Pregame Show - Back on the Hamster Wheel, Rodgers Performance

Mark talks about the terrible performance from the Steelers last night, Tommy Radio joins in on the fun.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Mark Madden Show. Follow me on Twitter
at Mark Madden X. The notion that the offense let
down the defense. That's what bad teams do. They figure
out a way to lose. If the offense had played great,
the defense would have failed.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
That certainly happened this year. But the hamster will keep turning.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
And you will jump right back on it after they
beat Cincinnati if they do, but I think they will.
But this is just a bad, repetitive and probably toxic
situation and has a low ceiling on top of that,
And when you hear Mike tom Win and Aaron Rodgers talk,

(00:51):
you can tell they know they know. So do you,
don't You guys see that every season is the same
peaks and valleys, the occasional big win, the occasional soul
crushing loss, and it all adds up to buckus. The

(01:12):
New England Patriots are back at the top of the AFC,
after Brady, after Belichick. They're back at the top because
they made meaningful change. India is legit because the Colts
made meaningful change. The Steelers wallow in the same mediocrity

(01:34):
year after year. It's honestly not a lot of fun
to talk about I look at the Penguins making changes
and what you can already tell, it's leading to.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
The Steelers in their own way.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
The Steelers are mismanaged as badly as the Pirates.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
No, I take that back.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
The Pirates realize their organizational goals, which is profit.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
The Steelers do not recognize theirs.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
But like I said, the Steelers will beat Cincinnati, and
you'll jump right back on the hamster wheel. Boy, was
last night terrible to watch. Rogers turned into dan Orlovsky
on that safety. The Steelers drop two picks. The Steelers
were two four to eleven on third done. That's zero
for their first nine, got a couple first downs in

(02:25):
a touchdown. At garbage time, Roderick Jones was whiffing on
blocks and the whole thing the Steelers, it just isn't
going anywhere. We try to invent turning points like beating Indy,
and yeah, I got sucked in a little bit with
that one. But beating New England and Indy meant nothing

(02:46):
because it wasn't build on and like I said earlier,
New England and Indy with all the turnovers, they lost
those games more than the Steelers won them, much more
than the Steelers won them, and only one team from
the AFC North figures to make the playoffs and Baltimore won.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
So the Ravens are four and five. They've won three straights.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
They're just one game behind the Steelers and December seven
is not far off. Steelers at Baltimore a day that
will live in infamy. What a crappy weekend. The Penguins
lost twice and we'll lose every shootout they are in
all season.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Talk about that.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Later Liverpool got drilled by Man City three nil.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yikes. I am not a happy man, and as you know, I'm.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Far from a Steeler die hard, but this is so
repetitive and frustrating and never changes and goes nowhere. And
I may not love it, but I got to talk
about it, so I got to watch it, and it
is sucking the soul right out of me.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Wats the bum? Can we say that?

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yet?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
You won't?

Speaker 1 (03:58):
I will watch the bum? Metcalf's a bum. A b
and Le'Veon Bell were the toxic twins. Watt and Metcalf
moving forward will always be referred to as the big
money bozos.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I'll have t shirts at.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Some point and next year, after all this goes to
the same place it always does, which is probably nine
and eight and not a playoff win. Next year, nothing
will change. Oh, they might go get different players like
they did this year. They might get whoever their quarterback
in the future is with the first pick, their first
round pick in the draft. Maybe they decide Will Howard's

(04:36):
that guy, and they draft on defense like the Steelers
are wont to do. But in terms of how the
season starts, plays out and finishes, nothing will change, just
like nothing's changing this year because the Steelers are content
with this. The Steelers don't know what they're doing, and

(04:57):
despite that, despite being morons, the Steelers think they know better.
All that is a deadly combination. And by deadly I
don't just mean deadly, I mean deadly m fing dull.
I can't stand to watch it, I can't stand.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
To talk about it. I know where it's going, You
know where it's going. They know where it's going.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Like always, it's a one way ticket to Pellucaville and
that will not change until the coach is gone and
the GM is gone, and they won't be gone, so
it won't change one nine X.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Come on, those Steelers.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
I was trying to come up with a metaphor for
that Aaron Rodgers safety, which was clumsy and embarrassing. And
what I came up with is he looked like a
boddler's stumbling around the wet bathtub. Uh and Rogers sucked,
but he couldn't catch a break either, And when they
have so little weaponry on offense, it's hard to blame

(06:13):
him period when he plays his first bad game of
the season. I think even had he played a decent game,
they still would have had trouble winning. And you know, again,
couldn't catch a break like Calvanas in the third tip
that interception should have been caught. La didn't blintz blitz once,
not once, didn't blitz for the entirety of the game.

