October 10, 2023 • 24 mins
Tom and Labs discuss the win over Baltimore and then answer this week’s questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and Answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Labs a week ago today, the sky was falling when
we were recording this podcast. Now Steelers are in first place,
so all is well. This is exactly as the team
drew up their first five games of the season, and
you're headed into the bias King of the North.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
How could it get any better?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, it could get better this way. The sky is
now falling in Baltimore. And you know I found this
on the internet, on the interweb, and so you know
it's true. But I'm just going to read you this paragraph. Okay,
here we go. There aren't enough fingers and toes to
(00:47):
point out the problems. Coaches keep making bad decisions. Receivers
can't catch or stay healthy. The quarterback melts down under pressure.
Offensive linemen can't pass block, the defense can't come up
with Keith third down stops in crunch Time's unfamiliar. That
was in That was in Monday's Baltimore Sun, written about
(01:11):
the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
How tasty those words go down right now?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
But I mean, just when you think, just when you
think the sky is falling in Pittsburgh. I mean, you know,
it's it's it's there's a lot of NFL cities where
it's not exactly sunny and clear either. So you know,
take carts Steelers fans, you know the other team has
teams have problems too.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I will say this from the game as well, it
was very nice to have the quarterback remind you, you know,
despite his struggles in the first five games of the season,
he still has that just clutch factor about him. Labs
and that last drive again against the Ravens. I mean,
if you're a Baltimore fan, that's another part of it.
It's like, gosh, this quarterback in Pittsburgh that's taken over
for the quarterback that tortured us forever.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
He's kind of torturing us right now. Early in his career.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, in his and Kenny Pickett's young career,
he does have two fourth quarter game winning drives against
the Races. Once last last January. I think it was
his eleventh career start Sunday. I think these numbers are right.
I haven't like counted them up lately. Seventeenth career start,
(02:21):
so you know, I mean he does. I'm not going
to compare him to the guy he replaced, because to me,
that's not unfair, that's not fair. But yeah, he does
have some things that you look for in a young quarterback, uh,
and he does. He is missing receivers and sometimes I
think he builds out of the pocket too quick. But
(02:45):
you do like some of the intangibles that he has shown.
He was not going to not play against the Ravens,
and I can't imagine that's a whole lot of fun,
as physical as those games are, if you have a
bum knee. So you know, again, a lot of things
to like about Pickett, a lot of things he's got
(03:05):
to work on and get better at doing. But I
do think that, you know, the raw materials are there.
I think for you know, a successful career. I'm not
going to make you know too many wild predictions. Beyond that, Let's.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Get to our questions for this week's edition of Asked
and Answered. In Our first one comes from David Hundert
from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In the past, when the offense doesn't
seem to be on the same page, they have fallen
back on the up tempo, no huddle offense. Why does
it seem that the team is reluctant to go there
this season.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, you know, I you know, we were just talking
about Kenny Pickett and the guy he replaced. You know,
the guy he replaced, I was really good at that,
Ben Roethlisberger. You know, I think no huddle was a
much more feasible alternative when you have approven veteran quarterback
(04:03):
like Ben running it. You know, Ben was able to
call on years and years of experience in the NFL
in games in crunch time, you know where he could
handle no huddle, hurry up for segments, you know, for
not just a possession or you know, two minute at
(04:26):
the end of the half or at the end of
the game. He could run it as an offense. I
think that's a little too much to be asking pick
it to do right now, because, as I said, you know,
as they're watching him, as we're watching him, over the
course of this season, he is there are some instances
(04:46):
where guys are open and he's not getting them the ball.
He's not delivering it on time necessarily. You know, sometimes
it almost seems as though he's playing the style that
cost Mitch Trubisky the starting job at the start of
last season. You know, squeezing the ball too tight, overly
(05:10):
concerned about making a mistake as opposed to just you know,
letting it come to you. And you know, so I
don't think you want to give him too much too quickly.
