October 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Mark talks about the blame being placed on Pitt for the field at Acrisure. Mike Decourcey makes his weekly visit to the show to talk Steelers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Mark Madden Show. Do I sound better today?
I was real sick Monday, real sick yesterday. A little
better today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So here I am.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The number to call is for uh damn it, eight
three three four one two w xdx. That's a three
three four one two wxdx. Or you can follow me
on Twitter at Mark Madden X. Get a bunch of
calls in today because I will do better in conversation
than I will do with My chest is not really
(00:31):
congested more my head and even that's not that bad.
My voice is just a little rocky. But you can
call eight three three four one two wxdx.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
That Pickens narrative, like some of these narratives, just like
annoyed the frig out of me that they should have
kept Pickens. Now, I don't think so that the Bronze
traded flat under the Bengals to screw the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Nah, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The whole friggin football world doesn't revolve around the Steelers.
The idea that the Brons were wrong for trading Flacco
because the Bengals in the division. Now, I don't think so.
Tom was wrong about that. Ba's wrong about that. You
make the best deal for your team, no matter who
it's with. I think the Brons were lucky to get
anything at all for Flacco.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
They're season that going nowhere. They're gonna use the kids now.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Another narrative, and Tom and I addressed his briefly, is
that Herbig is a better pass rusher than what I
hear it said. Swear to God, he's a better pure
pass rusher, whatever pure means. That's absurd. I'm not the
biggest WAT fan. He's a Jim Teacher's a meathead. I
don't like him, but he's an all time great and
(01:48):
not quite in his prime no more, but pretty close.
And Herbig is terrific, but he benefits by operating and
watched shadow. Herbig isn't getting chipped and double teamed and
triple teamed and quadruple teamed and HOGTI and all those
excuses that get made on Watch behalf.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He's real good, though. Herbing is real, real good. He
just ain't what now that Penn.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
State thing firing Franklin, I guess Terry Smith's probably gonna
coach the rest of the season right as interim, you
would think, right, because whoever they get probably has a
job somewhere else. The new coach is gonna be Matt Role, absolutely,
one hundred percent gonna be Matt Rule from Nebraska, one
(02:35):
thousand percent. I guarantee it. I'll bet anybody that wants
a thousand bucks right now it's Matt Rule. He's the
eighties close friend Buddy system and all that. There's a
report Penn State's gonna go after Signetty and in Indiana
in the Notre.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Dame coach Marcus Freeman.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why in the frig would those guys leave where they're
at to go to Penn State. Penn State's going the
pit routes. And that's a great statement to make because
I can get the Penn State people Matt at the
same time as I get the pit fans Matt. Penn
State is going to pit route. Penn State doesn't understand
it's ceiling. Penn State isn't probably ever gonna win a
(03:19):
national championship. That is beyond their reach. The best they're
gonna do is Final four once in a while, like
last year when they were coached there by James Franklin.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Big mistake A three three four one two w XDX.
What else do I got here?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
We were talking about the the field, the playing surface,
and aquasher because it was bad Sunday when the Steelers
be Cleveland, Boswell slipped and miss.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Could have been worse.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He could have got hurt like Miles Killerbrew did the
Special Teams Wizard for the Steelers, blew out his knees
out for the year.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And that's a big loss. And that's awful for Killer
Brew's career.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I mean, he's gonna rehab, he's gonna get a chance
to stick. But a special teams guy, those come and go,
he might never be what he was, might never have
the same value. And that happened because the turf was bad. Seriously,
this guy's life, his career, his family affected because the
turf was bad.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And that's unforgivable. It ain't pits fault. It ain't pitch fault.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Pitt ain't played there for eight days before what happened
happened to Killer Brew and Boswell. It ain't pits fault.
The Steelers have played four games their total, including the preseason.
Pitt's played three games their total so far, so that's
seven games in about seven weeks, right, seven games total,
(04:54):
So that ain't Pits fault. Place the blame where it
should be on the eyes who were paid as a
full time job to take care of that field. The
grounds keepers, they're clearly idiots. And if any of you
guys are listening and take offense to that, tell it
to Miles Killerbrew's wife and family. You're clearly not good
(05:15):
at your jobs. You have one thing to get right,
and you didn't. I mean, when the quarterback is saying
the field was border and unplayable, dude, do better or
Nation five like. If this is how we pretend the
Ruonies are in their pursuit of excellence, then fire some
guys and bring other guys in to fix that field.
(05:36):
But they won't because that's not how the Ruonies are.
The Ruins are buddy buddy, like I've been saying. They
brought the same dopes like Dirt DeNardo. Actually I like Dirt.
I think he passed. But Dirt donardos head grindskeeper at
three Rivers, where all they did was take care of
a carpet. What you need groundskeepers take care of a carpet,
just need a sweeper, like one of those things. Those
(05:57):
swiffers need a big swiffer to take care of it.
A turtle but they brought the same guys over from
Three Rivers to do the natural grass at Hinz Field,
and it didn't go too good for a while. And
I know the way the Steelers operate, all them guys
and Actor sure now are sons of the guys who
(06:18):
took care of three Rivers in Hides Field, because that's
how they operate. That's who's in fault period, the grounds keepers.
And if any of groundskeepers are out there and you
want to challenge that, go ahead and call. Go ahead
and call, because you're in fault period. Not Pitt, not
lack of a stadium on Pitt's campus, not the high
school championship games every Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You are the grounds keepers. Your fault. Not to be critical.
What else do I got?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Oh, we've been debating who's gonna cover Jamar tomorrow night,
who's gonna cover t Higgins.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
We'll get to that in detail in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But again, we got told that Ramsey was gonna follow
the other team's best receiver around. That hasn't happened. But
I got no problem because what they're doing is working.
Then again, Joe Flackley's gonna lively arm Higgins and Jamar.
I think Jamar is the best receiver in football, and
(07:18):
I think that's the best one two receiving punch and football.
They're a whole different kettle of fish, and covering them
presents some legitimate problems and I am curas to see
how the Steelers are gonna handle that. You can make
your suggestions down now eight three, three, four, one two
ninety nine thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
This is the Mark mannon showing one oh five nine.
Thank you for making my day.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, what you said the exit, one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Here's some Steeler news. It's not good.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We knew Calvin Austin wasn't gonna make the trip to Cincinnati,
which is no big deal. They barely use the number
two receiver anyway. But now that Shawn Elliott did not
accompany the team, He's not injured.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
He is said to be questionable now with a.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Personal issue, so we will keep you updated on that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But that ain't good.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He is such a physical cornerstone of that Steelers secondary.
