November 18, 2025 • 25 mins
Labs and Tom recap the Steelers win over Cincy before getting to this weeks questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What a great win for the Steelers against division rival
Cincinnati on Sunday thirty four to twelve. And when the
defense provides splash, it usually means the Steelers are going
to win a football game.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
In Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
That was more like a cannonball from that defense. Two
defensive scores, and I think just as impressive was their
ability to shut down Jamar Chase in that prolific Cincinnati
passing attack.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, and let's not forget who scored those defensive touchdowns.
I mean Kyle Duger and James Pierre. I mean, those
guys were not even they were not part of the
plan when we were doing theeds at training camp every day, right,
they were not part of the plan. Then, you know,
(00:57):
I just thought that the way that so many backups,
fill ins, new acquisitions stepped up in that Bengals game
was you know, really remarkable, and you know, both both sides,
(01:17):
both sides of the ball. I mean, Kenneth Gainwell was
a utility back in the you know scheme of things.
You know, when we were in Latrobe, when when the
when the regular season opened. I mean it was gonna
be Jalen Warren, Caleb Johnson, and Kenny Gainwell was a
thurn down back, kind of wild card. He had a
(01:41):
huge day. Darnell Washington. Everybody wanted to move him to
left tackle in the summer. Let's not forget that. You know,
Mason Rudolph was the backup, you know, and then on
defense I mentioned the two guys who scored touchdowns, just
(02:02):
the whole you know, the whole thing. I mean, you know,
moving Ramsey to safety and Dugger in at the other spot,
and you know Darius Slay was out. You know, they
were just Deshaun Elliott was out. I mean, you know,
I don't want to miss anybody, but there's so many
names that you know, I'm almost it's almost impossible not to.
(02:27):
But you know, that next man up thing, I mean,
that's a nice thought. Or you know, it's a goal.
You know, you want to make it a kind of
a theme for the team. You want to inspire and
motivate all the players because you know, you want them
(02:48):
to realize that if they are not necessarily listed, you know,
as a starter on the depth chart, you know that
there's still value in them continuing to work. And you know,
it's not like college a lot of time, where you know,
guys who aren't first on the depth chart might not
ever play unless the game's will blowout. Well. In the NFL,
(03:09):
there's a lot of injuries and those kind of things,
and so you have to call on those people a
lot and a lot of them were called on on Sunday,
and you know they came through.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Did they ever come through?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It's incredibly impressive and a defense and a secondary in
particular that's lacking continuity all year because of the injury problems.
To see, you know, to steal a line from Mike Tomlin,
these guys jump on the moving train and do it
so beautifully. It's it's really just such a great effort
from them and such a professional effort and Labs. They
were even more shorthanded in that fourth quarter when the
(03:45):
game was still kind of in doubt before they officially
blew it open because of what happened between Jalen Ramsey
and Jamar Chase. We now know the spitting incident that
took place. Jalen Ramsey retaliating to what Jamar Chase to
him in the NFL handed out their Justice yesterday by
giving Chase that one game suspension, but to lose Ramsey,
(04:06):
you know, arguably your most important piece of that secondary
for a quarter against the team that can score quickly
in a game that was still in doubt, and you
still held tough.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, it's just impressive all around. I can't say
that more.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, And it was a game that you know, mathematically,
certainly it was not a must win game. It was
only the tenth game of the season. You play seventeen
and you know all of that stuff. I get it.
But the way things were trending and going what you had,
you know, in your immediate future in terms of the schedule,
(04:41):
you know, there's a there's a much larger difference between
six and four and five and five for the Steelers
today then you know, just one game in the standings,
the difference between a win or a loss against the Bengals.
And you know the other thing we talked about this
a little bit on the pregame show. You know, if
(05:04):
if you're the kind of team that loses the home
and home to the Cincinnati Bengals, I don't know that
you're the kind of team that's going to be able
to navigate that the rest of his schedule down the
stretch and get into the playoffs. So, yes, it was
a very important win. It was good to see. And
(05:26):
you know, Jamar Chase is classless. Is the nicest thing
I can think. And did you have you seen that?
You know? Now he was suspended for a game and
there's an appeals process, which I mean, I don't see
how he can win. But have you seen the numbers?
