November 25, 2025 • 27 mins
Labs and Tom talk about the Steelers game vs the Bears and then get into 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):
Two division leaders did battle on Sunday afternoon in Chicago,
with the Steelers falling to the Bears thirty one to
twenty eight in a game that lived up to expectations.
It was back and forth, it was tight, Steelers had
a chance at the end, and the Bears ultimately came
up with a stop.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I didn't feel the sense of, you know, overreaction after
this game on my part, like, I can't believe you
just lost to the Bears. How could you do that?
They're eight and three and they're a team on the rise,
and you were on the road with your backup quarterback.
But it's hard to ignore the position that you are
now in because of that loss on the outside looking
in in the playoff picture.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, I mean it's it's your four and one, now
you're six and five. You know, that's not a good
stretch of the schedule or sutch of performance within the
schedule by any means. And you know, the game, specifically
(01:09):
the game against the Bears, I thought that there were,
you know a lot of areas of the Steelers performance
that had been if he maybe a little below the
line where I thought they improved upon. You know, they
they ran the ball better, they stopped the run. You know,
(01:31):
the Bears were top of the league and run running offense.
The Steelers ran the ball more effectively, more often than
the Bears did, had more yards, better average gary. The
offense ran more plays than the Bears. That had been
something that had been something of an issue. The Steelers
had more total yards, they had a better third down
(01:54):
conversion percentage, they were perfect in the red zone. You know,
there were a lot of things that you could point
to and say, oh, that's pretty good if you're just
looking at statistics. But the thing to me that was
just you know, turnovers, you know going into the game
that that's how the Bears defense lives even more so
(02:15):
than your own defense. I'm talking about the Steelers in
terms of takeaway culture. And there were like three or four,
let me just say, knucklehead penalties that you know, we're
just stupid.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You know, you had.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Nick Herbig jumping off sides nullified an interception. You had
Ben Scronic on the punt team holding he's a gunner
and he's he got flagged for holding cost you thirty
yards in field position, the illegal formation on Rudolph's run
(03:01):
to midfield in the fourth quarter. How can you not
know where to line up? I know, uh, you know
these are the kind of things.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Rogers knew from the sidelines labs that.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yes, yes, and you know Mason was out there. How
does he not night it's his job?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yes, So.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Some things like that, I mean just it's it's when
when you're losing, those are the kinds of things that
happened to you, or those are the kinds of those
are the kinds of things you do to yourself to
end up losing a game instead of winning. And you know,
we're we're at the end end of November. Now, this
is not the time for this. The season is not over.
(03:51):
But you know, I don't know it. Just after that game,
I was not very optimistic or in a good mood,
not the rest of this season. But hey, you know,
it's another day. If they beat the Bills on Sunday,
they were going to the Super Bowl. That's the way
(04:11):
the NFL is. Yeah, yep, we're back, so you know,
but as that's why they play the games.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Now, you mentioned Mason Rudolph, he did throw the interception
on his first throw of the game. He also coughed
the ball up on a stripsack. When Montez Sweet was
able to beat Darnell Washington and get to Mason Rudolph,
Steelers were driving at least had three points you'd think
in their back pocket at that point to tie the game.
And then Sweat had his big game changing play. Bears
go down to score the touchdown. Two turnovers can't be ignored,
(04:41):
and they weren't really letting him push the ball down
the field too too much. They really ignored the middle
of the field. But as far as a backup quarterback goes,
labs like I really have no problems with how Mason played.
I was a little surprised to see how many people
were so willing to kind of point the finger at him.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I mean, yes, Mason Rudolph did a lot of
good things. I mean, they were some drives. I mean,
you know, thirteen plays ninety five yards, seven plays seventy
two yards. I mean they're long scoring drives or three
of them. You know, kudos to him for playing well
enough to engineer those kinds of long drives. You know,
(05:18):
when you're snapping the ball a lot like that when
you're not, as you mentioned, not pushing the ball down
the field, and you're needing to move the ball in
smaller hunks instead of bigger chunks. You know, there's a
lot of things that have to go right, and there's
and the quarterback is at the.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Heart of that.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
But I'm not as charitable as you are in terms
of the turnovers. I thought the interception on the second
play of the game. You know, I was talking to
Mike Pursuda about this, and I was saying, you know,
first play of the game, you run for nine yards,
what are you doing throwing on second and one? He
(06:00):
made the point that you know, you have to take
some you know, chances down the field for you know,
in order to establish to the opposing defense that you're
going to do some things, you know, besides just run
the ball. Because my thought was, with all those linebackers
and you're just run the ball for two hundred and
fifty yards just you know, do the Ravens thing. But okay,
(06:25):
let's let's I'll concede that you can't run the ball
every down, all right, but on that that kind of
fifty to fifty ball, you have to throw it farther
it was underthrown. You can't underthrow a go a fifty
to fifty ball usually because the defender is is trailing.