And so we saw a little bit of it more
against the Ravens. You know, they use some tempo a
little bit after some first times to try and get
(05:32):
it get things going. But while I think you can
do that in certain situations in small doses, I don't
think you want to go to no huddle hurry up
for large sections of the game like you were able
to do when Ben was here.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, so we won't be hearing some Kenny Pickett, Peyton
manning omahas anytime soon in your estimation.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well, I mean he can you know, he could call
Omaha after they break the huddle with you know, if
that's progress, that's the way, Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Carter Nielsen from Schleswig, Iowa.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
When was the last time the Steelers played outside the
US and what was the final score?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Excuse me? It was September twenty ninth, twenty thirteen. The
Steelers played the Vikings in Wembley Stadium in London. That
was the fourth game of the twenty thirteen regular season,
the Vikings won thirty four to twenty seven. Ten years
I had fun there too, say, I liked London.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You think that trip might be looming a little bit
for the Steelers. They're trying to get as many teams
over there as they can, and there's more than there's
more games now per year than there was back then.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, really, I do think
and this is just my thought. I don't know anything
about this that makes me say this, but I would
think the Steelers next regular season game outside the United
States will be in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Something to keep an eye on for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Keith Grant from Memphis, Tennessee, what's the deal with Mason Rudolph?
To be honest, I thought he had a better preseason
than Mitch Trubisky. Why is he not a coveted backup?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know, I got to gently disagree with Keith on
the evaluation of Mason Rudolph versus Mitch Trubisky during the preseason.
And here's why the bulk of Mason Rudolph's playing time
in the preseason came against you know, with the bottom
(07:36):
guys on the depth chart, and against the bottom guys
on the opposing team's depth chart. And you know, for
a quarterback with as much experience as Mason Rudolph has,
you expect him to be able to do well against
the other team's bottom feeders. You know, at that point
of a game, things are very vanilla, both on offense
(07:58):
and defense. Coaches are trying to evaluate, you know, the
guys on the field more than they're trying to, you know,
try to win the game or do the things that
exploit the opposing team. So there's that, you know. The
other thing I think is, you know, I do believe
that the genesis behind Keith's question is he's looking for
(08:21):
a trade. You know, I don't know what you could
get for Mason Rudolph. Now that the regular season has begun,
he only has one year on his contract, He will
become an unrestricted free agent in next March. Ah and
the Steelers kind of value him as their number three quarterbacks.
So unless it would be a you know, a godfather offer,
(08:44):
as I refer to what you know, one you can't refuse,
like the Chase Claypool offer second round pick from a
bad team like the Bears. Uh. You know, I just
don't know what it's worth. You know, you want you
want the security of having a third quarterback on your
roster with NFL regular season starting experience and who is
(09:07):
familiar with your offense and your personnel. So unless something
like that happens, I kind of expect to stealers just
to hold on to him through the rest of this season.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Ramiro Enriquez from rich Grove, California asks, they sure have
been giving Mac Canada a whole lot of airtime on
televised games.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I don't see that in any other game. Why do
you think the networks do that?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Hey, networks are in the entertainment business, creating drama business,
however you want to phrase it, and you know they
have their pulse on you know what's going on here
with the NFL team, and certainly you know, I'm sure
that's good television for whatever network it is, CBS, VOX,
(09:57):
NFL network, I'm sure they'll jump on that bandwagon to.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I'm surprised that, you know, with the new streaming age,
they didn't just have a Matt Canada ISOCAM the entire
ye could go to.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I think it was actually toned down. Ramiros from what
it could have been.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So you know, again, I just think that that's that's
what that is. You know, because when you're at Akroscher Stadium,
they have designations of you know, where the owner's box
is as an example, So if they want to know
where Art Rooney the second is watching the game, they
(10:33):
can find it easy because as I said, there there's
a there's something that they put up for the for
the TV cameras to know where they are, you know,
where the coaches booths are. And they do it for
both teams too, So it's not like you know they're
picking on the Steelers or isolating on them or anything,
but you know, they're looking for reactions. They're looking for
(10:56):
easy uh commentary for the guys in the book, you
know that kind of thing. And let me just since
this question came up, you know this, this whole thing
about Matt Canada, you know, not cheering or clapping or
high fiving when uh can you pick it through the
(11:16):
touchdown past the pickens. I mean, I don't know if
I've ever heard anything as stupid as that in my
life recent life. Let me say that, because I'm an
old man, you'd a lot of stupid, But I mean well,
but I mean, hey, I've I've spent thirty five years
watching Steelers games in press boxes, right, and you know
(11:37):
it's not a it's not a place where you cheer,
you know. I mean, if if there was a camera
on me, uh in Tampa for Super Bowl forty three,
when Harrison went intercepted that pass and ran one hundred
yards for a touchdown, I did not react. You're not
supposed to. That's considered unprofessional. And so you know, my
(12:01):
I might have popped a vein in my neck or
something with the suspense of it, but that's you just
you just sit there and watch. So you know, all
of this social media stuff about Canada being upset about
it because it wasn't his play call, or you know,
all of these conspiracy theories, and you know, I look,
(12:27):
I get it that the offense isn't performing to the
level or to the to a standard that it needs
to perform to. I get it, Okay, And he's the coordinator,
and so he comes in line for criticism. I get
all that too, But you know, let's keep it, you know,
legitimate criticism instead of trying to make stuff up to
make the guy look bad or look foolish, you know.
