September 30, 2024 • 43 mins
Kinger, Wolf, and Williamson breakdown what occurred Sunday afternoon that caused the Steelers to suffer their first lost this season
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Point After show on WDBD Pittsburgh,
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(00:21):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and
Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks for joining us for the Point After on this
Steelers Audio Network alongside, as you heard, Matt Williamson and
Craig Wolfley. I'm Rob King, Thanks very much for being
with us. Steelers losing their first game of the season.
They lose on the road twenty seven to twenty four
to the Indianapolis Colts. Our first reaction is brought to
you by First National Bank. Let's get started, member FDIC
(00:49):
wolf Let's get started with you your thoughts on this
twenty seven to twenty four defeat.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I'd have to say from the very first throw
of the game, when Anthony Richardson threaded that ball over
the top, but Joey Porter's fingertips in front of Mika
and it just dropped in that thirty two yarder, which
you know, it's like you talked about in the We
talked about in the open was the fact that he'll
make the spectacular throw and then kind of clang the
ordinary throws. From that moment to the moment that, you know,
(01:17):
the very first play when Justin Field's.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Got on the center and.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Zach stepped on his foot and the thing kind of
went sideways, you had this uneasy feeling that things were
not gonna go very smooth, and it certainly kind of
turned out to be that way, and certainly for the.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Steelers, when you dig.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yourself a seventeen to nothing hole, you got a lot
of whole filling to do and they just came up short,
though they.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Made a valiant I try it bringing it back, Matt.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Yeah, reiterate a lot of the same things. I mean
that the start was rough. I mean just I'm sure
it was this way live, but watching it on TV,
it looked like the Colts were playing at a different
speed than the Steelers. On both sides of the ball.
They were flying around, they were generating chunk, plays time
and time again on the first couple drives, and before
you knew it was seventeen nothing, and then too many
(02:09):
mistakes from that point on, you know, I mean botch
snaps in the field's loss of twenty yards, slash fumble
and turnovers and failed fourth down attempts. That being said,
when I rewatched it, I had more optimism than I
thought rewatching the game, I mean early or late.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
And here's why.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I mean, when's the last time we've seen over four
hundred yards of offense or where would the offenses of
the last five years have ben Ben? If I told
you they're losing seventeen nothing, they can barely run the ball,
they're losing the turnover battle substantially, and they handed the
Colts two possessions on failed fourth down attempts, I would
(02:54):
have told you they lost fifty to nothing. And they
came back and stormed back and played quite well. I
think there's much positive as negative to take away from this.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Game, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I think that if I look back at this game,
I think I can isolate any number of plays and
think if any one of those had gone this steerer's way.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Yeah, and you can't look clean.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Play the game.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
Like Wolfe said, what if Porter just tips that ball
and it's one, It's different, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right Well, I'll even say this, what if what if
Richardson throws that ball where he wants to? Because I
can't imagine he was saying, Hey, I'm gonna have my
receiver climb the ladder thirty two yards downfield and I'm
gonna put it into a tiny hole where he's gonna
leap and make the grab. I think it's sailed on
it because when I look at Richardson, it looks to
me like most of his throws, most of his Aarin
(03:41):
throws have been high this year. I think if he
drilled that in the way he wanted to, I don't
think he ever saw Porter was a Porter undercutting that route.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, So you know when I see and then Joey
had an opportunity get to get an interception would have
been a tough one, made a great break on the
ball to Pittman that that Flacco through in the end zone.
You know the force fumble by Jalen Elliott that I
thought Patrick Queen and maybe a couple of other Steelers
had an opportunity to recover. And I'm not trying to
(04:11):
single out guys and say these are terrible plays by guys,
because these things happen in the course of the game.
You know, the third and twelve or the third and ten,
you know, after the Hayward near sack of Flacco, the
third and ten in first down by the Colts, who
are very good on third down, that leads to that
drive being kept alive. Of course, there's the play they
(04:32):
call on Minko, which I think a lot of us
thought was a was a questionable call it best, but
just that one play on the third and ten to
get the first down, the fields play that you mentioned
pickings trying to get more and extending and and you know,
maybe should have tucked that well in retrospect, obviously should
have tucked that ball away. You know, even at the
(04:53):
end of the game, the fumble, they're the snap that
was errant. You know, Naji Harris, should he still bad
of boundary? He was looking to get more. You know,
any one of those plays, any one of those plays
goes to Steelers' way, and I think they win the game.
And it just felt like it felt like the beginning.
(05:14):
The first impression you get is my goodness, are they
being outplayed? And then after that moment when they were
being outplayed, I didn't think they were outplayed at all,
and I thought they had ample opportunities. You know, you
get that first impression and it just feels so lopsided.
Like Wolfe said, you had this big hole to dig
out of. It felt like if any one of those
plays went the Steelers way and they just didn't, it
(05:35):
just and it didn't feel like the It didn't feel
to me like you could have said that on the
other end, there weren't any plays where, oh my gosh,
how did that Colt skuy miss that tackle or how
did he drop that interception? Or why didn't he scoop
up that fumble? It just in the end it to me,
it's a little bit of kind of one of those games.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
The interesting thing, First of all, Matt is exactly correct.
There was as much positive as there was negative. Then
just that the negative happened up early and they got
buried by it. Number one thing that kind of I
was reflected on as I watched a film both the
offensive and defensive line for the Steelers. The pad level
seemed a bit high, don't know, why don't know exactly
(06:15):
what I was kind of marking it against. But to me,
there was just a lot of instances of some of
those things going on, and I think as a game
more on, they got more into a groove. I thought
they were much better in the second half than the
first half. The fact of the matter is, you know,
I thought Justin Fields did a great job of marshaling
a you know, a comeback, and it's unfortunate they got
(06:38):
caught in a couple of situations, one being the snap,
the other being that fumble. By the way, I still
contend I think his forearm was on the ground when
he got touched and the ball came loose after that.
But you know, that's for another day, in another time.
But certainly, and we could be splitting hairs there literally
on that thing, you know. But the point being is,
(06:58):
I thought they marshaled the great comeback and went after it.
And you know what, this could serve a better purpose
down the line than it did, you know, for the
Steelers yesterday, you know, and just.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I'm gonna jump in her real quick man. And the
reason when I look at that Fields play, you know
they're in field goal range. So if you're justin fields
and you see the pressure coming and you do what
we saw Flacco do once or twice, and that's just
you know, fling the ball away. Remember that play where
we just got outside of the tackle box and threw
(07:31):
it to the right and there was absolutely nobody around,
but they ruled the.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Gout outside of the tackle box.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know, if you just simply throw that ball away,
and again easy to say, simple, and but you know
you're in field goal range and you lost by three points,
you wind up getting, of course no points because you
you turned the ball over it.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
That's why that play loomed large to me.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And I'll also say this about fields and about pickings
and about Nagy and some of the decisions they make.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
It's very easy.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Look when they don't work, you shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
And it's a cruel world. But that's the way it goes.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
However, if Pickens, you know, breaks that tackle, goes into
the end zone, extends that football, it hits the pylon
and it's a touchdown. If Nage shakes out of a tackle,
gets up the sideline, picks up a first down, you're
one more pass away and you boot one and Boswell
gets you into overtime or maybe more cauld you still
have a time out in your pocket. I mean, you know,
(08:23):
if Fields gets out of that rush situation, pulls off
a miracle, finds a guy breaking downfield, but none of
those things happen. And so when none of those things happen,
the results are negative plays that if you had avoided them,
might have made the difference. And I think I would
contend would have made the difference in this game.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Yeah, just recently, last time, you said a lot of
really good game of inches examples in this game that
went those Colts away and not the Steelers, And sometimes
in that regard is just not your day. But I
also think that the Colts were sort of a desperate
team too. I mean, the energy that they played with
to start this game can't be forgotten or discarded. I
(09:05):
mean they came out flying on both sides of the ball.
I thought their speed, their intensity was really really good.
And I give credit to downs, Pittman and Flacco. I
mean it seemed like every one of those throws, especially
on third downs, weren't wide open. I mean, you talk
about threading the eagle and living on the razor's edge
(09:25):
as a passer. I mean Flacco has gotten like that
late in his career where he doesn't care anymore. I
was on the couch last year. I'm gonna come in
with the Browns and just throw it all over the yard.
Something bad happens.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Who cares?
Speaker 5 (09:35):
And they were very precise in those instances. And you know,
in this league, when a quarterback and receiver humming, it
almost doesn't matter what the coverage is at times.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, that's a great point, and I do think that,
you know, the urgency is something we talked about that
I just kind of made mention of it in the open.
I hope we mentioned it a couple more times throughout
the course of the broadcast. But it just feels in
the NFL when a team, you know, doesn't think they're
a one and two team. The Colts came out after
that win against the Bears and said, look, we're not
(10:06):
a one and two football team.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
We're a better football.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Team than that.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And they believe that, and they believe that they are.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
You know, AFC South contenders, well man two and two,
you can see AFC South contender from there one in three,
boy oh boy, that's even in that division. That's a
bad hole to be in. So I do think that
in a game, in a league in which the competition
between teams is so slender, we see upsets every single week,
(10:36):
that the close play is not going your way or
and or the other team having that extra sense of
my goodness, this is a huge game for us. That urgency. Well,
if I do think those things are enough, are factors enough?
You lose the turnover battle two to nothing? Factors enough?
When for most teams that's enough, that's gonna that is
(10:58):
gonna tilt for most I should say that's gonna tilt
it one way or the other. I'm glad Matt mentioned that.
