December 9, 2024 • 44 mins
Another solid victory for the Steelers has Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and Matt Williamson feeling pretty good on this victory Monday. The crew shares their thoughts and opinions on the Steelers win over the Browns yesterday
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers
by Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com and by Clearview
Federal Credit Union get the financial answers you need. And
(00:22):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley and
Matt Williamson, and.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
We thank you very much for being with us. Following
the Steelers victory yesterday at Akrosher Statium, they depead in
Cleveland Browns twenty seven to fourteen. In the process this
Steelers improved to ten and three in the season and
improved their lead in the AFC North Over Idle Baltimore
to two full games. So a lot to be excited
about and yesterday's win as far as what it means
in the standings. Our first reaction is brought to you
(00:50):
by First National Bank. Let's get started, Member FDI C
Craig Wolfey your first reaction to yesterday's victory by the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Well, i'd say the immortal words of Val Kilmer, who
was you know, it was Doc Holliday in Tombstone, which
we were talking about pregame. It wasn't revenge as Steels
were after. It was a reckoning. It was a setting
of things right, getting back to what they'd done. Though
the first four drives offensively one yet resulted one field goal,
(01:20):
three punts, they finally got traction, They got it going,
and it was a little bit belabored, but you know what,
they did what they needed to do, and they set
things right. They whupped the Browns, and the Browns are
out of the playoffs, any sort of playoff hunt.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Matt Williamson, We, I don't know if you've listened to
the pregame show, had an opportunity yesterday, but we managed
to wedge in in a very short period of time.
Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Val Kilmer, who did
Mexico with Wolf, I don't even remember, you know, I
had enough problem trying to figure out what I was
going to say. It was a very very educational first
(01:57):
two minutes.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I'm a huckleberry man. That's the most plaitable movie of
all time.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So your thoughts, Matt on your first reaction to what
you saw yesterday.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
It was a little slow, but I mean, I think
it was a wonderful day overall. You took care of business,
You had the reckoning against the team that you probably
played your worst against. You have a two game lead
in the division, a very good division. The Bills lost,
the Chiefs just squeaked by, And I bring them up
because those are the teams that you compare yourself against now,
(02:33):
the absolute cream of the crop in the AFC. That's
where this team is at.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Right, I agree, I think that that's where the comparisons
have to start. And Matt, you know, driving home, you know,
I thought, okay, it felt disjointed.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
It didn't feel like their best effort.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I don't know whether you know after playing another team
two weeks later, maybe the advantage goes to the defense.
I've seen some things. I didn't feel like either team
really got much going offensively. The yards in the first
half for one twenty seven for this Teelers, one twenty
four for the Browns, so not a lot of offensive explosion,
although the Toolers have been a better second half team.
(03:14):
But then I started to think, Man, I'm saying all
that about this team, and they scored twenty seven points,
right if that's you're like manna from heaven for most
of the last six years, and they won by thirteen
over a division rival. I mean, you know, so, okay,
maybe it didn't feel like a you know, a rem brand,
(03:36):
but it's still an awfully good win for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, And what's your a game look like if that's
your C plus eight?
Speaker 6 (03:41):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Again, twenty seven points used to be a pipe dream
for five years and I often talk about it's a
big Belichick thing is there's so many ways you can
lose a football game. And I think the Steelers were
better than the Browns yesterday either way. But you know me,
I count miss extly. I miss miss field goal as turnovers.
I missed fourth down opportunity as a turnover if you
(04:04):
look at it through that light. The Steelers had one turnover,
the Browns had six. So I mean, the Browns are
never gonna win minus five and turnover differential against Steelers.
And I think tomlin knew it at the end and
just ground them in, you know, ground them the dust.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
They won it minus two unfortunately a couple of weeks
ago in a game the Steelers dominated statistically. You know,
that's the sort of game where if you tell me, Okay,
you out rushed them, you out yardaged him, you big
time out possessioned him, you won the turnover battle, you
lost the game.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
Really, that doesn't add up.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So, you know, I begin to think about just chalking
that up as one of those games that happens over
the course of a season. But Wolf was brought to
my attention after the game yesterday that Jameis Winston said
the Steelers didn't beat the Browns. The Browns beat the Browns. Fine, okay,
I want to look at it that way. That's okay
with me. Or as mattch just alluded to, the Steelers,
(04:59):
let the Browns beat the Browns. This is why you've won. Now,
part of the reason why the other is better talent,
better coaching, and so on and so forth. You've won
twenty one consecutive home games against the Browns, and the
Browns have not swept the Steelers in thirty three seasons.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, I'd say that was pretty much letting the Browns
be the Browns. And it was also letting Jamis be Jamis.
You know, I mean, who else throws an interception to
a nose tackle. I mean, I mean it's kind of unique,
you know, And that was certainly one of the turning
points of this game. Was what is remarkable, Matt and
(05:38):
I are sitting there going, we're looking at the time
of possession.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
You were quoting the yards.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
The time of possession for the entire game was split
right down the middle, thirty minutes to thirty minutes to
the second. I found that rather remarkable. But the fact
of the matter is the Steelers went about doing what
they needed to do to get a win. And you
know what, it wasn't the most pretty thing we've ever seen.
It wasn't the Rembrandt or whatever. I'm not big on painters,
(06:04):
so couldn't really tell he's good. But yeah, he's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
But the fact is, when when they got grabbed the ability,
I had the ability to turn things around, they got
the job done. You've got the best kicker in the
world right now, uh, kicking for you. And you saw
what happens when you have a kicker that's not so good,
and it leaves you wanting for more. And so there's
a lot of good things that can be gleaned out
of this game. It wasn't the Rembrandt that we were all,
(06:33):
you know, hoping to see. But then again, a W
is a W and that's the most important thing, period.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
And rob along those lines, I'm almost certain that yards
per play was identical at the half, and I think
it was identical in this game.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
Too, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
But that being said, one quarterback was missing his best weapon,
you know, in Pickens obviously, and I think that had
a massive effect on the offense overall. I mean, I'm
not saying George Pickens is CJ. Watt, but the way
that he influences defenses and coverage assignments and scheme is
a lot like Watt does protections, you know. I mean,
(07:08):
there's no question about it. There's a ripple effect that
he does a lot of good even when he's not
getting thrown the ball. And I thought Wilson, unlike Winston,
who had his good moments too, managed the game. You know,
there's something to be said for that getting us out
of get you out of bad plays, not put the
ball in harm's way, not losing it for you. Where
(07:29):
Winston he shocks me. These couple of games. We've watched them.
He's hard to get on the ground. He does a
lot of things athletically he didn't early in his career,
but he still loses you the game.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, he's a great athlete without being a fast guy. Yeah,
sometimes people miss you to think. The only way he
can be a great athlete is if you can run
fast well. And this guy's a baseball player at Florida State.
He's a terrific athlete. The arm talent is incredible, and
he was just fast enough to get out of bounds
a couple of times with the posse in pursuit. I
will give him credit for that. Yeah, this was a
(08:02):
game in which the reverse was true. As far as
the yardage and that kind of stuff. The Brown's actually
unlike two weeks ago, they won the total yardage war
for whatever that's worth, which is nothing really when you
when you think about, you know, winning and losing the game.
But Matt, I did want to ask because because Wolf
mentioned this. You know, sometimes I don't think we're guilty
(08:23):
really of of you know, overlooking the brilliance of Boswell.
I don't know if others are, but I mean, guys,
the two time AFC Special Teams Player of the Month.
I mean, you know, he's getting his kudos. He's just
such a weapon and he can be coached to that,
and you know, when you know, I think that there's
there's credit there for both for Mike Tomlin the staff,
(08:46):
and then also for Chris Boswell for managing for understanding that, hey,
if it's third and eleven and you know you're at
the forty four yard line, you know, don't pat the
ball and wait for somebody to get open and try
to pick up eleven yards and risk getting sacked or
throw a ball that flutters away or gets stripped and fumble.
(09:06):
If you pick up six or seven yards, you're good,
which is, you know, third and eleven conversion rates pretty low.
If you pick up six or seven yards, you're gonna
get three points. If you throw it in completion, you're
not gonna get any points. If you get strip sacked,
you're not gonna get any points. If you throw an interception,
you're not gonna get any points. You can manage a
game to a player of Chris Boswell's abilities, and I
(09:28):
think Mike Tomlin and his staff absolutely do that and
absolutely have faith that Chris Boswell is gonna come through.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Yeah, there's some insane numbers about Boswell too, about what
he's doing. I mean, this is his third season with
thirty five or more field goals. I mean, there's only
two other kickers in history to do three or more seasons.
I mean, he's unbelievable from fifty and out. His misses
are very, very explainable. One was a block, one was
from the other end zone almost you know what I mean.
(09:55):
So he's been one with rushed.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
I thought the one in Cleveland was.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Rushed, and it was also pretty long.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
The yards right, right, swirling, right, swirling wins you know, not.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
The easiest kick to begin with.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
But this brings me back to Wilson in that one
of the I mean, Wilson's had a phenomenal career, but
one of the knocks on him throughout his career, and
every great quarterback has them, is he'll take untimely sacks.
He'll hold the football, I mean late in the downs.
Sometimes when he should have thrown it away, he'll eat
a sack. But I've been blown away with him the
(10:27):
last two weeks. I mean, for people don't know. Last week,
the ball came out of his hands, the fastest it
has as a Steeler, he was getting it out quick,
a lot of those quick little throws to running backs
in the middle of the field. Against the Bengals this week,
he was even quicker, you know, like, I'm not going
to sit back there and pack the ball and take sacks.
I'm not taking any negatives. I keep harping on the
(10:47):
lack of negative plays. When these teams first met or
met the first time, the Steelers had one tackle for loss.