(12:50):
It's that to me is just I don't know, it
just rubs me the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Two things. First of all, the wide receiver on that play.
George Pickens said in his post game that was the
play that was called in the huddle when they broke
the huddle.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So all the.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Internet sleuths trying to pick up on Kenny maybe changing
the protection around, you know, he wasn't exactly changing the
entire play. And the second thing, as far as Canada's
reaction labs, I mean, you got to.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Think he's doing the calculus on what's next. I mean,
he's always looking forward, like great that play hit, but
like how do I make sure what am I going for?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Two?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like he's always looking forward. There's no time to really
celebrate and live in the past, especially in a game
that close.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Right, And there's nothing wrong with the quarterback change and
the protection. Once he sees what the defense is doing,
that's his job. So yeah, like I said, I mean,
there are things to criticize the coordinator about based on
the way the unit is playing. I get that, but
you know, as I said, keep it real, you know,
don't make stuff up.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Robert Catone from Pickerington, Ohio. Coaching the Steelers always seems
to have been a great job to have when they
do well. What assistant coaches held their jobs the longest?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Okay, this is another one of those all time franchise
look back questions, and I'm gonna I'm gonna come clean.
Steelers have had a lot of assistant coaches, and I
was not about to go through the entire roster and
figure out who coached the longest. I did look, you know,
(14:25):
among the recent seasons, and I came up with a
few names. Dick Hoke. Of course, I gotta believe, even
without researching every year, he's got the longest tenure. I
mean he started in nineteen seventy two. He retired after
the two thousand and six season. Yeah, that's a significant career.
(14:52):
John Mitchell, he wasn't far behind Dick Hoke. He started
in nineteen ninety four. His he his career ended with
his retirement after the twenty twenty two season. Dick lebou
two different tenures with the team. The first one was
nineteen ninety two to through nineteen ninety six, and then
(15:15):
he came back and coached from two thousand and four
through twenty fourteen. And then here's a you know a name,
a little bit under the radar, James Daniel, coach Steelers
tight ends from two thousand and four through twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Ed Strevig from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I was surprised that part
of your answer to a previous question about the sixty
three to seven win in nineteen fifty two over the
New York Giants included the fact we had seven interceptions
in the game. I was surprised that teams threw that
many times back then. How many times did they throw?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Okay? In that game? The Steelers beat the New York Giants,
which remains the most point sport, most point scored in
a game in franchise history. The Giants quarterbacks combined eleven
of thirty nine. They threw attempt at thirty nine passes,
(16:11):
one hundred and seventy seven yards, one touchdown, and seven interceptions.
Steelers quarterbacks completed fifteen to thirty one. So that's a
lot of attempts to three hundred and fifteen yards, five
touchdowns and three interceptions. You know, just as a little side,
not one of the Giants quarterbacks that day. You may
have heard of him. His name is Tom Landry. He
(16:34):
also played defensive back, you know, nineteen fifty two played
some guys played both ways. The Giants had some injury
issues and so they were, you know, kind of scrambling
a little bit. But in that game, Landry threw four
of the Giants interceptions, four of their seven, and he
had two of the five interceptions or excuse me, three
(16:59):
interceptions that the Giants got from the Steelers quarterbacks. So
I wonder if that that has to be some kind
of record.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Only a net negative of two too, So I mean,
good job from Landry for cleaning up his stat line
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, well, there you know again. Stats of the weird.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Dave Tomorrow from Ansonia, Connecticut in a recent asked and answered,
there was a question about players pay when they get injured.
My question is do they get paid if they get
injured outside of work, say a car accident, a fall.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Okay, There's something the NFL has. It's called the NFI list.
It stands for non Football injury okay, and the non
Football Injury List is used for players who suffered injuries
or ailments outside of NFL activities. This is from NFL
dot com, so I'm giving you their specific language. This
(17:54):
can range from a player injuring its wrist when he
fell off a bike on vacation to players who sustained
ACL injuries in college. You could put NFI is similar
to PUP, meaning that with PUP is physically unable to perform.
