November 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Rob King joins us for a virtual sour power hour to give a full recap of the Steelers 31-28 loss to the Bears.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
WDV E Pittsburgh and iHeartRadio station guaranteed humans.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
To snap with like one of the Steelers jumped.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Early, throw right up in the moor, right up the scene.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Touchdown.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
He celebrates by flinging the ball up into the stand.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, that was a brutal one.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We just recounted the many ways in which the Steelers
failed on that play and left Jalen Ramsey'd have to
choose one or the other, and that's Sophie's choice. Never
works out good for a safety and Steelers get a
twenty five are the Bears rather to get a twenty
five yard uncontested touchdown?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
From DJ Moore on that one?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Voice of the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, Rob
King joining us right now, King our good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
How are you buddy, Good morning, How you guys doing
doing great?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
I want to point out first of all that this happened.
Abby's Abby's nonwithstanding like a dog, just like this half
hour of Steeler Talk is brought to you by your
neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kinger, we missed you at
the Smalls Waltz on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Night, Oh, how was it? We did?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We did it anyways, but but I'm a little upset
about Yeah. I know you were trying to get me
to postpone it, but yeah, yeah, I couldn't swing that unfortunately.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Yeah, our friendship's not as deep as I thought it was. Well,
you know what, all the musicians, she's mister Smalls, just
please do it on Friday night to Rob Can.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
We're gonna bring them all over your house and just
do it again.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It'd fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I wish the Steelers could do it all over again,
because if they did, at least the last two drives
of the game, I think they would have. Now that
illegal formation penalty was an absolute backbreaker, given that Mason
scrambles and puts it into Bear's territory, where now you're
(01:59):
just as down away with three timeouts from a Boswell
field goal. But at that point you're thinking, well, we're
gonna get six. Uh it's brought back.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Things like that happened, But it was more that it
was emblematic to me of just how boneheaded the Steelers
were on both sides of the ball and special teams yesterday.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Well, I mean you can you I guess you could
pick your adjective to describe them.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
But I thought boneheaded was a nice, all encompassing bank.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There were just too many mistakes.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Has special teams, which has been a real asset for
the Steelers, wasn't an asset yesterday. Not the best day
in the return game, not the best day in the
punting game.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We lost them again.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
It's a is CBS in charge of this broadcast that
I think he's still thinking of all the deficiencies, is
coming up with a silent list right now.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Writing them all down.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, our connection is not great this morning, but you
know you're going to have that. The special teams are
getting off easy. Corlis Weightman stinks.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Am I so as a as someone who came from
a punting and kicking family. What's with the variability between
a fifty six yard punt and then the very next
play a thirty.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Six yard punt. It's just coming off his foot wrong,
Like what is like like anything bad point. It's just
a bad punt.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
But he's having a bad day yesterday altogether. Like just
think about the fact that on the the fourth down
where everybody wanted Mike Tomlin to go for it with
two minutes left and he had three timeouts, and his
calculation was, let's just stop them, Let's use our timeouts
and in a two minute warning and then get the
ball back and try to go down the field with
no timeouts. Okay, I see the logic in that you
(03:46):
got a thirty three yard punt out of Corlis weightman,
Let's say you get a forty three yard punt out
of him, which is like median level punt, right Kinger Yep.
Now the Steeler aren't not kicking a sixty five yard
field goal from Boswell. They're attempting a fifty five yardfield
(04:07):
goal to tie the game at the end. That stuff
killed them all dayish in a field position at the
end of the half, they gave.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Him a thirty five yard kickoff return.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
They ended up getting free on that drive instead of
the Steelers scoring and then getting the ball back and
holding him. So there were many instances where kickoff kick coverage,
punt coverage wasn't good enough, the punt coverage was non
existent because the punts were just awful. I don't know
that he had won over thirty six yards yesterday, Rob.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, it wasn't his best day.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
I mean he's been so consistent and the coverage units
have been so consistent.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I mean, one of those.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Punters where he's been good, he had that's been better
than the average, right, the net's I mean I.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Said he's stunk. He doesn't stunk, he's stunk yesterday.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah, I think he was eleventh in the league in
net going into yesterday's game as opposed to their punt
read a better average, and was twenty second in the
league in net. And it was one of those things
I was looking at that I thought that the Steelers
would have an edge. I mean, I know Duvenet is
a good returner, but for whatever reason, the Steelers didn't
have an edge there. I think you're right to bring
that up that that long you know, the field goal.
(05:12):
I'm sorry, Yeah, the field goal before the end of
the half was set up by the longer return, right,
So that's that, you know, potentially cost you three points.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
I again, I understand what you're saying with weightman. But
then their punter kicks it in the end zone, right,
I'm sure they're thinking, well, why didn't they kick it
to the he should have and you know ten yards
field position that's maybe that is fair caught at to ten.
It was an interesting decision to not go for it
at the end of the you know, with a two
minute warning there, but that turned out to not be
a factor.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
To me.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
There was plenty of time to get the ball into
field goal range at the very least, and they just
they couldn't do it. It was It's cruciating because there's been
a few games like this in which it feels like
one or two plays or three or four plays or whatever.
It is little things going against you and costing you
much needed victories.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Do you the lack of offensive production than twenty one
points for the offense yesterday and the defense gave him
a touchdown as well. Does that have more to do
with lack of execution or do you think that this
conservative approach week in and week out leaves them no
margin of error?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Well, I think that's a really good question, right if
we knew the answer to that. I do think that
there's two games now of the last several in which
the inability to come out in the second half and
put together a drive has cost a team. I felt
like they had the Packers, and think about this, you know,
at the end of the Packers game, We're all dragging
(06:39):
back to the car, thinking, Wow, that this duders. They
got beat pretty convincingly in that game. Fact of the
matter is they were leading going into the fourth quarter.
You know, if they put together a drive and they
were leading, you know, coming out of halftime. Okay, so
it's twenty one to seventeen.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
If you put.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Together a touchdown drive there, it's a different game. If
you put together a touchdown drive against the Packers. I'm
firmly convinced you win the game against Green Bay, and
I think you to put yourself in a great position
to do that. It's for whatever reason, they've been great
in opening drives in the first half and not great
in opening drives in the second half.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And again, that's.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
One of those things where you talk about momentum swings
and other things that are vital to games within the
game itself, that's one that all of a sudden gets
you back on your heels offensively and defensively. So I
think that that's something that they've got to find a
way to clean up this, you know, this sort of
third quarter lulls that they've had in the past couple
(07:35):
of weeks when you're facing good opponents. You can't have
that because there were portions of this game where I
thought this Teers were clearly the better team. But you know,
you need to find ways, and I thought that same
thing about Green Bay. You need to find ways to
put the hammer down on a team, and they've I
thought they let the Bengals off off the mat in
(07:55):
the first meeting.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
No question.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
You know, I think that could have been seventeen nothing
in that game. You know they're saying the other teams
are saying the same thing. Believe me, if we hadn't
given up that play in the first half, you know
we'd have won that game or whatever. I mean, that's
that's the NFL. It's what it comes down to. And
we're used to this Dealers being the team that makes
those plays, and the last few weeks it's been elusive
for him.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
If it's and ifs and butts where candy and nuts,
my aunt would be my uncle.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So here's my question to you.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
I thought we'd all have a merry Christmas, but I oh,
I always mix metaphors.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Okay, nice?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Uh the weekend and week out, this soft zone coverage
they keep deploying.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
What why do you think they are married to that.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Well, I think Caleb Williams caught him once in man,
I'm trying to think back.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Because Caleb, Caleb Williams seemed to get flustered with any
pressure in front of him and had massive trouble in
a tight, tight window.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
He completed fifty four percent of his passes yesterday.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Uh, He's an interesting guy, Caleb Williams, because you can
see the arm talent, and you see the ability to
run and the things that he brings to a team.
And you know, he the touchdown pass to the tight
end in the first half. I mean he caught him
coming right out of the break. That was a really
good throw on time. And you know, it's almost like
(09:18):
he throws the intermediate ball better. But I don't know,
he was inaccurate some intermediate.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Balls as well.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Throws the ball away a lot, which I think his
coach wants him to do, which hurts his completion percentage
a little bit. But yeah, accurately, he's not the most
accurate thrower for sure, and the steers just didn't do
enough to disrupt his timing, you know. So I think
it was one sack and one quarterback hit. You know,
the Steelers led the league in quarterback hits going into
(09:44):
this game, and they weren't able to make him uncomfortable.
And I think the notion is, hey, let's get home,
let's make him uncomfortable, and then if he does complete something,
we can tackle the catch. But when you don't make
him uncomfortable and you're playing back, that's that seemed to
be a bat combination yesterday in which you know, there
was third and ten's, third and elevens and we've seen that,
(10:05):
you know, I'm sure too frequently for the Steelers' taste,
these long third down conversions, you know, third and ten,
third and eleven. I'm keeping drives alive and not getting
off the field. And yeah, there were you know, there
are guys that appeared to be wide open down the
middle of the field on several occasions, and you know
that's got to be cleaned up, has to be or
(10:27):
it's going to be difficult going down to stretch here.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Kinger, I think that Steeler fans have enjoyed so much
of the later part, the latter part of Mason Rudolph's
time with the Steelers, that the assumption is, oh, Aaron
Rodgers can't go that's fine. Mason's just as good. I'm
one hundred percent guilty of being that person. My expectation
was that there would be little drop off. I don't
(10:51):
think that was the case yesterday. I think he struggled yesterday.
And I'm wondering your thoughts on where likely just because
of rust he fell short or missed some opportunities yesterday.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Well, Mike Tomlin was asked about the evaluation of Mason
Rudolph yesterday after the game, and he said, look, we
lost the game and he's part of that, right, So
you know, I thought Mason. I thought Mason was fine.
I thought the Steelers, especially against the Bears team that
was banged up, I thought the Steelers were the better team,
and I thought they were going to win the game.