If Jalen Ramsey's the brains, then the Shawn Elliott's lebron
a big hitter, and you would hate to go into
that game where you got to tackle a guy like
t Higgins after the catch, and Deshaun Elli can certainly
(08:40):
help with that. So that's the latest news on the
Steelers lineup situation. Here's Big Ben talking about the bad
playing surface at Akrosuur Stadium anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'm saying this for multiple reason.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I'm saying this for Pitt's sake as well. I firmly
believe that Pitt should put like a thirty five thousand
person stadium up up on Oakland. Pack that thing, because
when you've got sixty five thousand or seventy thousand in
Akroshure and it's only half full, what's that look like?
(09:23):
Go pack put a twenty five thousand person stadium and
then have it like just bumping crazy loud fans everywhere
the students.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
The students will have to drive anywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
They can walk to camp, they can walk to the stadium,
walk to the game, walk back to their dorms, and
then you keep them off of that field for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, that's big bet on his football and podcast up.
If Ben would pay for the new football stadium in Oakland,
I'm sure Pitt would acquiesce, except there's really no place
to put it. Everything been described would be great for
pit football, except there's no place to put it. And
(10:00):
like I keep saying, the problem ain't pit and a
handful home games for them at Akroshore, what I think,
let's see seven home games will fit this season, and
the Whippio games which are gonna get blamed, and hey,
you can't take the Whipio games out of there. That's
a taxpayer funded stadium. The high school kids deserve their
(10:23):
day at Akroshore. The blame goes totally to the people
hired by the Steelers to take care of that field
as a full time job. They should do a better job.
That field should be impeccable. The grinds keepers are the problem.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Not even remotely Pitts.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And by the way, Jimmy Sacho, he runs the stadium,
he's this big shot down there.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
This is on him.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
He gonna do a better job. You want to be
a big shot, do your job like a big shot.
Eight three three four one two WSDX is the number
to call. I want to get back into this debate
and we'll talk to Mike de Courci about it in
just a couple of minutes. Who's gonna cover Jamar tomorrow night?
(11:12):
Who's gonna cover t Higgins tomorrow night again to repeat.
We got told Jalen Ramsey when the Steelers picked him up,
it was said he was gonna follow the other team's
top wide out all around the field. That hasn't happened.
I got no problem. What they're doing is working. And
now we're told that the depth at corner with Ramsey,
(11:36):
Porter and Slay, who were all pretty good at man demand,
we're told that having Ramsey follow the top guy round
isn't necessary. But okay, the Bengals got two top guys
with Chasin Higgins. It's a tough deployment. What do you
do because Higgins is the much bigger and physical and
(11:57):
Jamar as fast as frig and Jay amazing. He's the
number one wide receiver in football period. Jamar Chase is
the number one Why not in football period? But I
think you need more to double up on Higgins because
(12:18):
he's sixty four two twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
He's all elbows and buttholes.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's good that it appears the Steelers have everybody available
at quarterback, not safety with the Shawn questionable, but at
quarterback you got everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We think.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I guess Slay's okay because the depth all due respect
to Ramsey, who's making such difference. But the depth in
that secondary is that unit's biggest strength. So you tell
me what would you do. The guy I would double
would be Higgins. I would be tempted to double Higgins
(12:57):
and give Ramsey or Porter the shot one on one
with Chase, It's been Porter in the past. He's done
a reasonable job when a Porter did the hacker shack
last year with Higgins, where he just kept taking interference
after interference, like Tom Opframan said earlier, Tom Win liking
that to hack a shack, except when you do that
(13:18):
to Shack, he only gets one free two free throws,
well one plus one and he usually misses the first
with with with Jamar, if you with the Higgins whoever,
you would give Joe Burrow the ball on the one
after interference in the end zone. But uh, I don't know.
This is Flacco, it's not Burrow. It's a different year,
(13:41):
a much deeper stealer secondary. I'm just curious about the
division of duty. I think they can do it, no problem.
I just want to see what transpires A three three
four one two w xdx up. Next, we got Mike.
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Speaker 6 (14:28):
Ex Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said on his podcast this week,
pit should have their own stadium that would keep Backerscher's
Stadium's grass in tap. Whenever Rodgers takes the field for
the Steelers against the Bengals Joe Flacco this week, that'll
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Speaker 1 (15:04):
Steelers at Cincinnati tomorrow night, it feels like kind of
a trap game. Then again, with these Steelers, they all
feel like trap games to me. Joining me now to
talk about it from the Sporting News, he's Mike de Corsi. Mike,
we just got word that Deshaun Elliott is questionable because
of a personal situation. We already know Calvin Austin's hert,
(15:25):
but I think Elliott is by far the bigger loss.
How would that effect what the Steelers can do against
those great Cincinnati receivers.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, it would certainly make a huge difference. His re
entry to the lineup was significant. I mean they had
played poor defense. I don't think it's unfair to say
in the Seattle game, in particular to a lesser extent
in the New England game, but not a much lesser extent.
It was mitigated by the massive number of turnovers they created.
(15:56):
And then the Viking games. The Viking game comes around
in Ireland and Deshaun's back and the defense is back,
and so if he is unavailable on Thursday night, it
would have a significant impact in part because what it
does to Jalen Ramsey's situation. You recall, Ramsey ended up
(16:17):
playing some snaps at safety when DeShawn was out, and
it it's not that Ramsey did a poor job there.
He just wasn't the guy that was throwing down a
couple of secs in the last few weeks and making
a huge difference in coverage earlier. He's just an impact
(16:38):
player and when he's playing deep safety that he's not
that guy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I one hundred percent agree, and I hope it
doesn't cause them to be more conservative with the way
they handle coverage, which begs the question like who covers Chase,
who covers Higgins, who gets doubled, who doesn't?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
How's that break down?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, I think that what they have traditionally liked to do,
and they've had a reasonable degree of success with this,
is they like to usually double the secondary receiver in
this matchup and try to control Chase. I don't think
they ever feel like they're gonna stop him, but I
think they try to control Chase with the player who's
(17:22):
their best corner, and of course if Ramsey is playing
straight up then he can do that. I think they'll
They would probably rotate it a little bit more. It
would be more since they have three high level cover
corners with Joey, Porter and Sleigh and Ramsey, they might
mix that player up more. They might not trail from
(17:43):
side to side. They might just rotate a little bit
more so that you're getting a fresh, good defender on
Chase instead of necessarily your Taylor, so to speak, and
so that I think that might be the approach. But again,
some of that depends on whether or not they're able
to keep Ramsey totally focused in the corner rotation and
(18:05):
not have to drop him back.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, because their depth and safety beyond Elliott really their
personnel guys like Thornhill and Clark, it ain't necessarily that good.