That sense of desperation.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Oh, there's no question about it. Look, I've long said
many many times, not every player enters the ire in
end with the same mental RPMs as they did the
week before. That's just a fact of life. You know,
those guys on the field, they have lives too, and
there's a lot of things going on off the field
in their own personal lives. It can be negative, it
can be positive. The fact of the matter is you
(11:26):
have to block those things out and go and do
your job, and part of that is getting yourself mentally ready,
and that means an excitation level to match what the
intensity going around you is. And not everybody does it
the same way. Not everybody does it well, you know,
And so a lot of times you see these the
disparity and what's going on, that's just simply a function
(11:47):
of some people not being at the same level of
intensity that they were before. You know, and you'll see
that that's the human nature of this game. That's why
you play the game every week. You know that that
long time saying, you know that that's why they play
the game, It's true.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, And you know, again, it sets up an interesting
matchup for the Cowboys because I think the Steelers might
suddenly feel that way this Sunday, like, well, wait a minute,
a minute, we don't want to undo the entirety of
our three and oh start. Then again, Dallas, they feel
like they're getting something going. The mentality part of the play,
I think is going to come in and perhaps be
a significant portion of what we see on Sunday night.
(12:27):
And again, Matt, there's a lot to like about the Steelers' performance,
and I think we're gonna get to that. But now
you're a three and one football team and We're obviously
going to be talking a lot about the quarterback position,
and we could talk about that next segment, but again,
this team is three and one now, and you know,
you kind of have to hit the reset button.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yeah, but you mentioned the quarterback position, and that's where
I wanted to go next to is that through three starts,
they never asked fields just to take the team over
in a bend like manner or you know, and I'm
not comparing him to Ben that's a bad example, but
this game got to the point where, ok, justin you're
the guy, you need to take this thing over, and
(13:10):
he proved pretty capable of doing that.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I thought that was encouraging. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Absolutely, I think that's a great point because of the
fact he didn't shy away, and you know, there was
a couple of mistakes he made. Yeah, but you're gonna
have that. Yeah, you know, I mean even Bended, who
by the way, was in attendance there.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it was good to see him. I wish they
could have rushed them out at halftime, maybe, you know,
get him suited up.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We will definitely be tackling a little bit of the
quarterback position, some other plays, some other elements of miss game,
looking forward a little bit to the game coming up
on Sunday and against the Cowboys when we continue on
the Point After on this year, there's audio Network.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Back to the Point After on DVD.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Fields back to pass fields, fires underneath, it's fire Mooth
and fire mooth his eating for the score touchdowns with
three forty remaining here in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
To play.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The game is brought to you by S and T Bank,
proudly serving our community community since nineteen oh two. S
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Fdi C and man oh Man.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
I thought the Steers had well, they did.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
They had a great chance to win the ballgame right
then and there, Wolf, And it just felt like there
were times in which the momentum was really going into
Steelers favor, and that was.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
One of them, no question about it. And of course
you go to the man, the myth, the moth as
I like to say, And the fact is he did
a great job of in that little curl and then
fighting his way backwards into the end zone. Great job.
That's what tied end play is all about, coming through
when things are a little bit tight, and he did,
indeed do it and I really thought that might be
(14:50):
one of the catalysts to you know, coming back and
being able to complete the whole comeback with little victory.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
But it came up short.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know, Matt, when you get yourself behind seventeen to nothing.
I'm going to go back to one more part of
this game that I thought was a big reason that
the Colts won. You had Flacco in trouble, incomplete pass,
you just cut the lead to seventeen to ten. Then
Cam Hayward, I thought he had Flacco. I wouldn't have
(15:20):
been surprised as he called him in the grasp, you know,
and said he's down. We got to protect these quarterbacks.
Somehow he shrugs it off. So instead of third and
say sixteen or seventeen, it's third and ten. And then
the completion to pick up the first down, I thought
that was just a backbreaker. And then to go down
and you get the call on Minca, which again I
didn't hear what Jens Terotor said. I have not had
(15:42):
an opportunity to watch the game back, so I don't
know if they thought that was a good call. It
felt to me like Minca was trying to pull up
ad Mitchell wanted no part of catching that ball, and
I thought that was kind of a tough call against
the Steelers. But that drive, to me, you had all
the momentum going. It felt like you'd overcome the fumble,
(16:03):
they missed a field goal. It felt like everything was
going your way. I should point that out. They did
miss a field goal, so I said, everything seemed to
go against the students. They did miss a field goal,
so that was that could have been significant in this game.
But I thought that drive was kind of the one
where they, oh, we have to reset and we're back
down to being back to being fourteen down again.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Could agree more.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
And I'm glad you mentioned the missed field goal because
I think people know that I count miss field goals
and miss fourth dound opportunities as turnovers, and that was
really the only negative and that that department for Indie
all day. I'm pretty sure Jeane's terator thought it was
a no call. I mean I was watching it live
and I was paying attention, but I think that was
his opinion. I tend to agree. But the Kyward and
(16:46):
Menca plays are two more examples like you did to
start the show of the game of interest. Things that
went against them, and the timing was just brutal because
it did detract.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
From the momentum, there's no question. Yeah. And the thing
about it is, let me just say this.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
You know, what is he supposed to do when you're
when you're rolling safety over the top like that coverage?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
How do you pull off? If you don't, you gotta
have air brakes? And he tried. Oh yeah, I mean, oh, he.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Could have laid him outright big time and he was
definitely he didn't hit through him. Man, He actually ricocheted
backwards because he pulled off, which actually was more detrimental
to him than it would have been to the receiver.
But the fact is when you do that, I just
I think you put such a state of confusion on
the defensive backs because now there it's it's again, where
(17:32):
is that? The gray area is all over the place
as far as what do you hit and how do
you hit?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Well.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The other thing, too, was the actions of a d
Mitchell I thought made it look again worse like that ball.
If ad Mitchell laid out and dove for that ball,
would you have gotten a hand on it?
Speaker 6 (17:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But he pulled up and pulled his hands back, but
make it fitzpatches. The game is not played in slow motion.
He doesn't have an opportunity to see that. Adi Mitchell
is pulling his hands back, wants no point of trying
to make the catch. He thinks he's going to be
arriving there, you know, relatively close to the time the
ball is arriving there, and he wants to jar it loose.
(18:11):
And now ad Mitchell decides that those those hands are
instead of extending him, he wants to put him in
his pockets. I mean, I thought that added to making
it look bad, the fact that ad Mitchell didn't, you know,
sell out to try to catch that ball.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Yeah, I tend to agree.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
And that being said, I mean I think that still
is called in this league more often than not. Player safety,
all those things. But I mean, to Wolfe's point, Mica
could have struck him. I mean, he didn't strike him
at all. There was a collision, there was a glorified bump,
but he was pulling back. I mean, you know, we're
splitting airs.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
I guess I get.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think if you're gonna make a call in this
game against Minka, I might have been more okay with
the one in which richardson slid that was not called
and Mica again was trying.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
To pull up and what happened.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
He was injured on ka because he I think he
made a little bit of contact with the with the head.
So if you're gonna tell me that's a penalty in
today's NFL, maybe throw your hands up and say, well,
I guess that's a penalty anyway.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It went against him. You know, I don't want to
I don't think we ever want to be in a
position to blame the officials because there are plenty of
things the students could have done.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Oh no, I think we could be in position to
blame something. I know, he's a player back in my day. Yeah,
there's a couple of times I really wanted to blame
the official.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, so I wanted to point out a couple of guys.
And we started this segment with the firing with touchdown
reception and Matt, I'll start with you in this one.
He just continues to be a steady eddie and you know,
he's getting a lot of receptions and when you you know,
obviously health for him is a factor, But when you
think about scheme and you think about quarterback play. You
(19:51):
were just talking about Pittman, right, and why is Pittman struggling?
And this is a guy who you went from eighty
eight catches to ninety nine catches to old one hundred
catches last year and he hasn't found any tracks this year. Well,
you've got one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks in the league. Meanwhile,
for the Steelers, Justin Fields has been very accurate the
(20:12):
game plan. You know, we know Arthur Smith likes to
target the tight end and Friarmuth, you know, nice big
contract extension. He's gonna be here for a while, and
he has just been a steady part of his game plan.
This is his first touchdown of the year, but you know,
four catches in each of the first three games and
now five catches in this one.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yeah, And I think quarterback has a lot to do
with the Pittman situation. Pittman thrived with Minshew and Flacco,
but not the other guys. So maybe one of those
things isn't like the other. And you beat me to
it on friar Mouth. He's the only tight end in
the league this year that has four or more catches
in each game. And I think there's something to be
said for a steadiness of reliability. I think were some
(20:51):
of the words you used there and the middle of
the field presence, and I think he's worth every dollar.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And not to throw a negative.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Spin on it, though, but I felt in this game
more than the others. Sure it would have been nice
to have a better number two receiver.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Interesting, can I say this.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I do enjoy the fact that because we were talking
tight ends, anybody that didn't see Darnell Washington's run.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
He caught that ball.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Twenty yards and you know, he he down that roll
up and he straight armed the guy. He hurtled the
guy and then he ran over a guy. It was
a trifecta of busting tackles. It was a beautiful thing
to see. I hope that leads to more. I think
it's very important that you have Mooth doing what he did,
and now you've got Darnell Washington again. That's going to
bring more credence and more explosiveness I think to the
(21:40):
offense when you go twelve or thirteen personnel.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
And one more nugget. I thought nause is a receiver
was good stuff too.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, but I was going to get to that because
that's the second straight week, and I'll get back to Darnell. Well,
let's get back let's finish off the tight end position,
because you know, earlier in the season, I can't remember
it's on this show or another where I thought, you know, hey,
Darnell can this could be a guy who leaps up.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
To thirty catches this year.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And people, you know, I got some some arched eyebrows
of that comment. But it only takes a catch and
a half a game to get to thirty, you know,
relatively speaking, somewhere around that number.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
A little bit more than that.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
But you know, Darnell with two receptions in this game,
needs a few more to get to my thirty. But
if they're gonna if he's gonna score touchdowns and he's
gonna show this kind of ability in the open field,
he's a massive target. He is proven to be pretty dark,
sure handed. I think he's you know, wolf, he's an
interesting guy.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Oh he is.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I mean, you take a look at the size of
the power. When he started turning up north and south
and those defensive backs started to close on him, they
didn't want any part of all. You know, I mean,
that is a big man coming at you and you
know what to hurdle a guy. Yeah it sounds, yeah,
it sounds incredible, but that's because the guy doesn't really
want to take him on. You know, I'm you're going
low and hoping you get a nice bang on him
(22:57):
and take him out of bounds. But you know, the
right arm, he just put the guy down with you
talk about an angry straight arm. That was a beautiful job.