(06:35):
And still three sacks and good pressure because that O
line took a big step backwards.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Rogers looked old and like he didn't want to get hits.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
And maybe that's just a bad game, or maybe he's
hit a wall, or maybe he realizes the Steelers stink,
or maybe the last two things piled on top of
one another. Let's talk Steelers with Tommy Radio, Tom Baltimore. One,
are they going to catch Pittsburgh in the AFC North.
It almost feels inevitable, doesn't it. It absolutely does. My

(07:05):
question now is Mark, is that game in week eighteen,
the return trip to Pittsburgh between the Ravens and the Steelers,
is that it can even matter for Baltimore. Is themar
gonna be able to kick his feet up on the
sidelines during that game? It couldn't be one of those
not traditional games where Baltimore plays it Stabroni's because they
have whenever they can wrap up, wrapped up, and then
the Steelers win and the citizens can say, well, we always.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Flit with Baltimore, and that'll get you to nine and
eight too, right, like that'll get your coach. T's winning season,
never had a losing season. Myth will continue to live on.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
You know what I'm gonna talk about later at length
and in vomitous fashion. I didn't realize how close Toma
was to passing Chuck Knowle. He's only eleven wins away
from passing Chuck Nole for career victories as Steelers head coach.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
And you know he knows that, right, you know that's
in the back of his head too, and he sees
that on the horizon as something that he could put
in a feather in his cap.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Again, I know, I know it, and it makes me
want to cry. What went bad for Rogers? Was it
just a bad game? Because you know, if you look
at Aaron's numbers, he doesn't yet have a three hundred
yard game passing. I think he's been more opportunistic than brilliant.
Is that fair?

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think it is fair. And beyond just the eye test,
where you're right, he looked more skittish in the pocket,
didn't want to get hit in this game. The numbers
are starting to drop off too. His passer rating has
gone down in every game the past four weeks, and
it was very good against the Bengals four weeks ago.
It was like one hundred and three, but it's like
one hundred and one. Then it's in the eighties, and
it was fifty yesterday. He had a passer rating before

(08:34):
that garbage time drive of nineteen that was gonna be
the lowest of his career, and he was able to
get it to fifty because of the garbage time touchdown
to Roman Wilson.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Why has dk metcalf disappeared this season? And again last
night won half of the big money Bozos with TJ.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Watt.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
Is he just not very good?

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Did we?

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Did we just overestimate him as a wide receiver? One was?
He just like a big body whose best years were
early in his career in Seattle, And now he's gonna
kind of fade a little bit. Don't forget in Seattle
he always had Tyler Lockett with him too, who was
a very good, kind of borderline number one receiver in
his own right.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, see, that's why I hate the excuse making for
the big money bozos like TJ. Watcketts chipped in double team.
Well that happens to every elite edge. Rosher and Garrett
and Parsons are overcoming it and adapting by lining up
in different places, which watch steadfastly refuses to do, which
makes him very easy to double team. You just stick
the tight end over there, have the running back lineup

(09:29):
over there, and DK metcalf. Yeah he's getting double covered.
Yeah they don't have a number two wide. I don't care.
He's getting quarterback money deliver.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
And again I know other teams have better weapons next
to their number one receivers, but like you don't see
legitimate top tier like Jackson Smith and Jigba for example,
lighten it Up this year an Offensive Player of the
Year candidate. They just go out and they get in
Rashi Shi heat. So now he actually does have a
robin to go with. But all year before the trade deadline,
it was really just him out there. People weren't double

