January 9, 2026 • 32 mins
Mark takes calls and keeps talking Steelers and Texans. Tim Benz joins the show to break down the game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Mark Madden Show. You like it, you
love it, you want more of it. The number to call,
because we have calls on the fifteens just around the corner.
The number is eight three three four one two wxdx.
That's eight three three four one two wxdx. Or you
can use the secret number four one two three three
(00:21):
three wxdx and we'll.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Get you on right away.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I've been talking a lot how some people got some
stuff to prove in this game on Monday night, And
that's true.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's damn true.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wats never won a playoff game. You want to dig
a little deeper. He has won sack and four playoff games.
You want to go more current. He had one multi
sack game all year. He's been a bust this year.
Under the terms of the deal he signed forty one
million per year average annual value, no denying metcalf thirty
(01:01):
three million average annual value. Has had eight games this
year where he's caught passes for less than fifty yards worth.
He had a ninth game right at fifty and then
he got suspended for those two games for smacking the
fan in Detroit, which was the stupid cherry on top
(01:24):
of the Sunday of dumbness. Don't you feel like those
guys should come up with big games in the biggest
game of the year. Don't you feel like TJ Watt
and DK Metcalf should pay their bills?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Because I do, even Cam.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I kind of forty and slipped Cam's name in there
for a second. Cam's had a great year. He might
be first team All Pro again. He is out performing
his contract. I shore at some point he'll find the
time to whind about that again, even though he's making
more this year than I will in a lifetime and
I'm pretty well paid. Cam's won one playoff game ever.
(02:04):
In the nine playoff games he's played, he has one sack. Cam,
I have a suggestion for you. Instead of trying to
further tradition. And by the way, when Cam says that
he wants Rogers, he got Rogers to walk off the
field after games with him and Tom Win, what Cam's
really saying is I'm as big a deal as those
guys are, So Cam, instead of worrying about tradition, that
(02:26):
doesn't matter. Nobody gives a frig about unless on Monday night,
the three of you walk off the field after playoff win.
My advice to you, Kim is don't worry about that.
My advice is pay your bills. The Steelers, oh, the fans, Cam,
tj DK. They owe the fans, Mike Tomlin more than
(02:51):
anybody owes the fans time to stand and deliver Monday
Night or Art Rooney the second should burn it down,
but he won't because he's smart.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
He can do things.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
He's not done like people say now, He'll just want
it back no matter what.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
But but let's.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
See if the tradition that I keep hearing about for
a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in the
past eight years, let's see if all that tradition can
translate to a playoff win for a change. I don't
like as a guy who grew up in the seventies,
I don't like guys like Kim glomming on to like
me and Joe Green and spewing words like tradition when
(03:33):
that doesn't belong to him, even the ben era, it
doesn't belong to him. You want to create tradition, Tomlin,
you want to create tradition. Tj you want to create tradition. Cam,
you want to create tradition.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
DK.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You want to create tradition, establish your own tradition, and
have it get into effect Monday nights. Then you can
walk off the field hand in hand. You can walk
off the field wearing no pants. You can French kiss
in the tunnel. Then you won. Then it's tradition. Until
then it's just jerking off. Then I'm gonna call eight
(04:07):
three three four one two WXDX. By the way, we
were talking about this week about how Demiko Ryans is
a rock fight kind of coach, that he doesn't try
to extend leeds, he tries to hold them. He relies
on defense, and hey, why wouldn't he With that defense?
(04:28):
The Houston Texans have the defense that the Steelers pretended
they do this year, the last couple of years, with
all that money spent, the Houston Texans.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Really have that defense.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
But here's a stat that confirms his willingness to be
in a rock fight. Houston has kicked forty eight field
goals this year. That's like the most field goals in
the league by almost ten. Forty eight field goals this year,
that's a rock fight statistic. And if that what that
game turns into Monday Night Tomlin is good at rock fights,
(05:05):
not a lot else. What if it turns into a
rock fight and bos Miss is the big kick, because
you gotta be worried.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I know, I.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Am a pleasant occurrence.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Last night at the Penguins game.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I talked to you like I almost always do when
I happen to see him. Devil's color commentator Chico Resh,
who's seventy seven, looks great, still does a great job
at the microphone. Chico was the goalie for the Islanders
in seventy five when they pulled the comeback from three
games to none down in the second round of the
(05:39):
playoffs the quarterfinals against the Penguins. And I hadn't seen
Chico in a while, went about fifteen years ago. I said,
that guy, he ruined a young kid's life, and he goes,
what do you And then he goes, oh, because I
guess he figured out how old I might have been.
But but Chico's a top man. Love him to death.
Great to see him, and they'll hate him for beating
(06:01):
us in that series. You know, the Islanders went on
their dynasty run like five years later. But the goalie
who won all those Cups, the four Cups with the Islanders.
Billy Smith was on the team then and he played
the first three games. They put Chico in for Game
four and he just went on this tear and knocked
the Penguins ot And in the next round, the Islanders
(06:21):
told the Flyers three games to none and came back
and made it a game seven, but unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Lost, and those douchebags won the Stanley Cup. There their
second in a row.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Some good news for the River Haunts today after winning
the championship, they got the league's leading scorer from a
couple of years ago when he played for them a
couple of years ago. Albert Dequa aka Chico is coming
back to Pittsburgh. That's a pretty good thing when you
take a championship team and a had the one thing
they were lacking last year, which is a nailed on
(06:53):
goal scorer.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I mean, come on, do the math.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
They won four playoff game they scored one goal in
those games one three shootouts. So welcome back, Chico. Uh,
you'll provide more goals and you'll you'll make it more
exciting as well. I'm gonna talk later. I was flipping
a dial this morning and I came to Rocky three.
Rocky three It's not the best of the Rockies, far
(07:18):
from it, but it has some unforgettable scenes. You know,
it might be my favorite scene in any of the
Rocky movies, any of the Rocky movies. Rocky versus Thunderlips
in the Fish Baby.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Get your calls in now.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Eight three three four one two w xdx is the
Mark Man Show one O five nine.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
The super genius Mark Madden.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
He's a little guy.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I'd love to get very good point d x at
one O five nine.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Get your calls in for calls on the fifteen still unsponsored.
We got Tim Bens at the bottom of the hour,
tar match at the top of the hour, but the
number to call now is eight three three four one
two wxdx or four one two three three three wxdx.
Matt Williamson is just killer with his analysis and the
(08:16):
stats he puts on Twitter. Here's another great stat from Matt.
Houston has the best pass defense in the league. On
passes below ten air yards, they allow an average of
just five yards per attempt, and on those passes, Houston
has eight interceptions against, allowing six touchdowns this season, and
(08:38):
the success rate on those throws against Houston is under
forty percent. Keeping it that low, it seems almost impossible.