So again it was really a nice one to two punch.
And again I go back to, you know, the gronk,
the Hernandez type of offense that was available back in
the New England days. I think you could have a
similar things going on here between you know, Mouth and
(23:20):
Mount Washington.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Well, it sounds wonderful to me. Now let's get back Matt.
Then to that point you're making about Nagy and about
the second receiver that that number sort of legitimate number
two threat. And then you know, we can't let this
go completely without talking about George Pickens. But you know,
seventy four catches for Nagy in his rookie season, then
it was forty one, then it was twenty nine, and
(23:44):
now in back to back weeks we have seen him
targeted more frequently. Now he's not on pace to have
seventy four again, but he's on.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Pace to have forty five or fifty.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And you know, he's a guy who's very capable in
the receiving game. For fifty four, the thirty two yarder
was I believe the second longest of his career.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
You know, he is a guy again.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
So Arthur Smith doesn't have that number two receiver, but
he does have a lot of the elements that it
appears that he likes when he's running an offense, which
is tight ends that can catch the ball, running backs
who can catch the ball, and he's got the acumen
to kind of screen scheme around the fact that they
don't maybe have that quote unquote you know, number two
(24:29):
receiver one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
And that's by design. I mean, that's a coach front
office communication that, Hey, if we're going to be short somewhere,
I can make do without Brandon Ayuk, you know what
I mean. I mean, it would be great if I
had him, that would complete things. But with the tight
ends and the running backs, I can make do with
my scheme and a good running game, which I'm sure
we'll get to. Is also a little worrisome As for nause, Yeah,
(24:55):
he got a ton of balls as a rookie, but
the degree of difficulty was really low. I mean they
were just two point one seconds. Ben wanted to get
it out of his hands, dumped it to him, and really,
since then, I thought his receiving skills are untapped here
because as a prospect coming out of Bama, he would
run semi wide receiver routes. He has a huge catching radius,
(25:15):
really soft hands, catch the ball away from his frame,
and he can run over defensive backs in space.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
So I think that's here to stay.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I like that, and I also like George Pickens, who
you know, had his first one hundred yard game. But again,
you know, sometimes we have to be careful with statistics
because you know, you go, first of all, look at
who he played in his first two weeks, outstanding cover
corners and you know, kind of a dubious you look,
very good numbers in the first week, right, very good numbers,
(25:45):
but he also got you know, called for kind of
a dubious offensive pass interference in the call. Otherwise that's
his first hundred yard game. Last week he has a
long pass or two weeks ago in Denver, has a
long pass going against her tan called back because of
a penalty that was you know, committed by an offensive lineman,
and then has a touchdown callback so and then had
(26:08):
an OPI in that game, a DPI in that game.
So he has had an influence beyond what the numbers
next to his you know, line score or his line
score next to his name are going to say.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
He has had a bigger influence.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So I was really happy to see him have his
first one hundred yard game despite the fumble. I thought, again,
he was really really evident for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
No question about it.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, the thing about this young man, he is
so gifted, has so many attributes. He's just got to
functionally put them together in a way that really packages
the great characteristics that he brings to bear in each
and every game. And one of them is an unbelievable,
unbelievable ability of tracking the ball. You know, I don't
know how he does it. Sometimes it's like a he's
(26:53):
got some type of homing pigeon thing going on with
that ball, but.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
He sees it.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's able to squeeze the sharman and do a great
job of bringing that ball in. I think he's learning
the nuances of being an offensive past receiver in the
sense of when you know, at the top of the stems,
how much of a little shall we say, a little
push you can get away with, and not to extend
his hands and things that you know, top flight receivers
(27:19):
practice on a weekly basis, and I think the young
man is coming together. He's just got to make sure
that he keeps his his cool and he stays collected.
You know, he used to have a coach. You say,
you know, to be to be a player, you've got
to be hot in the heart and cool in the head.
And that's exactly what it is. You've got to maintain
that coolness about you. And that's just something that will
benefit you as a as a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Okay, we still haven't gotten to the quarterback position, which
we will. We haven't attacked the run, the running of
the Steelers which was not I think where they expected
it to be in one category, but was encouraging in
another category. And we also had the defense we haven't addressed.
So we still have plenty to get to. On the
point after on this there's audio network back.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
To the point after on DVD.
Speaker 7 (28:06):
Roco gets the snack looking left under press or at down.
He goes, it's Hayward and it's her big teaming up
with a sack that Steelers needed.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
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. They needed that sack, but
it felt like they needed more wolf from this defense
at times.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Yesterday.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
They needed to come up with a turnover second consecutive game.
They haven't done that. No turnovers, a couple of sacks
that you know, but they needed one that made a difference,
and that was a big one. But they could have
used one or two more and didn't get them. And
I'm sure this is a performance to Steelers defense giving
up twenty seven points, coming in as the highest ranked
defense in the league as far as scoring in yards
(28:58):
per game.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
They're not going to be pleased with this overall effort.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I wouldn't think, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
And there's not a man in the defensive unit doesn't
think they could have up their game in some way,
shape or form. Look, it was a heck of a
job by Flacco when he checked in and which, by
the way, I still want to see his birth certificate
because I think that guy's been thirty nine for the
last five years that I've seen him play.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
You know, It's just well, if I recruited him at
Audubon High School way back when, Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I mean it seems like longer ago than that.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
He seems like he should be at guys in the league.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Guy still recruited.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Oh but you know it was a great sack, you know,
and they needed some more. They could have had some more.
He had some. I would say this if anybody saw
the holding call that didn't get called on Braiden Smith
on the touchdown pass.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
That Flacko through. I think it was Flacko through it. It
might have been Richardson.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And near the beginning of the game when he literally
put a seat belt on TJ.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Watt, I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I mean, he swam over the top of Braiden Smith
and Braiden just turned around and grabbed him with both
hands around the waist from behind. Now, I understand that
I've done that before, but I've been called for that,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
So to me, it was really irked me.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
That you would go with some of the calls that were,
you know, kind of dubious in my mind, like the
make a hit and so forth. And yet how can
you miss the number one sack monster in the league,
that being TJ. Watt getting you know, tackled from behind
by the right offensive tackle when the side judge is
standing right there.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Unfortunately, Yes, that there's some things that could have happened
out there. They didn't happen, so unfortunately the Steelers losing
twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
Matt, there's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I'm gonna get you guys both on the quarterback play,
but I want you to lead off on the rushing
attack because I loved the fact that they unleashed fields
with some more design runs ten for fifty five two touchdowns.
I also loved the fact that cord Aero Patterson had
seven point two yards per carry, but Nagy was really
(31:01):
bottled up thirteen carries just nineteen yards for the Steelers'
lead back.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Yeah, I don't have a lot to add. I mean
that patterson injection of energy was great, much like Warren
used to provide, and I'm sure will again sooner than later.
I'm glad you mentioned fields and the designed runs because
it's such a weapon and they haven't really had to
dip their toe into that water all that much through
the first three games. And I don't one hundred percent
(31:28):
blame nausey. I mean, I didn't see a lot of
running room there. I mean, he's had a lot of workload,
and he's got to be a little sore and hurting
a little bit at this point through the season. But
that's what that's why he's here. I mean, he's a reliable,
durable pounder. And I do think though, that the rules
are different for him when he's in the game compared
(31:49):
to Quartererill Patterson or even Warren in the past. That
defense is definitely key the run and play the run
a little bit different when he's in the backfield.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I just think that Naj is a lot more the
year than the other guys are. I mean, Corterell, when
you look at him, his ability to see the cutback,
he hit the cutback and several times, and I'm not
so sure that I think it's like Matt said, there
there might be different rules for him because Dodgy is
the demolition man. I mean, this guy, he just blows
(32:17):
into the hole and things start flying, and sometimes it
works good, sometimes not so good. But I will say
this again, over the first three games, we've not seen
anybody compete harder than Naji Harris. The guy has really
done a great job of trucking along there and doing
some real yeoman's work and wearing down a defense and
so forth. And I think it was a nice complimentary
(32:39):
thing to get Patterson out there with a little bit
of cutback. And it's a shame that he wasn't able
to finish the game because I got a feel and
things could have been different with him.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
And the old line was far from perfect and run
blocking to right.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
And I think complimentary is a great word to use,
because I've been mulling this over a lot, you know,
And I think we've talked about this a little bit.