(05:48):
What it's going to cost?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Over half a million total? Oh god, no, wonder he's right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, I'm just thinking I can't even know, you know,
that kind of a that just the threat of that
kind of a fine would prevent me from even thinking
about doing anything that might incur that kind of a penalty.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
No question, I think I.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Can't imagine making that much money where you think, screw it,
I'm gonna spit on this guy anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I have to go into a mental institution.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
If I lost that amount of money, my brain just
wouldn't work anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Or your your wife, would you know, hang you from
the yard arm? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I just wouldn't be around anymore. You wouldn't see me.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The league had to send a message when it came
to that, and that is such a stern message. Not
so much for the game, although you don't want to
miss a game, but like you said, that game check
that they're taking from Chase. That's going to make a
lot of players around the.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
League go ooh. I might want to, you know, swallow
instead of spitting on this guy the right.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Time, because it's an expensive loogie that Jamar Chase just howked.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I also kind of like labs.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That it's only one game looking ahead on the horizon
Thanksgiving night, I'll be back against the Ravens. I need
Chase out there against the Baltimore Ravens, so I ain't
mad about that. I'm also happy that they didn't punish
Jalen Ramsey any further than the ejection, or at least
as far as we know to this point, I don't
think anything is going to come down because the league
obviously sees what he reacted to, and I think understand it.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, And I don't know though, I mean, based on
what the way Mike Tomlan talked about it after the game,
I don't know that even though that he was the
victim of Alugi as you called it, I don't know
that that went over very well. H in the home
team locker room. I don't know about it. I'm not
(07:41):
talking about his teammates necessarily, but the head coach was
not what was not pleased? You know, that's another thing.
I mean, you cannot afford as a player to take
yourself out of that situation based on the as you
just mentioned. You know, you're you're already shorthanded in the
secondary or playing a team with the best wide receivers
(08:02):
in the lake. I don't know. You know, it's hard
to tell someone, yeah, just you know, turn the other cheek.
But you can't get thrown out of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I completely agree with that side of the argument as well,
and can see why the coaches would view it from
that lens. It is tough to bottle those emotions up
when something like that happens.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Before we get to our questions, and I have a
sneaky suspicion here that at least one of them might
have to do with this topic.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But we got to talk about Mason Rudolph and the
job that he did deputizing for Aaron Rodgers with what
we now know is a slight break in his left
wrist that he's dealing with that he suffered towards the
end of the first half in the game. I mean,
this is why you got a Mason Rudolph and you
have him as your backup quarterback because I don't want
(08:51):
to compare him to Shador Sanders Labs because that was
just a train wreck. But look at what it looks
like when a backup comes in who isn't ready for
the moment when a backup comes in and he's just
not an FL caliber yet it looks awful. Meanwhile, Mason
Rudolph comes in and things just hum Honestly, based on
how yesterday was going, the offense might have looked to
tick better with him in there. And that's why you
have an experienced, veteran backup like that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and that's and really uh and there and again
I've tried to make this clear, you know when you
when when I say that Mason Rudolph is best as
a career backup, that's not a taking, that's not a criticism, right,
I mean in the NFL, that is a very valuable role,
as you just explained. And you know, a career a
(09:37):
backup in the NFL doesn't get the amount of practice
that the starter gets. You know, he might you know,
run a little scout team and he might get maybe
you know, a few snaps on Friday or something, but
that's pretty much it. And this guy has to be
capable of learning by watching, you know, paying attention in practice.
(09:58):
And then he keeps him self and in shape, you know,
his arm, whatever has to be done with all of
that kind of stuff, you know, keeping his body ready
for a moment's notice being called in. And and you know,
kudos to Mason Rudolph. And as I say, that is
a that is a legitimate role in this league, you know,
(10:20):
veteran backup and those guys are valued, they're paid, and
they're kept. So you know, again I I sometimes fans
think that you're criticizing a guy when you're saying, well,
he's not a starting, full time, starting caliber quarterback in
this league. Well, but that doesn't mean he's not worthy
(10:41):
of a roster spond and it doesn't mean he's not
extremely valuable either. You know. It's it's I just wish
people would try to get a better handle on how
important that job is and how valuable it is when
you have somebody who is good.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
At it, no question, and Rudolph certainly is good at
that specific job.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Let's get to these questions.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Nicholas Moses from Simmi, California, Semi Valley, California has our
first one.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Oh, it has to do with the quarterback situation.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I'm like, no, stra Damis, do you believe Will Howard
will ever be given a legitimate shot to start next year?
Or do you think the Steelers will likely draft a
quarterback in the first round of the twenty twenty six
NFL Draft.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So I guess Nicholas thinks that they should just make
them name them the starter. I guess six.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Or we're six and four and in first place in
the division. But we're turning the page to next year already.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You know, Will Howard was added to the fifty three
man roster last week, you know, and pending the injury
prognosis for Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tominll. Wi'll deal with
that at noon today, which is Tuesday, November eighteenth. As
we're taping this, you know, he's the number three quarterback.
(12:03):
That means he'll be the emergency guy on game day
and that we were just talking about Mason Rudolph getting
little preparation. The third guy gets none virtually. So the
other thing about Will Howard is I mean, he was
injured before the preseason ever even started. So this guy
(12:24):
hasn't taken a snap nothing, right, nothing, And so I mean,
how can you if the Steelers when they get to
next April. Okay, Aaron Rodgers will have made his decision
about his future, whether he's interested in playing any again
(12:45):
or he's done or whatever that might be. Also, free
agency will be pretty much over in terms of the
top tier players at all the positions. The Steelers also
will have been pretty much done with their evaluations of
all the college draft eligible people. Their board will be
(13:08):
up all of that stuff. Okay, so are you telling
me that when the draft comes around and all of
this is done, if the Steeler's turn comes in the
first round, or if they have an opportunity to make
a trade in the first round where they can get
a quarterback that they have scouted and vetted and have
(13:31):
highly rated, that they should not do it because they
have Will Howard based on what that he was really
good at Ohio State two years ago, with maybe the
best roster ever assembled, or as a lot of Ohio
State's critics called it, the best roster money could buy.