The point is under ten air yards. That is a
disproportionate percentage of Rogers's passing attack. So that's not good.
(09:00):
We got a sign bite from Chris Simms later. It
might convince you that the Steelers can't win, talking about
the Houston defense against the Steelers offense. It's just about
convinced me that the Steelers can't win. Uh, let's go
to Dave.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Dave, you're on with Mark, I beg Saxe.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Uh sure, miss Grants in Millville, but in any way.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, Grant far me too.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
But them stopping the game for Garrett when he got.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That sack, not wrong with that, Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
I got to let it upset with all these celebrations
and you know, run the guy.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
The guy broke the all time single season sack record.
Do you think they should have slow played that, ignored
it altogether. I don't get where you're coming from. You
don't think the Steelers would have stopped the game in
a similar situation. They might not have gone as far
as the Bronze did. But what did the Brons have
to sell break? Then again, what have the Steelers had
the last decade to celebrate.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Well, I'm also talking about a lot does that high
leg kick and all these guys like immature kindergard How
old are you? Yeah, seventies.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, if it's too loud. If it's too loud, you're
too old. But I mean, I get it, but I mean,
I just it's just how it is.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You're never going to see the guy just hand the
ball to the ref again after a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That part of it's dead.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I have no problem with expressing emotion after big play.
We've often said, and this applies to one athletes to
interviews too, that they're too boring, they're too vanilla. Then
we say they're hot dog in it when they express
that emotion. You can't be critical both ways, and too
many people too often are. But thank you for the call.
Good stuff number to co eight three three four one
(10:56):
two w xd X. I still can't it over that
that power play goal by Gino last night, the five
on three. It was the worst five on three ever.
Penguins couldn't even get set up. Then they got set
up and a couple passes Carlson and Sid and Gino
buries it. Uh fourth line scored again well like like two. Well,
(11:22):
they scored one goal with the fourth line out there.
That was Lazotte getting set up by a chary right
in front to make it for to one, and Connor
Dore scored on a breakaway coming out of the box.
He was not there with the fourth line, but he
is a fourth liner. Sid got a couple of helpers,
which kind of diffused Yoi's story about how he doesn't
(11:43):
produce when he's had three days or more off between games.
But then again, YOI talked to Sid for that story.
I think Sid took notes and uh, and you know,
I always hesitate to say Sid turned it up a notch.
I think he turns it up notch every time he
goes out there on the rink. But good to see
(12:03):
him produce in a situation where he sometimes doesn't. And
now Calgary is here tomorrow three pm start time, and
they're not so good. So maybe lucky seven in a
row for the Penguins. The Penguins are in a rich
vein of being very fundamentally sound.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Who'd have thought that was ever possible. The standings are.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So tight, so tight tight, like well, you know, but
the Penguins are only one point one point out of
second place in the Metro. It is just a crazy
year top to bottom in the Eastern Conference, and it's
caused the loser point. The loser point ruins the standings.
(12:46):
It provides an inaccurate reflection of what's happened.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
But that's what they want.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They want close standings, and certainly they got them that
number again. Uh four one two three three three WXDX.
I was flipping the dial today, like I said, and
I saw Rocky three and the scene where Hogan and
Rocky have the match for charity with Leroy Nieman as
(13:13):
the ring announcer. Hal Cogan pops Polly and knocks him
down in the brawl.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It was like a classic wrestling brawl. It was so good.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It was like with every boxer it They used to
do boxer versus wrestler occasionally. I remember they did Chuck
Webner versus Andre the Giant on the undercart of that
phony baloney antony and Oki Muhammad Ali fight, although actually
it was supposed.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
To be phony baloney.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It was supposed to be a work with Anok winning
and then Ali at the last minute refused to drop
the decision and they had a fight for real and
it was boring af but that Rocky Thunderlips match was
everything boxer versus wrestler should be. And really that was
the breakout vehicle for hal Cogan, who was not yet
(13:59):
in He went there shortly thereafter, and between you know,
his natural charisma, his body and and him having been
in Rocky three, that's what enabled Vince McMahon to blow
the roof off with Hulk at w to B Hulk's
the biggest wrestling star ever. There were certainly better performers,
(14:20):
but Hulk's the biggest wrestling star ever.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
All right, up next, going to talk to Tim Benz
one oh five.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Nine, Rob King here, stay, yeah the ex.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
At one five nine.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I feel like the Steelers playoff game should have been
last night. The hype's just unbearable at this point. But
still we persevere, and with that in mind, we bring
on Tim Benz from the Trib. Tim who has to
come through for the Steelers in this game. Not by
way of having to win, because Aaron Rodgers is a
good place to start there, but I'm talking about redemption.
(14:54):
Is this redemption time for TJ. Watt who's never won
a playoff game? Or DK Metcalf who's never had a
good game for the Steelers outside of maybe a couple
hundred yarders, and he got suspended.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Who has to make good on Monday night.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Yeah, I might want to throw the placekicker in there
after the blocked extra point last week, although I don't
think that's entirely or if even mainly on him. But
you know, he's even slipped a little bit and they
might have to just OutKick their way to a victory here.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Against the Texans. I'm not ruling that out.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
The Texans with the most field goals in the league
forty eight this year. That's an unbelievable numbers, so you
know that they're up for a rock fight.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
And honestly, Mark, I'm not as concerned about Boswell as
a lot of people are. Like I said, that was
pretty poor blocking. If it wasn't blocked, it was darn close.
And I think he was thrown off by the guy
running in his face. He missed a fifty four yarder
in Cleveland. That's gonna happen. He had one bad kick
against Detroit, so I'm not freaking out about Boswell. I
think both kickers are going to be very much involved
(15:56):
in the outcome.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Of this game and part of the reason.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
They rely so much on their kickers. They're not good
in the red zone, Houston. But to answer your specific question,
the first game that popped in mind, and you started
on defense, I went to offense first. And that's dk
redemption for them not being able to rest their players
last week against Baltimore, redemption for them having to fight
the Ravens to the death, redemption for that offense looking
(16:22):
as futrid as it did against Cleveland in his absence.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
And yeah, it's just redemption maybe.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
For a season where he didn't dominate as much as
his price tag should suggest. He's got a pretty good
postseason track record. It really better manifest not only because
they need him to be an alpha.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
At the wide receiver position.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
He's got to be better than the alpha on the
other side of the ball.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
And Stingley, who's one of the best corners in the
league and the guy that runs with them, and last.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Year's pretty good too.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
And I like his matchup if he's healthy, if he
can really run without the ankle and knee intrees. I
like his matchup Houston perspective, against whoever he's guarding as
the Steelers number two receiver.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, I I don't think.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I mean I think DK f'd up royally by getting suspended.