Jalen Warren with him credible numbers and the one I
always bring up. The thing I always bring up is
the Cowboys situation. I know it's tough because Pollard was
coming off a broken leg, but it was a couple
of years ago where is Equel Elliott was the main
guy and Poward was averaging about six yards of carry
(33:14):
and you know you're watching Cowboys games thinking, man, they
should give them ball more to Pollard. I mean, he's
just so explosive every time he gets the ball. But
it's a little bit different. Maybe when you're getting thirty
carries or twenty five carries a game, maybe some of
that explosiveness ebbs and maybe it doesn't only ebb on,
you know, in a per game basis, but in a
cumulative basis as well, so that if it accumulates that
(33:39):
week eight or week nine, you've been taking more of
a beating, maybe you're slower, and maybe that average rush
comes down. So the complimentary running back situation, it's it's different.
I mean, obviously it used to be in the league.
You know, you had your bell cow and he was
going to get the ball twenty five yards and you
might spell him occasionally.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
Now I have a hard.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Time sometimes figuring out what's what, who's who, and what
numbers are real when you have a tandem running back situation,
as many teams in the league now have.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
So to expand on that, Rob, I really thought Nause's
best season, whether the stats bear it out or not,
I don't care, was last year when he was about
sixty percent of the touches, you know, and Warren is
a great compliment and is missed. I'd love to see
him back in the action sooner than later. Patterson was
very impressive as well. Side note, Patterson and Darnell Washington
(34:28):
are way bigger than people think they are. And by
the way, there are huge human beings for their respective
positions and unique individuals. But I would like to see
I mean, once Patterson got hurt too, I mean, nause
wasn't of success before that, but once Patterson came out
of the game, he was really the only show in
town too. I mean, it was an ideal situation for Nausey.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
And let's remember one thing, Rob talking about the offensive line,
I mean, you got a young guy, Mason McCormick making
his first start. You got a center making his fourth start.
You got the right guard that ended up playing Spencer Anderson,
who's the second year guys playing next to a guy
that's in his second year, Rodert Jones. So I mean
there's a lot of youth in this offensive line that
(35:08):
lacks a lot of experience in game brains, and so
for them to go out and slug it out, hey,
I thought they played hard. They played very hard now
as effective as they can be. No, I think a
lot more good is coming, but it's one of those
things you got to get some experience too.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
You better get experienced fast, because you know now with
the news that James Daniels looks like he's out for
the year, Faltano is out, it sounds like for the
regular season. Nick Herbig Nate Herbig was lost earlier in
the year for the season. These are difficult losses for
a team that seemed to have wolf enviable depth at
(35:44):
the offensive line, and that depth is getting low now
because you've got three guys out for the year.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
There's no question about it. And these guys are gonna
have to be stalwarts. They're gonna have to play, and
they're gonna have to get better. But I got confidence
that they will, having watched these guys since they've come
here and to watch them gradiently work through training camp
in the in the first second year guys, and then
the rookies this year, it's sitting. It's hard to call
Zach Frasier a rookie, but he is a rookie, you know.
(36:12):
And Mason McCormick did a pretty darn fine job for
a young guy out there. He had some a couple
of plays that you'd like to take back, but everybody
has got plays that you want to take back. The
fact of the matter is these guys have to gel
and they have to make sure they're on the same page.
And you got a lot of youth with a lot
of enthusiasm, shall we say. And when you have guys
that you know, Brojo was sheriff in the pile pretty good,
(36:35):
you know, but you got to be careful because you've
got to be selective about it, and you can't miss
fire and hit somebody in the back. That's that's a
judgment thing, but that's youth. That's guys trying to help,
trying to you know, get down there and protect their teammate.
And I saw at one point in time where Brojo
got into it and Mason pulled them off. Then several
plays later it's it's Mason's into it with somebody and
(36:55):
you got Brojoe going pulling him off. So this is
a collect this is an inexperienced offensive line that needs
to get better. Will get better. I have every confidence
in the world, and we'll see what happens here.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Coming up with the Cowboys and rob along those lines.
Something GM's fear most are cluster injuries. You know, like
last year at the end of the season, linebacker and safety,
they're just pulling guys off the street, you know, to
get through game day. And you can kind of do
that at that position. You can't with offensive linemen. There
aren't quality offensive linemen that are unemployed right now. So
(37:28):
it does look like Cmal who's not far away, which
is great and his better leadership would go a long
way too, but they might be, you know, a one
more injury away from Defcon three.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Or don't say yes, Yeah say it, Matt, You're absolutely right,
and you know when you think about the injuries, he said,
And look, the Colts have no sympathy, right nurse. They
lost Juju Brentz, they lost Kenny Moore, their Pro Bowl corner.
They're down their top three pass rushing defensive ends who
accumulated twenty six and a half sacks to Forrest Buck.
(38:00):
I mean, you know they listen, they've got their share
of injuries. But you know, stepping outside of that game
and looking forward, you know, with you feel great about, Hey,
we got three really good edge rushers. We have nine
or ten really good offensive linemen we feel good about. Yeah,
we got to bring somebody along at that cornerback position. Well,
that's somebody. Corey Trice is hurt. He got you know,
(38:22):
high Smith is out an outside linebacker. Herbig wind up
finishing the game with the taped ankle. You're down three
offensive linemen. It's it's it's a bad run that needs
to end. On the injury front for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Hopefully number two running backs not a problem.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
Yes, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I forgot to even mention that Warren Warren has not
really been able to be a factor this year because
of his injury. So that's another big loss. And then
now Cordero Patterson. And again there's a position you felt
great about. Three running but Naji Jalen Warren and cord
Aero Patterson. Wow, it's hard to do much better than that. Well,
hopefully these guys, some of these guys are are healthy.
(39:00):
You're going to get healthy or can come back soon.
So before we get too far to the end of
the game or end of the show. Can't fit it in, Matt,
I did want to ask about fields because everyone's going
to be asking the question, should he get the start again?
Speaker 6 (39:13):
On Saturday. He's three and one.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Statistically, this was his best game twenty two of thirty
four a touchdown, he had a one oh four rating,
and again when they talk about rating, that does not
include the two touchdowns he ran for in this game,
so you can add that to his resume as well
for his overall value. So it's going to be interesting.
We don't even know for sure if Russell Wilson's going
to be healthy for this game, but Fields doesn't seem
(39:38):
like he's done anything to lose the job. Now, again,
this is Mike Tomlins's decision. But I think the other
thing when you're evaluating Fields, you are trying to make
the ascertain. You're trying to ascertain if he is a
guy who is getting better week after week, is he's
stacking up blocks so that you know things you're moving
in the right trajectory in this guy is going to be,
(40:01):
you know, a real player for you as you go
along and as you win week by week, but also
a guy who's got upside as the season rolls on.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
So I would very much understand either decision Wilson Versfield's,
assuming Russ is ready, and frankly, I wouldn't be critical
of either decision. I'm not sure where I would go.
I'm not in the building every day. But the latter
half of your question, I think is very apparent that
he gets better rapidly. Fields we're talking about, and especially
(40:32):
I'm sure a lot of folks around here didn't study
his Bear's tape or study him as a Bear as
much as I did. He's a night and day different
player than that. Yeah, I mean, he is way more comfortable,
He's way more in control, He's much more accurate. The
ball comes out of his hands quicker and crisper. He
is getting a lot better at a rapid pace. Ask
(40:53):
any Bears fans to watch him in a ceiler uninform.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah, and I think, well, if this is one of
those instances in which Mike Tomlin seems to have great
feel for the right decision to make, I agree with Matt.
I'm I think it's again. If I'm guessing, I think
it's going to be Fields. But I think Mike Tomlin's
got a great feel for knowing when to make a
move like this.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
In my experience in and around this league, the best
coaches are the coaches, in my mind, that still trust
their gut instinct. You know, there's kind of like the
thought process that's more universal, people like, oh, you do this,
do that.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
But it's the coaches.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
That rely on that gut instinct that in my mind,
it rises to the level of that's what makes great
coaches great because they can make those decisions and intrinsically
they they have knowledge about something that maybe some of
his dummies like me don't seem to understand. But he's got,
you know, some insight to it. And I really believe
that justin like, just like Matt said, if you go
(41:53):
back to a Chicago tape and then you look at
this when you see.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Him throw the ball on time.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Now, sometimes he gets a little bit long in the
tooth sitting in the pocket, but that's again that's been
whittled down. He was before over three seconds, and then
he got it down below three, and then round two
and a half and so forth. They roll with him,
which I love because now you change, you know, the
points of the launch point for him, and defensive lineman
(42:17):
can't find, you know, just fire off to the X
sitting seven yards deep. And the fact is he is
very very good at tucking that ball and running And
I love the fact that you can go wildcat with
him in there in a sense, just tucking that ball
and go and you pull the guard around, he leads
up and you get behind one of those big burly
guards and you get whatever yarded you can get. And
(42:40):
I think that adds to the offense and the fact
that he's throwing the ball well and practicing ball security.
Now he had an issue with it that kind of
crept up on him in this fourth game a little bit,
But for the most part he's been doing marvelous as
far as protecting the ball. I don't see anything that
would you point to and say, hey, you got to
get him out of here. Because of that.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Interesting stuff and interesting this game an important game. Look,
the Steelers want to validate this three and one start.
They're at home. It's a great traditional rivalry against Dallas.
Dallas at two and two, they don't want to fall
any further behind the team we all knew would be
leading the NFC East, and of course that's the Washington
Commanders with a three and one record. You know, so
(43:20):
interesting game for both teams, great rivalry games. Sunday night,
Akroscher Stadium. It's going to be a blast. Gear up
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(43:42):
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tang ral Let's, or gear up online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Four 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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Federal Credit Union get the financial answers you need. And
(00:21):
now here are your hosts, Rob King, Craig Wolfley, and
Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks for joining us for the Point After on this
Steelers Audio Network alongside, as you heard, Matt Williamson and
Craig Wolfley. I'm Rob King, Thanks very much for being
with us. Steelers losing their first game of the season.
