, you know, And and
the turnovers and the big plays Dante Jackson, and again
in that tipball you mentioned Matt with Cam Heyward being
able to come up with the interception. You know, the
(35:05):
Steelers just made the plays when they had to. And
I understand that you can't give up thirty one points
per game consistently and win, but when you make the
big plays when you need. First of all, the Steelers
haven't been giving up thirty one points per game. They've
been one of the best defenses in the NFL as
far as points allowed. And we all know the rules
(35:27):
are designed to try to get the offenses out there
and going. And we also know that Joe Burrow and
the Bengals can score points on anybody. But to be
able to make the plays when you need him, that
is another sign of a good defense.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
I mean, like, yes, the Bengals moved the ball, they
scored points, they scored in the red zone.
Speaker 5 (35:46):
They do that every week. Burrow is having the best.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
Year of any quarterback in the league in my opinion,
right there at the top for sure, and so's Chase
and Higgins is having his best season. And it does
help when they let Orlando Brown move early every snap.
But that's okay, I mean, what was going on here?
Speaker 5 (36:02):
I mean, anyway, we'll get that. Just had to throw
that out there, and the yeah.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
I'm glad you did because that yeah, yeah, crazy.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
It makes no sense.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
But yes, this is a big play defense and that
goes an awful long way in this league. Explosive plays
on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
And well, I'm sure you would have loved that as
an offensive lineman. I mean, look, they let you move
whenever you want. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yeah, he's a massive human being, four time Pro bowler,
He's already good we know that he's a massive human being.
And so now you're nick herbig right, and you want
to try to you know, use your strength but also
your speed and agility, and you have the the the
ability to say, well, I can try to go around
the wall to the left or around the wall to
(36:44):
the right and maybe occasion to go through it. Now
by allowing him to go early, your options are what
try to go through them. I mean, it's uh, it
just limits what you can do as a pass rusher.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
There's no doubt about it, you know. And the pass
rushing is all about the first step. It's getting that
first step that takeoff, get off, and you've got to
have a plan going up there. And you know, the
thing about it is when you let a tackle that
big we're talking six eight three fifty all right, that's
a cheese whopper of a man. Okay, that's just a
ginormous human being. I mean, just setting there he I mean,
it's it's like a five minute cab right around him
(37:15):
if you don't move, you know, so anytime he moves,
that just increases the length of time that you're going
to be able to have, you know, running around him,
or you're not going to go through them. I mean,
I'm sorry, but you know, as good as everybody is
out there, very rarely are you going to take somebody
that big and deposit him into the lap of the quarterback.
But by moving, by moving, you know, faking going around
(37:37):
to the outside, inside, spend what have you, you can
get those guys light on their feet and then drive
them back and those things can be done. But certainly,
you know, to give him the advantage of being able
to move early and move you know quickly that that
just cuts down a lot of angles and robe.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
He obviously gives up great length to Brown and probably
one hundred pounds, and they're letting the left tackle leave early.
Right in past raus situations, herbig still whipped them.
Speaker 6 (38:05):
Real yep, I know. It is amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
He has been such a fine for them, you know, Matt,
I wanted to point out one other defender while we
watched Deshaun Elliott and Patrick Queen battle for the the
leading tackler on this year. There's Patrick Queen overtook him
a couple weeks ago. Deshaun cut into that deficit by
I think leading the team with tackles this week. It's
still I think it's still Patrick Queen by a few tackles.
(38:29):
That'd be fun to keep an eye on. But another
new guy, Dante Jackson. Another interception. But even beyond the
interceptions to give that, you know, when you go against
a team that's got a couple of real high quality receivers,
to be able to have Dante Jackson on that other side,
I just think, you know, look, I like the trade
(38:50):
to begin with, even though you know, I didn't know
a ton about Dante Jackson, but that trade just to me,
has looked better and better and better week after week
after week.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
I don't know if you noticed, but the Ravens had
a couple receiver injuries and Deontay Johnson played zero snaps
for them, So it's not like he's lighting the world
on fire in other places either. And speaking of that trade,
and referenced Belichick early and he kind of made this
move famous and the Steelers, I know, Porter had a
lot of penalties. I mean, that's hit a lot of penalties,
but he was on Higgins alone a lot. And then
(39:23):
you give Jackson help on the number one. That's an
old school Belichick move. He put Ty Law on the two,
you know, and leave him alone on islands. So I
thought Joey had a really difficult assignment and did better
than the penalties allowed to. I mean, he's playing pressman
coverage against a high end receiver. He had a tough job.
He didn't have his easiest day. But having Jackson on
(39:44):
the other side is such a security blanket, and he's
making plays left and right.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
And you know the thing you got to remember about
that too, And Mike made a very true statement afterwards, says,
you can't allow the man to goon us, you know
what I mean, because he's very physical, you know, And
so you got Joey's out there. Let's face it, he's
a porter. You know, he's dad. He's got a lot
of his dad's jeans in him, right, No, he's not.
And you know he's he's a little aggressive, right, Okay,
(40:09):
it comes naturally to him, and he's got to win
those battles. He's got to learn how to win within
the context of the rules. But yeah, it's, like you
laid it out, that's very difficult. And you know, when
you got somebody on the opposite side that stimulates, shall
we say, some of that physical play, you have to
meet a little fire with fire, you know, and sometimes
it goes through a little bit of a fire repair.