I think he's been a bust this year. I do
think that he's so easy to cover in the context
of that offense, and that certainly won't change any Monday night,
will it.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
I can't remember if you were brought this up, or
maybe it was Tom who was in the two o'clock hour.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
With you, but word's the effect of for a guy.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Who hasn't had the kind of season that his price
tag would suggest. You know, it's it's almost a self
defeating thing at this point because he's so clearly still
their number one option.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
That he's even easier to cover.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Because you're not feeling like you're sacrificing much by throwing
that much attention at him, So it makes him.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Even easier to cover.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
But I don't think Houston has to worry about it
all that much in this game, at least in terms
of deep shots. And if the Steelers can get.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Creative and figure out a way to get it to.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
DK Metcalf quickly, more power to him, and that might
be the key to victory because Rogers isn't gonna stand
back there and hold the ball for a while. He's
not gonna have time against this defensive front for the
Houston Texans. And I also think the Texans have a
little bit of an X factor here in that they
swarm to the ball well. They have good second and
(18:25):
third level guys as well as their front, and those
little flat passes to Warren and gain Well might not
get the run after Cats and the Steelers are used
to getting tim.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I want to stick with Rogers for a bit because
obviously the game hinges on how he plays.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Is he afraid to get hit?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We talk about how he got rid of it real
quick against Cleveland because they had pressure, and you know,
if he wanted Garrett to get the record, did he
want to prevent that? I mean, who cares? But has
he been that way all season? And maybe we just
have started to notice some more lately.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
I think it has been that way all season. He
doesn't want to get hit. I don't think Ben wanted
to get by the end. I don't think Russ particularly
wanted to get hit by the end.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You know, but in this game, you're gonna have to
get hit to make plays.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Given their pass rush and their pressure. There's no choice.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
Not only that, but like I just said too, I
don't think you're gonna get the yards after catch to
throw short, to run long stuff that they like to
rely on, because they're just too good to get to
the ball. And that's part of the reason why they've
limited every other opposition to the lowest yards per game
(19:37):
in the National Football League this year. It's not just
all about sacks. I mean, my god, that Steelers have
one more sack than Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Does you know?
Speaker 7 (19:43):
The Steelers are three to one against teams that have
more sacks than Houston does.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
But their pressure rate is high.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
They force you to get rid of the ball.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
Their pressu rate's even better than what their sack total is,
which is good. And you know, as we kind of
saw against Cleveland, you can be as aware as humanly
possible to not let a pass rusher wreck the game
by getting you down to the ground.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
But if you're that aware, he's.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Kind of doing it anyway, because you're limiting the playbook
and anything beyond the second wave of defense, you're barely
even threatening the secondary.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I find this game extremely difficult to handicapped in. I'm
leaning toward Houston, and I got a Chris Sims SoundBite
later that really makes it impossible to think the Steelers
will win this game because it makes so much sense.
But I look at a certain trends that go against
conventional wisdom. For example, we keep getting told that Houston's
offensive line isn't very good, and it probably isn't, but
(20:42):
it has no a lot of sack in the last
three games and allowed only one in the game before that.
I mean, what are these going to what are these
guys gonna come up like on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I'm not impressed by their offensive line either.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
I find it to be more of a concern from
a running game standpoint if I'm looking at it from
Houston's perspective, Because you know, Nico Collins has had a
plenty good enough season that passle of Iowa state wide receivers,
and you know those next three or four guys that
they have at the wide receiver position are fine. Dalton
(21:16):
Shult said a really nice year as a tight end.
So whatever their offensive line isn't And like you said,
the sack total numbers are low.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
C J.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Stroud knows how to get rid of the ball without
putting it Harm's way. It doesn't seem to be affecting
the passing game all that negatively.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
They just can't do anything.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Running the football now if they like, just if they
stay with it and they're stubborn about it and the
Steelers stop it, and CJ. Stroud's in third and nine,
third and ten of all time, Yeah, he will get
sacked eventually. Maybe it'll be a strip sack, Maybe be
a ball that's bad at the line of scrimmage and
winds up in TJ. Watt's stomach again like we saw
last week. Like that, that all could happen, but it
(21:55):
would require the Steelers defense to at least be the
second best unit on the field.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And your colleague is on with you all the time.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I'm with him once a week, Matt Williamson. He always
loves to break.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
Down the game in the four unit thing, like, what's
the best unit on the field.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Clearly it's Houston's defense.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The Steelers defense better be the second unit.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Because I think that it's just.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
A race of which one of those two offenses can
get to nineteen or twenty first, or maybe get there
and avoid overtime. I picked the whole week has been
twenty three to twenty Houston in overtime.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, that certain would not surprise me. And you're right.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
If the Steelers defense can at least keep up with
the Houston defense, it could be a long evening at
Acres Short. We're talking to Tim Benz from The Trib.
Tim brought to us by Calusi Chevrolet, serving the Pittsburgh
area for one hundred and seven years. Tim, what about
the other side of the coin in the trenches? How
will Faltanu and Dylan Cook do against their pass rush
(22:55):
duo of Anderson and Hunter.
Speaker 7 (22:58):
I think they'll do better then what the outside is anticipating.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
I think I don't know what the number is.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
But I take a good look at what the projected
sack total is for Houston and maybe go under.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
But I'm not so sure it'll be because of.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Faltanu and Cook.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
I think, as has been the case the entire season,
Aaron Rodgers is his own best pass protection. Again, it's
just how willing are they to allow this game to
look like the Cleveland game? Insofar as the best play
possible is Aaron not getting sacked, and if that results
in little dumpoffs to Warren and Gain, well that now
(23:36):
only gain three yards instead of six Okay, that's a
tough way to live, and it's a tough way to
keep doing that without a mistake. But I guess it
keeps strouding the offense off the field, and that's when
you get down to an even lower scoring game of
the one I just projected, especially if, to use your vernacular,
the Steelers defense keeps up with the Houston defense.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, I mean, I think that Dylan Cook's gonna get overwhelmed.
Then again, who knows how much chipping and extra offensive
linemen and lining the tight end up over there the
Steelers are going to do.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But but Tom earlier came up with what I would
agree with.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I would have Tana and Cook go mostly one on
one with both guys in the interest of not crippling
my offense by frankly being too scared.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
That's the biggest lesson that they should have taken away
from the second Cleveland game I hope that they did,
is that you know, if you were if he's literally
your team MVP, Like, if you're gonna leave Kenneth Gainwell
in the backfield to just chip and eat contact with
Miles Garrett or in this case, Hunter and or Anderson,
(24:47):
then you're not going to get the best production out
of your MVT, and Warren has kind of.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Used the same way.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Now, I suppose what they could do is go with
the theory of having Warren back there and kind of
use Gainwell as a slock guy.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
I saw some of that against Baltimore.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
You know, having DK back changes some of that calculus too,
But still it's the two backs and gain Well.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Excuse me, two got two backs and Metcalf that.
