October 29, 2024 • 45 mins
The Steelers are sitting at 6-2 and atop of the AFC North. Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and Matt Williamson react to the Steelers' MNF victory against the Giants and discuss the state of the team heading into the bye week.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point after show on WDBD Pittsburgh.
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(00:22):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and
Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks very much for being with us Following the Steelers'
victory over the Giants heading into the bye week that
has allowed the Steelers are that twenty six to eighteen
victory to improve to six and two on the season
in first place by themselves in the AFC North. Our
first reaction is brought to you by First National Bank.
Let's get started, member FDI C wolf Let's get started
(00:49):
with you your thoughts on what you saw last night and
Monday Night football.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I saw a team that realized it was in
the dogfight. I really went into the game thinking that
there was a lot of things that the Steels were
going to be able to do offensively against the Giants
and also defensively against their offense. Some of that went
awry is normal because that's just the way it rolls
in the NFL. But certainly what I enjoyed was watching
(01:14):
Naja Harris get his mojo Roland yet again. In three
hundred yard games in a row. Is a terrific way
to punch through even a performance where maybe not everything
was working as it should or not all things were
firing on all eight cylinders, let's just say. But they
were able to overcome do the things they needed to do,
and there was some really big plays that they were
(01:36):
able to make, and they came out the winner. That's
the biggest thing, Matt.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, obviously more good than bad. There were some concerns
red zone offense stalling out run defense I thought was
very worrisome. But when you have the best special teams
in the league that seems to make a huge play
every week, it's a pretty nice equalizer with as well
as this offense is playing with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, a lot of good things. Well, if you look
at the positives in this let's start with the special teams,
because you know, I'm always like well, we'll get to
the special teams and we're gonna get there, and let's
start there. Because the Calvin Austin punt return is a
huge playing this game.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Oh it's ginormous because things were really kind of bottled
up until Calvin Austin decided to be able to take
one and go house. You know, if you listen to
the postgame talk with you know, the postgame press conference
with Mike Tomlin, and he talked about the fact that
he had had conversations with Calvin Austin going into this
game and some of the other games, but talking about
how close he was to actually putting one in the
(02:43):
end zone. And then there he goes and does it.
You know, you got that Tomlin touch. That's beautiful. You
needed that. And for Danny Smith, he has been on
a roll with his team with three games in a
row with blocks and now you add a punt return
touchdown and a seventy three yard punt return touchdown at
that I mean, that was that was no small feat
(03:04):
and that was so badly needed. It really puts some
juice into the Steelers and created some space in between
them and the Giants.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Matt, you know, a couple of things that we rely
on that I rely on to get ready for a game.
Matt stats coming my way in Thursday. Always liked that,
and I love the Bob Labriola interview with Mike Tomlin,
and he talked about special teams how and we've all
seen it, Matt. You're up at camp all the time.
You see the early work that this team puts on
special teams. It doesn't pay lip service to Hey, this
(03:37):
is one third of the game. This twoler's actually put
in the work. And when we look at the last
four games, blockkick, blockkick, blockkick, punt return for a touchdown,
I'm not sure that if you take one or two
those away, the Steelers are still a six to two
first place team.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
No, I think you're one hundred percent right. It's been
the best special teams unit in the entire league, and
it seems to be separating from the pack on a
weekly basis.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you're right.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I'm not at thirty one other training camps, but I
do know that the Steelers put more practice time in
on special teams than most teams. They also, when you
look at their roster building, they'll keep four or five
players the Matti Kaevich's the killer brews that not every
other team will that are just pure special team core guys.
And then they go out and spend money on a
(04:23):
punter and invested heavily in what might be the best
kicker on the planet right now. So they put their
money where their mouth is too. It's not lip service,
as you said, And.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Let me just say this, I'm the return carry. One
of the things that I failed to mention was there
were several guys that made key blocks. I just I
want to take a moment to commend them, because those
guys could they could have gotten called for hitting in
the back or something like that, or a blind side shot,
and they took a safe route to be able to
shield and block a guy without committing a foul. And
(04:55):
that's just the result of good coaching. That's having awareness
and people that are coaching them up so that you
don't commit those foolish penalties that would result in bringing
a spectacular return like that back. So kudos to Danny
Smith again getting the job done in a way that
few others are capable of doing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, Matt, we were down in Florida during the
winter meetings for the NFL I think the General managers
meetings whatever they finish, uh, the owners meetings, right and
they you know, it was announced, Hey there's a new
kickoff rule designed to get the kickoff back in the game.
And before you were even finished reading the news release,
(05:37):
it seemed the Steelers had signed Cordero Patterson. So you know,
the greatest kick returner in NFL history hasn't had a
chance to show that. And you can't blame teams for
not wanting to kick it to them. But there again,
that commitment shown, not just on the field, not just
talking about it on the field, with the checkbook, all
of it shows that the Steelers that is a part
of the game they do indeed takes seriously yea.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And I can't reiterate it enough.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I mean, using resources, whether it's practice time or cap
space or you know, even draft picks. It just shows
that it's not lip service at all, you know. I
mean there's consistently over the last twenty years, the Patriots,
the Ravens, and for the most part, the Steelers have
(06:21):
been the top of any special team rank year you'll
look at. And that stuff's not by accident. Those guys
want a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, Look, we started Matt talking about Calvin Austin and
we're keeping an eye on the trade deadline, and as
we're taping this, you know, the news just broke that
Deontay Johnson was sent to the Ravens, and so there's
you know, stories that the seniors are going to be
involved in the wide receiver market, but you know, of
all the guys, and again I harken back to training
(06:50):
camp with this, it just felt like Russell Wilson was
doing a lot of work, paying a lot of attention
to wasn't anything overt, but just seemed like there was
a connection building between he and Calvin Austin, and I
just wonder if Calvin Austin might be a real beneficiary
of the fact that, you know, Russell Wilson is a
(07:11):
nine time Pro Bowl quarterback and is now at the Rains.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, and coach Tomlin didn't go into detail about at
least I missed it. If he did, you know, things
are really close for you. I mean I kind of
felt like that was on offense and special teams as
a returner because you watch the All twenty two No
offense to justin fields, but there's been times that Austin's
been pretty open that the bald just hasn't gone his way.
You know, that's not his fault. He has nothing to
(07:35):
do with that. But I really liked him coming out
of school. I mean, people looked at him and said, oh,
he's just a little speed gadget guy. But even in
college he was an ex receiver on the line of
scrimmage a really high percentage of the time. He can
handle man coverage, and I think he's starting to come
into his own, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And Wolf again that you and I talked about this
a little bit with Max this morning, but I always
think this, you know, Bear repeating that it felt like
the Steelers, you know, didn't necessarily trust Calvin Austin with
a lot of the blocking responsibilities because he's not a
big guy, and so that so you say, okay, well,
(08:16):
we want to have maybe five plays for Calvin Austin
to get the ball in his hands on a jet
sweep or maybe a bubble screen, or maybe we could
you get him on a wheel route or something. But
in order to do that, now you have to play
him fifteen times a game because you don't want to
tip your hand, and hey, every time he's in the game,
he's gonna get the ball on a jet sweep or something.
So and we haven't even seen him. I don't think
(08:37):
on a jet sweep this year, if I'm not mistaken,
But it feels like this. You got a new wide
receiver coach, you have a new offensive coordinator that they
trust him to block. They know that he is a
pit bull who's going to go out there and give
it all on his his all on the blocking game.
He's not a detriment and he and why wide receivers
(09:00):
always when you see a big run, almost inevitably, a
wide receiver is making a lockdown field that turns an
eight yard gain into an eighteen yard gain.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Or more, no question about it. Look, you know, blocking
is really all about a want to more than a
how to. I mean, obviously you got to have some
how to, but the desire to go in and dig
a guy out or get on the periphery and make
a block. And it doesn't have to be perfect. You
don't have to truck a guy. All you got to
do is make sure that you are between him and
(09:31):
your guy, you know, I mean, that's the idea and
one of the things that Kelvin Austin has done. He's
grown in his game brains, and game brains are the
repetitions that you get in Live Go, where those x's
and o's move from a one dimensional aspect in your
playbook to moving out on the field of play. And
you've got to be able to just learn who the
(09:53):
most dangerous is, know your assignments, of course, but as
the play unfolds, you've got to be able to make
rapid adjustments to whatever is occurring on the on the field,
and he certainly is learning that. He let's face it,
he caught a moving train in a sense, he missed
the whole year, right, Okay, So I mean the fact
is this young guy has been making up time and
(10:15):
he's not had the opportunity as much to be able
to display what he's capable of doing until more recent
times where he's had that opportunity now to be that guy.
And by golly, we got something special with this guy.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And I should point out, you know, we're not looking at,
you know, an overwhelming leap in snap counts for Calvin Austin.
It's not like he was not playing at all. It's
just that it doesn't feel like and look as soon
as you're playing a lot of heavy personnel. They are,
they're playing a lot of you know, two tight ends,
three tight ends. You know, they're running it out there.
(10:50):
And I think, Matt, you have the stats on this
at a higher percentage than anybody in the league. It's
just that it's not and they're not always running out
of those formations. And so what you're seeing is within
the formations, within Calvin Austin being out there, the three
tight ends. Being out there three tight ends doesn't always
mean run. Calvin Austin doesn't always mean pass, and Matt,
(11:12):
that makes a defense, an offense more difficult to defend.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah, I think that's a real Arthur Smith's strength, even
in Atlanta, even in Tennessee, that he can do a
lot of things out of the same packages while throwing
a lot of packages at you. You know, like Wolf
and I were even just talking off the air, you
know that a guy like Pruett, he can do some
fullback for you. I mean, so you know, thirteen can
turn into twenty two in the blink of an eye,
(11:37):
you know, with two backs and get different blocking angles.
