September 16, 2024 • 42 mins
King, Williamson, and Wolfley recap the Steelers' Sunday afternoonvictory in Denver as the black and gold starts the season 2-0.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on WDBD Pittsburgh,
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(00:21):
In twenty twenty four, Clearview Federal Credit Union will donate
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dot org. And now here are your hosts, Rob King,
Craig Wolfle, and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, Hello, welcome to the Point After on the Steelers
Audio Network alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm Rob King.
Following the Steelers thirteen to six victory over the Denver Broncos,
the first time since nineteen ninety nine, the Steelers have
opened with two road games and won them both, So
kind of nice first two and oh start since twenty
twenty A lot of things to enjoy about this team.
(01:00):
Let's get our first reaction, which is brought to you
by First National Bank. Let's get started member FDI Se
and Wolf. Let's get started with your first reactions about
this year. There's thirteen to six win.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, it was a tremendous win in mile height, altitude,
that's what it was. I mean. TJ. Watt said it
best after the game was over and he was being
interviewed by Missy Matthews and he said, altitude is a
real thing. Well, you could tell because they wore down. Look,
in the first half he had the Steelers offense, they
were four to six on third down conversions. They were
(01:32):
zero for seven in the second half. You know, that
was a killer that allowed Denver to keep hanging around.
Denver getting mini school yards in the first half and
then was able to pile on yards in the second
half and string drives together. So I really believe, and
having experienced it myself in real time on a couple occasions,
that the altitude is a real factor and does play
(01:54):
into that one hundred percent agree.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
And I remember, you know, everyone knows what teams you're
going to play for a long time. And then the
schedule release show comes out, there's that big date, and
immediately the first thing I looked at is, boy, I
hope they're not going to then for the first couple
of weeks of the year, and there was week two.
I mean, because their record in September at home is
tremendous over the course of their whole franchise, and I
thought the Steelers were a pretty dominant group on both
(02:19):
sides of the ball in the first half and kind
of held on for dear life in the second half.
And this defense is still really, really good.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
A seventy win total in September in the history of
the Denver Broncos, which goes back to some lousy teams
that they had. Obviously some great teams as well, So
all in all, that's a pretty darn good winning percentage
at home in the month of September. Well, if one
of the themes that we had going into this game
was pick up the blitz and harass Bownicks right right
(02:50):
almost ry.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Ryan, and then they came with chess pieces and everything else,
talking about we got you, you know, the King and Queen,
pat Queen and so forth. The fact matter exactly in
the mirror, and we got through Jedi edge Rushers. You know,
they're Knights, right, you know, and Smith and and DJ WHT.
But the fact of the matter was Max, Missy and me,
(03:11):
we're the ponds. But you know again and going over
the whole thing though, uh, this this was this was
a hard fought battle, you know, and you had to
make choices and whether or not you blitz or not
to steal his blitz more than I thought they would blitz.
I thought you might want to let let Bnick sit
back and see can he beat us? Can he beat
our front four? You know? And they came with a
(03:32):
few more.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Couple but it wasn't many.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It wasn't many. But remember they more than we won, Yes,
more than we one. Remember they were they were the
lowest week one, So anything more than that is so
you know, to me, it was just a nice example
of what that front fours Front seven capabilities were. And
then you had some great background stuff. Deshaun Elliott was
just really good in situations. Man. I loved what he did.
(03:58):
And then of course those outside ed rushers with you know,
high Smith and wat my gosh, they gave them guys fits.
And I got to tell you, I can't believe how
much they got away with holding. I wish I if
I if they had the same rules, I'd have never
gotten caught four times in one game. More flags would
have been great. More flags. Oh yeah, she'll be there. Yeah,
(04:23):
it does.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know the formality and I kind of alluded to this,
Uh well, we'll get back to Elliott. I want to
bring a point I had about high Smith too. But
you know the formality of you know, we have penalties
on each team. You know, one is like encroachment. The
other is the defender took off his helmet and flayed
(04:47):
the offensive. Offsetting penalties like what? But you know they
go on this formality and all I can think of
is in the backyard. I don't care what you call it.
Offset You have an argument, and what does somebody say,
do over? All? Right, let's do it over. These are
do over you know, which is the silliest thing, but
(05:07):
it is what it is. I mean, obviously, but it
got to the point where like, oh, every time there
was a play, there was a.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Flag, and a lot of big plays changed. Yes, no
question about it. That's actually a flag happy crew. I
don't know if you guys knew that.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, And I think the players recognized it, and defensive
pass interference was part of the game plan almost And
I mean, that's not the way you want to watch
a game.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
No, you know, I didn't go and I might have
not gone in the game knowing it was a flag
happy crew, But it didn't take me long to kind
of figure that one out, figure it out pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, So Deshaun Elliott and Wolf and I were talking
about this with Max this morning. He is just a
really good football player. Now we talked about Dante Jackson
and Deshaun Elliott. I've seen less of Dante Jackson because
Deshaun Elliott was in the division, and I just think
he's I've always thought he's a really good football player.
He's done nothing to make me think not only is
(06:03):
he a really good football player, but he might even
be better than I thought he was coming into Sean Elliott.
I think he's had two really good.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Games and real quick, I think Jackson has established himself
as a really solid number two corner. He was in
out of the lineup a little bit, got banged up,
and I thought Trice came in and played really well.
In addition to the interception. You know, so you didn't
even notice he was out there in.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
A negative way. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Elliott is like the perfect compliment to Mika. And you
can tell that he's entrenched in film study, like he
has a really good understanding of what the offense is
trying to do.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Reid's plays really really quickly. He's versatile.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
He can play the slot, he could play in the box,
he can play too high. He's played some single high
in his career. So he's a really nice addition.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And when you put him on one truck like a
big get blitz, when he blows it up right that
tackle in the second half one, he practically took the handoff.
You thought, man, he was in the huddle with them guys. Yeah, yeah,
I timed it perfectly.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That was the play I was going to ask him,
you know, because you could tell the huddle clock was
going on. I think I may have even called it
as such. They took so long to get out of
the huddle. You're looking up three seconds, two seconds. Well
did Deshaun Elliott know that too? Because him he jumped
and sure jumped the snap gun. They those huge numbers
in the end zone right like you could see the
(07:17):
play clock counting down.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I wonder.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I wonder if he just said, hey, listen, they're either
going to snap it or they're gonna get a penalty,
so I might as well go, which would be a
you know, true and also be able to look up
and see the clock and all those other things. Like
every once in a while when you see somebody running
down the field and they look up at the they
look up and see if there's somebody chased him.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I love that modern technology. I saw that in Green
Bay with Troy Paulamala for the first time. It was
amazing because he took that ball and he's running down
the field looking at the giant jumbo tron looking to
see if anybody's gaining on him. I mean, he was
all by himself, running for about eighty yards. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, you know, I wanted to bring up Matt I'll
start with you in this one. I wanted to bring
up Alex Heismith because in sports there's always the you know,
the notion and it can go either way. Like I remember,
I always bring up the example of like Michael Jordan,
and Michael Jordan retired, everyone was like, well, now Scottie
Pippen is just going to dominate like he was gonna
put up Michael Jordan type of numbers because the offense
(08:15):
is going to flow through him. Right now, he's gonna
be the guy. Well, with that comes the fact that
you are now the focal point of the other team's defense.
You're getting the team's best defender, not Michael Jordan. You're
getting the double teams, not Michael Jordan. You're getting everybody
sort of flowing in your direction.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And not Michael Jordan to help you right exactly things.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So I would preface this by saying it's not Alex
Highsmith's fault that TJ. Watt doesn't want to share sacks,
you know, I mean TJ Watt just gets there first
because he's t J Watt. But but Alex high Smith
I think has been very disruptive through two weeks. I mean,
I don't know. I'm not trying to short tript TJ
Watt because he's the obvious. We know how great TJ.
(09:01):
Why He's been unbelievable and should have had. You know,
he had three sacks last week, two strip sacks, and
two of them are called back on right one a
penalty he didn't commit that was called on him and
the other a face mask that really had nothing to
do with the play. But when given the opportunity, when
when what was out, he proved he could step up.
(09:25):
He had fourteen and a half sacks. Not every guy
who's the next guy up can be the guy when
called upon. Some guys are just you know, hey, eight
sacks and you're gonna be your guy. Like I remember
Leonard Marshall playing in front of Lawrence Taylor, you know,
getting his ten sacks a year. Well, you know, everybody's
double teaming Lawrence Taylor. They're not double teaming Leonard Marshall. Well,
(09:47):
when the attention went on Alex Highsmith, he rose to
the challenge. And I just think, I just think he's
another one. He's just a really good player.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, And in a way it reminds me of little
of Steelers' backfield, Like I think jayalen Orn's tremendous, but
if you asked him to do nausey Harris stuff, his
yards per Kerry would drop. You know what I mean,
You would think, I mean first and ten against eight
man boxes and things like that, right, not less draws
on third down or whatever. And many people, including myself,
have used the batman Robin comparison with Watt and high Smith,
(10:18):
and people think that's a negative, you know. I'm like, yeah,
but Robin's a superhero too. He's just not Batman. I mean,
Batman's you know, the greatest of them all or whatever.
I mean, he's still a superhero. He's still a phenomenal
player that every team in the league would love to have.