They lose on the road twenty seven to twenty four
to the Indianapolis Colts. Our first reaction is brought to
you by First National Bank. Let's get started, member FDIC
(00:49):
wolf Let's get started with you your thoughts on this
twenty seven to twenty four defeat.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I'd have to say from the very first throw
of the game, when Anthony Richardson threaded that ball over
the top, but Joey Porter's fingertips in front of Mika
and it just dropped in that thirty two yarder, which
you know, it's like you talked about in the We
talked about in the open was the fact that he'll
make the spectacular throw and then kind of clang the
ordinary throws. From that moment to the moment that, you know,
(01:17):
the very first play when Justin Field's.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Got on the center and.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Zach stepped on his foot and the thing kind of
went sideways, you had this uneasy feeling that things were
not gonna go very smooth, and it certainly kind of
turned out to be that way, and certainly for the.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Steelers, when you dig.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yourself a seventeen to nothing hole, you got a lot
of whole filling to do and they just came up short,
though they.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Made a valiant I try it bringing it back, Matt.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Yeah, reiterate a lot of the same things. I mean
that the start was rough. I mean just I'm sure
it was this way live, but watching it on TV,
it looked like the Colts were playing at a different
speed than the Steelers. On both sides of the ball.
They were flying around, they were generating chunk, plays time
and time again on the first couple drives, and before
you knew it was seventeen nothing, and then too many
(02:09):
mistakes from that point on, you know, I mean botch
snaps in the field's loss of twenty yards, slash fumble
and turnovers and failed fourth down attempts. That being said,
when I rewatched it, I had more optimism than I
thought rewatching the game, I mean early or late.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
And here's why.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I mean, when's the last time we've seen over four
hundred yards of offense or where would the offenses of
the last five years have ben Ben? If I told
you they're losing seventeen nothing, they can barely run the ball,
they're losing the turnover battle substantially, and they handed the
Colts two possessions on failed fourth down attempts, I would
(02:54):
have told you they lost fifty to nothing. And they
came back and stormed back and played quite well. I
think there's much positive as negative to take away from this.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Game, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I think that if I look back at this game,
I think I can isolate any number of plays and
think if any one of those had gone this steerer's way.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Yeah, and you can't look clean.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Play the game.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
Like Wolfe said, what if Porter just tips that ball
and it's one, It's different, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right Well, I'll even say this, what if what if
Richardson throws that ball where he wants to? Because I
can't imagine he was saying, Hey, I'm gonna have my
receiver climb the ladder thirty two yards downfield and I'm
gonna put it into a tiny hole where he's gonna
leap and make the grab. I think it's sailed on
it because when I look at Richardson, it looks to
me like most of his throws, most of his Aarin
(03:41):
throws have been high this year. I think if he
drilled that in the way he wanted to, I don't
think he ever saw Porter was a Porter undercutting that route.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, So you know when I see and then Joey
had an opportunity get to get an interception would have
been a tough one, made a great break on the
ball to Pittman that that Flacco through in the end zone.
You know the force fumble by Jalen Elliott that I
thought Patrick Queen and maybe a couple of other Steelers
had an opportunity to recover. And I'm not trying to
(04:11):
single out guys and say these are terrible plays by guys,
because these things happen in the course of the game.
You know, the third and twelve or the third and ten,
you know, after the Hayward near sack of Flacco, the
third and ten in first down by the Colts, who
are very good on third down, that leads to that
drive being kept alive. Of course, there's the play they
(04:32):
call on Minko, which I think a lot of us
thought was a was a questionable call it best, but
just that one play on the third and ten to
get the first down, the fields play that you mentioned
pickings trying to get more and extending and and you know,
maybe should have tucked that well in retrospect, obviously should
have tucked that ball away. You know, even at the
(04:53):
end of the game, the fumble, they're the snap that
was errant. You know, Naji Harris, should he still bad
of boundary? He was looking to get more. You know,
any one of those plays, any one of those plays
goes to Steelers' way, and I think they win the game.
And it just felt like it felt like the beginning.
(05:14):
The first impression you get is my goodness, are they
being outplayed? And then after that moment when they were
being outplayed, I didn't think they were outplayed at all,
and I thought they had ample opportunities. You know, you
get that first impression and it just feels so lopsided.
Like Wolfe said, you had this big hole to dig
out of. It felt like if any one of those
plays went the Steelers way and they just didn't, it
(05:35):
just and it didn't feel like the It didn't feel
to me like you could have said that on the
other end, there weren't any plays where, oh my gosh,
how did that Colt skuy miss that tackle or how
did he drop that interception? Or why didn't he scoop
up that fumble? It just in the end it to me,
it's a little bit of kind of one of those games.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
The interesting thing, First of all, Matt is exactly correct.
There was as much positive as there was negative. Then
just that the negative happened up early and they got
buried by it. Number one thing that kind of I
was reflected on as I watched a film both the
offensive and defensive line for the Steelers. The pad level
seemed a bit high, don't know, why don't know exactly
(06:15):
what I was kind of marking it against. But to me,
there was just a lot of instances of some of
those things going on, and I think as a game
more on, they got more into a groove. I thought
they were much better in the second half than the
first half. The fact of the matter is, you know,
I thought Justin Fields did a great job of marshaling
a you know, a comeback, and it's unfortunate they got
(06:38):
caught in a couple of situations, one being the snap,
the other being that fumble. By the way, I still
contend I think his forearm was on the ground when
he got touched and the ball came loose after that.
But you know, that's for another day, in another time.
But certainly, and we could be splitting hairs there literally
on that thing, you know. But the point being is,
(06:58):
I thought they marshaled the great comeback and went after it.
And you know what, this could serve a better purpose
down the line than it did, you know, for the
Steelers yesterday, you know, and just.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I'm gonna jump in her real quick man. And the
reason when I look at that Fields play, you know
they're in field goal range. So if you're justin fields
and you see the pressure coming and you do what
we saw Flacco do once or twice, and that's just
you know, fling the ball away. Remember that play where
we just got outside of the tackle box and threw
(07:31):
it to the right and there was absolutely nobody around,
but they ruled the.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Gout outside of the tackle box.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know, if you just simply throw that ball away,
and again easy to say, simple, and but you know
you're in field goal range and you lost by three points,
you wind up getting, of course no points because you
you turned the ball over it.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
That's why that play loomed large to me.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And I'll also say this about fields and about pickings
and about Nagy and some of the decisions they make.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
It's very easy.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Look when they don't work, you shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
And it's a cruel world. But that's the way it goes.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
However, if Pickens, you know, breaks that tackle, goes into
the end zone, extends that football, it hits the pylon
and it's a touchdown. If Nage shakes out of a tackle,
gets up the sideline, picks up a first down, you're
one more pass away and you boot one and Boswell
gets you into overtime or maybe more cauld you still
have a time out in your pocket. I mean, you know,
(08:23):
if Fields gets out of that rush situation, pulls off
a miracle, finds a guy breaking downfield, but none of
those things happen. And so when none of those things happen,
the results are negative plays that if you had avoided them,
might have made the difference. And I think I would
contend would have made the difference in this game.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Yeah, just recently, last time, you said a lot of
really good game of inches examples in this game that
went those Colts away and not the Steelers, And sometimes
in that regard is just not your day. But I
also think that the Colts were sort of a desperate
team too. I mean, the energy that they played with
to start this game can't be forgotten or discarded. I
(09:05):
mean they came out flying on both sides of the ball.
I thought their speed, their intensity was really really good.
And I give credit to downs, Pittman and Flacco. I
mean it seemed like every one of those throws, especially
on third downs, weren't wide open. I mean, you talk
about threading the eagle and living on the razor's edge
(09:25):
as a passer. I mean Flacco has gotten like that
late in his career where he doesn't care anymore. I
was on the couch last year. I'm gonna come in
with the Browns and just throw it all over the yard.
Something bad happens.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Who cares?
Speaker 5 (09:35):
And they were very precise in those instances. And you know,
in this league, when a quarterback and receiver humming, it
almost doesn't matter what the coverage is at times.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, that's a great point, and I do think that,
you know, the urgency is something we talked about that
I just kind of made mention of it in the open.
I hope we mentioned it a couple more times throughout
the course of the broadcast. But it just feels in
the NFL when a team, you know, doesn't think they're
a one and two team. The Colts came out after
that win against the Bears and said, look, we're not
(10:06):
a one and two football team.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
We're a better football.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Team than that.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And they believe that, and they believe that they are.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
You know, AFC South contenders, well man two and two,
you can see AFC South contender from there one in three,
boy oh boy, that's even in that division. That's a
bad hole to be in. So I do think that
in a game, in a league in which the competition
between teams is so slender, we see upsets every single week,
(10:36):
that the close play is not going your way or
and or the other team having that extra sense of
my goodness, this is a huge game for us. That urgency. Well,
if I do think those things are enough, are factors enough?
You lose the turnover battle two to nothing? Factors enough?
When for most teams that's enough, that's gonna that is
(10:58):
gonna tilt for most I should say that's gonna tilt
it one way or the other. I'm glad Matt mentioned that.