And I think Arthur Smith does a real good job
of devising schemes that create good blocking angles. And boy,
Darnell Washington, to me, is really coming into his own too.
I mean, there aren't many players like him in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well and again, Wolf, that's in the blocking game, and
it's also in the passing game. I mean a career
long reception last night. We've seen him be utilized more.
I mean, he's a big target, he's an athletic guy.
He's a guy that it can't be any fun if
you're a defensive back to see Baron down him the football.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, I think we got a new nickname for him.
Instead of Mount Washington, we might have to go with
Rolling Thunder, because that guy, you know, when he gets
that ball in his hands, east starts heading north and south,
watching guys come up on him and curl up like
eight yards away from him, and like they look like
they're assuming the position of a speed bump, you know,
hoping that maybe he'll just trip over me and I
(12:36):
won't take the full brunt of what this guy is
about to unload on me.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, and we're.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Talking about defensive back sealing with Washington. I'm not sure
defensive ends love dealing with Washington, either protection or the
run game.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, right right. You know, it's so funny you talk
about the tight end and you usually say, you know, hey,
he's he's you know, too too big for a corner,
you know, too fast for a linebacker. You know, he
might be too big for a linebacker and too big
for a defensive end. I mean, he's he's got some attributes,
(13:09):
and it's fun to see him having a chance to
exploit those attributes and show the Steelers hasplit those attributes
and him show those attributes as well.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I think it's gonna be even more so when
you start posting him up over the middle and some
of the windows, they have an opportunity to operate in
some of those curl regions of the you know, on
a defense the guy just has Watching him display his
hands and his ability to turn a five yarder into
a fifteen yarder is pretty special and I would see
I would expect more of that coming along. And again
(13:40):
I refer to a time that there was a guy
named Bill Belichick who had a guy named Gronk and
a guy named Hernandez, and he ran a lot of
offense through those two. And I can see where that
could possibly be something that plays out as this season
moves along.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. It'll be interesting to see
what the Steelers look like next. Will it be the
same group of players after the trade deadline when they
get ready to take on the Commanders after the break,
We're gonna talk a lot more to this football. They
are in first place in the AFC North by themselves
heading into their bye week. That's when we continue in
(14:17):
the Point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Back to the Point After on DVD.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Talk boots a low line drive. Austin retreating back to
his twenty six will take it. He's gonna start to
the left, trying to get to the outside there, and
he's gonna get there, and he's gonna cross the forty.
He's gonna cross midfields. He's gonna across the forty of
the Giants. Here he goes, bracing down on the left sideline.
Calvin Austin is in for the score. What a run
by Calvin Austin. Flag comes in late a seventy four
(14:46):
yard return as Calvin Austin has electrified this crowd at
Akrosher Stadium. Well they changed into seventy three yards, but
it's still good stuff. Calvin Austin to play of the
game brought to you by S and T Bank. He's
serving our community since nineteen oh two. St bank dot
com S and T Bank member FDI see Craig Wilfie.
(15:07):
I know you loved that return. I think your play
of the game we're probably gonna hear coming up in
a little bit and that is the TJ. Watt strip,
sack and fumble recovery.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, that one is a special one. Uh you know.
I again, I still think about Jermaine Ilumin or the
right tackle who gave up two sacks in the last
meeting with TJ. Watt. I believe he was a member
of the Raiders at that time. So then coming into
this game, you're gonna signal, you know, single out TJ.
Watt again and you're gonna say, I want to be
(15:40):
on an island against this guy all day long. That's
really poking a bear that you might would be better left,
you know, letting that bear sleep, if the bear would sleep,
any wasn't sleeping. But exactly so, I mean, TJ. Watt,
what a play? How How this guy is able to
manifest a play at that moment, at that time and
(16:02):
do this over and over on the biggest stages is
just incredible to me. And that his sense of that moment,
that seminal moment that you got to come through that
somebody threw up the bat signal up in the sky
and you respond with a play. You take them, You
just take it all. It's a trifecta. You sack them,
you strip the ball, you recover the ball. My goodness,
(16:24):
it was just amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
And there was never any doubt that he was gonna
do all three too, because he knew, like he didn't
play yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Right, it was almost like a practice trill down then
I'll jump on top of it. Yeah, like he just
went around to you know, blocking dummy or something like that.
And again, third and seven from the Steelers nineteen yard
line in an eight point game. That's crucial. I mean
that that is a crucial moment of the game. Even
if the Giants kick a field goal there, you're certainly
(16:54):
feeling very uneasy about the turn of events in that game.
And uh yeah, TJ. Watt spectacular play and Matt So
for listeners and anybody who's got this tune in is
in fact the listener you know, when the when we
go to commercial. It's not silence all. It is is
(17:15):
now a free for all between Wolf, Max, Missy and
myself with everybody chiming in with their ideas and thoughts
on different things. So we were all trying to come
up with an island because the Luminar said he wanted
to be on an island. Wolf went with, you know,
Fantasy Island, the old TV show. You know. I was
going with Treasure Island because it was a treasure for
(17:36):
you know, t J. Watt. He was gonna get all
the treasure on that island. Uh. And Matt had Max
had you know something that he was throwing in there
and the guys on DV this morning. I brought that
up to him and they said, how about he drove
him into Neville Island.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, so we.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Got we got a lot of islands in play from
a lumina or and none of them were good.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
No, my geography isn't great, but I'd come up with
some nasty, wet, cold island where you're not enjoying yourself
on that island at all, because I don't think I
Lluminer wants to go back at all.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
And I couldn't.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Believe, you know, Wilson fumbles and all of a sudden,
you're like, man, Steelers should have this in hand, and
that is not what you want to see. And as
Wolf mentioned, what so timely got the game back in
control of the Black and Gold. But you leave a
lumin or on an island, on that scary island all
by yourself. Oh man, there has to be some Halloween
(18:26):
island that he doesn't want to be on.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, after the game, you know, Brian Dables said.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
The island of the Misfit Toys.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, misfit Toys Island's come into play. Get Wilson and
the volleyball out there. You know, a lot of a
lot of In the post game comments, Brian Dabeles said, look,
when you don't bring the tight end over, you're supposed
to bring the tight end over to TJ. Watt's side.
(18:57):
Because Watt and Heismith were doing some switching during the game,
which would be interesting, you know, flipping sides a little bit.
You're supposed to bring the tight end over to Watts
side and give him that help. And from what I understand,
Daniel Jones agreed that he was supposed to have done that.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It was an.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Interesting game because Brian Davel had a lot of I thought,
really at his team prepared, I thought he did all
he good to try to minimize what the studers do well.
I will say this, Matt, and I know you're probably
more in touch with the analytics community than Wolf or me,
but it seems to be now somebody's done the math
that if you're down two scores, you go for two
(19:38):
because your chances of getting to at least one of
those two times and worse, tying it and winning it,
or your chances of converting one of those maybe the
first one, then kicking a field goal and winning it
are greater than trying to settle for overtime. I think
I explained that properly, But to me, that takes a
(19:59):
little bit of the human element out, which is sometimes
and I love analytics, but I sometimes wonder if you
leave the analytics out of it, or you leave the
humanity out of it and the momentum. Do you lose
a little momentum when you don't get too there? And
to me, I think you do.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah, And that situation you laid out is getting very
popular in the NFL. And the book does tell you
go for two first because then you know, you know,
and do I need to get eight?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Here?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Do I need to get six? Do I need to
get seven?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So yeah, that's great.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
But as much as I love analytics, I'm one hundred
percent with you, Like people have given Tomlin a hard
time that he's punning on fourth and one. The analytics
say you should go for it seventy percent of the time.
That's great, But tell me what play you're gonna run?
Or my right guard can't block Aaron Donald to save
his life. I can't get with that one yard in
(20:53):
this instance, you know. I mean, it's not just a
sheet of paper to tell you what to do in
these situations.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Not only that, can we hey, can we just take
a look at what kind of play was that?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, the only one Alex Heismith
was the only guy that reacted in the whole place,
you know. And I'm like going, kad zookes, what are
they ring there? You know? So that's got to be
part of.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
My analytics, right, And again I don't remember, okay, but
but it is another good sign.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It didn't occur to me, like that's another good coaching
sign that your team was ready for whatever. That. The
other thing I would say, Matt, and and I think
that this gets under sold in our town quite a
bit when it comes to Mike Tomlin and his coaching acumen.
Is that And again this is just my observation. I
(21:45):
haven't heard Mike Tomlin say this out loud, but you
know I've used this analogy before. No matter what sport
you're playing, you know, you go with your buddies, you
choose upside. You're playing basketball, you know, out at the
local playground or in the y, and you got the
same group of guys. You look around and you say, okay,
you know, if you want to win the game, what
are our assets? What do we need to do to
win the game? Who could hurt us on the other team? Well,
(22:07):
the last several years from Mike Tomlin, again, he was
a guy that was very aggressive earlier in his career.
Because I'm guessing here, and again I haven't heard him
say this out loud, but I'm guessing it's because, look,
we have weapons on offense. We have a really good
chance of picking this up. And if we don't pick
it up, guess what we're gonna score next time? When
you are in a death battle, to try to score
(22:29):
sixteen points and eat that out, and you're relying on
a great defense. Well, you take those things into context,
and it makes more sense to rely on your defense,
which for the last couple of years has been a
better unit than their offense. It just has. So which
unit are you going to trust to win the game
if you're a head coach whose job is by the
way to win the game, not to please you by
(22:51):
meshing with whatever analytics are out there.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And I think he's fabulous in knowing what it takes
not to lose the game. That's first and foremost is
not losing it. Then we figure out how to win it.