And I staid going into that game, Garrett Bowles, a
left tackle, is a highly overrated player. I don't think
(10:40):
he's one of the top at his position. He struggled
in Week one, but I thought they beat up on
the left side of that line repeatedly. And I also
thought Benton in the middle was really really good too.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
They'd beat on that line like they were all human pinatas.
I mean, I kid you not. I was watching Garrett
Bowles and at one point I thought, is he really
just trying to He's gonna take some holding calls just
so maybe he gets sympathy from the referees. Doug Dacon
used to tell me he did this back in the
old Cleveland Tackle. He'd said, yeah, I take a couple
holding calls early on because then the reps leave me
(11:12):
alone the rest of the they you know, I'm like
going somehow that never worked for me. I never you know,
but looking at it, well, I.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Mean early in Bowl's career, he like led the league
in holding h three years in a row.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, I remember that, you know. I mean this guy here,
you watch him, he spreads his arms like big bird
waiting for the for the guy to pass rush and
then he engulfs him. One on one play when I
was watching Alex specifically, he spun and he was literally
engulfed by Garrett Boles. I mean like it was a
bear hug. And I'm sitting there going, how does that
(11:43):
not get called? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's so obvious when we when we watched James Harrison.
Of course, James Harrison, you know, had that set low
center of gravity and came around the edge and it
just felt like, you know, an offensive lineman would put
his arm around his neck and kind of hang on
and but it feels like, you know, if you got
that arm extended. Now I'm on the radio here, but
I'm still extending my arm studio, just just to just
(12:05):
to kind of get the idea here. It would seem
to be like if that bent back past your torso
that should be a hold, you know what I mean,
Like you are no longer like using it to keep
the guy in front of me by you if.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yours are covering the back number, I think that you hold. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I mean, I don't want to sound too homeless, but
it just feels like both tackles in both weeks got
away with holding on what and high staff And I
don't want to sound like I know that comes across
like a homer. I don't mean to, but it felt
like some things, especially this last week when so many
things were being called.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
It makes me wonder too, because at the top of
the league, one of their biggest concerns is scoring keeps
going down and down and down since the COVID year,
and all the fantasy football players and all the you know,
fans that are sort of into it, not like us.
They want to see, they want to hear, you know,
points and big plays and those things are down.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
So I wonder are.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
They telling them that, you know, let's let's ease up
on the holding calls, which doesn't help the Steelers at all. Yeah,
I mean, when you have a dominant front that hurts
do more than most teams, they just I just hope
it's on a theme this year.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
But they still dominated, which is all.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
They still dominate, right, Yeah, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Which is a lot of fun. Stealers win by the
final score of thirteen to six. Still to come, we
have our play the game. We have much more to
discuss about this game. We're going to take a peek
ahead to a Chargers team that suddenly seems very very
formidable after their two and oh start for the first
time in over a decade. When we continue on the
point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Back to the point After on DVD.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
This back looking looking over the middle of the field
that's intercepted, and there's Corey Trice in the back of
the end zone with his first career interception. Play the
game is brought to you by S and T Bank,
proudly serving our community since nineteen oh two stBank dot
Com S and T Bank member fdic. So we're now
(14:01):
going to discuss the playing game. I just discussed it.
So what did you what did you have to play
the game?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
There? Let's give Cam Heyward a little credit too.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
I mean, he's coming down downhill with a little bit
of anger and Nix is definitely eyeball on him and
dropping his eyes and forcing things. And I mentioned earlier,
I just sawt Trice played a really good game top
to bottom. Porter did a number on Sutton for the
majority of the day as well. Defensive front was strong
and Nix is very much a work in progress.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Oh yeah, he's exactly right, you know what I mean.
He under pressure, he just folded threw it up there.
Corey Trice played beautifully, played over the top of underneath
the coverage of his cover three. You ran a bunch
off the left side, Corey's on the far side, and
it was a nice combination of Sutton and Elliott. No,
what was it Reynolds coming off and one snuck behind
(14:54):
That would be Sutton snuck behind Maka in the middle
of it, and he was right along the back of
the end zone and you had Corey playing the outer
third on that side, and he was a little bit forward.
And then they tried to get make his attention by
Reynolds going on the other side. So you got you
got set into one side of Mica, you got Reynolds
to the other side. It's kind of like, now you
got him in jeopardy, where does he play? And it
(15:15):
was a beautiful job of Corey to sink back and
then picked that ball man. It was a nice job.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yep Uh praised for his avatar like skills and intelligence
on the football field. I mean it's a nice combination.
That's really nice combination.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Especially for a guy that's what this is a second
pro game. Ye you know what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's amazing missed all of the preseason last year, well
the whole season obviously with you.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know, these are the when Mike Tomlin points out,
you know that this is expected. He's a second year guy.
He went through the program with us last year, and
this is what Mike's talking about. He'd make He's making
a jump even though he wasn't any part of the
program as far as on the field, but he still
partok in practice, you know, being mentally ready and everything else.
Film sessions. It's amazing what you can do if you
(15:58):
are mentally engaged and you know how to do visualization
and be able to study and stuff like that. It's great.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
And Matt, I think this is again something that Wolf
and I were talking about earlier with Max is that
I really liked the depth and I think most of
us did of the front seven. Yes, you know, you've
got a guy like herbig who really can't get on
the field much. Demarvin Leal was tremendous in camp, and
in camp and in the preseason. He's having hard time
(16:26):
getting on the field. Your defensive line depth is tremendous,
so you know, guys are having trouble maybe getting as
many snaps as they might normally get. The middle linebacker,
inside linebacker, off the ball, linebacker, whatever you want to call.
Peyton Wilson is now in there splitting reps and so
you've got enviable depth. But I think the question mark
(16:48):
was where would that depth come from in the secondary?
And Corey Trice is looking like he can be the
answer to be that next cornerback that you can.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Utilize and real quick on the depth.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I was a little shocked and a little critical considering
the altitude that they didn't have more of a rotation
with the big people early, you know, I mean, really
jump into it. But it was a close game and
TJ didn't come off the field, so you don't put
somebody on for him, you know what I mean. And
that being said, I do think Trice is now clearly
(17:20):
the number three corner, the outside corner, you know. And
I know that was something they were worried about going
into camp, and it took a while for it the surface,
but he's kind of grabbed that role and excelled with
it yesterday. I still think slot corner is a little
hairy at the moment, but they have three safeties and
three outside corners that are all deserving a playing time,
(17:42):
right and three linebackers.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You have Beanie Bishop, and then you're kind of waiting
around for camp Sutton.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, I think they're just kind of kind of come
back hoping for you know, dear life, or maybe even
somebody gets cut around the league you grab or I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I just think corner he develops more. That's another you know,
being y.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I thought he had a really good week, one
really good week in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He's and he's a young guy, you know. I mean
that's that's what you get with the young guys. You
get the yo yo at times, right, And it's one
of those things. And hopefully he builds and starts stacking
some good victories and personal combat up. Well.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And here's the thing too, and you always see your
team's own wards the closest and we're gonna get into
some of those wards here at a moment. But nobody
has fifty three great players, nobody. Nobody has nine All
Pro offensive lineman, you know what I mean. And so
when you look at the Steelers with the O line,
that is envable depth. Now it's been tested with the
(18:41):
injuries that they've had, but they get Faltano. Back your thoughts,
Wolf on what you saw from Platano, and for Broderick
Jones frustrating. He just has to regroup. Look, he had
a really fine season a year ago. I think he's
clearly still part of the Steelers' plans, but that was
you know, that's a game he's gonna have to learn,
(19:02):
you know, learn from and then forget, not forget and
then learn from, but learn from and then probably just
put in the rear view mirror.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Huh. Well, first of all, I'm going to say, I
think back in the seventies, had one year when everybody
on the Steelers defense went to the Pro Bowl. It
could be might be something, it was something ridiculous like that,
but certainly you're never gonna be able to afford that.
It would sail Or cap Era right anymore, but talking
specifically about Roderick Jones. Look, I understand what that young
man went through. I've went through some tough times like
(19:29):
that myself. You know, you get out there first of all.
I don't think he's probably not faced a whole lot
of adversity in his career. You know, he didn't have
that many starts at Georgia, didn't play all the way
through in games. You know, this whole thing with ten
games last year and so forth. You know, it's a
situation where you're learning on the fly and you're developing,
and you know you expect to grow and so forth,
(19:49):
but you got to learn. You learn the most from
the most adverse situations. You know, it's not like great
success is always like the best teaching tool. You learn
a lot about yourself and what you're made of and
how to get stronger through those adverse times. And I
think this is a situation where he's just got to
learn to chill and I got no problems. Look at
this young guys has got so much. He's got physical
(20:11):
attributes out of the wazoo. He's gonna be a very
good player. He's just got to hunker down and focus
on cleaning up what he needs to clean up. He's
got that at those attributes, he's got to use them.
And I just don't let the outside noise get to
you because when you start hearing those things, that really
hurts your confidence. I think all it was was a
matter of confidence. And by the way, one of those
(20:32):
two holding calls that was that was holding, had nothing
to do with the splat he put on Zach Allen.
He flattened Zach Allen on his back, showed him the sky.