(40:30):
I remember when the first time I played Lie el Zado,
you know, I mean, I was told right away, Hey,
you better match the intensity, and you know when he
cheap shots ya, you better do something otherwise he's gonna
be cheap shotting you all day. Third play of the game,
we're in a fight, you know what I mean. But
you know that's just the nature of the beast, and
you've got to try to find where to mitigate your
game within the confinence. But you still got to bring
(40:50):
the fire.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So you see, we see the Ravens lose to the Eagles. Fantastic,
great chance you're matt to beat the Cleveland Browns, exact
a little revenge from that loss, what eleven days ago
now and have a two game lead on the Ravens
when they come out of the bi a week later.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
Yeah, And I really think the Browns are a much
much better team with Winston behind center than Watson. You know, Like,
going into that Browns game, you look at all, you know,
season long stats, they're really bad. But if you look
at just when Winston took over, they're a pretty good team.
But they get a tough game tonight in Denver, and
you know what time are they gonna get You guys
(41:29):
know we can travel with the team. What time are
they going to land in Cleveland early early, early this
morning and try to get ready for another road trip
to come here. I mean that's spreum a bus trip.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, right right.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
I mean so, I think the Steelers are in a
great situation.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
I hate to say, you like, have to get this
Browns game, but after that it gets pretty rough, you know,
So it'd be really nice to put this one in
the bank.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
Yeah, and then breathe, you know, exhalea quite frankly.
Speaker 3 (41:54):
You know what this is like Val Kilmer, you know,
it's Doc Holliday and Tombstone. It's about a reckoning. It's
about setting things right. This ain't revenge, but setting things right.
That's the attitude I think they should have.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
Days gear up for the latest game. The official Steelers shops.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Get the latest Sideline apparel, Jersey's Terrible tals, authentic Memorabilian
custom exclusives you can only find directly from the team.
Visit one of the official Steelers pro shops located at
Akroshuer Stadium, Grove City Premium outlets or Tanger outlets, or
gear up online at shop dot Steelers dot com. For
Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson, I'm Rob King. We thank
(42:31):
you for listening to the point after on the Steelers
Audio Network
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
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(00:21):
And now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley
and Matt Williamson, and we.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you for being with us for the Point After
on this Steelers Audio Network. As you just heard alongside
Craig Wolfley and Matt Williams and I'm Rob King. We
thank you very much for being with us to Steelers
defeat the Cincinnati Bengals forty four to thirty eight. I'm
reminded of the album title by one of my favorite groups,
the unfortunately largely forgotten group Traffic, great group of the
(00:47):
late sixties early seventies shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory.
Who'd ever thought Craig Wolfley that we could have gotten
forty four points out of his Steelers team, that they
would win a shootout against Joe Burrow and this Cincinnati Bengals.
But our first reaction, brought to you by First National Bank,
Let's get started, member FDIC. That shootout happened, and it
(01:08):
was this Dealers who wanted at the end.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
No doubt about it. I mean, this is what happens
when you Outburrow the Borough, you know what I mean.
I just love the fact that they took it straight
to him and kind of put the you know, it
punched him right in the mouth and out did him
at what he does best. You know, this is what
I think mister Rooney, Mike t and Omar Cohn were
thinking when they brought Russ here in the off season.
This was, you know, the thought process that you needed
(01:34):
to be able to expand your offense and be able
to throw some points up on the board instead of
just trying to eliminate what your defense has to chop down.
So I thought it was really the fruition of an
off season of wanting to put this together, and Russ
is just coming on like Gangbusters. The man is hotter
in the bowl of Texas Chili.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your thoughts on what you saw Matt on yesterday in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Very impressive and the low hanging fruit obviously all is
all the points scored by this offense. And just to
be honest, I mean, I don't think the Steelers of
the last five years could.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Win a game of this manner, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
I mean when you play against a super high powered
offense and an elite quarterback who I thought played great.
I mean, Borrow can only do so much, and his
receivers are great. But I mean the defense that the
Steelers played against, I think we have to get out
of the way, is a really bad group. I mean
I was couldn't have been less impressed with the Bengals.
But that's what you do to bad defense, is you
drop forty four on them. And there's no way that
(02:34):
offenses of Steelers past would have been able to keep
up with such in such a game.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
And it's really encouraging.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Yeah, Matt, we've seen that. We saw that in recent vintages.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And you know again, and you know, Wolf and I
were talking about this earlier with Max Starks. You you
know that Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff, and to
their credit, they were able to do it more often
than not, had to manufacture ways to win and they
beat quality teams, but there were also times where it
just felt like, WHOA, they just simply don't have the firepower.
(03:04):
It's a league designed to let offense is loose with
the rules and the way they're interpreted. And you know,
when an opposing offense got loose, no matter how good
your defense is, that's going to happen. This judents were
simply incapable of winning a game like that. They just
did not have the quarterback play, the coordination. I think
can be thrown in that with Arthur Smith, but they
(03:25):
just simply did not have the weapons and the plan
to beat opposing offenses when they scored a lot of points.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, and I think there's a misnomer out there that
probably even a lot of our listeners. Mike Tomlin's an
old school, close to the vest, grind it out, run
and play defense type of coach. He is winning quarterbacks
not great, you know. I mean, when you have Ben
in his prime, he's going for two. Whenever they're the
first one to score a touchdown, you make it eight nothing,
(03:55):
you know. I mean so and certainly in years past,
if you threw a pick, which I'd like to talk about,
I don't understand how that was a flag side note, but.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Was insane to me. I still don't understand that.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
But you throw a pick six to start the game,
that was in itself an obstacle that the former teams
couldn't come up, you know, get over it, because I
mean you lost a turnover battle or allowed a touchdown
from UH defense or special teams. You weren't overcoming that.
And now they just show that they can play any
way you want. You want to grind it out and
play a.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Physical game and run the ball, and run the ball.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Sure, if you want to come out throwing, and the
Steelers threw through a very high percentage of the time
in the first half, yep, fine, you know that we'll
do that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Then, yeah, and then and right that would have been
the Dan bursting in this time. It was just okay,
let's go next position, that's come down and score wolf.