That sense of desperation.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Oh, there's no question about it. Look, I've long said
many many times, not every player enters the ire in
end with the same mental RPMs as they did the
week before. That's just a fact of life. You know,
those guys on the field, they have lives too, and
there's a lot of things going on off the field
in their own personal lives. It can be negative, it
can be positive. The fact of the matter is you
(11:26):
have to block those things out and go and do
your job, and part of that is getting yourself mentally ready,
and that means an excitation level to match what the
intensity going around you is. And not everybody does it
the same way. Not everybody does it well, you know,
And so a lot of times you see these the
disparity and what's going on, that's just simply a function
(11:47):
of some people not being at the same level of
intensity that they were before. You know, and you'll see
that that's the human nature of this game. That's why
you play the game every week. You know that that
long time saying, you know that that's why they play
the game, It's true.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, And you know, again, it sets up an interesting
matchup for the Cowboys because I think the Steelers might
suddenly feel that way this Sunday, like, well, wait a minute,
a minute, we don't want to undo the entirety of
our three and oh start. Then again, Dallas, they feel
like they're getting something going. The mentality part of the play,
I think is going to come in and perhaps be
a significant portion of what we see on Sunday night.
(12:27):
And again, Matt, there's a lot to like about the Steelers' performance,
and I think we're gonna get to that. But now
you're a three and one football team and We're obviously
going to be talking a lot about the quarterback position,
and we could talk about that next segment, but again,
this team is three and one now, and you know,
you kind of have to hit the reset button.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yeah, but you mentioned the quarterback position, and that's where
I wanted to go next to is that through three starts,
they never asked fields just to take the team over
in a bend like manner or you know, and I'm
not comparing him to Ben that's a bad example, but
this game got to the point where, ok, justin you're
the guy, you need to take this thing over, and
(13:10):
he proved pretty capable of doing that.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I thought that was encouraging. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Absolutely, I think that's a great point because of the
fact he didn't shy away, and you know, there was
a couple of mistakes he made. Yeah, but you're gonna
have that. Yeah, you know, I mean even Bended, who
by the way, was in attendance there.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it was good to see him. I wish they
could have rushed them out at halftime, maybe, you know,
get him suited up.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We will definitely be tackling a little bit of the
quarterback position, some other plays, some other elements of miss game,
looking forward a little bit to the game coming up
on Sunday and against the Cowboys when we continue on
the Point After on this year, there's audio Network.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Back to the Point After on DVD.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Fields back to pass fields, fires underneath, it's fire Mooth
and fire mooth his eating for the score touchdowns with
three forty remaining here in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
To play.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The game is brought to you by S and T Bank,
proudly serving our community community since nineteen oh two. S
and T bank dot com S and T Bank member
Fdi C and man oh Man.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
I thought the Steers had well, they did.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
They had a great chance to win the ballgame right
then and there, Wolf, And it just felt like there
were times in which the momentum was really going into
Steelers favor, and that was.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
One of them, no question about it. And of course
you go to the man, the myth, the moth as
I like to say, And the fact is he did
a great job of in that little curl and then
fighting his way backwards into the end zone. Great job.
That's what tied end play is all about, coming through
when things are a little bit tight, and he did,
indeed do it and I really thought that might be
(14:50):
one of the catalysts to you know, coming back and
being able to complete the whole comeback with little victory.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
But it came up short.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know, Matt, when you get yourself behind seventeen to nothing.
I'm going to go back to one more part of
this game that I thought was a big reason that
the Colts won. You had Flacco in trouble, incomplete pass,
you just cut the lead to seventeen to ten. Then
Cam Hayward, I thought he had Flacco. I wouldn't have
(15:20):
been surprised as he called him in the grasp, you know,
and said he's down. We got to protect these quarterbacks.
Somehow he shrugs it off. So instead of third and
say sixteen or seventeen, it's third and ten. And then
the completion to pick up the first down, I thought
that was just a backbreaker. And then to go down
and you get the call on Minca, which again I
didn't hear what Jens Terotor said. I have not had
(15:42):
an opportunity to watch the game back, so I don't
know if they thought that was a good call. It
felt to me like Minca was trying to pull up
ad Mitchell wanted no part of catching that ball, and
I thought that was kind of a tough call against
the Steelers. But that drive, to me, you had all
the momentum going. It felt like you'd overcome the fumble,
(16:03):
they missed a field goal. It felt like everything was
going your way. I should point that out. They did
miss a field goal, so I said, everything seemed to
go against the students. They did miss a field goal,
so that was that could have been significant in this game.
But I thought that drive was kind of the one
where they, oh, we have to reset and we're back
down to being back to being fourteen down again.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Could agree more.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
And I'm glad you mentioned the missed field goal because
I think people know that I count miss field goals
and miss fourth dound opportunities as turnovers, and that was
really the only negative and that that department for Indie
all day. I'm pretty sure Jeane's terator thought it was
a no call. I mean I was watching it live
and I was paying attention, but I think that was
his opinion. I tend to agree. But the Kyward and
(16:46):
Menca plays are two more examples like you did to
start the show of the game of interest. Things that
went against them, and the timing was just brutal because
it did detract.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
From the momentum, there's no question. Yeah. And the thing
about it is, let me just say this.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
You know, what is he supposed to do when you're
when you're rolling safety over the top like that coverage?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
How do you pull off? If you don't, you gotta
have air brakes? And he tried. Oh yeah, I mean, oh, he.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Could have laid him outright big time and he was
definitely he didn't hit through him. Man, He actually ricocheted
backwards because he pulled off, which actually was more detrimental
to him than it would have been to the receiver.
But the fact is when you do that, I just
I think you put such a state of confusion on
the defensive backs because now there it's it's again, where
(17:32):
is that? The gray area is all over the place
as far as what do you hit and how do
you hit?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Well.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The other thing, too, was the actions of a d
Mitchell I thought made it look again worse like that ball.
If ad Mitchell laid out and dove for that ball,
would you have gotten a hand on it?
Speaker 6 (17:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But he pulled up and pulled his hands back, but
make it fitzpatches. The game is not played in slow motion.
He doesn't have an opportunity to see that. Adi Mitchell
is pulling his hands back, wants no point of trying
to make the catch. He thinks he's going to be
arriving there, you know, relatively close to the time the
ball is arriving there, and he wants to jar it loose.
(18:11):
And now ad Mitchell decides that those those hands are
instead of extending him, he wants to put him in
his pockets. I mean, I thought that added to making
it look bad, the fact that ad Mitchell didn't, you know,
sell out to try to catch that ball.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Yeah, I tend to agree.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
And that being said, I mean I think that still
is called in this league more often than not. Player safety,
all those things. But I mean, to Wolfe's point, Mica
could have struck him. I mean, he didn't strike him
at all. There was a collision, there was a glorified bump,
but he was pulling back. I mean, you know, we're
splitting airs.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
I guess I get.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think if you're gonna make a call in this
game against Minka, I might have been more okay with
the one in which richardson slid that was not called
and Mica again was trying.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
To pull up and what happened.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
He was injured on ka because he I think he
made a little bit of contact with the with the head.
So if you're gonna tell me that's a penalty in
today's NFL, maybe throw your hands up and say, well,
I guess that's a penalty anyway.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It went against him. You know, I don't want to
I don't think we ever want to be in a
position to blame the officials because there are plenty of
things the students could have done.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Oh no, I think we could be in position to
blame something. I know, he's a player back in my day. Yeah,
there's a couple of times I really wanted to blame
the official.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, so I wanted to point out a couple of guys.
And we started this segment with the firing with touchdown
reception and Matt, I'll start with you in this one.
He just continues to be a steady eddie and you know,
he's getting a lot of receptions and when you you know,
obviously health for him is a factor, But when you
think about scheme and you think about quarterback play. You
(19:51):
were just talking about Pittman, right, and why is Pittman struggling?
And this is a guy who you went from eighty
eight catches to ninety nine catches to old one hundred
catches last year and he hasn't found any tracks this year. Well,
you've got one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks in the league. Meanwhile,
for the Steelers, Justin Fields has been very accurate the
(20:12):
game plan. You know, we know Arthur Smith likes to
target the tight end and Friarmuth, you know, nice big
contract extension. He's gonna be here for a while, and
he has just been a steady part of his game plan.
This is his first touchdown of the year, but you know,
four catches in each of the first three games and
now five catches in this one.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yeah, And I think quarterback has a lot to do
with the Pittman situation. Pittman thrived with Minshew and Flacco,
but not the other guys. So maybe one of those
things isn't like the other. And you beat me to
it on friar Mouth. He's the only tight end in
the league this year that has four or more catches
in each game. And I think there's something to be
said for a steadiness of reliability. I think were some
(20:51):
of the words you used there and the middle of
the field presence, and I think he's worth every dollar.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And not to throw a negative.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Spin on it, though, but I felt in this game
more than the others. Sure it would have been nice
to have a better number two receiver.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Interesting, can I say this.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I do enjoy the fact that because we were talking
tight ends, anybody that didn't see Darnell Washington's run.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
He caught that ball.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Twenty yards and you know, he he down that roll
up and he straight armed the guy. He hurtled the
guy and then he ran over a guy. It was
a trifecta of busting tackles. It was a beautiful thing
to see. I hope that leads to more. I think
it's very important that you have Mooth doing what he did,
and now you've got Darnell Washington again. That's going to
bring more credence and more explosiveness I think to the
(21:40):
offense when you go twelve or thirteen personnel.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
And one more nugget. I thought nause is a receiver
was good stuff too.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, but I was going to get to that because
that's the second straight week, and I'll get back to Darnell. Well,
let's get back let's finish off the tight end position,
because you know, earlier in the season, I can't remember
it's on this show or another where I thought, you know, hey,
Darnell can this could be a guy who leaps up.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
To thirty catches this year.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And people, you know, I got some some arched eyebrows
of that comment. But it only takes a catch and
a half a game to get to thirty, you know,
relatively speaking, somewhere around that number.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
A little bit more than that.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
But you know, Darnell with two receptions in this game,
needs a few more to get to my thirty. But
if they're gonna if he's gonna score touchdowns and he's
gonna show this kind of ability in the open field,
he's a massive target. He is proven to be pretty dark,
sure handed. I think he's you know, wolf, he's an
interesting guy.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Oh he is.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I mean, you take a look at the size of
the power. When he started turning up north and south
and those defensive backs started to close on him, they
didn't want any part of all. You know, I mean,
that is a big man coming at you and you
know what to hurdle a guy. Yeah it sounds, yeah,
it sounds incredible, but that's because the guy doesn't really
want to take him on. You know, I'm you're going
low and hoping you get a nice bang on him
(22:57):
and take him out of bounds. But you know, the
right arm, he just put the guy down with you
talk about an angry straight arm. That was a beautiful job.