(06:45):
So if you throw it short and make your receiver
slow down, you know you're you're bringing the defensive back
into play more than if you put it out in
front of him a little bit and he has to
go up for it. It's more of an advantage to
the reces ether And then holding the ball on that
strip sack get rid of it. I'm sorry, there's you know,
(07:08):
and Mason Rudolph's explanation for that had something to do with,
you know, a defensive tackle dropped into coverage or something.
You know, I'm not holding the ball for a defensive
tackle dropping into coverage. And if you don't think you
can get the ball the receiver, throw it at his
feet because I don't see a three pound guy diving
(07:30):
on the ground and making a hand interception. Yeah, because
you know, just turning the ball over or taking a sack,
either one of.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Those two things.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Is far worse than an incomplete pass.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
There.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And you know, again I agree with you. You know,
I thought Mason Rudolph put together two very credible performances
going back to the second half against the Bengals, and
I would list Mason Rudolphs in my opinion as one
of the best backup quarterbacks in the league. All of that,
(08:09):
but on those in that instance, you got to be
better than that.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And one last quick thing I wanted to bring up.
It's been bothering me since the game concluded on Sunday.
They had the big strip sack of Kayleb Williams in
the end zone. TJ Watt getting the ball out, Nick
her big pouncing on it touchdown for the defense. That's fantastic,
But Labs, other than that play, they really didn't get
much pressure on Kaeleb Williams. I think I saw that
one stat broke it down. They had eight total pressures
and they only had one quarterback hit in addition to
(08:36):
that strip sack in the end zone. So hey, that's
a huge play, a bigger play than you can really
expect from a defense to have. But there just wasn't
consistent pressure on Williams all day.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, and there were and again, and in addition to that,
I'm agreeing with you. The edge guys too often, at
least two or three times got pushed around the back
of the quarterback. You can't do that with this guy.
It's like doing it to Lamar Jackson. If you know,
(09:05):
your edge guys have to maintain the integrity of the pocket.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You've got to keep that guy in there. Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And that wasn't done. He ran for some I thought
important yardage in some situations.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And again, as an edge guy, you cannot allow yourself
to be pushed out like that. Stop if you have
to stop so that he cannot get out on the edge.
And those were those were, you know, in some situations.
(09:39):
I don't remember specifically, uh to be able to recite
them to you now, but when they were happening, I
thought they were they were drive continuers or they were
they were runs by Caleb Williams that put the Bears
in better down in distance situations. Then to potentially convert
the possession was upcoming. So yeah, just some as I said,
(10:06):
a lot of good play, but it was negated by
things that were very much under their control.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I thought, let's get to this week's batch of questions.
Our first one comes from Charles Formick from Alexandria, Virginia,
and how about this It has to do with Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
What a surprise.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
How can you say Mason Rudolph cannot be a starting quarterback?
He has never been given a chance to be a
starter in Pittsburgh, yet you tell me what his record
is as a starter. I don't know why everyone is
so down on him.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, my only point about Mason Rudolph has been
and continues to be. It's not me that says he
cannot be an NFL starting quarterback. It's that the rest
of the NFL teams do not see him as that.
And the reason I say that is because the times
he was an unrestricted free agent when any team could
(10:57):
have signed him to be a starting quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So it's not me saying it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I'm just pointing out teams are calling you for opinions.
No they're not, and they're also not calling Mason to
be a starting quarterback in the league either. So that's
I'm just you know, as as someone said, you know,
I don't make the news I just reported, and by
that I mean I don't. I'm not saying Mason Rudolph
(11:25):
doesn't belong in the NFL, or that he isn't an
asset to any team's roster, but not every quarterback in
the league is perceived by teams as someone capable of
being a full time starter. And since Charles wants the
record here, it is Mason Rudolph's career record with the
Steelers as a starter as a five and one. His
career NFL record as a starter is nine to nine
(11:47):
and one. Certainly not embarrassing, certainly not below the line.
But again, he's a he's a backup. He's a short
term answer to some issues that a team might have.
He's not the long term future. And I don't say
that because I'm evaluating him. I'm saying that because the
(12:09):
league has evaluated him and has determined what he is.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Jimmy Roberts from Charleston, South Carolina, wants to keep the
Mason questions going. He asks, I just wanted to express
appreciation for Mason Rudolph, toiling in the background, always ready
and the consummate professional. We are fortunate to have him. Oh,
not really a question from Jimmy, A rare observation here
on Aston.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Answered well, and I totally agree. Yes, in the NFL,
backup quarterback is more than just a job. I mean,
it's a skill set and guys who have the skill
set and are willing to develop that and work at
it can make a very lucrative, lucrative career.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You know, I hope Mason Rudolph is with this team,
you know, for years to come, in this role for
years to come. As Jimmy said, you know, uh, he's
always ready. He's the consummate professional.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He's not a.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Uh he's I don't know, He's not a He's not
a bur under anyone's saddle.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Mason Uh A good a good guy, but not a starter,
not full time anyway.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Pat Flynn from Oakdale, Pennsylvania, does any other NFL team
share it stieled with a college team? Additionally, does any
other NFL team let high school championship games be played
on their field? It seems like Akroscher Stadium gets a
lot more active use during the football season than an
average NFL field. Do you think this is detrimental to
the success of the Steelers?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You know when the Steelers when when Hinz Field which
was which what is what it was called? Then when
it was built, Dan Rooney wanted it to be an
asset to the community. He wanted it to be a
community facility. One that was you more than just a
few weekends out of fifty two when the Steelers are
at home, and the whining about the grass to me
(14:07):
is just it's way over the top. You know, this,
this notion that it needs to be like the fairways
of Augusta for these football games in the Northeast in November.