Let's talk about that. That non PI call live When
I called it, you know, I didn't see it because
again I'm watching the ball, and I saw pick and stumble.
I did not see Cam Taylor Britt put his hand
(04:59):
on the back of his helmet and shove him down.
I thought initially that there it was just uh, you know,
some some Yeah, sure there's contact all the time. He
was going down anyway. But then after seeing it a
couple of more times, I kind of don't understand why
that wasn't called.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well exactly so, and I think somewhere along the time
you and I got talking about it. I don't know
whether I set it on air or off air or whatever,
but I said, I just don't think, you know, I
think that should have been a penalty of some sort, because.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
I hope you did.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope I did. Yeah, that gummet. You know, sometimes
we get in these conversations you're like there or not,
I don't know, true. So anyhow I'm watching it, I'm going,
you know, if an offensive lineman did that, that would
be there'd be a penalty, you know, grabbing the back
of the helmet, throwing them down head first and all
that stuff. So I'm kind of quating that a little
(05:52):
bit of the offense all going that shit looks like
it's a penalty of illegal use of hands or pee.
I don't even know what to describe it as because
at first I thought he just slipped. That's why I
think he was slipping. Yes, there's something that was a
stumble in there. But you know, Cam Taylor Britt, whatever
his name is, he helped him along a lot, I
would say. So anyhow, Yeah, I was surprised that that
(06:16):
wasn't a penalty, and but the whole thing about it
was how these guys responded was fantastic. And you know,
when you look at these games as possible teaching tools, man,
that is a teaching tool. All right, something goes bad
like that very early in the game, you're back on
it and riding that horse back the other way. Kudos
to them that, you know, that's just a feather in
(06:36):
their cap. That's learning how to respond and respond.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, you know, Matt, I would love to have been
in a pregame offensive meeting at some point in the
latter part of last week.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
I was not invited, but it would have been great.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
It would have been great to be in there because
you know, when we look at thee.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
This week, maybe when.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We look at the numbers, you think, Okay, George Pickens
could have a monster game, the tight ends could have
monster games. The running game could be huge for the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (07:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
All those those are my preconceived notions, and I don't
know what the game plan was. I don't know whether
it changed based on what the Bengals were doing. But
the Bengals were bringing eight even nine men in the box,
just crowding the line of scrimmage, you know, apparently trying
to take away the run. I guess, I guess that
was their plan. And so what happened, Well, Russell Wilson
(07:32):
just kept finding safety valve running backs Najee Harris, Yalen Warren,
you know, over the middle of the field, little screen passes,
and that just seemed to open everything up. And again,
whether that was something they knew Cincinnati was going to do,
or was an adjustment on the fly with Russell Wilson
and with Arthur Smith, presumably, I don't know, but it
(07:53):
was not. It was as successful as I thought they
could be, but not necessarily the way I thought it
would be.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, And again I wasn't invited to the meetings either,
and I'm curious just watching on TV, it sure looked
like the veteran, probable future Hall of Fame quarterback was
adjusting a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage,
you know, more than maybe any game in a Steeler uniform,
you know, getting everyone into the right play, and to me,
that's one of the most underrated aspects of having him
(08:21):
in there. And that's not a knock on fields, it's
just rarely do they run a bad play, you know,
so much of the last five years they get themselves
into bad plays and don't get out where Wilson's in there,
changing things, moving guys around, adjusting protections, and you're right,
I mean, just analyzing the numbers today, this was by
far the quickest the balls come out of Russ's hands
(08:43):
since he's been the starter, and also his shortest average
depth of target and all those running back dumpoffs in
the middle of the field, I couldn't believe. I mean,
Peyton Wilson was out, so I'm sure that was part
of the game plan as well, but I couldn't believe that,
you know, since he didn't do more to adjust to that.
I mean, those guys are five yards easy completions, turn around,
(09:03):
go get another eight yards after the catch or whatever,
no matter who the back was.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
It was wonderful.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, Logan Wilson, by the way, yeah yeah, lead a tackler,
good player outside Hendrickson there their best defensive player, Matt
Before I go back to Wolf, I have to wonder,
because we're calling the game live. Obviously, I'm not watching
a screen on some of those dump offfs on. I
thicked him myself. I wonder if on a screen it's
just Naji Harris. I mean, he was so ultimate. Nobody
(09:29):
around him, Yeah, nobody.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Just take a few steps down the field, turn around
and get what you can after and he did plenty
of that work as well. I mean, so it was
easy pickens, and you know, there's something to be said
for a quarterback that'll take the layups.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Well, the easy pickings came a little later.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, you're not you're not going to You're not going
to see that. No defenders out of forty two inch TV.
You better have an eighty inch TV if you're gonna
see so, I mean, it was just it was the
space between Naji Harris and the closest Bengal defender now
a trunk. As the game went on, they made an
adjustment they were.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah they were running cover too. Yeah, you got that
middle linebacker going deep. What I loved And I'm sorry
I didn't mean to just jump in like this, but
I love the way Russ went after him. Okay, you
want to do that. I'm gonna keep doing it, tom
Brady over and over. I'm gonna I'm gonna cut you
with a thousand cuts until you stop the bleeding stop.
(10:22):
That's it. And I just thought that was fabulous, great
job by him.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Well the other thing too, that we kind of discussed
a little bit wolf earlier, and I think that, you know,
Matt obviously brings up a great point about you know,
the great quarterbacks, you know, the Ben Roethlisbergers.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And the Peyton Wilson are Peyton Wilson.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Poor Peyton Wilson getting a lot of mention for playing
for the Bengals and playing quarterback, you know, Peyton Manning,
Tom Brady, Russell Wilson. You know, the ability to see
what's out there that comes with experience. But if it
was just experience, Tom Brady wouldn't be a broadcaster, he'd
(10:59):
still be playing, you know. So you still have to
have you still have to have the arm strength and
the ability to go with that. When you match that up,
that's when and few people have the ability. Few people
get to be in the league long enough or have
the acuity to be able to see what's out in
the field. Russell Wilson, to me, looks like he still
(11:20):
got that blend of both. I mean, the arm is
still strong again. The word I always used it all camp.