The Browns had eleven. You know, in this game, he
wasn't creating any negatives. Just don't screw it up.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I think that there's a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Wolf agreed, Absolutely agreed. Look, you know, you've got the
number one guy that handles the ball. He's got to
be efficient, and he's got to be judicious in his choices.
And you got to understand when when you're in that
pocket and you got some crazies coming at you, you know,
I mean, it can be it's a little bit intimidating,
and you've got a whole lot of stuff going on.
(11:25):
You've got to make heartbeat length decisions and you've got
to get that ball out of your hand into hand
somebody else or just get rid of it, you know,
to so you don't take the negative plays, as Matt
as pointing out, and those things can set you back
like you can't believe. I mean, there's a big difference
between you know, second and six and second and twelve,
(11:46):
you know, I mean, that's a huge difference. And I'm
just simply saying Matt is exactly correct. When you've got
a guy who can get that ball out and not
take the negatives, the negatives are what really take you
behind the sticks and kill you.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And rob along those lines. They neutralized Miles Garrett quite
well too. Oh yeah, yeah, that was a huge part
of it. How can you lose the game? Well, Miles
Garrett can take this game out.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Oh no, they didn't, you know that question.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And I think that the play I'm specifically talking about
was it was a third and nine from the forty
three and at that stage, you're not gonna kick a
field goal, right, You're just not. And third and nine
is hard to pick up. And I think maybe a
younger quarterback or a different quarterback, one that isn't as
savvy as Russell Wilson, a coaching staff that probably doesn't
talk about this throughout the course of the week. Maybe
(12:33):
you try to make that play. A third and nine
is tough conversion in the NFL. And you know, if
you throw an incomplete pass because you try to squeeze
one in, well, you've just taken three points off the board.
And they throw a completion to Mike Williams, he picks
up seven yards. They bring Boswell out there, and they
know from fifty four yards, man, he's probably gonna make it.
He hasn't missed from uh, you know, except for the block.
(12:56):
He hasn't missed from under fifty eight yards all season.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Law.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So that's what I'm talking about, just, you know, being
able to manage your strengths from a coaching staff perspective,
a quarterbacks perspective, and understanding that one of those strengths
is Chris Boswell.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
One hundred percent agree and a very good defense. I mean,
you know, you're not playing Joe Burrow and that elite
Bengals offense is probably gonna get the thirty no matter what.
Maybe we can't keep up with field goals. You know,
you got to know your opponent and deep down you're
like Jamis will probably throw us one too, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So the Steelers defeat the Cleveland Browns. We are just
getting started. Plenty more to come when we continue on
the point after on the Steelers Audio network.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Back to the point after on DVD.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
It's the snaff we'll give. Now's gonna fake and thrown
into the air zone. It's a touchdown and it's Van
Jefferson to a little RPO action touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Well, yeah, the RPO I was.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was conscirasting on the r there for a minute
and kind of got fooled a little bit as of
the Browns. Luckily and the p of the O resulted
in a td okay yea Monday play. The game is
brought to you by S and T Bank, proudly serving
our community since nineteen oh two. St Bank dot com
s and T Bank member fd I s great to
(14:20):
see the Steelers cashing in from the red zone, Wolf,
I think, if you be nitpicking a little bit, there
have been moments where the Steelers have been great from
the red zone, moments where they've struggled from the red zone.
Good to see them scoring touchdowns because, again, as Mike
Tomlin likes to say, the road gets narrower the you know,
the pass gets tighter. Suddenly started thinking about the three
(14:41):
hundred THERMOPYLI I think you're a.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Fan of that wolf.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, and you got three hundred you can
you can do that with a narrow path, and you're
gonna be if if you're the Steelers, you're gonna be
running through a narrow path that's gonna be defended by
the Ravens and the Eagles and the Chiefs, not in
that order. So yeah, you better play good football and
you better probably score.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Touchdowns from the red zone against those opponents.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
You've got to learn the art of finishing an opponent off.
That's really what it's about. And one of the things
that you know, manifested itself again is the fact that
you've got some young offensive linemen who are learning how
to finish off a game. These young guys, I can't
tell you the good job that they're doing. Yeah they
got breakdowns, Yeah, you got some issues from time to time,
But this is an offensive line who they like to
(15:28):
get physical, they like to have a little bit of
the nasty going on. They're not afraid to compete. They
will chew on your leg a little. I mean, that's
what I love about these guys. They put a little jelly,
a little extra oomph on their work. They stick together.
You see them when things, you know, get a little
bit touchy out there and guys are feeling their oats
a little and they're around and they make sure to
(15:50):
share if the piles and do the things that is necessary.
And one of the things that I love about a
good offensive line is just what Andy Andy Whitel said
early on. They travel well. You know, whether you're on
the road or whether you're in the second half. Strong, powerful,
physical offensive lines cover up a lot of sins, including
their own.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And you know, Matt, you talk about this a lot
in the offseason. You talk about it a lot during
the season on your podcast, great podcast, hope people check
it out. You talk about it on these airways as well.
The roster construction and the churn at the bottom of
the roster, and you know the fact that the Seelers
(16:32):
are always paying attention to that and always have an
idea of what to do next, whether that is to
bring back a Cordless weightman who had a terrific game yesterday,
to grab a James Pierre who obviously has been around.
They have some experience with him. You know, he's helped
nail down that gunner position for them and made them
the best punt coverage team in the league. And lo
(16:52):
and behold he comes up with an interception, Ben Scarnic
who comes up with a fumble recovery in yesterday's game,
and Scottie Miller three catches thirty eight yards. I mean,
just the way that they keep adding guys and making
sure that their depth is as good as it can
possibly be.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
You know, the guys I just mentioned all.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Played a part and a fairly sizable part in yesterday's
win over the Browns.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
One hundred percent, and some of those guys can be
unsung heroes. And I was going to bring up Scornic
as well as Darnell Washington, and you know, Wolfe was
just talking about O line and he was one hundred
percent right. I mean, it's a good, young, promising O
line with some attitude and obviously physicality had to be
preached leading up to this game without question. And where
(17:39):
I was going with this is your peripheral blockers, though,
are physical and they'll stick their face in there, much
more so than some guys of recent years, and it
rubs off and you get more and more playing time.
You know, Miller didn't even think he was gonna play
in this game from what I was reading. You know,
they thought Pickens would get the call and you know
he'd be inactive again. But they all have a lot
(18:01):
of toughness to them, a lot of competitiveness to them.
All these bottom of the roster guys, some versatility. You know,
Scornic and Pierre are both big time Special teams contributors,
and then they step into the offense and defense and
make an impact. I think there's something to be said
for that. And another good message that people don't think
about is Okay, they parted ways with Pierre at one point. Sorry,
(18:24):
we don't have room for you. But you might get
a call back. Oh sure, I'll get a call back.
Yeah right, you know, but they get a call back.
Can you bring back a familiar guy?
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You know?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well, you know, I was at the Hall of Honor
induction dinner on Saturday, and earlier than to day, I
had a chance to interview Willie Parker. And you think
about the Willie Parker's Wolf and the James Harrisons.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
You know, the Steelers. It's a meritocracy.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know, if you can find a way to contribute
and play, you're gonna play. And not a lot of
teams are truly like that. I don't know whether it
teams are trying to protect jobs. Hey we got to
keep this guy, he's a second round pick.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I don't know what to I don't know, if you know,
I don't know whether success allows you the ability to
make those kind of decisions without much second guessing, or
the fact that you make those decisions and not care
about the second guessing leads to the success Either way,
this year, there's do it more than I think really
any other organization.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
You know, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
When I was a rookie way back in nineteen eighty,
probably be for most of our audience was even born.
You know, I remember going to training camp and I remember,
you know, there were a lot of a free agents there,
and I remember, you know, various times over the years
where you know, you'd see guys excel and have an
(19:46):
opportunity to contribute, despite the fact that there were draft
choices that were noticeably higher up in the aerarchy, but
you know they were they were given the same opportunity.
Chuck always believed that it doesn't matter after you're drafted.
Your draft status doesn't mean Diddley squat. You know, It's
about performance on the field. And that was a mandate
(20:08):
that I knew existed way back in nineteen eighty. Yeah, zooks,
you know what I mean. It hasn't changed in all
the years that I've been around that I know of.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So rob along those lines. The year I put in
with the Browns when the draft concluded, my job was
I had to bring in three undrafted free agent wide
receivers that year, and we had drafted Braylan Edwards with
a third overall pick, and the guy we really wanted
was right down the street from Kent State, Josh Cribbs,
and we inevitably got him to come to Cleveland. My
apology Steelers because he did some damage as a returner
(20:38):
over the years.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
It's your fault, but my kind of was.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
But my recruiting spiel was, yeah, we drafted Braylan, but
we stink you can make our roster. You can't make
the Steelers roster. You can't make the Niners roster. You know,
you can make our roster, and he did, but the
Steelers have a better recruiting spiel in that every agent
out there that's been around the block knows that they're
undrafted free agents. Truly gonna get a crack of things.
That's not true for every tab.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, you know what's really remarkable to you tell that story. Yeah,
we were talking about James Harrison, another free exactly who
also knocked unconscious cribs and uttered the infamous great line,
Well there goes the Wildcats.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Remember that? Yeah, that that none of that is surprising.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But you know, and I do wonder, you know, Matt
from a front office standpoint, because look, you know, teams
preach communication and we have open lines, and you know,
the scouts talk to the front office personnel. This is
why we drafted this person this, this is what we
put into it. And then you know, the people drafting
(21:44):
them has to be invested in it. And you could
understand a lot of people think, well, it's just because
you're covering your butt, right, Uh, you want to make
it look like it's gonna look bad if you cut
that third round pick, and so you're gonna cover yourself
and you're gonna cut a guy who might have been
able to.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Help your team.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
But I think that the flip side of that is
also you draft guys for a reason, and you believe
what you want to believe. And I think that you know,
I just think about like the quarterback position, Like just
take for example, Kenny Pickett. Right, if you believed that
Kenny Pickett was the guy, you saw some throws last year,
you saw some some things happened last.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Year that made you believe he was the guy.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And if you ro out on him, you saw the
other stuff that made you believe he wasn't the guy.