(11:25):
And you know the Bears. Look, the Bears have pulled.
I mean I just figured, what are you going to
reach into that hat.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And there's not a rabit at the bottom of it.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I mean, you know, they've just you know, they've They're
eight and four, eight and four, and they have a
negative point differential. They've been outscored by their opponents and
they're eight and four. How does that figure? Five games
they've won in the last two minutes, and you could
almost count yesterday as a game like solenity. It doesn't
officially count, but they they in the last two minutes
(11:54):
of the game. They came through five games and and
you know, the records, the clear records on that go
back to Night three, and it's been it ties a
record going back at least forty two years of winning
games in the last two minutes. They have been able
to do things that I think we've grown accustomed to
the Steelers doing, which is winning games late. You know
(12:14):
it's close, and you know under Mike Tomlin it's close.
Steelers are gonna win. That's just the way it's been,
and you know, the Bears have that magic.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
This year.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
I thought Mason Rudolph was fine. I thought the I
thought that the team with Mason Rudolph and with the
way he.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Played, was good enough to win. And it wasn't.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
And I'm not sure why other than the stalling. You know,
you look up in the in the third quarter again,
I just keep pointing to that third quarter. CBS flashed
up a stat and I happen to see it, even
though I don't look at their monitor very often. When
I'm doing the game. And you know, remember the Steelers
got the ball first, right, they got the ball to
begin the second half, and they flashed up with a
couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter that the
(12:55):
yardage was one hundred and twelve to thirteen in the
third quarter. Well, you can't have that on either end, right, defensively,
you can't give them that amount of yardage in a
quarter of play. And you got the ball first, and
you were still you know, you put together a drive.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
That's literally an impossible statistic.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
So you know, you don't put it together the drive,
and then you give up a drive to them, and
then you know, you wind up chasing the game again.
And that's just happened too frequently for him. As far
as Mason, I thought he was. I thought he was
good enough to you know, to win. Did he make
you know, big plays? No? Was he a victim of
an unbelievable interception? Yes, I thought there were some guys
opened down the sideline, including that one to Metcalf where
(13:36):
he had a chance to And I thought Roman Wilson
had a step later when he took a shot up
the left sideline. You know, those are throws I think
if you lays it out in front of him, there's
a chance those are completed. That having been said, I
thought the game plan, especially early on, was solid. They
gave him passes he could complete. They stretched the Bears wide,
they ran it up the middle. They had a great
(13:57):
rushing half in the first half, and then it again,
it just didn't happen in.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
The second half.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Hey, Rob, they're saying that they the offense. You know,
they're not taking deep shots. Mason can't throw the deep ball.
But is some of this checkdown stuff, shallow crossing routes.
Is this sort of an indictment on what they kind
of implicitly think about their pass protection that we're not
talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It's a great question. I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
I mean, you know, when when you talk about Aaron
Rodgers with the quick release, right like, that's been a
story all season long.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So what are the causes of a quick release?
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Well, first of all, he can read the off he
can read the defense like nobody, so he knows, you know,
before the ball snapped, exactly where he's going with it.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
So that helps.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
But again then you start thinking, well does he have
to do that? Is he trying to protect the offensive
line early on. He got two new tackles starting, you know,
Broderick a new left tackle, Foutano's starting at right tackle.
And then you start thinking, are you trying to marry
the scheme to that? Frankly, it's a great question, and
I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I don't know. I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
I don't know whether they're implicitly saying that, or whether
that's what they want to do, or that's that's what
is best for the team.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
It's a great question, and it's one I've pondered, and
it's one I don't know the answer to.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Do you have a.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Sense of why we haven't seen Scantlon on the roster?
You know, they go out and get him with the thinking,
well he's got a history with Aaron Rodgers. You know,
we don't exactly have stellar production out of our number
two wide receiver right now.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Maybe this guy can get something jump started.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I'm surprised that we haven't even seen him in a helmet.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Well, I mean his numbers, you know, he's he's not
the prime Marquez Valdez scanting right, And I think he
reminds me a little bit of at this point of
his career. Now again I don't want to undersell him,
but he reminds me a little bit of when they
got Mike Williams last year, right, like a veteran guy
who's been around, certainly not enjoying the salad years. It's
(15:58):
a in Arizona references not enjoying the salad years maybe
of his career.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It'll be interesting.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
It's gonna be interesting to see whether they whether they
decide that this isn't enough. But again, I still go
and I understand where you're coming with that question. You know,
they're gonna put the guys that they think are best
out there, and certainly for the scheme that they have,
they haven't been getting enough production. I thought they would
and I thought I thought Johnny Smith was gonna have
(16:27):
a big year. I thought Calvin Austin was gonna have
a big year. At the beginning of the year, it
looked like Calvin was gonna have a big year. And
then I just thought that with the other guys, you know,
Roman Wilson coming back. You know, it was so funny
last year he got drafted and was like, oh, we
got our slot guy, and this year, he's like, you know,
in fans view, like on a milk cart, you know,
like he's a bust.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
He was hurt last year for crying out loud.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
You know, they're just sort of blithely expecting he was
gonna be the guy. Well, I thought he would come along,
and I think he has to some degree utilizing a
little bit more of Darnell Washington, Pat Fryarmouth.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It feels like if feels like to me like.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
There's enough there. And I've said this, and I guess
I'm wrong. I guess they you know, maybe they do
need somebody else. I thought there was enough there, enough variety.
We all think that the passing attack was going to
be good enough. I mean, I understood Randy. People were
saying we need to go out and get a number
two receiver. I wasn't as adamant about that as others.
But you know, maybe I was wrong about that.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
I just can't believe that at this point in the
year that Johnny Smith doesn't have more production than currently.
I mean, how many receptions does he have on the
season right now?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think he's there.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
I think he's their second leading receiver in terms of receptions,
but the yards per reception. That's you know, that's where
it's it's it's sort of not happening, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I mean, there's I'm gonna I'm gonna try to get
those statistics. Six point three yeah, I mean wow, you
know that's.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
He's twenty nine forty one targets.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Yeah, after gain Wells, tied with Metcalfs. I mean, I'm
talking about among the receiving core. He's second behind DK
Metcalf with twenty nine catches, but six point three yards
per reception. I mean again, that's kind of what you
expect out of a running back, you know, and they
just haven't been able to unleash him.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
And I'm not sure why. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Again, it feels like, you know, you see the points
of the game.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
To me, again, this is this is my opinion.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
I see the points of the game where the Steelers
look great, you know, they look like they're marching the
ball down the field, They're running the football effectively. The
offense looks really good, the defense gets a sack, and
it's just it hasn't been consistent enough for them. And
I still, you know, again, maybe I'm just looking, you know,
through the wrong lens here, But I see the elements
(18:50):
for a team that I think should be better than
six and five, and I still have hope that they
can put those elements together and you know, make a
run here down the stretch because they've they're pretty much
the margin of error that they had getting off to
the fast start has pretty much been whittled down to
little or none.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Oh no, yeah, I mean I think they're they're back
at even basically at this point, you know, just on
the other side of it, going forward on the tush
push all right. While the one they didn't get, I
actually think they crossed the line to gain and got
a bad spot on that one. But it developed so
slowly that I was like, this, it never looks good
(19:32):
when we do it, but it's had some success. And
then the fake the gain weld, you know, which may
or may not have been parodying off what we saw
Mark Andrews do last week for the Ravens. That was brilliant, brilliant.
So I know we're not gonna stop seeing that anytime soon.
But might I suggest we just let eighty take the
(19:52):
ball there, Like, if we're gonna do it, just give
him the ball, because if he falls forward.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
That's probably a first down.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, I liked the idea.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
I mean, I mean, he looks like he could just
simply and maybe what he should do is just tuck
Connor Hayward under he just pick him up, farm a
few people and run and run him down to Actually.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Why I think it was so slow developing yesterday's because
I think Connor was waiting for him to pick him
up and put him in the Babyborn like.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I literally think.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
He was waiting to be embraced by Washington and then
start moving or something. Because he just stood there for
a second. I don't know why. Maybe he was trying
to make sure he had the ball. That's the frustration
and the frustrating thing with the tousch pushes. You never
know what the hell's going on in the middle of it.
You can't you can't officiate it. You can't really see
what's happening. And I think they did get hose there,
(20:43):
but I think you just give it to Washington going
forward and let him do it and then let Connor
push him.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Maybe I will say this, it did look strange and
I think I said it on the airge and it
just didn't feel like it was like it was almost
like he was standing straight up and then he got
the snap. Didn't look right, I mean, it looked off kilter.
Having said that, and again I didn't get you know,
I'm not hearing the review. I'm not hearing Gene sterritory.
I don't know if it was Gene yesterday. Was it
(21:10):
was it Gene? It was Okay, I'm not hearing you know,
his explanation for what happened. The only thing I can
think of on that toush push and that was a
bad sequence. Right, They thought they had the first down,
and then they they're showing the replay and they're showing
the replay that you know, guy's got his finger in
gain Weell's eye and he's ripping his face mask down.
