December 23, 2024 • 43 mins
Even with the quick turnaround between games, Rob King, Matt Williamson, and Craig Wolfley need to air their grievances and share their takeaways from the Steelers' loss to the Ravens before focusing on the Christmas game between the black and gold and the Chiefs
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on wdb E Pittsburgh,
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Speaker 2 (00:14):
Get it direct from the team.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
At shop dot Steelers dot com and by Clearview Federal
Credit Union get the financial answers you need. And now
here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolflee and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And we thank you for being with us on the
Point After on the Theeders Audio Network, following this Yearers
thirty four to seventeen loss to the Baltimore Ravens in
Baltimore and preceding this Yearers game just two days from
now on Christmas Day against the Kansas City Chiefs. Alongside
Matt Williamson and Craig Wolfe, I'm Rob King. Let's get started.
(00:48):
Our first reaction is brought to you by First National Bank.
Let's Get started. Member fdiic well for your first reactions
to the lost in Baltimore, chance for the Ysers to
nail down the aph North title and now that road
got a lot trickier, although they still control their own
path to the playoffs. It would have been easy, It
(01:08):
would have been simple. You beat the Ravens, you were
the AFC North champions. That didn't happen. What did you
think about that thirty four to seventeen loss.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Well, I think came down to three simple aspects of football.
And the number one is if you don't stop the run,
you can't win. You just can't. And they weren't able
to stop the run with King Henry taking over and
doing the things that he did, and it was it
was unfortunate, but they did not stop that. Number two
is the fact that if the three and outs are
(01:36):
killing the Steelers too many, you know, there's not enough
on defense and too many on offense. And then the
third thing is when there's three fumbles there, kad zooks,
you got to get at least one, you know. I mean,
that's I think Max said it best on the morning shows.
He goes, there's like Lemony snicket, all right, a series
of unfortunate events, which was three of them, and they
(01:57):
just didn't bounce.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Right for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
As late great tounch Ilkin used to say, my brother
used to say all the time, he only saytan Turkish,
which was really kind of cool because I can't say it,
you know. But he said, the ball is not round,
meaning it doesn't bounce straight, it doesn't bounce true, but
it will bounce all over. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it
didn't bounce to them.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Matt, your first reaction.
Speaker 6 (02:21):
I think you got to throw the two Wilson turnovers
on top of that, of course, I mean, those are
the two most crucial plays, and it wasn't his only
fault that they lost this game. But I mean those
two games, those two specific plays were backbreaking, without question.
But I also think we're seeing the effects. This is
more of a big picture answer. I think we're seeing
(02:41):
the effects of quite a few road games in a
short amount of time, two thirds of the way through
as much of a murderer's row as you can ask for.
I frankly think that these past two opponents are currently
my Super Bowl pick from the NFC and AFC. I
think there are two exceptional football teams, and you sprinkle
in a whole bunch of injuries at the wrong positions
(03:03):
and it ends up being a little worrisome. Obviously, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Let's start well after our first reactions, because I agree
with everything you guys just said. Let's start wolf with
the injuries, because I think they played a big part
in what happened in the last couple of weeks. You're
down three starters, you lose Joey Porter in the middle
of the game. Now you're down four starters on defense,
and I know the mentality is next man up, But
(03:30):
my goodness, there's only so much you can take, so
many injuries you can take. I think, in particular, Larry
Ogan Joby was really missing this game against the Ravens,
and I think Deshaun Elliott was missed in both games.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
His ability to tackle.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Maybe, you know, on one of those third downs on
those thirteen two thirteen play drives in Philadelphia, the twenty
one play drive, maybe he comes up with a tackle
that turns the ball over and gives you a little
bit of a spark of hope.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
But I think.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Injuries I don't And you know, Pickens on offense, that's
a huge loss for this Telers. I don't think you
can underestimate what those losses mean. When you're playing top
quality opponents, as Matt said, like the Eagles, and like
the Ravens, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
There's no doubt.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I mean, statistically, you can go to any lengths to
prove that George Pickens is a boon to this offense.
The success rate increases, everything increases when he's in the
mix of the matter.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
When you have.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Deshaun Elliott, you got a guy you talk about deceleration trauma.
I mean, with a guy like Derek Henry, you need
all the deceleration trauma you can get from somebody. And
with a guy like Deshaun Elliott, he is one of
those in the box safety guys that plays like a
linebacker who has got hit in power, who drives people
back and certainly would have been very useful in this
(04:47):
game and being able to play Dante Jackson.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
There's an got a corner.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You know, you got Joey Porter going down to get
I mean, yeah, zooks, You've got a lot of people
hurt in the back end. And then of course Larry oh,
Larry Ogan Jobi. I mean, the guy is so strong
and powerful, a good three technique like you know you
need against a guy like Derrick Henry. And then of
course the last one get my glasses back here and
forgot But the last one. You know, you got justin
(05:11):
fields and that takes some of the just some of
the the offense off the board that possibly could have
been utilized in the right set of circumstances. It's like
Matt said earlier, he you know, this isn't all about
Russ Wilson losing, you know, a fumble and an interception.
There's a lot more at play here. This is what
happens when you're you're a big time quarterback and you
got you know, you make some big plays, but sometimes
(05:33):
they work against you because you're outside the pocket, you're
forcing things or you're you know, you just things can
happen there. But the fact is is this is a
team that there's a lot of good things that happened there. Yeah, zooks,
I just came away watching some film watching Keno Benton
just beat up Dan Daniel Faleley, I mean the right guard.
Oh my goodness. I mean that's a big, huge, massive
(05:55):
man that that Benton was beaten up on. You know,
there's there's numbers. I think Mark Robbinson and got a
couple of snaps in there, shot the gap and lit
up Derrick Henry. Things like that is encouraging, but it's
unfortunate that it comes down to turnovers and more of
those situations and the Steelers weren't able to overcome it.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Matt, you're feeling on the injuries and the sort of
effect that they've had on the Steers the last couple weeks.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not implying that Pickens and Porter
are the best two players on the team. They're not
far off, but they're not the best two players on
the team. I mean TJ. Watson phenomenal player. We know
who's great, but they're really high on the top of
the list of positions and players you couldn't afford to lose,
you know, the drop off at receiver with all respect
(06:41):
like Austin who's stepped up, well, you know, I mean
some other guys have stepped up, but we all know
those guys aren't George Pickens, and he's a force multiplier
that affects everyone on the field, and it's a position
where there's a big drop off from one to two.
I have mixed feelings about Jackson, but I think it's
very true at corner as well, especially with the ability
(07:02):
to play man coverage. I think that even on their
best day, this team really only has one man coverage
corner and you lost them. And oh, by the way,
I mean your secondary was pretty ravage there for a point.
I mean, besides Minka, who played phenomenal besides just the interception,
by the way, he was phenomenal in this game. But
the secondary in general was just really depleted.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, I think that there is a reason that the
students were rumored to be after other wide receivers for trading,
and I think we've seen that over the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
And your point is well taken, Matt, that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know a player that they always talk about best
versus most valuable when when it comes to hey, who's
the MVP of the league? Well, is it the most
valuable player in the best team? Is it the best
player in the best team? Is it the best player
in the game. Well, I think that there's when you
think of value. I mean, obviously we're not we're you know,
do you have TJ. Watt, Yeah, you know, I Cam Hayward,
(08:01):
you have a lot of really valuable guys in the team,
Russell Wilson, But.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
The drop off, you know, after George Pickens.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I think it's clear that this Suthers thought it was,
it could potentially be an issue because of their actions
and trying to fill that hole. So I don't even
think we need to comment on that. You just need
to look at the actions that they were trying to take.
On the other hand, I am happy to see a
guy like Calvin Austin emerge, and I'll get back to
some of the other injuries later. But you know, Matt,
I don't know how you know if you were scouting
(08:28):
a player, but you know, I think that Calvin Austin,
you know, if he's proven a couple of things to
people that might not have known about him this year. One,
he's tough, he has taken a licking, he keeps on
ticking to use the old timex AD. And then that
catch he made up the far sideline against Baltimore. To me,
(08:51):
that was a receiver's catch. That's not a speed guy
or gadget guys catch. You know, he had to look
over the shoulder of the defender. I can't imagine he
saw the ball clearly catch the ball while twirling around
right to left, and then have the presence of mind
to drag his feet and stay in bounce. I just
thought that was an absolutely terrific catch that was probably
(09:13):
a lot harder than it looked. And again, I just
think that amidst the injuries or the lack of depth
or whatever you want to call that, you know, some
guys are emerging.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
It to me he's one of the guys.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
One hundred percent. And even going back to like his
draft prospect, you know, write ups or evaluation, everyone just
kind of assumed he was fast, he's little, he must
be a slot. But he did a ton of work
in college as a true X on the line of
scrimmage against man coverage, outside the numbers, running big boy routes,
the picking stuff, and frankly, I mean the beginning of
(09:50):
his career had some injuries and some inconsistencies and he
was blocked and he did some good things too, But
going into the season, I didn't know what to think
of him. You know, we'll see. I mean, I'm putting
every chip on the Austin you know, blacker versus red
type of thing that I'm one hundred percent in on
this guy as a long term fixed here. Well, maybe
no one's stock has improved more than him since since
(10:13):
entering the training camp process. For me is I want
this guy around. I would consider extending him. He's a
NFL wide receiver that is a foundational type player for you.
That doesn't mean he's George Pickens or AB or Swan
or Stalls, you know, but he is an impressive player
that is stepped up in a big way.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Can I say this AB was an AB when he started?