So a lot of times it's the lens through with
uh with which you're watching players perform, and the understanding
that you drafted them for a reason. So you're probably
going to see in some ways what you want to
see what you drafted when you see a flash here,
(22:43):
a flash there, and you know this must just have
a better process of cutting through that and getting to
the truth. They have to, because just look at what
they've done.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, I'm sure that they do. And I'm sure that
there's some realism that hey, we missed on this fourth
round pick, so be it. You're not going to hit
on everybody. And I also think and Wolf could probably
even speak this better because times the offense.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Wolf.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Of times have changed since your earlier years old draft
and develop has kind of gone out the window, you know.
I mean there's not a lot of coaching of fundamentals
and developing. The train's moving too fast. You got to
prepare for the Eagles right now. You can't be you know,
spending a lot of time on developing young players, like
in college and bowl season and things like that, and so,
(23:31):
you know, I think they have a very good grasp
of a plan when they draft every specific player. Okay,
he's going to do nothing for us in year one,
but if he's in the building for the next three
on sixty five days and we bring him along properly
and spend X amount of hours with him, maybe he
can turn into a legit NFL player. And people don't
think about this either, but I kind of mention it
with the Cribs conversation. Having relationships with agents is really
(23:55):
important too. I mean, like agents always looked at like
the bad guy the lawyer, you know, but in an
organization like the Steelers that have had such stability have
done a lot of different deals with a lot of
these top agents, and there's a trust factor back and
forth and the agent might tell you, Hey, I don't
know if this guy can cut it, or he's got
a knee, or he doesn't fit your system. All right,
thanks Johnny, We're not going to use him anymore. You know,
(24:17):
there's there's a lot of stuff going on behind the
scenes in front offices.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, that's great insight and wolf. You know again, going
back to the Hall of Honor dinner, and Bill Kwer
was there and spoke about Jason Gilden and the process
that the Steelers went through, like they drafted him in
the third round. You know, again, in those days, there
weren't as many teams playing three four. There weren't as
many teams that wanted that kind of you know, that
(24:40):
Tweener type.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
He'd be a Tweener.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Type probably and for most other teams that weren't playing
the three four. But the expectation was you draft him,
he plays special teams for two years and then he
gets an opportunity to start. Oh and when he gets
an opportunity to start, he's on his way to being
in the Steelers Hall of Honor, but he's not gonna
start for those first two years. The Sooners have done
(25:02):
a lot of that over the years as.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Well, no question about it. I mean, think about the
difference between now and then. I mean back in the day,
we had four preseason games, and even before me there
were six at one point, but I most I played
was well, actually five with the Hall of Fame game.
But you know, playing four or five games, that's a
developmental period really for the young guys.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Then you think about training camp.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You got doubles, you got two sets of practices a day,
So when you take away the doubles, you take away
half the repetitions that anybody's gonna get to show themselves
and develop themselves in training camp. So yeah, it's a
more of a streamline process. It's it can take time
before a guy can work his way into it. Some
guys take less time, you know, because some guys are
(25:47):
more ready, and some guys take, you know, more time
in preparation.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Because they're not they're not ready right away. And Jason
Gilden was.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
He was one of those outside tweeners that you know,
had long arms and we had great ability to rush
the passer, but could he play the stand up defensive
end as well?
Speaker 6 (26:04):
And all he proved at all that he was capable
of doing.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Yeah, and Matt I do wonder too.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You know, when teams are evaluating players and you know,
you get more information on careers being short. You know, Listen,
he made test to free agency waters or we want
better information on him before we decide whether to sign
him to a to a you know, a lucrative long
term deal prior to him reaching free agency. I'm sure
(26:32):
there are ways. Listen, our jobs are on the line.
We have less stability here than we do in Pittsburgh.
There are a lot of there are a lot of
reasons why teams would want to play younger guys, and
that may be to their detriment. You know, obviously they
are outliers, but maybe as a whole that is not
the best thing for an organization to do. But because
(26:52):
of those pressures and others they do they do it.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, I think the Steelers stability allows for a lot
of those things to go their way. I mean, And
no matter what I mean, a GM or a coach
might be like, we gotta play this old guy just
so we can save our job, you know, I mean,
there's a not to think about the big picture. Even
though we're out of the playoffs, so we can win
two of these last six games. Chances are we won't
get fired, but it doesn't do anything good for the
(27:16):
organization overall. And back to the Guilden example, there's a
lot of them during that year Porter Hagen's et cetera,
et cetera, that they drafted in the mid to early rounds,
you know, round three through five or whatever. And oh,
by the way, it's keeping a strength of strength.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
You get here and it's like, well, they got Lloyd
and Green at outside linebackers. It's gonna be a little
tough to I got time to simmer and marinate a
little bit here. I always make the joke like it's
a little before my time, but I mean, obviously we're
familiar of it. If you were the first round pick
of the Pittsburgh Steelers in nineteen seventy six or nineteen
seventy seven, you're making the team, but you're not even contributing,
(27:54):
Like you how do you even crack the line up?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, you know, it is funny you look back at
those drafts, and you know, obviously the seventy four draft
a couple of years before I think it was a
seventy one draft was, by the way, incredible as well,
but you're right. I mean, you look at guys and
you're like, they they had an eight year, ten year
career and they were a six year starter. You're like,
I don't remember them well because it wasn't with the Steelers.
(28:17):
You know, Yeah, you got drafted and you had to
go somewhere else to find playing time.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
So I'm a pretty good linebacker coming out of SMU,
But there's ham and Lambert in front of me that
probably won't beat them out in nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Yeah, pretty good chance.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Steelers win by the final score of twenty seven to fourteen.
Back with more on this game, maybe a sneak peek
ahead to the schedule coming up. It does get interesting
for the Steelers when we continue in the point after
on the Steelers Audio Network, back.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
To the point after on DV fact.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
Looking Looking has time now flushed and now it's going
to be taken out and welcome back to the lineup.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Alex Heismith with his fourth sack of the season, and
the Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank Getting food, Volunteer or donate
at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. You know, Wolf, we're talking
about Alex high Smith and him coming back in the
lineupter the fact that you know he's a you know,
(29:15):
Mike Tomlin and his interview again with Bob Labriola. I
feel like I say this every week, such a great
interview segment, and I know a lot of people listen
to it.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Everybody's just so good.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And they were talking about Alex Heismith coming back and
Mike Tomlin said, you know, he's a three down guy.
You can bring it. He's great against the run, he's
great against the pass. As a first two series he
had a sack and a tackle for loss. There it is,
and there's the manifestation of that. What a good player
to be bringing back into your.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Lineup, undoubtedly, So you know, the energy that he brings
is just tremendous and you watch him, you know, on
that pass rush, he went right through the middle of
Ethan posting at the center for the Browns and drove
him right back into Jameis Winston and then came.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Off and sacked him.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
That takes power, that takes strength, that takes you know,
a sort of innate ability to go through them man
and still get a sack. Like that, and then you
see him later on they're running towards the sidelines, that
being the Browns, and he's out there, he's setting the
edge all the way.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Out past the numbers.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yep, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I mean that that takes some real agility and ability
to be able to do that and turn it back
that that sort of thing. His ability to do the details,
button it down, whether he's on the backside squeezing to
the front side, or he's building the wall on the
front side of those wide zones, or he's rushing the pass,
or the young man acquits himself very well each and
(30:42):
every game.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
He's got loads of potential and ability.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And I mean, what an enviable position when Preston Smith
is coming into your fourth guy. I mean, that's that's
pretty good stuff, you know. And I did want to
talk about a couple of other guys. You know, we mentioned,
you know, some of the guys that have have been
at the churn at the bottom of the roster and
coming in, you know, Miller and Scaronic and Pierre. But
(31:07):
two guys that I think we were all super excited
about in the signing in the offseason, Deshaun Elliott and
Patrick Queen. I was telling Wolf Matt, you know, Deshaun
Elliott was a leading tackler then Patrick Queen had a
couple of big games and slipped by him. Now the
last two games, Deshaun's creeping back up there again. It
come down to the wire and the leading tackler for
(31:27):
the Steelers. But you know, Deshaun Elliott thirteen tackles Patrick Queen.
I mean, the one run that sticks out to me
was Ford running right and Ford can scoot and you're thinking, Okay,
he's gonna get to the edge and if he gets
to the edge, just could be a huge gain, and
it was a four yard pick up more than the
students want to give up.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
But Queen tracked him down.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I mean, just both those guys have been huge additions
to this.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Team, huge additions, highly productive. As you mentioned, I think
Queen has really come into his own the last month
or so, and that was definitely one of his best
games in the Steeler uniform.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
His speed is.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Obvious even to a very casual observer. He moves at
the second level differently than most linebackers. Elliott doesn't ever
take a false step. I mean, he's his such great
angles and ability to diagnose things. And while we're talking
about middle of the field defenders, Landon Roberts is setting
the tone out there. I mean, you gotta love the
(32:23):
hammer he brings too, Like in the middle of the
field's a real strength of this defense.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
If you saw that one seventeen g where you pull
the left guard and the center pulled, he shot the
gap right at Ethan Posk knocked him on his dairy. Yeah,
that being a Landon Roberts. Yeah, I'm telling you what
it was. Posk had to go for a full factory
reset to get that because that was a punishing it
from a Landon Roberts fan, it was.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
And you know, wolf Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Someone brought to my attention last week, I think it
was last week after the Browns game and prior to
the Bengals game, that the two odds on favorites. And
I'm not a gamber so I don't. I don't look
at the you know, if I find out who's favored
in a game, it's by accident.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I don't look at these things to you know, to
each his own. But I was told by you know,
another reporter that the two odds on favorite for defensive
player of the Year, t J Watt, Miles Garrett and
and look, both are tremendous players. But I'm wondering, man
another week or two of Cam Hayward and could he
(33:25):
be involved in that conversation. Now, I gotta say he
didn't have a pass defense the first time in six weeks.