Come on, people, get over it, you know. And again
(14:28):
every time players complain about it, I would just like
to tell them, Okay, you want artificial turf, We'll put
in turf. It's cheaper, it's durable, you can have concerts
there during the football season and make money. There's all
kinds of things we could do on artificial turf. And
then tell me about how your knees feel at the.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
End of the year.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
And without you know, I wasn't going to do a
lot of research on this. But the Dolphins share their stadium,
their field with the Miami Hurricanes.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
That's one that I know for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I'm sorry you mentioned the Miami Hurricanes. I started
to almost black out with rage there with them coming
to town this weekend, those soft Miami Hurricanes coming up
here into the thirty degree weather. Okay, I digress. I
can't keep talking about Pitt Miami. Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia.
I saw your answer about artificial turf. I played on
it once in high school and hated it. My grandson's
high school has it, and he too dislikes it, and
(15:23):
they have a lot of injuries. My question is this,
how many NFL stadiums have artificial turf?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Well, I'm going to approach the question from the other direction.
There are fifteen NFL stadiums with grass fields. State Farm Stadium,
that's Arizona Cardinals, M and T. Banks Stadium, the Ravens,
Soldier Field, the Bears. And for those people who watched
the Steelers Bears game, did you notice how often, either
(15:54):
when the ball would hit or you know, players would
stop on the grass or anything, you'd see a patch
of sand.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, just like a stadium.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
First Energy Stadium, that's the Browns, Mile High, the Broncos,
lambeau Field, the Packers, and the Packers. You know, lambeau
Field is like a shrine. No one's allowed on that
grass at all except for games. NFL games. So when
when you see a lambeau Field and say, boy, that's
(16:27):
beautiful grass, you know for that stadium, Well, that's fine.
No one else is allowed to touch it. That's unique,
right it is? Uh t i A a bankfield in Jacksonville,
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas hard Rock Stadium,
the Dolphins, which I just mentioned the link, the Eagles
(16:49):
Akro Sure, the Steelers Levi Stadium, the Niners Raymond j
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, and Northwest Stadium used to
be FedEx Field, the Washington Commanders. Those are grass surfaces
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
You know, going back to our previous question too, this
just got triggered in my head because you brought up
Raymond James Stadium in this answer. They too share a
field with the college team Labs. The South Florida Bowls
play their games at Raymond James Stadium. So there's a
little nugget for you out there, Mike.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
And let me let me just grow this a little
easier to grow grass in Florida in November.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Then thanks.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, Mike Foster from Yua Beach, Hawaii, what are your
thoughts on the tush push? If I'm not mistaken, the
line has to be lined up between the center's belt
to his shoulder pads. Basically behind his helmet. On this
and other similar plays, the O line is lined up
with the center's helmet, which is lined up with the ball,
which makes them off sides. Most of the O line
(17:48):
also moves early, which makes it a false start on
top of an offensive penalty.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, Okay, I'm old enough to remember when it was
just a penalty for the offense to have players.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Pushould otherwise ad the guy with the football. Okay, that
was fifteen yards.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I've never been in favor of the tush push, and somehow,
at some point NFL officials just stopped blowing the whistle
to rule that forward progress has stopped, Okay, and so
now it's just a constant series of rugby scrums. It seems,
(18:28):
you know, since the officials now no longer stop forward progress,
they've also lost the ability to officiate the tushbush. I mean,
we see a lot of instances of replays where there
is a false starting on the offense offsides on the defense.
(18:51):
Or in the Steeler game, the Steelers got screwed. Connor
Heyward made that the line a game.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
He got pushed over.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Right, But you know, if you notice the way we
see all of these things or or are become aware
of them. The penalties on the tush push or the
faulty ball spotting is from cameras overhead, the officials down
standing down on the field, and hey, I'm no fan
(19:20):
of the officials, as you know, but those guys in
that situation, they can't you can't see that. There's too
many people in the way. How can you see a
false start when you know twelve, I don't know. Let's see,
there's probably about there's twenty two people on the field.
I'd say there's about nineteen people in that one small area,
(19:42):
and you're supposed to see whether guard next to the
center has jumped the calm a little bit. It's impossible
to secondly, right right ban the play. You can't appreciate it.