No doubt, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
We don't know what this young man can do, but
he exhibited all the fundamentals of a go ball pass catcher.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like you guys were highlighting already.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Don't going down the sidelines and what this young man
is capable of doing right now?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
To me, it's just the sky's the limit. You know,
we'll see.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
You know, you've got to be fed targets to be
able to you know, act on those targets. And so
what I think we've seen from him thus far is
highly anticipate to what this can actually happen. It's like
you said, who takes a shot like he took and
comes back and just you know, is that the best
you got?
Speaker 5 (11:08):
You know?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I mean I like that attitude.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
That was a very Lynn Swan type attitude, you know,
And so I was gratified to see what this dude
was doing, so we'll see again. His future is exciting.
I'd like to see what can happen. You want a
guy of course like Pickens back because he is just
he makes for room for everybody.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
And Rob, something I've been harping on just kind of
late in the year here is consolidating the workload a
little bit amongst the skill position players. And hey, I
give Patterson and prew It credit for making a big
play in the end zone. That's awesome. I mean, that's
the cherry on top. That's good stuff. But going forward,
assuming health, when there's two receivers on the field, I
(11:48):
want Austin and Pickens, you know what I mean, Like,
we don't need all these different packages. It's time to
consolidate the workload a little bit here down the stretch,
especially into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Not to mention, I'm sorry, Rob jumping again, not to
mention more targets to the tight end still friar mooth
especially now again.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And you know, Arthur Smith was asked about that earlier
today when he was addressed in the media and mentioned, look,
you know, sometimes the defense does things right. Sometimes, you know,
we look at targets and you know, the the quarterback
steps to the line of scrimmage, and you've got to
play and play side. You know, Pickens is the number
(12:24):
one target and Friar Moose the number two target. But
playside ain't gonna work because what they've got set up.
So now you look to the backside, and the number
one receiver on the route is going to be the
guy on that side of the field. It's gonna be
Van Jefferson, it's gonna be Mike Williams. So it's not
always about not trying to get those guys targets. Sometimes
it's about, you know, what the defense is trying to
give you. But I do think, you know, when I
(12:46):
look at a game, like, for example, Matt and we
talk about the Chiefs, and we talk about, you know,
when the Chiefs came here years ago and Mahomes I
think it was mahomes first visit here, and he had
just an unbelievable game, and you know, you start looking
out there and you know, they had skilled the running
back position, but they also had you know, the Cheetah
Tyreek Hill out at wide receiver, and they had you know,
(13:08):
Travis Kelcey, and he kept going down the line and
you kept thinking, well, at some point, every defense just
runs out of guys to cover somebody, you know. And
I'm not intimating that that's to see their situation, but
I am saying, if you have Pickens out there, let's
say they go, okay, we're gonna put McDuffie on them. Okay, Well,
now that number two receivers gonna get Joshua Williams. Is
(13:28):
that potentially Okay? Now your slot guy's got Calvin Austin.
Now who's got Friarmouth and who's got Washington. I think
that what we've seen is if Pickens is healthy and
the rest of the guys are healthy, they'll find a
way to distribute to targets and distribute to catches to
the right player in a given week wherever that matchup is.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Because if it's.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Not a prototypical one, prototypical two, there's enough talent there
that it makes it very difficult for the other team
to cover everybody.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yeah, And obviously that reflects on the coaching staff, But
I also think it's a veteran quarterback thing too.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
You know, they for sure.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
I mean I say this all the time. It kind
of goes out saying, but if there was a perfect defense.
Everybody would play it, you know, like every defense has holes,
every team has personnel weaknesses and strengths. And I think
Wilson as well as anyone in the league right now,
has that Brady Manning ability of I trust my guy
enough to win that matchup. That's really set up favorably
(14:29):
for him. And they have plenty of those type of
guys when Pickens is in there.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So this is the point after and we have much
more to come where this is the point after that
they lost to the Ravens.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
But the point ahead is that anything? The point ahead? Man?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, I do want to talk about the head We
want to talk about We want to talk about the
Chiefs a little bit as well. You're listening to the
Point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Back to the point after on DVD.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Back to the pass looking left, lofting for Patterson who mixed
the graph touchdown. Pittsburgh Steelers Cordero Patterson on a lofted
pass hauls it in.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
For the touchdown.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The play of the game was brought to you by
S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
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fdi C so well an alarming trend a.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Little bit to me.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
So we talked about some of the things that went
wrong in this game. I do want to get back
to some of the things on defense and how the
injuries have hurt them. We spent a lot of time
talking about George Pickens and his effect.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
But when I.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
See, yes, the turnovers, not taking advantage of the turnovers
in Philadelphia, the you know, frankly, just bad luck of
three balls being on the ground against Baltimore and then
the Ravens recover all three and what one of them
could have done for your momentum. So all that aside,
and I think those are factors, and I think the
(16:02):
injuries are a factor, especially when you're going against top teams.
If you're going against and also RAN, do you find
a way to win the last couple weeks. Probably, these,
as Matt pointed out, aren't also rans. These are really
good teams, as are the Chiefs playing really good football
right now.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So having said.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
All of that, you know seven to three and outs
for this year's offense, and they forced just one on defense.
And I'm not pointing a finger either way because you think, hey,
if you get a driver to going early in that
Philadelphia game. Does that give you a little juice? Does
it give your defense a little rest? On the other hand,
(16:40):
if the defense can find some way to get off
the field in Philadelphia, does the offense have that extra
chance they needed to get things going? Just that complimentary football? Yes,
the turnovers are part of that, no doubt about it.
But you have to be able to make your own
breaks too, And in the last couple of weeks this
year is for a variety of reasons, some of which
we just mentioned, haven't been able to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, there's no question, and I guess you would call
it non complimentary football. If you are not able to
get off the field as a defense, you have issues
with your third downs, getting yourself in situations that you
just cannot get off the field on those possession downs. Offensively,
you're not winning on getting rolling over a new series
(17:22):
of downs, and that's unfortunate because early on. Here's the
thing that is so difficult to help have people understand
is how important it is to have rhythm in your
offense when you get started in a game, especially if
you're on the road in a hostile environment, which normally
it is.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
When you're on the.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Road, the problem becomes you know that you never get going.
It's always kind of like, you know, stutter stutter stop,
stutter stutter stop, and it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And what you want is that ability to light it up,
get that groove, going, roll the chains a few times
on first downs and then being able to put something
on the scoreboard. Defensively speaking, it's all about coming out
there and using that all that muscle and everything else
on defense to be able to stuff the opponent and
then get off the field and have them suffer from
(18:11):
having a non rhythmic offense.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And that's just not happening right now.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
And part of it on offense, I look at the
fact that there are too many times I think Matt
Stats had like to too many third downs. There's just time,
way too many third downs. You know, you've got to
have a little more explosive plays. You've got to have
a little more on first and second down, and the
converse has got to happen. Defensively, it means you've got
to shut them down and win those first and second
downs four yards or less. Those things are important when
(18:39):
it comes to third down conversions.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Rob along those lines, I mean, the NFL is constructed
now that you're not going to see the Steel Curtain
or the eighty five Bears anymore. You know, just keep
teams to three point six points, crazy things like that.
And it has become very apparent over the last decade
or two that defenses that are on the field too
long crumb they just do. I mean, whether that's the
(19:02):
fourth quarter or over the course of a month or
the course of the year, bad defense is too much defense.
And where I'm going with this is time of possession.
I mean it goes back to those three and outs
and getting the third down too much.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
So going in I was just fiddling with this, like
ten minutes ago, going into the Eagles game, the Steelers
were number one in time of possession. Great, I mean,
that's that's their game. Run the ball, be tough. And
then the site that I go to for time possession
has columns for you know, where they're at now, where
they're at the last three games home away, So I
(19:36):
clicked on the last three games over the last three
games their last last in the league after being first
going into Philly. You know, so that's obviously that compounds
with all the defensive injuries. People are playing too many snaps,
too many games crammed into one, which isn't going to
get any better this week, and it also leads to
(19:58):
more injuries. If you're on the field all the time,
people start falling and all of a sudden it is
a snowball that goes rolling downhill. And the bad news
is the Chiefs are second best in time possession, So
it doesn't get any better, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
And the thing about it is, and agree with Matt, is
you know, possession is nine tenths of the law, right, well,
possession of the ball is nine tenths of a win.
I mean that there's so many good things that emanate
out from controlling the ball, keeping your opponents fanny on
the sidelines, on the bench, having a gatorade and talking
about what they're gonna do after the game. Yeah, that's fine,
all right, that's great, But you've got to be able
(20:31):
to do it. And Matt just pointed out very very
well exactly what the Steels are facing if you don't
control that ball, especially against teams.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
That control the ball very well. Yeah, well, you know
what's going to happen.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
And you're dealing with Barkley and Henry and you know
what I mean, right.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
You know, right, And I think, guys, and I guess, Matt,
I'll start this one with you, you know, to me, not
that the Steelers are looking to comfort me, you know,
but we all have our own takes out of games.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And my take on the last two weeks has been.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
A combination of injuries number one in the list, you know,
not taking advantage of turnovers number two in the list
of reasons that I'm not overly concerned with what's happened.
On the other hand, I would have liked to have
seen somewhere over the last couple of weeks when things
(21:24):
started spiraling, just just an ebb, you know what I mean,
just a stop once or twice where you said, okay, well,
you know, listen, we lost the game by ten, but
we came back at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
And look, look, they had their opportunities in both games
they did, they had their opportunities to make games of
it both times late.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
I don't want to say that to just the feeling
I got was I would.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Have liked to have seen, you know, one more drive
on offense, one more more stop on defense, and then
I would have been like, okay, then all those other
things add up just fine, because I want to make
sure as a fan that I feel like the gap
between the Steelers and the elite teams. They just played
two of them, they're gonna play another one. And look,
they beat the Ravens earlier this year, and they took
care of business against good teams. But good teams and
(22:08):
elite teams are different. And I just would have felt
a little bit better if one or two you know,
stops or drives would have happened in those two games.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Here where you're coming from. You know, Wolf mentioned the
fumble luck. I mean, if you get one more of
those that happened to bounce into your hands, all right.