You know that that's a bad, bad optic. They can't
(21:33):
review that, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
So that's the thing that I don't think a lot
of Steelers fans real you just because they missed it.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You can't see it on the replay and call it right.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
And then the other thing was it really looked to me,
uh you know that he had the first down and
that of course that wound up being just a massive
call and when they went to break, I was still
firmly convinced. I mean, my eyes were on the red
hat during the TV timeout, he's you know, they're they're
(22:04):
looking at it, they're reviewing all those plays, and he's
with the officials, and I was like ninety percent convinced
they were going to overturn that. Now, look, I have
not and never will be somebody that comes on and say, oh,
the officials job though, so that we you know, I'm
just listen and if if you know, I understand people
get upset and they get excited about it. I figure
(22:25):
those things usually over the course of the game balance
themselves out. But I just I was surprised, not quite shocked,
but darn close to its surprised that they did not
overturn that and call it a first down. I don't
know what the explanation was, you know, the thing you
can say, maybe I don't know when they blew the
whistle right, you know, I have no idea, And maybe
(22:46):
that was their explanation for not giving it to him,
But it clearly seemed to me like he he gained
the line to gain, but you know, so it goes
and you know, again that sets up the beautiful reverse
later to gain.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well that was a near touchdown. So yeah, again.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Just when you talk about the outcome of a game,
that's one of those little things that if you pick
that up and you go down and either kick a
field goal or you score a touchdown, I mean your
leads that much bigger going into halftime.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Rob King, Voice of the Steelers, Here with the power
hour of Steeler Talk. This half hour brought to you
by your neighborhood Ford store, the F one fifty, the
official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Pursuita joins us
when we come back. Plus Yesterday's Call of the Day
from the Steelers Audio Network postgame show. I always like
to have one of those calls in here. Maybe the
guy that asked Mike if Mason wasn't already on his
(23:38):
rectum before he fumbled.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
What a gift that, Yeah, maybe that'll be our call
of the day.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Who knows, Mike, Uh, wasn't Mason already on his rectum?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
If you're on your rectum, something really bad has happened.
Yourrect them is inside, so if you're sitting on top
of it, then something has.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Really really gone horribly wrong.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Yeah, I don't think there's a Rectum review, but Micha
will be in here joining us. Next the Power hour
of Stealer Talk on your radio home of the Black
and Gold dB live from the Donz Appliances Studios where
Pittsburgh shops for appliances.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
This is WDVEE Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
For the last forty eight years, Ford f series have
been America's go to trucks for moving mountains and also trailers,
woodpiles and sili talk here in.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Your radio home on the Black and Gold.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Rob King joins us each and every week Voice of
the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, which is broadcast
right here on the flagship. This half hour brought to
you by Clearview Federal Credit Union. Clearview Federal Credit Union
supports their community every step of the way through touchdowns
for hope, Clearview will donate five hundred dollars to the
Light of Life Rescue Mission for every Black and Gold
(24:53):
touchdown scored this season. Visit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org slash touchdown
to learn more. And now Mike Pursuita joining us along
with Rob King here on DVE Sports is.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
How brought to you by Bridgeville Applied so it was
a time when the Steelers were four and one and
in control of the AFC North. Not anymore, in the
wake of four losses in six games, including yesterday's thirty
one to twenty eight loss in Chicago to the eight
and three Chicago Bears. I still don't know how they're
eight and three. I don't know how many more games
(25:26):
they're going to win the rest of the way.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I don't know how they couldn't have made it easier
on the Steelers yesterday either. Everybody was hurting their defense
and we still couldn't take advantage of it.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
And somehow they come out of this eight and three.
It's a joke. You know, they're the worst eight three
team in the history of eight and three.
Speaker 8 (25:41):
You get one hundred and eighty six yards rushing, usually
you win the game. You get a defensive score, usually
you win the game. The Steelers found the way to
do both of those things and not win the game.
But as the old coach might have said, and Mason
Rudolph said yesterday, they are not tiered.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
There's never been panic here.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
We've been Pittsburgh Steelers long enough to know we've we've
been behind down in the division and up and there's
just a it's a natural have and flowed the season.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And I'm very.
Speaker 9 (26:14):
Confident our guys to, you know, keep fighting and end
up on top.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
I know you have to say this, but it's basically
saying we're used to this, and that's disturbing and up itself. Yeah,
we're used to this up and down roller coaster. Being
six and five, maybe going to eke into the playoffs.
This is fine, everything's fine. It's been that way for
a while now. Six and five, same record as the Ravens.
But the Ravens are currently in possession of first place
(26:40):
in the division because they're two and zero in the
division to this point, the Steelers are two and one.
Pittsburgh is the first team on the outside looking in
in terms of the wildcard race. Steelers are six and five,
the Texans are six and five, The Chiefs are six
and five.
Speaker 8 (26:57):
What the Steelers have remaining, we mentioned today that they
could probably win any one of their remaining games or
lose any one of their remaining games. It's not like
they're gonna have to run a gauntlet. Buffalo is three
and four and it's last seven and two and three
on the road. The Bills have beaten Baltimore, Kansas City,
(27:17):
and Tampa, lost at Atlanta and lost at Miami. It's
not a bridge too far. Then you get the Baltimore Ravens,
who have won five in a row and are six
and five. They beat the snot out of the Bears
at home back in October to Smart to start their
(27:38):
winning streak. Since then, they've beaten Miami four and seven,
Minnesota four and seven, Cleveland three and eight, and the
Jets two and nine, and none of those were layups
from start to finish. The Ravens go ahead and crown
them if you want. I'm not willing to do that.
Then it's Miami four and seven. Overall, Dolphins are shown
(28:00):
some signs of life. They've won three of four, and
they get New Orleans and the Jets before they play
the Steelers. So uh, maybe the Dolphins will come here
on a roll, but it'll be Miami playing in Pittsburgh
at night in December.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yeah, you got to remember what the Ravens though. They're
doing the reverse of what we do. They've lost to
teams they should have probably lost to, and beat all
the teams that they should have beat, because who they lose,
they lost to the Chiefs, the Bills. I mean, they're
losing the good teams.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
They they didn't suffer too much when Lamar was out
in being egregiously defeated by you know, the Bengals and
stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Baltimore, by the way, still has to play Cincinnati twice,
and Burrow's coming back. They go to Cincinnati on Thanksgiving
nightad they're a road team on a Thursday against Joe Burrow,
Jamar Chase and T Higgins.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I'm not discounting the Steelers' opportunities here.
Speaker 8 (28:57):
Mike Baltimore still plays New England, Baltimore still plays at
Green Bay.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Not discounting their opportunity. It's their inability to take advantage
of situations like yesterday. I know it was Mason Rudolph,
but there's no way they should have lost that game.
There's no way they should have lost that first game
to Cincinnati.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
Agreed and agreed, But this it might be one of
those years. Nine and eight might win the division if
it's the right nine. Yeah, against Baltimore. Nine and eight
might get you in the playoffs if it's the right nine. Now,
of course, the whole goal this year, and the whole plan,
was to stop getting in is the seventh seed and
having to go on the road for an ass kick.
And it was to actually have a real quarterback and
(29:39):
win the division and get at least one home game.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
But if they have to go on the road, if
they have to go.
Speaker 8 (29:47):
On the road for the ass kick, and it would
be to Indianapolis or New England, and they've already.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Beat both of those teams, that is true.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
So you know.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It sucks right now. But there's a lot of golf left.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Romondriousty evenson really did help him out on that end.
I mean, I know the defense played great and they
helped get you the fumbles, but that dude could not
hold onto the ball that day.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
He could not.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
Couple three plays yesterday and they were all just catastrophic failures.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
The problem is it never looks different. It's always the
same kind of bad. It's always the same mistakes, the
defense playing way too soft, the offense with this limited.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
But it's again we went over this today. They held
the Bears below what the Bears usually do.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I know, but they gave up a huge touchdown. But
they did.
Speaker 8 (30:39):
But you're saying way too you know, sometimes that plays
to their advantage.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
We can.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
We can pick them.
Speaker 8 (30:45):
Cherry pick plays and say that was terrible, and we'd
be right. But they held them under their total yards.
They held them way under their rushing yards. Caleb Williams
was Caleb Williams. They won the time of possession.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Which we won, and they gave up thirty one points,
which means you lose ninety eight percent of the time.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It was some good.
Speaker 8 (31:04):
They also scored seven the defense, so they held the
Bears to their average. They were who they thought they were.
I'm the offense has to be better.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
We've been see I don't think the defense is more
culpable than the offense or special teams yesterday. But what
I'm saying is they don't get better despite having all
of the big names and all of the big money talent,
and no matter what we do, it never gets better.
That is a game that they should be should have
been able to make the Bears offense look even more
(31:34):
one dimensional, and they couldn't take advantage of one of
the worst percentage quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
In the league. Well, oh, I know, they scored. Not
a perfect game by far.
Speaker 8 (31:45):
That We've talked about their season long issues with being
unable to play zone defense, bites them every game, but
that was the offense had two shots to tire win
that game.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
And failed.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
I'm going offense, special teams, defense, all over it, all
over it. Yeah, Rob King sitting there, head in hand
right now, just frustrated and the same talk of the
same problems that we've been seeing all year long.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
But what say you, sir again?
Speaker 5 (32:22):
I go back to and I don't think I'm far
off from what Mike is saying. First of all, I
felt like the Steelers really needed to win one of
these two games, right They needed to either beat the
Bears or beat the Bills. I thought the Bears were
the easier pickings. I thought they were going to win
the game. If you had a choice, you'd rather beat
the Bills because they're an AFC team.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So it just sets up a really.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Important game on Sunday to beat the Bills at home,
defeat an AFC opponent. But there's been a couple of
games this year that are uncharacteristic of what we've seen
of this years over the years. Like Mike said, you
tell me you're gonna come up with a defensive touchdown,
You're gonna win the time of possession for the first
time all year, You're gonna run more plays than other team,
by the way, decidedly winning time of possession.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Running the football, all of those elements.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Right, If you give me all those puzzle pieces, I'm
putting together a puzzle that has a w right. And
for some reason there's been a couple of games like
that this year in which it just doesn't seem to
fit right. It's why I'm still holding out hope that
there's that there's a better football team in there that
we've seen results wise, because I just see a lot
of the puzzle pieces in place. And you know this,
(33:28):
this was one in which if you told me going in,
they're gonna have a defensive touchdown, they're gonna run for
one to eighty six, they're gonna win the time of possession,
they're gonna run more plays than the Bears. Okay, then
they're gonna win, and they didn't.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Now, you know, my nightmare scenario next week is that
Aaron Rodgers still can't go, and then Josh Allen gets
hurt and we see Mitch Trubisky versus Mason Rudolph and
Mitch lights up the Steelers defense.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I think Aaron Rodgers goes next Sunday. If his heart
is beating, you're probably right about that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
All right, call of the day the Steelers Audio Network
postgame show.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When we come back, it's.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
Max Starks for my friends at Clearview Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Clearview is Steve Morning Show.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Right here on your radio home at the Pittsburghteelers one
O two point five DVE. We're with Rob King, voice
of the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, and with
Mike Persuda, who hosts the postgame show and every week
I like Mike to highlight one of the calls that
you and Charlie Batch get brought.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
You don't like this feature, No, I love this features.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
This is how you deal with trauma, like you have
to relive it and confront it head on.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And Rob King he's probably got a little PTS D
from this as well, having been on that postgame show.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Here's from yesterday. Pete in the car. You're up next
with Mike and Charlie. How are you Pete?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Good?