If you have a player on NFI, if you have
(18:18):
him first on the fifty three men roster, it's the
same thing as PUP. If you have a PUP player
and have him on the initial fifty three men roster,
then you can bring him back after four regular season games. Okay,
But unlike PUP, a player on NFL, I excuse me,
(18:40):
NFI is not entitled to be paid. So you know,
usually though there is some arrangement made between the play
of the team and the player based on what the
non football injury list is. You know, if it had
something to do with you know, conduct unbecoming, you know,
(19:02):
whatever that might be, then sometimes teams don't pay you
pay him, but you know, then there's you know, there's
also arbitration, and you know, the union gets involved, and
I mean there's all kind of legally is involved in
all of that. But that's pretty much the vehicle that
teams can use for players who get injured outside of work.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And our final question today comes from Ben Finley from Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Is TJ. Watt in contention for best Steelers defender of
all time? What are his odds for being voted for
being voted? As my screen went down, for being voted
Defensive Player of the Year this year.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I thought you were emphasizing the word voted.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, you know, I tried to scramble.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
You know, Hey, t J. Watt's a great player. He's
having a great year. But again, this is one of
those all on franchise history questions. The Steelers have ten
defensive players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame already,
right now, Okay, I'll just give you their names in
reverse chronicle chronological order of their induction. See if you
(20:17):
recognize any of these names. Donnie Schell, Troy Polamolo, Kevin Green,
Rod Woodson, Jack Butler, Jack Lambert mel Blunt, Jack am
Joe Green, and Ernie Stautner. Okay, just to refresh everyone's memory,
Joe Green was voted Defensive Rookive Year in nineteen sixty
(20:39):
nine and then Defensive Player of the Year twice in
nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy four. Okay, and let's
just remember, you know, nineteen seventy four was the Steelers
first Super Bowl. Okay. One of the key moves that
was made towards the end of that regular season was
(20:59):
the introduction of a defensive front that came to be
known as the Stunt four three and then the Stunt
four to three. Joe Green lined up kind of on
an angle in the gap between the center and a guard,
and he was so quick and so powerful that it
just exploded other teams attempts to run the football. And
(21:21):
in nineteen seventy four that was a huge part of
good team's offenses. Okay, So in the playoffs that year,
Stunt four to three the Steelers played. In the first round,
they played Buffalo, they held Oj Simpson of forty nine
yards rushing. In the AFC Championship Game, they played the Raiders.
(21:42):
The Raiders managed twenty one yards rushing on twenty one attempts.
And then in the Super Bowl the Vikings, Chuck Foreman,
who's in the Hall of Fame, rushed for twenty one
yards on seventeen attempts. Okay, and that was because you know,
the Vikings again, they had a all pro center mctinglehoff.
(22:04):
The Raiders had an all pro center Jim Otto. Nobody
can handle Joe Green. Okay, So again, t J. Watt
is a great player. I think he has a very
good chance if he continues to win a second Defensive
Player of the Year award, and that would put him
in very elite company, not only among all NFL players,
(22:28):
but certainly, you know, among the Steelers, because only Joe
Green has won two Defensive Player of the Year awards.
But you know, let's can we pump the brakes just
a little bit calling him the best defender Steelers defender
of all time? You know, Joe Green is the most
(22:50):
important player in the history of the Steelers franchise. No
one can can convince me otherwise. And as much as
I like and respect t. J. Watt, let's hold off
on that until his career is over and then maybe
we can get some sort of realistic evaluation of where
he might stand in that category.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
As don't you know, it's all about getting to the
finish line right away nowadays, I mean waiting for the
career to be over.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I mean, who are you going.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Sorry, sorry, I lost my head.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Well, my final question is have you gassed up the
Labriola private jet for the bye week or are you
just going to hang out at home.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Eat some bad food, drink some beers and watch football.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Both. No. Uh, you know, I'll be honest with you.
I like the enjoying the bye week. You know, I
was checking the games on TV. The best game might
be nine point thirty on Sunday for me, the Ravens
(23:52):
against the Titans.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
The early morning game in London.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, yeah, the early morning game. Yeah, I might have
to DVR it and then you know, when I roll
out of bed finally try and catch up. But you know,
some of the other games don't really don't really excite me.
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I'll tell you want to keep your eye on at
one o'clock window. Just keep an eye on Bengals in Seattle.
Mister Burrow looked a little bit better last week, tougher
competition this week.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'm gonna be curious to see how he looks.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, Miss mister Chase looked pretty good too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
All right, So enjoy the bye week. Everybody out there.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Watch some football without the stresses of the Steelers weighing
on you and LABS and I will be back again
next week. Get your questions into LABS now if you
want him heard on a future episode before Bob Labriola.