Every time I think about him, the word that comes
to mind, the adjective is crisp. Everything he does is
crisp ball on a line, tight spiral, quick decisions. But
he's it's not just the mental part, although that is huge.
(11:41):
The physical ability is there as well, and we're seeing
the marriage of both of those with Russell.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Wilson, no doubt about it. And I think, you know,
you hit a spot on in all areas. The one
area I would say is also the knowledge and ability
to throw a touch ball. Those two balls that hierarching
moon balls, My goodness, many that is just really that's
a gift, you know, I go all the way back,
you know, I mean, you don't see many quarterbacks that
(12:07):
have that sort of ability to do it over and
over and over again. And he's really proven himself very
very capable of, you know, throwing, having a wide range
of throws off that same arm.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And Matt just to you know, wrap up this portion
of the show again, to go back to where we began.
This portion of the show what we're seeing here. A
Steelers offense averaging twenty nine points per game under Russell
Wilson five and one. I believe that scoring would be
fourth in the NFL extrapolated over the course of the
full season. So it is just it just gives this
(12:43):
team a different feel. It gives me, and I'm sure
to a lot of other fans, the confidence that you
can go beat a top team or a top scoring
offense and not have absolutely everything and more go your
way in order to win a game like that.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Yeah, I don't have a lot more to add to that,
but I think you said it extremely well.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
And then reading some of the quotes, you know, from
the guys who were.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
In the huddle with Wilson, a lot of them kept referencing, man,
Russ was even more confident in this game than ever,
you know, I mean, even I'm sure right after that
pick six you could have easily dropped your head or
oh man, that's something. How we wanted to start on
the road against a desperate team and Joe Burrow's over there.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
What we're gonna do now?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I mean, 'n waivering? I mean, and I do think
Crisp is a great adjective for him. Even going back
to Camp.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Steve is winn By the final score of forty four
to thirty eight, they improve on the season to nine
and three. We'll talk a little bit more about that.
We're certainly going to touch on the defense, and much
more still to come when we resume in the point
after on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Back to the point after on DVKE.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Wilson gets a snap, looking now under Durest, we'll fling
to his right, fine fire mot Insigne to five pind
a touchdown for Pat fryar moon.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The play of the game is brought to you by
S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
oh two. stBank dot com S and T Bank member
fdi C. Great to see Pat Fryarmouth having a strong
game for this year. There's lots of guys on the
receiving end, nine but ten different receivers for this Yeelers.
Pat Friarmouth had six catches sixty eight yards, so he
(14:25):
tied Naji Harrish for the team lead and receptions. Also
had that touchdown twenty five yarder for the score. Guys, again,
you know a lot of varied weapons and There's a
lot of talk about a number two receiver, and I
totally understand that.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
I get it. But when I look at Friarmouth.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And then Harris, and then Warren, and then Pickens and
then Patterson and then Austin and then Pruitt, Jefferson's karnic
gets a catch the way they've used Darnell Washington. You know,
you look over at Cincinnati Wolf and it's hard to
beat that one two combination. In fact, it's the best.
I believe it's the best one two combination in the
NFL as far as you know, Higgins and Chase.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
And yet the.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Distribution for this dealers added up to a victory, you know,
four hundred and fourteen yards receiving three hundred and nine,
which is a great day for Burrows and the Bengals,
but proving that you know, you can get it done
with a personnel you have on hand.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
No question about it. Look, I mean right now, after
that game, the running backs they all together they had
thirteen completions one hundred and forty six yards tight ends,
nine passes, ninety nine yards one TD. We're not even
talking about the great catches of Calvin Austin. You talk
about under duress kad zooks Man. I mean, guy tried
to you know, it was a keen Gaither Davis, you know,
(15:42):
just just nailed him that one, and I got I
gotta tell you, this guy is tougher than Woodpecker lips Man.
This guy gets up, shakes it off, comes back for more.
And I love that about that. This young man. What
an attitude, what courage to go and run those routes
like that, knowing that some guys were trying to put
the heater. They just did a great job. I mean,
(16:02):
you know, kudos to him. I just thought it was
a great job. You've got people on the other side
that are terrific performers. You want a rise to that level,
and you want to compete and show that, Hey, I'm
capable not only of being out here on this field,
but I can one up.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah. I mean Austin is you know, I love him.
I love his game. I love the fact that he's tough.
You know, he and Beanie Bishop Matt going back to camp,
were constantly working against each other and constantly trying to
make each other better. You know, Austin has become you know,
(16:37):
a couple of games in a row now where he's
caught a touchdown pass, he's become it seems a bigger
part of the offense. It also looked back in camp
like after practice Russell Wilson was doing a lot of
work with Calvin Austin again and that that work was
cut short with a calf injury with Russell Wilson. But
he seems to be one of the beneficiaries of Russell
(16:58):
Wilson being this year their starting quarterback one.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Hundred percent and kind of when we could rewind a
little bit here too, is Yes, it would be great
to have at Higgins opposite Pickens. Of course, Hey, the
Chiefs would like a new left tackle too, you know,
the Bills would like something, the Ravens could use something,
the Great Lions and Eagles teams his pieces that they
could use as well. But ten different Steelers caught passes yesterday.