(09:58):
or triple teaming Jackson Smith and Jigba while he was
getting his of course they were, so I think it
might just be coming to the point where DK we
just overestimated.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
What hey, that was pretty good.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
They could win.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Donald's the real what a mistate Minnesota may But then again,
then again, I mean, I get it because he only
had the one good year, but he's clearly a late bloomer.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I also don't think McCarthy's bad yet, you know
what I mean. Like, I think JJ McCarthy's shown a
little bit of juice these past week.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
He will eventually be what they want him to. But
I also think some of their like justin Jefferson, my
age up. He's now by the time McCarthy peaks.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, like sorry, Sam, Donald would have better served the
team currently, I think. But McCarthy's got a future. I think,
as I keep.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Saying, I would have franchised Donald, but nobody franchises Nobody
no more.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
I don't get the offense, Tom.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
I feel like the tight ends were supposed to be
big weapons and they're just average. They just I mean
not even average. I mean even Mount Washington only cut
the one past at LA.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
They don't know what they're doing with the tight ends,
and I think it's such an.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
I'll make that more concise. Oppenheimer just doesn't know what
he's doing.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Period.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
It's a total indictment on him because that's what his
bread and butter is supposed to be. We went out
and got these tight ends because you're supposed to make
them all work together in the symphony. Have yet to
see it. I think against the Colts was their best,
you know game as a unit. They had ten catches
ninety five yards in a touchdown if you put all
three of those guys together. But it's just it's so
inconsistent week to week, and market looked like Darnell Washington

(11:23):
was the number one tight end. Then I see the
snap counts for this game. He was out snapped by
Johnny and Pat. He was playing the third most, so
you know, you know where that comes from. That's that's
Arthur Smith. If we do something different, they'll think I'm coaching. Absolutely,
and I hated the way they handled it.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
I can't excuse the interruption. I can't say enough how
bad the coaching is. All of them, every single one
of them. And you know who was on camera too
much last night, the mass man, Danny Smith f.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Him and furthermore, kind of along those lines. I know
you're not a huge fan of the jumbo package, but
it does work for the Steelers. They did it eight
times against the Charge, and I know that because they
did that stupid swapping of the deck chairs whenever Andrew's
Pete would come in to play left guard so they
could bump Spencer Anderson out to his jumbo package tackle
eligible spot. Just throw Pete, throw Calvin Anderson out in

(12:12):
that jumbo package tackle spot. Have Spencer Anderson played guard?

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Why have two guys in unaccustomed spots.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I know and should be the guard, Yeah right, but
I mean, I know he's played that jumbo package, but you're.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Still moving him offside.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Why displace him in the game, leave him.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Where he's playing every other snap.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Absolutely, it made no sense to me. But anyway, Pete
only had eight snaps, which tells me they only did
the jumbo package eight times. Darnold Washington was out snapped
by Pat and John Why why why would you? And
I think it's what you said. Arthur Smith was doing
the old They know that I know that I love
the jumbo, so I'm gonna give him less jumbo and
they won't know what to do with it. And the
Chargers were just like, Okay, you're just gonna be easier
to play against.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
I will say this, when they got behind, the jumbo
package becomes less amenable to trying to catch up.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Did they ever get behind enough though, where it felt like,
well they're getting blown out, Chargers kind of slow bled them.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I'm gonna be honest. When it was like even twelve three,
I feel like it's over. I felt like they were
getting blown out, albeit by a by a nine point margin.
I knew they were not gonna win that game. They
were never in danger of winning that game.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
But you know what I mean, twelve three is no
time to just abandon the running game. Well, they do
what every chance they get they do when they lead.
They were leading the Packers and they didn't run it
in the second half.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, in that Vein with the jumbo package talk, Tom
did the O line regress. I always say it's tough
to evaluate the offensive lineman from the network feed.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
I feel very comfortable saying that Broderick Jones sucked.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Oh he was terrible. And I think that a lot
of that offensive line struggled against the Chargers, not just
Broderick Jones. I think there was not a coincidence why
we saw Rogers look as skittish as we ever have
in the pocket in that game on Sunday, because he
was under duress and like.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I said, without La blitzing even once, just three guys,
And like I said, Rogers had a terrible game, but
he looked disgusted not only by his own performance but
by what was going on around him, Like he just
slings the ball to the ground to get to play
over with.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
That's when I'm like, Okay, somebody else screwed up.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, but I don't want to, you know, Sugarcoat, how
bad he was, I'm not he was a terrible player
last night, and.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Enough people saying it might have been the worst game
of his career anywhere, I think that's a little.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Worse Ones.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
But but but I get it because he was that bad.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, and recency biased. You know, it sticks in your head.
It was so awful. It reminded you of the other
number eight that used to play here at quarterback, and
he was sailing a lot of pass No, not that bad.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
I want to get I want to get a little
deeper with Rogers, and not just last night. But Tom
is impossible. I've overrated how he's playing up till now.
You know, like I said, more opportunistic than than brilliant,
and like I said, he did look frustrated last night,
more than we've seen him. And that could snowball because
it has in the past with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
I guess you might have overestimated how he's played so far.
But he's still my favorite steal and he still is
the morning. He's still their MVP too, Like he's still
the main reason why they are five and four, still
have that very slim now one game lead in the division.
It was his really only truly awful game as a Steeler.