And it's there are constantly things being shown that should
have been called or were wrongly called, or you know,
(20:05):
the spotting was faulty. They can't deal with it. Just
just ban the play, go back to the old rule
and all of this other stuff. Blow the whistle when
forward progress has stopped, and you know, then you prevent
offensive lineman from you know, for example, a running back
or a receiver, say catches a six yard pass and
(20:27):
he's running and he gets stopped by two defensive players,
but he doesn't go down. So because the officials don't
blow the whistle to stop forward progress, offensive linemen come
down and start pushing him forward. Blow the whistle stop
forward progress. And if a guy comes up and tries
to push the pile or move the pile, throw a
(20:49):
penalty flag. That'll stop that stuff really quick.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Our final question today comes from Dana Fisher from Rockport, Maine.
The Steelers signed as Sante sam Junior to the practice
squad this week, and I know normally any team can
sign a player from another team's practice squad to their
fifty three man roster. Is there a timeframe that the
Steelers will have to call him up to the fifty
three man roster or could they lose him immediately if
another team wants him on its roster?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Assante Samuel has been an unrestricted free agent since March eleventh,
twenty twenty five. Okay, so any team that wanted to
sign him has had plenty of opportunity. Now, complicating Samuel's
situation was that he had spinal fusion surgery in April,
(21:38):
and so then after that there was a period of
rehabilitation required certainly from that procedure. Then he had to
be cleared to participate in football again. All this time,
he's a free agent. Nobody wants him. So even after
he was cleared, there was a period that he he
(22:00):
was still a free agent. He was on the open market,
and so teams made some offers. I don't know if
there were any other offers. Let me say this, he
chose the Steelers. He signed. He was put on the
practice squad because the guy hasn't played any football since
twenty twenty four and spinal fusion surgery. I mean, I'm
(22:24):
no medical expert, but I can't imagine that's like getting
your wisdom teeth out. So you're trying to figure out,
you know, and he needs to get his football legs
back and all that kind of stuff. All right now,
he's on the practice squad. He's not if a team
wants to sign him, they would have to put him
(22:47):
on their active roster for at least three games. You
can't sign if a guy's on a team's practice squad
and you want to sign him, you have to put
him on your roster. You can't put him on your
practice squad. Too, and so there's that as Sante Samuel
and other players on the practice squad do not have
to go. It's not like being claimed on waivers. If
(23:09):
you're claimed on waivers, you have to go to the
team that claims you, or you don't play. If you're
on a practice squad, you can just stay where you are. Now,
that doesn't happen very often because the difference in pay
is significant from practice squad pay per week and regular
season game chay game checks pay per week. So, you know,
(23:35):
I just don't see there being a lot of interest
in this guy all of a sudden because some other
team added him to their practice squad. If another team
thought he was such a good deal, maybe they would
have gone in the in the bidding, you know, once
he was cleared to play. So I think this is
(23:56):
just a fan created something to work worry about. It's
really not that real. And as I said, I don't
know that a Sante Samuel would go to it, just
go to another team that had no interest in him,
and now all of a sudden they're interested, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Maybe I'm wrong, but and I do think that at
some point he's going to be put on the active roster,
or at least he would have a future here because again,
the guy who did the surgery is the Steelers neurosurgeon,
doctor David Aquonko. So you know his doctor's here looking
(24:42):
at after him too, which I'm sure isn't necessarily a
bad thing for somebody who had spinal fusion surgery. That
sounds pretty serious to me.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Steelers will try to bounce back with a win against
the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Akroser Stadium. But before
we get to Sunday, we have a day of rather
importance that we have to get to. Thanksgiving is this Thursday, Labs.
It's a big deal to me. It's one of my favorite,
if not my favorite holiday. Are you like me? Where
you think the sides for the dinner are the stars
of the show more so than the turkey.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
It's a tie.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I mean, I like I like the sides, you know,
I like everything about the meal. Let me ask you this, though,
let me throw this at you. Yes, Ham, do you
have ham on Thanksgiving? Not a Ham family?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, with strictly turkey?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yes? Okay, So if you ever invite me, I'll come over.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Perfect now, I have another one to throw at you,
because this isn't always on the table. Are you a
mac and cheese family, a mac and cheese household?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
No, we are not.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
We are not either. It looks like we have similar households, labs.
We'd get together and get along real well.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Well, you know, in our our family, my family history,
as you might know by the fact that my last
as in a vial at our house macaroni had red
sauce on it. Yeah, it was kind of an unofficial rule.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That was fine. My mother's sauce was spectacic.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh, I'm sure it was fantastic. The last question I
have for you, are you a cranberry sauce guy that
can always be a little bit of a volatile side
on Thanksgiving Day? Not me, No, no, see, I'm a
cranberry guy, but I'm like, I don't like the you know,
gourmet homemade cranberry sauce. Want the jello out.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Of the can?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, at a boy.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And then of course there's booze on top of all
this that might be actually the main course on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Let me ask you what kind of pie you eating?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm a pumpkin pie guy strictly.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah. Well, I don't.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I don't hate pumpkin pie, but I love apple pie,
so that's my preference.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
If you are an eater, Thursday is your day, that's
for sure. We got some great football all Day three
as well. That'll do it for us on Asden Answered.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and enjoy Steelers versus Bills on
Sunday Labs, and I'll be back again next week with
another edition of Asden Answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upperman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Two division leaders did battle on Sunday afternoon in Chicago,
with the Steelers falling to the Bears thirty one to
twenty eight in a game that lived up to expectations.