Speaker 7 (25:12):
Are the weapons, and as mentioned before, Stingley I think
can go a long way to Houston not having to
throw too much attention at Metcalf, and then there's a
lot of other positions in the field after that where
I like the.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
One on one matchup that Houston has on that side
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Tim, I gotta get this in there. We have breaking news.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
They're having an exhibition game, like just a couple of
local teams I think, at the Olympic ice Arena in Milan,
and the game is being delayed because there's a giant
hole in the ice.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Doesn't really bode well, does it.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
No, it doesn't. I thought you were going to say,
we have breaking news.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Mark Cuban is buying the post gazette. I thought that's
where we were going with this.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I'd actually like to see it because that would be
the first time he ever did anything for the City
Sides run his big fat yapper. Getting back to the
Steelers in Houston.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Oh wait, wait, wait, where's the hole in the ice?
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Where's the hole in the ice? Exactly?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
It looks to be in the slots, So it's not
like they could play around it.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
In the slot.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So it's not even like some weakness along.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
The wall that could be taken care of.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
It's right in the it's right in a playing area
in front of the goaltender.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
That's that's not great. That's bad news.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
That could really hurt Sid's two hundred foot game.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Let's look at let's look at how these Steelers are
going to handle the Houston passing attack because they don't
ask Straw to do a lot. But he does have
a deep arm, he can't play catch up, and he
does have Nico Collins who torched the Steelers badly. Uh
when the teams last played two years ago, how will
the Steelers handle covering Nico Collins? To me, it's a
(26:49):
no brainer to man up. Joey Porter Junior on him.
But whenever you say no brainer with the Steelers, that
can be very easily contradicted by.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Them, right because they like to think.
Speaker 7 (27:01):
I think their own brains, such as they are, I
think it's a lot easier for them to rationalize putting
Porter on Collins and just following them around because of
a body type matchup.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
I don't think they're.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
Wild about that Zay Flowers versus Joey Porter matchup. He's
a little shifty, he's a little slotty. You know, That's
not the kind of guy that they like to throw
Porter on.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
And I think they feel like.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
They're wasting size when they do that, to say nothing
of quickness and just flat out speed. And you know,
I think they like the Porter versus a guy who's
built like Porter thing. So that strikes me as Collins.
And then after that it gets interesting, like do they
put Pierre on Higgins?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And if so, then it gets weak. Then I get worried, and.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
They really have you Schultz a ton.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
The Steelers largely have been good against tight ends this year,
especially in the last two to the season, but you know,
those other two three wide receivers, they got the other
Iowa State guys and Kirk like they could be a
problem for those depth secondary guys that the Steelers have.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Tim I went through the litany of woe in the Steelers'
last five playoff games, the common thread being they trailed
very badly, very early in all of those games. Whose
fault is that? And how do they keep that from repeating?
Because while I think that, you know, those games have
nothing to do with this game in theory, I wonder
(28:33):
if it's in their DNA by now, and in particular
in the head coaches DNA.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah, whose fault is it?
Speaker 7 (28:41):
That speaks to coaching more than anything else when you
get up to that battle start.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
I also think it's talent assembly.
Speaker 7 (28:46):
I think they were outclass talent wise by Baltimore, Buffalo
and Kansas.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
City in the road games.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
And then honestly, Mark, it was the veteran guys just
not playing well against Cleveland, you know, the guys that
were just getting too old too fast, like Pouncy and
Ben and some of the older guys on defense. So
I mean, there's plenty of blame to spread around. But
I'll give you something that exacerbates the concerns about the
fast start, and it's how Houston finishes. Houston, I believe,
(29:13):
is at plus seventy eight, the best point differential in
the fourth quarter of any team in football. So the
second half comeback, you know, the second half offensive explosion,
the warming up to the process, the getting used to
the defense thing is not going to be as present
to the Steelers in the fourth quarter. And you know,
(29:35):
there's also kind of a quotion to this that's been
evident with Rogers, where he's smart enough, been there, done that,
seen it all, evaluates processes and he gets used to
things as they go.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
But it just might get late early.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Against Houston as opposed to some of the other teams
they've beaten. Also, keep in mind, this is a team
that was one in five against playoff teams. I'm talking
about the Steelers one in five against playoff teams this year,
and the one team that they beat gave them the
ball five times in New England, and Houston doesn't give
the ball to anybody. Meanwhile, Houston during their nine game
(30:08):
win streak has three wins against playoff teams, and I
believe it was four and four overall with a plus
twenty nine point differential. So none of those numbers speak
well to the Steelers' chances, which is why I'm giving
Houston a very narrow victory. The Steelers have a chance.
There's more reason for optimism than when they took Mason
Rudolph into a blizzard in Buffalo or had to go
(30:30):
into that, you know that. I don't know how you
call it, just that the witch saw that they had
to deal with getting right back into Baltimore again and
going to Kansas City. It's not like that they can
win this game. But I'm still taking Houston to win it.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Here.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I expect Rogers either to have a great game like
throw for two hundred and fifty yards and make Keith rows,
or to totally soil the bed, maybe get hurt, and
maybe if the game gets out a hand, team get
quote unquote hurt. If you know what I mean, I
don't expect much Middle. I think he'll be the reason
they win or the reason they lose.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
So that would be what like the Cleveland game and
the Charger game, then yes, yeah, I could see it.
Speaker 7 (31:14):
I could see that Houston defense just overwhelming the Steelers
offense so much that we go back to that whole
one through four ranked the units thing and the Steelers
offense is a distant fourth, and the Houston defense is
by far number one. And then whatever Houston gets, it
gets and they win in a game that stays under
twenty on the point total.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I could see it.
Speaker 7 (31:35):
This is not a matchup I want. It is for
that exact reason. Getting Metcalf back I think will help.
The improved offensive line play over the last three or
four weeks I think will also help.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
But I'll underscore the point I made before.
Speaker 7 (31:48):
The biggest pass protector of Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers,
and no one knows that better than Aaron Rodgers. And
that's I think a big reason why you saw the
Miles Garrett effect conversation that we had after Week seventeen
up in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, at least Aaron Rodgers probably won't fall through a
hole in the ice. Tim, good stuff, Enjoy the game.