(15:18):
But you have to wonder if he's just going to
start fading down the stretch with the statistics starting to
drop and kind of the eye test showing that he's
going to injured air quotes gets hit more. Yeah, Oh,
he clearly didn't want to get hit. Oh you're talking
about like the dangerfield elbow injury. Like I'm just done
with this, I want out.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh good lord, what has this buffoon done?

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Now? And weird stuff with Rogers, like the safety was bizarre.
He's in the end zone, he's out of the end zone.
It's like he was dancing in the hokey poked wedding.
And at one point this was uh, Rogers got buried
on Get Up this Morning on ESPN. Yes, and they
pointed out that he turned his back on the play once,
like Rex Ryan the foot fetish guy said, I've never

(15:58):
seen a quarterback turn his back onto play.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, he was so uncharacteristic. I don't know why he
was so rattled last game in California. Maybe he's from California.
I don't know why that would rattle him though, But
it was just a shockingly uncharacteristic game from Rogers. Maybe
he didn't have enough smelling salts, maybe they didn't get
enough on the team playing.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
It's the first time he looked like he shouldn't have
stuck around.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yes, that said, it's one game, but like guy.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
There were a bunch of sound bites where, you know,
people say he should hang it up there unless Sawan
McCoy say yeah, yeah, yeah, But I.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Think that's a little severe for one game.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Now, if you want to say he's forty one and
it won't get better, that I obviously agree with.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
No, I don't think it will get better, and he
should really look long and hard about this potentially being
his last season.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, that's the whole thing about this team, Tom, bunch
of old guys. They're not going to get better. You
think they're going to rally and improve in the second
half of the season, They're just going to get older
and tired.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Nope, they're going to fade. And that's why I think
there is real worry that Rogers won't be awful like
he was on Sunday night moving forward every game, but
that he won't, you know, have as many moments of
brilliance that he has had in the games previous to
last night.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
A little later on we'll talk some Penguins, but I
just want to throw out there. Sergei Morrishoff, the Russian kid,
made his debut and goal let In won soft goal
lost three to the Penguins played well over the weekend,
probably deserved better than the one point they got. But
to me, the big news from PPG paint Serenia yesterday
a second straight sellout crowd. I never saw that. I

(17:23):
thought it would be their lowest crowd of the year.
Being on an NFL Sunday two pm, the Steelers playing
later that night. You know what it tells me. The
Penguins are on the way back on the ice and
in your minds. And if they win a playoff series
before the Steelers win a playoff game, oh god, it
will be more glorious than d Day one oh five nine.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
The X one O five nine.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
The X as your shot at X drug Cash.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
See what I did there, thirteen times a day, nine
am through nine pm.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
The X will give you the keyword at the top
of every hour.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Enter it at wxdx dot com and you could win
one thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
With that much money, you could.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Buy like ten coffees. You know what I was homeschool.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
I'm not good at mouth. Listen all day for your
chance and some ex to a cash on one fine
the X.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
What's that sound? That's the sound of downy unstoppable sind
Beads Going into Your Washington, Paul.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
McCartney tomorrow at PPG. I'm going and I'm in the minority.
But I've always considered McCartney's work after the Beatles, with
Wings and his solo catalog, I consider that superior to
what he did with the Beatles Jet, which you just
heard a little bit of coming up Junior's Farm Live