It was back and forth, it was tight, Steelers had
a chance at the end, and the Bears ultimately came
up with a stop.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I didn't feel the sense of, you know, overreaction after
this game on my part, like, I can't believe you
just lost to the Bears. How could you do that?
They're eight and three and they're a team on the rise,
and you were on the road with your backup quarterback.
But it's hard to ignore the position that you are
now in because of that loss on the outside looking
in in the playoff picture.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, I mean it's it's your four and one, now
you're six and five. You know, that's not a good
stretch of the schedule or sutch of performance within the
schedule by any means. And you know, the game, specifically
(01:09):
the game against the Bears, I thought that there were,
you know a lot of areas of the Steelers performance
that had been if he maybe a little below the
line where I thought they improved upon. You know, they
they ran the ball better, they stopped the run. You know,
(01:31):
the Bears were top of the league and run running offense.
The Steelers ran the ball more effectively, more often than
the Bears did, had more yards, better average gary. The
offense ran more plays than the Bears. That had been
something that had been something of an issue. The Steelers
had more total yards, they had a better third down
(01:54):
conversion percentage, they were perfect in the red zone. You know,
there were a lot of things that you could point
to and say, oh, that's pretty good if you're just
looking at statistics. But the thing to me that was
just you know, turnovers, you know going into the game
that that's how the Bears defense lives even more so
(02:15):
than your own defense. I'm talking about the Steelers in
terms of takeaway culture. And there were like three or four,
let me just say, knucklehead penalties that you know, we're
just stupid.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You know, you had.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Nick Herbig jumping off sides nullified an interception. You had
Ben Scronic on the punt team holding he's a gunner
and he's he got flagged for holding cost you thirty
yards in field position, the illegal formation on Rudolph's run
(03:01):
to midfield in the fourth quarter. How can you not
know where to line up? I know, uh, you know
these are the kind of things.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Rogers knew from the sidelines labs that.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yes, yes, and you know Mason was out there. How
does he not night it's his job?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yes, So.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Some things like that, I mean just it's it's when
when you're losing, those are the kinds of things that
happened to you, or those are the kinds of those
are the kinds of things you do to yourself to
end up losing a game instead of winning. And you know,
we're we're at the end end of November. Now, this
is not the time for this. The season is not over.
(03:51):
But you know, I don't know it. Just after that game,
I was not very optimistic or in a good mood,
not the rest of this season. But hey, you know,
it's another day. If they beat the Bills on Sunday,
they were going to the Super Bowl. That's the way
(04:11):
the NFL is. Yeah, yep, we're back, so you know,
but as that's why they play the games.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Now, you mentioned Mason Rudolph, he did throw the interception
on his first throw of the game. He also coughed
the ball up on a stripsack. When Montez Sweet was
able to beat Darnell Washington and get to Mason Rudolph,
Steelers were driving at least had three points you'd think
in their back pocket at that point to tie the game.
And then Sweat had his big game changing play. Bears
go down to score the touchdown. Two turnovers can't be ignored,
(04:41):
and they weren't really letting him push the ball down
the field too too much. They really ignored the middle
of the field. But as far as a backup quarterback goes,
labs like I really have no problems with how Mason played.
I was a little surprised to see how many people
were so willing to kind of point the finger at him.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I mean, yes, Mason Rudolph did a lot of
good things. I mean, they were some drives. I mean,
you know, thirteen plays ninety five yards, seven plays seventy
two yards. I mean they're long scoring drives or three
of them. You know, kudos to him for playing well
enough to engineer those kinds of long drives. You know,
(05:18):
when you're snapping the ball a lot like that when
you're not, as you mentioned, not pushing the ball down
the field, and you're needing to move the ball in
smaller hunks instead of bigger chunks. You know, there's a
lot of things that have to go right, and there's
and the quarterback is at the.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Heart of that.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
But I'm not as charitable as you are in terms
of the turnovers. I thought the interception on the second
play of the game. You know, I was talking to
Mike Pursuda about this, and I was saying, you know,
first play of the game, you run for nine yards,
what are you doing throwing on second and one? He
(06:00):
made the point that you know, you have to take
some you know, chances down the field for you know,
in order to establish to the opposing defense that you're
going to do some things, you know, besides just run
the ball. Because my thought was, with all those linebackers
and you're just run the ball for two hundred and
fifty yards just you know, do the Ravens thing. But okay,
(06:25):
let's let's I'll concede that you can't run the ball
every down, all right, but on that that kind of
fifty to fifty ball, you have to throw it farther
it was underthrown. You can't underthrow a go a fifty
to fifty ball usually because the defender is is trailing.
(06:45):
So if you throw it short and make your receiver
slow down, you know you're you're bringing the defensive back
into play more than if you put it out in
front of him a little bit and he has to
go up for it. It's more of an advantage to
the reces ether And then holding the ball on that
strip sack get rid of it. I'm sorry, there's you know,
(07:08):
and Mason Rudolph's explanation for that had something to do with,
you know, a defensive tackle dropped into coverage or something.