Speaker 10 (34:52):
Guys, I'm confused as well, you know, just licking my
wounds from Matt tough loss. You know what get you know,
talking the broadcast. So I have a quick story and
a question to fall. So I have my kids this
weekend and they're like, that's good on a game. So
I'm like, okay, that's good. So we go down a game.
We go down, drive down, no traffic or nothing, and
(35:13):
all of a sudden we get down there, no game.
It's in Chicago. So I was waring. You know, they
had trouble with the broadcast. Did they advertise like where
this game is being played? Like much?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, they start in May when the schedules released.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
But I always switch that up, don't they, you know,
like with the times and stuff.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
No, it's pretty much been well know, the game was
in Chicago today. Yeah, the time stayed the same.
Speaker 11 (35:41):
The time can change, but never the venue once the
schedule is released. I'm not sure where the mix up
happened as you were preparing for the game to day.
Speaker 10 (35:50):
Maybe an old I don't know, maybe an old schedule
or something. I don't know. But okay, so getting onto
the game, Okay, to the game. We have an overabundance
of tight ends right.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Fair amount essentially on the roster.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yes, and I.
Speaker 10 (36:06):
Don't know if Tom don't even thought about this, but
what if you played them at like other positions? So
the other team don't know where you're throwing the ball.
You know, could be the guy next to the center
he goes uh like Washington, he's picked if he blocks
or if he goes out and they throwing the ball,
and he's pretty simple. But I don't know just why
(36:27):
nobody else thought about it, especially you're so deep the deposition.
Speaker 11 (36:31):
Yeah, Ultimately, when you get to this point of the season,
Tennessee's always start to kind of play out.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Pack is good a substitution.
Speaker 11 (36:37):
Packages personnel groups that you're putting on the field. So
by trying to put three tight ends and then maybe
for an example, Smith.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Out wide, you're saying, Charlie couldn't even he got him
back on the He got whatever that was back right
on the rails pretty right there.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
So that guy suggesting that you put the tight end
next guard and then runs a route, Yeah, what if
you put a wig hold on.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I gotta finish it. I gotta finish it.
Speaker 11 (37:06):
It's still three tight ends on the field. So defensively
they're going to use that package.
Speaker 10 (37:10):
People truly, I met, like, you know, you have the
center and then you go one tight end on right
next to him, and one tight end right on the
other side, so he could either block or he could
go out for a pass.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
Yeah, they're not they're not eligible to line up there
and catch your pass by rule. Appreciate the call, Pete.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I got waited like a half an hour. Okay, Rob,
that was real. I didn't know if he was. He's
not drunk. He's not drunk. I think he was busting
my chops.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
I think I think that was a perfectly executed troll.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I don't. I'm with Conco. I think I think that
was real. Real, he's too innocent to be I think the.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
Game no game listen. I'd love to laugh at that guy.
But me and my dad did that for a Penguins
game one time. We went down to that bar, you
know that had the roast beef sandwiches next to the
Manor garage.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
And we're cruising down two seventy nine. We're like, there's
no traffic. We're killing it. We get to the bar
like thirty minutes before the game.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
We're eating a roast beef sandwich and we asked the
bar and You're like, where is everybody. They're like, uh,
in Columbus where the Blue Jackets are playing.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
If we had no clue, so we're idiots.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Also, we don't they played a goalie's center.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
It was difficult to comprehend initially, like I was trying
to Okay, where's this going?
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Is this that's why I where is there going to
be a punch like here?
Speaker 4 (38:38):
Now, you can't pay attention to the Steelers football to
the extent that you want to call in a postgame
show and.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Not know that you can't throw you can't throw pass
to the guard. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:48):
There was another guy that called in and it was
the Rudolph fumble, and he wanted to know if Rudolph
had landed on his rectum before losing the ball. And
I don't know if he was setting me up or not,
but I just didn't go there.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I don't know what.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
Yeah, that seems like he's trying to tee you up
for one. I know if it was a troll. He
just wanted me to say rect them he knows, get
that's what he was doing.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
We got a lot of morning show love on the
post gas.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (39:16):
No, and that guy was giving you I heard it
bad that I didn't give it back.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
But it's just what you can't do it on the network.
That's different. That's like mom and dad and grandma are
at the table. When it's a Steelers you can't do
morning shows. I think they want a little personality, but
I just wasn't.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
I don't know, they don't want wrect them talk. I
don't think ar Rooney's like the postgame show has been missing.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Rectum, just a little more rectim Well, I mean I
didn't bring it up, but you know, the guy kind
of threw me the lob and I didn't.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I didn't at home.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Now, all right, look, Josh Allen and the Bills are
looking this weekend to come in here and basically ruin
the Steelers season. They do have a chance, as you
pointed out, Mike and Rob you did as well. The
Steelers do with a win over the Bills, an AFC opponent,
(40:08):
they're right back in it. Lose this one and it
is tough sled and going ahead.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Rob King, Yeah, that's it. I mean, you know again,
I thought they had to win one of the two.
If you could choose one, it would be this game.
Now you you pretty much have to chuse. You're you're
out of selections.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
You got it. You gotta beat the Bills. You got
to find a way to beat him.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Yeah, or otherwise you're just really you know, otherwise you
need help and you want to be able to sort
of be able to, you know, dictate what's gonna happen
with you. I know, Mike, never control your own destiny. Mike,
I know you don't like that.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Control your own fate. I know you don't like that either.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
No, but fate.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
You can control fate or no.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
You can control fate, not destiny. But if it's your
destiny is preordained.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
But isn't fate preordained as well?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Well?
Speaker 8 (40:56):
Because sometimes you deserve the better fate. There were options.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Yeah, I think we're going to have to have an
etymological conversation about this, but not now. Perhaps I do
think that you know, you listen, you want to be
in a position to be able to dictate the outcome
of your own season. And the Steelers, if they beat
the Bills are still in that position. If they don't
beat the Bills, now they've got big problems.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
See, I think fate, I think those are synonyms. I
do what I'm staying with.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I agree that's.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
My story and I'm sticking to it. I know they're
both stripper names, So there is that too.
Speaker 8 (41:25):
Just one other point about all these other teams that
are all the same, and people watch the Steelers, I
think they get a little Steeler blinders, and they think
the rest of the league is operating perfectly and with efficiency.
Our old buddy, mile buddy vic Carucci's been covering the
NFL for one hundred years, like I have. He's working
for a TV station in Buffalo now and he does
a little write ups online. Here's what he wrote about
(41:48):
the Bills after their loss in Houston, in which Josh
Allen got sacked eight times and hit twelve times on
the road. Now, Steelers defense is as good as Houston's,
but it's as good as Houston's rush in the passer.
Bill's O line stinks. They have no receivers. They're terrible
on the road. Vic wrote, quote, the high hopes for
(42:08):
this team seem a bit lower, but the week to
week nature of the NFL keeps all goals in play.
Reaching them might be more challenging than expected, but that's
for every team in the league. Man, Yep, it's got
to let a play out.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Well, you'll hear Rob King along with Max Starks and
Missy Matthews. This coming Sunday, the four to twenty five
kickoff at Akrosher Stadium for Steelers bills right here on
your radio, home of the Black and Gold one on
two point five DV king Er, Thanks so much for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Appreciate it, buddy.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Thanks to Tim Benz for joining us earlier, and Jerry
Dulac as well tomorrow on the show Chot it Back,
Jean Sterotor, Billy.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Gardell and Steve Burne.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
And then we'll be off on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday,
So tune in tomorrow in here us half asset all
the way to Turkey Day.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Michelle's up next with the Electric Lunch in noon. Have
a great day, everybody. I'm finishing you say, classy Pittsburgh,
don't touch your face. I got him touch day baby.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
So now you gotta call me Ronald?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Would you not eat my pants? Ronald? Whoa? Why gogglehead?
Speaker 12 (43:16):
It's time for the Steelers Daily Report on DVE, brought
to you by First National Bank. Let's get started. Remember
FDI C and Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Here's Tom Opperman.
Speaker 13 (43:29):
The Steelers total of the Chicago Bears yesterday afternoon in Chicago,
a loss that drops and teamed to six and five
on the season. Steewer's backup quarterback Mason Rudolph started in
place of injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers and played okay, but
did throw an interception on his first pass of the game,
which the Bears offense was able to turn into the
game's opening touchdown. And that was really the story of
the game in Chicago, as the Steelers turned the ball
(43:49):
over two times and were stopped on fourth down once,
and in all instances the Bears offense went on to
capitalize with touchdowns. It was a big afternoon for Bears
quarterback Caleb Williams for two hundred and thirty nine yards
on nineteen of thirty five passing and toss three touchdown passes,
two of them.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
To wide receiver DJ Moore, making matters worse.
Speaker 13 (44:09):
A Raven's victory over the Jets Sunday afternoon means Baltimore
has taken over first place in the AFC North from
the Steelers thanks to having a better division record.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Steelers try to.
Speaker 13 (44:19):
Turn the page as they welcome to the Buffalo Bills to
town next week. Am Tal Oppermann with the Steelers Report.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
At FNB.