And you mentioned his history. I mean back in the
Killer Bee era with Bell and Brown and Ben, they
were the only team in the league that were they'd
scored the opening touchdown and go for two, you know,
like that seems crazy, but they were super aggressive back then,
(23:15):
you know, because they had three Hall of Fame type guys,
three guys that might have been the best at their
position at the time. And what's interesting to me, though,
is what I am excited and worried about. And this
is a reaction one day later, less than a day later,
is is the offense becoming the better unit? I mean,
I think it was last night.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
That's a really good question, really good question, uh Wolf.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
You know, here's the thing that that surprised me was
they gave up chunk plays. That's something that they had
not been doing at all. And secondly was you know,
the points they give up in the second half. They've
been very, very good coming out of the gate in
the second half and squelching and putting a damper on
the offense of the opposition. So, you know, all I
can say is for one game anyhow, certainly the offense
(24:07):
has come alive the last three weeks, but the defense
is just facing some challenges here. I wonder how much,
like Dante Jackson, how much that shoulder is giving him
some problems, you know, things like that. But yeah, they
just didn't hit on all eight cylinders that we've been
watching in the previous what seven games or so, you know.
(24:29):
I mean, it's to me, that's the difference. This defense
has been playing lights out, playing some great football, and
I don't think last night was one of their best performances.
It was a winning performance, though, and that's key.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
And Rob Along those lines, I think day Ball's a
tremendous schemer and play caller and going back to his
Bills days, and I not to excuse what the Steelers did,
because frankly, I think they underestimated Tracy the running back
a great deal, because he was really, really good in
this game. But my hunch is what they came into
(25:02):
this After watching the game and settling down, I think
what they came in this game doing was we can't
let Neighbors get over the top to beat us, and
we can't let Daniel Jones run all over us. And
Jones carried all three times for one yard and Neighbors
did damage. Of course he's going to but he didn't
hit the bomb on you. And I think those are
things that could have beat you know, we talked about
(25:23):
what could what can we do to lose this game? Well,
if Neighbors has an eight r touchdown over the top,
well it's gonna be tough for us to win.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So they did enough to win, right, I agree? I
agree wholeheartedly. By the way, you and I were taping
a show on Thursday, and at that point I'd watched
three Giants games and Tracy wasn't a big part of it,
and we were talking to Tracy, and I was like, well,
I'm not that impressed by him. But by the time
I finished watching the rest of the Giants and was
ready for the game Monday night, I was much more impressed. Yeah,
(25:51):
I found the guy. When Singletary got hurt and his
role grew, he began to take off. And Matt, I think,
you know, you're question about the better unit is stunning
in a way because we're only two games into the
Russell Wilson era, and I do like to point out
the fact that, you know, fifty eight games without getting
to four hundred yards Russell Wilson's quarterback. Two games and
(26:14):
he's gotten to four hundred yards both games. And you
now have a team, to me, that has the capacity
to keep up with another team if it turns into
attract met the last several years, when it's turned into
attract me, you know, the Steelers have left their their
spikes alongside the track. They can't keep up. They can't
they can't run with the big dogs when those games
of World round. They just haven't had the guy at
(26:37):
the quarterback position to be able to do that. And
now they do. And you begin to look around and
think Okay, well, hey, wait a minute, now, who's calling
Darnel Washington a weapon? Earlier in the year, probably nobody.
Same with Calvin Austin. Now suddenly this Arthur Smith offense.
We know that he's an extremely well regarded offensive coordinator.
(26:57):
The fact that you're even posing that question two games in,
I think is a very encouraging sign for where the
Steelers could go this season.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, and I didn't mean to imply that I think
the Steelers offense is better than the defense. I don't
think that at this point, but last.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Night it was.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And there is major changes on that side of the ball,
namely the quarterback who's probably gonna end up in the
Hall of Fame. And we still have me mentioned Van Jefferson.
That was probably his best game too. I mean he's
helping quite a bit as well. They're doing enough. You know,
all those guys, the Washington's, Jefferson, that College and Austin,
et cetera. And Pickens stirs the drink, Pickens and nause
(27:35):
You stir the drink.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Right and then Jalen Warren. You'll bring Patterson back. He'll
be another weapon. And that's another thing. Well, is that
look all the rumors. When there's as much smoke as
there is around the Steelers pursuing another wide receiver, I've
got to believe there's some fire to all these stories,
which are not just local but national as well, that
the Steelers are in search of a quote unquote number
(27:59):
two receives. But I have thought, and now we're beginning
to see with Russell Wilson a quarterback, that if it
doesn't work out, if you're not comfortable with the price
it's going to cost you to acquire a certain player.
And I know you're in win now mode and this
year there's always are but there's always a cost analysis
to be made. I mean with all the three tight
ends that you play, I mean, Calvin Austin is playing,
(28:22):
you know, thirteen fifteen percent of the snaps, and look
what he did last night with those snaps, and look
what the other guys are doing with their snaps. The
variety of the offense, the fact that you've got a
lot of good football players that are being used in
those variety of ways makes me wonder if they can't,
you know, scheme around things and still be an awfully
(28:42):
effective offense.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Well again, you know, we saw Van the Man right
that that back shoulder throw down the sidelines and the
way he was able to stop, come back and be
able to catch that ball said so much to me
about having the ability of a quarterback bill to throw
the moonball, to throw it deep, to pressure the back
end of the defense, and put that ball in play
(29:04):
where your guys can can operate under it and do
some special things. That to me says it all. Look,
I think Russ is going to be great for George Pickens.
I think he's going to be an a mentoring role
in the sense of an encouragement role too, where he's
going to be able to get the best out of George.
I think the same thing for Van. I think the
rest for the rest of the players, and again has
(29:25):
nothing to do with justin Fields and the magnificent work
he did in the first six weeks. It's simply you've
got a guy right now who's got the street crowd,
who's got the Super Bowl ring, the Pro Bowls. He's
got him for a reason. Right over the course of
his career, he has shown unbelievable ability to play this
game and do so at that quarterback position, and I
(29:46):
think you take advantage of it while you can, and
certainly I think he's going to be able to bring
along a wide receiver, number two, number three, whatever you need.
I think Russ is going to be able to supply
just because of who he is and his game brains,
his ability to operate under pressure and bring the playbook
out onto the field.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
And Russ and Smith have only been together truly and twice, now.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I mean, like that little bit of preseason doesn't count,
or Russ on the bench, I mean like play after play,
communicating with one another.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I like this.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I like that. That stuff's only going to get better.
Their familiarity, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
We're going to talk a little bit more about that,
a little bit about the buy, how the students might
come out of the buy, and more when we continue
in the point after on this steel there's audio network.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Back to the point after on DVE, crowd on.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Its feet, Tals swirling an act for sure, Snap back
to Jones looking and has the ball down, it away
and want covered by TJ Watt Strip sack recovery Steelers
ball tremendous turn of events late in the fourth quarter
at Actressure Stadium. It was the Zach Hunger segment is
(30:59):
brought to you by the Great Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
Get food, volunteer or donated Pittsburgh Food Bank dot Org
Wilf already weighed in on this Matt a little bit,
but TJ. Watt. And then on the other side you
have Alex Heighsmith that his return was very evident, and
you know his comments after the game, you know, talking
(31:19):
about how great TJ. Watt is, you know, and it
really isn't Alex Heismith's fault that he gets there frequently
a split second after TJ. Watt, Like, if he's not
another team, how many sacks would he have. It's not
his fault that TJ. Watt wants them all for himself.
And he's just such a great player. TJ. Watt such
(31:39):
a great player. But on the other end, I really
do want to command Alex Heismith because I just think
he's a terrific player as well.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yeah, I think it's the best defensive front in the league,
and those edge guys are incredibly important. Now, this isn't
taking anything away from high Smith, but our old buddy
Chris Hubbard was in a pretty difficult situation too. He
got signed a couple of days ago. I don't know
how much left tackle he's ever played. I always thought he
was a gardener, right, But they were so bad off
(32:07):
there that they just threw the veteran in there that's
been around the block and had to help him quite
a bit. But that's you know, when you go into
the Lions, then you're gonna get eating sometimes. And those
tackles got eaten up.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And I gotta say this, I gotta jump, I got
I gotta apologize to you. I stepped all over your
lines there. I was so fired enough to see that.
You know, I mean, you just know you've watch him
all night long. You've watched this guy TJ since his
rookie year and have been president every single snap he's
ever taken. And to watch him again, save the Steelers fan,
(32:40):
he's pull it out of the fire with another great play.
I couldn't keep my big yapp shot.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Sorry, No, that's that's that's awesome. I love that. I
love the enthusiasm and excitement and yeah, Hubbard's numbers and
left tackle he'd played there, just a little bit mad,
and that they weren't good. Yeah, in the pass rush department,
not good. But that's you know, look what do most
teams have with premiere left tackle Alexise Smith hats to
see him all the time and still get tons of pressures.
(33:07):
Was among the league leaders, if I'm not mistaken, in
the pressure department a year ago. So that was great
to see and really great to see Wolf Beanie Bishop.