I mean that doesn't mean you're gonna win the game
if Nause doesn't fumble. I know it wasn't called a
Nause fumble. I still don't think you win that game,
but it would have been one less thing. But I
was sitting there thinking as you were talking there though,
that all these teams in the NFL over seventeen games
(22:41):
have their downtimes. You know, you mentioned ebbs and flows.
I mean the Eagles started the season really slow. Ravens
lost to the Raiders, you know, I mean like there was.
I mean, these guys over the course of the year
have some rough things happened to them, to every team.
And last year it was losing to the Cardinals and
Patriots back to back, and they were like the two
worst teams in the league, not the two best teams
(23:01):
in the league. When you already have a playoff bid sealed.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Up, right for sure? Uh? Wolf, your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I mean, can you just do you just as a
teams as players? Do you just say, hey, man, forget
about it, We're a better team than this. We're gonna
be healthy. I mean, there obviously there's an element of that.
Is there anything sticking in the back of your crawl?
What are the teams talking about? What are the coaches
and the and the internal scouts and the players breaking
(23:31):
down now that they think, okay, we just have to
do you know, A, B and C and we're there.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Well, the deficiencies are all worked out. I mean, Matt knows.
When the scoutings get all the metrics, they put the
metrics to the coaches, the coaches study it. Coaches, you know,
eat some of that stuff up, and then you go
they can come and they kind of give to you
what they feel best suits their positions.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
You know, I mean the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Now, we got to be better on duo blox, So
how we on the screens things like that. You've got
to be able to identify and then go and point
them out and get better work on them and get
the job done. The fact of the matter is, though,
when it comes down to this, Look, the ante is
raised every time you lose. We're in the gauntlet, the
(24:14):
the you know, the the cheddar cheese type of area.
You know, you got the cheese greater going on here,
You've got It's that time of year and you got
to suck it up and go. And the thing about
it is, what greater anticipation can you have than Christmas Day?
To be playing the raining Football Champs on at your
(24:35):
home stadium in front of your home crowd and have
a go like that. I think it's tremendous And that's
what you got to do. You got to point to that.
It's about turning the page on a short week. Look,
everybody's in the same boat with the bodies, right, everybody's hurting.
It's one of those things. I woke up the day
after the game Sunday. Yesterday, I woke up. I oh,
I'm so tired. I don't want to move. I thought,
(24:57):
wait a minute, I didn't play. And these guys got
to get on the again and do it in three days,
you know, like d zeus is that crazy? And you
know for those guys, you got to turn that page.
And they've got to do all the due diligence as
far as the prehab, rehab, taking care of their bodies,
getting the cryo therapy, go see the bone cracker, get
a massage, whatever you need to do. But they've also
(25:17):
got to get the mental aspect down. That means requiring
a lot of mental gymnastics between now and one o'clock Wednesday.
But you've got to improve on the things that you
were deficient. And this is a highly challenging week and
are you going to step up to that challenge? This
is what a pros pro is capable of doing.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
This opportunity and rob even the piggyback off that, Like,
no matter what happens Christmas Day, that's going to be
a challenge. I mean, that's gonna be a difficult game
no matter what. But you do get a really long
stretch after that and you know you're going to the playoffs.
I mean, you so one game in between, but you
can rest your bones a little bit. It does sound
like a lot of dudes that were out this past
(25:56):
game are likely to come back. That's really important to me,
so and to pull back the curtain. Actually, before we
hit record, Wolf walked in and said something along the
lines of, man, Steelers did a lot of good stuff
in that Ravens game, and they did, you know, I
mean it's easy to overlook that. Oh, the running games
started to kind of pick up a little bit, you know,
some of those peripheral guys on offense started to play well.
(26:18):
A lot of defensive players won a lot of one
on one matchups. High Smith comes to mind. Wolf mention Benton,
you know, I mean like this is not the Giants
getting steamrolled week after week.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
You know that's a great point.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Yeah, Mike au cal Nobson on offense. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
for sure, for sure. And I think when you get healthy,
you're gonna feel You're gonna feel better about the way
things win, especially if you go out and put on
a strong performance on Wednesday, which Wolf makes me want
to circle back to what you were just talking about.
So all these teams have gone through the same thing. Right,
you play, then you play a short weekind of Saturday,
(26:50):
then you play on Wednesday. All four teams involved, right,
all four? So are you better off going into a
game like this mentally from the student's aspect of having
lost the last two and being a little honked off
or grooving in feeling great about yourself because you've won.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
So it does there make.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It any day?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I take the wins, okay, because you know, the flush
to the cellar is so quick. The point is, these
guys are capable of playing a higher level ball. When
you up the ende, when you're a little chapped about
how you've looked the last couple of weeks, Hey, you
got some good things going on. You got to just regroup,
reload and get out there and get effort. And one
of them, and Matt just pointing out, was the return
(27:38):
of fitsmagic. You know, if we got Mika Fitzpatrick getting
some turnovers and cutting loose on the back end, that's
the perfect time for that sort of threat to materialize
and be able to amp itself up. You got a
lot of good stuff. Now they got to run with it.
They got to get it done. But you know, it's
one of these things that you know, there's a thing
about the dark soul of the night, you know, I
(27:58):
mean you got to think about I think Pat Queen
referenced it and made a very plain statement that you
gotta if you got a place to be on a
run fit, you better be in that place and use
some other I say colorful adjectives to to, you know,
talk about it, but I'll just refrain from that and
just say that's exactly it. Everybody's got one eleventh. Everybody's
(28:20):
got a one eleventh when they're on that field, you
gotta win that one eleventh. You gotta win the majority
of them. And this is where it comes down to
in games like this. The guy's got to be able
to take stock of themselves prepare mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally
and be able to go out there and let her rip.
And that's what I'm hoping is going to happen one
o'clock Sunday. I don't want to hope. I want them
(28:42):
to know what they're gonna do. You got to go
into a game knowing that you're prepared, ready to roll.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
He's Craig Wolfley, Matt Williamson. I'm rob king. This is
the point after on this stoo there's audio network back.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
To the point after on dv E.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Tamark Jackson gets a snap back to the pressure coming
pen he is hitting. The ball is loose and it
is pounced upon, I believe by Ronnie Stanley, but man
oh Man high Smith got there quickly coming off the
right edge and nailed Lamar Jackson for the sack. Sack
Hunger segment is brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh
(29:20):
Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate at Pittsburgh
Foodbank dot org. Wolf Patrick Mahomes, now as we kind
of look a little forward to Wednesday has been sacked
more than he's ever been sacked in his career. And
then to circle back to what we just heard, I
love the way Heismith's been playing since coming off that injury.
(29:41):
He has just been a force. And this could be
a matchup that is very favorable for this Steel. Theres
those edge rushers against the tackles of the Chiefs in
this game.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
No question about it. And having an edge rusher complimentary
to the best defensive player in the league in TJ. Watt,
is just ginormous. I mean Alex Highsmith. If you go
down and you watch what he did. Ronnie Stanley is
I mean poised, turned does everything right except he gets
his hands trapped slapped by Alex Heismith, who blew by
(30:12):
him like a passing freight train. And you know, you
gotta love that ability to attack the passer like these
two guys do so very well. And it was just
unfortunate that I know I've been in Ronnie Stanley's place. Okay, ooh,
the guy blew by me. Oh, the guy just nailed
my quarterback. Ooh, he caused the fumble. I better get
on that fumble. And it was Ronnie Stanley that recovered.
(30:34):
You don't have any greater urgency of getting on a
ball than when you're the cause of that.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Get that fumble.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
You know, if we look back at the last few
games too, high Smith's re emergence Matt is obviously a
good sign hopefully getting guys back, and we can delve
more into that, but I know you have more on
Mika Fitzpatrick and his performance and hopefully you know that
being a real positive for the team going down the
stretch and moving on into the play.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Yeah, and high Smith has certainly had some dominant movement
or moments over the last two weeks, especially this past game.
I mean, that's a huge thing to get excited about,
especially against the tackles he's gonna face on Christmas. But
I think the Minka stuff is really interesting. And I
don't know about you guys, but I seemingly get asked
every day by a fan or someone on Twitter or whoever,
(31:21):
is Minco overrated? Is he worth the money? Is he done?
Is he not the player he think he is? And
never once have I answered yes. I'm like, if you
watch the All twenty two, you understand his immense, immense value.
And they're keeping him in steep center field so much
that he's away from the play and quarterbacks don't throw
his way. They know where he's at, they don't throw
(31:41):
his way. Now, I think it's really interesting though the
past two weeks. Maybe this is just an Elliott being
out thing, and if so, I totally understand. But I mean,
going back to his rookie year with the Dolphins, he
played linebacker, he played slot, he played strong safety, he
played outside corner. But he has as many he snaps
rob over the last two weeks of non deep safety
(32:06):
as he has the whole year combined, whether that's playing
some outside corner, some slot in the box.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:12):
So over the past two weeks he's been deployed so
much differently than over the whole course of the year combined.
And he does it really well. And there's this Kelsey
guy coming to town in a couple of days. Maybe
that's his job, you know, like Minka is stepped up
in a big way. And it's not just because the interception.
And he's never not stepped up, I guess, is my point.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, that's a good that's a good point. And I
think the other thing too, well, if you get de
Shaun Elliott back and to me.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
He's a blue guy. To me, this doesn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
No he doesn't. And I think that.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
You know, it's funny how you know, he was a
good player for the Ravens for sure. He is, uh,
he is bordering stardom here for this Teelers. It's a
it's been a different player, I you know, I think
I said it on this era. You know, I always
liked his game. I always thought he was a good player.