So again it was really a nice one to two punch.
And again I go back to, you know, the gronk,
the Hernandez type of offense that was available back in
the New England days. I think you could have a
similar things going on here between you know, Mouth and
(23:20):
Mount Washington.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Well, it sounds wonderful to me. Now let's get back Matt.
Then to that point you're making about Nagy and about
the second receiver that that number sort of legitimate number
two threat. And then you know, we can't let this
go completely without talking about George Pickens. But you know,
seventy four catches for Nagy in his rookie season, then
it was forty one, then it was twenty nine, and
(23:44):
now in back to back weeks we have seen him
targeted more frequently. Now he's not on pace to have
seventy four again, but he's on.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Pace to have forty five or fifty.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And you know, he's a guy who's very capable in
the receiving game. For fifty four, the thirty two yarder
was I believe the second longest of his career.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
You know, he is a guy again.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
So Arthur Smith doesn't have that number two receiver, but
he does have a lot of the elements that it
appears that he likes when he's running an offense, which
is tight ends that can catch the ball, running backs
who can catch the ball, and he's got the acumen
to kind of screen scheme around the fact that they
don't maybe have that quote unquote you know, number two
(24:29):
receiver one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
And that's by design. I mean, that's a coach front
office communication that, Hey, if we're going to be short somewhere,
I can make do without Brandon Ayuk, you know what
I mean. I mean, it would be great if I
had him, that would complete things. But with the tight
ends and the running backs, I can make do with
my scheme and a good running game, which I'm sure
we'll get to. Is also a little worrisome As for nause, Yeah,
(24:55):
he got a ton of balls as a rookie, but
the degree of difficulty was really low. I mean they
were just two point one seconds. Ben wanted to get
it out of his hands, dumped it to him, and really,
since then, I thought his receiving skills are untapped here
because as a prospect coming out of Bama, he would
run semi wide receiver routes. He has a huge catching radius,
(25:15):
really soft hands, catch the ball away from his frame,
and he can run over defensive backs in space.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
So I think that's here to stay.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I like that, and I also like George Pickens, who
you know, had his first one hundred yard game. But again,
you know, sometimes we have to be careful with statistics
because you know, you go, first of all, look at
who he played in his first two weeks, outstanding cover
corners and you know, kind of a dubious you look,
very good numbers in the first week, right, very good numbers,
(25:45):
but he also got you know, called for kind of
a dubious offensive pass interference in the call. Otherwise that's
his first hundred yard game. Last week he has a
long pass or two weeks ago in Denver, has a
long pass going against her tan called back because of
a penalty that was you know, committed by an offensive lineman,
and then has a touchdown callback so and then had
(26:08):
an OPI in that game, a DPI in that game.
So he has had an influence beyond what the numbers
next to his you know, line score or his line
score next to his name are going to say.
Speaker 6 (26:20):
He has had a bigger influence.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So I was really happy to see him have his
first one hundred yard game despite the fumble. I thought, again,
he was really really evident for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
No question about it.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, the thing about this young man, he is
so gifted, has so many attributes. He's just got to
functionally put them together in a way that really packages
the great characteristics that he brings to bear in each
and every game. And one of them is an unbelievable,
unbelievable ability of tracking the ball. You know, I don't
know how he does it. Sometimes it's like a he's
(26:53):
got some type of homing pigeon thing going on with
that ball, but.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
He sees it.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's able to squeeze the sharman and do a great
job of bringing that ball in. I think he's learning
the nuances of being an offensive past receiver in the
sense of when you know, at the top of the stems,
how much of a little shall we say, a little
push you can get away with, and not to extend
his hands and things that you know, top flight receivers
(27:19):
practice on a weekly basis, and I think the young
man is coming together. He's just got to make sure
that he keeps his his cool and he stays collected.
You know, he used to have a coach. You say,
you know, to be to be a player, you've got
to be hot in the heart and cool in the head.
And that's exactly what it is. You've got to maintain
that coolness about you. And that's just something that will
benefit you as a as a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Okay, we still haven't gotten to the quarterback position, which
we will. We haven't attacked the run, the running of
the Steelers which was not I think where they expected
it to be in one category, but was encouraging in
another category. And we also had the defense we haven't addressed.
So we still have plenty to get to. On the
point after on this there's audio network back.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
To the point after on DVD.
Speaker 7 (28:06):
Roco gets the snack looking left under press or at down.
He goes, it's Hayward and it's her big teaming up
with a sack that Steelers needed.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
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. They needed that sack, but
it felt like they needed more wolf from this defense
at times.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Yesterday.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
They needed to come up with a turnover second consecutive game.
They haven't done that. No turnovers, a couple of sacks
that you know, but they needed one that made a difference,
and that was a big one. But they could have
used one or two more and didn't get them. And
I'm sure this is a performance to Steelers defense giving
up twenty seven points, coming in as the highest ranked
defense in the league as far as scoring in yards
(28:58):
per game.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
They're not going to be pleased with this overall effort.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I wouldn't think, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
And there's not a man in the defensive unit doesn't
think they could have up their game in some way,
shape or form. Look, it was a heck of a
job by Flacco when he checked in and which, by
the way, I still want to see his birth certificate
because I think that guy's been thirty nine for the
last five years that I've seen him play.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
You know, It's just well, if I recruited him at
Audubon High School way back when, Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I mean it seems like longer ago than that.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
He seems like he should be at guys in the league.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Guy still recruited.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Oh but you know it was a great sack, you know,
and they needed some more. They could have had some more.
He had some. I would say this if anybody saw
the holding call that didn't get called on Braiden Smith
on the touchdown pass.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
That Flacko through. I think it was Flacko through it. It
might have been Richardson.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And near the beginning of the game when he literally
put a seat belt on TJ.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Watt, I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I mean, he swam over the top of Braiden Smith
and Braiden just turned around and grabbed him with both
hands around the waist from behind. Now, I understand that
I've done that before, but I've been called for that,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
So to me, it was really irked me.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
That you would go with some of the calls that were,
you know, kind of dubious in my mind, like the
make a hit and so forth. And yet how can
you miss the number one sack monster in the league,
that being TJ. Watt getting you know, tackled from behind
by the right offensive tackle when the side judge is
standing right there.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Unfortunately, Yes, that there's some things that could have happened
out there. They didn't happen, so unfortunately the Steelers losing
twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
Matt, there's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I'm gonna get you guys both on the quarterback play,
but I want you to lead off on the rushing
attack because I loved the fact that they unleashed fields
with some more design runs ten for fifty five two touchdowns.
I also loved the fact that cord Aero Patterson had
seven point two yards per carry, but Nagy was really
(31:01):
bottled up thirteen carries just nineteen yards for the Steelers'
lead back.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Yeah, I don't have a lot to add. I mean
that patterson injection of energy was great, much like Warren
used to provide, and I'm sure will again sooner than later.
I'm glad you mentioned fields and the designed runs because
it's such a weapon and they haven't really had to
dip their toe into that water all that much through
the first three games. And I don't one hundred percent
(31:28):
blame nausey. I mean, I didn't see a lot of
running room there. I mean, he's had a lot of workload,
and he's got to be a little sore and hurting
a little bit at this point through the season. But
that's what that's why he's here. I mean, he's a reliable,
durable pounder. And I do think though, that the rules
are different for him when he's in the game compared
(31:49):
to Quartererill Patterson or even Warren in the past. That
defense is definitely key the run and play the run
a little bit different when he's in the backfield.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I just think that Naj is a lot more the
year than the other guys are. I mean, Corterell, when
you look at him, his ability to see the cutback,
he hit the cutback and several times, and I'm not
so sure that I think it's like Matt said, there
there might be different rules for him because Dodgy is
the demolition man. I mean, this guy, he just blows
(32:17):
into the hole and things start flying, and sometimes it
works good, sometimes not so good. But I will say
this again, over the first three games, we've not seen
anybody compete harder than Naji Harris. The guy has really
done a great job of trucking along there and doing
some real yeoman's work and wearing down a defense and
so forth. And I think it was a nice complimentary
(32:39):
thing to get Patterson out there with a little bit
of cutback. And it's a shame that he wasn't able
to finish the game because I got a feel and
things could have been different with him.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
And the old line was far from perfect and run
blocking to right.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
And I think complimentary is a great word to use,
because I've been mulling this over a lot, you know,
And I think we've talked about this a little bit.