We'll talk to you on the podcast Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
You don't know that Rusty.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That's Tim Benz, Im Mark madd and we got Charlie
Batch at the top of the hour and up
This is the Mark Madden Show. You like it, you
love it, you want more of it. The number to call,
because we have calls on the fifteens just around the corner.
The number is eight three three four one two wxdx.
That's eight three three four one two wxdx. Or you
can use the secret number four one two three three
(00:21):
three wxdx and we'll.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Get you on right away.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I've been talking a lot how some people got some
stuff to prove in this game on Monday night, And
that's true.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's damn true.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wats never won a playoff game. You want to dig
a little deeper. He has won sack and four playoff games.
You want to go more current. He had one multi
sack game all year. He's been a bust this year.
Under the terms of the deal he signed forty one
million per year average annual value, no denying metcalf thirty
(01:01):
three million average annual value. Has had eight games this
year where he's caught passes for less than fifty yards worth.
He had a ninth game right at fifty and then
he got suspended for those two games for smacking the
fan in Detroit, which was the stupid cherry on top
(01:24):
of the Sunday of dumbness. Don't you feel like those
guys should come up with big games in the biggest
game of the year. Don't you feel like TJ Watt
and DK Metcalf should pay their bills?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Because I do, even Cam.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I kind of forty and slipped Cam's name in there
for a second. Cam's had a great year. He might
be first team All Pro again. He is out performing
his contract. I shore at some point he'll find the
time to whind about that again, even though he's making
more this year than I will in a lifetime and
I'm pretty well paid. Cam's won one playoff game ever.
(02:04):
In the nine playoff games he's played, he has one sack. Cam,
I have a suggestion for you. Instead of trying to
further tradition. And by the way, when Cam says that
he wants Rogers, he got Rogers to walk off the
field after games with him and Tom Win, what Cam's
really saying is I'm as big a deal as those
guys are, So Cam, instead of worrying about tradition, that
(02:26):
doesn't matter. Nobody gives a frig about unless on Monday night,
the three of you walk off the field after playoff win.
My advice to you, Kim is don't worry about that.
My advice is pay your bills. The Steelers, oh, the fans, Cam,
tj DK. They owe the fans, Mike Tomlin more than
(02:51):
anybody owes the fans time to stand and deliver Monday
Night or Art Rooney the second should burn it down,
but he won't because he's smart.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
He can do things.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
He's not done like people say now, He'll just want
it back no matter what.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
But but let's.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
See if the tradition that I keep hearing about for
a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in the
past eight years, let's see if all that tradition can
translate to a playoff win for a change. I don't
like as a guy who grew up in the seventies,
I don't like guys like Kim glomming on to like
me and Joe Green and spewing words like tradition when
(03:33):
that doesn't belong to him, even the ben era, it
doesn't belong to him. You want to create tradition, Tomlin,
you want to create tradition. Tj you want to create tradition. Cam,
you want to create tradition.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
DK.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You want to create tradition, establish your own tradition, and
have it get into effect Monday nights. Then you can
walk off the field hand in hand. You can walk
off the field wearing no pants. You can French kiss
in the tunnel. Then you won. Then it's tradition. Until
then it's just jerking off. Then I'm gonna call eight
(04:07):
three three four one two WXDX. By the way, we
were talking about this week about how Demiko Ryans is
a rock fight kind of coach, that he doesn't try
to extend leeds, he tries to hold them. He relies
on defense, and hey, why wouldn't he With that defense?
(04:28):
The Houston Texans have the defense that the Steelers pretended
they do this year, the last couple of years, with
all that money spent, the Houston Texans.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Really have that defense.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
But here's a stat that confirms his willingness to be
in a rock fight. Houston has kicked forty eight field
goals this year. That's like the most field goals in
the league by almost ten. Forty eight field goals this year,
that's a rock fight statistic. And if that what that
game turns into Monday Night Tomlin is good at rock fights,
(05:05):
not a lot else. What if it turns into a
rock fight and bos Miss is the big kick, because
you gotta be worried.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I know, I.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Am a pleasant occurrence.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Last night at the Penguins game.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I talked to you like I almost always do when
I happen to see him. Devil's color commentator Chico Resh,
who's seventy seven, looks great, still does a great job
at the microphone. Chico was the goalie for the Islanders
in seventy five when they pulled the comeback from three
games to none down in the second round of the
(05:39):
playoffs the quarterfinals against the Penguins. And I hadn't seen
Chico in a while, went about fifteen years ago. I said,
that guy, he ruined a young kid's life, and he goes,
what do you And then he goes, oh, because I
guess he figured out how old I might have been.
But but Chico's a top man. Love him to death.
Great to see him, and they'll hate him for beating
(06:01):
us in that series. You know, the Islanders went on
their dynasty run like five years later. But the goalie
who won all those Cups, the four Cups with the Islanders.
Billy Smith was on the team then and he played
the first three games. They put Chico in for Game
four and he just went on this tear and knocked
the Penguins ot And in the next round, the Islanders
(06:21):
told the Flyers three games to none and came back
and made it a game seven, but unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Lost, and those douchebags won the Stanley Cup. There their
second in a row.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Some good news for the River Haunts today after winning
the championship, they got the league's leading scorer from a
couple of years ago when he played for them a
couple of years ago. Albert Dequa aka Chico is coming
back to Pittsburgh. That's a pretty good thing when you
take a championship team and a had the one thing
they were lacking last year, which is a nailed on
(06:53):
goal scorer.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I mean, come on, do the math.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
They won four playoff game they scored one goal in
those games one three shootouts. So welcome back, Chico. Uh,
you'll provide more goals and you'll you'll make it more
exciting as well. I'm gonna talk later. I was flipping
a dial this morning and I came to Rocky three.
Rocky three It's not the best of the Rockies, far
(07:18):
from it, but it has some unforgettable scenes. You know,
it might be my favorite scene in any of the
Rocky movies, any of the Rocky movies. Rocky versus Thunderlips
in the Fish Baby.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Get your calls in now.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Eight three three four one two w xdx is the
Mark Man Show one O five nine.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
The super genius Mark Madden.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
He's a little guy.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I'd love to get very good point d x at
one O five nine.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Get your calls in for calls on the fifteen still unsponsored.
We got Tim Bens at the bottom of the hour,
tar match at the top of the hour, but the
number to call now is eight three three four one
two wxdx or four one two three three three wxdx.
Matt Williamson is just killer with his analysis and the
(08:16):
stats he puts on Twitter. Here's another great stat from Matt.
Houston has the best pass defense in the league. On
passes below ten air yards, they allow an average of
just five yards per attempt, and on those passes, Houston
has eight interceptions against, allowing six touchdowns this season, and
(08:38):
the success rate on those throws against Houston is under
forty percent. Keeping it that low, it seems almost impossible.