You know, I'm not holding the ball for a defensive
tackle dropping into coverage. And if you don't think you
can get the ball the receiver, throw it at his
feet because I don't see a three pound guy diving
(07:30):
on the ground and making a hand interception. Yeah, because
you know, just turning the ball over or taking a sack,
either one of.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Those two things.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Is far worse than an incomplete pass.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
There.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And you know, again I agree with you. You know,
I thought Mason Rudolph put together two very credible performances
going back to the second half against the Bengals, and
I would list Mason Rudolphs in my opinion as one
of the best backup quarterbacks in the league. All of that,
(08:09):
but on those in that instance, you got to be
better than that.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And one last quick thing I wanted to bring up.
It's been bothering me since the game concluded on Sunday.
They had the big strip sack of Kayleb Williams in
the end zone. TJ Watt getting the ball out, Nick
her big pouncing on it touchdown for the defense. That's fantastic,
But Labs, other than that play, they really didn't get
much pressure on Kaeleb Williams. I think I saw that
one stat broke it down. They had eight total pressures
and they only had one quarterback hit in addition to
(08:36):
that strip sack in the end zone. So hey, that's
a huge play, a bigger play than you can really
expect from a defense to have. But there just wasn't
consistent pressure on Williams all day.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, and there were and again, and in addition to that,
I'm agreeing with you. The edge guys too often, at
least two or three times got pushed around the back
of the quarterback. You can't do that with this guy.
It's like doing it to Lamar Jackson. If you know,
(09:05):
your edge guys have to maintain the integrity of the pocket.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You've got to keep that guy in there. Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And that wasn't done. He ran for some I thought
important yardage in some situations.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And again, as an edge guy, you cannot allow yourself
to be pushed out like that. Stop if you have
to stop so that he cannot get out on the edge.
And those were those were, you know, in some situations.
(09:39):
I don't remember specifically, uh to be able to recite
them to you now, but when they were happening, I
thought they were they were drive continuers or they were
they were runs by Caleb Williams that put the Bears
in better down in distance situations. Then to potentially convert
the possession was upcoming. So yeah, just some as I said,
(10:06):
a lot of good play, but it was negated by
things that were very much under their control.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I thought, let's get to this week's batch of questions.
Our first one comes from Charles Formick from Alexandria, Virginia,
and how about this It has to do with Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
What a surprise.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
How can you say Mason Rudolph cannot be a starting quarterback?
He has never been given a chance to be a
starter in Pittsburgh, yet you tell me what his record
is as a starter. I don't know why everyone is
so down on him.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, my only point about Mason Rudolph has been
and continues to be. It's not me that says he
cannot be an NFL starting quarterback. It's that the rest
of the NFL teams do not see him as that.
And the reason I say that is because the times
he was an unrestricted free agent when any team could
(10:57):
have signed him to be a starting quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So it's not me saying it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I'm just pointing out teams are calling you for opinions.
No they're not, and they're also not calling Mason to
be a starting quarterback in the league either. So that's
I'm just you know, as as someone said, you know,
I don't make the news I just reported, and by
that I mean I don't. I'm not saying Mason Rudolph
(11:25):
doesn't belong in the NFL, or that he isn't an
asset to any team's roster, but not every quarterback in
the league is perceived by teams as someone capable of
being a full time starter. And since Charles wants the
record here, it is Mason Rudolph's career record with the
Steelers as a starter as a five and one. His
career NFL record as a starter is nine to nine
(11:47):
and one. Certainly not embarrassing, certainly not below the line.
But again, he's a he's a backup. He's a short
term answer to some issues that a team might have.
He's not the long term future. And I don't say
that because I'm evaluating him. I'm saying that because the
(12:09):
league has evaluated him and has determined what he is.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Jimmy Roberts from Charleston, South Carolina, wants to keep the
Mason questions going. He asks, I just wanted to express
appreciation for Mason Rudolph, toiling in the background, always ready
and the consummate professional. We are fortunate to have him. Oh,
not really a question from Jimmy, A rare observation here
on Aston.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Answered well, and I totally agree. Yes, in the NFL,
backup quarterback is more than just a job. I mean,
it's a skill set and guys who have the skill
set and are willing to develop that and work at
it can make a very lucrative, lucrative career.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You know, I hope Mason Rudolph is with this team,
you know, for years to come, in this role for
years to come. As Jimmy said, you know, uh, he's
always ready. He's the consummate professional.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He's not a.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Uh he's I don't know, He's not a He's not
a bur under anyone's saddle.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Mason Uh A good a good guy, but not a starter,
not full time anyway.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Pat Flynn from Oakdale, Pennsylvania, does any other NFL team
share it stieled with a college team? Additionally, does any
other NFL team let high school championship games be played
on their field? It seems like Akroscher Stadium gets a
lot more active use during the football season than an
average NFL field. Do you think this is detrimental to
the success of the Steelers?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You know when the Steelers when when Hinz Field which
was which what is what it was called? Then when
it was built, Dan Rooney wanted it to be an
asset to the community. He wanted it to be a
community facility. One that was you more than just a
few weekends out of fifty two when the Steelers are
at home, and the whining about the grass to me
(14:07):
is just it's way over the top. You know, this,
this notion that it needs to be like the fairways
of Augusta for these football games in the Northeast in November.