Speaker 6 (44:28):
We rewrote the rules of banking and made getting everything
you need a whole lot easier experience.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
The one of a kind EA store common app
WDV E Pittsburgh and iHeartRadio station guaranteed humans.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
To snap with like one of the Steelers jumped.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Early, throw right up in the moor, right up the scene.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Touchdown.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
He celebrates by flinging the ball up into the stand.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, that was a brutal one.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We just recounted the many ways in which the Steelers
failed on that play and left Jalen Ramsey'd have to
choose one or the other, and that's Sophie's choice. Never
works out good for a safety and Steelers get a
twenty five are the Bears rather to get a twenty
five yard uncontested touchdown?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
From DJ Moore on that one?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Voice of the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, Rob
King joining us right now, King our good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
How are you buddy, Good morning, How you guys doing
doing great?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
I want to point out first of all that this happened.
Abby's Abby's nonwithstanding like a dog, just like this half
hour of Steeler Talk is brought to you by your
neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kinger, we missed you at
the Smalls Waltz on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Night, Oh, how was it? We did?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We did it anyways, but but I'm a little upset
about Yeah. I know you were trying to get me
to postpone it, but yeah, yeah, I couldn't swing that unfortunately.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Yeah, our friendship's not as deep as I thought it was. Well,
you know what, all the musicians, she's mister Smalls, just
please do it on Friday night to Rob Can.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
We're gonna bring them all over your house and just
do it again.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It'd fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I wish the Steelers could do it all over again,
because if they did, at least the last two drives
of the game, I think they would have. Now that
illegal formation penalty was an absolute backbreaker, given that Mason
scrambles and puts it into Bear's territory, where now you're
(01:59):
just as down away with three timeouts from a Boswell
field goal. But at that point you're thinking, well, we're
gonna get six. Uh it's brought back.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Things like that happened, But it was more that it
was emblematic to me of just how boneheaded the Steelers
were on both sides of the ball and special teams yesterday.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Well, I mean you can you I guess you could
pick your adjective to describe them.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
But I thought boneheaded was a nice, all encompassing bank.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There were just too many mistakes.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Has special teams, which has been a real asset for
the Steelers, wasn't an asset yesterday. Not the best day
in the return game, not the best day in the
punting game.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We lost them again.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
It's a is CBS in charge of this broadcast that
I think he's still thinking of all the deficiencies, is
coming up with a silent list right now.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Writing them all down.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah, our connection is not great this morning, but you
know you're going to have that. The special teams are
getting off easy. Corlis Weightman stinks.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Am I so as a as someone who came from
a punting and kicking family. What's with the variability between
a fifty six yard punt and then the very next
play a thirty.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Six yard punt. It's just coming off his foot wrong,
Like what is like like anything bad point. It's just
a bad punt.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
But he's having a bad day yesterday altogether. Like just
think about the fact that on the the fourth down
where everybody wanted Mike Tomlin to go for it with
two minutes left and he had three timeouts, and his
calculation was, let's just stop them, Let's use our timeouts
and in a two minute warning and then get the
ball back and try to go down the field with
no timeouts. Okay, I see the logic in that you
(03:46):
got a thirty three yard punt out of Corlis weightman,
Let's say you get a forty three yard punt out
of him, which is like median level punt, right Kinger Yep.
Now the Steeler aren't not kicking a sixty five yard
field goal from Boswell. They're attempting a fifty five yardfield
(04:07):
goal to tie the game at the end. That stuff
killed them all dayish in a field position at the
end of the half, they gave.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Him a thirty five yard kickoff return.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
They ended up getting free on that drive instead of
the Steelers scoring and then getting the ball back and
holding him. So there were many instances where kickoff kick coverage,
punt coverage wasn't good enough, the punt coverage was non
existent because the punts were just awful. I don't know
that he had won over thirty six yards yesterday, Rob.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, it wasn't his best day.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
I mean he's been so consistent and the coverage units
have been so consistent.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I mean, one of those.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Punters where he's been good, he had that's been better
than the average, right, the net's I mean I.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Said he's stunk. He doesn't stunk, he's stunk yesterday.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah, I think he was eleventh in the league in
net going into yesterday's game as opposed to their punt
read a better average, and was twenty second in the
league in net. And it was one of those things
I was looking at that I thought that the Steelers
would have an edge. I mean, I know Duvenet is
a good returner, but for whatever reason, the Steelers didn't
have an edge there. I think you're right to bring
that up that that long you know, the field goal.
(05:12):
I'm sorry, Yeah, the field goal before the end of
the half was set up by the longer return, right,
So that's that, you know, potentially cost you three points.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
I again, I understand what you're saying with weightman. But
then their punter kicks it in the end zone, right,
I'm sure they're thinking, well, why didn't they kick it
to the he should have and you know ten yards
field position that's maybe that is fair caught at to ten.
It was an interesting decision to not go for it
at the end of the you know, with a two
minute warning there, but that turned out to not be
a factor.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
To me.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
There was plenty of time to get the ball into
field goal range at the very least, and they just
they couldn't do it. It was It's cruciating because there's been
a few games like this in which it feels like
one or two plays or three or four plays or whatever.
It is little things going against you and costing you
much needed victories.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Do you the lack of offensive production than twenty one
points for the offense yesterday and the defense gave him
a touchdown as well. Does that have more to do
with lack of execution or do you think that this
conservative approach week in and week out leaves them no
margin of error?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Well, I think that's a really good question, right if
we knew the answer to that. I do think that
there's two games now of the last several in which
the inability to come out in the second half and
put together a drive has cost a team. I felt
like they had the Packers, and think about this, you know,
at the end of the Packers game, We're all dragging
(06:39):
back to the car, thinking, Wow, that this duders. They
got beat pretty convincingly in that game. Fact of the
matter is they were leading going into the fourth quarter.
You know, if they put together a drive and they
were leading, you know, coming out of halftime. Okay, so
it's twenty one to seventeen.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
If you put.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Together a touchdown drive there, it's a different game. If
you put together a touchdown drive against the Packers. I'm
firmly convinced you win the game against Green Bay, and
I think you to put yourself in a great position
to do that. It's for whatever reason, they've been great
in opening drives in the first half and not great
in opening drives in the second half.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And again, that's.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
One of those things where you talk about momentum swings
and other things that are vital to games within the
game itself, that's one that all of a sudden gets
you back on your heels offensively and defensively. So I
think that that's something that they've got to find a
way to clean up this, you know, this sort of
third quarter lulls that they've had in the past couple
(07:35):
of weeks when you're facing good opponents. You can't have
that because there were portions of this game where I
thought this Teers were clearly the better team. But you know,
you need to find ways, and I thought that same
thing about Green Bay. You need to find ways to
put the hammer down on a team, and they've I
thought they let the Bengals off off the mat in
(07:55):
the first meeting.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
No question.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
You know, I think that could have been seventeen nothing
in that game. You know they're saying the other teams
are saying the same thing. Believe me, if we hadn't
given up that play in the first half, you know
we'd have won that game or whatever. I mean, that's
that's the NFL. It's what it comes down to. And
we're used to this Dealers being the team that makes
those plays, and the last few weeks it's been elusive
for him.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
If it's and ifs and butts where candy and nuts,
my aunt would be my uncle.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So here's my question to you.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
I thought we'd all have a merry Christmas, but I oh,
I always mix metaphors.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Okay, nice?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Uh the weekend and week out, this soft zone coverage
they keep deploying.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
What why do you think they are married to that.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Well, I think Caleb Williams caught him once in man,
I'm trying to think back.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Because Caleb, Caleb Williams seemed to get flustered with any
pressure in front of him and had massive trouble in
a tight, tight window.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
He completed fifty four percent of his passes yesterday.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Uh, He's an interesting guy, Caleb Williams, because you can
see the arm talent, and you see the ability to
run and the things that he brings to a team.
And you know, he the touchdown pass to the tight
end in the first half. I mean he caught him
coming right out of the break. That was a really
good throw on time. And you know, it's almost like
(09:18):
he throws the intermediate ball better. But I don't know,
he was inaccurate some intermediate.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Balls as well.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Throws the ball away a lot, which I think his
coach wants him to do, which hurts his completion percentage
a little bit. But yeah, accurately, he's not the most
accurate thrower for sure, and the steers just didn't do
enough to disrupt his timing, you know. So I think
it was one sack and one quarterback hit. You know,
the Steelers led the league in quarterback hits going into
(09:44):
this game, and they weren't able to make him uncomfortable.
And I think the notion is, hey, let's get home,
let's make him uncomfortable, and then if he does complete something,
we can tackle the catch. But when you don't make
him uncomfortable and you're playing back, that's that seemed to
be a bat combination yesterday in which you know, there
was third and ten's, third and elevens and we've seen that,
(10:05):
you know, I'm sure too frequently for the Steelers' taste,
these long third down conversions, you know, third and ten,
third and eleven. I'm keeping drives alive and not getting
off the field. And yeah, there were you know, there
are guys that appeared to be wide open down the
middle of the field on several occasions, and you know
that's got to be cleaned up, has to be or
(10:27):
it's going to be difficult going down to stretch here.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Kinger, I think that Steeler fans have enjoyed so much
of the later part, the latter part of Mason Rudolph's
time with the Steelers, that the assumption is, oh, Aaron
Rodgers can't go that's fine. Mason's just as good. I'm
one hundred percent guilty of being that person. My expectation
was that there would be little drop off. I don't
(10:51):
think that was the case yesterday. I think he struggled yesterday.
And I'm wondering your thoughts on where likely just because
of rust he fell short or missed some opportunities yesterday.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Well, Mike Tomlin was asked about the evaluation of Mason
Rudolph yesterday after the game, and he said, look, we
lost the game and he's part of that, right, So
you know, I thought Mason. I thought Mason was fine.