(13:51):
So I mean that just makes no sense. That's I
don't know, you're hanging it on a wing and a prayer.
You know. Again, I don't have anything against Will Howard,
but there were a bunch of quarterbacks picked before him
in this draft, this past draft. So you know, it's
(14:12):
kind of like Mason Rudolph in the sense that you know,
the league speaks, you know. I remember someone in the
retail industry told me once about things. He always said, well,
customers vote at the cash register. Yeah, whatever you think
doesn't really matter, because customers vote at the cash register.
(14:34):
So if you're right and they buy it, okay. If
you're wrong and they don't, that's the same thing they
have told you, whether you made the right decision or not.
And this is the same thing with the league. You know,
back to Mason, he was an unrestricted free agent a
couple of times nobody signed him to be their starter.
(14:55):
And so I think that it is come to be that,
you know, Mason Rudolph is a backup type quarterback in
the NFL. And as I have said, I want to
keep saying this, you know, so that everybody gets the
idea there's nothing wrong with that, it is valuable to have,
and he is valuable because he's good at it. You know,
(15:19):
I don't know what Will Howard is going to be,
but you know, just because Tom Brady made it great
into greatness as a six round pick doesn't mean every
six round pick is going to is going to follow
that path. So if the Steelers have an opportunity to
pick a quarterback they have hiring their draft board next April,
and they pass on that because of Will Howard, I
(15:40):
think that would be a huge mistake.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, our next question from Larry Lash from Trent MPa
actually feeds into a lot of the stuff that you
just answered there. It's almost like you play this out, Labs,
but you don't. This is all off the top of
the head. Will Howard has no doubt or actually, Will
Howard was no doubt great in his playoff run to
the National Championship. I won't take credit from him, but
how many of his teammates were drafted into the NFL. Honestly,
(16:04):
I just want those people who keep talking about him
like he's the next Tom Brady to get an understanding
that he had a stellar supporting cast during his playoff run.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Okay, Ohio State had fourteen players drafted in twenty twenty five,
four on the first round, three on the second round,
three on the third round. So let's just let me
put it in a different context. The Buckeyes had seven
players among the first forty five picked, ten among the
first one hundred and twenty three picked. Okay, wide receiver
(16:38):
Amcca Akbuka one of Will Howard's receivers. He was nineteenth overall. Okay.
If the other starting receiver in that championship team, Jeremiah Smith,
He's going to be picked much higher than that whenever
he decides to come out for the draft, yep. I
mean he could be a top five pick, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
He's studeley.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Ohio State also had a pair of one thousand yard
rushers for twenty four season, and both Quinn Shawn Judkins
and Trayvon Henderson were second round picks in twenty twenty five.
So you know it was a great team. Oh yeah,
And again, as Larry says, I don't want to take
(17:17):
any credit away from Will Howard, who was the quarterback
during that run, but you know it's a lot like
he had to carry him on.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
His back, man, and you're seeing these buck guys that
came into the league as rookies make a ton of
impact already. A book has been so good. Judkins for
the Browns has been a bright spot. Henderson is starting
to come on for the Patriots, to the list goes
on and on.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That team was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Honestly, if they didn't win the National Championship, it would
have been such a surprise with the talent that they have.
Ron Hall from Brackney, Pennsylvania. In the November ninth edition,
I asked that answered in regard to the question about
Chris Boswell's intentional out of bounds kickoff penalty and the
better field position result. I take it that is not
a decline option penalty.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, let's just let's just, you know, pretend that it is,
and like see how it might unfold. Okay, So, uh,
the kicking team purposely kicks the ball out of bounds,
Chris Boswell in that situation, the receiving team declined declines
the penalty. Okay, So then what you're gonna kick it
over again? Okay, kicks it out of bounds again, and
(18:22):
they decline it again, and then you do it again
and again and again. Right, So I mean, it's just ridiculous.
It can't. Where does this end? Where does it end?
And if if they decline the penalty, then where do
you put the ball? Do you change the rule? You
know for this one thing, because you know the receiving
(18:45):
team was stupid enough to commit a personal file penalty
on the touchdown, and the way the rules written, you
can elect to take the ordage on the kickoff. So yeah,
I mean, it has to be an automatic, nondeclinable situation.