He has played even better here and Wolf Sometimes that
(33:08):
can be scheme. Sometimes it can be guys surrounding you.
Sometimes it can be you know, your complimentary partner in
this case, Minka Fitzpatrick, who has, as Matt kind of
alluded to, you had to slide over and play strong
safety with Shelley Deshaun Elliott out. But you get Elliott
back there, and that is an awfully imposing tandem at
(33:29):
the safety position that plays extremely well off of each.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Other, no questions about it. I mean, go back to
think think of Ryan Clark and Troy Troy Polamolo. I mean,
Troy could do a lot of the stuff he did
because RFC we had to head his back, you know,
I mean, and a lot of that happened without very
little communication verbally. It was just an acknowledgment of knowing
and understanding of playing together and knowing what your guy
(33:54):
is capable of doing, and the guy who's got your
back what he's capable of doing.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
You take a look at Fitzpatrick here. I mean, my gosh,
I was watching tape. He's covering Mark Andrews, He's in
the backfield stuff and the jeepers out of Derrick Henry.
I mean, there's nothing that this guy's not capable of
doing and playing. It's just a variety of positions. And
I think sometimes, you know, he gets the Troy treatment.
You know, remember when Flacco said follow the hair, you know,
(34:21):
I mean because the keynote of that defense was understanding
where Troy was at. And I think a lot of
it is for quarterbacks the opposition to understand where Minca
is at. But Mica is you know, he's still capable
of doing what he's capable of doing. And so I
look for more of that happening, especially, you know, once
you break that logjam of you know, non h you know,
(34:42):
interceptions and fumbles and stuff like that, and just watch
when things just start to roll and turn the other way,
because this would be a great time for it to happen.
Speaker 6 (34:51):
And Rob's safety is one of the most cerebral positions
on the field. And I think continuity with your your
teammate there is really really important. They weren't superstars, but
like Poyer and Hide for the Bills for like eight
years in a row, never miss a snap together, and
they had that nonverbal communication like Wolf mentioned with Clark
and Troy, and I think the Steelers have really developed
(35:12):
that and maybe even you know, him being out two
games and Minka having to do more things just opens
up the possibilities even that much more because case can
play deep middle if you have to as well, you know.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Right, And it puts you know, it puts everybody and
your coaching staff in position to put guys in this
spot they think is best. And you know, again, we
don't know what would have happened had Dante Jackson and
Larry Jogan Joby, who I think was particularly missed in
(35:45):
this game against the Ravens, and Deshaun Elley. We don't
know what the Steelers defense would have done. I know
there are people nationally saying, well, is it really that
good of a defense?
Speaker 5 (35:55):
Look?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
How are they were gashed the last couple of weeks.
I think again, that's two things won. The offense, you know,
particularly early on against Philadelphia, not really doing its part,
you know, a little bit of bad luck, particularly in
the game.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Against the Ravens, but also just health.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
You know, I circle back to where we began this
conversation in the show. I think you get healthy and
you're you're gonna be missing Joey Porter Jr. And that's
that's not insignificant. I understand that. But if you get
Pickings back and can do some more things offensively against
what the best defense in the NFL, certainly right up
there in the Kansas City Chiefs, It's another big challenge
(36:32):
waiting for this Steelers and one I can't wait for.
But what I'm eager to see with more healthy bodies
out there.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
You know, one of the things that you know, and
Matt can speak to us much better than me, But
this is why you see the scouting departments out there
act of all the time, time calling, searching and bringing
players in and raiding them and keeping them in the loop,
and and why you want to keep replenishing and restocking
your roster because nothing goes faster than a body part,
you know, I mean, that's just what happens. So you know,
(37:01):
throughout dissolve that kudos to the scouting department keeps bringing
in players that are capable of stepping in and giving
some good snaps.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Yeah, and I think you also have to credit the opponent.
I mean, these two teams are really good football teams
and probably have a few more wins in them between
now and whenever someone Hoista Lombardy, And for right or wrong,
the Steelers obviously were keying on not letting Lamar beat
them on the ground, and now they paid for it
(37:29):
in a bad way. But I also think the Ravens
had some nice wrinkles to their running game that I
hadn't seen before. You know, I mean, they're not an
easy team to play against. And when that team is right,
and oh, by the way, they get one holding call yesterday,
that's a little odd to me. But hey, you know,
when that offense is right, they're going to gouge people
a lot through the air or ground. I mean, they
(37:51):
are a loaded offense.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Especially when they're not going to get a holding Colls.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
Yeah, yeah, they're at home too.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
That helps.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, And I think if we do look at a
positive wolf, maybe it's that that ground game is going.
Arthur Smith again asked about Jail and warning. He said, look,
he's he's healthy. You know, you know, the guy was
hurt and now he's back. And now you know this
was you know, we saw this students offense the last
couple of years, second half of the season really begin
(38:16):
to run the ball effectively. And again, if you're looking
for positives, if that's something that came out of that
game in Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
Who is that a positive for the students moving forward too?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, I mean you gotta have that running game.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
That's what does Mike always call it December Northeastern football,
you know, I mean, that's what you gotta have, that's
what you need. Hey, let's hope they get that old gelopie,
that old pickup just repped up, roaring and going, man,
because that's what they need to be able to help
carry them through and into and through the playoffs if
they have any hope at all of being able to
(38:52):
do a deep dive in there somewhere, because this certainly
the running games everything.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Man.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
It's we started off talking about Mike Townland saying if
you don't stop the run, you can't win, and if
you can't run the ball, it's very difficult to win.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Matt, Yeah, I definitely think that's an obvious positive. Was
the way they ran the football, the way Warren looks
in particular, but not entirely him. I also think we
can never forget how young this offensive line is, and
you know they're playing a lot of those guys are
playing December football, let alone playoff football for the first
time against high, high quality opponents. Jalen Carter, Chris Jones,
(39:29):
Matta Bouk. I mean, these are big time star players
that are you know, they've had to go against or
are about to and heck, it's not gonna getting easier
in the playoffs. And folks, they are still going to
the playoffs. Please don't forget that.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
And by the way, Rob gave us a long dissertation
and it's mad at bk Right, he was killing me.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Kinger was killing me with a proper pronunciation.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, we were talking about the guys you're talking in
the breaking and came up with Metabuk and I think
at one time that's how his name was pronounced, or
that was you know, I think.
Speaker 6 (40:02):
When he was drafted it was made bouque and then
he corrected people or yeah whatever, you know, yeah yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We began to say things like, you know what, why
don't you keep your you know, Mattabik out of our business.
So it devolved a little bit during the commercial breaks.
Uh in Baltimore. Now, tremendous challenge coming up against the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Wolf.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Let's begin with you just the thought of, okay, you
lost two challenge games. You don't you know, you still
control your path to the AFC North. But now it's
it's it's gotten. You know, your wiggle room is pretty
much gone, you know. And again, you could still win
the division by losing this game. And you know, Baltimore
loses to Cleveland and you beat Cincinnati, you win the division.
(40:52):
So there's other ways to do it. But you know,
how are you feeling now? And and are you ready
to rise to the challenge as a team when you're
you know you're facing the two time defending champs.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Absolutely you rise to the challenge. And playing on Christmas
Day is the one time you can ever go into
Christmas Day going bah humbug.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
All right.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
The point is you got to get the job done
at one o'clock. After that, all the good stuff can
happen and it'll be great. But you've got to understand
right now that this is again part of that dark
knight of the soul, that is part of going dark Molde.
This is part of getting your mind ready for something extraordinary.
Because you've got the reigning champs coming to town on
national TV. They will run you out of your stadium
(41:31):
if you do not play with your fullest capacity of
bringing it to bear and I know these guys will
One of the things I've always believed in the Steelers.
This goes way back to when Tounch and I played.
We always believe that this organization, this team did best
when their back was up against the wall and you
got the chip on your shoulder. Yeah, bring it on then, baby,
let's go. That's rock and we'll see what happens. But
(41:53):
I believe that's the mentality that these guys are capable
of bringing.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Fourteen and one. I wonder if the Chiefs heard, what
a lucky fourteen and one? You get a block field goal,
you get mixed missed field goals, you get a toe
that's out of bounds, you get all these breaks going
your way, you get a fourth and what sixteen interference
call that keeps alive a winning drive in the winning
seconds of the game. Because Matt I thought they looked
(42:16):
pretty impressive against Houston, and they looked to me against
a pretty good Houston team, like a fourteen and one
football team.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
Yeah, I think they're figuring some things out, particularly with
their past catchers. You know, Marquise Brown is back worthy
starting to really get the flow under him a little bit.
He's starting to understand the speed of the game, and
his route running looks a little bit better. They've conserved Kelsey,
I think on purpose to you know, get the most
out of the old timer down the stretch here. And
if Mahomes had an ankle injury, I sure didn't see it.
(42:44):
I mean I saw today he reached fifteen miles per
hour or more on three different of his runs. I
mean those are they're Henry like stuff. I mean, he's
really scooting, but their tackles are a problem. And frankly,
I think the two teams on Christmas that have to
travel or the distinctive disadvantage. I mean, that's a very
short week on the road, which is always a problem
(43:05):
for any Thursday night game, but even the family aspect
of it. And you know, I'm traveling all during Christmas
and I'm facetiming my kids and I mean, like it's
not a real pleasant situation.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Not only that, I mean how does Santa find them?
Speaker 6 (43:18):
Yeah, right, right, right.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
He's made some early visits to some families that I've
heard of, So good for Santa.