But getting back to those matchups, Mike, the thing with
Higgins is, I think Chase is the better receiver.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think he's the best receiver in football.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
But Higgins at six four, two twenty, it actually behooves
to double him more because of the threat his strength
and size postes, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I think that's why they do it for that reason.
Chase is brilliant as certainly I agree with you that
he's the best in football now, and you have to
you know, you could have a nice conversation, you could
go for a while on okay, like where does he
rank in this century of the best receivers. He's that
special and he's had the misfortune there not a not
(18:51):
having a great quarterback, but often not having that great
quarterback available, right, and that's made a difference. But I
agree Higgins is a tough cover and I think that
using the double on him has worked well. And although
I don't think they do the same thing on every
single possession, I think if you look at it, by
the end of the game, the majority of those that
(19:13):
they will try to get by, with Higgins being the
guy they gang up on.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You heard Tom On on Monday complaining about Cleveland trading Flato
to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Is he scared of Flacco?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Flaco beat the Steelers last year with Dindy and for
an old guy, he has a lot left.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I think he does.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
I think I think he respects him, and that the
reason for that respect was reflected Sunday at green Bay.
They played green Bay very well and Flacco played fine,
And what was interesting was what a difficult time Green
Bay had getting to Flacco and Parsons was not he
(19:52):
was not invisible, but he was not a terror either,
and as he so often was when he was in Dallas.
And somehow much of that is gomatic and how much
of that was just Cincinnati's line blocking, Well, I couldn't
tell you. I didn't go back and look at what
the Packers coaches or the Bengals coaches said afterward. But
(20:12):
I was impressed with the protection that he was given
relatively how competitive they were. I wasn't at all surprised that,
given protection and with those two guys out there chasing
dal passes along with Tsiki, that he was able to
complete some throws. He's got a classic NFL arm, and
(20:32):
if you give him time, he will he will find
receivers and hit the passes.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Now, we knew that Cincinnati defense would be bad, and
it is. It's a lot, at least twenty seven points
against in every game but one. And it looks like
Hendrickson won't play. He's been banged up. Do you think
the Steelers will expand their horizons and offense at all
or just keep coming at him with that jumbo package.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Well, I think they did expand the horizon a bit
in the Cleveland game. But the Cleveland game was a
challenge because of the nature of the Browns defense, which
we discussed a week ago. Although I didn't think the
Bengals were as poor on Sunday as I'd seen them
in past games, the Vikings game earlier this year, nearly
(21:21):
all of twenty twenty four, they were horrendous, they looked
fairly respectable on Sunday. I don't know how much of
that was the Packers not getting it done and how
much of it was a little bit of improvement on
the Bengal side. But I wouldn't expect like the forty
five points that the Steelers threw on them last year.
Even if they went for that, I don't know that
(21:42):
they get to that. I don't think this Bengals defense
is as poor as that one was.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
No, no, I agree, but I think I don't think
they're going to score forty five.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
But I think they're going to need twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Well, you know, I think they could need twenty eight. Absolutely,
It depends on if everybody's in place for the Steelers
and everybody feels at least reasonably fresh. They have beaten
better offenses than this one. The Vikings offense, even with
the wins, is a better offense. The Patriots offense is
(22:20):
a better offense, although obviously they had to turn it
over to beat it. So I think we're seeing them
make progress on the defensive side of the ball, and
we're seeing exactly what you'd want to see progress over
these games. They're becoming more aggressive. They're hitting the quarterback
a lot. If they get there against Lacko, he's got
(22:41):
problems because he's not mobile.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
We're talking to Mike the course of the Sporting News.
He's brought to us by south Fields Kia. South Fields
Key has the ride and a price you'll love. Mike,
what's it say about the NFL and it's quarterbacks when
you got to forty year olds starting in this game.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I'm not sure it's good or it's bad. It just
says something. I think.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I think what it says is what if you think
about it almost throughout NFL history, that great quarterbacking play
is rare and sufficient quarterbacking play is not abundant, and
so if you can do this and remember, it's different
now because athletes can stay in shape longer. I mean,
(23:26):
Lebron James is a rarity to be doing what he
is doing at forty plus, but there are more and
more of athletes reaching their late thirties and early forties
in all these sports. Look at said right right here
in town. Why am I not mentioning him? I mean that,
and even Gino with the way he started this season
that you can see that those guys continue to succeed
(23:49):
and in some ways, in many ways, their job is
more difficult than a quarterbacks. The quarterback has to hand
the ball off, he has to he has to be
able to move when there's pressure, and obviously he has
to process all that. I don't mean their job is less,
is more mentally demanding. No one's got a tougher job
(24:09):
on a field of play than a quarterback does. But
from a physical standpoint, they don't often have to do
much more than trot back a couple of paces and
then use their arm to find the receiver. So I
think it really says more that the modern NFL athlete
is going to be playing to this level more often
(24:32):
if he desires to. You have to want to play
this long because even at what I said that it's
not as physically punishing for the quarterback or as physically
demanding for the quarterback as it is other positions, it
can still hurt a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Taba was put off because Cleveland traded flat go to Cincia,
trade within the division to a team that needed help
at quarterback. I had no problem. I think he overreacted.
I think he'd just rather not play for.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I you know, I think that one of the things
that happened is that Mike says so many things repetitively
and so few things that are even remotely inflammatory, that
when he does, we really react hard. Here in Pittsburgh.
The fact that he was willing to take a shot
at at Cleveland's GM was just it's just almost unprecedent.
(25:26):
But what what when you think about it, is that
he should think that the guy who gave to Shaan
Watson a two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed contract
and traded seventy five draft picks to get him that
should be his best friend because he has kept Cleveland
sunk for a period of time when the when when
(25:47):
this Browns defense is phenomenal, when the Browns had at
one point ascended to level footing with the Steelers beating
them in a playoff game in an empty three river
excuse me, an empty ackersuer then and then they completely
tanked the whole thing. That guy should be Tomlin's favorite
GM in the whole league.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, but I think Jimmy Haslim, the owner, probably had
more to do with that than the GM did.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And as far as trading within.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
The division, Craig Patrick, the Penguins GM always said, it
doesn't matter who you make the deal with a rival,
a division foe, shouldn't affect it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Make the best deal for your team.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yes, yeah, absolutely. I mean, if there'd been another team
out there starting the equivalent of Jake Browning a quarterback
that was willing to give up something to get Joe Flasco,
I think the Browns would have preferred to do that.