Let's move the game along. You know, Tom has to
get going on the postgame show. Oh man, you know,
(19:08):
be sitting there till midnight on a one o'clock kickoff?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Amen to that. Let's get me out of here as
fast as possible. That's always goal number one.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Stephen Foster from broad Stairs, United Kingdom. Are we ever
going to see Corey Trice Junior in the Black and
Gold again? When he was drafted, I remember coach Tomlin
referring to him as Joey Porter Junior as his avatars,
or him and Joey Porter Junior as his avatars, six
foot three cornerbacks with long arms who would match up
well in coverage. Since then, Trice has had a dreadful
(19:39):
time with injuries, missing part or the whole of each
season on injured reserve. I understand he's now back in
the twenty one day window, but even while we see
him to be struggling so much at cornerback, he hasn't
been activated. Are the Steelers finished with him?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Okay, I don't know that they are or not, but
I'm gonna give you some facts. Corey Trice had his
twenty one day window opened and he returned to practice
on Wednesday, October twenty ninth. Excuse me, he was a
full participant in practice that day. The following day, on
(20:14):
October thirtieth, he was a limited participant in practice. He's
not been able to practice since. I would say that's
not a very good sign.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
No, that twenty one day window now is starting to
creep closed, right, And yes, once you this week, it sometimes,
and once you get activated from that or not activated
from that window, you're done for the season. It's it
is really unfortunate because Trice played at the end of
last year LABS and I thought played decently well, including.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
In that Cincinnati game last year. Down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I thought he did a good job tackling I thought,
I thought he's shown a little bit of something. But
sometimes players just can't stay healthy and it plagues them
their entire career.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They could never get their career started because of it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
And he also had a good game against Denver early
in the season too, an interception in the end zone.
But yeah, I mean in his injuries, I mean there's
serious injuries. I mean, this is not you know, you know,
soft tissue injuries and stuff. I mean.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Like that.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, right, it's none of that stuff. I mean, it's
just very unfortunate. But I mean I just don't see
any way that you know, as I said, he can't practice,
and you know, he had these he came he had
He also had some of these injuries, these knee injuries
in college when he was a Purdue, and that was
(21:36):
one of the reasons he was a seventh round pick
because you know, big, you know, six foot three, cornered,
long arms, you know, decent ball skills. I mean, just
imagine him playing an injury injury free college career. He
would not have been a seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And our final question today comes from Todd Tidesworth from Metropolis, Illinois.
With all the stupid questions asked of coaches on the
field at halftime or at the end of games. I
was wondering if it's mandatory that they speak to the media.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, you know, it kind of is that the interviews
are set up by the network broadcasting the game. That's
part of the rights fees contract that the network is
paying the league. So you know when we're and you
know this is in college too, so you know, that's
what we'll just talk about. The NFL, the net, whatever
(22:29):
network it is. For example, it was CBS on Sunday
the Steelers Bengals game. So the network, CBS is paying
the league, you know, as part of its multi million
dollar contract to broadcast the games. And one of the
things that you know is negotiated into that is a
whatever minute or ninety second or two minute thing with
(22:52):
the with each coach, you know, before halftime, coming out
of halftime. However, it's you know, I don't I don't
really pay any attention. So yeah, that's part of the contract.
And then that money from the broadcast contract is you know,
thrown into the pot, divided among the thirty two teams
equally split with the players. You know, it's responsible for
(23:16):
the salary cap going up and you know all that stuff.
So you know, that's it. That's it, and the part
of the coach's job is is to consent to that interview.
They do, I'm sure if they don't, you know, Roger
Goodell would not look kindly on that. I'm not saying
it would be as big a fine as Jamar Chase
is looking at, but I think there would be some
(23:39):
something done to get the coaches in attention that this
is not something that you know, you can just blow off.
Maybe the team gets fine too, and so then ownership
gets involved and says this is not something that is
to be blown off. So yeah, it's part of the job.
It's unfortunate that, you know, the questions are so as
(24:04):
Todd mentions them, how does he call them stupid? I'm
using his word, so but yeah, it's all I can
say is, if you're watching it on TV, hit the
mute button. It's only for two minutes.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Steelers and Bears in the Windy City this Sunday at
one pm. Chicago leads the NFC North, the Steelers lead
the AFC North. So it is a great matchup between
these two historic teams in the NFL and labs I
know we're not sure we're doing this on Tuesday with
the status of Aaron Rodgers, Will it be Rudolph Whillipy Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I don't know, but I do know this.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Rogers wants to play badly because he basically owns this team.
He's twenty four and five against Chicago in his career.
He loves playing in Soldier Field.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. I remember when he was with the Packers. I
think one time they were coming off the Packers were
coming off the field after beating the Bears again and
there was a little exchange with some fans. Rogers said
I own you or something like that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And then I think somebody went to his Wikipedia page
and changed his name to owner of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So he'll be trying his best to get on the field,
but you don't want to rush things. As we said
earlier in the podcast, Mason, Rudolph is certainly capable of
going into Chicago and helping navigate your team to a win.