And let me tell you the holding call that was thrown,
there was nothing about holding that that that created that splat.
It was just a great block on his part.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I think the view is still that, you know, if
you're looking to play GM for the Steelers, it's likely
Dan Moore is going to head into free agents, see,
and so you drafted Broderick Jones to be a left tackle.
So it's likely that if that is what happens, If
that's what transpires, if Daniel Moore les versus Dan Moore,
(21:12):
Lee's in free agency, that you know, Broderick Jones is
your left tackle if Aton is your right tackle, which
means that they still value him a great, great deal.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
And what's the chances that everyone's just stay healthy for
the next fifteen and games, right, I mean, you're going
to be the opportunity, right, exactly, It's already been tested.
Speaking of Dan Moore, I think he's strung two really
good games together now. I mean I thought he played
quite well in this one, and he's getting more and
more expensive on the open market. Two when you look
at big picture, more and more. Yeah, I didn't even
(21:44):
try to. Yeah, and you know you mentioned Wolf too.
He had a good camp. I think he's getting better.
I mean, you're allowed to get better in this league.
I thought for Tanu did quite well in his debut too.
I mean I thought he had a really good game.
So these are good problems to have. You know, Broderick
Jones will get his time, and I'm sure everyone's well,
he's a buss. They should have picked, you know, shouldn't
trade up for him. That's way too early.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But I'll say this about he had a good guy
to open with because Cooper was going to be right
in your grill. There's there's no there was nothing about it.
He's just coming straight line. If you take a ruler
and draw from where he starts to where he finishes
pretty much on the same line.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, but he's pretty good at it.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh no, Yeah, he got sacks and four hits against Seattle,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Pretty good at it, but not a lead at it,
which is what they're gonna face.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Well, he's a one trick pony, throws the hypnotic guy
chicks and tries to screw up your timing, that's all.
But their edge guys pretty decent.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Because you gave me the hypnotic.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Guy that used to kill me all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
hYP not a guy I fed is the hypnotic guy at.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
You, and then they'll hesitate. They're like, shake right, Well,
what happens You sit back on your heels, you know,
and you're like whoa, and you raise up a little
bit and all of a sudden they explode into you.
Think about the fact that, you know, you get slightly
off balance with one of your good buddies, like Matt
sitting over there, suddenly hits you right in the chest
with a two hand shiver right boom. You know, as
you're all exactly, oh, Matt's devious with that. Watch give
(23:13):
the hypnotic guy. It's all over.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Baby, based on just again, because we all love football,
and football thoughts pop in your head. That's one of
the things that I absolutely loved about lev Bells are
running back is that you know he guys would come
running up on him, and his ability to read what
they were doing was spectacular if they were even First
(23:38):
of all, you could break down and you could still
literally not touch him. Think about that, your defensive back.
You're coming up to tack him, and he would shake
you so bad, you would literally not you wouldn't touch
him right and then and now if you settle like okay,
he would just run over. He would read it. I
love that about it.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
What I loved was he he could he could shake
and bacon a phone booth and three guys with him
couldn't touch them. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
He might have been like if tag was an Olympic sport,
he might have been the greatest tag player of all time. Dotball,
he'd be a great dodgeball player. Not a guy. I'm
gonna avoid contact eye contact with wolves.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
We can finish the show.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So uh. The other thing that I thought was was
was worth noting was whatever George Pickens stats were, They're
not very impressive, Matt right, But first of all, the Steelers. Again,
you're going into an environment in which you have a
quarterback who has a history of being sacked a lot
(24:43):
and hanging on to the ball. With that has come
some fumbling issues. You're playing against a team that need
desperately needs a break probably to beat you. Well, why
would you play into their hands? So you're not gonna
throw the ball down the field a ton. Pickens then
had a I don't remember how long the pass was
because it was called back, but it had to be
close to fifty yard completely thought it was fifty one
(25:06):
called back, call back, So let's add that to his
total zone obviously, right, was it a thirty eight yard
it was it was at his interference or was it
Jefferson's interference that went for thirty eight yards? But you
could add that onto his total too, Like those are
yards that don't So my point is that you're gonna
look at his stats and be like, well, certain got
and you know he got them. I don't know. I
(25:26):
don't think that's.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
The way I would look at it, like I think
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I think George Pickens had an impact on this game
that's going to go beyond the statistics.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, and just looking at box scores, you'd be like, boy,
Fields didn't throw the ball very well and certain shut
down Pickens.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
The tape doesn't show that.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Especially with Pickens, I thought he was one of the
best players on the field. And frankly, you know, if
you look at Denver, how they're constructed, certain their O
line and their first round quarterback or like their greatest assets.
And I wouldn't say they were liabilities, but I thought
they lost their matchups those things, you know, the things
I would be worried if I was right now, not
worried about certained at all.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
He's awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
I just think Pickens is in the process of becoming
a true star. I think he's really developing very very rapidly.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Well, let's not forget he had a touchdown brought back. Yeah,
you know what I mean when he scratched it was
a heck of a job of getting into the end
zone with that length, right, you know. And the other
thing about.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It too was I forgot about that any point.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And then the stats stats show the last three regular
season games of last year and the first game of
this year, he had seventeen receptions for a total of
four hundred and eleven yards twenty four yards per catch. Yeah, right,
I mean that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
He led the league in yards for receiving last year, right,
and then when you think about how he started out
this season, you're not going to get Look, every week
we're going to talk about the ed rushers for the
Chargers coming up every week. You're gonna get d rushers
every single week. Every week, you're gonna get a good receiver.
But there are probably more Courtland Sutton's than there are
you know, Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase is out there. Right,
(26:58):
You're going to get a good corner, but not every
corners Patrick Sartan or Patrick Tann or Ajterrell. And he
did a number on Ajterrell last week, again within the
confines of how much they were throwing the ball and
with a flag or two picked up from Cleete Blakeman's crew,
we'd be saying the same thing about Pickens this week.
That was my point.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And think about this too. They didn't even threaten the
middle of the field last week, right, that's you know
what I mean. So you're you're taking a huge chunk
of yardage away from a guy like Pickens, you know,
by not having them threatening anything on the inside, just
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yep, Steelers win thirteen to six. They improved to two
to zero. The point After continues on the Steelers audio network.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Back to the point After on dv E.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Nicks back to pass. Nick's under pressure and Nicks goes down.
It is high Smith who is being held the entire
way by Garrett Bowles, was able to reach out and
swat him when he laid in the ground. Great pressure
by alex Heide Smith. The Sack Hunger segment is brought
to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food,
volunteer or donate at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. I just
(28:05):
don't understand how that wasn't and they didn't throw a
flag on that. I mean he was he was like
he had his arm around his waist and was like
running after him. I don't understand how that's not call
the hole. I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You can't believe what I was feeling up in the
booth that I'm sitting there watching this, going he's got
a seat belt on him.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
For crying out loud what he doing.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
And again I go back to my era, going I
need that apology from all the officials for every every
single butt one. Again, as I've always said, there's one
that I absolutely earned and it wasn't called. So I
did get away with one, the worst one, the one
in the plus. Yeah. So anyhow, I guess it evens out.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
So you know, there's Matt there's gonna be criticism of
this offense, and their fans already saying, well, it doesn't
look that much different than the offense that Kenny Pickett
was running. Right, they're not putting up a lot of points,
they're not taking a lot of risks. I think at
this point both those are true. They're not putting up
a lot of points and a half games points per game,
(29:10):
and they're not taking a lot of risks. But I
would say two things. So I don't know what the
development plan is for fields. They talked about in the offseason,
wanting to work about him, work with him on his
footwork within the pocket, you know, climbing the pocket, some
of these other things. And so you know, if you
want to develop him with the right way, not the
(29:30):
expensive winning a game, but also you know you don't
want to bring up some bad habits under fire in
game situations. The other thing is is that in both
of these games you did offensively what was required. Now
I'd like to see more.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We'd all like to see.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
The penalties undid the team. But think about this now,
we talked about this all week. So if you go
from second and one and then you get a penalty,
and then you get a stall play, now you're third
and eleven, Well, what benefit is it for you to
if you're managing the game to win, which is what
Mike Tomlin is trying to do. Obviously, what benefit do
(30:09):
you have of slinging one down the field and giving
them the opportunity to come up with an interception? Giving
them the opportunity with their high blitz pressure and a
loud crowd at in Denver, which puts your offensive line
at a disadvantage. You know, there're is stripsack away from
getting some momentum in scoring. Now would you like to
(30:31):
see more? Of course we want to see more offense.
But I think that Dave Mike Tomlin has done what
he's needed to do to come out with two road victories. Yeah,
and go to two and zero in the season.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
Yeah, you opened the show. I forget when it was,
But when's the last time his team was two and
zero without playing.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
A home game yet nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean, that's it's a major accomplishment. Doesn't happen around
the league very often at all. And say what you
want about Tomlin, he is a master of knowing what
it takes to win that specific game with the hand
he is dealt, and he knows he doesn't have lev, Bell,
Nab and Ben anymore. So you have to win a
certain way. And a ten point lead with this Steeler
(31:12):
defense is massive.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I mean it really is.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And you know the feel of the game. You understand
that there's probably going to be a fatigue factor in
the fourth quarter, and I think there was on both
sides of the ball for the Steelers. He's very good
at not losing games. That's a difference than winning them.