Speaker 5 (43:24):
You know the chief Yes, gear up, gear up in
the latest game.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
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(43:51):
Matt Williams and our producer Justin Miller on Rob King,
we thank you for listening to the point after on
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Speaker 2 (00:14):
Get it direct from the team.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
At shop dot Steelers dot com and by Clearview Federal
Credit Union get the financial answers you need. And now
here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolflee and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And we thank you for being with us on the
Point After on the Theeders Audio Network, following this Yearers
thirty four to seventeen loss to the Baltimore Ravens in
Baltimore and preceding this Yearers game just two days from
now on Christmas Day against the Kansas City Chiefs. Alongside
Matt Williamson and Craig Wolfe, I'm Rob King. Let's get started.
(00:48):
Our first reaction is brought to you by First National Bank.
Let's Get started. Member fdiic well for your first reactions
to the lost in Baltimore, chance for the Ysers to
nail down the aph North title and now that road
got a lot trickier, although they still control their own
path to the playoffs. It would have been easy, It
(01:08):
would have been simple. You beat the Ravens, you were
the AFC North champions. That didn't happen. What did you
think about that thirty four to seventeen loss.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Well, I think came down to three simple aspects of football.
And the number one is if you don't stop the run,
you can't win. You just can't. And they weren't able
to stop the run with King Henry taking over and
doing the things that he did, and it was it
was unfortunate, but they did not stop that. Number two
is the fact that if the three and outs are
(01:36):
killing the Steelers too many, you know, there's not enough
on defense and too many on offense. And then the
third thing is when there's three fumbles there, kad zooks,
you got to get at least one, you know. I mean,
that's I think Max said it best on the morning shows.
He goes, there's like Lemony snicket, all right, a series
of unfortunate events, which was three of them, and they
(01:57):
just didn't bounce.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Right for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
As late great tounch Ilkin used to say, my brother
used to say all the time, he only saytan Turkish,
which was really kind of cool because I can't say it,
you know. But he said, the ball is not round,
meaning it doesn't bounce straight, it doesn't bounce true, but
it will bounce all over. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it
didn't bounce to them.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Matt, your first reaction.
Speaker 6 (02:21):
I think you got to throw the two Wilson turnovers
on top of that, of course, I mean, those are
the two most crucial plays, and it wasn't his only
fault that they lost this game. But I mean those
two games, those two specific plays were backbreaking, without question.
But I also think we're seeing the effects. This is
more of a big picture answer. I think we're seeing
(02:41):
the effects of quite a few road games in a
short amount of time, two thirds of the way through
as much of a murderer's row as you can ask for.
I frankly think that these past two opponents are currently
my Super Bowl pick from the NFC and AFC. I
think there are two exceptional football teams, and you sprinkle
in a whole bunch of injuries at the wrong positions
(03:03):
and it ends up being a little worrisome. Obviously, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Let's start well after our first reactions, because I agree
with everything you guys just said. Let's start wolf with
the injuries, because I think they played a big part
in what happened in the last couple of weeks. You're
down three starters, you lose Joey Porter in the middle
of the game. Now you're down four starters on defense,
and I know the mentality is next man up, But
(03:30):
my goodness, there's only so much you can take, so
many injuries you can take. I think, in particular, Larry
Ogan Joby was really missing this game against the Ravens,
and I think Deshaun Elliott was missed in both games.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
His ability to tackle.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Maybe, you know, on one of those third downs on
those thirteen two thirteen play drives in Philadelphia, the twenty
one play drive, maybe he comes up with a tackle
that turns the ball over and gives you a little
bit of a spark of hope.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
But I think.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Injuries I don't And you know, Pickens on offense, that's
a huge loss for this Telers. I don't think you
can underestimate what those losses mean. When you're playing top
quality opponents, as Matt said, like the Eagles, and like
the Ravens, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
There's no doubt.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I mean, statistically, you can go to any lengths to
prove that George Pickens is a boon to this offense.
The success rate increases, everything increases when he's in the
mix of the matter.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
When you have.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Deshaun Elliott, you got a guy you talk about deceleration trauma.
I mean, with a guy like Derek Henry, you need
all the deceleration trauma you can get from somebody. And
with a guy like Deshaun Elliott, he is one of
those in the box safety guys that plays like a
linebacker who has got hit in power, who drives people
back and certainly would have been very useful in this
(04:47):
game and being able to play Dante Jackson.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
There's an got a corner.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You know, you got Joey Porter going down to get
I mean, yeah, zooks, You've got a lot of people
hurt in the back end. And then of course Larry oh,
Larry Ogan Jobi. I mean, the guy is so strong
and powerful, a good three technique like you know you
need against a guy like Derrick Henry. And then of
course the last one get my glasses back here and
forgot But the last one. You know, you got justin
(05:11):
fields and that takes some of the just some of
the the offense off the board that possibly could have
been utilized in the right set of circumstances. It's like
Matt said earlier, he you know, this isn't all about
Russ Wilson losing, you know, a fumble and an interception.
There's a lot more at play here. This is what
happens when you're you're a big time quarterback and you
got you know, you make some big plays, but sometimes
(05:33):
they work against you because you're outside the pocket, you're
forcing things or you're you know, you just things can
happen there. But the fact is is this is a
team that there's a lot of good things that happened there. Yeah, zooks,
I just came away watching some film watching Keno Benton
just beat up Dan Daniel Faleley, I mean the right guard.
Oh my goodness. I mean that's a big, huge, massive
(05:55):
man that that Benton was beaten up on. You know,
there's there's numbers. I think Mark Robbinson and got a
couple of snaps in there, shot the gap and lit
up Derrick Henry. Things like that is encouraging, but it's
unfortunate that it comes down to turnovers and more of
those situations and the Steelers weren't able to overcome it.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Matt, you're feeling on the injuries and the sort of
effect that they've had on the Steers the last couple weeks.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not implying that Pickens and Porter
are the best two players on the team. They're not
far off, but they're not the best two players on
the team. I mean TJ. Watson phenomenal player. We know
who's great, but they're really high on the top of
the list of positions and players you couldn't afford to lose,
you know, the drop off at receiver with all respect
(06:41):
like Austin who's stepped up, well, you know, I mean
some other guys have stepped up, but we all know
those guys aren't George Pickens, and he's a force multiplier
that affects everyone on the field, and it's a position
where there's a big drop off from one to two.
I have mixed feelings about Jackson, but I think it's
very true at corner as well, especially with the ability
(07:02):
to play man coverage. I think that even on their
best day, this team really only has one man coverage
corner and you lost them. And oh, by the way,
I mean your secondary was pretty ravage there for a point.
I mean, besides Minka, who played phenomenal besides just the interception,
by the way, he was phenomenal in this game. But
the secondary in general was just really depleted.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, I think that there is a reason that the
students were rumored to be after other wide receivers for trading,
and I think we've seen that over the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
And your point is well taken, Matt, that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know a player that they always talk about best
versus most valuable when when it comes to hey, who's
the MVP of the league? Well, is it the most
valuable player in the best team? Is it the best
player in the best team? Is it the best player
in the game. Well, I think that there's when you
think of value. I mean, obviously we're not we're you know,
do you have TJ. Watt, Yeah, you know, I Cam Hayward,
(08:01):
you have a lot of really valuable guys in the team,
Russell Wilson, But.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
The drop off, you know, after George Pickens.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I think it's clear that this Suthers thought it was,
it could potentially be an issue because of their actions
and trying to fill that hole. So I don't even
think we need to comment on that. You just need
to look at the actions that they were trying to take.
On the other hand, I am happy to see a
guy like Calvin Austin emerge, and I'll get back to
some of the other injuries later. But you know, Matt,
I don't know how you know if you were scouting
(08:28):
a player, but you know, I think that Calvin Austin,
you know, if he's proven a couple of things to
people that might not have known about him this year. One,
he's tough, he has taken a licking, he keeps on
ticking to use the old timex AD. And then that
catch he made up the far sideline against Baltimore. To me,
(08:51):
that was a receiver's catch. That's not a speed guy
or gadget guys catch. You know, he had to look
over the shoulder of the defender. I can't imagine he
saw the ball clearly catch the ball while twirling around
right to left, and then have the presence of mind
to drag his feet and stay in bounce. I just
thought that was an absolutely terrific catch that was probably
(09:13):
a lot harder than it looked. And again, I just
think that amidst the injuries or the lack of depth
or whatever you want to call that, you know, some
guys are emerging.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
It to me he's one of the guys.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
One hundred percent. And even going back to like his
draft prospect, you know, write ups or evaluation, everyone just
kind of assumed he was fast, he's little, he must
be a slot. But he did a ton of work
in college as a true X on the line of
scrimmage against man coverage, outside the numbers, running big boy routes,
the picking stuff, and frankly, I mean the beginning of
(09:50):
his career had some injuries and some inconsistencies and he
was blocked and he did some good things too, But
going into the season, I didn't know what to think
of him. You know, we'll see. I mean, I'm putting
every chip on the Austin you know, blacker versus red
type of thing that I'm one hundred percent in on
this guy as a long term fixed here. Well, maybe
no one's stock has improved more than him since since
(10:13):
entering the training camp process. For me is I want
this guy around. I would consider extending him. He's a
NFL wide receiver that is a foundational type player for you.
That doesn't mean he's George Pickens or AB or Swan
or Stalls, you know, but he is an impressive player
that is stepped up in a big way.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Can I say this AB was an AB when he started?
No doubt, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
We don't know what this young man can do, but
he exhibited all the fundamentals of a go ball pass catcher.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like you guys were highlighting already.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Don't going down the sidelines and what this young man
is capable of doing right now?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
To me, it's just the sky's the limit. You know,
we'll see.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
You know, you've got to be fed targets to be
able to you know, act on those targets. And so
what I think we've seen from him thus far is
highly anticipate to what this can actually happen. It's like
you said, who takes a shot like he took and
comes back and just you know, is that the best
you got?