But there wasn't any and the Bengals were. The Bengals
thought that they might be able to salvage this season
with a better option than Browning holding the fourth until
(26:46):
until you got Joe Burrow back, and they didn't feel
like they traded that much to try to do that,
And so absolutely the Browns decision to do this was
not with nothing but other than what they felt was
the best for their team. It's just that getting themselves
into this position where that was the best thing for
(27:07):
their team is more evidence of mismanagement by Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Now we talked at about Ramsey and the effect he's
had on the defense.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
What about Derek Harmon, the rookie.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
When he was out and the run defense got gashed
all the time, Mike I said, Okay, I'd like to
see this Harmon. I don't think one guy can fix
the run defense. He got back, and it's fair to
say he's come pretty close.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Isn't it. Well, he has made a huge difference, and
I think he's made everybody except maybe Cam Hayward, who
didn't need to get much better right better around him.
He's made Keanuventon a better player. He has made as
I suspected he would, the two inside linebackers better players
because he's keeping bodies off of them, whether it's Hulcombe
(27:49):
or Wilson or Queen, who has been really good all year.
He's kept more bodies off those guys so they're able
to make more plays. You see more runs getting strung
out to the sideline on those zone type plays. That's
all that had always been a Steeler staple over the
previous decade and had started to fade over the course
of the first four or five games of this year,
(28:12):
and Harmon coming back in has allowed them to get
back to that.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, I hate to attach too much importance to
games this early in the year, especially one against the
team that probably is going nowhere like Cincinnati with no Burrow,
But I predicted the Steelers would start five to one.
If they win this game, that's what they are. It'll
be no more, no less than what I thought they
should do to this point. But if they lose, you're
four and two. You got tough games coming up. It
(28:41):
kind of feels like last year before things went bad.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
If you lose this game, well.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I feel like it really depends on how you would
lose this game. If you lose it, remember this is
a you know, this turnaround is not typical. So their
path changes not by anything that they do, but what
is being done in front of them and what they are.
You know, I hear a lot of questions who's the
(29:07):
best team in the league. I mean, before Sunday, half
the media people in the world were saying Detroit's the
best team. In the league. And I don't really care
who the best team in the league is now because
it doesn't mean that much. It doesn't mean anything really,
because when you get to December and January, that's when
you want to be the best team in the league
(29:28):
and getting and for the Steelers, I don't think they're
ever going to be back this year. You want to
be the best Steelers by December and January. And so
if you take a step back now because you didn't
have a normal prep week, maybe because you're missing a
key player or whatever it might be, or maybe it's
(29:50):
just that you have a tough night from the rest.
Whatever whatever reason produces might produce a defeat in Cincinnati
on Thursday night. I think it's really more about the
trying to continue to ascend. They started out not great,
and they were able to win a couple of games
that they probably shouldn't have they but they knew that
(30:11):
they needed to get better and they have continued to
get better on both sides of the football. And that's
really what matters. Even if they take a step back
on one side or the other on Thursday, what matters
is that when they get back on the field in
ten days after that that they resume the ascent and
if they don't, then it won't matter what they do
(30:33):
against it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Tonat who is responsible for the field being borderline unplayable,
like Aaron Rodgers said at Akrosher Stadium.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, well, I guess the people who are in charge
of the grounds. That's their job. And I know it's
not an easy job. But I looked on and I
would imagine they have a fewer football games played in
Green Bay at lambeau Field than they do at Akrosure
with pitch sharing the stadium. But that was a pretty
nice field on Sunday that the Bengals played at the Packers.
(31:04):
And I'm pretty sure Lambo's a grass surface. I'm not
a thousand percent sure of that, but I'm pretty sure
no it is.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I mean, and we got four other stadiums in the NFL.
Mike did all seas by college teams, Miami, Tampa Bay,
Philadelphia in Vegas, and you don't hear any complaints about
their surfaces. I think blaming Pitt, I think that's the
easy way on.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I think, yeah, I mean, no, I don't blame Pit.
They have a deal to play there. The Steelers arrange
that years ago. It helps make sense to have a
football stadium that you paid a lot of money for
and that maybe you'll invest more in over time to
continue its upkeep.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I don't blame Pitt for that. It's just it did
it didn't. It's been an odd climate year with the heat.
Maybe they weren't anticipating that or couldn't figure out a
way to cope with it. Maybe they should have done
the RESAWD prior to that game. I don't know if
that was a cost issue or not that they when
you look at it before they start to play and
(32:09):
you see how bad it is, I mean, I don't
know why they didn't go ahead and do the RESAWD
after the most recent pit game and before this game,
because certainly that game was not played on a Class
A service, And how many how many Steelers fans, how
many people in the Steelers nation now are still you know,
have a little bit of flutter in their heart after
(32:30):
Boswelf's plant leg went sideways or certainly not in the
right direction when he attempted that last field goal.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Well yeah, and it ended Killer Bruce season. I mean,
and he's a real valuable guy. I never underestimate special teams. Mike,
that is not a guy they wanted to lose. Finally,
this coming Sunday, I will be at anfield. You're right
as well. For Liverpool Man United. Three weeks ago this
seemed like a four zero win. Now I'll settle for
(32:58):
two to one.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah, you settle for any victory at this point
with the with the struggles they've had, the first on
defense to keep goals out of their net and then
trying to trying to sort of figure out the right side.
I mean, not having Trent Alexander Arnold has made an
impact on how Mosala has played. They need to find
(33:21):
a chemistry over there. I honestly thought Soba Sly had
the best chemistry so far when he filled in it
right back with uh with Mo and without without that
chemistry on that side, Moe is really struggling to get involved.
And without him get involved, I don't care whether it's
his goals or others. Early in the year it wasn't
(33:42):
always his, but when he was, when he's involved in
creating chances, they're so much more dangerous, and in the
last few games they have not been able to do that.
With Connor Bradley that there has been no connection at
all between the two of them, and I think they
have to reconsider whether that's the right approach.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Mike, that analysis is disturbingly accurate. So with that, I'm
gonna let you go. As always, great stuff. We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Thanks, we'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
That's Mike.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
The course he brought to us by our good friends
at South Hills, Kia. A'm Mark Madden one oh five
nine
This is the Mark Madden Show. Do I sound better today?