I thought the Steelers, especially against the Bears team that
was banged up, I thought the Steelers were the better team,
and I thought they were going to win the game.
(11:25):
And you know the Bears. Look, the Bears have pulled.
I mean I just figured, what are you going to
reach into that hat.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And there's not a rabit at the bottom of it.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I mean, you know, they've just you know, they've They're
eight and four, eight and four, and they have a
negative point differential. They've been outscored by their opponents and
they're eight and four. How does that figure? Five games
they've won in the last two minutes, and you could
almost count yesterday as a game like solenity. It doesn't
officially count, but they they in the last two minutes
(11:54):
of the game. They came through five games and and
you know, the records, the clear records on that go
back to Night three, and it's been it ties a
record going back at least forty two years of winning
games in the last two minutes. They have been able
to do things that I think we've grown accustomed to
the Steelers doing, which is winning games late. You know
(12:14):
it's close, and you know under Mike Tomlin it's close.
Steelers are gonna win. That's just the way it's been,
and you know, the Bears have that magic.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
This year.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
I thought Mason Rudolph was fine. I thought the I
thought that the team with Mason Rudolph and with the
way he.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Played, was good enough to win. And it wasn't.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
And I'm not sure why other than the stalling. You know,
you look up in the in the third quarter again,
I just keep pointing to that third quarter. CBS flashed
up a stat and I happen to see it, even
though I don't look at their monitor very often. When
I'm doing the game. And you know, remember the Steelers
got the ball first, right, they got the ball to
begin the second half, and they flashed up with a
couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter that the
(12:55):
yardage was one hundred and twelve to thirteen in the
third quarter. Well, you can't have that on either end, right, defensively,
you can't give them that amount of yardage in a
quarter of play. And you got the ball first, and
you were still you know, you put together a drive.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
That's literally an impossible statistic.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
So you know, you don't put it together the drive,
and then you give up a drive to them, and
then you know, you wind up chasing the game again.
And that's just happened too frequently for him. As far
as Mason, I thought he was. I thought he was
good enough to you know, to win. Did he make
you know, big plays? No? Was he a victim of
an unbelievable interception? Yes, I thought there were some guys
opened down the sideline, including that one to Metcalf where
(13:36):
he had a chance to And I thought Roman Wilson
had a step later when he took a shot up
the left sideline. You know, those are throws I think
if you lays it out in front of him, there's
a chance those are completed. That having been said, I
thought the game plan, especially early on, was solid. They
gave him passes he could complete. They stretched the Bears wide,
they ran it up the middle. They had a great
(13:57):
rushing half in the first half, and then it again,
it just didn't happen in.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
The second half.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Hey, Rob, they're saying that they the offense. You know,
they're not taking deep shots. Mason can't throw the deep ball.
But is some of this checkdown stuff, shallow crossing routes.
Is this sort of an indictment on what they kind
of implicitly think about their pass protection that we're not
talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It's a great question. I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
I mean, you know, when when you talk about Aaron
Rodgers with the quick release, right like, that's been a
story all season long.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So what are the causes of a quick release?
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Well, first of all, he can read the off he
can read the defense like nobody, so he knows, you know,
before the ball snapped, exactly where he's going with it.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
So that helps.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
But again then you start thinking, well does he have
to do that? Is he trying to protect the offensive
line early on. He got two new tackles starting, you know,
Broderick a new left tackle, Foutano's starting at right tackle.
And then you start thinking, are you trying to marry
the scheme to that? Frankly, it's a great question, and
I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I don't know. I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
I don't know whether they're implicitly saying that, or whether
that's what they want to do, or that's that's what
is best for the team.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
It's a great question, and it's one I've pondered, and
it's one I don't know the answer to.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Do you have a.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Sense of why we haven't seen Scantlon on the roster?
You know, they go out and get him with the thinking,
well he's got a history with Aaron Rodgers. You know,
we don't exactly have stellar production out of our number
two wide receiver right now.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Maybe this guy can get something jump started.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I'm surprised that we haven't even seen him in a helmet.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Well, I mean his numbers, you know, he's he's not
the prime Marquez Valdez scanting right, And I think he
reminds me a little bit of at this point of
his career. Now again I don't want to undersell him,
but he reminds me a little bit of when they
got Mike Williams last year, right, like a veteran guy
who's been around, certainly not enjoying the salad years. It's
(15:58):
a in Arizona references not enjoying the salad years maybe
of his career.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It'll be interesting.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
It's gonna be interesting to see whether they whether they
decide that this isn't enough. But again, I still go
and I understand where you're coming with that question. You know,
they're gonna put the guys that they think are best
out there, and certainly for the scheme that they have,
they haven't been getting enough production. I thought they would
and I thought I thought Johnny Smith was gonna have
(16:27):
a big year. I thought Calvin Austin was gonna have
a big year. At the beginning of the year, it
looked like Calvin was gonna have a big year. And
then I just thought that with the other guys, you know,
Roman Wilson coming back. You know, it was so funny
last year he got drafted and was like, oh, we
got our slot guy, and this year, he's like, you know,
in fans view, like on a milk cart, you know,
like he's a bust.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
He was hurt last year for crying out loud.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
You know, they're just sort of blithely expecting he was
gonna be the guy. Well, I thought he would come along,
and I think he has to some degree utilizing a
little bit more of Darnell Washington, Pat Fryarmouth.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It feels like if feels like to me like.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
There's enough there. And I've said this, and I guess
I'm wrong. I guess they you know, maybe they do
need somebody else. I thought there was enough there, enough variety.
We all think that the passing attack was going to
be good enough. I mean, I understood Randy. People were
saying we need to go out and get a number
two receiver. I wasn't as adamant about that as others.
But you know, maybe I was wrong about that.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
I just can't believe that at this point in the
year that Johnny Smith doesn't have more production than currently.
I mean, how many receptions does he have on the
season right now?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think he's there.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
I think he's their second leading receiver in terms of receptions,
but the yards per reception. That's you know, that's where
it's it's it's sort of not happening, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I mean, there's I'm gonna I'm gonna try to get
those statistics. Six point three yeah, I mean wow, you
know that's.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
He's twenty nine forty one targets.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Yeah, after gain Wells, tied with Metcalfs. I mean, I'm
talking about among the receiving core. He's second behind DK
Metcalf with twenty nine catches, but six point three yards
per reception. I mean again, that's kind of what you
expect out of a running back, you know, and they
just haven't been able to unleash him.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
And I'm not sure why. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Again, it feels like, you know, you see the points
of the game.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
To me, again, this is this is my opinion.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
I see the points of the game where the Steelers
look great, you know, they look like they're marching the
ball down the field, They're running the football effectively. The
offense looks really good, the defense gets a sack, and
it's just it hasn't been consistent enough for them. And
I still, you know, again, maybe I'm just looking, you know,
through the wrong lens here, But I see the elements
(18:50):
for a team that I think should be better than
six and five, and I still have hope that they
can put those elements together and you know, make a
run here down the stretch because they've they're pretty much
the margin of error that they had getting off to
the fast start has pretty much been whittled down to
little or none.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Oh no, yeah, I mean I think they're they're back
at even basically at this point, you know, just on
the other side of it, going forward on the tush
push all right. While the one they didn't get, I
actually think they crossed the line to gain and got
a bad spot on that one. But it developed so
slowly that I was like, this, it never looks good
(19:32):
when we do it, but it's had some success. And
then the fake the gain weld, you know, which may
or may not have been parodying off what we saw
Mark Andrews do last week for the Ravens. That was brilliant, brilliant.
So I know we're not gonna stop seeing that anytime soon.
But might I suggest we just let eighty take the
(19:52):
ball there, Like, if we're gonna do it, just give
him the ball, because if he falls forward.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
That's probably a first down.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, I liked the idea.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
I mean, I mean, he looks like he could just
simply and maybe what he should do is just tuck
Connor Hayward under he just pick him up, farm a
few people and run and run him down to Actually.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Why I think it was so slow developing yesterday's because
I think Connor was waiting for him to pick him
up and put him in the Babyborn like.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I literally think.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
He was waiting to be embraced by Washington and then
start moving or something. Because he just stood there for
a second. I don't know why. Maybe he was trying
to make sure he had the ball. That's the frustration
and the frustrating thing with the tousch pushes. You never
know what the hell's going on in the middle of it.
You can't you can't officiate it. You can't really see
what's happening. And I think they did get hose there,
(20:43):
but I think you just give it to Washington going
forward and let him do it and then let Connor
push him.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Maybe I will say this, it did look strange and
I think I said it on the airge and it
just didn't feel like it was like it was almost
like he was standing straight up and then he got
the snap. Didn't look right, I mean, it looked off kilter.
Having said that, and again I didn't get you know,
I'm not hearing the review. I'm not hearing Gene sterritory.
I don't know if it was Gene yesterday. Was it
(21:10):
was it Gene? It was Okay, I'm not hearing you know,
his explanation for what happened. The only thing I can
think of on that toush push and that was a
bad sequence. Right, They thought they had the first down,
and then they they're showing the replay and they're showing
the replay that you know, guy's got his finger in
gain Weell's eye and he's ripping his face mask down.