Look camp, Sutton's going to be back, and we could
talk about some of the reinforcements after the bye, but
let's just for a moment talk about Beanie Bishop. And
you know what was fun too, was to see Bishop
and Calvin Austin had this battle all throughout camp and
(33:30):
all throughout the preseason. Beanie Bishop trying to be the
slot corner, Calvin Austin doing a lot of work offensively
out of the slot, and Mike Tomon always says iron
sharpens iron, and those two guys made each other better
throughout the course of camp and the preseason.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
There's no question about it. You know, It's so exciting
to see a young player come out of nowhere. And
I'm just waiting for the moment that we get a
deal where we get Bishop intercepting with Queen in front
of him, You making the call so I can say
being you know, the Bishop to queen checkmate, my king,
(34:06):
you know what I mean, whatever I mean, just that
would have been great. You know, but you got to
see this young guy perform under the pressure of knowing
that a veteran's coming in and that they're expecting Cam
to be able to assume responsibility for the Nickel. Well,
now it's not so cut clear, you know, I mean
right now being the Bishop is playing some magnificent football.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Matt, Yeah, I kind of felt like, man, I'm worried
about this Nickel situation when the season started, like they're
just going to try to do their best to keep
above water until Sutton arrives. But that's a pretty long
stretch and you know, you're asking an undrafted free agent to,
you know, man that spot, which is pretty darn close
to being a starter. And he get his ups and downs,
(34:49):
and teams definitely attack him as everyone would because he's unproven,
But for him to close out two games in a row, man,
I mean, the momentum that his career is taking now
is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
And well, now that we've got the whole thing settled
in the Beanie Bishop, but discussion, I did tell you
that I wanted to tell you that when when there
were some rumors that the Penguins might be interested in
trading for Rick Nash about fifteen years ago, and I thought, boy,
if they could add, you know, they're gonna put him
on Crosby's line. I thought, if he'd go out and
get you know, Stillman, you'd have Crosby stills in that. Yeah, anyway,
(35:26):
I thought that would have been fun. So I did
want to circle back to this match before we talk
about the team coming out of the break and getting healthier.
I think that it's really interesting to see the playmakers
on this offense starting to shine. And I think Jalen
Warren has got a sea legs back underneath him. We're
beginning to see what a valuable contributor he can be.
(35:46):
You know, when you think of game breakers most frequently,
I think you think of wide receivers and guys in
the outside, but that one to two running back combination
with some cord Aero Patterson spelling him when he comes
back in. But Pickens and his ability, and when you
think about this year and the influence he's had on
opposing defenses and the numbers that should be so much better.
(36:09):
I mean, the pass interference calls that he's drawn, the
plays that have been wiped out, the long one up
the sideline from fields out in Denver, a touchdown in Denver,
callback two possible touchdowns last night. I mean, the two
right foot thing. Look, I've been accused of having two
left feet on the dance floor. The two right foot
down not being a catch was strange. But but Pickens is,
(36:30):
he's flourishing, even if the numbers don't even add up
to I think sort of the impact he's had in
the game.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yeah, that that two right foot thing was the first
I learned that one. I didn't know that at all.
I'm a little shocked. They might have to go back
to the drawing board on that rule. But you couldn't
be You couldn't be more right. I mean, Pickens Routtree
has developed so much. His ability to set up the fenders.
You know, all the traits have always been there. And
I know we're not talking fantasy football here, but I
(36:59):
was on a fantasy set earlier this morning and it
doesn't shock me at all. But more than any player
in all the NFL, Pickens has had way more, not
even close like off the charts, fantasy points taken away
from him because of penalty or things like that.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
You know, Like I mean all.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
Those touchdowns, those DPIs he's drawn down the field. That's
a lot of hidden yard or not even hidden yards.
That's a lot of yardage that should be on the
back of his football card.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
That isn't you know. And you know what's so tough
to take is when you're the cause of that. Yeah,
you're in the huddle with the guy like sorry, doesn't
quite get it done, you know.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, I should point out too,
And this circles back to Russell Wilson because again it's
like it's like a door that was that needed to
be unlocked. And Russell Wilson, you know, with Arthur Smith,
you know, has has put that in place. That throw
to Pickens, and we talk about the long moon bog
and the law did ball that Jefferson on the ball
(38:02):
that went through like Scotty Miller look like he had
an opportunity to catch up off the right sideline. I'm
being covered by Strowman. Just an incredible throw by Russell Wilson.
But that throw, that deep pass to Pickens, that was
a laser. That was not a loft football. That was
a tremendous throw into double coverage. I mean over the
(38:22):
left shoulder, going on the left sideline, in double coverage
between and over two defenders. I was just a spectacular
throw by Russell Wilson.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
And along those lines, you know, watching Wilson at camp
and a little bit of practice. I'm not down there
every day. I never really had major concerns about his
arm strength at his age, but his first game back
a week ago, I thought the ball died on him
a couple times. Some of the arm strength throws were
a little suspect. The deep ball is always there, and
he's been one of the best deep ball throws of
(38:51):
all time, but last night I thought he's got a
little more zip on it to drive the ball. I'm
a lot less worried about arm strength stuff. I was
a little concerned a week ago.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Might let me just jump in with this too. Rob
the thing and I don't mean to take a right
turn here, but I want to give this guy's props.
Not Gie Harris has just been terrific, absolutely over three
weeks and early on I was just watching the film today.
He dropped a check down and you know, he was
so mad at himself. It was a little bit behind,
but he dropped it. And the next way he takes
(39:21):
a swing. It takes a takes the ball to a
wide side and he hurdles a guy and its first
and ten. He drops the ball. Second and ten he
hurdles a guy for a first down. I mean, you know,
it goes twelve yards or something like that. But it
was such a clean hurdle. It was amazing. And just
to see what he's been doing over the last three
(39:41):
weeks has just been magnificent, getting the job done with
an offensive line that has had some intermingling of parts there.
I mean, let's face it, some guys have checked in
and out, but yet it's getting the job done. And
kudos to them and the offensive line, to Nagy and
the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
The ability to create chunk runs and chump passes has
just spiked dramatically.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
You know, yeah, exactly, and you know, the numbers come
up and some people point to it as well as
Najie Harrison. I think the right hole, we're not getting
your quick enough. But I mean all the times that
he was hit behind the line of scrimmage, I believe
he led the league a couple of years ago in
that category. Which is not a category you want to
lead the league.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
He's pretty much been there most of his career.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Right, yeah, yeah, but we have seen when he's got
a little bit of room, the capability to make moves
or accelerate. I mean, I still go back to he
made a move on Jones where the defender fell down
for Vegas fell down. I mean, this is a two
hundred and forty five pounds man making a slighter cornerback
(40:48):
fall down. Because of the movie he made. And then
we see him at practice all the time working on
that sprinting machine. He is a tireless worker and that's
helped him. You know, other elements as well. We talk
about at the block front, the blocking down field, but
you still have to be able to accelerate, and Nagy
has worked very hard at that part of his game.
And there's no question is it is showing off and
(41:10):
helping his team win games.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Well, we used to glorify how much, you know, like
you said, he gets hit before he gets the lion
of scrimmage the last couple of years and talk about, wow,
how tough he is, you know, and just battling his
way and you know, takes these hits and this and that.
Well that's like, you know, champion on a boxer who
can take a punch. Okay, well maybe if you don't
take the punch, you're a better boxer, you know what
I mean. And I think that's what Nage is showing.
(41:34):
He's ghosting guys, he's hurtling guys, he's out running guys,
and when he has to, he stiff arms him and
battles with him and takes him on. I mean, I
really like this, this manifestation of Naji Harris that we're
seeing this year. Very very impressed with.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Him and Matt really quick you talk about the Pickings
route tree, just like Wolf was talking about. It's nice
to see him not have to take on the clisions
all the time. Talk about George Pickens like I heard
all the time last year. Look at all the contested
catches by Pickings. I'm like, yeah, but can I see
some uncontested.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Right sat the middle of the field, You know.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
That would be nice too. And then but that route
to reimproving.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Is help that, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (42:15):
And I think we're even going to see more inbreaking routes,
like if you go back to Arthur Smith's history, Aj
Brown off play action on deep digs and crossers and
things like that was lethal.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Well Pickens can do that too. After the catchup, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And wolf this team, uh presumably we don't know whether
they're going to add personnel, whether they do or they don't.
They should be getting healthier. We're hoping for Fraser back
and her big and Patterson and other players, other key
performers who should be back and ready to go for
this team. I mean, and you're six and two, and
this by coming at a time in which you might
(42:53):
get some healthy, significant bodies back, It's hard not to
be pretty exuberant with where the Steelers are right now
at this point of the season.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Very optimistic. I mean, think about it. You're going into
the bye week now, you have that opportunity to rest
a little bit, get some people healthier, hopefully healthy enough
to come back and participate. Allah Zach Frasier, because you're
gonna need him and others like him to be able
to make this run coming up. This is like a Gauntlet,
like I don't know, Clint Eastwood had a movie called
(43:24):
The Gauntlet where he was, you know, getting shot at
by everybody's trying to bring in a prisoner because it
was just such an unbelievable run through all these bad guys. Well,
that's what you've got coming up for the Steelers. This
is a gauntlet that is I don't know, it just
looks it looks like it can be overwhelming, But you know,
you play him one game at a time, and I
(43:45):
believe this. This is a team that right now is
kind of gathering its strength, gathering its mojo, getting ready
to make that run. And this could be a very
special year. We'll see, Matt.
Speaker 4 (43:59):
Yeah, six and two is wonderful, but I'm a little
greedy and really wish they could play Dallas tomorrow and
Indie the day after Again. I mean, those are games
you could have had, and I think they're even better team.
They're a noticeably better team than both, But hey, go
and most teams don't go eight and no to start
the season. And I'm really excited where they're at. But
(44:19):
I also think chapter two of the Steelers season is
gonna be a lot different, better or worse than chapter one.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Well, gear up with the latest game data necessities at
the official Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible tows, authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the official
Steelers Pro shops located at Akroshur Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
(44:47):
Steelers dot com. Gentlemen, thank you very much, enjoy the
bye week, and we will catch you in a couple
of weeks on the point after on the Steelers Audio
Network
Welcome to the Steelers Point after show on WDBD Pittsburgh.