I was real sick Monday, real sick yesterday. A little
better today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So here I am.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The number to call is for uh damn it, eight
three three four one two w xdx. That's a three
three four one two wxdx. Or you can follow me
on Twitter at Mark Madden X. Get a bunch of
calls in today because I will do better in conversation
than I will do with My chest is not really
(00:31):
congested more my head and even that's not that bad.
My voice is just a little rocky. But you can
call eight three three four one two wxdx.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
That Pickens narrative, like some of these narratives, just like
annoyed the frig out of me that they should have
kept Pickens. Now, I don't think so that the Bronze
traded flat under the Bengals to screw the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Nah, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The whole friggin football world doesn't revolve around the Steelers.
The idea that the Brons were wrong for trading Flacco
because the Bengals in the division. Now, I don't think so.
Tom was wrong about that. Ba's wrong about that. You
make the best deal for your team, no matter who
it's with. I think the Brons were lucky to get
anything at all for Flacco.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
They're season that going nowhere. They're gonna use the kids now.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Another narrative, and Tom and I addressed his briefly, is
that Herbig is a better pass rusher than what I
hear it said. Swear to God, he's a better pure
pass rusher, whatever pure means. That's absurd. I'm not the
biggest WAT fan. He's a Jim Teacher's a meathead. I
don't like him, but he's an all time great and
(01:48):
not quite in his prime no more, but pretty close.
And Herbig is terrific, but he benefits by operating and
watched shadow. Herbig isn't getting chipped and double teamed and
triple teamed and quadruple teamed and HOGTI and all those
excuses that get made on Watch behalf.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
He's real good, though. Herbing is real, real good. He
just ain't what now that Penn.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
State thing firing Franklin, I guess Terry Smith's probably gonna
coach the rest of the season right as interim, you
would think, right, because whoever they get probably has a
job somewhere else. The new coach is gonna be Matt Role, absolutely,
one hundred percent gonna be Matt Rule from Nebraska, one
(02:35):
thousand percent. I guarantee it. I'll bet anybody that wants
a thousand bucks right now it's Matt Rule. He's the
eighties close friend Buddy system and all that. There's a
report Penn State's gonna go after Signetty and in Indiana
in the Notre.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Dame coach Marcus Freeman.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why in the frig would those guys leave where they're
at to go to Penn State. Penn State's going the
pit routes. And that's a great statement to make because
I can get the Penn State people Matt at the
same time as I get the pit fans Matt. Penn
State is going to pit route. Penn State doesn't understand
it's ceiling. Penn State isn't probably ever gonna win a
(03:19):
national championship. That is beyond their reach. The best they're
gonna do is Final four once in a while, like
last year when they were coached there by James Franklin.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Big mistake A three three four one two w XDX.
What else do I got here?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
We were talking about the the field, the playing surface,
and aquasher because it was bad Sunday when the Steelers
be Cleveland, Boswell slipped and miss.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Could have been worse.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He could have got hurt like Miles Killerbrew did the
Special Teams Wizard for the Steelers, blew out his knees
out for the year.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And that's a big loss. And that's awful for Killer
Brew's career.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I mean, he's gonna rehab, he's gonna get a chance
to stick. But a special teams guy, those come and go,
he might never be what he was, might never have
the same value. And that happened because the turf was bad. Seriously,
this guy's life, his career, his family affected because the
turf was bad.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And that's unforgivable. It ain't pits fault. It ain't pitch fault.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Pitt ain't played there for eight days before what happened
happened to Killer Brew and Boswell. It ain't pits fault.
The Steelers have played four games their total, including the preseason.
Pitt's played three games their total so far, so that's
seven games in about seven weeks, right, seven games total,
(04:54):
So that ain't Pits fault. Place the blame where it
should be on the eyes who were paid as a
full time job to take care of that field. The
grounds keepers, they're clearly idiots. And if any of you
guys are listening and take offense to that, tell it
to Miles Killerbrew's wife and family. You're clearly not good
(05:15):
at your jobs. You have one thing to get right,
and you didn't. I mean, when the quarterback is saying
the field was border and unplayable, dude, do better or
Nation five like. If this is how we pretend the
Ruonies are in their pursuit of excellence, then fire some
guys and bring other guys in to fix that field.
(05:36):
But they won't because that's not how the Ruonies are.
The Ruins are buddy buddy, like I've been saying. They
brought the same dopes like Dirt DeNardo. Actually I like Dirt.
I think he passed. But Dirt donardos head grindskeeper at
three Rivers, where all they did was take care of
a carpet. What you need groundskeepers take care of a carpet,
just need a sweeper, like one of those things. Those
(05:57):
swiffers need a big swiffer to take care of it.
A turtle but they brought the same guys over from
Three Rivers to do the natural grass at Hinz Field,
and it didn't go too good for a while. And
I know the way the Steelers operate, all them guys
and Actor sure now are sons of the guys who
(06:18):
took care of three Rivers in Hides Field, because that's
how they operate. That's who's in fault period, the grounds keepers.
And if any of groundskeepers are out there and you
want to challenge that, go ahead and call. Go ahead
and call, because you're in fault period. Not Pitt, not
lack of a stadium on Pitt's campus, not the high
school championship games every Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You are the grounds keepers. Your fault. Not to be critical.
What else do I got?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Oh, we've been debating who's gonna cover Jamar tomorrow night,
who's gonna cover t Higgins.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
We'll get to that in detail in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But again, we got told that Ramsey was gonna follow
the other team's best receiver around. That hasn't happened. But
I got no problem because what they're doing is working.
Then again, Joe Flackley's gonna lively arm Higgins and Jamar.
I think Jamar is the best receiver in football, and
(07:18):
I think that's the best one two receiving punch and football.
They're a whole different kettle of fish, and covering them
presents some legitimate problems and I am curas to see
how the Steelers are gonna handle that. You can make
your suggestions down now eight three, three, four, one two
ninety nine thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
This is the Mark mannon showing one oh five nine.
Thank you for making my day.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, what you said the exit, one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Here's some Steeler news. It's not good.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We knew Calvin Austin wasn't gonna make the trip to Cincinnati,
which is no big deal. They barely use the number
two receiver anyway. But now that Shawn Elliott did not
accompany the team, He's not injured.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
He is said to be questionable now with a.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Personal issue, so we will keep you updated on that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But that ain't good.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He is such a physical cornerstone of that Steelers secondary.