(18:51):
and Let Die Rock Show.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Perfectly crafted pop songs.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Not many better songwriters and producers than Paul McCartney. He
just knows how to make a song max out and
be as good as it can be. Here's some news
that Steeler fans won't like on top of last night's debacle.
Joe Burrow, who was supposed to be out till December
with turf toe practice today. Now how soon he'll return,

(19:21):
I don't know. But the Bengals are only three and six. Obviously,
Flacco's gonna start this coming Sunday when the Bengals visit Pittsburgh,
but he has a pretty good track record.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Against the hypocsycloid.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
What if the Bengals beat the Steelers to sweep the
series and get that tiebreaker and suddenly they're four and
six and right behind the Steelers, and of course the
Ravens are figured in there. It's not out of the
realm of possibility. The Steelers go from having a stranglehold
or thought to be on the AFC Nord title and

(20:00):
finishing third in the division, and Cincinnati's not yet given
up hope because they still play the Ravens twice.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Uh. Follow me on Twitter at Mark Madden x Tom.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
What did you make of the defensive performance? It said
they played great and that the offense let him down.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as as say
they played great, they dropped a couple interceptions they did
get How about this for a weird number. They got
five sacks, but for only twenty one yards, and lot
of course was invisible until garbage.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Time when he got his only sack.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
There was just no splash from the Steelers defense. And
you'll push back if you're playing Devil's advocate and say, well,
they got five sacks splash.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Even the splash wasn't very wet.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
The five sacks only twenty one yards total losses, and
back's my theory that sacks except on third dot aren't
very meaningful.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
No, they were pencil dives. We're talking burgundy cannonballs into
the pool. That's what you need. That's the kind of
splash that you want. And the sacks were just so unimpactful.
I actually think Herbert and Harbaugh probably sat back at
one point this week and Herbert was just like, dude,
I'll take five or six sacks. It's not a big deal.
I'm a tough guy. I'll stick it out. I know

(21:15):
the line's going to be having a problem. Let's not
have the worry of me getting hit five or six times,
you know, derail our entire game plan. Because they just
weren't worried about it. It didn't knock the Chargers off
their game one second. Every time Herbert got hit. Who
was good and bad on defense?

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Heismith actually had another good game on top of being
AFC Defensive Player of the Week last week.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
He had a couple more sacks. I'll tell you a
guy who was off the Raider that was pretty good
for me. It was James Pierre. I said the same
thing had to come in serve Eachles kind of flashback
into his pan. But Pierre was pretty good. How about
Eckles on the lad McConkey touchdown in the slot. I mean,
Eckles was supposed to be a slot guy. Oh my god,
he got cooked so badly on that play.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Well, we probably overestimated Eccles, you know, because he played
so good initially. But he is a backup and peripheral
in this league for a good reason. And like like
I just said about about you know, flashing back into
your pen, I think Eckles is doing that as well.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
So James Pierre was pretty impressive, had a couple of
passes defense.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, but the more he plays good, the closer he
is to play in bad as well, probably, but at
least this week.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Boy, that Bengals this week, What a terrible matchup for
the Steelers with those guys on the outside of those receivers.
And Joey Porter Junior is banged up now too, so
if he's hurt, they're gonna have to pull Ramsey from safety,
aren't they. They're gonna have to put Ramsey on Chase again.
They're gonna try to do that.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
It'll be great. Is there a great team in the AFC?
There's some good ones, but not even that good. I mean,
Buffalo looked like crap. I mean like like like New
England and Indy look like the best teams, but I
have no faith in them to make a playoff run.
I'm sure Steeler fans are taking solace in that thinking
the conference is wide open and it is just not