He had six consecutive games in which he batted down
to pass, which is amazing to me. But you know,
two more sacks, two more tackles for loss, two more
quarterback hurries. You know, PFF hasn't rated as the top
(33:47):
interior defensive lineman in the NFL. I mean, he has
just been a force in the last two weeks. I
think in particular Wolf, I think I think he's been
really good all year, but the last two weeks it
is it's just feel like it feels like it's another level.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
There's no question that the old man is getting his
gear on for a run down through the gauntlet of
this last part of the season. Look, you take it.
You watch what he does last year, Walt Peyton Man
of the Year, right, Well, this year, why not Defensive
player of the Year. I mean, this guy's nobody else
is running away with the thing and he is doing
a ginormous job. You see him in his fourteenth year
(34:25):
with some of the things he does. I've never seen
a guy stacked bodies on power rushes like this guy
does on a regular basis, over and over with that
one arm stab, Dad zukes Man, I you know, you
look at him and you think, what is that as
a mechanical robot arm? I mean, he just takes people
like Joe Botonio is a big, huge, three hundred and
thirty pound guy. Great, you know, yeah, great, great player, right,
(34:48):
and he takes them right back into Jameis Winston. I mean,
kad Zekes, do you think yourself, if you're on the
end of that that one arm stab, it's going to
be a bad ending in the other end of it.
But the fact is, you know, you can't separate the
man from the guy off the field too. And wal
Payton Defensive Player of the Year man oh man, those
are two things that you got to salute this guy
(35:09):
for and he's leading the way while doing it in
his fourteenth year, and all fourteen years are spent in
the trenches. That's as hard to an area to operate
year in and year out, and do so at a
high level as any in any sport because of the
brutality of what goes on in there. That is really
something and I really really admire what I watch because
(35:29):
he's just getting it done in a big way.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Matt, I know you had some info on Cam Hayward
and the kind of year he was having in your
Elite Matt Stats preparation booklet. For those of us that
are working for the Pittsburgh Steelers, are your thoughts on
what you've seen from Cam.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
It's remarkable. I mean, it really is. I mean, on
the drive, I had a long conversation with Labs, who's
like the best Steeler historian going, you know, and I
asked him all the amazing Steelers defensive players in history,
and it's the best of any team out there. I
don't think any of them have played at this level
at this age, you know. I mean, it's rare in
(36:09):
the history of the league to be one of the
best defensive players in the league in your mid thirties.
I mean, it's just remarkable. I mean, even like that
Bengals game, they broke off a couple long runs, but
Cam wasn't on the field, Like no one's even running
the ball when he's out there not to mention the
impact in the passing game, batting down passes, sacks, tackled
(36:29):
for loss. And this isn't a knock at all on TJ,
of course, but the original point. If the Steelers voted
on their defensive MVP right now, I guarantee you it's Heyward.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
Well pretty good company.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
They've They've had a lot of guys to choose from
that have really played great football for him. And I'm reminded,
you know of the big guy coming on Wolf and
I want to give a doff of the cap to
the great Dave Parker.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Really really happy to see him going to the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
But I ask known you you've been talking about that one.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, and I'm glad he's and I'm I'm I'm really
happy that he's in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (37:07):
But you know they had yes, and I have been
talking about that back.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
But but then you know, I said, hey, you guys,
you know I was talking to Teek or one of
those guys in the seventy nineteen. I said, man, you guys,
you guys always seem to get off to a slow start.
They're like, you know, you gotta let those little guys run.
Let those rabbits run. They'll tire her out. They'll wear
down after a while. Then we big guys, you know,
we're we're not We're built for comfort, we're not built
for speed. We'll catch him eventually, don't worry about that.
(37:31):
And I'm wondering if a guy like Cam Hayward, you know,
is just Okay, everybody's a little more tired this time
of year, you know, every running back's a little more
worn down this time of year. Uh, you know, maybe
Cam Hayward is just, you know, is just finding that
final gear he needs to to continue to be that
dominant force exactly.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So it's not like he's whinding down, and it's not
like he's taking any time off, you know.
Speaker 6 (37:55):
I mean, that's the amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I Mean, he's out there slugging it out with guys
that are a decade younger, you know, and he's he's
whipping him play in and play out and at a
high proportion rate.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
So you know, that is a tip of the cap.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
That's also understanding that last year coming back from an injury,
like like the Gin injury, and it's like I told him,
last year, we were walking on and go, what's your problem?
Speaker 6 (38:17):
He got two of them.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
But you know, that's the type of guy that he is.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
He's an old school guy fourteen years into this thing,
and yet he's got that irresistible, like little little thing
about him where he's you know, with the younger guys,
they love being around this guy. He is a rallying point.
He is something that guys draw strength from. And he's
one of those clubhouse elders that speaks to you know,
what's going on and in and around his locker. That's
(38:46):
just the type of team captain that he is.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, and kudos to the shooters, by the way, for
giving him a lot of rest during the week.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
They know he doesn't need to play. Mike Tomlin and
this on the swim team.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Right here, what's that He's on the swim team, right
hear the swim team. I think Tomlin's been calling him.
He's the he's our top swim team guy because he's
in the tub all the time. Yeah, some guy running
joke that he's picking on Cam about whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah, but yeah, that's right. But he's smart enough in
a lot of ways. But you know, knowledgeable enough, smart enough,
coach enough to realize that Hey, if he's doing what
he needs to do on Sunday, let's keep him, you know, rested.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Yeah, those are the games.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Account By the way, congratulations Hilari Jogan Joby for being
nominated as the Steelers for the Steelers Walter Payton Man
of the Year Award, the NFL Award. He's absolutely great
stuff for him.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
You guys probably didn't watch the TV broadcast, but they
made a big deal out of that because JJ Watt
was there, There was Russ, JJ Watt and Cam all
in the buildings.
Speaker 6 (39:46):
They won it.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, we did give him a shout out during the broadcast,
but yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad they made a big
deal out of that because it's it's a wonderful thing
to be nominated for that and to win it.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Wow, that's that's incredible double stuff. Matt.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
We have, I think, been hoping that the Steelers would
be getting to this point with a record similar to
the one they have. They are facing a gauntlet of games.
The Eagles are playing the best of any team I
think in the NFL right now. Then you have the
Baltimore Ravens in a big game. You can you know,
(40:21):
finish off the division right then and there by beating them.
Then you've got the Kansas City Chiefs who just keep
finding ways to win. Mike Tariko called it the doink
for the division last night, the kick if anyone didn't
see it, that ricocheted through the uprights by former Steelers
kicker Matthew Right to clinch the division and win the
(40:41):
game for the Chiefs. But this is a this is
a gauntlet that should give us a little bit of
a preview of what things might look come postseason time,
because you are going in there with some of the
absolute heavyweights in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
And I think the Seelers are one of those heavyweights.
I mean I think that the Eagles and Ravens and
Chiefs are saying, well, yeah, but we got the Steelers
on the schedule. Come that's right too, you know. I mean,
that is not an easy game against anybody, and boy,
we're gonna beat up Monday after that game. And I mean,
knock on wood, But I mean the Steelers are quite healthy.
Maybe they can even get like a guy like Adams
(41:19):
back in the mix and Trice and a couple other
you know, reinforcements. Who knows, but I like their chances
against anyone I've dug into the Eagles though they're really good.
They're really really good. They don't have a lot of weaknesses.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
No, no, they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
But Wolf and I totally and I didn't want to
intimate for a moment that I didn't think the students
are right there with him. I think the students are
right there with these teams, you know. But the beauty
of sports is you're gonna find out, right and and
those other teams are going to find out because the
Steelers are going to be a measuring rod game for
(41:56):
those teams as well.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
And how much fun.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I know, it's three games in a eleven days and
it's just gonna be brutal. But man, from a fans perspective,
from an observers perspective, it is from our perspective being
able to call these games.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
Wolf, it is gonna be.
Speaker 6 (42:11):
A blast, There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
And you are just intensifying the kind of the feeling
I got inside. Look, I'm looking at this and I'm
thinking to myself, as a player, what would you have thought?
I'm thinking, you know, this is so cool to be
able to go into a town, into a city, and
play against a team that a lot of people want
to write you off or have written you off, or
thinking that, you know what, you don't stand that much
(42:33):
of a chance, and go in and have at it.
There is nothing better than going into a town with
all your guys around you, and you go there that
sole purpose. You fly over there. You are locked in
the hotel room, you got twenty four hours before kickoff.
You're sitting there and you just know that something big
is gonna happen, and it's awesome.
Speaker 6 (42:53):
It's just awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Then you get yourself a chief steak HOGI come on
back after you kick the Eagles butts and you get
prepped for the raven. But it's one at a time,
and you cannot bleed over anything forward. The coaches they
can look forward, they can get the scouting you know,
in the next game and so forth. But the players,
you can't look any further than this Eagles game. It's
(43:14):
what it's all about. That focus needs to be one
hundred percent on the Eagles.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And it's iced they have a little bit of money
in the bank too. You know this win was it
wasn't a must win. They're probably gonna playoffs either way.