If Jalen Ramsey's the brains, then the Shawn Elliott's lebron
a big hitter, and you would hate to go into
that game where you got to tackle a guy like
t Higgins after the catch, and Deshaun Elli can certainly
(08:40):
help with that. So that's the latest news on the
Steelers lineup situation. Here's Big Ben talking about the bad
playing surface at Akrosuur Stadium anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'm saying this for multiple reason.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I'm saying this for Pitt's sake as well. I firmly
believe that Pitt should put like a thirty five thousand
person stadium up up on Oakland. Pack that thing, because
when you've got sixty five thousand or seventy thousand in
Akroshure and it's only half full, what's that look like?
(09:23):
Go pack put a twenty five thousand person stadium and
then have it like just bumping crazy loud fans everywhere
the students.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
The students will have to drive anywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
They can walk to camp, they can walk to the stadium,
walk to the game, walk back to their dorms, and
then you keep them off of that field for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, that's big bet on his football and podcast up.
If Ben would pay for the new football stadium in Oakland,
I'm sure Pitt would acquiesce, except there's really no place
to put it. Everything been described would be great for
pit football, except there's no place to put it. And
(10:00):
like I keep saying, the problem ain't pit and a
handful home games for them at Akroshore, what I think,
let's see seven home games will fit this season, and
the Whippio games which are gonna get blamed, and hey,
you can't take the Whipio games out of there. That's
a taxpayer funded stadium. The high school kids deserve their
(10:23):
day at Akroshore. The blame goes totally to the people
hired by the Steelers to take care of that field
as a full time job. They should do a better job.
That field should be impeccable. The grinds keepers are the problem.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Not even remotely Pitts.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And by the way, Jimmy Sacho, he runs the stadium,
he's this big shot down there.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
This is on him.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
He gonna do a better job. You want to be
a big shot, do your job like a big shot.
Eight three three four one two WSDX is the number
to call. I want to get back into this debate
and we'll talk to Mike de Courci about it in
just a couple of minutes. Who's gonna cover Jamar tomorrow night?
(11:12):
Who's gonna cover t Higgins tomorrow night again to repeat.
We got told Jalen Ramsey when the Steelers picked him up,
it was said he was gonna follow the other team's
top wide out all around the field. That hasn't happened.
I got no problem. What they're doing is working. And
now we're told that the depth at corner with Ramsey,
(11:36):
Porter and Slay, who were all pretty good at man demand,
we're told that having Ramsey follow the top guy round
isn't necessary. But okay, the Bengals got two top guys
with Chasin Higgins. It's a tough deployment. What do you
do because Higgins is the much bigger and physical and
(11:57):
Jamar as fast as frig and Jay amazing. He's the
number one wide receiver in football period. Jamar Chase is
the number one Why not in football period? But I
think you need more to double up on Higgins because
(12:18):
he's sixty four two twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
He's all elbows and buttholes.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's good that it appears the Steelers have everybody available
at quarterback, not safety with the Shawn questionable, but at
quarterback you got everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We think.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I guess Slay's okay because the depth all due respect
to Ramsey, who's making such difference. But the depth in
that secondary is that unit's biggest strength. So you tell
me what would you do. The guy I would double
would be Higgins. I would be tempted to double Higgins
(12:57):
and give Ramsey or Porter the shot one on one
with Chase, It's been Porter in the past. He's done
a reasonable job when a Porter did the hacker shack
last year with Higgins, where he just kept taking interference
after interference, like Tom Opframan said earlier, Tom Win liking
that to hack a shack, except when you do that
(13:18):
to Shack, he only gets one free two free throws,
well one plus one and he usually misses the first
with with with Jamar, if you with the Higgins whoever,
you would give Joe Burrow the ball on the one
after interference in the end zone. But uh, I don't know.
This is Flacco, it's not Burrow. It's a different year,
(13:41):
a much deeper stealer secondary. I'm just curious about the
division of duty. I think they can do it, no problem.
I just want to see what transpires A three three
four one two w xdx up. Next, we got Mike.
The course of the Sporting news here on one oh five.
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Speaker 2 (14:26):
Network, presented by Matthews Wallinger and waterproofing.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Ex Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said on his podcast this week,
pit should have their own stadium that would keep Backerscher's
Stadium's grass in tap. Whenever Rodgers takes the field for
the Steelers against the Bengals Joe Flacco this week, that'll
be just the second meeting of forty plus year old
QBS and NFL history and Dodgers writing. Yoshinobu Yamamoto toss
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(14:51):
in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
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Speaker 2 (14:59):
Thank you for ma my day. Yeah, what you said.
The exit one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Steelers at Cincinnati tomorrow night, it feels like kind of
a trap game. Then again, with these Steelers, they all
feel like trap games to me. Joining me now to
talk about it from the Sporting News, he's Mike de Corsi. Mike,
we just got word that Deshaun Elliott is questionable because
of a personal situation. We already know Calvin Austin's hert,
(15:25):
but I think Elliott is by far the bigger loss.
How would that effect what the Steelers can do against
those great Cincinnati receivers.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, it would certainly make a huge difference. His re
entry to the lineup was significant. I mean they had
played poor defense. I don't think it's unfair to say
in the Seattle game, in particular to a lesser extent
in the New England game, but not a much lesser extent.
It was mitigated by the massive number of turnovers they created.
(15:56):
And then the Viking games. The Viking game comes around
in Ireland and Deshaun's back and the defense is back,
and so if he is unavailable on Thursday night, it
would have a significant impact in part because what it
does to Jalen Ramsey's situation. You recall, Ramsey ended up
(16:17):
playing some snaps at safety when DeShawn was out, and
it it's not that Ramsey did a poor job there.
He just wasn't the guy that was throwing down a
couple of secs in the last few weeks and making
a huge difference in coverage earlier. He's just an impact
(16:38):
player and when he's playing deep safety that he's not
that guy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I one hundred percent agree, and I hope it
doesn't cause them to be more conservative with the way
they handle coverage, which begs the question like who covers Chase,
who covers Higgins, who gets doubled, who doesn't?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
How's that break down?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Well, I think that what they have traditionally liked to do,
and they've had a reasonable degree of success with this,
is they like to usually double the secondary receiver in
this matchup and try to control Chase. I don't think
they ever feel like they're gonna stop him, but I
think they try to control Chase with the player who's
(17:22):
their best corner, and of course if Ramsey is playing
straight up then he can do that. I think they'll
They would probably rotate it a little bit more. It
would be more since they have three high level cover
corners with Joey, Porter and Sleigh and Ramsey, they might
mix that player up more. They might not trail from
(17:43):
side to side. They might just rotate a little bit
more so that you're getting a fresh, good defender on
Chase instead of necessarily your Taylor, so to speak, and
so that I think that might be the approach. But again,
some of that depends on whether or not they're able
to keep Ramsey totally focused in the corner rotation and
(18:05):
not have to drop him back.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, because their depth and safety beyond Elliott really their
personnel guys like Thornhill and Clark, it ain't necessarily that good.