(22:54):
for them.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
It's a pretty big statement for the Patriots to go
down to Tampa and get that win in a pretty
good fashion. Baker played well, too, RAI, that's great, believably good.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
They called him on Get Up this Morning, a top
five quarterback in the league, and right this second, right
this second, in terms of the way this year quarterbacks
are performing, it's hard to argue.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Yeah, And Baker played great two seventy three yards, three touchdowns,
like it was a worthy foe for the Patriots. It
was a tough game and they they handled them, So
that was a big statement. I don't believe in them
just yet. Is it weird to say that the Ravens
are kind of coming up on the outside, like I'm
kind of like, look out for them, not just in
the AFC North, but in the AFC overall.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Do you agree that only one team's going to make
the playoffs from the AFC North, just the division winner?

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, I think the Steelers losing to the Chargers went
a long way in that because if the Steelers were
able to knock the Chargers back a peg and kind
of get them right in the wrong direction, that would
help with the plan B and maybe securing a wild
card if the Ravens do catch it.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Buffalo's I don't want to say done, but maybe their
windows closed in terms of winning a Super Bowl. It
looked terrible, how miserable? Well, Josh Allen, I mean you can't.
I mean, he's still and he didn't have a great game,
but it's the rest of their team and their defense. God,
it's it's just bad. They don't have any stars.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
Josh Allen's it and James Cooks pretty good too, but
they don't have any star power on that team with Buffalo.
How maddening will it be for those fans, and they
are a haunted fan base to see this window come
and go, and then the Patriots window open up again
with their chance to win. When you didn't get anything out.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Of yours, f f the Bills fans, there's only two
good things about Buffalo be fun weck and a Duff's
wings and anchor bar wings.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
But that just wings. Because they did invent him there.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
I give credit and uh and Jilbert Perrot when he
played there from the Sabers.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
All right, Wolf, of course, but Wolf left Buffalo disowned
Yeah he No, he didn't disown Buffalo.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Okay, we'll put Wolf at the top of the list
because we love Wolf and certainly miss Wolf. Now, of
all the teams in the AFC playoff picture, which one
would you favor the Steelers to beat in the playoff game?

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Any of them?

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Jacksonville And I can say that as a technicality because
they're the seventh seed right now, but they're falling out fast.
But I put the Steelers ahead of jackson Could they
beat New England again? No, it was a little fluky
then beating New England the first time.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Could they beat Indy again? I don't think so. You
know what Indy like.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Even though they benefited from the six turnovers against Indy,
the Steelers played better in that game. The Steelers played
bad against thew England and England just gave the game away.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
I mean, there's no way they'd be welcoming Indy again
to Pittsburgh. Could be this hypothetic would play out, They'd
go to Indy Jonathan Taylor ran for two hundred and
forty four yards yesterday. It was a kind of a
fluke what the Steelers were able to do to him.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, that the long what was an eighty seven yard touchdown?

Speaker 3 (25:44):
He three touchdowns, Like he was pissed off because he
only had forty five yards the week prior.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, he was galloping on that.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
When he got the seam, you could see like five
or six yards into the run.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
He was going all the way.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
So I'd say no to them. You know, it was
a team that I would maybe think the Steelers could
have a chance against his Denver because that offense is
really bad too.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
If the Steelers played Denver in a playoff game, it
would be a regrettable watch. It'd be just to be like,
you know, ten to seven at the end of three quarters, yes,
maybe ten seven, yeah, ten seven period. You know, this
is a cliched Hackney debate. Taylor should be MVP. He's
just not going to get it because he's a running back.
It's become a quarterback award. Taylor is the most Valuable Player.

(26:26):
Not for Taylor.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Yesterday.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
They don't only lose in Berlin to the Falcons Falcus,
they would have lost handily. Yeah, they wouldn't be eight
and two without him. He's the main reason why Daniel
Jones is as good as he is, because look, Taylor
played well and Daniel Jones all of a sudden looked
good again.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
It's a great year to do it too, right, because
there's been good quarterbacks Drake may Sam, Darnold Baker. Mayfield's
had a case Patrick Mahomes, but like no quarterbacks running
away with an MVP race right now, I would do it.
I would give it to Taylor. How about the German
fans were singing country roads?