Speaker 5 (11:08):
You know?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I mean I like that attitude.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
That was a very Lynn Swan type attitude, you know,
And so I was gratified to see what this dude
was doing, so we'll see again. His future is exciting.
I'd like to see what can happen. You want a
guy of course like Pickens back because he is just
he makes for room for everybody.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
And Rob, something I've been harping on just kind of
late in the year here is consolidating the workload a
little bit amongst the skill position players. And hey, I
give Patterson and prew It credit for making a big
play in the end zone. That's awesome. I mean, that's
the cherry on top. That's good stuff. But going forward,
assuming health, when there's two receivers on the field, I
(11:48):
want Austin and Pickens, you know what I mean, Like,
we don't need all these different packages. It's time to
consolidate the workload a little bit here down the stretch,
especially into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Not to mention, I'm sorry, Rob jumping again, not to
mention more targets to the tight end still friar mooth
especially now again.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And you know, Arthur Smith was asked about that earlier
today when he was addressed in the media and mentioned, look,
you know, sometimes the defense does things right. Sometimes, you know,
we look at targets and you know, the the quarterback
steps to the line of scrimmage, and you've got to
play and play side. You know, Pickens is the number
(12:24):
one target and Friar Moose the number two target. But
playside ain't gonna work because what they've got set up.
So now you look to the backside, and the number
one receiver on the route is going to be the
guy on that side of the field. It's gonna be
Van Jefferson, it's gonna be Mike Williams. So it's not
always about not trying to get those guys targets. Sometimes
it's about, you know, what the defense is trying to
give you. But I do think, you know, when I
(12:46):
look at a game, like, for example, Matt and we
talk about the Chiefs, and we talk about, you know,
when the Chiefs came here years ago and Mahomes I
think it was mahomes first visit here, and he had
just an unbelievable game, and you know, you start looking
out there and you know, they had skilled the running
back position, but they also had you know, the Cheetah
Tyreek Hill out at wide receiver, and they had you know,
(13:08):
Travis Kelcey, and he kept going down the line and
you kept thinking, well, at some point, every defense just
runs out of guys to cover somebody, you know. And
I'm not intimating that that's to see their situation, but
I am saying, if you have Pickens out there, let's
say they go, okay, we're gonna put McDuffie on them. Okay, Well,
now that number two receivers gonna get Joshua Williams. Is
(13:28):
that potentially Okay? Now your slot guy's got Calvin Austin.
Now who's got Friarmouth and who's got Washington. I think
that what we've seen is if Pickens is healthy and
the rest of the guys are healthy, they'll find a
way to distribute to targets and distribute to catches to
the right player in a given week wherever that matchup is.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Because if it's.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Not a prototypical one, prototypical two, there's enough talent there
that it makes it very difficult for the other team
to cover everybody.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yeah, And obviously that reflects on the coaching staff, But
I also think it's a veteran quarterback thing too.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
You know, they for sure.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
I mean I say this all the time. It kind
of goes out saying, but if there was a perfect defense.
Everybody would play it, you know, like every defense has holes,
every team has personnel weaknesses and strengths. And I think
Wilson as well as anyone in the league right now,
has that Brady Manning ability of I trust my guy
enough to win that matchup. That's really set up favorably
(14:29):
for him. And they have plenty of those type of
guys when Pickens is in there.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
So this is the point after and we have much
more to come where this is the point after that
they lost to the Ravens.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
But the point ahead is that anything? The point ahead? Man?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, I do want to talk about the head We
want to talk about We want to talk about the
Chiefs a little bit as well. You're listening to the
Point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Back to the point after on DVD.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Back to the pass looking left, lofting for Patterson who mixed
the graph touchdown. Pittsburgh Steelers Cordero Patterson on a lofted
pass hauls it in.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
For the touchdown.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The play of the game was brought to you by
S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen
oh two. stBank dot Com S and T Bank member
fdi C so well an alarming trend a.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Little bit to me.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
So we talked about some of the things that went
wrong in this game. I do want to get back
to some of the things on defense and how the
injuries have hurt them. We spent a lot of time
talking about George Pickens and his effect.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
But when I.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
See, yes, the turnovers, not taking advantage of the turnovers
in Philadelphia, the you know, frankly, just bad luck of
three balls being on the ground against Baltimore and then
the Ravens recover all three and what one of them
could have done for your momentum. So all that aside,
and I think those are factors, and I think the
(16:02):
injuries are a factor, especially when you're going against top teams.
If you're going against and also RAN, do you find
a way to win the last couple weeks. Probably, these,
as Matt pointed out, aren't also rans. These are really
good teams, as are the Chiefs playing really good football
right now.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So having said.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
All of that, you know seven to three and outs
for this year's offense, and they forced just one on defense.
And I'm not pointing a finger either way because you think, hey,
if you get a driver to going early in that
Philadelphia game. Does that give you a little juice? Does
it give your defense a little rest? On the other hand,
(16:40):
if the defense can find some way to get off
the field in Philadelphia, does the offense have that extra
chance they needed to get things going? Just that complimentary football? Yes,
the turnovers are part of that, no doubt about it.
But you have to be able to make your own
breaks too, And in the last couple of weeks this
year is for a variety of reasons, some of which
we just mentioned, haven't been able to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, there's no question, and I guess you would call
it non complimentary football. If you are not able to
get off the field as a defense, you have issues
with your third downs, getting yourself in situations that you
just cannot get off the field on those possession downs. Offensively,
you're not winning on getting rolling over a new series
(17:22):
of downs, and that's unfortunate because early on. Here's the
thing that is so difficult to help have people understand
is how important it is to have rhythm in your
offense when you get started in a game, especially if
you're on the road in a hostile environment, which normally
it is.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
When you're on the.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Road, the problem becomes you know that you never get going.
It's always kind of like, you know, stutter stutter stop,
stutter stutter stop, and it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And what you want is that ability to light it up,
get that groove, going, roll the chains a few times
on first downs and then being able to put something
on the scoreboard. Defensively speaking, it's all about coming out
there and using that all that muscle and everything else
on defense to be able to stuff the opponent and
then get off the field and have them suffer from
(18:11):
having a non rhythmic offense.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And that's just not happening right now.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
And part of it on offense, I look at the
fact that there are too many times I think Matt
Stats had like to too many third downs. There's just time,
way too many third downs. You know, you've got to
have a little more explosive plays. You've got to have
a little more on first and second down, and the
converse has got to happen. Defensively, it means you've got
to shut them down and win those first and second
downs four yards or less. Those things are important when
(18:39):
it comes to third down conversions.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Rob along those lines, I mean, the NFL is constructed
now that you're not going to see the Steel Curtain
or the eighty five Bears anymore. You know, just keep
teams to three point six points, crazy things like that.
And it has become very apparent over the last decade
or two that defenses that are on the field too
long crumb they just do. I mean, whether that's the
(19:02):
fourth quarter or over the course of a month or
the course of the year, bad defense is too much defense.
And where I'm going with this is time of possession.
I mean it goes back to those three and outs
and getting the third down too much.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
So going in I was just fiddling with this, like
ten minutes ago, going into the Eagles game, the Steelers
were number one in time of possession. Great, I mean,
that's that's their game. Run the ball, be tough. And
then the site that I go to for time possession
has columns for you know, where they're at now, where
they're at the last three games home away, So I
(19:36):
clicked on the last three games over the last three
games their last last in the league after being first
going into Philly. You know, so that's obviously that compounds
with all the defensive injuries. People are playing too many snaps,
too many games crammed into one, which isn't going to
get any better this week, and it also leads to
(19:58):
more injuries. If you're on the field all the time,
people start falling and all of a sudden it is
a snowball that goes rolling downhill. And the bad news
is the Chiefs are second best in time possession, So
it doesn't get any better, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
And the thing about it is, and agree with Matt, is
you know, possession is nine tenths of the law, right, well,
possession of the ball is nine tenths of a win.
I mean that there's so many good things that emanate
out from controlling the ball, keeping your opponents fanny on
the sidelines, on the bench, having a gatorade and talking
about what they're gonna do after the game. Yeah, that's fine,
all right, that's great, But you've got to be able
(20:31):
to do it. And Matt just pointed out very very
well exactly what the Steels are facing if you don't
control that ball, especially against teams.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
That control the ball very well. Yeah, well, you know
what's going to happen.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
And you're dealing with Barkley and Henry and you know
what I mean, right.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
You know, right, And I think, guys, and I guess, Matt,
I'll start this one with you, you know, to me, not
that the Steelers are looking to comfort me, you know,
but we all have our own takes out of games.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And my take on the last two weeks has been.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
A combination of injuries number one in the list, you know,
not taking advantage of turnovers number two in the list
of reasons that I'm not overly concerned with what's happened.
On the other hand, I would have liked to have
seen somewhere over the last couple of weeks when things
(21:24):
started spiraling, just just an ebb, you know what I mean,
just a stop once or twice where you said, okay, well,
you know, listen, we lost the game by ten, but
we came back at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
And look, look, they had their opportunities in both games
they did, they had their opportunities to make games of
it both times late.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
I don't want to say that to just the feeling
I got was I would.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Have liked to have seen, you know, one more drive
on offense, one more more stop on defense, and then
I would have been like, okay, then all those other
things add up just fine, because I want to make
sure as a fan that I feel like the gap
between the Steelers and the elite teams. They just played
two of them, they're gonna play another one. And look,
they beat the Ravens earlier this year, and they took
care of business against good teams. But good teams and
(22:08):
elite teams are different. And I just would have felt
a little bit better if one or two you know,
stops or drives would have happened in those two games.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Here where you're coming from. You know, Wolf mentioned the
fumble luck. I mean, if you get one more of
those that happened to bounce into your hands, all right.