(17:24):
I mean that's a huge number, and that's making I mean,
you don't have Chase in Higgins and no one's gonna
pretend like you do. And frankly, I don't know what
Mike Williams is going to bring to the table this year,
good or bad, you know, I mean, he hasn't blown
me away. It doesn't seem to get open with regularity.
But the guys like Austin are You're getting the most
out of them, and it looks like they're best football
(17:44):
is ahead of them. And we mentioned the running backs, catches, passes.
This is a defense that was notoriously bad against tight ends.
For Iromuth ripped them up yet again like he did
last year. You know, and you're moving these guys around.
I thought it was a really good Arthur Smith game
in that regard to.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, a lot of different weapons, Wolf, a lot of utilization.
And I also think, and you've been in a locker
room at the NFL level, when you start to win,
you know, there's very little caring of or less caring certainly. Look,
everybody wants to be part of the win. And when
you reach the NFL, you're such a good player that
(18:23):
your team's your experience, your own experience is usually your
teams have won because of you, you know what I mean.
And as you the further you go up, you know,
it was it was interesting listening to Mike Tomlin talk
football with Bob Labriola about how he was a punter
when he was younger and a lot of times he
would just you know, catch the put and run.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
He wouldn't even bother punning it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, well, you know, you could dominate when you're
a really good athlete, you dominate. Then the closer you
get up to the top, the more great athletes you
have around you. But once you start winning, you know,
people don't care that much about who's getting to who's
getting the touches, who's getting the credit. It's it's you know,
it's easier I think, to pull together as a team
(19:07):
when that team is having.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Success, unquestionably. So look, you don't want to be the
guy that they're winning in spite of you, you know,
I mean that that's that's a down, down trender. The
fact of the matter is when when you when you
start winning, there's this feeling, this contagious thing that winning
begets winning and and it's really great to be part
of something like that. It feels, like Chuck used to
(19:31):
talk about it like being like a rolling down the
hill snowball that keeps gathering size and things as they
go along. And Chuck was always about, you know, if
you would just raise your performance level, each one in
this locker room. Back then it was forty five guys
each one in this locker room by by one percent,
you'd have a forty five percent increase in product productivity. Well,
(19:53):
you know what, that makes a lot of sense when
you see how teams start to pick up steam throughout
the season. I think this is what's happening with the
Steelers off right Now. You've got Russ playing some of
the best ball he's probably played in the last decade.
I mean, that was his second most passing total of
his career. This guy is not done yet. It's not
like he's he's expended. And you know what you've got,
(20:14):
as Joe Namath in the La Rams uniform, No, you know,
you've got a guy that's still very capable of putting
up big numbers and when his team needed him to
do that, when he needed a step forward and become
that guy, that guy in the huddle that you look
at and you you know, there's like I always say,
there's ten pairs of eyeballs staring at that guy in
the huddle and they got to believe in that guy. Well,
(20:36):
that guy did the job and did it very very well.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And rob along those lines, just talking about this offense,
it's a real Belichick thing. Do your job and it sounds,
you know, rudimentary, but it isn't at all. I mean,
scronic in Austin couldn't be any different as slot receivers.
Hayward and Washington couldn't be any different as tight ends
other than they walk in the tight end room together
(21:00):
every day. The running backs are all very different. The
receivers have varied skill sets. And I know we're you know,
into December now, but Russ has only played six games
with these guys, and Arthur Smith has only coached these
guys for what twelve or thirteen or whatever it is.
I mean, you're still kind of learning how do.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I best use these pieces of the puzzle.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yep. I think that's a great point.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And the fact, you know, when you mentioned the Belichick thing,
one of the things that always impressed me about them
is they seem to very more than other teams. I thought,
very game plan specific. Yes, that that's you know, instead
of saying, hey, this is what we do, this is
how we do it, this is how we're going to
attack you. They had the personnel and the ability to
(21:48):
you know, do what you're referring to. Tom Brady might
come out in a game and hand off sixteen straight times,
or he might throw it sixteen straight times. We saw
yesterday with Russell Wilson. Okay, you want to pack the box,
all right, Well we're gonna make you pay and so
and then now other teams are gonna say, well, maybe
we sit back in and cover two and have seven
(22:08):
in the box with some lighter personnel.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Okay, great, then we'll ram it down your throat.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And that's a really really good position to be able
to be in as an offense.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Unselfish too.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I mean, that's a Belichick trade too, and I think
the Steeler defense does the same thing. I'm gonna keep
Lamar or Jayden Daniels in the pocket and not worry
about sacks even though I'm TJ Watt and I could
probably get three sacks in this game, you know. I
mean we've said that a lot of these Mondays unselfish,
right wolf.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I continue to be impressed with Naji Harris and his
style of running and the kind of the tone he
sets for this team. We're seeing Jalen Warren pick up
obviously he was injured earlier. He is, as Mike Tomlina
likes to say, jumping on a moving train. But I
(22:58):
think it's what six straight games now with fifty nine
or more yards from scrimmage six in a row now
for him, we saw Cordero Patterson put his hand in
the piles. As a group, this running back units as
the weather begins to turn and you might have to
become reliant upon the run more. It's comforting to me
(23:20):
to know that you have this group of backs, and
this group of backs seems to be pointing in the
right direction as his team gets ready for the stretch
run and hopefully a deep playoff run as well.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Absolutely, I mean just to keep the not the kryptonite,
but keep the banana split pie or whatever it was
away from n because we need that superman that he was.
You know, That's what I love about this guy again,
to watch him compete. I don't know if a running
back that competes harder than Naji Harris. I mean, you
watch him. As I've said before, he is part running
(23:51):
back and part you know, cage fighter. This guy really
comes pack in a punch and really delivers blows back.