And how about this, I mean, there were five teams
yesterday that one without throwing more than twenty passes. The
(31:37):
Chargers were won, the Steelers are won. They both only
attempted twenty passes. The Saints were won. They won like
forty five to seven or whatever it was, and Carr
attempted like sixteen passes. When you have a team where
you have you know, behind the eight ball, don't you know?
Let things get in the way, right.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
What are they?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Eleven and two? Now? In your last one score game?
Thirteen one score games, It's something like something like that, right, right,
continue to win one score games.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yep. But think about this. You know, success begets success,
and big play generally follow big plays. What would have
happened had there not been the flag on it? On
Picking's touchdown or the fifty yarder or the interference call.
I mean you're talking about a fifty yard or a
thirty what it was a thirty eight yard or something
(32:21):
on the interference and then it touches. I mean you're
talking about a lot of yardage and points there. So
when we say that they're not taking a lot of
chance as well, the problem is when you took those chances,
you did you know it could have been well, but
it was flagged, you know what I mean. So it's
hard to say that they're not doing enough. I think
they're doing enough. I think they got to be cleaner, right,
(32:44):
you got to be cleaner in your play.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Well, when you think so many new starters in a
new system and a new quarterback, it's we knew growing
pains were coming, right.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, And I don't want to compare this team yet
to say Ben Roethlisberger's rookie season. But when you look
back at Ben Roethlisberger's rookies reason when he ripped off,
was it fourteen wins in a row that they sent
him the last game? I can't remember was a fifteen
or oh yeah, fifteen he was they were yeah, uh
yeah when he came in. I think they were right whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
They were fifteen and one, they were fifteen. It was
fifteen straight way.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I just didn't remember if he started that last week. Yeah,
but the Steelers having a clinch anyway, it doesn't really matter, right.
The point of the matter is the point is that
they won playing a certain style with a quarterback. You know,
you look back at it now.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
And attempt played thirteen passes a game.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
He's a Hall of famer. He's a Hall of Fame quarterback.
He grew into the job right exactly where the shackles
on him. Yes they were. There were shackles on What
do you would the team have been just as successful
or more successful taking the shackles off, I don't know.
A couple of years later, he led the league in
the in interceptions and then a couple years later, you know,
he's winning a super Bowl, you know. So I mean
(33:53):
I think maybe they brought him along the proper way, right, so,
but they pretty well, yeah, it worked out, I would exactly.
I mean, you could always argue these nuances. The fact
is that's what happened. That's the history of what happened
and the Steelers in that season. If you're not making
mistakes and you're not turning them all over, you know.
(34:14):
And this was where I thought this game was headed,
which is that ten to nothing turns into thirteen to nothing,
turns into sixteen to nothing, turns into sixteen to three,
turns into twenty three to three, as you just wear
them down and wear them down, and wear them down.
And I think they were on pace to do that
except for the penalties. The penalties they're not And again,
(34:37):
now you go back to other nuances of the game,
managing to make sure you're putting your team in the
best possible position to win. And a third and eleven
strip sack does not help you win the football game.
Your defense helps you win the football game. So I
just think maybe cleaning it up, we're going to see
more out of this offense.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Again, I go to possession downs four to six in
the first half, oh for seven and the second right,
you know, that's that's devastating to.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
All because you're third and long almost all.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Not only that, think about what you're doing to your defense, right,
Your defense is sitting there, get their tongues hanging out
in high altitude, right, you know. I mean, so that's
a problem. And that grew as the game went along,
and I got to tell you that was blood and
guts by the defense, you know at times, I mean
you could see some of those guys getting really tired.
And again, knowing myself having experienced it, it's a real thing.
(35:24):
And when again again we go back to TJ. Altitude
it's a real thing. We need a T shirt says altitude.
It's a real thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
So, uh, the way that interview went, I don't know
if you heard the postgame interview, but I think, uh,
Missy said something like TJ, what would you say about
this defense?
Speaker 3 (35:45):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And he said watch out? And I'm like, oh, is
he delivering a message? And it was to watch out
because there's a oh yeah, it was gonna drip. And
then he answered the question, so I'm like, oh, it's
just set a statement.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Look for h he's a chivalrous young man. Where you go.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, he picked up a safe, right, Yeah, it's like baseball.
He got a sack, you know, two hurries of a save.
He picked up the game.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I called him batman before he saved.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
The So, uh so you know we're looking now at
a team that's two and oh I think it's interesting.
Uh well, if I'm going to ask your perspective on
travel before we get into the Chargers talk, because it
has to do with the chargers. So the start the.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Charge fact that I'm jammed into the bulwark while you're
lounging in the aisle seat.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Travel, So I get a little I get I don't
want to use the c l A. I don't. I
don't like to sit in the middle seat or the aisle.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
We heard a little before you walked in the before
me a little sweaty.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
But but but now I'm going to wolf right, and
I didn't know aisle seat man, I actually had to
sit in the aisle. So that's about how much.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
That's about how to overflow my sitting area. So well,
so I just I just thought you were going to travel,
so I no, no, but thank you for thank you
for throwing me under the bus. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
So the Chargers are not going back west, They're staying east, right,
How big of a factor? So they're going to practice
in North Carolina, spend the week there, then they're gonna
come up to Pittsburgh. How big of a factor can
that be? Is to travel west to east? In your
experience playing against teams that have done that against you,
is that a difficult way to travel? Is this a
(37:40):
good move by the trial think?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Is excellent move? I mean I really hated to do
anything like that because we've gone out to the West
Coast to prepare for a playoff game, and that was
due to you know, weather and stuff like that going
from the west eat. I mean, you think about it.
You know, a one o'clock kickoff on the East coast
is what ten o'clock? Right? Yeah? That many guys want
(38:02):
to hit somebody at ten o'clock, right. So it's good
to get adjusted because then you get the kind of
like the cobwebs out of your gourd, you know, I
mean you feel when you wake up on game day
because your time zone is correct. Right, you're ready to go,
the clock is ticking. But when you're not, when you've
just buzzed in and then you're sitting around and you're
trying to fall asleep and it's three in the morning
and stuff like that, like, eh, you know, it creates
(38:25):
some issues. No, it's not. It's not overwhelming, but it
certainly is a step up in their preparation process. I
would believe that they're more comfortable doing it. I mean,
it's not like they're doing it for you know, to
take a vacation, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, So I wanted to ask you, Matt, I don't
know how much you've looked forward to the Charger. I
know you have great now of the league in general.
So they bring in Jim Harbaugh, who instills already instantly
because of the name and the credibility, instills them with
a sense of belief that always makes a team dangerous
for me. Then you know, some things have happened, and
(38:59):
I don't want to say anything about what he's done
alread because they're two and zero, but some things have
happened that have been beneficial to him in his short
time as a coach. Joey bos Is healthy. That helps, right,
that's a big aid. His left tackle, Rashawn Slater, who
was a Pro Bowl or his rookie year. I missed
all of last year. He's now healthy. Yeah, And so
now and then you draft Joe Alt who again they're
(39:21):
giving the clever nickname Joe Alt delete for what he
did in Week one against Max Crosby held him without
a quarterback. I think hurry or anything really way. Yeah,
So now all of a sudden, you have a monstro
line JK Dobbins. Everybody's always talked about how talented he was.
He put up great numbers in Baltimore before he got hurt,
(39:42):
and he got hurt again. He is now stepped into
the running back position. So there's some fortune there for
Jim Harbaugh, right, But there's also a style he brought
in Greg Roman. This is a style. This is a
big offensive line. They're really talented, and we talked about
Atlanta offensive line being one of the better ones in
(40:02):
the league, Denvers is being probably the most expensive in
the league when you talk about contracts that are out
there and have to be paid out. I think this
line is better than either line they've faced. And I
think these edge rushers. It kind of eased in with it. Judan,
in week one you have some eight eight and a
half kind of sack guys. In week two, well, now
you got Bosa and Mac with Bud Dupree backing them up.
(40:25):
So this thought of their pass rush versus our pass rush.
Are younger tackles versus their younger tackles. This is a
They're running game versus the Steelers running game.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
There's a lot of similarities there really is. There's two
head coaches that know how to win this league.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
They're building with an O line.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
They both have first round tackles from recent years that
are very promising, and the O lines are coming together
more so in with the Chargers at the moment, he
inherited a very very good quarterback, which I think is
why he took the job to begin with. I mean,
he knew that going in. They have excellent rushers, like
the Steelers, they run the ball like crazy. I am
very impressed with their O line thus far. All that
(41:07):
being said, they're very weak a pass catchers. They're very
weak up the middle of the defense de tackle and linebacker.
And they played a Panthers team this past week that
you can't oh you can't. Breshtong got benched earlier today.
I mean they officially said we're going to Andy Dalton.
I mean it's that bad.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I mean this team is clearly thirty second in the league.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Chargers are two and oh for the first time since
twenty twelve. To Steelers two and ozh on the road
for the first time to begin a season since nineteen
ninety nine. Gear up with the latest game day necessities
at the Official Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible towels, authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the Official
(41:49):
Steelers pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. For Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson, I'm
Rob King. We thank you for listening to the point
after on the Steelers Audio Network.