I mean that doesn't mean you're gonna win the game
if Nause doesn't fumble. I know it wasn't called a
Nause fumble. I still don't think you win that game,
but it would have been one less thing. But I
was sitting there thinking as you were talking there though,
that all these teams in the NFL over seventeen games
(22:41):
have their downtimes. You know, you mentioned ebbs and flows.
I mean the Eagles started the season really slow. Ravens
lost to the Raiders, you know, I mean like there was.
I mean, these guys over the course of the year
have some rough things happened to them, to every team.
And last year it was losing to the Cardinals and
Patriots back to back, and they were like the two
worst teams in the league, not the two best teams
(23:01):
in the league. When you already have a playoff bid sealed.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Up, right for sure? Uh? Wolf, your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I mean, can you just do you just as a
teams as players? Do you just say, hey, man, forget
about it, We're a better team than this. We're gonna
be healthy. I mean, there obviously there's an element of that.
Is there anything sticking in the back of your crawl?
What are the teams talking about? What are the coaches
and the and the internal scouts and the players breaking
(23:31):
down now that they think, okay, we just have to
do you know, A, B and C and we're there.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Well, the deficiencies are all worked out. I mean, Matt knows.
When the scoutings get all the metrics, they put the
metrics to the coaches, the coaches study it. Coaches, you know,
eat some of that stuff up, and then you go
they can come and they kind of give to you
what they feel best suits their positions.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
You know, I mean the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Now, we got to be better on duo blox, So
how we on the screens things like that. You've got
to be able to identify and then go and point
them out and get better work on them and get
the job done. The fact of the matter is, though,
when it comes down to this, Look, the ante is
raised every time you lose. We're in the gauntlet, the
(24:14):
the you know, the the cheddar cheese type of area.
You know, you got the cheese greater going on here,
You've got It's that time of year and you got
to suck it up and go. And the thing about
it is, what greater anticipation can you have than Christmas Day?
To be playing the raining Football Champs on at your
(24:35):
home stadium in front of your home crowd and have
a go like that. I think it's tremendous And that's
what you got to do. You got to point to that.
It's about turning the page on a short week. Look,
everybody's in the same boat with the bodies, right, everybody's hurting.
It's one of those things. I woke up the day
after the game Sunday. Yesterday, I woke up. I oh,
I'm so tired. I don't want to move. I thought,
(24:57):
wait a minute, I didn't play. And these guys got
to get on the again and do it in three days,
you know, like d zeus is that crazy? And you
know for those guys, you got to turn that page.
And they've got to do all the due diligence as
far as the prehab, rehab, taking care of their bodies,
getting the cryo therapy, go see the bone cracker, get
a massage, whatever you need to do. But they've also
(25:17):
got to get the mental aspect down. That means requiring
a lot of mental gymnastics between now and one o'clock Wednesday.
But you've got to improve on the things that you
were deficient. And this is a highly challenging week and
are you going to step up to that challenge? This
is what a pros pro is capable of doing.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
This opportunity and rob even the piggyback off that, Like,
no matter what happens Christmas Day, that's going to be
a challenge. I mean, that's gonna be a difficult game
no matter what. But you do get a really long
stretch after that and you know you're going to the playoffs.
I mean, you so one game in between, but you
can rest your bones a little bit. It does sound
like a lot of dudes that were out this past
(25:56):
game are likely to come back. That's really important to me,
so and to pull back the curtain. Actually, before we
hit record, Wolf walked in and said something along the
lines of, man, Steelers did a lot of good stuff
in that Ravens game, and they did, you know, I
mean it's easy to overlook that. Oh, the running games
started to kind of pick up a little bit, you know,
some of those peripheral guys on offense started to play well.
(26:18):
A lot of defensive players won a lot of one
on one matchups. High Smith comes to mind. Wolf mention Benton,
you know, I mean like this is not the Giants
getting steamrolled week after week.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
You know that's a great point.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Yeah, Mike au cal Nobson on offense. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
for sure, for sure. And I think when you get healthy,
you're gonna feel You're gonna feel better about the way
things win, especially if you go out and put on
a strong performance on Wednesday, which Wolf makes me want
to circle back to what you were just talking about.
So all these teams have gone through the same thing. Right,
you play, then you play a short weekind of Saturday,
(26:50):
then you play on Wednesday. All four teams involved, right,
all four? So are you better off going into a
game like this mentally from the student's aspect of having
lost the last two and being a little honked off
or grooving in feeling great about yourself because you've won.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
So it does there make.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It any day?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I take the wins, okay, because you know, the flush
to the cellar is so quick. The point is, these
guys are capable of playing a higher level ball. When
you up the ende, when you're a little chapped about
how you've looked the last couple of weeks, Hey, you
got some good things going on. You got to just regroup,
reload and get out there and get effort. And one
of them, and Matt just pointing out, was the return
(27:38):
of fitsmagic. You know, if we got Mika Fitzpatrick getting
some turnovers and cutting loose on the back end, that's
the perfect time for that sort of threat to materialize
and be able to amp itself up. You got a
lot of good stuff. Now they got to run with it.
They got to get it done. But you know, it's
one of these things that you know, there's a thing
about the dark soul of the night, you know, I
(27:58):
mean you got to think about I think Pat Queen
referenced it and made a very plain statement that you
gotta if you got a place to be on a
run fit, you better be in that place and use
some other I say colorful adjectives to to, you know,
talk about it, but I'll just refrain from that and
just say that's exactly it. Everybody's got one eleventh. Everybody's
(28:20):
got a one eleventh when they're on that field, you
gotta win that one eleventh. You gotta win the majority
of them. And this is where it comes down to
in games like this. The guy's got to be able
to take stock of themselves prepare mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally
and be able to go out there and let her rip.
And that's what I'm hoping is going to happen one
o'clock Sunday. I don't want to hope. I want them
(28:42):
to know what they're gonna do. You got to go
into a game knowing that you're prepared, ready to roll.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
He's Craig Wolfley, Matt Williamson. I'm rob king. This is
the point after on this stoo there's audio network back.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
To the point after on dv E.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Tamark Jackson gets a snap back to the pressure coming
pen he is hitting. The ball is loose and it
is pounced upon, I believe by Ronnie Stanley, but man
oh Man high Smith got there quickly coming off the
right edge and nailed Lamar Jackson for the sack. Sack
Hunger segment is brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh
(29:20):
Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate at Pittsburgh
Foodbank dot org. Wolf Patrick Mahomes, now as we kind
of look a little forward to Wednesday has been sacked
more than he's ever been sacked in his career. And
then to circle back to what we just heard, I
love the way Heismith's been playing since coming off that injury.
(29:41):
He has just been a force. And this could be
a matchup that is very favorable for this Steel. Theres
those edge rushers against the tackles of the Chiefs in
this game.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
No question about it. And having an edge rusher complimentary
to the best defensive player in the league in TJ. Watt,
is just ginormous. I mean Alex Highsmith. If you go
down and you watch what he did. Ronnie Stanley is
I mean poised, turned does everything right except he gets
his hands trapped slapped by Alex Heismith, who blew by
(30:12):
him like a passing freight train. And you know, you
gotta love that ability to attack the passer like these
two guys do so very well. And it was just
unfortunate that I know I've been in Ronnie Stanley's place. Okay, ooh,
the guy blew by me. Oh, the guy just nailed
my quarterback. Ooh, he caused the fumble. I better get
on that fumble. And it was Ronnie Stanley that recovered.
(30:34):
You don't have any greater urgency of getting on a
ball than when you're the cause of that.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Get that fumble.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
You know, if we look back at the last few
games too, high Smith's re emergence Matt is obviously a
good sign hopefully getting guys back, and we can delve
more into that, but I know you have more on
Mika Fitzpatrick and his performance and hopefully you know that
being a real positive for the team going down the
stretch and moving on into the play.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Yeah, and high Smith has certainly had some dominant movement
or moments over the last two weeks, especially this past game.
I mean, that's a huge thing to get excited about,
especially against the tackles he's gonna face on Christmas. But
I think the Minka stuff is really interesting. And I
don't know about you guys, but I seemingly get asked
every day by a fan or someone on Twitter or whoever,
(31:21):
is Minco overrated? Is he worth the money? Is he done?
Is he not the player he think he is? And
never once have I answered yes. I'm like, if you
watch the All twenty two, you understand his immense, immense value.
And they're keeping him in steep center field so much
that he's away from the play and quarterbacks don't throw
his way. They know where he's at, they don't throw
(31:41):
his way. Now, I think it's really interesting though the
past two weeks. Maybe this is just an Elliott being
out thing, and if so, I totally understand. But I mean,
going back to his rookie year with the Dolphins, he
played linebacker, he played slot, he played strong safety, he
played outside corner. But he has as many he snaps
rob over the last two weeks of non deep safety
(32:06):
as he has the whole year combined, whether that's playing
some outside corner, some slot in the box.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:12):
So over the past two weeks he's been deployed so
much differently than over the whole course of the year combined.
And he does it really well. And there's this Kelsey
guy coming to town in a couple of days. Maybe
that's his job, you know, like Minka is stepped up
in a big way. And it's not just because the interception.
And he's never not stepped up, I guess, is my point.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, that's a good that's a good point. And I
think the other thing too, well, if you get de
Shaun Elliott back and to me.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
He's a blue guy. To me, this doesn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
No he doesn't. And I think that.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
You know, it's funny how you know, he was a
good player for the Ravens for sure. He is, uh,
he is bordering stardom here for this Teelers. It's a
it's been a different player, I you know, I think
I said it on this era. You know, I always
liked his game. I always thought he was a good player.
He has played even better here and Wolf Sometimes that
(33:08):
can be scheme. Sometimes it can be guys surrounding you.