I'm Tom Oppraman and this has been asked and answered
This is asked and Answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Labs a week ago today, the sky was falling when
we were recording this podcast. Now Steelers are in first place,
so all is well. This is exactly as the team
drew up their first five games of the season, and
you're headed into the bias King of the North.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
How could it get any better?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, it could get better this way. The sky is
now falling in Baltimore. And you know I found this
on the internet, on the interweb, and so you know
it's true. But I'm just going to read you this paragraph. Okay,
here we go. There aren't enough fingers and toes to
(00:47):
point out the problems. Coaches keep making bad decisions. Receivers
can't catch or stay healthy. The quarterback melts down under pressure.
Offensive linemen can't pass block, the defense can't come up
with Keith third down stops in crunch Time's unfamiliar. That
was in That was in Monday's Baltimore Sun, written about
(01:11):
the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
How tasty those words go down right now?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
But I mean, just when you think, just when you
think the sky is falling in Pittsburgh. I mean, you know,
it's it's it's there's a lot of NFL cities where
it's not exactly sunny and clear either. So you know,
take carts Steelers fans, you know the other team has
teams have problems too.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I will say this from the game as well, it
was very nice to have the quarterback remind you, you know,
despite his struggles in the first five games of the season,
he still has that just clutch factor about him. Labs
and that last drive again against the Ravens. I mean,
if you're a Baltimore fan, that's another part of it.
It's like, gosh, this quarterback in Pittsburgh that's taken over
for the quarterback that tortured us forever.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
He's kind of torturing us right now. Early in his career.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, in his and Kenny Pickett's young career,
he does have two fourth quarter game winning drives against
the Races. Once last last January. I think it was
his eleventh career start Sunday. I think these numbers are right.
I haven't like counted them up lately. Seventeenth career start,
(02:21):
so you know, I mean he does. I'm not going
to compare him to the guy he replaced, because to me,
that's not unfair, that's not fair. But yeah, he does
have some things that you look for in a young quarterback, uh,
and he does. He is missing receivers and sometimes I
think he builds out of the pocket too quick. But
(02:45):
you do like some of the intangibles that he has shown.
He was not going to not play against the Ravens,
and I can't imagine that's a whole lot of fun,
as physical as those games are, if you have a
bum knee. So you know, again, a lot of things
to like about Pickett, a lot of things he's got
(03:05):
to work on and get better at doing. But I
do think that, you know, the raw materials are there.
I think for you know, a successful career. I'm not
going to make you know too many wild predictions. Beyond that, Let's.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Get to our questions for this week's edition of Asked
and Answered. In Our first one comes from David Hundert
from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In the past, when the offense doesn't
seem to be on the same page, they have fallen
back on the up tempo, no huddle offense. Why does
it seem that the team is reluctant to go there
this season.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, you know, I you know, we were just talking
about Kenny Pickett and the guy he replaced. You know,
the guy he replaced, I was really good at that,
Ben Roethlisberger. You know, I think no huddle was a
much more feasible alternative when you have approven veteran quarterback
(04:03):
like Ben running it. You know, Ben was able to
call on years and years of experience in the NFL
in games in crunch time, you know where he could
handle no huddle, hurry up for segments, you know, for
not just a possession or you know, two minute at
(04:26):
the end of the half or at the end of
the game. He could run it as an offense. I
think that's a little too much to be asking pick
it to do right now, because, as I said, you know,
as they're watching him, as we're watching him, over the
course of this season, he is there are some instances
(04:46):
where guys are open and he's not getting them the ball.
He's not delivering it on time necessarily. You know, sometimes
it almost seems as though he's playing the style that
cost Mitch Trubisky the starting job at the start of
last season. You know, squeezing the ball too tight, overly
(05:10):
concerned about making a mistake as opposed to just you know,
letting it come to you. And you know, so I
don't think you want to give him too much too quickly.
And so we saw a little bit of it more
against the Ravens. You know, they use some tempo a
little bit after some first times to try and get
(05:32):
it get things going. But while I think you can
do that in certain situations in small doses, I don't
think you want to go to no huddle hurry up
for large sections of the game like you were able
to do when Ben was here.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, so we won't be hearing some Kenny Pickett, Peyton
manning omahas anytime soon in your estimation.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well, I mean he can you know, he could call
Omaha after they break the huddle with you know, if
that's progress, that's the way, Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Carter Nielsen from Schleswig, Iowa.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
When was the last time the Steelers played outside the
US and what was the final score?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Excuse me? It was September twenty ninth, twenty thirteen. The
Steelers played the Vikings in Wembley Stadium in London. That
was the fourth game of the twenty thirteen regular season,
the Vikings won thirty four to twenty seven. Ten years
I had fun there too, say, I liked London.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You think that trip might be looming a little bit
for the Steelers. They're trying to get as many teams
over there as they can, and there's more than there's
more games now per year than there was back then.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, really, I do think
and this is just my thought. I don't know anything
about this that makes me say this, but I would
think the Steelers next regular season game outside the United
States will be in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Something to keep an eye on for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Keith Grant from Memphis, Tennessee, what's the deal with Mason Rudolph?