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on WDBD Pittsburgh,
Brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers
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team at shop dot Steelers dot com, and by Clearview
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(00:21):
In twenty twenty four, Clearview Federal Credit Union will donate
five hundred dollars to the Light of Life Mission. Clearview
your financial partner for a better life. Visit Clearview FCU
dot org. And now here are your hosts, Rob King,
Craig Wolfle, and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, Hello, welcome to the Point After on the Steelers
Audio Network alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm Rob King.
Following the Steelers thirteen to six victory over the Denver Broncos,
the first time since nineteen ninety nine, the Steelers have
opened with two road games and won them both, So
kind of nice first two and oh start since twenty
twenty A lot of things to enjoy about this team.
(01:00):
Let's get our first reaction, which is brought to you
by First National Bank. Let's get started member FDI Se
and Wolf. Let's get started with your first reactions about
this year. There's thirteen to six win.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, it was a tremendous win in mile height, altitude,
that's what it was. I mean. TJ. Watt said it
best after the game was over and he was being
interviewed by Missy Matthews and he said, altitude is a
real thing. Well, you could tell because they wore down. Look,
in the first half he had the Steelers offense, they
were four to six on third down conversions. They were
(01:32):
zero for seven in the second half. You know, that
was a killer that allowed Denver to keep hanging around.
Denver getting mini school yards in the first half and
then was able to pile on yards in the second
half and string drives together. So I really believe, and
having experienced it myself in real time on a couple occasions,
that the altitude is a real factor and does play
(01:54):
into that one hundred percent agree.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
And I remember, you know, everyone knows what teams you're
going to play for a long time. And then the
schedule release show comes out, there's that big date, and
immediately the first thing I looked at is, boy, I
hope they're not going to then for the first couple
of weeks of the year, and there was week two.
I mean, because their record in September at home is
tremendous over the course of their whole franchise, and I
thought the Steelers were a pretty dominant group on both
(02:19):
sides of the ball in the first half and kind
of held on for dear life in the second half.
And this defense is still really, really good.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
A seventy win total in September in the history of
the Denver Broncos, which goes back to some lousy teams
that they had. Obviously some great teams as well, So
all in all, that's a pretty darn good winning percentage
at home in the month of September. Well, if one
of the themes that we had going into this game
was pick up the blitz and harass Bownicks right right
(02:50):
almost ry.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Ryan, and then they came with chess pieces and everything else,
talking about we got you, you know, the King and Queen,
pat Queen and so forth. The fact matter exactly in
the mirror, and we got through Jedi edge Rushers. You know,
they're Knights, right, you know, and Smith and and DJ WHT.
But the fact of the matter was Max, Missy and me,
(03:11):
we're the ponds. But you know again and going over
the whole thing though, uh, this this was this was
a hard fought battle, you know, and you had to
make choices and whether or not you blitz or not
to steal his blitz more than I thought they would blitz.
I thought you might want to let let Bnick sit
back and see can he beat us? Can he beat
our front four? You know? And they came with a
(03:32):
few more.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Couple but it wasn't many.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It wasn't many. But remember they more than we won, Yes,
more than we one. Remember they were they were the
lowest week one, So anything more than that is so
you know, to me, it was just a nice example
of what that front fours Front seven capabilities were. And
then you had some great background stuff. Deshaun Elliott was
just really good in situations. Man. I loved what he did.
(03:58):
And then of course those outside ed rushers with you know,
high Smith and wat my gosh, they gave them guys fits.
And I got to tell you, I can't believe how
much they got away with holding. I wish I if
I if they had the same rules, I'd have never
gotten caught four times in one game. More flags would
have been great. More flags. Oh yeah, she'll be there. Yeah,
(04:23):
it does.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know the formality and I kind of alluded to this,
Uh well, we'll get back to Elliott. I want to
bring a point I had about high Smith too. But
you know the formality of you know, we have penalties
on each team. You know, one is like encroachment. The
other is the defender took off his helmet and flayed
(04:47):
the offensive. Offsetting penalties like what? But you know they
go on this formality and all I can think of
is in the backyard. I don't care what you call it.
Offset You have an argument, and what does somebody say,
do over? All? Right, let's do it over. These are
do over you know, which is the silliest thing, but
(05:07):
it is what it is. I mean, obviously, but it
got to the point where like, oh, every time there
was a play, there was a.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Flag, and a lot of big plays changed. Yes, no
question about it. That's actually a flag happy crew. I
don't know if you guys knew that.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, And I think the players recognized it, and defensive
pass interference was part of the game plan almost And
I mean, that's not the way you want to watch
a game.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
No, you know, I didn't go and I might have
not gone in the game knowing it was a flag
happy crew, But it didn't take me long to kind
of figure that one out, figure it out pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, So Deshaun Elliott and Wolf and I were talking
about this with Max this morning. He is just a
really good football player. Now we talked about Dante Jackson
and Deshaun Elliott. I've seen less of Dante Jackson because
Deshaun Elliott was in the division, and I just think
he's I've always thought he's a really good football player.
He's done nothing to make me think not only is
(06:03):
he a really good football player, but he might even
be better than I thought he was coming into Sean Elliott.
I think he's had two really good.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Games and real quick, I think Jackson has established himself
as a really solid number two corner. He was in
out of the lineup a little bit, got banged up,
and I thought Trice came in and played really well.
In addition to the interception. You know, so you didn't
even notice he was out there in.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
A negative way. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Elliott is like the perfect compliment to Mika. And you
can tell that he's entrenched in film study, like he
has a really good understanding of what the offense is
trying to do.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Reid's plays really really quickly. He's versatile.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
He can play the slot, he could play in the box,
he can play too high. He's played some single high
in his career. So he's a really nice addition.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And when you put him on one truck like a
big get blitz, when he blows it up right that
tackle in the second half one, he practically took the handoff.
You thought, man, he was in the huddle with them guys. Yeah, yeah,
I timed it perfectly.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That was the play I was going to ask him,
you know, because you could tell the huddle clock was
going on. I think I may have even called it
as such. They took so long to get out of
the huddle. You're looking up three seconds, two seconds. Well
did Deshaun Elliott know that too? Because him he jumped
and sure jumped the snap gun. They those huge numbers
in the end zone right like you could see the
(07:17):
play clock counting down.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I wonder.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I wonder if he just said, hey, listen, they're either
going to snap it or they're gonna get a penalty,
so I might as well go, which would be a
you know, true and also be able to look up
and see the clock and all those other things. Like
every once in a while when you see somebody running
down the field and they look up at the they
look up and see if there's somebody chased him.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I love that modern technology. I saw that in Green
Bay with Troy Paulamala for the first time. It was
amazing because he took that ball and he's running down
the field looking at the giant jumbo tron looking to
see if anybody's gaining on him. I mean, he was
all by himself, running for about eighty yards. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, you know, I wanted to bring up Matt I'll
start with you in this one. I wanted to bring
up Alex Heismith because in sports there's always the you know,
the notion and it can go either way. Like I remember,
I always bring up the example of like Michael Jordan,
and Michael Jordan retired, everyone was like, well, now Scottie
Pippen is just going to dominate like he was gonna
put up Michael Jordan type of numbers because the offense
(08:15):
is going to flow through him. Right now, he's gonna
be the guy. Well, with that comes the fact that
you are now the focal point of the other team's defense.
You're getting the team's best defender, not Michael Jordan. You're
getting the double teams, not Michael Jordan. You're getting everybody
sort of flowing in your direction.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And not Michael Jordan to help you right exactly things.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So I would preface this by saying it's not Alex
Highsmith's fault that TJ. Watt doesn't want to share sacks,
you know, I mean TJ Watt just gets there first
because he's t J Watt. But but Alex high Smith
I think has been very disruptive through two weeks. I mean,
I don't know. I'm not trying to short tript TJ
Watt because he's the obvious. We know how great TJ.
(09:01):
Why He's been unbelievable and should have had. You know,
he had three sacks last week, two strip sacks, and
two of them are called back on right one a
penalty he didn't commit that was called on him and
the other a face mask that really had nothing to
do with the play. But when given the opportunity, when
when what was out, he proved he could step up.
(09:25):
He had fourteen and a half sacks. Not every guy
who's the next guy up can be the guy when
called upon. Some guys are just you know, hey, eight
sacks and you're gonna be your guy. Like I remember
Leonard Marshall playing in front of Lawrence Taylor, you know,
getting his ten sacks a year. Well, you know, everybody's
double teaming Lawrence Taylor. They're not double teaming Leonard Marshall. Well,
(09:47):
when the attention went on Alex Highsmith, he rose to
the challenge. And I just think, I just think he's
another one. He's just a really good player.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, And in a way it reminds me of little
of Steelers' backfield, Like I think jayalen Orn's tremendous, but
if you asked him to do nausey Harris stuff, his
yards per Kerry would drop. You know what I mean,
You would think, I mean first and ten against eight
man boxes and things like that, right, not less draws
on third down or whatever. And many people, including myself,
have used the batman Robin comparison with Watt and high Smith,
(10:18):
and people think that's a negative, you know. I'm like, yeah,
but Robin's a superhero too. He's just not Batman. I mean,
Batman's you know, the greatest of them all or whatever.
I mean, he's still a superhero. He's still a phenomenal
player that every team in the league would love to have.