Come on, people, get over it, you know. And again
(14:28):
every time players complain about it, I would just like
to tell them, Okay, you want artificial turf, We'll put
in turf. It's cheaper, it's durable, you can have concerts
there during the football season and make money. There's all
kinds of things we could do on artificial turf. And
then tell me about how your knees feel at the.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
End of the year.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
And without you know, I wasn't going to do a
lot of research on this. But the Dolphins share their stadium,
their field with the Miami Hurricanes.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
That's one that I know for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I'm sorry you mentioned the Miami Hurricanes. I started
to almost black out with rage there with them coming
to town this weekend, those soft Miami Hurricanes coming up
here into the thirty degree weather. Okay, I digress. I
can't keep talking about Pitt Miami. Lee Johnson from Midland, Virginia.
I saw your answer about artificial turf. I played on
it once in high school and hated it. My grandson's
high school has it, and he too dislikes it, and
(15:23):
they have a lot of injuries. My question is this,
how many NFL stadiums have artificial turf?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Well, I'm going to approach the question from the other direction.
There are fifteen NFL stadiums with grass fields. State Farm Stadium,
that's Arizona Cardinals, M and T. Banks Stadium, the Ravens,
Soldier Field, the Bears. And for those people who watched
the Steelers Bears game, did you notice how often, either
(15:54):
when the ball would hit or you know, players would
stop on the grass or anything, you'd see a patch
of sand.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, just like a stadium.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
First Energy Stadium, that's the Browns, Mile High, the Broncos,
lambeau Field, the Packers, and the Packers. You know, lambeau
Field is like a shrine. No one's allowed on that
grass at all except for games. NFL games. So when
when you see a lambeau Field and say, boy, that's
(16:27):
beautiful grass, you know for that stadium, Well, that's fine.
No one else is allowed to touch it. That's unique,
right it is? Uh t i A a bankfield in Jacksonville,
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas hard Rock Stadium,
the Dolphins, which I just mentioned the link, the Eagles
(16:49):
Akro Sure, the Steelers Levi Stadium, the Niners Raymond j
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, and Northwest Stadium used to
be FedEx Field, the Washington Commanders. Those are grass surfaces
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
You know, going back to our previous question too, this
just got triggered in my head because you brought up
Raymond James Stadium in this answer. They too share a
field with the college team Labs. The South Florida Bowls
play their games at Raymond James Stadium. So there's a
little nugget for you out there, Mike.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
And let me let me just grow this a little
easier to grow grass in Florida in November.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Then thanks.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, Mike Foster from Yua Beach, Hawaii, what are your
thoughts on the tush push? If I'm not mistaken, the
line has to be lined up between the center's belt
to his shoulder pads. Basically behind his helmet. On this
and other similar plays, the O line is lined up
with the center's helmet, which is lined up with the ball,
which makes them off sides. Most of the O line
(17:48):
also moves early, which makes it a false start on
top of an offensive penalty.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, Okay, I'm old enough to remember when it was
just a penalty for the offense to have players.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Pushould otherwise ad the guy with the football. Okay, that
was fifteen yards.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I've never been in favor of the tush push, and somehow,
at some point NFL officials just stopped blowing the whistle
to rule that forward progress has stopped, Okay, and so
now it's just a constant series of rugby scrums. It seems,
(18:28):
you know, since the officials now no longer stop forward progress,
they've also lost the ability to officiate the tushbush. I mean,
we see a lot of instances of replays where there
is a false starting on the offense offsides on the defense.
(18:51):
Or in the Steeler game, the Steelers got screwed. Connor
Heyward made that the line a game.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
He got pushed over.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Right, But you know, if you notice the way we
see all of these things or or are become aware
of them. The penalties on the tush push or the
faulty ball spotting is from cameras overhead, the officials down
standing down on the field, and hey, I'm no fan
(19:20):
of the officials, as you know, but those guys in
that situation, they can't you can't see that. There's too
many people in the way. How can you see a
false start when you know twelve, I don't know. Let's see,
there's probably about there's twenty two people on the field.
I'd say there's about nineteen people in that one small area,
(19:42):
and you're supposed to see whether guard next to the
center has jumped the calm a little bit. It's impossible
to secondly, right right ban the play. You can't appreciate it.