To be honest, I thought he had a better preseason
than Mitch Trubisky. Why is he not a coveted backup?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know, I got to gently disagree with Keith on
the evaluation of Mason Rudolph versus Mitch Trubisky during the preseason.
And here's why the bulk of Mason Rudolph's playing time
in the preseason came against you know, with the bottom
(07:36):
guys on the depth chart, and against the bottom guys
on the opposing team's depth chart. And you know, for
a quarterback with as much experience as Mason Rudolph has,
you expect him to be able to do well against
the other team's bottom feeders. You know, at that point
of a game, things are very vanilla, both on offense
(07:58):
and defense. Coaches are trying to evaluate, you know, the
guys on the field more than they're trying to, you know,
try to win the game or do the things that
exploit the opposing team. So there's that, you know. The
other thing I think is, you know, I do believe
that the genesis behind Keith's question is he's looking for
(08:21):
a trade. You know, I don't know what you could
get for Mason Rudolph. Now that the regular season has begun,
he only has one year on his contract, He will
become an unrestricted free agent in next March. Ah and
the Steelers kind of value him as their number three quarterbacks.
So unless it would be a you know, a godfather offer,
(08:44):
as I refer to what you know, one you can't refuse,
like the Chase Claypool offer second round pick from a
bad team like the Bears. Uh. You know, I just
don't know what it's worth. You know, you want you
want the security of having a third quarterback on your
roster with NFL regular season starting experience and who is
(09:07):
familiar with your offense and your personnel. So unless something
like that happens, I kind of expect to stealers just
to hold on to him through the rest of this season.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Ramiro Enriquez from rich Grove, California asks, they sure have
been giving Mac Canada a whole lot of airtime on
televised games.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I don't see that in any other game. Why do
you think the networks do that?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Hey, networks are in the entertainment business, creating drama business,
however you want to phrase it, and you know they
have their pulse on you know what's going on here
with the NFL team, and certainly you know, I'm sure
that's good television for whatever network it is, CBS, VOX,
(09:57):
NFL network, I'm sure they'll jump on that bandwagon to.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I'm surprised that, you know, with the new streaming age,
they didn't just have a Matt Canada ISOCAM the entire
ye could go to.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I think it was actually toned down. Ramiros from what
it could have been.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So you know, again, I just think that that's that's
what that is. You know, because when you're at Akroscher Stadium,
they have designations of you know, where the owner's box
is as an example, So if they want to know
where Art Rooney the second is watching the game, they
(10:33):
can find it easy because as I said, there there's
a there's something that they put up for the for
the TV cameras to know where they are, you know,
where the coaches booths are. And they do it for
both teams too, So it's not like you know they're
picking on the Steelers or isolating on them or anything,
but you know, they're looking for reactions. They're looking for
(10:56):
easy uh commentary for the guys in the book, you
know that kind of thing. And let me just since
this question came up, you know this, this whole thing
about Matt Canada, you know, not cheering or clapping or
high fiving when uh can you pick it through the
(11:16):
touchdown past the pickens. I mean, I don't know if
I've ever heard anything as stupid as that in my
life recent life. Let me say that, because I'm an
old man, you'd a lot of stupid, But I mean well,
but I mean, hey, I've I've spent thirty five years
watching Steelers games in press boxes, right, and you know
(11:37):
it's not a it's not a place where you cheer,
you know. I mean, if if there was a camera
on me, uh in Tampa for Super Bowl forty three,
when Harrison went intercepted that pass and ran one hundred
yards for a touchdown, I did not react. You're not
supposed to. That's considered unprofessional. And so you know, my
(12:01):
I might have popped a vein in my neck or
something with the suspense of it, but that's you just
you just sit there and watch. So you know, all
of this social media stuff about Canada being upset about
it because it wasn't his play call, or you know,
all of these conspiracy theories, and you know, I look,
(12:27):
I get it that the offense isn't performing to the
level or to the to a standard that it needs
to perform to. I get it, Okay, And he's the coordinator,
and so he comes in line for criticism. I get
all that too, But you know, let's keep it, you know,
legitimate criticism instead of trying to make stuff up to
make the guy look bad or look foolish, you know.