The point is under ten air yards. That is a
disproportionate percentage of Rogers's passing attack. So that's not good.
(09:00):
We got a sign bite from Chris Simms later. It
might convince you that the Steelers can't win, talking about
the Houston defense against the Steelers offense. It's just about
convinced me that the Steelers can't win. Uh, let's go
to Dave.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Dave, you're on with Mark, I beg Saxe.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Uh sure, miss Grants in Millville, but in any way.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, Grant far me too.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
But them stopping the game for Garrett when he got.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That sack, not wrong with that, Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
I got to let it upset with all these celebrations
and you know, run the guy.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
The guy broke the all time single season sack record.
Do you think they should have slow played that, ignored
it altogether. I don't get where you're coming from. You
don't think the Steelers would have stopped the game in
a similar situation. They might not have gone as far
as the Bronze did. But what did the Brons have
to sell break? Then again, what have the Steelers had
the last decade to celebrate.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Well, I'm also talking about a lot does that high
leg kick and all these guys like immature kindergard How
old are you? Yeah, seventies.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, if it's too loud. If it's too loud, you're
too old. But I mean, I get it, but I mean,
I just it's just how it is.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You're never going to see the guy just hand the
ball to the ref again after a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That part of it's dead.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
I have no problem with expressing emotion after big play.
We've often said, and this applies to one athletes to
interviews too, that they're too boring, they're too vanilla. Then
we say they're hot dog in it when they express
that emotion. You can't be critical both ways, and too
many people too often are. But thank you for the call.
Good stuff number to co eight three three four one
(10:56):
two w xd X. I still can't it over that
that power play goal by Gino last night, the five
on three. It was the worst five on three ever.
Penguins couldn't even get set up. Then they got set
up and a couple passes Carlson and Sid and Gino
buries it. Uh fourth line scored again well like like two. Well,
(11:22):
they scored one goal with the fourth line out there.
That was Lazotte getting set up by a chary right
in front to make it for to one, and Connor
Dore scored on a breakaway coming out of the box.
He was not there with the fourth line, but he
is a fourth liner. Sid got a couple of helpers,
which kind of diffused Yoi's story about how he doesn't
(11:43):
produce when he's had three days or more off between games.
But then again, YOI talked to Sid for that story.
I think Sid took notes and uh, and you know,
I always hesitate to say Sid turned it up a notch.
I think he turns it up notch every time he
goes out there on the rink. But good to see
(12:03):
him produce in a situation where he sometimes doesn't. And
now Calgary is here tomorrow three pm start time, and
they're not so good. So maybe lucky seven in a
row for the Penguins. The Penguins are in a rich
vein of being very fundamentally sound.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Who'd have thought that was ever possible. The standings are.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So tight, so tight tight, like well, you know, but
the Penguins are only one point one point out of
second place in the Metro. It is just a crazy
year top to bottom in the Eastern Conference, and it's
caused the loser point. The loser point ruins the standings.
(12:46):
It provides an inaccurate reflection of what's happened.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
But that's what they want.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They want close standings, and certainly they got them that
number again. Uh four one two three three three WXDX.
I was flipping the dial today, like I said, and
I saw Rocky three and the scene where Hogan and
Rocky have the match for charity with Leroy Nieman as
(13:13):
the ring announcer. Hal Cogan pops Polly and knocks him
down in the brawl.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It was like a classic wrestling brawl. It was so good.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It was like with every boxer it They used to
do boxer versus wrestler occasionally. I remember they did Chuck
Webner versus Andre the Giant on the undercart of that
phony baloney antony and Oki Muhammad Ali fight, although actually
it was supposed.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
To be phony baloney.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It was supposed to be a work with Anok winning
and then Ali at the last minute refused to drop
the decision and they had a fight for real and
it was boring af but that Rocky Thunderlips match was
everything boxer versus wrestler should be. And really that was
the breakout vehicle for hal Cogan, who was not yet
(13:59):
in He went there shortly thereafter, and between you know,
his natural charisma, his body and and him having been
in Rocky three, that's what enabled Vince McMahon to blow
the roof off with Hulk at w to B Hulk's
the biggest wrestling star ever. There were certainly better performers,
(14:20):
but Hulk's the biggest wrestling star ever.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
All right, up next, going to talk to Tim Benz
one oh five.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Nine, Rob King here, stay, yeah the ex.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
At one five nine.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I feel like the Steelers playoff game should have been
last night. The hype's just unbearable at this point. But
still we persevere, and with that in mind, we bring
on Tim Benz from the Trib. Tim who has to
come through for the Steelers in this game. Not by
way of having to win, because Aaron Rodgers is a
good place to start there, but I'm talking about redemption.
(14:54):
Is this redemption time for TJ. Watt who's never won
a playoff game? Or DK Metcalf who's never had a
good game for the Steelers outside of maybe a couple
hundred yarders, and he got suspended.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Who has to make good on Monday night.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Yeah, I might want to throw the placekicker in there
after the blocked extra point last week, although I don't
think that's entirely or if even mainly on him. But
you know, he's even slipped a little bit and they
might have to just OutKick their way to a victory here.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Against the Texans. I'm not ruling that out.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
The Texans with the most field goals in the league
forty eight this year. That's an unbelievable numbers, so you
know that they're up for a rock fight.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
And honestly, Mark, I'm not as concerned about Boswell as
a lot of people are. Like I said, that was
pretty poor blocking. If it wasn't blocked, it was darn close.
And I think he was thrown off by the guy
running in his face. He missed a fifty four yarder
in Cleveland. That's gonna happen. He had one bad kick
against Detroit, so I'm not freaking out about Boswell. I
think both kickers are going to be very much involved
(15:56):
in the outcome.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Of this game and part of the reason.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
They rely so much on their kickers. They're not good
in the red zone, Houston. But to answer your specific question,
the first game that popped in mind, and you started
on defense, I went to offense first. And that's dk
redemption for them not being able to rest their players
last week against Baltimore, redemption for them having to fight
the Ravens to the death, redemption for that offense looking
(16:22):
as futrid as it did against Cleveland in his absence.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
And yeah, it's just redemption maybe.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
For a season where he didn't dominate as much as
his price tag should suggest. He's got a pretty good
postseason track record. It really better manifest not only because
they need him to be an alpha.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
At the wide receiver position.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
He's got to be better than the alpha on the
other side of the ball.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
And Stingley, who's one of the best corners in the
league and the guy that runs with them, and last.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Year's pretty good too.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
And I like his matchup if he's healthy, if he
can really run without the ankle and knee intrees. I
like his matchup Houston perspective, against whoever he's guarding as
the Steelers number two receiver.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, I I don't think.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I mean I think DK f'd up royally by getting suspended.