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Did you see that?

Speaker 5 (26:56):
Now?

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I miss that?

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, that's a soccer thing.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
I think either either either either Bayern Munich or Bayer Leverkusen,
you know, the two of the big teams, or maybe Dortmund.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
I forget, maybe all of them.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
I know that's a very popular thing to sing at
the football matches, their country roads.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
I do not know why Big John Denver fans, Big
West Virginia fans.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
I think they just sing it one oh five nine
y X.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
It's the Woody Show tomorrow morning from six till ten.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Whoa you got on day Wednesday?

Speaker 4 (27:23):
Maybe on?

Speaker 3 (27:26):
This report is sponsored by McVeigh plumbing, heating and cooling.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Don't overpay.

Speaker 5 (27:31):
Call McVeigh Claudie with a few scattered snowshowers today High
End thirty seven, partly to.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
Most Verman on one oh five nine The X.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
This segment brought to us by our good friends at Shandorovi,
Shandorovitch and Fisherman, the personal injury experts. They got your back,
not your wallet. You know, when Tomlin does interviews after
the Steelers lose, especially when they lose in embarrassing fashion
like last night, he really does turn into Black Trump.
Here's Tomlin taking a query about how Rogers.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Played last night. How would you okay?

Speaker 1 (28:13):
If I'm the guy he fires that back at, I
would say I thought he sucked. Reminds me of stripes.
What do you think of that winger? I think it sucks.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Winger. Perhaps this time you and me had a chat.
Step into my office.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Uh, Tomin is supposed to be this great motivator, but
last night the Steelers came out flatter than to play
to piss.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
And that happens a lot.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
It comes back to nobody being able to define what
supposedly makes Tomlin a good coach.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
What's supposed to be. His big strength is motivation.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
And it so often fails him. Tom, what have we
got for today's trifectum?

Speaker 3 (29:00):
For that triffecta today? Mark, there are a lot of
people that are saying the offense let the Steelers defense
down yesterday. So here's three ways the Steelers defense let
the team down yesterday. Number three, their stars were invisible,
Cam Hayward, Jalen Ramsey, TJ. Watt might as well have
taken the night off. They were invisible.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Ramsey was bad and safety.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
It kind of calmed me down at the Rod Woodson,
you know, switching positions talk.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Cam Bat had down a couple of balls, So did it? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (29:24):
But I mean I knew a little bit more from Cam. Right,
he's never going to get those incentives that he has
if he's not going to start getting sacks, Mark.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
He's just not going to get those okie dope incentives.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Number Two, they couldn't get off the damn field and
this is just such a problem for them. They got
dominated in time of possession. Now the offense has a
lot to do with that too. They keep going three
and out, but the defense doesn't force enough three and outs,
and we talked about when the sacks, like they get
a sack on second down, it's third and fifteen. Herbert
doesn't even bat an eye at that.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Well, the Steelers ranked number one in three and outs
among NFL teams, and I think it was forty three
point eight percent. Oh and I don't think that percentage.
Put it this way. I think there's still a top
heap or at the bottom of the dung pile, depending
on how you want to phrase it. But yeah, it
They came out and went three and out in their
first possession and it kind of set the oh here

(30:10):
we go again vibe.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
Going yes now. The number one way the Steelers defense
let down the team, though, was the takeaway department, not
getting a single takeaway justin Herbert had thrown eight interceptions
heading into the game. The Chargers have given it away
twelve times and you couldn't come up with one. And
you just don't win if you don't do that.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
What after the game was talking about how we can't
rely on takeaways, were just going to play better, to
which the follow up there would have been as long
as we're doing follow ups like the Tom wil think, okay, well,
you were invisible. What happened there because takeaway sacks. I mean,
you got the garbage timeline, but you really didn't do
nothing to boy. I hate saying this again and again.
Actually I kind of like to, but that contact extension