And I staid going into that game, Garrett Bowles, a
left tackle, is a highly overrated player. I don't think
(10:40):
he's one of the top at his position. He struggled
in Week one, but I thought they beat up on
the left side of that line repeatedly. And I also
thought Benton in the middle was really really good too.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
They'd beat on that line like they were all human pinatas.
I mean, I kid you not. I was watching Garrett
Bowles and at one point I thought, is he really
just trying to He's gonna take some holding calls just
so maybe he gets sympathy from the referees. Doug Dacon
used to tell me he did this back in the
old Cleveland Tackle. He'd said, yeah, I take a couple
holding calls early on because then the reps leave me
(11:12):
alone the rest of the they you know, I'm like
going somehow that never worked for me. I never you know,
but looking at it, well, I.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Mean early in Bowl's career, he like led the league
in holding h three years in a row.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, I remember that, you know. I mean this guy here,
you watch him, he spreads his arms like big bird
waiting for the for the guy to pass rush and
then he engulfs him. One on one play when I
was watching Alex specifically, he spun and he was literally
engulfed by Garrett Boles. I mean like it was a
bear hug. And I'm sitting there going, how does that
(11:43):
not get called? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's so obvious when we when we watched James Harrison.
Of course, James Harrison, you know, had that set low
center of gravity and came around the edge and it
just felt like, you know, an offensive lineman would put
his arm around his neck and kind of hang on
and but it feels like, you know, if you got
that arm extended. Now I'm on the radio here, but
I'm still extending my arm studio, just just to just
(12:05):
to kind of get the idea here. It would seem
to be like if that bent back past your torso
that should be a hold, you know what I mean,
Like you are no longer like using it to keep
the guy in front of me by you if.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yours are covering the back number, I think that you hold. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I mean, I don't want to sound too homeless, but
it just feels like both tackles in both weeks got
away with holding on what and high staff And I
don't want to sound like I know that comes across
like a homer. I don't mean to, but it felt
like some things, especially this last week when so many
things were being called.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
It makes me wonder too, because at the top of
the league, one of their biggest concerns is scoring keeps
going down and down and down since the COVID year,
and all the fantasy football players and all the you know,
fans that are sort of into it, not like us.
They want to see, they want to hear, you know,
points and big plays and those things are down.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
So I wonder are.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
They telling them that, you know, let's let's ease up
on the holding calls, which doesn't help the Steelers at all. Yeah,
I mean, when you have a dominant front that hurts
do more than most teams, they just I just hope
it's on a theme this year.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
But they still dominated, which is all.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
They still dominate, right, Yeah, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Which is a lot of fun. Stealers win by the
final score of thirteen to six. Still to come, we
have our play the game. We have much more to
discuss about this game. We're going to take a peek
ahead to a Chargers team that suddenly seems very very
formidable after their two and oh start for the first
time in over a decade. When we continue on the
point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Back to the point After on DVD.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
This back looking looking over the middle of the field
that's intercepted, and there's Corey Trice in the back of
the end zone with his first career interception. Play the
game is brought to you by S and T Bank,
proudly serving our community since nineteen oh two stBank dot
Com S and T Bank member fdic. So we're now
(14:01):
going to discuss the playing game. I just discussed it.
So what did you what did you have to play
the game?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
There? Let's give Cam Heyward a little credit too.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
I mean, he's coming down downhill with a little bit
of anger and Nix is definitely eyeball on him and
dropping his eyes and forcing things. And I mentioned earlier,
I just sawt Trice played a really good game top
to bottom. Porter did a number on Sutton for the
majority of the day as well. Defensive front was strong
and Nix is very much a work in progress.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Oh yeah, he's exactly right, you know what I mean.
He under pressure, he just folded threw it up there.
Corey Trice played beautifully, played over the top of underneath
the coverage of his cover three. You ran a bunch
off the left side, Corey's on the far side, and
it was a nice combination of Sutton and Elliott. No,
what was it Reynolds coming off and one snuck behind
(14:54):
That would be Sutton snuck behind Maka in the middle
of it, and he was right along the back of
the end zone and you had Corey playing the outer
third on that side, and he was a little bit forward.
And then they tried to get make his attention by
Reynolds going on the other side. So you got you
got set into one side of Mica, you got Reynolds
to the other side. It's kind of like, now you
got him in jeopardy, where does he play? And it
(15:15):
was a beautiful job of Corey to sink back and
then picked that ball man. It was a nice job.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yep Uh praised for his avatar like skills and intelligence
on the football field. I mean it's a nice combination.
That's really nice combination.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Especially for a guy that's what this is a second
pro game. Ye you know what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's amazing missed all of the preseason last year, well
the whole season obviously with you.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know, these are the when Mike Tomlin points out,
you know that this is expected. He's a second year guy.
He went through the program with us last year, and
this is what Mike's talking about. He'd make He's making
a jump even though he wasn't any part of the
program as far as on the field, but he still
partok in practice, you know, being mentally ready and everything else.
Film sessions. It's amazing what you can do if you
(15:58):
are mentally engaged and you know how to do visualization
and be able to study and stuff like that. It's great.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
And Matt, I think this is again something that Wolf
and I were talking about earlier with Max is that
I really liked the depth and I think most of
us did of the front seven. Yes, you know, you've
got a guy like herbig who really can't get on
the field much. Demarvin Leal was tremendous in camp, and
in camp and in the preseason. He's having hard time
(16:26):
getting on the field. Your defensive line depth is tremendous,
so you know, guys are having trouble maybe getting as
many snaps as they might normally get. The middle linebacker,
inside linebacker, off the ball, linebacker, whatever you want to call.
Peyton Wilson is now in there splitting reps and so
you've got enviable depth. But I think the question mark
(16:48):
was where would that depth come from in the secondary?
And Corey Trice is looking like he can be the
answer to be that next cornerback that you can.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Utilize and real quick on the depth.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I was a little shocked and a little critical considering
the altitude that they didn't have more of a rotation
with the big people early, you know, I mean, really
jump into it. But it was a close game and
TJ didn't come off the field, so you don't put
somebody on for him, you know what I mean. And
that being said, I do think Trice is now clearly
(17:20):
the number three corner, the outside corner, you know. And
I know that was something they were worried about going
into camp, and it took a while for it the surface,
but he's kind of grabbed that role and excelled with
it yesterday. I still think slot corner is a little
hairy at the moment, but they have three safeties and
three outside corners that are all deserving a playing time,
(17:42):
right and three linebackers.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You have Beanie Bishop, and then you're kind of waiting
around for camp Sutton.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah, I think they're just kind of kind of come
back hoping for you know, dear life, or maybe even
somebody gets cut around the league you grab or I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I just think corner he develops more. That's another you know,
being y.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I thought he had a really good week, one
really good week in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He's and he's a young guy, you know. I mean
that's that's what you get with the young guys. You
get the yo yo at times, right, And it's one
of those things. And hopefully he builds and starts stacking
some good victories and personal combat up. Well.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And here's the thing too, and you always see your
team's own wards the closest and we're gonna get into
some of those wards here at a moment. But nobody
has fifty three great players, nobody. Nobody has nine All
Pro offensive lineman, you know what I mean. And so
when you look at the Steelers with the O line,
that is envable depth. Now it's been tested with the
(18:41):
injuries that they've had, but they get Faltano. Back your thoughts,
Wolf on what you saw from Platano, and for Broderick
Jones frustrating. He just has to regroup. Look, he had
a really fine season a year ago. I think he's
clearly still part of the Steelers' plans, but that was
you know, that's a game he's gonna have to learn,
(19:02):
you know, learn from and then forget, not forget and
then learn from, but learn from and then probably just
put in the rear view mirror.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Huh. Well, first of all, I'm going to say, I
think back in the seventies, had one year when everybody
on the Steelers defense went to the Pro Bowl. It
could be might be something, it was something ridiculous like that,
but certainly you're never gonna be able to afford that.
It would sail Or cap Era right anymore, but talking
specifically about Roderick Jones. Look, I understand what that young
man went through. I've went through some tough times like
(19:29):
that myself. You know, you get out there first of all.
I don't think he's probably not faced a whole lot
of adversity in his career. You know, he didn't have
that many starts at Georgia, didn't play all the way
through in games. You know, this whole thing with ten
games last year and so forth. You know, it's a
situation where you're learning on the fly and you're developing,
and you know you expect to grow and so forth,
(19:49):
but you got to learn. You learn the most from
the most adverse situations. You know, it's not like great
success is always like the best teaching tool. You learn
a lot about yourself and what you're made of and
how to get stronger through those adverse times. And I
think this is a situation where he's just got to
learn to chill and I got no problems. Look at
this young guys has got so much. He's got physical
(20:11):
attributes out of the wazoo. He's gonna be a very
good player. He's just got to hunker down and focus
on cleaning up what he needs to clean up. He's
got that at those attributes, he's got to use them.
And I just don't let the outside noise get to
you because when you start hearing those things, that really
hurts your confidence. I think all it was was a
matter of confidence. And by the way, one of those
(20:32):
two holding calls that was that was holding, had nothing
to do with the splat he put on Zach Allen.
He flattened Zach Allen on his back, showed him the sky.