He's very consistent in handling the ball, I mean, durable
and doesn't put it. I don't even want to mention
what he doesn't do. Okay, so we'll just we'll leave
it at that because we don't want to jinx some
you know what I mean. But the fact is he
comes through and does over and over what you ask
(24:14):
of him and more Jayalen Warren again, that ability to explode,
to cut back, to do those things and Cordero Patterson,
but you have some nice runs. Yesterday that was very nice.
I mean, whether he bounced it to the outside and
that one zone then cut back, you know, it just
was a very heads he moved by him. And I
love the way these three guys compete. Because you've got
(24:34):
a first, second down, third down, you bring Jalen in,
you either dump it to him on a screen out
of the flat something like that. He can do that,
or you know, he's a ballardbuster you want to blitz.
You know, he's a hill Impaleia, you know what I mean.
That's y yeah, I mean, you know, so you've got
three really good backs doing the job like like nobody's business.
(24:55):
And I hope it just keeps continuing and we have
good health going towards the end of the sea, because
those three guys are going to be really big, God
willing they head into the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Matt yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
And to be very honest, the last two or three
games leading up to this one, I was starting to
worry about nausea a little bit. I'm like, man, the
wear and tear of the season is starting to get
to him. He's had a heavy workload and a few
backs have endured as much punishment as him up to
this season. Maybe the second half of the year isn't
going to be real kind to him. And I actually
thought Patterson looked a little heavy footed in the last
(25:28):
couple of games too, But ten days off, you know,
these guys are dedicated, they get a little bit of rest.
They both look tremendous. I thought it was one of
the best Harris has looked in a Steeler uniform.
Speaker 5 (25:38):
And Wolf's right. I mean, there aren't many backs.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
There's nobody that's more reliable, but there's not many backs
that are more upper body centric with their running style.
I mean, he's throwing blows and I mean his hands
are so busy and he's such long arms. It's a
real asset.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
At one hundred and twenty nine scrimmage yards for him yesterday,
moves over a thousand year arts from scrimmage and becomes
the first stupid running back to do that over the
first four seasons of his career. So very impressive stuff
from Naji Harris. Tone setting stuff from Naji Harris as well. Again,
a non busy day for Corlis weightment only one punt
(26:16):
that was good to see. If you're gonna quibble, you
sure hate to see that block field goal. And again
we don't know whether you know whether Cincinnati would have
gone for two in some of those other earlier touchdown
drives and maybe gotten it, but boy, it sure would
have been nice to have a nine point lead. But
that's you know, we're quibbling a little bit, as long
(26:37):
as that doesn't become a problem. And again, Chris Boswell
has just been, you know wolf. He is so consistent
that we almost are guilty of overlooking how great he is.
We're not, but maybe fans are. In general. I believe
he's one shy of the single season record for most
fifty yard field goals in NFL history, as he banged
(26:59):
another one through yesterday.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's what I think is so remarkable is, you know,
his accuracy is ridiculous, but his accuracy beyond fifty yards
is even more ridiculous. And to think that, you know,
you're dealing in the Northeast with the weather conditions that
generally face Northeastern football in December November, that sort of thing.
That's a tough thing for him to be able to
have to deal with. Yet he deals with it very
(27:22):
very well. And the fact of the matter is, I
think he's been up from the Wizard of Baz to
Legatron is Max started calling that. I mean, because the
guy is just really hitting some remarkable numbers. And to
hit almost fifty percent of the points score thus far,
on one hand, you look at it and go, well,
it doesn't say much for your red zone. But on
the other hand, if you don't make those points, you
(27:45):
ain't going to be sitting at nine and three. So
he's done a great job of being the kicker they
need him to be whenever they need him to be,
and however they need him to be.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Yet two wins with six field goals, Yeah, that's bad.
That's pretty incredible, pretty incredible.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
You know who the best kicker in NFL history, in
my opinion, is the guy in Baltimore, and he is
falling off a cliff at an unbelievable level this year
and costing his team games.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
Where our guys getting better.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yeah, it is, it's remarkable, it really is.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
All right, this students win by the final score of
forty four to thirty eight. We have moregan to talk
about defense. Look forward a little bit to this week's
game as well. When we continue on the point After
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Back to the point after on DV.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Earl gets a snap here come to students, pressure and
remember big this strip sack and it's picked up by Wilson,
and Wilson's gonna go in for the score. Peyton Wilson
touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers on the strip sack.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
The Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate
at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. You know tough when you
give up thirty eight points or see thirty eight points
on the board. They only technically gave up already one
points because of the pick six. But wolf the Steelers defense,
I mean, you can't say, oh Man, brilliant performance, but
(29:06):
what you can say is brilliant performance when you needed it.
They needed some big plays. They got some big plays.
That was a big one for sure. The interception was
a big one for sure by our man Dante Action
Jackson now a career high interceptions with him for him
with five. The students defense made the big plays when
they needed to make the big plays.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Oh man, did they? And by the way, you know,
the problem is when you got those surprise plays that
Aliso come out of nowhere. You hear Rob making this
great call and he was like, because I'm surprised by
you know, like shut.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Up, yo, we love that man, come on, you know.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
But anyhow, the point is what a job by the defense?
I mean, Cam Hayward, are you kidding me? This guy
just I mean abusive corpse over Cordy Cody Ford. I mean,
that's a big cheese whopper of a guard. And that
fourteen year veteran that quote unquote who called him the
old man the other day. I don't want to call
him that because I see him now and then, and
(30:08):
you know, like I don't want to make be made
into a ballard. So but you know, I mean you
look at him and he's got what five tackles, had
a sack, had a pass defense He's got eight passes defense.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah, I mean, are you kidding me? There's defensive backs
don't have that many, you know, And yet he is
able to go out and do the things he's done,
and with that one armed stab when he when he
locks out on a guy, it's like watching what I
don't know, just he just drives them back into the quarterback.