Thanks for giving us a listen today. If you want
a question answered in a future edition, get it to
Labs now. Coverage will start at nine am with myself
and Matt Williamson on Sunday Labs will take it over
(25:33):
with Mike Presuder and Jerry Dulac at eleven leading you
in to kickoff for Labs. I'm Tom, Thanks has always
for giving us a listen on Aston answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What a great win for the Steelers against division rival
Cincinnati on Sunday thirty four to twelve. And when the
defense provides splash, it usually means the Steelers are going
to win a football game.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
In Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
That was more like a cannonball from that defense. Two
defensive scores, and I think just as impressive was their
ability to shut down Jamar Chase in that prolific Cincinnati
passing attack.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, and let's not forget who scored those defensive touchdowns.
I mean Kyle Duger and James Pierre. I mean, those
guys were not even they were not part of the
plan when we were doing theeds at training camp every day, right,
they were not part of the plan. Then, you know,
(00:57):
I just thought that the way that so many backups,
fill ins, new acquisitions stepped up in that Bengals game
was you know, really remarkable, and you know, both both sides,
(01:17):
both sides of the ball. I mean, Kenneth Gainwell was
a utility back in the you know scheme of things.
You know, when we were in Latrobe, when when the
when the regular season opened. I mean it was gonna
be Jalen Warren, Caleb Johnson, and Kenny Gainwell was a
thurn down back, kind of wild card. He had a
(01:41):
huge day. Darnell Washington. Everybody wanted to move him to
left tackle in the summer. Let's not forget that. You know,
Mason Rudolph was the backup, you know, and then on
defense I mentioned the two guys who scored touchdowns, just
(02:02):
the whole you know, the whole thing. I mean, you know,
moving Ramsey to safety and Dugger in at the other spot,
and you know Darius Slay was out. You know, they
were just Deshaun Elliott was out. I mean, you know,
I don't want to miss anybody, but there's so many
names that you know, I'm almost it's almost impossible not to.
(02:27):
But you know, that next man up thing, I mean,
that's a nice thought. Or you know, it's a goal.
You know, you want to make it a kind of
a theme for the team. You want to inspire and
motivate all the players because you know, you want them
(02:48):
to realize that if they are not necessarily listed, you know,
as a starter on the depth chart, you know that
there's still value in them continuing to work. And you know,
it's not like college a lot of time, where you know,
guys who aren't first on the depth chart might not
ever play unless the game's will blowout. Well. In the NFL,
(03:09):
there's a lot of injuries and those kind of things,
and so you have to call on those people a
lot and a lot of them were called on on Sunday,
and you know they came through.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Did they ever come through?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It's incredibly impressive and a defense and a secondary in
particular that's lacking continuity all year because of the injury problems.
To see, you know, to steal a line from Mike Tomlin,
these guys jump on the moving train and do it
so beautifully. It's it's really just such a great effort
from them and such a professional effort and Labs. They
were even more shorthanded in that fourth quarter when the
(03:45):
game was still kind of in doubt before they officially
blew it open because of what happened between Jalen Ramsey
and Jamar Chase. We now know the spitting incident that
took place. Jalen Ramsey retaliating to what Jamar Chase to
him in the NFL handed out their Justice yesterday by
giving Chase that one game suspension, but to lose Ramsey,
(04:06):
you know, arguably your most important piece of that secondary
for a quarter against the team that can score quickly
in a game that was still in doubt, and you
still held tough.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, it's just impressive all around. I can't say
that more.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, And it was a game that you know, mathematically,
certainly it was not a must win game. It was
only the tenth game of the season. You play seventeen
and you know all of that stuff. I get it.
But the way things were trending and going what you had,
you know, in your immediate future in terms of the schedule,
(04:41):
you know, there's a there's a much larger difference between
six and four and five and five for the Steelers
today then you know, just one game in the standings,
the difference between a win or a loss against the Bengals.
And you know the other thing we talked about this
a little bit on the pregame show. You know, if
(05:04):
if you're the kind of team that loses the home
and home to the Cincinnati Bengals, I don't know that
you're the kind of team that's going to be able
to navigate that the rest of his schedule down the
stretch and get into the playoffs. So, yes, it was
a very important win. It was good to see. And
(05:26):
you know, Jamar Chase is classless. Is the nicest thing
I can think. And did you have you seen that?
You know? Now he was suspended for a game and
there's an appeals process, which I mean, I don't see
how he can win. But have you seen the numbers?
(05:48):
What it's going to cost?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Over half a million total? Oh god, no, wonder he's right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, I'm just thinking I can't even know, you know,
that kind of a that just the threat of that
kind of a fine would prevent me from even thinking
about doing anything that might incur that kind of a penalty.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
No question, I think I.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Can't imagine making that much money where you think, screw it,
I'm gonna spit on this guy anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I have to go into a mental institution.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
If I lost that amount of money, my brain just
wouldn't work anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Or your your wife, would you know, hang you from
the yard arm? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I just wouldn't be around anymore. You wouldn't see me.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The league had to send a message when it came
to that, and that is such a stern message. Not
so much for the game, although you don't want to
miss a game, but like you said, that game check
that they're taking from Chase. That's going to make a
lot of players around the.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
League go ooh. I might want to, you know, swallow
instead of spitting on this guy the right.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Time, because it's an expensive loogie that Jamar Chase just howked.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I also kind of like labs.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That it's only one game looking ahead on the horizon
Thanksgiving night, I'll be back against the Ravens. I need
Chase out there against the Baltimore Ravens, so I ain't
mad about that. I'm also happy that they didn't punish
Jalen Ramsey any further than the ejection, or at least
as far as we know to this point, I don't
think anything is going to come down because the league
obviously sees what he reacted to, and I think understand it.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, And I don't know though, I mean, based on
what the way Mike Tomlan talked about it after the game,
I don't know that even though that he was the
victim of Alugi as you called it, I don't know
that that went over very well. H in the home
team locker room. I don't know about it. I'm not
(07:41):
talking about his teammates necessarily, but the head coach was
not what was not pleased? You know, that's another thing.