And let me tell you the holding call that was thrown,
there was nothing about holding that that that created that splat.
It was just a great block on his part.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I think the view is still that, you know, if
you're looking to play GM for the Steelers, it's likely
Dan Moore is going to head into free agents, see,
and so you drafted Broderick Jones to be a left tackle.
So it's likely that if that is what happens, If
that's what transpires, if Daniel Moore les versus Dan Moore,
(21:12):
Lee's in free agency, that you know, Broderick Jones is
your left tackle if Aton is your right tackle, which
means that they still value him a great, great deal.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
And what's the chances that everyone's just stay healthy for
the next fifteen and games, right, I mean, you're going
to be the opportunity, right, exactly, It's already been tested.
Speaking of Dan Moore, I think he's strung two really
good games together now. I mean I thought he played
quite well in this one, and he's getting more and
more expensive on the open market. Two when you look
at big picture, more and more. Yeah, I didn't even
(21:44):
try to. Yeah, and you know you mentioned Wolf too.
He had a good camp. I think he's getting better.
I mean, you're allowed to get better in this league.
I thought for Tanu did quite well in his debut too.
I mean I thought he had a really good game.
So these are good problems to have. You know, Broderick
Jones will get his time, and I'm sure everyone's well,
he's a buss. They should have picked, you know, shouldn't
trade up for him. That's way too early.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But I'll say this about he had a good guy
to open with because Cooper was going to be right
in your grill. There's there's no there was nothing about it.
He's just coming straight line. If you take a ruler
and draw from where he starts to where he finishes
pretty much on the same line.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, but he's pretty good at it.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh no, Yeah, he got sacks and four hits against Seattle,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Pretty good at it, but not a lead at it,
which is what they're gonna face.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Well, he's a one trick pony, throws the hypnotic guy
chicks and tries to screw up your timing, that's all.
But their edge guys pretty decent.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Because you gave me the hypnotic.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Guy that used to kill me all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
hYP not a guy I fed is the hypnotic guy at.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
You, and then they'll hesitate. They're like, shake right, Well,
what happens You sit back on your heels, you know,
and you're like whoa, and you raise up a little
bit and all of a sudden they explode into you.
Think about the fact that, you know, you get slightly
off balance with one of your good buddies, like Matt
sitting over there, suddenly hits you right in the chest
with a two hand shiver right boom. You know, as
you're all exactly, oh, Matt's devious with that. Watch give
(23:13):
the hypnotic guy. It's all over.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Baby, based on just again, because we all love football,
and football thoughts pop in your head. That's one of
the things that I absolutely loved about lev Bells are
running back is that you know he guys would come
running up on him, and his ability to read what
they were doing was spectacular if they were even First
(23:38):
of all, you could break down and you could still
literally not touch him. Think about that, your defensive back.
You're coming up to tack him, and he would shake
you so bad, you would literally not you wouldn't touch
him right and then and now if you settle like okay,
he would just run over. He would read it. I
love that about it.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
What I loved was he he could he could shake
and bacon a phone booth and three guys with him
couldn't touch them. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
He might have been like if tag was an Olympic sport,
he might have been the greatest tag player of all time. Dotball,
he'd be a great dodgeball player. Not a guy. I'm
gonna avoid contact eye contact with wolves.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
We can finish the show.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So uh. The other thing that I thought was was
was worth noting was whatever George Pickens stats were, They're
not very impressive, Matt right, But first of all, the Steelers. Again,
you're going into an environment in which you have a
quarterback who has a history of being sacked a lot
(24:43):
and hanging on to the ball. With that has come
some fumbling issues. You're playing against a team that need
desperately needs a break probably to beat you. Well, why
would you play into their hands? So you're not gonna
throw the ball down the field a ton. Pickens then
had a I don't remember how long the pass was
because it was called back, but it had to be
close to fifty yard completely thought it was fifty one
(25:06):
called back, call back, So let's add that to his
total zone obviously, right, was it a thirty eight yard
it was it was at his interference or was it
Jefferson's interference that went for thirty eight yards? But you
could add that onto his total too, Like those are
yards that don't So my point is that you're gonna
look at his stats and be like, well, certain got
and you know he got them. I don't know. I
(25:26):
don't think that's.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
The way I would look at it, like I think
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I think George Pickens had an impact on this game
that's going to go beyond the statistics.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, and just looking at box scores, you'd be like, boy,
Fields didn't throw the ball very well and certain shut
down Pickens.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
The tape doesn't show that.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Especially with Pickens, I thought he was one of the
best players on the field. And frankly, you know, if
you look at Denver, how they're constructed, certain their O
line and their first round quarterback or like their greatest assets.
And I wouldn't say they were liabilities, but I thought
they lost their matchups those things, you know, the things
I would be worried if I was right now, not
worried about certained at all.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
He's awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
I just think Pickens is in the process of becoming
a true star. I think he's really developing very very rapidly.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Well, let's not forget he had a touchdown brought back. Yeah,
you know what I mean when he scratched it was
a heck of a job of getting into the end
zone with that length, right, you know. And the other
thing about.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It too was I forgot about that any point.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And then the stats stats show the last three regular
season games of last year and the first game of
this year, he had seventeen receptions for a total of
four hundred and eleven yards twenty four yards per catch. Yeah, right,
I mean that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
He led the league in yards for receiving last year, right,
and then when you think about how he started out
this season, you're not going to get Look, every week
we're going to talk about the ed rushers for the
Chargers coming up every week. You're gonna get d rushers
every single week. Every week, you're gonna get a good receiver.
But there are probably more Courtland Sutton's than there are
you know, Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase is out there. Right,
(26:58):
You're going to get a good corner, but not every
corners Patrick Sartan or Patrick Tann or Ajterrell. And he
did a number on Ajterrell last week, again within the
confines of how much they were throwing the ball and
with a flag or two picked up from Cleete Blakeman's crew,
we'd be saying the same thing about Pickens this week.
That was my point.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And think about this too. They didn't even threaten the
middle of the field last week, right, that's you know
what I mean. So you're you're taking a huge chunk
of yardage away from a guy like Pickens, you know,
by not having them threatening anything on the inside, just
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yep, Steelers win thirteen to six. They improved to two
to zero. The point After continues on the Steelers audio network.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Back to the point After on dv E.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Nicks back to pass. Nick's under pressure and Nicks goes down.
It is high Smith who is being held the entire
way by Garrett Bowles, was able to reach out and
swat him when he laid in the ground. Great pressure
by alex Heide Smith. The Sack Hunger segment is brought
to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food,
volunteer or donate at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. I just
(28:05):
don't understand how that wasn't and they didn't throw a
flag on that. I mean he was he was like
he had his arm around his waist and was like
running after him. I don't understand how that's not call
the hole. I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You can't believe what I was feeling up in the
booth that I'm sitting there watching this, going he's got
a seat belt on him.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
For crying out loud what he doing.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
And again I go back to my era, going I
need that apology from all the officials for every every
single butt one. Again, as I've always said, there's one
that I absolutely earned and it wasn't called. So I
did get away with one, the worst one, the one
in the plus. Yeah. So anyhow, I guess it evens out.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
So you know, there's Matt there's gonna be criticism of
this offense, and their fans already saying, well, it doesn't
look that much different than the offense that Kenny Pickett
was running. Right, they're not putting up a lot of points,
they're not taking a lot of risks. I think at
this point both those are true. They're not putting up
a lot of points and a half games points per game,
(29:10):
and they're not taking a lot of risks. But I
would say two things. So I don't know what the
development plan is for fields. They talked about in the offseason,
wanting to work about him, work with him on his
footwork within the pocket, you know, climbing the pocket, some
of these other things. And so you know, if you
want to develop him with the right way, not the
(29:30):
expensive winning a game, but also you know you don't
want to bring up some bad habits under fire in
game situations. The other thing is is that in both
of these games you did offensively what was required. Now
I'd like to see more.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We'd all like to see.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
The penalties undid the team. But think about this now,
we talked about this all week. So if you go
from second and one and then you get a penalty,
and then you get a stall play, now you're third
and eleven, Well, what benefit is it for you to
if you're managing the game to win, which is what
Mike Tomlin is trying to do. Obviously, what benefit do
(30:09):
you have of slinging one down the field and giving
them the opportunity to come up with an interception? Giving
them the opportunity with their high blitz pressure and a
loud crowd at in Denver, which puts your offensive line
at a disadvantage. You know, there're is stripsack away from
getting some momentum in scoring. Now would you like to
(30:31):
see more? Of course we want to see more offense.
But I think that Dave Mike Tomlin has done what
he's needed to do to come out with two road victories. Yeah,
and go to two and zero in the season.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
Yeah, you opened the show. I forget when it was,
But when's the last time his team was two and
zero without playing.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
A home game yet nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean, that's it's a major accomplishment. Doesn't happen around
the league very often at all. And say what you
want about Tomlin, he is a master of knowing what
it takes to win that specific game with the hand
he is dealt, and he knows he doesn't have lev, Bell,
Nab and Ben anymore. So you have to win a
certain way. And a ten point lead with this Steeler
(31:12):
defense is massive.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I mean it really is.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And you know the feel of the game. You understand
that there's probably going to be a fatigue factor in
the fourth quarter, and I think there was on both
sides of the ball for the Steelers. He's very good
at not losing games. That's a difference than winning them.