Sometimes it can be you know, your complimentary partner in
this case, Minka Fitzpatrick, who has, as Matt kind of
alluded to, you had to slide over and play strong
safety with Shelley Deshaun Elliott out. But you get Elliott
back there, and that is an awfully imposing tandem at
(33:29):
the safety position that plays extremely well off of each.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Other, no questions about it. I mean, go back to
think think of Ryan Clark and Troy Troy Polamolo. I mean,
Troy could do a lot of the stuff he did
because RFC we had to head his back, you know,
I mean, and a lot of that happened without very
little communication verbally. It was just an acknowledgment of knowing
and understanding of playing together and knowing what your guy
(33:54):
is capable of doing, and the guy who's got your
back what he's capable of doing.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
You take a look at Fitzpatrick here. I mean, my gosh,
I was watching tape. He's covering Mark Andrews, He's in
the backfield stuff and the jeepers out of Derrick Henry.
I mean, there's nothing that this guy's not capable of
doing and playing. It's just a variety of positions. And
I think sometimes, you know, he gets the Troy treatment.
You know, remember when Flacco said follow the hair, you know,
(34:21):
I mean because the keynote of that defense was understanding
where Troy was at. And I think a lot of
it is for quarterbacks the opposition to understand where Minca
is at. But Mica is you know, he's still capable
of doing what he's capable of doing. And so I
look for more of that happening, especially, you know, once
you break that logjam of you know, non h you know,
(34:42):
interceptions and fumbles and stuff like that, and just watch
when things just start to roll and turn the other way,
because this would be a great time for it to happen.
Speaker 6 (34:51):
And Rob's safety is one of the most cerebral positions
on the field. And I think continuity with your your
teammate there is really really important. They weren't superstars, but
like Poyer and Hide for the Bills for like eight
years in a row, never miss a snap together, and
they had that nonverbal communication like Wolf mentioned with Clark
and Troy, and I think the Steelers have really developed
(35:12):
that and maybe even you know, him being out two
games and Minka having to do more things just opens
up the possibilities even that much more because case can
play deep middle if you have to as well, you know.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Right, And it puts you know, it puts everybody and
your coaching staff in position to put guys in this
spot they think is best. And you know, again, we
don't know what would have happened had Dante Jackson and
Larry Jogan Joby, who I think was particularly missed in
(35:45):
this game against the Ravens, and Deshaun Elley. We don't
know what the Steelers defense would have done. I know
there are people nationally saying, well, is it really that
good of a defense?
Speaker 5 (35:55):
Look?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
How are they were gashed the last couple of weeks.
I think again, that's two things won. The offense, you know,
particularly early on against Philadelphia, not really doing its part,
you know, a little bit of bad luck, particularly in
the game.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Against the Ravens, but also just health.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
You know, I circle back to where we began this
conversation in the show. I think you get healthy and
you're you're gonna be missing Joey Porter Jr. And that's
that's not insignificant. I understand that. But if you get
Pickings back and can do some more things offensively against
what the best defense in the NFL, certainly right up
there in the Kansas City Chiefs, It's another big challenge
(36:32):
waiting for this Steelers and one I can't wait for.
But what I'm eager to see with more healthy bodies
out there.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
You know, one of the things that you know, and
Matt can speak to us much better than me, But
this is why you see the scouting departments out there
act of all the time, time calling, searching and bringing
players in and raiding them and keeping them in the loop,
and and why you want to keep replenishing and restocking
your roster because nothing goes faster than a body part,
you know, I mean, that's just what happens. So you know,
(37:01):
throughout dissolve that kudos to the scouting department keeps bringing
in players that are capable of stepping in and giving
some good snaps.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Yeah, and I think you also have to credit the opponent.
I mean, these two teams are really good football teams
and probably have a few more wins in them between
now and whenever someone Hoista Lombardy, And for right or wrong,
the Steelers obviously were keying on not letting Lamar beat
them on the ground, and now they paid for it
(37:29):
in a bad way. But I also think the Ravens
had some nice wrinkles to their running game that I
hadn't seen before. You know, I mean, they're not an
easy team to play against. And when that team is right,
and oh, by the way, they get one holding call yesterday,
that's a little odd to me. But hey, you know,
when that offense is right, they're going to gouge people
a lot through the air or ground. I mean, they
(37:51):
are a loaded offense.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Especially when they're not going to get a holding Colls.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
Yeah, yeah, they're at home too.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
That helps.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, And I think if we do look at a
positive wolf, maybe it's that that ground game is going.
Arthur Smith again asked about Jail and warning. He said, look,
he's he's healthy. You know, you know, the guy was
hurt and now he's back. And now you know this
was you know, we saw this students offense the last
couple of years, second half of the season really begin
(38:16):
to run the ball effectively. And again, if you're looking
for positives, if that's something that came out of that
game in Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
Who is that a positive for the students moving forward too?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, I mean you gotta have that running game.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
That's what does Mike always call it December Northeastern football,
you know, I mean, that's what you gotta have, that's
what you need. Hey, let's hope they get that old gelopie,
that old pickup just repped up, roaring and going, man,
because that's what they need to be able to help
carry them through and into and through the playoffs if
they have any hope at all of being able to
(38:52):
do a deep dive in there somewhere, because this certainly
the running games everything.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Man.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
It's we started off talking about Mike Townland saying if
you don't stop the run, you can't win, and if
you can't run the ball, it's very difficult to win.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Matt, Yeah, I definitely think that's an obvious positive. Was
the way they ran the football, the way Warren looks
in particular, but not entirely him. I also think we
can never forget how young this offensive line is, and
you know they're playing a lot of those guys are
playing December football, let alone playoff football for the first
time against high, high quality opponents. Jalen Carter, Chris Jones,
(39:29):
Matta Bouk. I mean, these are big time star players
that are you know, they've had to go against or
are about to and heck, it's not gonna getting easier
in the playoffs. And folks, they are still going to
the playoffs. Please don't forget that.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
And by the way, Rob gave us a long dissertation
and it's mad at bk Right, he was killing me.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Kinger was killing me with a proper pronunciation.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, we were talking about the guys you're talking in
the breaking and came up with Metabuk and I think
at one time that's how his name was pronounced, or
that was you know, I think.
Speaker 6 (40:02):
When he was drafted it was made bouque and then
he corrected people or yeah whatever, you know, yeah yeah, And.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We began to say things like, you know what, why
don't you keep your you know, Mattabik out of our business.
So it devolved a little bit during the commercial breaks.
Uh in Baltimore. Now, tremendous challenge coming up against the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Wolf.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Let's begin with you just the thought of, okay, you
lost two challenge games. You don't you know, you still
control your path to the AFC North. But now it's
it's it's gotten. You know, your wiggle room is pretty
much gone, you know. And again, you could still win
the division by losing this game. And you know, Baltimore
loses to Cleveland and you beat Cincinnati, you win the division.
(40:52):
So there's other ways to do it. But you know,
how are you feeling now? And and are you ready
to rise to the challenge as a team when you're
you know you're facing the two time defending champs.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Absolutely you rise to the challenge. And playing on Christmas
Day is the one time you can ever go into
Christmas Day going bah humbug.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
All right.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
The point is you got to get the job done
at one o'clock. After that, all the good stuff can
happen and it'll be great. But you've got to understand
right now that this is again part of that dark
knight of the soul, that is part of going dark Molde.
This is part of getting your mind ready for something extraordinary.
Because you've got the reigning champs coming to town on
national TV. They will run you out of your stadium
(41:31):
if you do not play with your fullest capacity of
bringing it to bear and I know these guys will
One of the things I've always believed in the Steelers.
This goes way back to when Tounch and I played.
We always believe that this organization, this team did best
when their back was up against the wall and you
got the chip on your shoulder. Yeah, bring it on then, baby,
let's go. That's rock and we'll see what happens. But
(41:53):
I believe that's the mentality that these guys are capable
of bringing.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Fourteen and one. I wonder if the Chiefs heard, what
a lucky fourteen and one? You get a block field goal,
you get mixed missed field goals, you get a toe
that's out of bounds, you get all these breaks going
your way, you get a fourth and what sixteen interference
call that keeps alive a winning drive in the winning
seconds of the game. Because Matt I thought they looked
(42:16):
pretty impressive against Houston, and they looked to me against
a pretty good Houston team, like a fourteen and one
football team.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
Yeah, I think they're figuring some things out, particularly with
their past catchers. You know, Marquise Brown is back worthy
starting to really get the flow under him a little bit.
He's starting to understand the speed of the game, and
his route running looks a little bit better. They've conserved Kelsey,
I think on purpose to you know, get the most
out of the old timer down the stretch here. And
if Mahomes had an ankle injury, I sure didn't see it.
(42:44):
I mean I saw today he reached fifteen miles per
hour or more on three different of his runs. I
mean those are they're Henry like stuff. I mean, he's
really scooting, but their tackles are a problem. And frankly,
I think the two teams on Christmas that have to
travel or the distinctive disadvantage. I mean, that's a very
short week on the road, which is always a problem
(43:05):
for any Thursday night game, but even the family aspect
of it. And you know, I'm traveling all during Christmas
and I'm facetiming my kids and I mean, like it's
not a real pleasant situation.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Not only that, I mean how does Santa find them?
Speaker 6 (43:18):
Yeah, right, right, right.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
He's made some early visits to some families that I've
heard of, So good for Santa.
Speaker 5 (43:24):
You know the chief Yes, gear up, gear up in
the latest game.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
The necessities at the official Students Pro shops get the
latest sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible talles ofuthentic memorabilia and custom
exclusives you can only find directly from the team. Visit
one of the official Students Pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium,
Grove City Premium Ountlets or Tanger out Let's, or gear
up online at shop dot Steelers dot com. For Craig Wolfleet,
(43:51):
Matt Williams and our producer Justin Miller on Rob King,
we thank you for listening to the point after on
the Steelers Audio Network
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