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(00:22):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and
Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks very much for being with us Following the Steelers'
victory over the Giants heading into the bye week that
has allowed the Steelers are that twenty six to eighteen
victory to improve to six and two on the season
in first place by themselves in the AFC North. Our
first reaction is brought to you by First National Bank.
Let's get started, member FDI C wolf Let's get started
(00:49):
with you your thoughts on what you saw last night and
Monday Night football.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I saw a team that realized it was in
the dogfight. I really went into the game thinking that
there was a lot of things that the Steels were
going to be able to do offensively against the Giants
and also defensively against their offense. Some of that went
awry is normal because that's just the way it rolls
in the NFL. But certainly what I enjoyed was watching
(01:14):
Naja Harris get his mojo Roland yet again. In three
hundred yard games in a row. Is a terrific way
to punch through even a performance where maybe not everything
was working as it should or not all things were
firing on all eight cylinders, let's just say. But they
were able to overcome do the things they needed to do,
and there was some really big plays that they were
(01:36):
able to make, and they came out the winner. That's
the biggest thing, Matt.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, obviously more good than bad. There were some concerns
red zone offense stalling out run defense I thought was
very worrisome. But when you have the best special teams
in the league that seems to make a huge play
every week, it's a pretty nice equalizer with as well
as this offense is playing with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, a lot of good things. Well, if you look
at the positives in this let's start with the special teams,
because you know, I'm always like well, we'll get to
the special teams and we're gonna get there, and let's
start there. Because the Calvin Austin punt return is a
huge playing this game.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Oh it's ginormous because things were really kind of bottled
up until Calvin Austin decided to be able to take
one and go house. You know, if you listen to
the postgame talk with you know, the postgame press conference
with Mike Tomlin, and he talked about the fact that
he had had conversations with Calvin Austin going into this
game and some of the other games, but talking about
how close he was to actually putting one in the
(02:43):
end zone. And then there he goes and does it.
You know, you got that Tomlin touch. That's beautiful. You
needed that. And for Danny Smith, he has been on
a roll with his team with three games in a
row with blocks and now you add a punt return
touchdown and a seventy three yard punt return touchdown at
that I mean, that was that was no small feat
(03:04):
and that was so badly needed. It really puts some
juice into the Steelers and created some space in between
them and the Giants.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Matt, you know, a couple of things that we rely
on that I rely on to get ready for a game.
Matt stats coming my way in Thursday. Always liked that,
and I love the Bob Labriola interview with Mike Tomlin,
and he talked about special teams how and we've all
seen it, Matt. You're up at camp all the time.
You see the early work that this team puts on
special teams. It doesn't pay lip service to Hey, this
(03:37):
is one third of the game. This twoler's actually put
in the work. And when we look at the last
four games, blockkick, blockkick, blockkick, punt return for a touchdown,
I'm not sure that if you take one or two
those away, the Steelers are still a six to two
first place team.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
No, I think you're one hundred percent right. It's been
the best special teams unit in the entire league, and
it seems to be separating from the pack on a
weekly basis.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you're right.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I'm not at thirty one other training camps, but I
do know that the Steelers put more practice time in
on special teams than most teams. They also, when you
look at their roster building, they'll keep four or five
players the Matti Kaevich's the killer brews that not every
other team will that are just pure special team core guys.
And then they go out and spend money on a
(04:23):
punter and invested heavily in what might be the best
kicker on the planet right now. So they put their
money where their mouth is too. It's not lip service,
as you said, And.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Let me just say this, I'm the return carry. One
of the things that I failed to mention was there
were several guys that made key blocks. I just I
want to take a moment to commend them, because those
guys could they could have gotten called for hitting in
the back or something like that, or a blind side shot,
and they took a safe route to be able to
shield and block a guy without committing a foul. And
(04:55):
that's just the result of good coaching. That's having awareness
and people that are coaching them up so that you
don't commit those foolish penalties that would result in bringing
a spectacular return like that back. So kudos to Danny
Smith again getting the job done in a way that
few others are capable of doing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, Matt, we were down in Florida during the
winter meetings for the NFL I think the General managers
meetings whatever they finish, uh, the owners meetings, right and
they you know, it was announced, Hey there's a new
kickoff rule designed to get the kickoff back in the game.
And before you were even finished reading the news release,
(05:37):
it seemed the Steelers had signed Cordero Patterson. So you know,
the greatest kick returner in NFL history hasn't had a
chance to show that. And you can't blame teams for
not wanting to kick it to them. But there again,
that commitment shown, not just on the field, not just
talking about it on the field, with the checkbook, all
of it shows that the Steelers that is a part
of the game they do indeed takes seriously yea.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And I can't reiterate it enough.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I mean, using resources, whether it's practice time or cap
space or you know, even draft picks. It just shows
that it's not lip service at all, you know. I
mean there's consistently over the last twenty years, the Patriots,
the Ravens, and for the most part, the Steelers have
(06:21):
been the top of any special team rank year you'll
look at. And that stuff's not by accident. Those guys
want a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, Look, we started Matt talking about Calvin Austin and
we're keeping an eye on the trade deadline, and as
we're taping this, you know, the news just broke that
Deontay Johnson was sent to the Ravens, and so there's
you know, stories that the seniors are going to be
involved in the wide receiver market, but you know, of
all the guys, and again I harken back to training
(06:50):
camp with this, it just felt like Russell Wilson was
doing a lot of work, paying a lot of attention
to wasn't anything overt, but just seemed like there was
a connection building between he and Calvin Austin, and I
just wonder if Calvin Austin might be a real beneficiary
of the fact that, you know, Russell Wilson is a
(07:11):
nine time Pro Bowl quarterback and is now at the Rains.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, and coach Tomlin didn't go into detail about at
least I missed it. If he did, you know, things
are really close for you. I mean I kind of
felt like that was on offense and special teams as
a returner because you watch the All twenty two No
offense to justin fields, but there's been times that Austin's
been pretty open that the bald just hasn't gone his way.
You know, that's not his fault. He has nothing to
(07:35):
do with that. But I really liked him coming out
of school. I mean, people looked at him and said, oh,
he's just a little speed gadget guy. But even in
college he was an ex receiver on the line of
scrimmage a really high percentage of the time. He can
handle man coverage, and I think he's starting to come
into his own, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And Wolf again that you and I talked about this
a little bit with Max this morning, but I always
think this, you know, Bear repeating that it felt like
the Steelers, you know, didn't necessarily trust Calvin Austin with
a lot of the blocking responsibilities because he's not a
big guy, and so that so you say, okay, well,
(08:16):
we want to have maybe five plays for Calvin Austin
to get the ball in his hands on a jet
sweep or maybe a bubble screen, or maybe we could
you get him on a wheel route or something. But
in order to do that, now you have to play
him fifteen times a game because you don't want to
tip your hand, and hey, every time he's in the game,
he's gonna get the ball on a jet sweep or something.
So and we haven't even seen him. I don't think
(08:37):
on a jet sweep this year, if I'm not mistaken,
But it feels like this. You got a new wide
receiver coach, you have a new offensive coordinator that they
trust him to block. They know that he is a
pit bull who's going to go out there and give
it all on his his all on the blocking game.
He's not a detriment and he and why wide receivers
(09:00):
always when you see a big run, almost inevitably, a
wide receiver is making a lockdown field that turns an
eight yard gain into an eighteen yard gain.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Or more, no question about it. Look, you know, blocking
is really all about a want to more than a
how to. I mean, obviously you got to have some
how to, but the desire to go in and dig
a guy out or get on the periphery and make
a block. And it doesn't have to be perfect. You
don't have to truck a guy. All you got to
do is make sure that you are between him and
(09:31):
your guy, you know, I mean, that's the idea and
one of the things that Kelvin Austin has done. He's
grown in his game brains, and game brains are the
repetitions that you get in Live Go, where those x's
and o's move from a one dimensional aspect in your
playbook to moving out on the field of play. And
you've got to be able to just learn who the
(09:53):
most dangerous is, know your assignments, of course, but as
the play unfolds, you've got to be able to make
rapid adjustments to whatever is occurring on the on the field,
and he certainly is learning that. He let's face it,
he caught a moving train in a sense, he missed
the whole year, right, Okay, So I mean the fact
is this young guy has been making up time and
(10:15):
he's not had the opportunity as much to be able
to display what he's capable of doing until more recent
times where he's had that opportunity now to be that guy.
And by golly, we got something special with this guy.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And I should point out, you know, we're not looking at,
you know, an overwhelming leap in snap counts for Calvin Austin.
It's not like he was not playing at all. It's
just that it doesn't feel like and look as soon
as you're playing a lot of heavy personnel. They are,
they're playing a lot of you know, two tight ends,
three tight ends. You know, they're running it out there.
(10:50):
And I think, Matt, you have the stats on this
at a higher percentage than anybody in the league. It's
just that it's not and they're not always running out
of those formations. And so what you're seeing is within
the formations, within Calvin Austin being out there, the three
tight ends. Being out there three tight ends doesn't always
mean run. Calvin Austin doesn't always mean pass, and Matt,
(11:12):
that makes a defense, an offense more difficult to defend.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah, I think that's a real Arthur Smith's strength, even
in Atlanta, even in Tennessee, that he can do a
lot of things out of the same packages while throwing
a lot of packages at you. You know, like Wolf
and I were even just talking off the air, you
know that a guy like Pruett, he can do some
fullback for you. I mean, so you know, thirteen can
turn into twenty two in the blink of an eye,
(11:37):
you know, with two backs and get different blocking angles.