I mean, you cannot afford as a player to take
yourself out of that situation based on the as you
just mentioned. You know, you're you're already shorthanded in the
secondary or playing a team with the best wide receivers
(08:02):
in the lake. I don't know. You know, it's hard
to tell someone, yeah, just you know, turn the other cheek.
But you can't get thrown out of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I completely agree with that side of the argument as well,
and can see why the coaches would view it from
that lens. It is tough to bottle those emotions up
when something like that happens.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Before we get to our questions, and I have a
sneaky suspicion here that at least one of them might
have to do with this topic.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But we got to talk about Mason Rudolph and the
job that he did deputizing for Aaron Rodgers with what
we now know is a slight break in his left
wrist that he's dealing with that he suffered towards the
end of the first half in the game. I mean,
this is why you got a Mason Rudolph and you
have him as your backup quarterback because I don't want
(08:51):
to compare him to Shador Sanders Labs because that was
just a train wreck. But look at what it looks
like when a backup comes in who isn't ready for
the moment when a backup comes in and he's just
not an FL caliber yet it looks awful. Meanwhile, Mason
Rudolph comes in and things just hum Honestly, based on
how yesterday was going, the offense might have looked to
tick better with him in there. And that's why you
have an experienced, veteran backup like that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and that's and really uh and there and again
I've tried to make this clear, you know when you
when when I say that Mason Rudolph is best as
a career backup, that's not a taking, that's not a criticism, right,
I mean in the NFL, that is a very valuable role,
as you just explained. And you know, a career a
(09:37):
backup in the NFL doesn't get the amount of practice
that the starter gets. You know, he might you know,
run a little scout team and he might get maybe
you know, a few snaps on Friday or something, but
that's pretty much it. And this guy has to be
capable of learning by watching, you know, paying attention in practice.
(09:58):
And then he keeps him self and in shape, you know,
his arm, whatever has to be done with all of
that kind of stuff, you know, keeping his body ready
for a moment's notice being called in. And and you know,
kudos to Mason Rudolph. And as I say, that is
a that is a legitimate role in this league, you know,
(10:20):
veteran backup and those guys are valued, they're paid, and
they're kept. So you know, again I I sometimes fans
think that you're criticizing a guy when you're saying, well,
he's not a starting, full time, starting caliber quarterback in
this league. Well, but that doesn't mean he's not worthy
(10:41):
of a roster spond and it doesn't mean he's not
extremely valuable either. You know. It's it's I just wish
people would try to get a better handle on how
important that job is and how valuable it is when
you have somebody who is good.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
At it, no question, and Rudolph certainly is good at
that specific job.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Let's get to these questions.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Nicholas Moses from Simmi, California, Semi Valley, California has our
first one.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Oh, it has to do with the quarterback situation.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I'm like, no, stra Damis, do you believe Will Howard
will ever be given a legitimate shot to start next year?
Or do you think the Steelers will likely draft a
quarterback in the first round of the twenty twenty six
NFL Draft.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So I guess Nicholas thinks that they should just make
them name them the starter. I guess six.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Or we're six and four and in first place in
the division. But we're turning the page to next year already.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You know, Will Howard was added to the fifty three
man roster last week, you know, and pending the injury
prognosis for Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tominll. Wi'll deal with
that at noon today, which is Tuesday, November eighteenth. As
we're taping this, you know, he's the number three quarterback.
(12:03):
That means he'll be the emergency guy on game day
and that we were just talking about Mason Rudolph getting
little preparation. The third guy gets none virtually. So the
other thing about Will Howard is I mean, he was
injured before the preseason ever even started. So this guy
(12:24):
hasn't taken a snap nothing, right, nothing, And so I mean,
how can you if the Steelers when they get to
next April. Okay, Aaron Rodgers will have made his decision
about his future, whether he's interested in playing any again
(12:45):
or he's done or whatever that might be. Also, free
agency will be pretty much over in terms of the
top tier players at all the positions. The Steelers also
will have been pretty much done with their evaluations of
all the college draft eligible people. Their board will be
(13:08):
up all of that stuff. Okay, so are you telling
me that when the draft comes around and all of
this is done, if the Steeler's turn comes in the
first round, or if they have an opportunity to make
a trade in the first round where they can get
a quarterback that they have scouted and vetted and have
(13:31):
highly rated, that they should not do it because they
have Will Howard based on what that he was really
good at Ohio State two years ago, with maybe the
best roster ever assembled, or as a lot of Ohio
State's critics called it, the best roster money could buy.