But two game cushion in the division. You know you're
here in a nice spot right now for sure, and
you did it without pickings.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
And you did it without pickings.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Gear up with the latest game day necessities at the
official Steelers pro shops at the latest sideline apparel, jerseys,
Terrible towels, authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the official
Steelers pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
(43:54):
Steelers dot com. For Matt Williamson, for Craig Wolflee, for
our producer Justin Miller, I'm Rob King. We thank you
for listening to the point after on the Steelers Audio
Network
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers
by Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com and by Clearview
Federal Credit Union get the financial answers you need. And
(00:22):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley and
Matt Williamson, and.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
We thank you very much for being with us. Following
the Steelers victory yesterday at Akrosher Statium, they depead in
Cleveland Browns twenty seven to fourteen. In the process this
Steelers improved to ten and three in the season and
improved their lead in the AFC North Over Idle Baltimore
to two full games. So a lot to be excited
about and yesterday's win as far as what it means
in the standings. Our first reaction is brought to you
(00:50):
by First National Bank. Let's get started, Member FDI C
Craig Wolfey your first reaction to yesterday's victory by the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Well, i'd say the immortal words of Val Kilmer, who
was you know, it was Doc Holliday in Tombstone, which
we were talking about pregame. It wasn't revenge as Steels
were after. It was a reckoning. It was a setting
of things right, getting back to what they'd done. Though
the first four drives offensively one yet resulted one field goal,
(01:20):
three punts, they finally got traction, They got it going,
and it was a little bit belabored, but you know what,
they did what they needed to do, and they set
things right. They whupped the Browns, and the Browns are
out of the playoffs, any sort of playoff hunt.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Matt Williamson, We, I don't know if you've listened to
the pregame show, had an opportunity yesterday, but we managed
to wedge in in a very short period of time.
Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Val Kilmer, who did
Mexico with Wolf, I don't even remember, you know, I
had enough problem trying to figure out what I was
going to say. It was a very very educational first
(01:57):
two minutes.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I'm a huckleberry man. That's the most plaitable movie of
all time.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So your thoughts, Matt on your first reaction to what
you saw yesterday.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
It was a little slow, but I mean, I think
it was a wonderful day overall. You took care of business,
You had the reckoning against the team that you probably
played your worst against. You have a two game lead
in the division, a very good division. The Bills lost,
the Chiefs just squeaked by, And I bring them up
because those are the teams that you compare yourself against now,
(02:33):
the absolute cream of the crop in the AFC. That's
where this team is at.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Right, I agree, I think that that's where the comparisons
have to start. And Matt, you know, driving home, you know,
I thought, okay, it felt disjointed.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
It didn't feel like their best effort.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I don't know whether you know after playing another team
two weeks later, maybe the advantage goes to the defense.
I've seen some things. I didn't feel like either team
really got much going offensively. The yards in the first
half for one twenty seven for this Teelers, one twenty
four for the Browns, so not a lot of offensive explosion,
although the Toolers have been a better second half team.
(03:14):
But then I started to think, Man, I'm saying all
that about this team, and they scored twenty seven points,
right if that's you're like manna from heaven for most
of the last six years, and they won by thirteen
over a division rival. I mean, you know, so, okay,
maybe it didn't feel like a you know, a rem brand,
(03:36):
but it's still an awfully good win for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, And what's your a game look like if that's
your C plus eight?
Speaker 6 (03:41):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Again, twenty seven points used to be a pipe dream
for five years and I often talk about it's a
big Belichick thing is there's so many ways you can
lose a football game. And I think the Steelers were
better than the Browns yesterday either way. But you know me,
I count miss extly. I miss miss field goal as turnovers.
I missed fourth down opportunity as a turnover if you
(04:04):
look at it through that light. The Steelers had one turnover,
the Browns had six. So I mean, the Browns are
never gonna win minus five and turnover differential against Steelers.
And I think tomlin knew it at the end and
just ground them in, you know, ground them the dust.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
They won it minus two unfortunately a couple of weeks
ago in a game the Steelers dominated statistically. You know,
that's the sort of game where if you tell me, Okay,
you out rushed them, you out yardaged him, you big
time out possessioned him, you won the turnover battle, you
lost the game.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
Really, that doesn't add up.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So, you know, I begin to think about just chalking
that up as one of those games that happens over
the course of a season. But Wolf was brought to
my attention after the game yesterday that Jameis Winston said
the Steelers didn't beat the Browns. The Browns beat the Browns. Fine, okay,
I want to look at it that way. That's okay
with me. Or as mattch just alluded to, the Steelers,
(04:59):
let the Browns beat the Browns. This is why you've won. Now,
part of the reason why the other is better talent,
better coaching, and so on and so forth. You've won
twenty one consecutive home games against the Browns, and the
Browns have not swept the Steelers in thirty three seasons.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, I'd say that was pretty much letting the Browns
be the Browns. And it was also letting Jamis be Jamis.
You know, I mean, who else throws an interception to
a nose tackle. I mean, I mean it's kind of unique,
you know, And that was certainly one of the turning
points of this game. Was what is remarkable, Matt and
(05:38):
I are sitting there going, we're looking at the time
of possession.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
You were quoting the yards.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
The time of possession for the entire game was split
right down the middle, thirty minutes to thirty minutes to
the second. I found that rather remarkable. But the fact
of the matter is the Steelers went about doing what
they needed to do to get a win. And you
know what, it wasn't the most pretty thing we've ever seen.
It wasn't the Rembrandt or whatever. I'm not big on painters,
(06:04):
so couldn't really tell he's good. But yeah, he's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
But the fact is, when when they got grabbed the ability,
I had the ability to turn things around, they got
the job done. You've got the best kicker in the
world right now, uh, kicking for you. And you saw
what happens when you have a kicker that's not so good,
and it leaves you wanting for more. And so there's
a lot of good things that can be gleaned out
of this game. It wasn't the Rembrandt that we were all,
(06:33):
you know, hoping to see. But then again, a W
is a W and that's the most important thing, period.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
And rob along those lines, I'm almost certain that yards
per play was identical at the half, and I think
it was identical in this game.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
Too, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
But that being said, one quarterback was missing his best weapon,
you know, in Pickens obviously, and I think that had
a massive effect on the offense overall. I mean, I'm
not saying George Pickens is CJ. Watt, but the way
that he influences defenses and coverage assignments and scheme is
a lot like Watt does protections, you know. I mean,
(07:08):
there's no question about it. There's a ripple effect that
he does a lot of good even when he's not
getting thrown the ball. And I thought Wilson, unlike Winston,
who had his good moments too, managed the game. You know,
there's something to be said for that getting us out
of get you out of bad plays, not put the
ball in harm's way, not losing it for you. Where
(07:29):
Winston he shocks me. These couple of games. We've watched them.
He's hard to get on the ground. He does a
lot of things athletically he didn't early in his career,
but he still loses you the game.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, he's a great athlete without being a fast guy. Yeah,
sometimes people miss you to think. The only way he
can be a great athlete is if you can run
fast well. And this guy's a baseball player at Florida State.
He's a terrific athlete. The arm talent is incredible, and
he was just fast enough to get out of bounds
a couple of times with the posse in pursuit. I
will give him credit for that. Yeah, this was a
(08:02):
game in which the reverse was true. As far as
the yardage and that kind of stuff. The Brown's actually
unlike two weeks ago, they won the total yardage war
for whatever that's worth, which is nothing really when you
when you think about, you know, winning and losing the game.
But Matt, I did want to ask because because Wolf
mentioned this. You know, sometimes I don't think we're guilty
(08:23):
really of of you know, overlooking the brilliance of Boswell.
I don't know if others are, but I mean, guys,
the two time AFC Special Teams Player of the Month.
I mean, you know, he's getting his kudos. He's just
such a weapon and he can be coached to that,
and you know, when you know, I think that there's
there's credit there for both for Mike Tomlin the staff,
(08:46):
and then also for Chris Boswell for managing for understanding that, hey,
if it's third and eleven and you know you're at
the forty four yard line, you know, don't pat the
ball and wait for somebody to get open and try
to pick up eleven yards and risk getting sacked or
throw a ball that flutters away or gets stripped and fumble.
(09:06):
If you pick up six or seven yards, you're good,
which is, you know, third and eleven conversion rates pretty low.
If you pick up six or seven yards, you're gonna
get three points. If you throw it in completion, you're
not gonna get any points. If you get strip sacked,
you're not gonna get any points. If you throw an interception,
you're not gonna get any points. You can manage a
game to a player of Chris Boswell's abilities, and I
(09:28):
think Mike Tomlin and his staff absolutely do that and
absolutely have faith that Chris Boswell is gonna come through.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Yeah, there's some insane numbers about Boswell too, about what
he's doing. I mean, this is his third season with
thirty five or more field goals. I mean, there's only
two other kickers in history to do three or more seasons.
I mean, he's unbelievable from fifty and out. His misses
are very, very explainable. One was a block, one was
from the other end zone almost you know what I mean.
(09:55):
So he's been one with rushed.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
I thought the one in Cleveland was.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Rushed, and it was also pretty long.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
The yards right, right, swirling, right, swirling wins you know, not.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
The easiest kick to begin with.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
But this brings me back to Wilson in that one
of the I mean, Wilson's had a phenomenal career, but
one of the knocks on him throughout his career, and
every great quarterback has them, is he'll take untimely sacks.
He'll hold the football, I mean late in the downs.
Sometimes when he should have thrown it away, he'll eat
a sack. But I've been blown away with him the
(10:27):
last two weeks. I mean, for people don't know. Last week,
the ball came out of his hands, the fastest it
has as a Steeler, he was getting it out quick,
a lot of those quick little throws to running backs
in the middle of the field. Against the Bengals this week,
he was even quicker, you know, like, I'm not going
to sit back there and pack the ball and take sacks.
I'm not taking any negatives. I keep harping on the
(10:47):
lack of negative plays. When these teams first met or
met the first time, the Steelers had one tackle for loss.
The Browns had eleven. You know, in this game, he
wasn't creating any negatives. Just don't screw it up.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I think that there's a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Wolf agreed, Absolutely agreed. Look, you know, you've got the
number one guy that handles the ball. He's got to
be efficient, and he's got to be judicious in his choices.