And I think Arthur Smith does a real good job
of devising schemes that create good blocking angles. And boy,
Darnell Washington, to me, is really coming into his own too.
I mean, there aren't many players like him in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well and again, Wolf, that's in the blocking game, and
it's also in the passing game. I mean a career
long reception last night. We've seen him be utilized more.
I mean, he's a big target, he's an athletic guy.
He's a guy that it can't be any fun if
you're a defensive back to see Baron down him the football.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, I think we got a new nickname for him.
Instead of Mount Washington, we might have to go with
Rolling Thunder, because that guy, you know, when he gets
that ball in his hands, east starts heading north and south,
watching guys come up on him and curl up like
eight yards away from him, and like they look like
they're assuming the position of a speed bump, you know,
hoping that maybe he'll just trip over me and I
(12:36):
won't take the full brunt of what this guy is
about to unload on me.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, and we're.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Talking about defensive back sealing with Washington. I'm not sure
defensive ends love dealing with Washington, either protection or the
run game.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, right right. You know, it's so funny you talk
about the tight end and you usually say, you know, hey,
he's he's you know, too too big for a corner,
you know, too fast for a linebacker. You know, he
might be too big for a linebacker and too big
for a defensive end. I mean, he's he's got some attributes,
(13:09):
and it's fun to see him having a chance to
exploit those attributes and show the Steelers hasplit those attributes
and him show those attributes as well.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I think it's gonna be even more so when
you start posting him up over the middle and some
of the windows, they have an opportunity to operate in
some of those curl regions of the you know, on
a defense the guy just has Watching him display his
hands and his ability to turn a five yarder into
a fifteen yarder is pretty special and I would see
I would expect more of that coming along. And again
(13:40):
I refer to a time that there was a guy
named Bill Belichick who had a guy named Gronk and
a guy named Hernandez, and he ran a lot of
offense through those two. And I can see where that
could possibly be something that plays out as this season
moves along.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. It'll be interesting to see
what the Steelers look like next. Will it be the
same group of players after the trade deadline when they
get ready to take on the Commanders after the break,
We're gonna talk a lot more to this football. They
are in first place in the AFC North by themselves
heading into their bye week. That's when we continue in
(14:17):
the Point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Back to the Point After on DVD.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Talk boots a low line drive. Austin retreating back to
his twenty six will take it. He's gonna start to
the left, trying to get to the outside there, and
he's gonna get there, and he's gonna cross the forty.
He's gonna cross midfields. He's gonna across the forty of
the Giants. Here he goes, bracing down on the left sideline.
Calvin Austin is in for the score. What a run
by Calvin Austin. Flag comes in late a seventy four
(14:46):
yard return as Calvin Austin has electrified this crowd at
Akrosher Stadium. Well they changed into seventy three yards, but
it's still good stuff. Calvin Austin to play of the
game brought to you by S and T Bank. He's
serving our community since nineteen oh two. St bank dot
com S and T Bank member FDI see Craig Wilfie.
(15:07):
I know you loved that return. I think your play
of the game we're probably gonna hear coming up in
a little bit and that is the TJ. Watt strip,
sack and fumble recovery.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, that one is a special one. Uh you know.
I again, I still think about Jermaine Ilumin or the
right tackle who gave up two sacks in the last
meeting with TJ. Watt. I believe he was a member
of the Raiders at that time. So then coming into
this game, you're gonna signal, you know, single out TJ.
Watt again and you're gonna say, I want to be
(15:40):
on an island against this guy all day long. That's
really poking a bear that you might would be better left,
you know, letting that bear sleep, if the bear would sleep,
any wasn't sleeping. But exactly so, I mean, TJ. Watt,
what a play? How How this guy is able to
manifest a play at that moment, at that time and
(16:02):
do this over and over on the biggest stages is
just incredible to me. And that his sense of that moment,
that seminal moment that you got to come through that
somebody threw up the bat signal up in the sky
and you respond with a play. You take them, You
just take it all. It's a trifecta. You sack them,
you strip the ball, you recover the ball. My goodness,
(16:24):
it was just amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
And there was never any doubt that he was gonna
do all three too, because he knew, like he didn't
play yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Right, it was almost like a practice trill down then
I'll jump on top of it. Yeah, like he just
went around to you know, blocking dummy or something like that.
And again, third and seven from the Steelers nineteen yard
line in an eight point game. That's crucial. I mean
that that is a crucial moment of the game. Even
if the Giants kick a field goal there, you're certainly
(16:54):
feeling very uneasy about the turn of events in that game.
And uh yeah, TJ. Watt spectacular play and Matt So
for listeners and anybody who's got this tune in is
in fact the listener you know, when the when we
go to commercial. It's not silence all. It is is
(17:15):
now a free for all between Wolf, Max, Missy and
myself with everybody chiming in with their ideas and thoughts
on different things. So we were all trying to come
up with an island because the Luminar said he wanted
to be on an island. Wolf went with, you know,
Fantasy Island, the old TV show. You know. I was
going with Treasure Island because it was a treasure for
(17:36):
you know, t J. Watt. He was gonna get all
the treasure on that island. Uh. And Matt had Max
had you know something that he was throwing in there
and the guys on DV this morning. I brought that
up to him and they said, how about he drove
him into Neville Island.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, so we.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Got we got a lot of islands in play from
a lumina or and none of them were good.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
No, my geography isn't great, but I'd come up with
some nasty, wet, cold island where you're not enjoying yourself
on that island at all, because I don't think I
Lluminer wants to go back at all.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
And I couldn't.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Believe, you know, Wilson fumbles and all of a sudden,
you're like, man, Steelers should have this in hand, and
that is not what you want to see. And as
Wolf mentioned, what so timely got the game back in
control of the Black and Gold. But you leave a
lumin or on an island, on that scary island all
by yourself. Oh man, there has to be some Halloween
(18:26):
island that he doesn't want to be on.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, after the game, you know, Brian Dables said.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
The island of the Misfit Toys.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, misfit Toys Island's come into play. Get Wilson and
the volleyball out there. You know, a lot of a
lot of In the post game comments, Brian Dabeles said, look,
when you don't bring the tight end over, you're supposed
to bring the tight end over to TJ. Watt's side.
(18:57):
Because Watt and Heismith were doing some switching during the game,
which would be interesting, you know, flipping sides a little bit.
You're supposed to bring the tight end over to Watts
side and give him that help. And from what I understand,
Daniel Jones agreed that he was supposed to have done that.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It was an.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Interesting game because Brian Davel had a lot of I thought,
really at his team prepared, I thought he did all
he good to try to minimize what the studers do well.
I will say this, Matt, and I know you're probably
more in touch with the analytics community than Wolf or me,
but it seems to be now somebody's done the math
that if you're down two scores, you go for two
(19:38):
because your chances of getting to at least one of
those two times and worse, tying it and winning it,
or your chances of converting one of those maybe the
first one, then kicking a field goal and winning it
are greater than trying to settle for overtime. I think
I explained that properly, But to me, that takes a
(19:59):
little bit of the human element out, which is sometimes
and I love analytics, but I sometimes wonder if you
leave the analytics out of it, or you leave the
humanity out of it and the momentum. Do you lose
a little momentum when you don't get too there? And
to me, I think you do.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah, And that situation you laid out is getting very
popular in the NFL. And the book does tell you
go for two first because then you know, you know,
and do I need to get eight?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Here?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Do I need to get six? Do I need to
get seven?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
So yeah, that's great.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
But as much as I love analytics, I'm one hundred
percent with you, Like people have given Tomlin a hard
time that he's punning on fourth and one. The analytics
say you should go for it seventy percent of the time.
That's great, But tell me what play you're gonna run?
Or my right guard can't block Aaron Donald to save
his life. I can't get with that one yard in
(20:53):
this instance, you know. I mean, it's not just a
sheet of paper to tell you what to do in
these situations.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Not only that, can we hey, can we just take
a look at what kind of play was that?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, the only one Alex Heismith
was the only guy that reacted in the whole place,
you know. And I'm like going, kad zookes, what are
they ring there? You know? So that's got to be
part of.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
My analytics, right, And again I don't remember, okay, but
but it is another good sign.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It didn't occur to me, like that's another good coaching
sign that your team was ready for whatever. That. The
other thing I would say, Matt, and and I think
that this gets under sold in our town quite a
bit when it comes to Mike Tomlin and his coaching acumen.
Is that And again this is just my observation. I
(21:45):
haven't heard Mike Tomlin say this out loud, but you
know I've used this analogy before. No matter what sport
you're playing, you know, you go with your buddies, you
choose upside. You're playing basketball, you know, out at the
local playground or in the y, and you got the
same group of guys. You look around and you say, okay,
you know, if you want to win the game, what
are our assets? What do we need to do to
win the game? Who could hurt us on the other team? Well,
(22:07):
the last several years from Mike Tomlin, again, he was
a guy that was very aggressive earlier in his career.
Because I'm guessing here, and again I haven't heard him
say this out loud, but I'm guessing it's because, look,
we have weapons on offense. We have a really good
chance of picking this up. And if we don't pick
it up, guess what we're gonna score next time? When
you are in a death battle, to try to score
(22:29):
sixteen points and eat that out, and you're relying on
a great defense. Well, you take those things into context,
and it makes more sense to rely on your defense,
which for the last couple of years has been a
better unit than their offense. It just has. So which
unit are you going to trust to win the game
if you're a head coach whose job is by the
way to win the game, not to please you by
(22:51):
meshing with whatever analytics are out there.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And I think he's fabulous in knowing what it takes
not to lose the game. That's first and foremost is
not losing it. Then we figure out how to win it.