You know that that's a bad, bad optic. They can't
(21:33):
review that, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
So that's the thing that I don't think a lot
of Steelers fans real you just because they missed it.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You can't see it on the replay and call it right.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
And then the other thing was it really looked to me,
uh you know that he had the first down and
that of course that wound up being just a massive
call and when they went to break, I was still
firmly convinced. I mean, my eyes were on the red
hat during the TV timeout, he's you know, they're they're
(22:04):
looking at it, they're reviewing all those plays, and he's
with the officials, and I was like ninety percent convinced
they were going to overturn that. Now, look, I have
not and never will be somebody that comes on and say, oh,
the officials job though, so that we you know, I'm
just listen and if if you know, I understand people
get upset and they get excited about it. I figure
(22:25):
those things usually over the course of the game balance
themselves out. But I just I was surprised, not quite shocked,
but darn close to its surprised that they did not
overturn that and call it a first down. I don't
know what the explanation was, you know, the thing you
can say, maybe I don't know when they blew the
whistle right, you know, I have no idea, And maybe
(22:46):
that was their explanation for not giving it to him,
But it clearly seemed to me like he he gained
the line to gain, but you know, so it goes
and you know, again that sets up the beautiful reverse
later to gain.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well that was a near touchdown. So yeah, again.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Just when you talk about the outcome of a game,
that's one of those little things that if you pick
that up and you go down and either kick a
field goal or you score a touchdown, I mean your
leads that much bigger going into halftime.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Rob King, Voice of the Steelers, Here with the power
hour of Steeler Talk. This half hour brought to you
by your neighborhood Ford store, the F one fifty, the
official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Pursuita joins us
when we come back. Plus Yesterday's Call of the Day
from the Steelers Audio Network postgame show. I always like
to have one of those calls in here. Maybe the
guy that asked Mike if Mason wasn't already on his
(23:38):
rectum before he fumbled.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
What a gift that, Yeah, maybe that'll be our call
of the day.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Who knows, Mike, Uh, wasn't Mason already on his rectum?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
If you're on your rectum, something really bad has happened.
Yourrect them is inside, so if you're sitting on top
of it, then something has.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Really really gone horribly wrong.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Yeah, I don't think there's a Rectum review, but Micha
will be in here joining us. Next the Power hour
of Stealer Talk on your radio home of the Black
and Gold dB live from the Donz Appliances Studios where
Pittsburgh shops for appliances.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
This is WDVEE Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
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Speaker 3 (24:28):
Your radio home on the Black and Gold.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Rob King joins us each and every week Voice of
the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, which is broadcast
right here on the flagship. This half hour brought to
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for hope, Clearview will donate five hundred dollars to the
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(24:53):
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with Rob King here on DVE Sports is.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
How brought to you by Bridgeville Applied so it was
a time when the Steelers were four and one and
in control of the AFC North. Not anymore, in the
wake of four losses in six games, including yesterday's thirty
one to twenty eight loss in Chicago to the eight
and three Chicago Bears. I still don't know how they're
eight and three. I don't know how many more games
(25:26):
they're going to win the rest of the way.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I don't know how they couldn't have made it easier
on the Steelers yesterday either. Everybody was hurting their defense
and we still couldn't take advantage of it.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
And somehow they come out of this eight and three.
It's a joke. You know, they're the worst eight three
team in the history of eight and three.
Speaker 8 (25:41):
You get one hundred and eighty six yards rushing, usually
you win the game. You get a defensive score, usually
you win the game. The Steelers found the way to
do both of those things and not win the game.
But as the old coach might have said, and Mason
Rudolph said yesterday, they are not tiered.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
There's never been panic here.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
We've been Pittsburgh Steelers long enough to know we've we've
been behind down in the division and up and there's
just a it's a natural have and flowed the season.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And I'm very.
Speaker 9 (26:14):
Confident our guys to, you know, keep fighting and end
up on top.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
I know you have to say this, but it's basically
saying we're used to this, and that's disturbing and up itself. Yeah,
we're used to this up and down roller coaster. Being
six and five, maybe going to eke into the playoffs.
This is fine, everything's fine. It's been that way for
a while now. Six and five, same record as the Ravens.
But the Ravens are currently in possession of first place
(26:40):
in the division because they're two and zero in the
division to this point, the Steelers are two and one.
Pittsburgh is the first team on the outside looking in
in terms of the wildcard race. Steelers are six and five,
the Texans are six and five, The Chiefs are six
and five.
Speaker 8 (26:57):
What the Steelers have remaining, we mentioned today that they
could probably win any one of their remaining games or
lose any one of their remaining games. It's not like
they're gonna have to run a gauntlet. Buffalo is three
and four and it's last seven and two and three
on the road. The Bills have beaten Baltimore, Kansas City,
(27:17):
and Tampa, lost at Atlanta and lost at Miami. It's
not a bridge too far. Then you get the Baltimore Ravens,
who have won five in a row and are six
and five. They beat the snot out of the Bears
at home back in October to Smart to start their
(27:38):
winning streak. Since then, they've beaten Miami four and seven,
Minnesota four and seven, Cleveland three and eight, and the
Jets two and nine, and none of those were layups
from start to finish. The Ravens go ahead and crown
them if you want. I'm not willing to do that.
Then it's Miami four and seven. Overall, Dolphins are shown
(28:00):
some signs of life. They've won three of four, and
they get New Orleans and the Jets before they play
the Steelers. So uh, maybe the Dolphins will come here
on a roll, but it'll be Miami playing in Pittsburgh
at night in December.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yeah, you got to remember what the Ravens though. They're
doing the reverse of what we do. They've lost to
teams they should have probably lost to, and beat all
the teams that they should have beat, because who they lose,
they lost to the Chiefs, the Bills. I mean, they're
losing the good teams.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
They they didn't suffer too much when Lamar was out
in being egregiously defeated by you know, the Bengals and
stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Baltimore, by the way, still has to play Cincinnati twice,
and Burrow's coming back. They go to Cincinnati on Thanksgiving
nightad they're a road team on a Thursday against Joe Burrow,
Jamar Chase and T Higgins.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I'm not discounting the Steelers' opportunities here.
Speaker 8 (28:57):
Mike Baltimore still plays New England, Baltimore still plays at
Green Bay.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Not discounting their opportunity. It's their inability to take advantage
of situations like yesterday. I know it was Mason Rudolph,
but there's no way they should have lost that game.
There's no way they should have lost that first game
to Cincinnati.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
Agreed and agreed, But this it might be one of
those years. Nine and eight might win the division if
it's the right nine. Yeah, against Baltimore. Nine and eight
might get you in the playoffs if it's the right nine. Now,
of course, the whole goal this year, and the whole plan,
was to stop getting in is the seventh seed and
having to go on the road for an ass kick.
And it was to actually have a real quarterback and
(29:39):
win the division and get at least one home game.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
But if they have to go on the road, if
they have to go.
Speaker 8 (29:47):
On the road for the ass kick, and it would
be to Indianapolis or New England, and they've already.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Beat both of those teams, that is true.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
So you know.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It sucks right now. But there's a lot of golf left.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Romondriousty evenson really did help him out on that end.
I mean, I know the defense played great and they
helped get you the fumbles, but that dude could not
hold onto the ball that day.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
He could not.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
Couple three plays yesterday and they were all just catastrophic failures.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
The problem is it never looks different. It's always the
same kind of bad. It's always the same mistakes, the
defense playing way too soft, the offense with this limited.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
But it's again we went over this today. They held
the Bears below what the Bears usually do.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I know, but they gave up a huge touchdown. But
they did.
Speaker 8 (30:39):
But you're saying way too you know, sometimes that plays
to their advantage.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
We can.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
We can pick them.
Speaker 8 (30:45):
Cherry pick plays and say that was terrible, and we'd
be right. But they held them under their total yards.
They held them way under their rushing yards. Caleb Williams
was Caleb Williams. They won the time of possession.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Which we won, and they gave up thirty one points,
which means you lose ninety eight percent of the time.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It was some good.
Speaker 8 (31:04):
They also scored seven the defense, so they held the
Bears to their average. They were who they thought they were.
I'm the offense has to be better.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
We've been see I don't think the defense is more
culpable than the offense or special teams yesterday. But what
I'm saying is they don't get better despite having all
of the big names and all of the big money talent,
and no matter what we do, it never gets better.
That is a game that they should be should have
been able to make the Bears offense look even more
(31:34):
one dimensional, and they couldn't take advantage of one of
the worst percentage quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
In the league. Well, oh, I know, they scored. Not
a perfect game by far.
Speaker 8 (31:45):
That We've talked about their season long issues with being
unable to play zone defense, bites them every game, but
that was the offense had two shots to tire win
that game.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
And failed.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
I'm going offense, special teams, defense, all over it, all
over it. Yeah, Rob King sitting there, head in hand
right now, just frustrated and the same talk of the
same problems that we've been seeing all year long.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
But what say you, sir again?
Speaker 5 (32:22):
I go back to and I don't think I'm far
off from what Mike is saying. First of all, I
felt like the Steelers really needed to win one of
these two games, right They needed to either beat the
Bears or beat the Bills. I thought the Bears were
the easier pickings. I thought they were going to win
the game. If you had a choice, you'd rather beat
the Bills because they're an AFC team.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So it just sets up a really.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Important game on Sunday to beat the Bills at home,
defeat an AFC opponent. But there's been a couple of
games this year that are uncharacteristic of what we've seen
of this years over the years. Like Mike said, you
tell me you're gonna come up with a defensive touchdown,
You're gonna win the time of possession for the first
time all year, You're gonna run more plays than other team,
by the way, decidedly winning time of possession.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Running the football, all of those elements.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Right, If you give me all those puzzle pieces, I'm
putting together a puzzle that has a w right. And
for some reason there's been a couple of games like
that this year in which it just doesn't seem to
fit right. It's why I'm still holding out hope that
there's that there's a better football team in there that
we've seen results wise, because I just see a lot
of the puzzle pieces in place. And you know this,
(33:28):
this was one in which if you told me going in,
they're gonna have a defensive touchdown, they're gonna run for
one to eighty six, they're gonna win the time of possession,
they're gonna run more plays than the Bears. Okay, then
they're gonna win, and they didn't.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Now, you know, my nightmare scenario next week is that
Aaron Rodgers still can't go, and then Josh Allen gets
hurt and we see Mitch Trubisky versus Mason Rudolph and
Mitch lights up the Steelers defense.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I think Aaron Rodgers goes next Sunday. If his heart
is beating, you're probably right about that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
All right, call of the day the Steelers Audio Network
postgame show.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When we come back, it's.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
Max Starks for my friends at Clearview Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Clearview is Steve Morning Show.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Right here on your radio home at the Pittsburghteelers one
O two point five DVE. We're with Rob King, voice
of the Steelers on the Steelers Audio Network, and with
Mike Persuda, who hosts the postgame show and every week
I like Mike to highlight one of the calls that
you and Charlie Batch get brought.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
You don't like this feature, No, I love this features.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
This is how you deal with trauma, like you have
to relive it and confront it head on.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And Rob King he's probably got a little PTS D
from this as well, having been on that postgame show.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Here's from yesterday. Pete in the car. You're up next
with Mike and Charlie. How are you Pete?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Good?