And you got to understand when when you're in that
pocket and you got some crazies coming at you, you know,
I mean, it can be it's a little bit intimidating,
and you've got a whole lot of stuff going on.
(11:25):
You've got to make heartbeat length decisions and you've got
to get that ball out of your hand into hand
somebody else or just get rid of it, you know,
to so you don't take the negative plays, as Matt
as pointing out, and those things can set you back
like you can't believe. I mean, there's a big difference
between you know, second and six and second and twelve,
(11:46):
you know, I mean, that's a huge difference. And I'm
just simply saying Matt is exactly correct. When you've got
a guy who can get that ball out and not
take the negatives, the negatives are what really take you
behind the sticks and kill you.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And rob along those lines. They neutralized Miles Garrett quite
well too. Oh yeah, yeah, that was a huge part
of it. How can you lose the game? Well, Miles
Garrett can take this game out.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Oh no, they didn't, you know that question.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And I think that the play I'm specifically talking about
was it was a third and nine from the forty
three and at that stage, you're not gonna kick a
field goal, right, You're just not. And third and nine
is hard to pick up. And I think maybe a
younger quarterback or a different quarterback, one that isn't as
savvy as Russell Wilson, a coaching staff that probably doesn't
talk about this throughout the course of the week. Maybe
(12:33):
you try to make that play. A third and nine
is tough conversion in the NFL. And you know, if
you throw an incomplete pass because you try to squeeze
one in, well, you've just taken three points off the board.
And they throw a completion to Mike Williams, he picks
up seven yards. They bring Boswell out there, and they
know from fifty four yards, man, he's probably gonna make it.
He hasn't missed from uh, you know, except for the block.
(12:56):
He hasn't missed from under fifty eight yards all season.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Law.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So that's what I'm talking about, just, you know, being
able to manage your strengths from a coaching staff perspective,
a quarterbacks perspective, and understanding that one of those strengths
is Chris Boswell.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
One hundred percent agree and a very good defense. I mean,
you know, you're not playing Joe Burrow and that elite
Bengals offense is probably gonna get the thirty no matter what.
Maybe we can't keep up with field goals. You know,
you got to know your opponent and deep down you're
like Jamis will probably throw us one too, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So the Steelers defeat the Cleveland Browns. We are just
getting started. Plenty more to come when we continue on
the point after on the Steelers Audio network.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Back to the point after on DVD.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
It's the snaff we'll give. Now's gonna fake and thrown
into the air zone. It's a touchdown and it's Van
Jefferson to a little RPO action touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Well, yeah, the RPO I was.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was conscirasting on the r there for a minute
and kind of got fooled a little bit as of
the Browns. Luckily and the p of the O resulted
in a td okay yea Monday play. The game is
brought to you by S and T Bank, proudly serving
our community since nineteen oh two. St Bank dot com
s and T Bank member fd I s great to
(14:20):
see the Steelers cashing in from the red zone, Wolf,
I think, if you be nitpicking a little bit, there
have been moments where the Steelers have been great from
the red zone, moments where they've struggled from the red zone.
Good to see them scoring touchdowns because, again, as Mike
Tomlin likes to say, the road gets narrower the you know,
the pass gets tighter. Suddenly started thinking about the three
(14:41):
hundred THERMOPYLI I think you're a.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Fan of that wolf.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, and you got three hundred you can
you can do that with a narrow path, and you're
gonna be if if you're the Steelers, you're gonna be
running through a narrow path that's gonna be defended by
the Ravens and the Eagles and the Chiefs, not in
that order. So yeah, you better play good football and
you better probably score.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Touchdowns from the red zone against those opponents.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
You've got to learn the art of finishing an opponent off.
That's really what it's about. And one of the things
that you know, manifested itself again is the fact that
you've got some young offensive linemen who are learning how
to finish off a game. These young guys, I can't
tell you the good job that they're doing. Yeah they
got breakdowns, Yeah, you got some issues from time to time,
But this is an offensive line who they like to
(15:28):
get physical, they like to have a little bit of
the nasty going on. They're not afraid to compete. They
will chew on your leg a little. I mean, that's
what I love about these guys. They put a little jelly,
a little extra oomph on their work. They stick together.
You see them when things, you know, get a little
bit touchy out there and guys are feeling their oats
a little and they're around and they make sure to
(15:50):
share if the piles and do the things that is necessary.
And one of the things that I love about a
good offensive line is just what Andy Andy Whitel said
early on. They travel well. You know, whether you're on
the road or whether you're in the second half. Strong, powerful,
physical offensive lines cover up a lot of sins, including
their own.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And you know, Matt, you talk about this a lot
in the offseason. You talk about it a lot during
the season on your podcast, great podcast, hope people check
it out. You talk about it on these airways as well.
The roster construction and the churn at the bottom of
the roster, and you know the fact that the Seelers
(16:32):
are always paying attention to that and always have an
idea of what to do next, whether that is to
bring back a Cordless weightman who had a terrific game yesterday,
to grab a James Pierre who obviously has been around.
They have some experience with him. You know, he's helped
nail down that gunner position for them and made them
the best punt coverage team in the league. And lo
(16:52):
and behold he comes up with an interception, Ben Scarnic
who comes up with a fumble recovery in yesterday's game,
and Scottie Miller three catches thirty eight yards. I mean,
just the way that they keep adding guys and making
sure that their depth is as good as it can
possibly be.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
You know, the guys I just mentioned all.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Played a part and a fairly sizable part in yesterday's
win over the Browns.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
One hundred percent, and some of those guys can be
unsung heroes. And I was going to bring up Scornic
as well as Darnell Washington, and you know, Wolfe was
just talking about O line and he was one hundred
percent right. I mean, it's a good, young, promising O
line with some attitude and obviously physicality had to be
preached leading up to this game without question. And where
(17:39):
I was going with this is your peripheral blockers, though,
are physical and they'll stick their face in there, much
more so than some guys of recent years, and it
rubs off and you get more and more playing time.
You know, Miller didn't even think he was gonna play
in this game from what I was reading. You know,
they thought Pickens would get the call and you know
he'd be inactive again. But they all have a lot
(18:01):
of toughness to them, a lot of competitiveness to them.
All these bottom of the roster guys, some versatility. You know,
Scornic and Pierre are both big time Special teams contributors,
and then they step into the offense and defense and
make an impact. I think there's something to be said
for that. And another good message that people don't think
about is Okay, they parted ways with Pierre at one point. Sorry,
(18:24):
we don't have room for you. But you might get
a call back. Oh sure, I'll get a call back.
Yeah right, you know, but they get a call back.
Can you bring back a familiar guy?
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You know?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well, you know, I was at the Hall of Honor
induction dinner on Saturday, and earlier than to day, I
had a chance to interview Willie Parker. And you think
about the Willie Parker's Wolf and the James Harrisons.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
You know, the Steelers. It's a meritocracy.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know, if you can find a way to contribute
and play, you're gonna play. And not a lot of
teams are truly like that. I don't know whether it
teams are trying to protect jobs. Hey we got to
keep this guy, he's a second round pick.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I don't know what to I don't know, if you know,
I don't know whether success allows you the ability to
make those kind of decisions without much second guessing, or
the fact that you make those decisions and not care
about the second guessing leads to the success Either way,
this year, there's do it more than I think really
any other organization.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
You know, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
When I was a rookie way back in nineteen eighty,
probably be for most of our audience was even born.
You know, I remember going to training camp and I remember,
you know, there were a lot of a free agents there,
and I remember, you know, various times over the years
where you know, you'd see guys excel and have an
(19:46):
opportunity to contribute, despite the fact that there were draft
choices that were noticeably higher up in the aerarchy, but
you know they were they were given the same opportunity.
Chuck always believed that it doesn't matter after you're drafted.
Your draft status doesn't mean Diddley squat. You know, It's
about performance on the field. And that was a mandate
(20:08):
that I knew existed way back in nineteen eighty. Yeah, zooks,
you know what I mean. It hasn't changed in all
the years that I've been around that I know of.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So rob along those lines. The year I put in
with the Browns when the draft concluded, my job was
I had to bring in three undrafted free agent wide
receivers that year, and we had drafted Braylan Edwards with
a third overall pick, and the guy we really wanted
was right down the street from Kent State, Josh Cribbs,
and we inevitably got him to come to Cleveland. My
apology Steelers because he did some damage as a returner
(20:38):
over the years.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
It's your fault, but my kind of was.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
But my recruiting spiel was, yeah, we drafted Braylan, but
we stink you can make our roster. You can't make
the Steelers roster. You can't make the Niners roster. You know,
you can make our roster, and he did, but the
Steelers have a better recruiting spiel in that every agent
out there that's been around the block knows that they're
undrafted free agents. Truly gonna get a crack of things.
That's not true for every tab.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, you know what's really remarkable to you tell that story. Yeah,
we were talking about James Harrison, another free exactly who
also knocked unconscious cribs and uttered the infamous great line,
Well there goes the Wildcats.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Remember that? Yeah, that that none of that is surprising.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But you know, and I do wonder, you know, Matt
from a front office standpoint, because look, you know, teams
preach communication and we have open lines, and you know,
the scouts talk to the front office personnel. This is
why we drafted this person this, this is what we
put into it. And then you know, the people drafting
(21:44):
them has to be invested in it. And you could
understand a lot of people think, well, it's just because
you're covering your butt, right, Uh, you want to make
it look like it's gonna look bad if you cut
that third round pick, and so you're gonna cover yourself
and you're gonna cut a guy who might have been
able to.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Help your team.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
But I think that the flip side of that is
also you draft guys for a reason, and you believe
what you want to believe. And I think that you know,
I just think about like the quarterback position, Like just
take for example, Kenny Pickett. Right, if you believed that
Kenny Pickett was the guy, you saw some throws last year,
you saw some some things happened last.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Year that made you believe he was the guy.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And if you ro out on him, you saw the
other stuff that made you believe he wasn't the guy.