But getting back to those matchups, Mike, the thing with
Higgins is, I think Chase is the better receiver.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think he's the best receiver in football.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
But Higgins at six four, two twenty, it actually behooves
to double him more because of the threat his strength
and size postes, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I think that's why they do it for that reason.
Chase is brilliant as certainly I agree with you that
he's the best in football now, and you have to
you know, you could have a nice conversation, you could
go for a while on okay, like where does he
rank in this century of the best receivers. He's that
special and he's had the misfortune there not a not
(18:51):
having a great quarterback, but often not having that great
quarterback available, right, and that's made a difference. But I
agree Higgins is a tough cover and I think that
using the double on him has worked well. And although
I don't think they do the same thing on every
single possession, I think if you look at it, by
the end of the game, the majority of those that
(19:13):
they will try to get by, with Higgins being the
guy they gang up on.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You heard Tom On on Monday complaining about Cleveland trading Flato
to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Is he scared of Flacco?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Flaco beat the Steelers last year with Dindy and for
an old guy, he has a lot left.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I think he does.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
I think I think he respects him, and that the
reason for that respect was reflected Sunday at green Bay.
They played green Bay very well and Flacco played fine,
And what was interesting was what a difficult time Green
Bay had getting to Flacco and Parsons was not he
(19:52):
was not invisible, but he was not a terror either,
and as he so often was when he was in Dallas.
And somehow much of that is gomatic and how much
of that was just Cincinnati's line blocking, Well, I couldn't
tell you. I didn't go back and look at what
the Packers coaches or the Bengals coaches said afterward. But
(20:12):
I was impressed with the protection that he was given
relatively how competitive they were. I wasn't at all surprised that,
given protection and with those two guys out there chasing
dal passes along with Tsiki, that he was able to
complete some throws. He's got a classic NFL arm, and
(20:32):
if you give him time, he will he will find
receivers and hit the passes.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Now, we knew that Cincinnati defense would be bad, and
it is. It's a lot, at least twenty seven points
against in every game but one. And it looks like
Hendrickson won't play. He's been banged up. Do you think
the Steelers will expand their horizons and offense at all
or just keep coming at him with that jumbo package.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Well, I think they did expand the horizon a bit
in the Cleveland game. But the Cleveland game was a
challenge because of the nature of the Browns defense, which
we discussed a week ago. Although I didn't think the
Bengals were as poor on Sunday as I'd seen them
in past games, the Vikings game earlier this year, nearly
(21:21):
all of twenty twenty four, they were horrendous, they looked
fairly respectable on Sunday. I don't know how much of
that was the Packers not getting it done and how
much of it was a little bit of improvement on
the Bengal side. But I wouldn't expect like the forty
five points that the Steelers threw on them last year.
Even if they went for that, I don't know that
(21:42):
they get to that. I don't think this Bengals defense
is as poor as that one was.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
No, no, I agree, but I think I don't think
they're going to score forty five.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
But I think they're going to need twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Well, you know, I think they could need twenty eight. Absolutely,
It depends on if everybody's in place for the Steelers
and everybody feels at least reasonably fresh. They have beaten
better offenses than this one. The Vikings offense, even with
the wins, is a better offense. The Patriots offense is
(22:20):
a better offense, although obviously they had to turn it
over to beat it. So I think we're seeing them
make progress on the defensive side of the ball, and
we're seeing exactly what you'd want to see progress over
these games. They're becoming more aggressive. They're hitting the quarterback
a lot. If they get there against Lacko, he's got
(22:41):
problems because he's not mobile.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
We're talking to Mike the course of the Sporting News.
He's brought to us by south Fields Kia. South Fields
Key has the ride and a price you'll love. Mike,
what's it say about the NFL and it's quarterbacks when
you got to forty year olds starting in this game.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I'm not sure it's good or it's bad. It just
says something. I think.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I think what it says is what if you think
about it almost throughout NFL history, that great quarterbacking play
is rare and sufficient quarterbacking play is not abundant, and
so if you can do this and remember, it's different
now because athletes can stay in shape longer. I mean,
(23:26):
Lebron James is a rarity to be doing what he
is doing at forty plus, but there are more and
more of athletes reaching their late thirties and early forties
in all these sports. Look at said right right here
in town. Why am I not mentioning him? I mean that,
and even Gino with the way he started this season
that you can see that those guys continue to succeed
(23:49):
and in some ways, in many ways, their job is
more difficult than a quarterbacks. The quarterback has to hand
the ball off, he has to he has to be
able to move when there's pressure, and obviously he has
to process all that. I don't mean their job is less,
is more mentally demanding. No one's got a tougher job
(24:09):
on a field of play than a quarterback does. But
from a physical standpoint, they don't often have to do
much more than trot back a couple of paces and
then use their arm to find the receiver. So I
think it really says more that the modern NFL athlete
is going to be playing to this level more often
(24:32):
if he desires to. You have to want to play
this long because even at what I said that it's
not as physically punishing for the quarterback or as physically
demanding for the quarterback as it is other positions, it
can still hurt a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Taba was put off because Cleveland traded flat go to Cincia,
trade within the division to a team that needed help
at quarterback. I had no problem. I think he overreacted.
I think he'd just rather not play for.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I you know, I think that one of the things
that happened is that Mike says so many things repetitively
and so few things that are even remotely inflammatory, that
when he does, we really react hard. Here in Pittsburgh.
The fact that he was willing to take a shot
at at Cleveland's GM was just it's just almost unprecedent.
(25:26):
But what what when you think about it, is that
he should think that the guy who gave to Shaan
Watson a two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed contract
and traded seventy five draft picks to get him that
should be his best friend because he has kept Cleveland
sunk for a period of time when the when when
(25:47):
this Browns defense is phenomenal, when the Browns had at
one point ascended to level footing with the Steelers beating
them in a playoff game in an empty three river
excuse me, an empty ackersuer then and then they completely
tanked the whole thing. That guy should be Tomlin's favorite
GM in the whole league.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, but I think Jimmy Haslim, the owner, probably had
more to do with that than the GM did.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And as far as trading within.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
The division, Craig Patrick, the Penguins GM always said, it
doesn't matter who you make the deal with a rival,
a division foe, shouldn't affect it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Make the best deal for your team.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yes, yeah, absolutely. I mean, if there'd been another team
out there starting the equivalent of Jake Browning a quarterback
that was willing to give up something to get Joe Flasco,
I think the Browns would have preferred to do that.