And you mentioned his history. I mean back in the
Killer Bee era with Bell and Brown and Ben, they
were the only team in the league that were they'd
scored the opening touchdown and go for two, you know,
like that seems crazy, but they were super aggressive back then,
(23:15):
you know, because they had three Hall of Fame type guys,
three guys that might have been the best at their
position at the time. And what's interesting to me, though,
is what I am excited and worried about. And this
is a reaction one day later, less than a day later,
is is the offense becoming the better unit? I mean,
I think it was last night.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
That's a really good question, really good question, uh Wolf.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
You know, here's the thing that that surprised me was
they gave up chunk plays. That's something that they had
not been doing at all. And secondly was you know,
the points they give up in the second half. They've
been very, very good coming out of the gate in
the second half and squelching and putting a damper on
the offense of the opposition. So, you know, all I
can say is for one game anyhow, certainly the offense
(24:07):
has come alive the last three weeks, but the defense
is just facing some challenges here. I wonder how much,
like Dante Jackson, how much that shoulder is giving him
some problems, you know, things like that. But yeah, they
just didn't hit on all eight cylinders that we've been
watching in the previous what seven games or so, you know.
(24:29):
I mean, it's to me, that's the difference. This defense
has been playing lights out, playing some great football, and
I don't think last night was one of their best performances.
It was a winning performance, though, and that's key.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
And Rob Along those lines, I think day Ball's a
tremendous schemer and play caller and going back to his
Bills days, and I not to excuse what the Steelers did,
because frankly, I think they underestimated Tracy the running back
a great deal, because he was really, really good in
this game. But my hunch is what they came into
(25:02):
this After watching the game and settling down, I think
what they came in this game doing was we can't
let Neighbors get over the top to beat us, and
we can't let Daniel Jones run all over us. And
Jones carried all three times for one yard and Neighbors
did damage. Of course he's going to but he didn't
hit the bomb on you. And I think those are
things that could have beat you know, we talked about
(25:23):
what could what can we do to lose this game? Well,
if Neighbors has an eight r touchdown over the top,
well it's gonna be tough for us to win.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So they did enough to win, right, I agree? I
agree wholeheartedly. By the way, you and I were taping
a show on Thursday, and at that point I'd watched
three Giants games and Tracy wasn't a big part of it,
and we were talking to Tracy, and I was like, well,
I'm not that impressed by him. But by the time
I finished watching the rest of the Giants and was
ready for the game Monday night, I was much more impressed. Yeah,
(25:51):
I found the guy. When Singletary got hurt and his
role grew, he began to take off. And Matt, I think,
you know, you're question about the better unit is stunning
in a way because we're only two games into the
Russell Wilson era, and I do like to point out
the fact that, you know, fifty eight games without getting
to four hundred yards Russell Wilson's quarterback. Two games and
(26:14):
he's gotten to four hundred yards both games. And you
now have a team, to me, that has the capacity
to keep up with another team if it turns into
attract met the last several years, when it's turned into
attract me, you know, the Steelers have left their their
spikes alongside the track. They can't keep up. They can't
they can't run with the big dogs when those games
of World round. They just haven't had the guy at
(26:37):
the quarterback position to be able to do that. And
now they do. And you begin to look around and
think Okay, well, hey, wait a minute, now, who's calling
Darnel Washington a weapon? Earlier in the year, probably nobody.
Same with Calvin Austin. Now suddenly this Arthur Smith offense.
We know that he's an extremely well regarded offensive coordinator.
(26:57):
The fact that you're even posing that question two games in,
I think is a very encouraging sign for where the
Steelers could go this season.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, and I didn't mean to imply that I think
the Steelers offense is better than the defense. I don't
think that at this point, but last.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Night it was.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
And there is major changes on that side of the ball,
namely the quarterback who's probably gonna end up in the
Hall of Fame. And we still have me mentioned Van Jefferson.
That was probably his best game too. I mean he's
helping quite a bit as well. They're doing enough. You know,
all those guys, the Washington's, Jefferson, that College and Austin,
et cetera. And Pickens stirs the drink, Pickens and nause
(27:35):
You stir the drink.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Right and then Jalen Warren. You'll bring Patterson back. He'll
be another weapon. And that's another thing. Well, is that
look all the rumors. When there's as much smoke as
there is around the Steelers pursuing another wide receiver, I've
got to believe there's some fire to all these stories,
which are not just local but national as well, that
the Steelers are in search of a quote unquote number
(27:59):
two receives. But I have thought, and now we're beginning
to see with Russell Wilson a quarterback, that if it
doesn't work out, if you're not comfortable with the price
it's going to cost you to acquire a certain player.
And I know you're in win now mode and this
year there's always are but there's always a cost analysis
to be made. I mean with all the three tight
ends that you play, I mean, Calvin Austin is playing,
(28:22):
you know, thirteen fifteen percent of the snaps, and look
what he did last night with those snaps, and look
what the other guys are doing with their snaps. The
variety of the offense, the fact that you've got a
lot of good football players that are being used in
those variety of ways makes me wonder if they can't,
you know, scheme around things and still be an awfully
(28:42):
effective offense.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Well again, you know, we saw Van the Man right
that that back shoulder throw down the sidelines and the
way he was able to stop, come back and be
able to catch that ball said so much to me
about having the ability of a quarterback bill to throw
the moonball, to throw it deep, to pressure the back
end of the defense, and put that ball in play
(29:04):
where your guys can can operate under it and do
some special things. That to me says it all. Look,
I think Russ is going to be great for George Pickens.
I think he's going to be an a mentoring role
in the sense of an encouragement role too, where he's
going to be able to get the best out of George.
I think the same thing for Van. I think the
rest for the rest of the players, and again has
(29:25):
nothing to do with justin Fields and the magnificent work
he did in the first six weeks. It's simply you've
got a guy right now who's got the street crowd,
who's got the Super Bowl ring, the Pro Bowls. He's
got him for a reason. Right over the course of
his career, he has shown unbelievable ability to play this
game and do so at that quarterback position, and I
(29:46):
think you take advantage of it while you can, and
certainly I think he's going to be able to bring
along a wide receiver, number two, number three, whatever you need.
I think Russ is going to be able to supply
just because of who he is and his game brains,
his ability to operate under pressure and bring the playbook
out onto the field.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
And Russ and Smith have only been together truly and twice, now.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I mean, like that little bit of preseason doesn't count,
or Russ on the bench, I mean like play after play,
communicating with one another.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I like this.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I like that. That stuff's only going to get better.
Their familiarity, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
We're going to talk a little bit more about that,
a little bit about the buy, how the students might
come out of the buy, and more when we continue
in the point after on this steel there's audio network.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Back to the point after on DVE, crowd on.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Its feet, Tals swirling an act for sure, Snap back
to Jones looking and has the ball down, it away
and want covered by TJ Watt Strip sack recovery Steelers
ball tremendous turn of events late in the fourth quarter
at Actressure Stadium. It was the Zach Hunger segment is
(30:59):
brought to you by the Great Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
Get food, volunteer or donated Pittsburgh Food Bank dot Org
Wilf already weighed in on this Matt a little bit,
but TJ. Watt. And then on the other side you
have Alex Heighsmith that his return was very evident, and
you know his comments after the game, you know, talking
(31:19):
about how great TJ. Watt is, you know, and it
really isn't Alex Heismith's fault that he gets there frequently
a split second after TJ. Watt, Like, if he's not
another team, how many sacks would he have. It's not
his fault that TJ. Watt wants them all for himself.
And he's just such a great player. TJ. Watt such
(31:39):
a great player. But on the other end, I really
do want to command Alex Heismith because I just think
he's a terrific player as well.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yeah, I think it's the best defensive front in the league,
and those edge guys are incredibly important. Now, this isn't
taking anything away from high Smith, but our old buddy
Chris Hubbard was in a pretty difficult situation too. He
got signed a couple of days ago. I don't know
how much left tackle he's ever played. I always thought he
was a gardener, right, But they were so bad off
(32:07):
there that they just threw the veteran in there that's
been around the block and had to help him quite
a bit. But that's you know, when you go into
the Lions, then you're gonna get eating sometimes. And those
tackles got eaten up.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And I gotta say this, I gotta jump, I got
I gotta apologize to you. I stepped all over your
lines there. I was so fired enough to see that.
You know, I mean, you just know you've watch him
all night long. You've watched this guy TJ since his
rookie year and have been president every single snap he's
ever taken. And to watch him again, save the Steelers fan,
(32:40):
he's pull it out of the fire with another great play.
I couldn't keep my big yapp shot.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Sorry, No, that's that's that's awesome. I love that. I
love the enthusiasm and excitement and yeah, Hubbard's numbers and
left tackle he'd played there, just a little bit mad,
and that they weren't good. Yeah, in the pass rush department,
not good. But that's you know, look what do most
teams have with premiere left tackle Alexise Smith hats to
see him all the time and still get tons of pressures.
(33:07):
Was among the league leaders, if I'm not mistaken, in
the pressure department a year ago. So that was great
to see and really great to see Wolf Beanie Bishop.