And how about this, I mean, there were five teams
yesterday that one without throwing more than twenty passes. The
(31:37):
Chargers were won, the Steelers are won. They both only
attempted twenty passes. The Saints were won. They won like
forty five to seven or whatever it was, and Carr
attempted like sixteen passes. When you have a team where
you have you know, behind the eight ball, don't you know?
Let things get in the way, right.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
What are they?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Eleven and two? Now? In your last one score game?
Thirteen one score games, It's something like something like that, right, right,
continue to win one score games.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yep. But think about this. You know, success begets success,
and big play generally follow big plays. What would have
happened had there not been the flag on it? On
Picking's touchdown or the fifty yarder or the interference call.
I mean you're talking about a fifty yard or a
thirty what it was a thirty eight yard or something
(32:21):
on the interference and then it touches. I mean you're
talking about a lot of yardage and points there. So
when we say that they're not taking a lot of
chance as well, the problem is when you took those chances,
you did you know it could have been well, but
it was flagged, you know what I mean. So it's
hard to say that they're not doing enough. I think
they're doing enough. I think they got to be cleaner, right,
(32:44):
you got to be cleaner in your play.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Well, when you think so many new starters in a
new system and a new quarterback, it's we knew growing
pains were coming, right.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, And I don't want to compare this team yet
to say Ben Roethlisberger's rookie season. But when you look
back at Ben Roethlisberger's rookies reason when he ripped off,
was it fourteen wins in a row that they sent
him the last game? I can't remember was a fifteen
or oh yeah, fifteen he was they were yeah, uh
yeah when he came in. I think they were right whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
They were fifteen and one, they were fifteen. It was
fifteen straight way.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I just didn't remember if he started that last week. Yeah,
but the Steelers having a clinch anyway, it doesn't really matter, right.
The point of the matter is the point is that
they won playing a certain style with a quarterback. You know,
you look back at it now.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
And attempt played thirteen passes a game.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
He's a Hall of famer. He's a Hall of Fame quarterback.
He grew into the job right exactly where the shackles
on him. Yes they were. There were shackles on What
do you would the team have been just as successful
or more successful taking the shackles off, I don't know.
A couple of years later, he led the league in
the in interceptions and then a couple years later, you know,
he's winning a super Bowl, you know. So I mean
(33:53):
I think maybe they brought him along the proper way, right, so,
but they pretty well, yeah, it worked out, I would exactly.
I mean, you could always argue these nuances. The fact
is that's what happened. That's the history of what happened
and the Steelers in that season. If you're not making
mistakes and you're not turning them all over, you know.
(34:14):
And this was where I thought this game was headed,
which is that ten to nothing turns into thirteen to nothing,
turns into sixteen to nothing, turns into sixteen to three,
turns into twenty three to three, as you just wear
them down and wear them down, and wear them down.
And I think they were on pace to do that
except for the penalties. The penalties they're not And again,
(34:37):
now you go back to other nuances of the game,
managing to make sure you're putting your team in the
best possible position to win. And a third and eleven
strip sack does not help you win the football game.
Your defense helps you win the football game. So I
just think maybe cleaning it up, we're going to see
more out of this offense.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Again, I go to possession downs four to six in
the first half, oh for seven and the second right,
you know, that's that's devastating to.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
All because you're third and long almost all.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Not only that, think about what you're doing to your defense, right,
Your defense is sitting there, get their tongues hanging out
in high altitude, right, you know. I mean, so that's
a problem. And that grew as the game went along,
and I got to tell you that was blood and
guts by the defense, you know at times, I mean
you could see some of those guys getting really tired.
And again, knowing myself having experienced it, it's a real thing.
(35:24):
And when again again we go back to TJ. Altitude
it's a real thing. We need a T shirt says altitude.
It's a real thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
So, uh, the way that interview went, I don't know
if you heard the postgame interview, but I think, uh,
Missy said something like TJ, what would you say about
this defense?
Speaker 3 (35:45):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And he said watch out? And I'm like, oh, is
he delivering a message? And it was to watch out
because there's a oh yeah, it was gonna drip. And
then he answered the question, so I'm like, oh, it's
just set a statement.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Look for h he's a chivalrous young man. Where you go.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, he picked up a safe, right, Yeah, it's like baseball.
He got a sack, you know, two hurries of a save.
He picked up the game.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I called him batman before he saved.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
The So, uh so you know we're looking now at
a team that's two and oh I think it's interesting.
Uh well, if I'm going to ask your perspective on
travel before we get into the Chargers talk, because it
has to do with the chargers. So the start the.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Charge fact that I'm jammed into the bulwark while you're
lounging in the aisle seat.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Travel, So I get a little I get I don't
want to use the c l A. I don't. I
don't like to sit in the middle seat or the aisle.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
We heard a little before you walked in the before
me a little sweaty.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
But but but now I'm going to wolf right, and
I didn't know aisle seat man, I actually had to
sit in the aisle. So that's about how much.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
That's about how to overflow my sitting area. So well,
so I just I just thought you were going to travel,
so I no, no, but thank you for thank you
for throwing me under the bus. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
So the Chargers are not going back west, They're staying east, right,
How big of a factor? So they're going to practice
in North Carolina, spend the week there, then they're gonna
come up to Pittsburgh. How big of a factor can
that be? Is to travel west to east? In your
experience playing against teams that have done that against you,
is that a difficult way to travel? Is this a
(37:40):
good move by the trial think?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Is excellent move? I mean I really hated to do
anything like that because we've gone out to the West
Coast to prepare for a playoff game, and that was
due to you know, weather and stuff like that going
from the west eat. I mean, you think about it.
You know, a one o'clock kickoff on the East coast
is what ten o'clock? Right? Yeah? That many guys want
(38:02):
to hit somebody at ten o'clock, right. So it's good
to get adjusted because then you get the kind of
like the cobwebs out of your gourd, you know, I
mean you feel when you wake up on game day
because your time zone is correct. Right, you're ready to go,
the clock is ticking. But when you're not, when you've
just buzzed in and then you're sitting around and you're
trying to fall asleep and it's three in the morning
and stuff like that, like, eh, you know, it creates
(38:25):
some issues. No, it's not. It's not overwhelming, but it
certainly is a step up in their preparation process. I
would believe that they're more comfortable doing it. I mean,
it's not like they're doing it for you know, to
take a vacation, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, So I wanted to ask you, Matt, I don't
know how much you've looked forward to the Charger. I
know you have great now of the league in general.
So they bring in Jim Harbaugh, who instills already instantly
because of the name and the credibility, instills them with
a sense of belief that always makes a team dangerous
for me. Then you know, some things have happened, and
(38:59):
I don't want to say anything about what he's done
alread because they're two and zero, but some things have
happened that have been beneficial to him in his short
time as a coach. Joey bos Is healthy. That helps, right,
that's a big aid. His left tackle, Rashawn Slater, who
was a Pro Bowl or his rookie year. I missed
all of last year. He's now healthy. Yeah, And so
now and then you draft Joe Alt who again they're
(39:21):
giving the clever nickname Joe Alt delete for what he
did in Week one against Max Crosby held him without
a quarterback. I think hurry or anything really way. Yeah,
So now all of a sudden, you have a monstro
line JK Dobbins. Everybody's always talked about how talented he was.
He put up great numbers in Baltimore before he got hurt,
(39:42):
and he got hurt again. He is now stepped into
the running back position. So there's some fortune there for
Jim Harbaugh, right, But there's also a style he brought
in Greg Roman. This is a style. This is a
big offensive line. They're really talented, and we talked about
Atlanta offensive line being one of the better ones in
(40:02):
the league, Denvers is being probably the most expensive in
the league when you talk about contracts that are out
there and have to be paid out. I think this
line is better than either line they've faced. And I
think these edge rushers. It kind of eased in with it. Judan,
in week one you have some eight eight and a
half kind of sack guys. In week two, well, now
you got Bosa and Mac with Bud Dupree backing them up.
(40:25):
So this thought of their pass rush versus our pass rush.
Are younger tackles versus their younger tackles. This is a
They're running game versus the Steelers running game.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
There's a lot of similarities there really is. There's two
head coaches that know how to win this league.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
They're building with an O line.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
They both have first round tackles from recent years that
are very promising, and the O lines are coming together
more so in with the Chargers at the moment, he
inherited a very very good quarterback, which I think is
why he took the job to begin with. I mean,
he knew that going in. They have excellent rushers, like
the Steelers, they run the ball like crazy. I am
very impressed with their O line thus far. All that
(41:07):
being said, they're very weak a pass catchers. They're very
weak up the middle of the defense de tackle and linebacker.
And they played a Panthers team this past week that
you can't oh you can't. Breshtong got benched earlier today.
I mean they officially said we're going to Andy Dalton.
I mean it's that bad.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
I mean this team is clearly thirty second in the league.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Chargers are two and oh for the first time since
twenty twelve. To Steelers two and ozh on the road
for the first time to begin a season since nineteen
ninety nine. Gear up with the latest game day necessities
at the Official Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible towels, authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the Official
(41:49):
Steelers pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. For Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson, I'm
Rob King. We thank you for listening to the point
after on the Steelers Audio Network.
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