Jalen Warren with him credible numbers and the one I
always bring up. The thing I always bring up is
the Cowboys situation. I know it's tough because Pollard was
coming off a broken leg, but it was a couple
of years ago where is Equel Elliott was the main
guy and Poward was averaging about six yards of carry
(33:14):
and you know you're watching Cowboys games thinking, man, they
should give them ball more to Pollard. I mean, he's
just so explosive every time he gets the ball. But
it's a little bit different. Maybe when you're getting thirty
carries or twenty five carries a game, maybe some of
that explosiveness ebbs and maybe it doesn't only ebb on,
you know, in a per game basis, but in a
cumulative basis as well, so that if it accumulates that
(33:39):
week eight or week nine, you've been taking more of
a beating, maybe you're slower, and maybe that average rush
comes down. So the complimentary running back situation, it's it's different.
I mean, obviously it used to be in the league.
You know, you had your bell cow and he was
going to get the ball twenty five yards and you
might spell him occasionally.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
Now I have a hard.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Time sometimes figuring out what's what, who's who, and what
numbers are real when you have a tandem running back situation,
as many teams in the league now have.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
So to expand on that, Rob, I really thought Nause's
best season, whether the stats bear it out or not,
I don't care, was last year when he was about
sixty percent of the touches, you know, and Warren is
a great compliment and is missed. I'd love to see
him back in the action sooner than later. Patterson was
very impressive as well. Side note, Patterson and Darnell Washington
(34:28):
are way bigger than people think they are. And by
the way, there are huge human beings for their respective
positions and unique individuals. But I would like to see
I mean, once Patterson got hurt too, I mean, nause
wasn't of success before that, but once Patterson came out
of the game, he was really the only show in
town too. I mean, it was an ideal situation for Nausey.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
And let's remember one thing, Rob talking about the offensive line,
I mean, you got a young guy, Mason McCormick making
his first start. You got a center making his fourth start.
You got the right guard that ended up playing Spencer Anderson,
who's the second year guys playing next to a guy
that's in his second year, Rodert Jones. So I mean
there's a lot of youth in this offensive line that
(35:08):
lacks a lot of experience in game brains, and so
for them to go out and slug it out, hey,
I thought they played hard. They played very hard now
as effective as they can be. No, I think a
lot more good is coming, but it's one of those
things you got to get some experience too.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
You better get experienced fast, because you know now with
the news that James Daniels looks like he's out for
the year, Faltano is out, it sounds like for the
regular season. Nick Herbig Nate Herbig was lost earlier in
the year for the season. These are difficult losses for
a team that seemed to have wolf enviable depth at
(35:44):
the offensive line, and that depth is getting low now
because you've got three guys out for the year.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
There's no question about it. And these guys are gonna
have to be stalwarts. They're gonna have to play, and
they're gonna have to get better. But I got confidence
that they will, having watched these guys since they've come
here and to watch them gradiently work through training camp
in the in the first second year guys, and then
the rookies this year, it's sitting. It's hard to call
Zach Frasier a rookie, but he is a rookie, you know.
(36:12):
And Mason McCormick did a pretty darn fine job for
a young guy out there. He had some a couple
of plays that you'd like to take back, but everybody
has got plays that you want to take back. The
fact of the matter is these guys have to gel
and they have to make sure they're on the same page.
And you got a lot of youth with a lot
of enthusiasm, shall we say. And when you have guys
that you know, Brojo was sheriff in the pile pretty good,
(36:35):
you know, but you got to be careful because you've
got to be selective about it, and you can't miss
fire and hit somebody in the back. That's that's a
judgment thing, but that's youth. That's guys trying to help,
trying to you know, get down there and protect their teammate.
And I saw at one point in time where Brojo
got into it and Mason pulled them off. Then several
plays later it's it's Mason's into it with somebody and
(36:55):
you got Brojoe going pulling him off. So this is
a collect this is an inexperienced offensive line that needs
to get better. Will get better. I have every confidence
in the world, and we'll see what happens here.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Coming up with the Cowboys and rob along those lines.
Something GM's fear most are cluster injuries. You know, like
last year at the end of the season, linebacker and safety,
they're just pulling guys off the street, you know, to
get through game day. And you can kind of do
that at that position. You can't with offensive linemen. There
aren't quality offensive linemen that are unemployed right now. So
(37:28):
it does look like Cmal who's not far away, which
is great and his better leadership would go a long
way too, but they might be, you know, a one
more injury away from Defcon three.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Or don't say yes, Yeah say it, Matt, You're absolutely right,
and you know when you think about the injuries, he said,
And look, the Colts have no sympathy, right nurse. They
lost Juju Brentz, they lost Kenny Moore, their Pro Bowl corner.
They're down their top three pass rushing defensive ends who
accumulated twenty six and a half sacks to Forrest Buck.
(38:00):
I mean, you know they listen, they've got their share
of injuries. But you know, stepping outside of that game
and looking forward, you know, with you feel great about, Hey,
we got three really good edge rushers. We have nine
or ten really good offensive linemen we feel good about. Yeah,
we got to bring somebody along at that cornerback position. Well,
that's somebody. Corey Trice is hurt. He got you know,
(38:22):
high Smith is out an outside linebacker. Herbig wind up
finishing the game with the taped ankle. You're down three
offensive linemen. It's it's it's a bad run that needs
to end. On the injury front for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Hopefully number two running backs not a problem.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
Yes, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I forgot to even mention that Warren Warren has not
really been able to be a factor this year because
of his injury. So that's another big loss. And then
now Cordero Patterson. And again there's a position you felt
great about. Three running but Naji Jalen Warren and cord
Aero Patterson. Wow, it's hard to do much better than that. Well,
hopefully these guys, some of these guys are are healthy.
(39:00):
You're going to get healthy or can come back soon.
So before we get too far to the end of
the game or end of the show. Can't fit it in, Matt,
I did want to ask about fields because everyone's going
to be asking the question, should he get the start again?
Speaker 6 (39:13):
On Saturday. He's three and one.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Statistically, this was his best game twenty two of thirty
four a touchdown, he had a one oh four rating,
and again when they talk about rating, that does not
include the two touchdowns he ran for in this game,
so you can add that to his resume as well
for his overall value. So it's going to be interesting.
We don't even know for sure if Russell Wilson's going
to be healthy for this game, but Fields doesn't seem
(39:38):
like he's done anything to lose the job. Now, again,
this is Mike Tomlins's decision. But I think the other
thing when you're evaluating Fields, you are trying to make
the ascertain. You're trying to ascertain if he is a
guy who is getting better week after week, is he's
stacking up blocks so that you know things you're moving
in the right trajectory in this guy is going to be,
(40:01):
you know, a real player for you as you go
along and as you win week by week, but also
a guy who's got upside as the season rolls on.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
So I would very much understand either decision Wilson Versfield's,
assuming Russ is ready, and frankly, I wouldn't be critical
of either decision. I'm not sure where I would go.
I'm not in the building every day. But the latter
half of your question, I think is very apparent that
he gets better rapidly. Fields we're talking about, and especially
(40:32):
I'm sure a lot of folks around here didn't study
his Bear's tape or study him as a Bear as
much as I did. He's a night and day different
player than that. Yeah, I mean, he is way more comfortable,
He's way more in control, He's much more accurate. The
ball comes out of his hands quicker and crisper. He
is getting a lot better at a rapid pace. Ask
(40:53):
any Bears fans to watch him in a ceiler uninform.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah, and I think, well, if this is one of
those instances in which Mike Tomlin seems to have great
feel for the right decision to make, I agree with Matt.
I'm I think it's again. If I'm guessing, I think
it's going to be Fields. But I think Mike Tomlin's
got a great feel for knowing when to make a
move like this.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
In my experience in and around this league, the best
coaches are the coaches, in my mind, that still trust
their gut instinct. You know, there's kind of like the
thought process that's more universal, people like, oh, you do this,
do that.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
But it's the coaches.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
That rely on that gut instinct that in my mind,
it rises to the level of that's what makes great
coaches great because they can make those decisions and intrinsically
they they have knowledge about something that maybe some of
his dummies like me don't seem to understand. But he's got,
you know, some insight to it. And I really believe
that justin like, just like Matt said, if you go
(41:53):
back to a Chicago tape and then you look at
this when you see.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Him throw the ball on time.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Now, sometimes he gets a little bit long in the
tooth sitting in the pocket, but that's again that's been
whittled down. He was before over three seconds, and then
he got it down below three, and then round two
and a half and so forth. They roll with him,
which I love because now you change, you know, the
points of the launch point for him, and defensive lineman
(42:17):
can't find, you know, just fire off to the X
sitting seven yards deep. And the fact is he is
very very good at tucking that ball and running And
I love the fact that you can go wildcat with
him in there in a sense, just tucking that ball
and go and you pull the guard around, he leads
up and you get behind one of those big burly
guards and you get whatever yarded you can get. And
(42:40):
I think that adds to the offense and the fact
that he's throwing the ball well and practicing ball security.
Now he had an issue with it that kind of
crept up on him in this fourth game a little bit,
But for the most part he's been doing marvelous as
far as protecting the ball. I don't see anything that
would you point to and say, hey, you got to
get him out of here. Because of that.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Interesting stuff and interesting this game an important game. Look,
the Steelers want to validate this three and one start.
They're at home. It's a great traditional rivalry against Dallas.
Dallas at two and two, they don't want to fall
any further behind the team we all knew would be
leading the NFC East, and of course that's the Washington
Commanders with a three and one record. You know, so
(43:20):
interesting game for both teams, great rivalry games. Sunday night,
Akroscher Stadium. It's going to be a blast. Gear up
with the latest game day necessities. At the Official Steelers
pro Shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys, Terrible tiles,
authentic memorabilia, and custom exclusives you can only find directly
from the team. Visit one of the Official Steelers pro
(43:42):
shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City, Premium, Mountlets or
tang ral Let's, or gear up online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Four 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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