I think he's been a bust this year. I do
think that he's so easy to cover in the context
of that offense, and that certainly won't change any Monday night,
will it.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
I can't remember if you were brought this up, or
maybe it was Tom who was in the two o'clock hour.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
With you, but word's the effect of for a guy.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Who hasn't had the kind of season that his price
tag would suggest. You know, it's it's almost a self
defeating thing at this point because he's so clearly still
their number one option.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
That he's even easier to cover.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Because you're not feeling like you're sacrificing much by throwing
that much attention at him, So it makes him.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Even easier to cover.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
But I don't think Houston has to worry about it
all that much in this game, at least in terms
of deep shots. And if the Steelers can get.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Creative and figure out a way to get it to.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
DK Metcalf quickly, more power to him, and that might
be the key to victory because Rogers isn't gonna stand
back there and hold the ball for a while. He's
not gonna have time against this defensive front for the
Houston Texans. And I also think the Texans have a
little bit of an X factor here in that they
swarm to the ball well. They have good second and
(18:25):
third level guys as well as their front, and those
little flat passes to Warren and gain Well might not
get the run after Cats and the Steelers are used
to getting tim.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I want to stick with Rogers for a bit because
obviously the game hinges on how he plays.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Is he afraid to get hit?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We talk about how he got rid of it real
quick against Cleveland because they had pressure, and you know,
if he wanted Garrett to get the record, did he
want to prevent that? I mean, who cares? But has
he been that way all season? And maybe we just
have started to notice some more lately.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
I think it has been that way all season. He
doesn't want to get hit. I don't think Ben wanted
to get by the end. I don't think Russ particularly
wanted to get hit by the end.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You know, but in this game, you're gonna have to
get hit to make plays.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Given their pass rush and their pressure. There's no choice.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
Not only that, but like I just said too, I
don't think you're gonna get the yards after catch to
throw short, to run long stuff that they like to
rely on, because they're just too good to get to
the ball. And that's part of the reason why they've
limited every other opposition to the lowest yards per game
(19:37):
in the National Football League this year. It's not just
all about sacks. I mean, my god, that Steelers have
one more sack than Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Does you know?
Speaker 7 (19:43):
The Steelers are three to one against teams that have
more sacks than Houston does.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
But their pressure rate is high.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
They force you to get rid of the ball.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
Their pressu rate's even better than what their sack total is,
which is good. And you know, as we kind of
saw against Cleveland, you can be as aware as humanly
possible to not let a pass rusher wreck the game
by getting you down to the ground.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
But if you're that aware, he's.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Kind of doing it anyway, because you're limiting the playbook
and anything beyond the second wave of defense, you're barely
even threatening the secondary.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I find this game extremely difficult to handicapped in. I'm
leaning toward Houston, and I got a Chris Sims SoundBite
later that really makes it impossible to think the Steelers
will win this game because it makes so much sense.
But I look at a certain trends that go against
conventional wisdom. For example, we keep getting told that Houston's
offensive line isn't very good, and it probably isn't, but
(20:42):
it has no a lot of sack in the last
three games and allowed only one in the game before that.
I mean, what are these going to what are these
guys gonna come up like on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I'm not impressed by their offensive line either.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
I find it to be more of a concern from
a running game standpoint if I'm looking at it from
Houston's perspective, Because you know, Nico Collins has had a
plenty good enough season that passle of Iowa state wide receivers,
and you know those next three or four guys that
they have at the wide receiver position are fine. Dalton
(21:16):
Shult said a really nice year as a tight end.
So whatever their offensive line isn't And like you said,
the sack total numbers are low.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
C J.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Stroud knows how to get rid of the ball without
putting it Harm's way. It doesn't seem to be affecting
the passing game all that negatively.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
They just can't do anything.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Running the football now if they like, just if they
stay with it and they're stubborn about it and the
Steelers stop it, and CJ. Stroud's in third and nine,
third and ten of all time, Yeah, he will get
sacked eventually. Maybe it'll be a strip sack, Maybe be
a ball that's bad at the line of scrimmage and
winds up in TJ. Watt's stomach again like we saw
last week. Like that, that all could happen, but it
(21:55):
would require the Steelers defense to at least be the
second best unit on the field.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And your colleague is on with you all the time.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I'm with him once a week, Matt Williamson. He always
loves to break.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
Down the game in the four unit thing, like, what's
the best unit on the field.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Clearly it's Houston's defense.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The Steelers defense better be the second unit.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Because I think that it's just.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
A race of which one of those two offenses can
get to nineteen or twenty first, or maybe get there
and avoid overtime. I picked the whole week has been
twenty three to twenty Houston in overtime.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, that certain would not surprise me. And you're right.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
If the Steelers defense can at least keep up with
the Houston defense, it could be a long evening at
Acres Short. We're talking to Tim Benz from The Trib.
Tim brought to us by Calusi Chevrolet, serving the Pittsburgh
area for one hundred and seven years. Tim, what about
the other side of the coin in the trenches? How
will Faltanu and Dylan Cook do against their pass rush
(22:55):
duo of Anderson and Hunter.
Speaker 7 (22:58):
I think they'll do better then what the outside is anticipating.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
I think I don't know what the number is.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
But I take a good look at what the projected
sack total is for Houston and maybe go under.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
But I'm not so sure it'll be because of.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Faltanu and Cook.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
I think, as has been the case the entire season,
Aaron Rodgers is his own best pass protection. Again, it's
just how willing are they to allow this game to
look like the Cleveland game? Insofar as the best play
possible is Aaron not getting sacked, and if that results
in little dumpoffs to Warren and Gain, well that now
(23:36):
only gain three yards instead of six Okay, that's a
tough way to live, and it's a tough way to
keep doing that without a mistake. But I guess it
keeps strouding the offense off the field, and that's when
you get down to an even lower scoring game of
the one I just projected, especially if, to use your vernacular,
the Steelers defense keeps up with the Houston defense.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, I mean, I think that Dylan Cook's gonna get overwhelmed.
Then again, who knows how much chipping and extra offensive
linemen and lining the tight end up over there the
Steelers are going to do.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But but Tom earlier came up with what I would
agree with.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I would have Tana and Cook go mostly one on
one with both guys in the interest of not crippling
my offense by frankly being too scared.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
That's the biggest lesson that they should have taken away
from the second Cleveland game I hope that they did,
is that you know, if you were if he's literally
your team MVP, Like, if you're gonna leave Kenneth Gainwell
in the backfield to just chip and eat contact with
Miles Garrett or in this case, Hunter and or Anderson,
(24:47):
then you're not going to get the best production out
of your MVT, and Warren has kind of.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Used the same way.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Now, I suppose what they could do is go with
the theory of having Warren back there and kind of
use Gainwell as a slock guy.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
I saw some of that against Baltimore.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
You know, having DK back changes some of that calculus too,
But still it's the two backs and gain Well.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Excuse me, two got two backs and Metcalf that.