(13:51):
So I mean that just makes no sense. That's I
don't know, you're hanging it on a wing and a prayer.
You know. Again, I don't have anything against Will Howard,
but there were a bunch of quarterbacks picked before him
in this draft, this past draft. So you know, it's
(14:12):
kind of like Mason Rudolph in the sense that you know,
the league speaks, you know. I remember someone in the
retail industry told me once about things. He always said, well,
customers vote at the cash register. Yeah, whatever you think
doesn't really matter, because customers vote at the cash register.
(14:34):
So if you're right and they buy it, okay. If
you're wrong and they don't, that's the same thing they
have told you, whether you made the right decision or not.
And this is the same thing with the league. You know,
back to Mason, he was an unrestricted free agent a
couple of times nobody signed him to be their starter.
(14:55):
And so I think that it is come to be that,
you know, Mason Rudolph is a backup type quarterback in
the NFL. And as I have said, I want to
keep saying this, you know, so that everybody gets the
idea there's nothing wrong with that, it is valuable to have,
and he is valuable because he's good at it. You know,
(15:19):
I don't know what Will Howard is going to be,
but you know, just because Tom Brady made it great
into greatness as a six round pick doesn't mean every
six round pick is going to is going to follow
that path. So if the Steelers have an opportunity to
pick a quarterback they have hiring their draft board next April,
and they pass on that because of Will Howard, I
(15:40):
think that would be a huge mistake.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, our next question from Larry Lash from Trent MPa
actually feeds into a lot of the stuff that you
just answered there. It's almost like you play this out, Labs,
but you don't. This is all off the top of
the head. Will Howard has no doubt or actually, Will
Howard was no doubt great in his playoff run to
the National Championship. I won't take credit from him, but
how many of his teammates were drafted into the NFL. Honestly,
(16:04):
I just want those people who keep talking about him
like he's the next Tom Brady to get an understanding
that he had a stellar supporting cast during his playoff run.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Okay, Ohio State had fourteen players drafted in twenty twenty five,
four on the first round, three on the second round,
three on the third round. So let's just let me
put it in a different context. The Buckeyes had seven
players among the first forty five picked, ten among the
first one hundred and twenty three picked. Okay, wide receiver
(16:38):
Amcca Akbuka one of Will Howard's receivers. He was nineteenth overall. Okay.
If the other starting receiver in that championship team, Jeremiah Smith,
He's going to be picked much higher than that whenever
he decides to come out for the draft, yep. I
mean he could be a top five pick, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
He's studeley.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Ohio State also had a pair of one thousand yard
rushers for twenty four season, and both Quinn Shawn Judkins
and Trayvon Henderson were second round picks in twenty twenty five.
So you know it was a great team. Oh yeah,
And again, as Larry says, I don't want to take
(17:17):
any credit away from Will Howard, who was the quarterback
during that run, but you know it's a lot like
he had to carry him on.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
His back, man, and you're seeing these buck guys that
came into the league as rookies make a ton of
impact already. A book has been so good. Judkins for
the Browns has been a bright spot. Henderson is starting
to come on for the Patriots, to the list goes
on and on.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That team was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Honestly, if they didn't win the National Championship, it would
have been such a surprise with the talent that they have.
Ron Hall from Brackney, Pennsylvania. In the November ninth edition,
I asked that answered in regard to the question about
Chris Boswell's intentional out of bounds kickoff penalty and the
better field position result. I take it that is not
a decline option penalty.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, let's just let's just, you know, pretend that it is,
and like see how it might unfold. Okay, So, uh,
the kicking team purposely kicks the ball out of bounds,
Chris Boswell in that situation, the receiving team declined declines
the penalty. Okay, So then what you're gonna kick it
over again? Okay, kicks it out of bounds again, and
(18:22):
they decline it again, and then you do it again
and again and again. Right, So I mean, it's just ridiculous.
It can't. Where does this end? Where does it end?
And if if they decline the penalty, then where do
you put the ball? Do you change the rule? You
know for this one thing, because you know the receiving
(18:45):
team was stupid enough to commit a personal file penalty
on the touchdown, and the way the rules written, you
can elect to take the ordage on the kickoff. So yeah,
I mean, it has to be an automatic, nondeclinable situation.