(12:50):
It's that to me is just I don't know, it
just rubs me the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Two things. First of all, the wide receiver on that play.
George Pickens said in his post game that was the
play that was called in the huddle when they broke
the huddle.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So all the.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Internet sleuths trying to pick up on Kenny maybe changing
the protection around, you know, he wasn't exactly changing the
entire play. And the second thing, as far as Canada's
reaction labs, I mean, you got to.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Think he's doing the calculus on what's next. I mean,
he's always looking forward, like great that play hit, but
like how do I make sure what am I going for?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Two?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like he's always looking forward. There's no time to really
celebrate and live in the past, especially in a game
that close.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Right, And there's nothing wrong with the quarterback change and
the protection. Once he sees what the defense is doing,
that's his job. So yeah, like I said, I mean,
there are things to criticize the coordinator about based on
the way the unit is playing. I get that, but
you know, as I said, keep it real, you know,
don't make stuff up.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Robert Catone from Pickerington, Ohio. Coaching the Steelers always seems
to have been a great job to have when they
do well. What assistant coaches held their jobs the longest?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Okay, this is another one of those all time franchise
look back questions, and I'm gonna I'm gonna come clean.
Steelers have had a lot of assistant coaches, and I
was not about to go through the entire roster and
figure out who coached the longest. I did look, you know,
(14:25):
among the recent seasons, and I came up with a
few names. Dick Hoke. Of course, I gotta believe, even
without researching every year, he's got the longest tenure. I
mean he started in nineteen seventy two. He retired after
the two thousand and six season. Yeah, that's a significant career.
(14:52):
John Mitchell, he wasn't far behind Dick Hoke. He started
in nineteen ninety four. His he his career ended with
his retirement after the twenty twenty two season. Dick lebou
two different tenures with the team. The first one was
nineteen ninety two to through nineteen ninety six, and then
(15:15):
he came back and coached from two thousand and four
through twenty fourteen. And then here's a you know a name,
a little bit under the radar, James Daniel, coach Steelers
tight ends from two thousand and four through twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Ed Strevig from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I was surprised that part
of your answer to a previous question about the sixty
three to seven win in nineteen fifty two over the
New York Giants included the fact we had seven interceptions
in the game. I was surprised that teams threw that
many times back then. How many times did they throw?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Okay? In that game? The Steelers beat the New York Giants,
which remains the most point sport, most point scored in
a game in franchise history. The Giants quarterbacks combined eleven
of thirty nine. They threw attempt at thirty nine passes,
(16:11):
one hundred and seventy seven yards, one touchdown, and seven interceptions.
Steelers quarterbacks completed fifteen to thirty one. So that's a
lot of attempts to three hundred and fifteen yards, five
touchdowns and three interceptions. You know, just as a little side,
not one of the Giants quarterbacks that day. You may
have heard of him. His name is Tom Landry. He
(16:34):
also played defensive back, you know, nineteen fifty two played
some guys played both ways. The Giants had some injury
issues and so they were, you know, kind of scrambling
a little bit. But in that game, Landry threw four
of the Giants interceptions, four of their seven, and he
had two of the five interceptions or excuse me, three
(16:59):
interceptions that the Giants got from the Steelers quarterbacks. So
I wonder if that that has to be some kind
of record.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Only a net negative of two too, So I mean,
good job from Landry for cleaning up his stat line
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, well, there you know again. Stats of the weird.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Dave Tomorrow from Ansonia, Connecticut in a recent asked and answered,
there was a question about players pay when they get injured.
My question is do they get paid if they get
injured outside of work, say a car accident, a fall.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Okay, There's something the NFL has. It's called the NFI list.
It stands for non Football injury okay, and the non
Football Injury List is used for players who suffered injuries
or ailments outside of NFL activities. This is from NFL
dot com, so I'm giving you their specific language. This
(17:54):
can range from a player injuring its wrist when he
fell off a bike on vacation to players who sustained
ACL injuries in college. You could put NFI is similar
to PUP, meaning that with PUP is physically unable to perform.