Look camp, Sutton's going to be back, and we could
talk about some of the reinforcements after the bye, but
let's just for a moment talk about Beanie Bishop. And
you know what was fun too, was to see Bishop
and Calvin Austin had this battle all throughout camp and
(33:30):
all throughout the preseason. Beanie Bishop trying to be the
slot corner, Calvin Austin doing a lot of work offensively
out of the slot, and Mike Tomon always says iron
sharpens iron, and those two guys made each other better
throughout the course of camp and the preseason.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
There's no question about it. You know, It's so exciting
to see a young player come out of nowhere. And
I'm just waiting for the moment that we get a
deal where we get Bishop intercepting with Queen in front
of him, You making the call so I can say
being you know, the Bishop to queen checkmate, my king,
(34:06):
you know what I mean, whatever I mean, just that
would have been great. You know, but you got to
see this young guy perform under the pressure of knowing
that a veteran's coming in and that they're expecting Cam
to be able to assume responsibility for the Nickel. Well,
now it's not so cut clear, you know, I mean
right now being the Bishop is playing some magnificent football.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Matt, Yeah, I kind of felt like, man, I'm worried
about this Nickel situation when the season started, like they're
just going to try to do their best to keep
above water until Sutton arrives. But that's a pretty long
stretch and you know, you're asking an undrafted free agent to,
you know, man that spot, which is pretty darn close
to being a starter. And he get his ups and downs,
(34:49):
and teams definitely attack him as everyone would because he's unproven,
But for him to close out two games in a row, man,
I mean, the momentum that his career is taking now
is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
And well, now that we've got the whole thing settled
in the Beanie Bishop, but discussion, I did tell you
that I wanted to tell you that when when there
were some rumors that the Penguins might be interested in
trading for Rick Nash about fifteen years ago, and I thought, boy,
if they could add, you know, they're gonna put him
on Crosby's line. I thought, if he'd go out and
get you know, Stillman, you'd have Crosby stills in that. Yeah, anyway,
(35:26):
I thought that would have been fun. So I did
want to circle back to this match before we talk
about the team coming out of the break and getting healthier.
I think that it's really interesting to see the playmakers
on this offense starting to shine. And I think Jalen
Warren has got a sea legs back underneath him. We're
beginning to see what a valuable contributor he can be.
(35:46):
You know, when you think of game breakers most frequently,
I think you think of wide receivers and guys in
the outside, but that one to two running back combination
with some cord Aero Patterson spelling him when he comes
back in. But Pickens and his ability, and when you
think about this year and the influence he's had on
opposing defenses and the numbers that should be so much better.
(36:09):
I mean, the pass interference calls that he's drawn, the
plays that have been wiped out, the long one up
the sideline from fields out in Denver, a touchdown in Denver,
callback two possible touchdowns last night. I mean, the two
right foot thing. Look, I've been accused of having two
left feet on the dance floor. The two right foot
down not being a catch was strange. But but Pickens is,
(36:30):
he's flourishing, even if the numbers don't even add up
to I think sort of the impact he's had in
the game.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yeah, that that two right foot thing was the first
I learned that one. I didn't know that at all.
I'm a little shocked. They might have to go back
to the drawing board on that rule. But you couldn't
be You couldn't be more right. I mean, Pickens Routtree
has developed so much. His ability to set up the fenders.
You know, all the traits have always been there. And
I know we're not talking fantasy football here, but I
(36:59):
was on a fantasy set earlier this morning and it
doesn't shock me at all. But more than any player
in all the NFL, Pickens has had way more, not
even close like off the charts, fantasy points taken away
from him because of penalty or things like that.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
You know, Like I mean all.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
Those touchdowns, those DPIs he's drawn down the field. That's
a lot of hidden yard or not even hidden yards.
That's a lot of yardage that should be on the
back of his football card.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
That isn't you know. And you know what's so tough
to take is when you're the cause of that. Yeah,
you're in the huddle with the guy like sorry, doesn't
quite get it done, you know.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, I should point out too,
And this circles back to Russell Wilson because again it's
like it's like a door that was that needed to
be unlocked. And Russell Wilson, you know, with Arthur Smith,
you know, has has put that in place. That throw
to Pickens, and we talk about the long moon bog
and the law did ball that Jefferson on the ball
(38:02):
that went through like Scotty Miller look like he had
an opportunity to catch up off the right sideline. I'm
being covered by Strowman. Just an incredible throw by Russell Wilson.
But that throw, that deep pass to Pickens, that was
a laser. That was not a loft football. That was
a tremendous throw into double coverage. I mean over the
(38:22):
left shoulder, going on the left sideline, in double coverage
between and over two defenders. I was just a spectacular
throw by Russell Wilson.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
And along those lines, you know, watching Wilson at camp
and a little bit of practice. I'm not down there
every day. I never really had major concerns about his
arm strength at his age, but his first game back
a week ago, I thought the ball died on him
a couple times. Some of the arm strength throws were
a little suspect. The deep ball is always there, and
he's been one of the best deep ball throws of
(38:51):
all time, but last night I thought he's got a
little more zip on it to drive the ball. I'm
a lot less worried about arm strength stuff. I was
a little concerned a week ago.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Might let me just jump in with this too. Rob
the thing and I don't mean to take a right
turn here, but I want to give this guy's props.
Not Gie Harris has just been terrific, absolutely over three
weeks and early on I was just watching the film today.
He dropped a check down and you know, he was
so mad at himself. It was a little bit behind,
but he dropped it. And the next way he takes
(39:21):
a swing. It takes a takes the ball to a
wide side and he hurdles a guy and its first
and ten. He drops the ball. Second and ten he
hurdles a guy for a first down. I mean, you know,
it goes twelve yards or something like that. But it
was such a clean hurdle. It was amazing. And just
to see what he's been doing over the last three
(39:41):
weeks has just been magnificent, getting the job done with
an offensive line that has had some intermingling of parts there.
I mean, let's face it, some guys have checked in
and out, but yet it's getting the job done. And
kudos to them and the offensive line, to Nagy and
the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
The ability to create chunk runs and chump passes has
just spiked dramatically.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
You know, yeah, exactly, and you know, the numbers come
up and some people point to it as well as
Najie Harrison. I think the right hole, we're not getting
your quick enough. But I mean all the times that
he was hit behind the line of scrimmage, I believe
he led the league a couple of years ago in
that category. Which is not a category you want to
lead the league.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
He's pretty much been there most of his career.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Right, yeah, yeah, but we have seen when he's got
a little bit of room, the capability to make moves
or accelerate. I mean, I still go back to he
made a move on Jones where the defender fell down
for Vegas fell down. I mean, this is a two
hundred and forty five pounds man making a slighter cornerback
(40:48):
fall down. Because of the movie he made. And then
we see him at practice all the time working on
that sprinting machine. He is a tireless worker and that's
helped him. You know, other elements as well. We talk
about at the block front, the blocking down field, but
you still have to be able to accelerate, and Nagy
has worked very hard at that part of his game.
And there's no question is it is showing off and
(41:10):
helping his team win games.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Well, we used to glorify how much, you know, like
you said, he gets hit before he gets the lion
of scrimmage the last couple of years and talk about, wow,
how tough he is, you know, and just battling his
way and you know, takes these hits and this and that.
Well that's like, you know, champion on a boxer who
can take a punch. Okay, well maybe if you don't
take the punch, you're a better boxer, you know what
I mean. And I think that's what Nage is showing.
(41:34):
He's ghosting guys, he's hurtling guys, he's out running guys,
and when he has to, he stiff arms him and
battles with him and takes him on. I mean, I
really like this, this manifestation of Naji Harris that we're
seeing this year. Very very impressed with.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Him and Matt really quick you talk about the Pickings
route tree, just like Wolf was talking about. It's nice
to see him not have to take on the clisions
all the time. Talk about George Pickens like I heard
all the time last year. Look at all the contested
catches by Pickings. I'm like, yeah, but can I see
some uncontested.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Right sat the middle of the field, You know.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
That would be nice too. And then but that route
to reimproving.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Is help that, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (42:15):
And I think we're even going to see more inbreaking routes,
like if you go back to Arthur Smith's history, Aj
Brown off play action on deep digs and crossers and
things like that was lethal.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Well Pickens can do that too. After the catchup, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And wolf this team, uh presumably we don't know whether
they're going to add personnel, whether they do or they don't.
They should be getting healthier. We're hoping for Fraser back
and her big and Patterson and other players, other key
performers who should be back and ready to go for
this team. I mean, and you're six and two, and
this by coming at a time in which you might
(42:53):
get some healthy, significant bodies back, It's hard not to
be pretty exuberant with where the Steelers are right now
at this point of the season.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Very optimistic. I mean, think about it. You're going into
the bye week now, you have that opportunity to rest
a little bit, get some people healthier, hopefully healthy enough
to come back and participate. Allah Zach Frasier, because you're
gonna need him and others like him to be able
to make this run coming up. This is like a Gauntlet,
like I don't know, Clint Eastwood had a movie called
(43:24):
The Gauntlet where he was, you know, getting shot at
by everybody's trying to bring in a prisoner because it
was just such an unbelievable run through all these bad guys. Well,
that's what you've got coming up for the Steelers. This
is a gauntlet that is I don't know, it just
looks it looks like it can be overwhelming, But you know,
you play him one game at a time, and I
(43:45):
believe this. This is a team that right now is
kind of gathering its strength, gathering its mojo, getting ready
to make that run. And this could be a very
special year. We'll see, Matt.
Speaker 4 (43:59):
Yeah, six and two is wonderful, but I'm a little
greedy and really wish they could play Dallas tomorrow and
Indie the day after Again. I mean, those are games
you could have had, and I think they're even better team.
They're a noticeably better team than both, But hey, go
and most teams don't go eight and no to start
the season. And I'm really excited where they're at. But
(44:19):
I also think chapter two of the Steelers season is
gonna be a lot different, better or worse than chapter one.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Well, gear up with the latest game data necessities at
the official Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible tows, authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the official
Steelers Pro shops located at Akroshur Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
(44:47):
Steelers dot com. Gentlemen, thank you very much, enjoy the
bye week, and we will catch you in a couple
of weeks on the point after on the Steelers Audio
Network
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