Let's move the game along. You know, Tom has to
get going on the postgame show. Oh man, you know,
(19:08):
be sitting there till midnight on a one o'clock kickoff?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Amen to that. Let's get me out of here as
fast as possible. That's always goal number one.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Stephen Foster from broad Stairs, United Kingdom. Are we ever
going to see Corey Trice Junior in the Black and
Gold again? When he was drafted, I remember coach Tomlin
referring to him as Joey Porter Junior as his avatars,
or him and Joey Porter Junior as his avatars, six
foot three cornerbacks with long arms who would match up
well in coverage. Since then, Trice has had a dreadful
(19:39):
time with injuries, missing part or the whole of each
season on injured reserve. I understand he's now back in
the twenty one day window, but even while we see
him to be struggling so much at cornerback, he hasn't
been activated. Are the Steelers finished with him?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Okay, I don't know that they are or not, but
I'm gonna give you some facts. Corey Trice had his
twenty one day window opened and he returned to practice
on Wednesday, October twenty ninth. Excuse me, he was a
full participant in practice that day. The following day, on
(20:14):
October thirtieth, he was a limited participant in practice. He's
not been able to practice since. I would say that's
not a very good sign.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
No, that twenty one day window now is starting to
creep closed, right, And yes, once you this week, it sometimes,
and once you get activated from that or not activated
from that window, you're done for the season. It's it
is really unfortunate because Trice played at the end of
last year LABS and I thought played decently well, including.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
In that Cincinnati game last year. Down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I thought he did a good job tackling I thought,
I thought he's shown a little bit of something. But
sometimes players just can't stay healthy and it plagues them
their entire career.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They could never get their career started because of it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
And he also had a good game against Denver early
in the season too, an interception in the end zone.
But yeah, I mean in his injuries, I mean there's
serious injuries. I mean, this is not you know, you know,
soft tissue injuries and stuff. I mean.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Like that.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, right, it's none of that stuff. I mean, it's
just very unfortunate. But I mean I just don't see
any way that you know, as I said, he can't practice,
and you know, he had these he came he had
He also had some of these injuries, these knee injuries
in college when he was a Purdue, and that was
(21:36):
one of the reasons he was a seventh round pick
because you know, big, you know, six foot three, cornered,
long arms, you know, decent ball skills. I mean, just
imagine him playing an injury injury free college career. He
would not have been a seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
And our final question today comes from Todd Tidesworth from Metropolis, Illinois.
With all the stupid questions asked of coaches on the
field at halftime or at the end of games. I
was wondering if it's mandatory that they speak to the media.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, you know, it kind of is that the interviews
are set up by the network broadcasting the game. That's
part of the rights fees contract that the network is
paying the league. So you know when we're and you
know this is in college too, so you know, that's
what we'll just talk about. The NFL, the net, whatever
(22:29):
network it is. For example, it was CBS on Sunday
the Steelers Bengals game. So the network, CBS is paying
the league, you know, as part of its multi million
dollar contract to broadcast the games. And one of the
things that you know is negotiated into that is a
whatever minute or ninety second or two minute thing with
(22:52):
the with each coach, you know, before halftime, coming out
of halftime. However, it's you know, I don't I don't
really pay any attention. So yeah, that's part of the contract.
And then that money from the broadcast contract is you know,
thrown into the pot, divided among the thirty two teams
equally split with the players. You know, it's responsible for
(23:16):
the salary cap going up and you know all that stuff.
So you know, that's it. That's it, and the part
of the coach's job is is to consent to that interview.
They do, I'm sure if they don't, you know, Roger
Goodell would not look kindly on that. I'm not saying
it would be as big a fine as Jamar Chase
is looking at, but I think there would be some
(23:39):
something done to get the coaches in attention that this
is not something that you know, you can just blow off.
Maybe the team gets fine too, and so then ownership
gets involved and says this is not something that is
to be blown off. So yeah, it's part of the job.
It's unfortunate that, you know, the questions are so as
(24:04):
Todd mentions them, how does he call them stupid? I'm
using his word, so but yeah, it's all I can
say is, if you're watching it on TV, hit the
mute button. It's only for two minutes.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Steelers and Bears in the Windy City this Sunday at
one pm. Chicago leads the NFC North, the Steelers lead
the AFC North. So it is a great matchup between
these two historic teams in the NFL and labs I
know we're not sure we're doing this on Tuesday with
the status of Aaron Rodgers, Will it be Rudolph Whillipy Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I don't know, but I do know this.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Rogers wants to play badly because he basically owns this team.
He's twenty four and five against Chicago in his career.
He loves playing in Soldier Field.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. I remember when he was with the Packers. I
think one time they were coming off the Packers were
coming off the field after beating the Bears again and
there was a little exchange with some fans. Rogers said
I own you or something like that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And then I think somebody went to his Wikipedia page
and changed his name to owner of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So he'll be trying his best to get on the field,
but you don't want to rush things. As we said
earlier in the podcast, Mason, Rudolph is certainly capable of
going into Chicago and helping navigate your team to a win.
Thanks for giving us a listen today. If you want
a question answered in a future edition, get it to
Labs now. Coverage will start at nine am with myself
and Matt Williamson on Sunday Labs will take it over
(25:33):
with Mike Presuder and Jerry Dulac at eleven leading you
in to kickoff for Labs. I'm Tom, Thanks has always
for giving us a listen on Aston answered
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