So a lot of times it's the lens through with
uh with which you're watching players perform, and the understanding
that you drafted them for a reason. So you're probably
going to see in some ways what you want to
see what you drafted when you see a flash here,
(22:43):
a flash there, and you know this must just have
a better process of cutting through that and getting to
the truth. They have to, because just look at what
they've done.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, I'm sure that they do. And I'm sure that
there's some realism that hey, we missed on this fourth
round pick, so be it. You're not going to hit
on everybody. And I also think and Wolf could probably
even speak this better because times the offense.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Wolf.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Of times have changed since your earlier years old draft
and develop has kind of gone out the window, you know.
I mean there's not a lot of coaching of fundamentals
and developing. The train's moving too fast. You got to
prepare for the Eagles right now. You can't be you know,
spending a lot of time on developing young players, like
in college and bowl season and things like that, and so,
(23:31):
you know, I think they have a very good grasp
of a plan when they draft every specific player. Okay,
he's going to do nothing for us in year one,
but if he's in the building for the next three
on sixty five days and we bring him along properly
and spend X amount of hours with him, maybe he
can turn into a legit NFL player. And people don't
think about this either, but I kind of mention it
with the Cribs conversation. Having relationships with agents is really
(23:55):
important too. I mean, like agents always looked at like
the bad guy the lawyer, you know, but in an
organization like the Steelers that have had such stability have
done a lot of different deals with a lot of
these top agents, and there's a trust factor back and
forth and the agent might tell you, Hey, I don't
know if this guy can cut it, or he's got
a knee, or he doesn't fit your system. All right,
thanks Johnny, We're not going to use him anymore. You know,
(24:17):
there's there's a lot of stuff going on behind the
scenes in front offices.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, that's great insight and wolf. You know again, going
back to the Hall of Honor dinner, and Bill Kwer
was there and spoke about Jason Gilden and the process
that the Steelers went through, like they drafted him in
the third round. You know, again, in those days, there
weren't as many teams playing three four. There weren't as
many teams that wanted that kind of you know, that
(24:40):
Tweener type.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
He'd be a Tweener.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Type probably and for most other teams that weren't playing
the three four. But the expectation was you draft him,
he plays special teams for two years and then he
gets an opportunity to start. Oh and when he gets
an opportunity to start, he's on his way to being
in the Steelers Hall of Honor, but he's not gonna
start for those first two years. The Sooners have done
(25:02):
a lot of that over the years as.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Well, no question about it. I mean, think about the
difference between now and then. I mean back in the day,
we had four preseason games, and even before me there
were six at one point, but I most I played
was well, actually five with the Hall of Fame game.
But you know, playing four or five games, that's a
developmental period really for the young guys.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Then you think about training camp.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You got doubles, you got two sets of practices a day,
So when you take away the doubles, you take away
half the repetitions that anybody's gonna get to show themselves
and develop themselves in training camp. So yeah, it's a
more of a streamline process. It's it can take time
before a guy can work his way into it. Some
guys take less time, you know, because some guys are
(25:47):
more ready, and some guys take, you know, more time
in preparation.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Because they're not they're not ready right away. And Jason
Gilden was.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
He was one of those outside tweeners that you know,
had long arms and we had great ability to rush
the passer, but could he play the stand up defensive
end as well?
Speaker 6 (26:04):
And all he proved at all that he was capable
of doing.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Yeah, and Matt I do wonder too.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You know, when teams are evaluating players and you know,
you get more information on careers being short. You know, Listen,
he made test to free agency waters or we want
better information on him before we decide whether to sign
him to a to a you know, a lucrative long
term deal prior to him reaching free agency. I'm sure
(26:32):
there are ways. Listen, our jobs are on the line.
We have less stability here than we do in Pittsburgh.
There are a lot of there are a lot of
reasons why teams would want to play younger guys, and
that may be to their detriment. You know, obviously they
are outliers, but maybe as a whole that is not
the best thing for an organization to do. But because
(26:52):
of those pressures and others they do they do it.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, I think the Steelers stability allows for a lot
of those things to go their way. I mean, And
no matter what I mean, a GM or a coach
might be like, we gotta play this old guy just
so we can save our job, you know, I mean,
there's a not to think about the big picture. Even
though we're out of the playoffs, so we can win
two of these last six games. Chances are we won't
get fired, but it doesn't do anything good for the
(27:16):
organization overall. And back to the Guilden example, there's a
lot of them during that year Porter Hagen's et cetera,
et cetera, that they drafted in the mid to early rounds,
you know, round three through five or whatever. And oh,
by the way, it's keeping a strength of strength.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
You get here and it's like, well, they got Lloyd
and Green at outside linebackers. It's gonna be a little
tough to I got time to simmer and marinate a
little bit here. I always make the joke like it's
a little before my time, but I mean, obviously we're
familiar of it. If you were the first round pick
of the Pittsburgh Steelers in nineteen seventy six or nineteen
seventy seven, you're making the team, but you're not even contributing,
(27:54):
Like you how do you even crack the line up?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, you know, it is funny you look back at
those drafts, and you know, obviously the seventy four draft
a couple of years before I think it was a
seventy one draft was, by the way, incredible as well,
but you're right. I mean, you look at guys and
you're like, they they had an eight year, ten year
career and they were a six year starter. You're like,
I don't remember them well because it wasn't with the Steelers.
(28:17):
You know, Yeah, you got drafted and you had to
go somewhere else to find playing time.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
So I'm a pretty good linebacker coming out of SMU,
But there's ham and Lambert in front of me that
probably won't beat them out in nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Yeah, pretty good chance.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Steelers win by the final score of twenty seven to fourteen.
Back with more on this game, maybe a sneak peek
ahead to the schedule coming up. It does get interesting
for the Steelers when we continue in the point after
on the Steelers Audio Network, back.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
To the point after on DV fact.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
Looking Looking has time now flushed and now it's going
to be taken out and welcome back to the lineup.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Alex Heismith with his fourth sack of the season, and
the Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank Getting food, Volunteer or donate
at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. You know, Wolf, we're talking
about Alex high Smith and him coming back in the
lineupter the fact that you know he's a you know,
(29:15):
Mike Tomlin and his interview again with Bob Labriola. I
feel like I say this every week, such a great
interview segment, and I know a lot of people listen
to it.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Everybody's just so good.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And they were talking about Alex Heismith coming back and
Mike Tomlin said, you know, he's a three down guy.
You can bring it. He's great against the run, he's
great against the pass. As a first two series he
had a sack and a tackle for loss. There it is,
and there's the manifestation of that. What a good player
to be bringing back into your.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Lineup, undoubtedly, So you know, the energy that he brings
is just tremendous and you watch him, you know, on
that pass rush, he went right through the middle of
Ethan posting at the center for the Browns and drove
him right back into Jameis Winston and then came.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Off and sacked him.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
That takes power, that takes strength, that takes you know,
a sort of innate ability to go through them man
and still get a sack. Like that, and then you
see him later on they're running towards the sidelines, that
being the Browns, and he's out there, he's setting the
edge all the way.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
Out past the numbers.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yep, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I mean that that takes some real agility and ability
to be able to do that and turn it back
that that sort of thing. His ability to do the details,
button it down, whether he's on the backside squeezing to
the front side, or he's building the wall on the
front side of those wide zones, or he's rushing the pass,
or the young man acquits himself very well each and
(30:42):
every game.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
He's got loads of potential and ability.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And I mean, what an enviable position when Preston Smith
is coming into your fourth guy. I mean, that's that's
pretty good stuff, you know. And I did want to
talk about a couple of other guys. You know, we mentioned,
you know, some of the guys that have have been
at the churn at the bottom of the roster and
coming in, you know, Miller and Scaronic and Pierre. But
(31:07):
two guys that I think we were all super excited
about in the signing in the offseason, Deshaun Elliott and
Patrick Queen. I was telling Wolf Matt, you know, Deshaun
Elliott was a leading tackler then Patrick Queen had a
couple of big games and slipped by him. Now the
last two games, Deshaun's creeping back up there again. It
come down to the wire and the leading tackler for
(31:27):
the Steelers. But you know, Deshaun Elliott thirteen tackles Patrick Queen.
I mean, the one run that sticks out to me
was Ford running right and Ford can scoot and you're thinking, Okay,
he's gonna get to the edge and if he gets
to the edge, just could be a huge gain, and
it was a four yard pick up more than the
students want to give up.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
But Queen tracked him down.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I mean, just both those guys have been huge additions
to this.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Team, huge additions, highly productive. As you mentioned, I think
Queen has really come into his own the last month
or so, and that was definitely one of his best
games in the Steeler uniform.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
His speed is.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Obvious even to a very casual observer. He moves at
the second level differently than most linebackers. Elliott doesn't ever
take a false step. I mean, he's his such great
angles and ability to diagnose things. And while we're talking
about middle of the field defenders, Landon Roberts is setting
the tone out there. I mean, you gotta love the
(32:23):
hammer he brings too, Like in the middle of the
field's a real strength of this defense.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
If you saw that one seventeen g where you pull
the left guard and the center pulled, he shot the
gap right at Ethan Posk knocked him on his dairy. Yeah,
that being a Landon Roberts. Yeah, I'm telling you what
it was. Posk had to go for a full factory
reset to get that because that was a punishing it
from a Landon Roberts fan, it was.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
And you know, wolf Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Someone brought to my attention last week, I think it
was last week after the Browns game and prior to
the Bengals game, that the two odds on favorites. And
I'm not a gamber so I don't. I don't look
at the you know, if I find out who's favored
in a game, it's by accident.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I don't look at these things to you know, to
each his own. But I was told by you know,
another reporter that the two odds on favorite for defensive
player of the Year, t J Watt, Miles Garrett and
and look, both are tremendous players. But I'm wondering, man
another week or two of Cam Hayward and could he
(33:25):
be involved in that conversation. Now, I gotta say he
didn't have a pass defense the first time in six weeks.