Speaker 7 (25:12):
Are the weapons, and as mentioned before, Stingley I think
can go a long way to Houston not having to
throw too much attention at Metcalf, and then there's a
lot of other positions in the field after that where
I like the.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
One on one matchup that Houston has on that side
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Tim, I gotta get this in there. We have breaking news.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
They're having an exhibition game, like just a couple of
local teams I think, at the Olympic ice Arena in Milan,
and the game is being delayed because there's a giant
hole in the ice.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Doesn't really bode well, does it.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
No, it doesn't. I thought you were going to say,
we have breaking news.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Mark Cuban is buying the post gazette. I thought that's
where we were going with this.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I'd actually like to see it because that would be
the first time he ever did anything for the City
Sides run his big fat yapper. Getting back to the
Steelers in Houston.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Oh wait, wait, wait, where's the hole in the ice?
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Where's the hole in the ice? Exactly?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
It looks to be in the slots, So it's not
like they could play around it.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
In the slot.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So it's not even like some weakness along.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
The wall that could be taken care of.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
It's right in the it's right in a playing area
in front of the goaltender.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
That's that's not great. That's bad news.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
That could really hurt Sid's two hundred foot game.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Let's look at let's look at how these Steelers are
going to handle the Houston passing attack because they don't
ask Straw to do a lot. But he does have
a deep arm, he can't play catch up, and he
does have Nico Collins who torched the Steelers badly. Uh
when the teams last played two years ago, how will
the Steelers handle covering Nico Collins? To me, it's a
(26:49):
no brainer to man up. Joey Porter Junior on him.
But whenever you say no brainer with the Steelers, that
can be very easily contradicted by.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Them, right because they like to think.
Speaker 7 (27:01):
I think their own brains, such as they are, I
think it's a lot easier for them to rationalize putting
Porter on Collins and just following them around because of
a body type matchup.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
I don't think they're.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
Wild about that Zay Flowers versus Joey Porter matchup. He's
a little shifty, he's a little slotty. You know, That's
not the kind of guy that they like to throw
Porter on.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
And I think they feel like.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
They're wasting size when they do that, to say nothing
of quickness and just flat out speed. And you know,
I think they like the Porter versus a guy who's
built like Porter thing. So that strikes me as Collins.
And then after that it gets interesting, like do they
put Pierre on Higgins?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And if so, then it gets weak. Then I get worried, and.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
They really have you Schultz a ton.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
The Steelers largely have been good against tight ends this year,
especially in the last two to the season, but you know,
those other two three wide receivers, they got the other
Iowa State guys and Kirk like they could be a
problem for those depth secondary guys that the Steelers have.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Tim I went through the litany of woe in the Steelers'
last five playoff games, the common thread being they trailed
very badly, very early in all of those games. Whose
fault is that? And how do they keep that from repeating?
Because while I think that, you know, those games have
nothing to do with this game in theory, I wonder
(28:33):
if it's in their DNA by now, and in particular
in the head coaches DNA.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah, whose fault is it?
Speaker 7 (28:41):
That speaks to coaching more than anything else when you
get up to that battle start.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
I also think it's talent assembly.
Speaker 7 (28:46):
I think they were outclass talent wise by Baltimore, Buffalo
and Kansas.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
City in the road games.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
And then honestly, Mark, it was the veteran guys just
not playing well against Cleveland, you know, the guys that
were just getting too old too fast, like Pouncy and
Ben and some of the older guys on defense. So
I mean, there's plenty of blame to spread around. But
I'll give you something that exacerbates the concerns about the
fast start, and it's how Houston finishes. Houston, I believe,
(29:13):
is at plus seventy eight, the best point differential in
the fourth quarter of any team in football. So the
second half comeback, you know, the second half offensive explosion,
the warming up to the process, the getting used to
the defense thing is not going to be as present
to the Steelers in the fourth quarter. And you know,
(29:35):
there's also kind of a quotion to this that's been
evident with Rogers, where he's smart enough, been there, done that,
seen it all, evaluates processes and he gets used to
things as they go.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
But it just might get late early.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Against Houston as opposed to some of the other teams
they've beaten. Also, keep in mind, this is a team
that was one in five against playoff teams. I'm talking
about the Steelers one in five against playoff teams this year,
and the one team that they beat gave them the
ball five times in New England, and Houston doesn't give
the ball to anybody. Meanwhile, Houston during their nine game
(30:08):
win streak has three wins against playoff teams, and I
believe it was four and four overall with a plus
twenty nine point differential. So none of those numbers speak
well to the Steelers' chances, which is why I'm giving
Houston a very narrow victory. The Steelers have a chance.
There's more reason for optimism than when they took Mason
Rudolph into a blizzard in Buffalo or had to go
(30:30):
into that, you know that. I don't know how you
call it, just that the witch saw that they had
to deal with getting right back into Baltimore again and
going to Kansas City. It's not like that they can
win this game. But I'm still taking Houston to win it.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Here.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I expect Rogers either to have a great game like
throw for two hundred and fifty yards and make Keith rows,
or to totally soil the bed, maybe get hurt, and
maybe if the game gets out a hand, team get
quote unquote hurt. If you know what I mean, I
don't expect much Middle. I think he'll be the reason
they win or the reason they lose.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
So that would be what like the Cleveland game and
the Charger game, then yes, yeah, I could see it.
Speaker 7 (31:14):
I could see that Houston defense just overwhelming the Steelers
offense so much that we go back to that whole
one through four ranked the units thing and the Steelers
offense is a distant fourth, and the Houston defense is
by far number one. And then whatever Houston gets, it
gets and they win in a game that stays under
twenty on the point total.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I could see it.
Speaker 7 (31:35):
This is not a matchup I want. It is for
that exact reason. Getting Metcalf back I think will help.
The improved offensive line play over the last three or
four weeks I think will also help.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
But I'll underscore the point I made before.
Speaker 7 (31:48):
The biggest pass protector of Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers,
and no one knows that better than Aaron Rodgers. And
that's I think a big reason why you saw the
Miles Garrett effect conversation that we had after Week seventeen
up in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, at least Aaron Rodgers probably won't fall through a
hole in the ice. Tim, good stuff, Enjoy the game.
We'll talk to you on the podcast Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
You don't know that Rusty.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That's Tim Benz, Im Mark madd and we got Charlie
Batch at the top of the hour and up
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