If you have a player on NFI, if you have
(18:18):
him first on the fifty three men roster, it's the
same thing as PUP. If you have a PUP player
and have him on the initial fifty three men roster,
then you can bring him back after four regular season games. Okay,
But unlike PUP, a player on NFL, I excuse me,
(18:40):
NFI is not entitled to be paid. So you know,
usually though there is some arrangement made between the play
of the team and the player based on what the
non football injury list is. You know, if it had
something to do with you know, conduct unbecoming, you know,
(19:02):
whatever that might be, then sometimes teams don't pay you
pay him, but you know, then there's you know, there's
also arbitration, and you know, the union gets involved, and
I mean there's all kind of legally is involved in
all of that. But that's pretty much the vehicle that
teams can use for players who get injured outside of work.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And our final question today comes from Ben Finley from Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Is TJ. Watt in contention for best Steelers defender of
all time? What are his odds for being voted for
being voted? As my screen went down, for being voted
Defensive Player of the Year this year.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I thought you were emphasizing the word voted.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, you know, I tried to scramble.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
You know, Hey, t J. Watt's a great player. He's
having a great year. But again, this is one of
those all on franchise history questions. The Steelers have ten
defensive players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame already,
right now, Okay, I'll just give you their names in
reverse chronicle chronological order of their induction. See if you
(20:17):
recognize any of these names. Donnie Schell, Troy Polamolo, Kevin Green,
Rod Woodson, Jack Butler, Jack Lambert mel Blunt, Jack am
Joe Green, and Ernie Stautner. Okay, just to refresh everyone's memory,
Joe Green was voted Defensive Rookive Year in nineteen sixty
(20:39):
nine and then Defensive Player of the Year twice in
nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy four. Okay, and let's
just remember, you know, nineteen seventy four was the Steelers
first Super Bowl. Okay. One of the key moves that
was made towards the end of that regular season was
(20:59):
the introduction of a defensive front that came to be
known as the Stunt four three and then the Stunt
four to three. Joe Green lined up kind of on
an angle in the gap between the center and a guard,
and he was so quick and so powerful that it
just exploded other teams attempts to run the football. And
(21:21):
in nineteen seventy four that was a huge part of
good team's offenses. Okay, So in the playoffs that year,
Stunt four to three the Steelers played. In the first round,
they played Buffalo, they held Oj Simpson of forty nine
yards rushing. In the AFC Championship Game, they played the Raiders.
(21:42):
The Raiders managed twenty one yards rushing on twenty one attempts.
And then in the Super Bowl the Vikings, Chuck Foreman,
who's in the Hall of Fame, rushed for twenty one
yards on seventeen attempts. Okay, and that was because you know,
the Vikings again, they had a all pro center mctinglehoff.
(22:04):
The Raiders had an all pro center Jim Otto. Nobody
can handle Joe Green. Okay, So again, t J. Watt
is a great player. I think he has a very
good chance if he continues to win a second Defensive
Player of the Year award, and that would put him
in very elite company, not only among all NFL players,
(22:28):
but certainly, you know, among the Steelers, because only Joe
Green has won two Defensive Player of the Year awards.
But you know, let's can we pump the brakes just
a little bit calling him the best defender Steelers defender
of all time? You know, Joe Green is the most
(22:50):
important player in the history of the Steelers franchise. No
one can can convince me otherwise. And as much as
I like and respect t. J. Watt, let's hold off
on that until his career is over and then maybe
we can get some sort of realistic evaluation of where
he might stand in that category.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
As don't you know, it's all about getting to the
finish line right away nowadays, I mean waiting for the
career to be over.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I mean, who are you going.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Sorry, sorry, I lost my head.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Well, my final question is have you gassed up the
Labriola private jet for the bye week or are you
just going to hang out at home.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Eat some bad food, drink some beers and watch football.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Both. No. Uh, you know, I'll be honest with you.
I like the enjoying the bye week. You know, I
was checking the games on TV. The best game might
be nine point thirty on Sunday for me, the Ravens
(23:52):
against the Titans.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
The early morning game in London.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, yeah, the early morning game. Yeah, I might have
to DVR it and then you know, when I roll
out of bed finally try and catch up. But you know,
some of the other games don't really don't really excite me.
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I'll tell you want to keep your eye on at
one o'clock window. Just keep an eye on Bengals in Seattle.
Mister Burrow looked a little bit better last week, tougher
competition this week.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'm gonna be curious to see how he looks.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, Miss mister Chase looked pretty good too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
All right, So enjoy the bye week. Everybody out there.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Watch some football without the stresses of the Steelers weighing
on you and LABS and I will be back again
next week. Get your questions into LABS now if you
want him heard on a future episode before Bob Labriola.
I'm Tom Oppraman and this has been asked and answered
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