(30:48):
to him is a big mistake. They should have made
him play out the last year then franchised them. And
I bet if they had done that, they wouldn't even
want to franchise him next year and would have given
him a take it or leave it offer.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
But then he would have laughed.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
All the Steeler fans out there with number ninety jerseys
would have cried.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
What he said in theory is correct. You can't live
and die based on the takeaway. Except this is exactly
how the Steelers defense has lived and died over the
past few years. Is if they don't get takeaways, it
looks real bad. This isn't a new thing where opposing
quarterbacks can throw on the Steelers defense, or the Steelers
defense gives up a lot of yardage. They've always done that.
They've just gotten the clutch sack out of field goal

(31:26):
range on third down, They've gotten the clutch interception in
the red zone. And when they don't, it looks really ugly,
So I get what he's saying, like you gotta be
you know, more traditional and like getting three and outs
and forcing the punt. But that's just not your mo
and hasn't been for years. You know, you accidentally invoked
the McCartney song. I did it completely on accident.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Die in this ever changing world in which you're living
makes you give in and cry, which I just about
was at the end of the first quarter last night.
Up you heard what I said to open the segment.
Isn't it incredible when this guy's supposed to be a motivator,
Tom Win, that they come out so flat so often

(32:08):
and not least being zero to three on primetime TV
games this year.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah, and that's always been the problem when it comes
to their playoff games recently, right, is they just come
out and get their doors blown off like they weren't ready,
And you question how a team couldn't be motivated properly
to play in a playoff game, But it just keeps
happening over and over again. And now you have these
kind of examples of primetime games where they're just they
come out so flat, they have no fight, and don't

(32:36):
they seem like they're quitting a lot easier this year
than in year's pass Like once that snowball really starts
to roll downhill, Like after the Kashawn Williams muff punt,
I feel like they were who cares pack it up.
We're going home.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
When Tom win wraps up his career whenever that is.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
And I'm on record as saying and I read it
right now, he will never win another playoff game.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
TJ. Watt will ever win a playoff game, period. But TJ. Watt,
I mean, the numbers are overwhelming.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
You look at his career and he's a Hall of Fame,
albeit he'll be, as I've discussed, a very odd Hall
of Famer one without a playoff win. But Tomlin, if
you look at what his career will wind up as
in a vacuum, people should wonder what all the fuss
was about. He shouldn't get in the Hall of Fame.
But again, and this is a dicey thing to say,
so I'm tiptoeing. His status is the NFL's pre eminent

(33:20):
black coach keeps him from being criticized, and he will
absolutely get in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
And again to reiterate as.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Well, that's not why the Steelers never fire and they
just don't fire the coach. But again, and I'm repeating
myself a lot about Tomlin, that's because they won't fire
him in the same flaws keep being exposed. Everybody says
he's a good coach, Nobody can tell me why. And
the motivator thing, the fact that he just obviously isn't
the consistency of how flat they come out. I'm not consistently,

(33:50):
you know what I mean, more often than they should
for a master motivator.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
It all drives me nuts time.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Well, that I think was the reason that people could
give in years past was the motivation thing, and I
think it did have his legs at some point, but
it just has gone so far away from being a
strength of his it's a weakness now. I just don't
think guys respond even though that I think.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
I think he's been there so long and even the
guys who you know, haven't been with him for that
time because you know, there's always a big roster turnover.
But I think even havn't seen him on TV. They've
just turn it all. But yeah, it like he never
changes his routine. Well, put it this way, he doesn't
in public. I dot very much that he does in private,
because a lot of why he's as respected as he

(34:31):
is is the performance art of his talking.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
And I think the guys that have been there for
a while, the Watts and the Haywards, you know, I
wonder if they kind of get this sense of it
getting old, almost subconsciously, like they think out loud, like
I love coach t He's a great motivator, but it
just isn't resonating with them like it used to.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
I think kJ Watch has said a standard for himself.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
I think he should only talk to the media after
he gets three sacks in the game, which means we
would never hear from him again.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
One O five Now it's.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Your chance to win. One thousand dollars just entered this nation.