He had six consecutive games in which he batted down
to pass, which is amazing to me. But you know,
two more sacks, two more tackles for loss, two more
quarterback hurries. You know, PFF hasn't rated as the top
(33:47):
interior defensive lineman in the NFL. I mean, he has
just been a force in the last two weeks. I
think in particular Wolf, I think I think he's been
really good all year, but the last two weeks it
is it's just feel like it feels like it's another level.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
There's no question that the old man is getting his
gear on for a run down through the gauntlet of
this last part of the season. Look, you take it.
You watch what he does last year, Walt Peyton Man
of the Year, right, Well, this year, why not Defensive
player of the Year. I mean, this guy's nobody else
is running away with the thing and he is doing
a ginormous job. You see him in his fourteenth year
(34:25):
with some of the things he does. I've never seen
a guy stacked bodies on power rushes like this guy
does on a regular basis, over and over with that
one arm stab, Dad zukes Man, I you know, you
look at him and you think, what is that as
a mechanical robot arm? I mean, he just takes people
like Joe Botonio is a big, huge, three hundred and
thirty pound guy. Great, you know, yeah, great, great player, right,
(34:48):
and he takes them right back into Jameis Winston. I mean,
kad Zekes, do you think yourself, if you're on the
end of that that one arm stab, it's going to
be a bad ending in the other end of it.
But the fact is, you know, you can't separate the
man from the guy off the field too. And wal
Payton Defensive Player of the Year man oh man, those
are two things that you got to salute this guy
(35:09):
for and he's leading the way while doing it in
his fourteenth year, and all fourteen years are spent in
the trenches. That's as hard to an area to operate
year in and year out, and do so at a
high level as any in any sport because of the
brutality of what goes on in there. That is really
something and I really really admire what I watch because
(35:29):
he's just getting it done in a big way.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Matt, I know you had some info on Cam Hayward
and the kind of year he was having in your
Elite Matt Stats preparation booklet. For those of us that
are working for the Pittsburgh Steelers, are your thoughts on
what you've seen from Cam.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
It's remarkable. I mean, it really is. I mean, on
the drive, I had a long conversation with Labs, who's
like the best Steeler historian going, you know, and I
asked him all the amazing Steelers defensive players in history,
and it's the best of any team out there. I
don't think any of them have played at this level
at this age, you know. I mean, it's rare in
(36:09):
the history of the league to be one of the
best defensive players in the league in your mid thirties.
I mean, it's just remarkable. I mean, even like that
Bengals game, they broke off a couple long runs, but
Cam wasn't on the field, Like no one's even running
the ball when he's out there not to mention the
impact in the passing game, batting down passes, sacks, tackled
(36:29):
for loss. And this isn't a knock at all on TJ,
of course, but the original point. If the Steelers voted
on their defensive MVP right now, I guarantee you it's Heyward.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
Well pretty good company.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
They've They've had a lot of guys to choose from
that have really played great football for him. And I'm reminded,
you know of the big guy coming on Wolf and
I want to give a doff of the cap to
the great Dave Parker.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Really really happy to see him going to the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
But I ask known you you've been talking about that one.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, and I'm glad he's and I'm I'm I'm really
happy that he's in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (37:07):
But you know they had yes, and I have been
talking about that back.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
But but then you know, I said, hey, you guys,
you know I was talking to Teek or one of
those guys in the seventy nineteen. I said, man, you guys,
you guys always seem to get off to a slow start.
They're like, you know, you gotta let those little guys run.
Let those rabbits run. They'll tire her out. They'll wear
down after a while. Then we big guys, you know,
we're we're not We're built for comfort, we're not built
for speed. We'll catch him eventually, don't worry about that.
(37:31):
And I'm wondering if a guy like Cam Hayward, you know,
is just Okay, everybody's a little more tired this time
of year, you know, every running back's a little more
worn down this time of year. Uh, you know, maybe
Cam Hayward is just, you know, is just finding that
final gear he needs to to continue to be that
dominant force exactly.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So it's not like he's whinding down, and it's not
like he's taking any time off, you know.
Speaker 6 (37:55):
I mean, that's the amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I Mean, he's out there slugging it out with guys
that are a decade younger, you know, and he's he's
whipping him play in and play out and at a
high proportion rate.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
So you know, that is a tip of the cap.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
That's also understanding that last year coming back from an injury,
like like the Gin injury, and it's like I told him,
last year, we were walking on and go, what's your problem?
Speaker 6 (38:17):
He got two of them.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
But you know, that's the type of guy that he is.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
He's an old school guy fourteen years into this thing,
and yet he's got that irresistible, like little little thing
about him where he's you know, with the younger guys,
they love being around this guy. He is a rallying point.
He is something that guys draw strength from. And he's
one of those clubhouse elders that speaks to you know,
what's going on and in and around his locker. That's
(38:46):
just the type of team captain that he is.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, and kudos to the shooters, by the way, for
giving him a lot of rest during the week.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
They know he doesn't need to play. Mike Tomlin and
this on the swim team.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Right here, what's that He's on the swim team, right
hear the swim team. I think Tomlin's been calling him.
He's the he's our top swim team guy because he's
in the tub all the time. Yeah, some guy running
joke that he's picking on Cam about whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah, but yeah, that's right. But he's smart enough in
a lot of ways. But you know, knowledgeable enough, smart enough,
coach enough to realize that Hey, if he's doing what
he needs to do on Sunday, let's keep him, you know, rested.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Yeah, those are the games.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Account By the way, congratulations Hilari Jogan Joby for being
nominated as the Steelers for the Steelers Walter Payton Man
of the Year Award, the NFL Award. He's absolutely great
stuff for him.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
You guys probably didn't watch the TV broadcast, but they
made a big deal out of that because JJ Watt
was there, There was Russ, JJ Watt and Cam all
in the buildings.
Speaker 6 (39:46):
They won it.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, we did give him a shout out during the broadcast,
but yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad they made a big
deal out of that because it's it's a wonderful thing
to be nominated for that and to win it.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Wow, that's that's incredible double stuff. Matt.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
We have, I think, been hoping that the Steelers would
be getting to this point with a record similar to
the one they have. They are facing a gauntlet of games.
The Eagles are playing the best of any team I
think in the NFL right now. Then you have the
Baltimore Ravens in a big game. You can you know,
(40:21):
finish off the division right then and there by beating them.
Then you've got the Kansas City Chiefs who just keep
finding ways to win. Mike Tariko called it the doink
for the division last night, the kick if anyone didn't
see it, that ricocheted through the uprights by former Steelers
kicker Matthew Right to clinch the division and win the
(40:41):
game for the Chiefs. But this is a this is
a gauntlet that should give us a little bit of
a preview of what things might look come postseason time,
because you are going in there with some of the
absolute heavyweights in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
And I think the Seelers are one of those heavyweights.
I mean I think that the Eagles and Ravens and
Chiefs are saying, well, yeah, but we got the Steelers
on the schedule. Come that's right too, you know. I mean,
that is not an easy game against anybody, and boy,
we're gonna beat up Monday after that game. And I mean,
knock on wood, But I mean the Steelers are quite healthy.
Maybe they can even get like a guy like Adams
(41:19):
back in the mix and Trice and a couple other
you know, reinforcements. Who knows, but I like their chances
against anyone I've dug into the Eagles though they're really good.
They're really really good. They don't have a lot of weaknesses.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
No, no, they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
But Wolf and I totally and I didn't want to
intimate for a moment that I didn't think the students
are right there with him. I think the students are
right there with these teams, you know. But the beauty
of sports is you're gonna find out, right and and
those other teams are going to find out because the
Steelers are going to be a measuring rod game for
(41:56):
those teams as well.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
And how much fun.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I know, it's three games in a eleven days and
it's just gonna be brutal. But man, from a fans perspective,
from an observers perspective, it is from our perspective being
able to call these games.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
Wolf, it is gonna be.
Speaker 6 (42:11):
A blast, There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
And you are just intensifying the kind of the feeling
I got inside. Look, I'm looking at this and I'm
thinking to myself, as a player, what would you have thought?
I'm thinking, you know, this is so cool to be
able to go into a town, into a city, and
play against a team that a lot of people want
to write you off or have written you off, or
thinking that, you know what, you don't stand that much
(42:33):
of a chance, and go in and have at it.
There is nothing better than going into a town with
all your guys around you, and you go there that
sole purpose. You fly over there. You are locked in
the hotel room, you got twenty four hours before kickoff.
You're sitting there and you just know that something big
is gonna happen, and it's awesome.
Speaker 6 (42:53):
It's just awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Then you get yourself a chief steak HOGI come on
back after you kick the Eagles butts and you get
prepped for the raven. But it's one at a time,
and you cannot bleed over anything forward. The coaches they
can look forward, they can get the scouting you know,
in the next game and so forth. But the players,
you can't look any further than this Eagles game. It's
(43:14):
what it's all about. That focus needs to be one
hundred percent on the Eagles.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And it's iced they have a little bit of money
in the bank too. You know this win was it
wasn't a must win. They're probably gonna playoffs either way.
But two game cushion in the division. You know you're
here in a nice spot right now for sure, and
you did it without pickings.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
And you did it without pickings.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Gear up with the latest game day necessities at the
official Steelers pro shops at the latest sideline apparel, jerseys,
Terrible towels, authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the official
Steelers pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
(43:54):
Steelers dot com. For Matt Williamson, for Craig Wolflee, for
our producer Justin Miller, I'm Rob King. We thank you
for listening to the point after on the Steelers Audio
Network
Popular Podcasts
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!