And it's there are constantly things being shown that should
have been called or were wrongly called, or you know,
(20:05):
the spotting was faulty. They can't deal with it. Just
just ban the play, go back to the old rule
and all of this other stuff. Blow the whistle when
forward progress has stopped, and you know, then you prevent
offensive lineman from you know, for example, a running back
or a receiver, say catches a six yard pass and
(20:27):
he's running and he gets stopped by two defensive players,
but he doesn't go down. So because the officials don't
blow the whistle to stop forward progress, offensive linemen come
down and start pushing him forward. Blow the whistle stop
forward progress. And if a guy comes up and tries
to push the pile or move the pile, throw a
(20:49):
penalty flag. That'll stop that stuff really quick.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Our final question today comes from Dana Fisher from Rockport, Maine.
The Steelers signed as Sante sam Junior to the practice
squad this week, and I know normally any team can
sign a player from another team's practice squad to their
fifty three man roster. Is there a timeframe that the
Steelers will have to call him up to the fifty
three man roster or could they lose him immediately if
another team wants him on its roster?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Assante Samuel has been an unrestricted free agent since March eleventh,
twenty twenty five. Okay, so any team that wanted to
sign him has had plenty of opportunity. Now, complicating Samuel's
situation was that he had spinal fusion surgery in April,
(21:38):
and so then after that there was a period of
rehabilitation required certainly from that procedure. Then he had to
be cleared to participate in football again. All this time,
he's a free agent. Nobody wants him. So even after
he was cleared, there was a period that he he
(22:00):
was still a free agent. He was on the open market,
and so teams made some offers. I don't know if
there were any other offers. Let me say this, he
chose the Steelers. He signed. He was put on the
practice squad because the guy hasn't played any football since
twenty twenty four and spinal fusion surgery. I mean, I'm
(22:24):
no medical expert, but I can't imagine that's like getting
your wisdom teeth out. So you're trying to figure out,
you know, and he needs to get his football legs
back and all that kind of stuff. All right now,
he's on the practice squad. He's not if a team
wants to sign him, they would have to put him
(22:47):
on their active roster for at least three games. You
can't sign if a guy's on a team's practice squad
and you want to sign him, you have to put
him on your roster. You can't put him on your
practice squad. Too, and so there's that as Sante Samuel
and other players on the practice squad do not have
to go. It's not like being claimed on waivers. If
(23:09):
you're claimed on waivers, you have to go to the
team that claims you, or you don't play. If you're
on a practice squad, you can just stay where you are. Now,
that doesn't happen very often because the difference in pay
is significant from practice squad pay per week and regular
season game chay game checks pay per week. So, you know,
(23:35):
I just don't see there being a lot of interest
in this guy all of a sudden because some other
team added him to their practice squad. If another team
thought he was such a good deal, maybe they would
have gone in the in the bidding, you know, once
he was cleared to play. So I think this is
(23:56):
just a fan created something to work worry about. It's
really not that real. And as I said, I don't
know that a Sante Samuel would go to it, just
go to another team that had no interest in him,
and now all of a sudden they're interested, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Maybe I'm wrong, but and I do think that at
some point he's going to be put on the active roster,
or at least he would have a future here because again,
the guy who did the surgery is the Steelers neurosurgeon,
doctor David Aquonko. So you know his doctor's here looking
(24:42):
at after him too, which I'm sure isn't necessarily a
bad thing for somebody who had spinal fusion surgery. That
sounds pretty serious to me.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Steelers will try to bounce back with a win against
the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Akroser Stadium. But before
we get to Sunday, we have a day of rather
importance that we have to get to. Thanksgiving is this Thursday, Labs.
It's a big deal to me. It's one of my favorite,
if not my favorite holiday. Are you like me? Where
you think the sides for the dinner are the stars
of the show more so than the turkey.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
It's a tie.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I mean, I like I like the sides, you know,
I like everything about the meal. Let me ask you this, though,
let me throw this at you. Yes, Ham, do you
have ham on Thanksgiving? Not a Ham family?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, with strictly turkey?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yes? Okay, So if you ever invite me, I'll come over.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Perfect now, I have another one to throw at you,
because this isn't always on the table. Are you a
mac and cheese family, a mac and cheese household?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
No, we are not.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
We are not either. It looks like we have similar households, labs.
We'd get together and get along real well.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Well, you know, in our our family, my family history,
as you might know by the fact that my last
as in a vial at our house macaroni had red
sauce on it. Yeah, it was kind of an unofficial rule.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That was fine. My mother's sauce was spectacic.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh, I'm sure it was fantastic. The last question I
have for you, are you a cranberry sauce guy that
can always be a little bit of a volatile side
on Thanksgiving Day? Not me, No, no, see, I'm a
cranberry guy, but I'm like, I don't like the you know,
gourmet homemade cranberry sauce. Want the jello out.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Of the can?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, at a boy.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And then of course there's booze on top of all
this that might be actually the main course on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Let me ask you what kind of pie you eating?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm a pumpkin pie guy strictly.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah. Well, I don't.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I don't hate pumpkin pie, but I love apple pie,
so that's my preference.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
If you are an eater, Thursday is your day, that's
for sure. We got some great football all Day three
as well. That'll do it for us on Asden Answered.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and enjoy Steelers versus Bills on
Sunday Labs, and I'll be back again next week with
another edition of Asden Answered
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