And you gotta love that. It's just something that I'm
sure the other guys he's teaching those techniques to, but
(30:42):
he is just really on the inside, but just having
a phenomenal year.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Uh he is.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
He was the guy I really wanted to talk about first, Matt,
because it's been incredible. I mean, it's incredible, the injuries
last year, and you know, so a lot of lot
of fans wondering, a lot of media people wondering should
this guy be brought back going into this game. I
pointed this out earlier on the show with Max and Wolf.
You know PFF, right, we love him when they agree
(31:13):
with us and what we think, and we don't like
him when they don't. But I love this one. He
was the highest rated interior offensive lineman by PFF in
the entire NFL, and that was before this game, and
he was just a force to be reckoned within this game.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
With all respect to Russell Wilson, who was unbelievable and
we already talked about. And I thought Joe Burrow did
a lot with a little as well. I thought Cam
Hayward was the best player on the field and was
as good as you're ever going to see a defensive
tackle play that's you know, I mean not named Jill Green, yeah,
or maybe Aaron Donald, you know, but along those lines,
in those PFF grades, I truly believe, and I study
(31:50):
the entire league that he's been the best defensive tackle
in football this year, better than Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence,
all these great players, and he's you know, as a team,
but starting with him, they they swat down a pass
or to a game, I mean that's a huge place.
Sometimes they lead to a pick. They have the most
(32:11):
They forced fumbles at a ridiculous rate. I was just
reading this before we hit record. Probably doesn't shock anyone
that Miles Garrett and t. J. Watt lead the league
with force for sack fumbles. They both have three, But
so does Nick Herbig. He plays half the snaps those
guys do over the course of the year. Those are
the three leaders, and two of them are in Pittsburgh.
(32:31):
You know, like happens all the time. It can't be
an accident, and it has to reflect on coaching too.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Let me ask you, this isn't I'm looking. I'm looking
all this. I'm going to realize he's not on my
chart I'm looking from but he's Yeah. Maybe here's my point.
I think he was leading force fumbles last year.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
I think did.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, are you kidding me?
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Crazy?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
They must success le crews, you know, and they work
in I know they were kind of you see it
and everything, and they work on hard and what it shows.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I mean J Watt and five forced fumbles tied him.
I think with that they gave him the league lead.
And Herbig that's five overall and Herbig has four. And
right like you said, Matt, he's been playing about half
the snaps.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
I have no doubt that t. J.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Watt is the best player in football at causing fumbles.
I have no doubt that Cam Hayward is the best
defensive lineman at swatting down passes. But it is trickling
down to those around them. I mean that's leadership. I
mean that can't be an accident.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
By the way, it didn't have any effect in the game.
But the Cam Hayward hit on Chase Brown in the backfield,
I mean.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
He had two or three that he is flattened people.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
You could not have if your plan was in practice. Okay, Chase,
we're gonna have you stand stock still. Okay, we're gonna
put the ball in here. You're gonna stand stock still here,
look over here, doant I don't want you looking. And
now Cam you get to run for four yards and
plow into him. I mean, my goodness, but Chase Brown
must have wondered what in the world just happened. I
(34:04):
mean I have I don't know, as I it's impossible
to be quicker penetrating than that. Hayward must have been untouched.
Well if I don't know, if you saw the replay,
he must he had to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
He shot the gap on the on the guard. Yeah,
he just blew right across his face and and you
know what, he hit Chase Brown so hard he gave
him a factory reset. I mean, I'm telling you that
was just a devastating hit and that's what you want
to see down there, and you know that comes from
that's got to be experienced, that's got to be scouting report,
and that's got to be just having that intuitive I
(34:34):
know what's coming down here. He shot the gap, did
exactly as he should have, plus a whole lot more.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
Yeah, I may have whimpered on the air, even though
I mean it was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
It was amazing how quickly he got through that gap
and her big you know, Peyton Wilson scoops up a
couple of fumbles in this game. You know, that was
great to see for the Steelers, you know, And and
the turnovers and the big plays Dante Jackson, and again
in that tipball you mentioned Matt with Cam Heyward being
able to come up with the interception. You know, the
(35:05):
Steelers just made the plays when they had to. And
I understand that you can't give up thirty one points
per game consistently and win, but when you make the
big plays when you need. First of all, the Steelers
haven't been giving up thirty one points per game. They've
been one of the best defenses in the NFL as
far as points allowed. And we all know the rules
(35:27):
are designed to try to get the offenses out there
and going. And we also know that Joe Burrow and
the Bengals can score points on anybody. But to be
able to make the plays when you need him, that
is another sign of a good defense.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
I mean, like, yes, the Bengals moved the ball, they
scored points, they scored in the red zone.
Speaker 5 (35:46):
They do that every week. Burrow is having the best.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
Year of any quarterback in the league in my opinion,
right there at the top for sure, and so's Chase
and Higgins is having his best season. And it does
help when they let Orlando Brown move early every snap.
But that's okay, I mean, what was going on here?
Speaker 5 (36:02):
I mean, anyway, we'll get that. Just had to throw
that out there, and the yeah.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
I'm glad you did because that yeah, yeah, crazy.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
It makes no sense.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
But yes, this is a big play defense and that
goes an awful long way in this league. Explosive plays
on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
And well, I'm sure you would have loved that as
an offensive lineman. I mean, look, they let you move
whenever you want. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yeah, he's a massive human being, four time Pro bowler,
He's already good we know that he's a massive human being.