Speaker 10 (34:52):
Guys, I'm confused as well, you know, just licking my
wounds from Matt tough loss. You know what get you know,
talking the broadcast. So I have a quick story and
a question to fall. So I have my kids this
weekend and they're like, that's good on a game. So
I'm like, okay, that's good. So we go down a game.
We go down, drive down, no traffic or nothing, and
(35:13):
all of a sudden we get down there, no game.
It's in Chicago. So I was waring. You know, they
had trouble with the broadcast. Did they advertise like where
this game is being played? Like much?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, they start in May when the schedules released.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
But I always switch that up, don't they, you know,
like with the times and stuff.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
No, it's pretty much been well know, the game was
in Chicago today. Yeah, the time stayed the same.
Speaker 11 (35:41):
The time can change, but never the venue once the
schedule is released. I'm not sure where the mix up
happened as you were preparing for the game to day.
Speaker 10 (35:50):
Maybe an old I don't know, maybe an old schedule
or something. I don't know. But okay, so getting onto
the game, Okay, to the game. We have an overabundance
of tight ends right.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Fair amount essentially on the roster.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yes, and I.
Speaker 10 (36:06):
Don't know if Tom don't even thought about this, but
what if you played them at like other positions? So
the other team don't know where you're throwing the ball.
You know, could be the guy next to the center
he goes uh like Washington, he's picked if he blocks
or if he goes out and they throwing the ball,
and he's pretty simple. But I don't know just why
(36:27):
nobody else thought about it, especially you're so deep the deposition.
Speaker 11 (36:31):
Yeah, Ultimately, when you get to this point of the season,
Tennessee's always start to kind of play out.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Pack is good a substitution.
Speaker 11 (36:37):
Packages personnel groups that you're putting on the field. So
by trying to put three tight ends and then maybe
for an example, Smith.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Out wide, you're saying, Charlie couldn't even he got him
back on the He got whatever that was back right
on the rails pretty right there.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
So that guy suggesting that you put the tight end
next guard and then runs a route, Yeah, what if
you put a wig hold on.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I gotta finish it. I gotta finish it.
Speaker 11 (37:06):
It's still three tight ends on the field. So defensively
they're going to use that package.
Speaker 10 (37:10):
People truly, I met, like, you know, you have the
center and then you go one tight end on right
next to him, and one tight end right on the
other side, so he could either block or he could
go out for a pass.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
Yeah, they're not they're not eligible to line up there
and catch your pass by rule. Appreciate the call, Pete.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I got waited like a half an hour. Okay, Rob,
that was real. I didn't know if he was. He's
not drunk. He's not drunk. I think he was busting
my chops.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
I think I think that was a perfectly executed troll.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I don't. I'm with Conco. I think I think that
was real. Real, he's too innocent to be I think the.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
Game no game listen. I'd love to laugh at that guy.
But me and my dad did that for a Penguins
game one time. We went down to that bar, you
know that had the roast beef sandwiches next to the
Manor garage.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
And we're cruising down two seventy nine. We're like, there's
no traffic. We're killing it. We get to the bar
like thirty minutes before the game.
Speaker 6 (38:14):
We're eating a roast beef sandwich and we asked the
bar and You're like, where is everybody. They're like, uh,
in Columbus where the Blue Jackets are playing.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
If we had no clue, so we're idiots.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Also, we don't they played a goalie's center.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
It was difficult to comprehend initially, like I was trying
to Okay, where's this going?
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Is this that's why I where is there going to
be a punch like here?
Speaker 4 (38:38):
Now, you can't pay attention to the Steelers football to
the extent that you want to call in a postgame
show and.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Not know that you can't throw you can't throw pass
to the guard. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:48):
There was another guy that called in and it was
the Rudolph fumble, and he wanted to know if Rudolph
had landed on his rectum before losing the ball. And
I don't know if he was setting me up or not,
but I just didn't go there.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I don't know what.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
Yeah, that seems like he's trying to tee you up
for one. I know if it was a troll. He
just wanted me to say rect them he knows, get
that's what he was doing.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
We got a lot of morning show love on the
post gas.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (39:16):
No, and that guy was giving you I heard it
bad that I didn't give it back.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
But it's just what you can't do it on the network.
That's different. That's like mom and dad and grandma are
at the table. When it's a Steelers you can't do
morning shows. I think they want a little personality, but
I just wasn't.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
I don't know, they don't want wrect them talk. I
don't think ar Rooney's like the postgame show has been missing.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Rectum, just a little more rectim Well, I mean I
didn't bring it up, but you know, the guy kind
of threw me the lob and I didn't.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I didn't at home.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Now, all right, look, Josh Allen and the Bills are
looking this weekend to come in here and basically ruin
the Steelers season. They do have a chance, as you
pointed out, Mike and Rob you did as well. The
Steelers do with a win over the Bills, an AFC opponent,
(40:08):
they're right back in it. Lose this one and it
is tough sled and going ahead.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Rob King, Yeah, that's it. I mean, you know again,
I thought they had to win one of the two.
If you could choose one, it would be this game.
Now you you pretty much have to chuse. You're you're
out of selections.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
You got it. You gotta beat the Bills. You got
to find a way to beat him.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Yeah, or otherwise you're just really you know, otherwise you
need help and you want to be able to sort
of be able to, you know, dictate what's gonna happen
with you. I know, Mike, never control your own destiny. Mike,
I know you don't like that.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Control your own fate. I know you don't like that either.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
No, but fate.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
You can control fate or no.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
You can control fate, not destiny. But if it's your
destiny is preordained.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
But isn't fate preordained as well?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Well?
Speaker 8 (40:56):
Because sometimes you deserve the better fate. There were options.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Yeah, I think we're going to have to have an
etymological conversation about this, but not now. Perhaps I do
think that you know, you listen, you want to be
in a position to be able to dictate the outcome
of your own season. And the Steelers, if they beat
the Bills are still in that position. If they don't
beat the Bills, now they've got big problems.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
See, I think fate, I think those are synonyms. I
do what I'm staying with.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I agree that's.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
My story and I'm sticking to it. I know they're
both stripper names, So there is that too.
Speaker 8 (41:25):
Just one other point about all these other teams that
are all the same, and people watch the Steelers, I
think they get a little Steeler blinders, and they think
the rest of the league is operating perfectly and with efficiency.
Our old buddy, mile buddy vic Carucci's been covering the
NFL for one hundred years, like I have. He's working
for a TV station in Buffalo now and he does
a little write ups online. Here's what he wrote about
(41:48):
the Bills after their loss in Houston, in which Josh
Allen got sacked eight times and hit twelve times on
the road. Now, Steelers defense is as good as Houston's,
but it's as good as Houston's rush in the passer.
Bill's O line stinks. They have no receivers. They're terrible
on the road. Vic wrote, quote, the high hopes for
(42:08):
this team seem a bit lower, but the week to
week nature of the NFL keeps all goals in play.
Reaching them might be more challenging than expected, but that's
for every team in the league. Man, Yep, it's got
to let a play out.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Well, you'll hear Rob King along with Max Starks and
Missy Matthews. This coming Sunday, the four to twenty five
kickoff at Akrosher Stadium for Steelers bills right here on
your radio, home of the Black and Gold one on
two point five DV king Er, Thanks so much for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Appreciate it, buddy.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Thanks to Tim Benz for joining us earlier, and Jerry
Dulac as well tomorrow on the show Chot it Back,
Jean Sterotor, Billy.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Gardell and Steve Burne.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
And then we'll be off on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday,
So tune in tomorrow in here us half asset all
the way to Turkey Day.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Michelle's up next with the Electric Lunch in noon. Have
a great day, everybody. I'm finishing you say, classy Pittsburgh,
don't touch your face. I got him touch day baby.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
So now you gotta call me Ronald?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Would you not eat my pants? Ronald? Whoa? Why gogglehead?
Speaker 12 (43:16):
It's time for the Steelers Daily Report on DVE, brought
to you by First National Bank. Let's get started. Remember
FDI C and Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Here's Tom Opperman.
Speaker 13 (43:29):
The Steelers total of the Chicago Bears yesterday afternoon in Chicago,
a loss that drops and teamed to six and five
on the season. Steewer's backup quarterback Mason Rudolph started in
place of injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers and played okay, but
did throw an interception on his first pass of the game,
which the Bears offense was able to turn into the
game's opening touchdown. And that was really the story of
the game in Chicago, as the Steelers turned the ball
(43:49):
over two times and were stopped on fourth down once,
and in all instances the Bears offense went on to
capitalize with touchdowns. It was a big afternoon for Bears
quarterback Caleb Williams for two hundred and thirty nine yards
on nineteen of thirty five passing and toss three touchdown passes,
two of them.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
To wide receiver DJ Moore, making matters worse.
Speaker 13 (44:09):
A Raven's victory over the Jets Sunday afternoon means Baltimore
has taken over first place in the AFC North from
the Steelers thanks to having a better division record.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Steelers try to.
Speaker 13 (44:19):
Turn the page as they welcome to the Buffalo Bills to
town next week. Am Tal Oppermann with the Steelers Report.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
At FNB.
Speaker 6 (44:28):
We rewrote the rules of banking and made getting everything
you need a whole lot easier experience.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
The one of a kind EA store common app
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