But there wasn't any and the Bengals were. The Bengals
thought that they might be able to salvage this season
with a better option than Browning holding the fourth until
(26:46):
until you got Joe Burrow back, and they didn't feel
like they traded that much to try to do that,
And so absolutely the Browns decision to do this was
not with nothing but other than what they felt was
the best for their team. It's just that getting themselves
into this position where that was the best thing for
(27:07):
their team is more evidence of mismanagement by Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Now we talked at about Ramsey and the effect he's
had on the defense.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
What about Derek Harmon, the rookie.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
When he was out and the run defense got gashed
all the time, Mike I said, Okay, I'd like to
see this Harmon. I don't think one guy can fix
the run defense. He got back, and it's fair to
say he's come pretty close.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Isn't it. Well, he has made a huge difference, and
I think he's made everybody except maybe Cam Hayward, who
didn't need to get much better right better around him.
He's made Keanuventon a better player. He has made as
I suspected he would, the two inside linebackers better players
because he's keeping bodies off of them, whether it's Hulcombe
(27:49):
or Wilson or Queen, who has been really good all year.
He's kept more bodies off those guys so they're able
to make more plays. You see more runs getting strung
out to the sideline on those zone type plays. That's
all that had always been a Steeler staple over the
previous decade and had started to fade over the course
of the first four or five games of this year,
(28:12):
and Harmon coming back in has allowed them to get
back to that.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, I hate to attach too much importance to
games this early in the year, especially one against the
team that probably is going nowhere like Cincinnati with no Burrow,
But I predicted the Steelers would start five to one.
If they win this game, that's what they are. It'll
be no more, no less than what I thought they
should do to this point. But if they lose, you're
four and two. You got tough games coming up. It
(28:41):
kind of feels like last year before things went bad.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
If you lose this game, well.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I feel like it really depends on how you would
lose this game. If you lose it, remember this is
a you know, this turnaround is not typical. So their
path changes not by anything that they do, but what
is being done in front of them and what they are.
You know, I hear a lot of questions who's the
(29:07):
best team in the league. I mean, before Sunday, half
the media people in the world were saying Detroit's the
best team. In the league. And I don't really care
who the best team in the league is now because
it doesn't mean that much. It doesn't mean anything really,
because when you get to December and January, that's when
you want to be the best team in the league
(29:28):
and getting and for the Steelers, I don't think they're
ever going to be back this year. You want to
be the best Steelers by December and January. And so
if you take a step back now because you didn't
have a normal prep week, maybe because you're missing a
key player or whatever it might be, or maybe it's
(29:50):
just that you have a tough night from the rest.
Whatever whatever reason produces might produce a defeat in Cincinnati
on Thursday night. I think it's really more about the
trying to continue to ascend. They started out not great,
and they were able to win a couple of games
that they probably shouldn't have they but they knew that
(30:11):
they needed to get better and they have continued to
get better on both sides of the football. And that's
really what matters. Even if they take a step back
on one side or the other on Thursday, what matters
is that when they get back on the field in
ten days after that that they resume the ascent and
if they don't, then it won't matter what they do
(30:33):
against it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Tonat who is responsible for the field being borderline unplayable,
like Aaron Rodgers said at Akrosher Stadium.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, well, I guess the people who are in charge
of the grounds. That's their job. And I know it's
not an easy job. But I looked on and I
would imagine they have a fewer football games played in
Green Bay at lambeau Field than they do at Akrosure
with pitch sharing the stadium. But that was a pretty
nice field on Sunday that the Bengals played at the Packers.
(31:04):
And I'm pretty sure Lambo's a grass surface. I'm not
a thousand percent sure of that, but I'm pretty sure
no it is.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I mean, and we got four other stadiums in the NFL.
Mike did all seas by college teams, Miami, Tampa Bay,
Philadelphia in Vegas, and you don't hear any complaints about
their surfaces. I think blaming Pitt, I think that's the
easy way on.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I think, yeah, I mean, no, I don't blame Pit.
They have a deal to play there. The Steelers arrange
that years ago. It helps make sense to have a
football stadium that you paid a lot of money for
and that maybe you'll invest more in over time to
continue its upkeep.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I don't blame Pitt for that. It's just it did
it didn't. It's been an odd climate year with the heat.
Maybe they weren't anticipating that or couldn't figure out a
way to cope with it. Maybe they should have done
the RESAWD prior to that game. I don't know if
that was a cost issue or not that they when
you look at it before they start to play and
(32:09):
you see how bad it is, I mean, I don't
know why they didn't go ahead and do the RESAWD
after the most recent pit game and before this game,
because certainly that game was not played on a Class
A service, And how many how many Steelers fans, how
many people in the Steelers nation now are still you know,
have a little bit of flutter in their heart after
(32:30):
Boswelf's plant leg went sideways or certainly not in the
right direction when he attempted that last field goal.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Well yeah, and it ended Killer Bruce season. I mean,
and he's a real valuable guy. I never underestimate special teams. Mike,
that is not a guy they wanted to lose. Finally,
this coming Sunday, I will be at anfield. You're right
as well. For Liverpool Man United. Three weeks ago this
seemed like a four zero win. Now I'll settle for
(32:58):
two to one.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah, you settle for any victory at this point
with the with the struggles they've had, the first on
defense to keep goals out of their net and then
trying to trying to sort of figure out the right side.
I mean, not having Trent Alexander Arnold has made an
impact on how Mosala has played. They need to find
(33:21):
a chemistry over there. I honestly thought Soba Sly had
the best chemistry so far when he filled in it
right back with uh with Mo and without without that
chemistry on that side, Moe is really struggling to get involved.
And without him get involved, I don't care whether it's
his goals or others. Early in the year it wasn't
(33:42):
always his, but when he was, when he's involved in
creating chances, they're so much more dangerous, and in the
last few games they have not been able to do that.
With Connor Bradley that there has been no connection at
all between the two of them, and I think they
have to reconsider whether that's the right approach.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Mike, that analysis is disturbingly accurate. So with that, I'm
gonna let you go. As always, great stuff. We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Thanks, we'll see you soon.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
That's Mike.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
The course he brought to us by our good friends
at South Hills, Kia. A'm Mark Madden one oh five
nine
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