And so now you're nick herbig right, and you want
to try to you know, use your strength but also
your speed and agility, and you have the the the
ability to say, well, I can try to go around
the wall to the left or around the wall to
(36:44):
the right and maybe occasion to go through it. Now
by allowing him to go early, your options are what
try to go through them. I mean, it's uh, it
just limits what you can do as a pass rusher.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
There's no doubt about it, you know. And the pass
rushing is all about the first step. It's getting that
first step that takeoff, get off, and you've got to
have a plan going up there. And you know, the
thing about it is when you let a tackle that
big we're talking six eight three fifty all right, that's
a cheese whopper of a man. Okay, that's just a
ginormous human being. I mean, just setting there he I mean,
it's it's like a five minute cab right around him
(37:15):
if you don't move, you know, so anytime he moves,
that just increases the length of time that you're going
to be able to have, you know, running around him,
or you're not going to go through them. I mean,
I'm sorry, but you know, as good as everybody is
out there, very rarely are you going to take somebody
that big and deposit him into the lap of the quarterback.
But by moving, by moving, you know, faking going around
(37:37):
to the outside, inside, spend what have you, you can
get those guys light on their feet and then drive
them back and those things can be done. But certainly,
you know, to give him the advantage of being able
to move early and move you know quickly that that
just cuts down a lot of angles and robe.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
He obviously gives up great length to Brown and probably
one hundred pounds, and they're letting the left tackle leave early.
Right in past raus situations, herbig still whipped them.
Speaker 6 (38:05):
Real yep, I know. It is amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
He has been such a fine for them, you know, Matt,
I wanted to point out one other defender while we
watched Deshaun Elliott and Patrick Queen battle for the the
leading tackler on this year. There's Patrick Queen overtook him
a couple weeks ago. Deshaun cut into that deficit by
I think leading the team with tackles this week. It's
still I think it's still Patrick Queen by a few tackles.
(38:29):
That'd be fun to keep an eye on. But another
new guy, Dante Jackson. Another interception. But even beyond the
interceptions to give that, you know, when you go against
a team that's got a couple of real high quality receivers,
to be able to have Dante Jackson on that other side,
I just think, you know, look, I like the trade
(38:50):
to begin with, even though you know, I didn't know
a ton about Dante Jackson, but that trade just to me,
has looked better and better and better week after week
after week.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
I don't know if you noticed, but the Ravens had
a couple receiver injuries and Deontay Johnson played zero snaps
for them, So it's not like he's lighting the world
on fire in other places either. And speaking of that trade,
and referenced Belichick early and he kind of made this
move famous and the Steelers, I know, Porter had a
lot of penalties. I mean, that's hit a lot of penalties,
but he was on Higgins alone a lot. And then
(39:23):
you give Jackson help on the number one. That's an
old school Belichick move. He put Ty Law on the two,
you know, and leave him alone on islands. So I
thought Joey had a really difficult assignment and did better
than the penalties allowed to. I mean, he's playing pressman
coverage against a high end receiver. He had a tough job.
He didn't have his easiest day. But having Jackson on
(39:44):
the other side is such a security blanket, and he's
making plays left and right.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
And you know the thing you got to remember about
that too, And Mike made a very true statement afterwards, says,
you can't allow the man to goon us, you know
what I mean, because he's very physical, you know, And
so you got Joey's out there. Let's face it, he's
a porter. You know, he's dad. He's got a lot
of his dad's jeans in him, right, No, he's not.
And you know he's he's a little aggressive, right, Okay,
(40:09):
it comes naturally to him, and he's got to win
those battles. He's got to learn how to win within
the context of the rules. But yeah, it's, like you
laid it out, that's very difficult. And you know, when
you got somebody on the opposite side that stimulates, shall
we say, some of that physical play, you have to
meet a little fire with fire, you know, and sometimes
it goes through a little bit of a fire repair.
(40:30):
I remember when the first time I played Lie el Zado,
you know, I mean, I was told right away, Hey,
you better match the intensity, and you know when he
cheap shots ya, you better do something otherwise he's gonna
be cheap shotting you all day. Third play of the game,
we're in a fight, you know what I mean. But
you know that's just the nature of the beast, and
you've got to try to find where to mitigate your
game within the confinence. But you still got to bring
(40:50):
the fire.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So you see, we see the Ravens lose to the Eagles. Fantastic,
great chance you're matt to beat the Cleveland Browns, exact
a little revenge from that loss, what eleven days ago
now and have a two game lead on the Ravens
when they come out of the bi a week later.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
Yeah, And I really think the Browns are a much
much better team with Winston behind center than Watson. You know, Like,
going into that Browns game, you look at all, you know,
season long stats, they're really bad. But if you look
at just when Winston took over, they're a pretty good team.
But they get a tough game tonight in Denver, and
you know what time are they gonna get You guys
(41:29):
know we can travel with the team. What time are
they going to land in Cleveland early early, early this
morning and try to get ready for another road trip
to come here. I mean that's spreum a bus trip.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, right right.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
I mean so, I think the Steelers are in a
great situation.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
I hate to say, you like, have to get this
Browns game, but after that it gets pretty rough, you know,
So it'd be really nice to put this one in
the bank.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
Yeah, and then breathe, you know, exhalea quite frankly.
Speaker 3 (41:54):
You know what this is like Val Kilmer, you know,
it's Doc Holliday and Tombstone. It's about a reckoning. It's
about setting things right. This ain't revenge, but setting things right.
That's the attitude I think they should have.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
Days gear up for the latest game. The official Steelers shops.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Get the latest Sideline apparel, Jersey's Terrible tals, authentic Memorabilian
custom exclusives you can only find directly from the team.
Visit one of the official Steelers pro shops located at
Akroshuer Stadium, Grove City Premium outlets or Tanger outlets, or
gear up online at shop dot Steelers dot com. For
Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson, I'm Rob King. We thank
(42:31):
you for listening to the point after on the Steelers
Audio Network
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