September 26, 2023 • 29 mins
Tom and Labs react to the Steelers win over Vegas on Sunday Night Football, and then get into this weeks batch of questions from Steelers Nation.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Steelers get to win over the Raiders on Sunday Night Football.
Two and one is their record now on the season,
first road win under their belt as well, although Labs,
it's hard for me to call it a road win.
It didn't really feel like a road game out there
in Vegas. Knew a lot of people that went out there.
The Morning Show, some friends that work there, one Jacob
Wreck to name drop saying it was like a sixty
(00:32):
split in favor of the Black and Gold out in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, you know, and I remember this back, you know,
when the schedule came out in May that I knew
people who were on you know, whatever secondary ticket market,
and you know, all the airline websites they were booking
their trips that night, you know. And and you know,
(00:59):
the schedule releases something like seven o'clock, I think on
NFL network or something, and I mean typical airlines. The
prices went up like after from you know, I if
for some reason you would have been able to book
your flight at six o'clock, say then it was X price.
(01:23):
If you both booked it at seven point fifteen. So
the schedule came out, it was like two hundred bucks more.
So there's that, you know, plus rooms. You know, Vegas
is it's not exactly like nobody goes there, whether there's
an NFL game or not. And then ticket prices, you know,
(01:43):
I heard some ridiculous numbers on those you know, secondary
market ticket prices. So yeah, you know, And so it
was it was a destination, first ever game for the
Steelers in Las Vegas. You know, Steelers fans to travel
and you know a lot of West Coast Steelers fans.
(02:04):
That's you know, a good if you you know, live
around there, you know you'd rather go to Vegas maybe
than you know, Seattle or you know whatever, just in
terms of if you want to put a little week
long weekend together, someone have some fun. And from what
I understand too, you know, I'm part of the pregame
(02:25):
show and I was listening to you know, Missy Matthews
do her view from the sideline with my PURSUITA and
you know she's talking about all the celebrities there and
the halftime show and Lil Wayne, and I mean, you know,
I'm too, I'm too old for all that stuff. But
you know they put on a show too, So it's Vegas, baby,
(02:47):
So yeah, it doesn't really surprise me that it would
be an attractive road trip. And you know, I remember
back from you know, back in the old days when
I never missed a road game. Steelers fans, I mean,
they're they travel I mean, or not so much. It's
(03:10):
not so And when I say that, I don't mean
people from Pittsburgh. All those people there aren't from Pittsburgh.
But you know, they're Steelers fans all over the country,
all over the world. And not coincidentally, just so we're
talking about craziness with terrible tiles. Over the weekend, there
was a watch party in Mexico which was very very
(03:34):
well attended. So yeah, it was. It was. It was
a very representative weekend for Steelers fans, and not just
in Vegas, but also you know, in other countries too well.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I liked what T. J. Watt said after the game.
Anytime that you can get the home team to use
a silent count in their own stadium, that's pretty cool.
That feels pretty good as Steelers players on the sideline
to feel that support from the visiting crowd, I you know, and.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I remember that happening in places where you would never
think that that would ever happen, you know, Dallas once, yeah,
uh and Washington, you know, back before Daniel Snyder took
a torpedo to that franchise. But yeah, And I just
(04:29):
wonder if those teams ever prepare.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
For that, like in practice leading up.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, yeah, Like I mean are they Because you go
to Steelers practice before they're going to Kansas City as
an example, and you'll you know, you can hear them
doing the the tomahawk chop chant. I mean, they had
been blair that over the speakers all through practice. But
I just wonder if you know other teams, you know,
(04:54):
and it's not like you play the Raiders all the time.
It's not like going to Baltimore or anything where you know,
you always play home and home. But I just wonder
if Josh McDaniels had, you know, it was blaring music
for his offense. Hey, who knows, maybe the music was
(05:15):
blaring in his ear when you decided to kick that.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Feld just stole the joke out of my mouth. I mean,
what the heck?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Sorry, I know that you ever see.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Something like that though, before get into the questions. I mean,
that was just some weird math that he was doing there.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I was, I was, I was really relieved that they
did that. You know. Well, well not only that, but
I mean I'm thinking, you know what was it fourth
and not very long and.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
They were really moving the ball down the field a
lot of momentum.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, and a lot of help from the zebras. I'll
tell you that at that point too. I don't want,
I don't want to get into any conspiracy theories about that,
but yeah, it just seemed to me that it was
more difficult for the Raiders to complete the comeback after
a kickoff and then needing to score another touchdown. You know.
(06:10):
So again, as I said, I was happy when they
did that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I think we all were, and the Steelers improved to
two and one on the season. Let's get to this
week's batch of questions.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Our first one comes, Wait a minute before before we
do that. Yeah, yeah, we do these. We do this
every week. The one we did after the forty nine
Ers game. If I would have said to you, hey,
calm down, because two weeks from now the Steelers will
be in first place in their division, what would you
have said to.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
That I wouldn't have believed you. I would have called
you crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, well, and you would have been been justified. Well,
this it's a weird league.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's a weird let's just say, well, it's a.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It's a weird league. I mean, you know, Arizona just
beat Doubts, so that's a weird leg.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That was hilarious too.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Okay, Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Go back to doing
your job.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Gabe Kennedy from DeForest, Wisconsin has our first question. He asks,
I seem to recall on a previous asked and answered
that there's a story about Chuck Nole that when a
rookie asked him to give a pregame speech, Noel said
something along the lines of quote, if you're a professional,
you shouldn't need me to motivate you. Is this even
remotely correct?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well kind of, but let me just clear up some
of the particulars in the details. The teller of the
story was Andy Russell, an outside linebacker who's still His
career spanned from nineteen sixty three through seventy six, and
he was one of only five players who was there
(07:47):
in nineteen sixty nine. At that's when Chuck Nole had
his first team meeting with his new group of players,
and he told them in that meeting, we're going to
win a Super Bowl, but most of you guys in
the room aren't good enough to be here when we do. Welcome,
Welcome to Pittsburgh. But Andy Russell was one of those guys. Okay,
(08:09):
And but he was talking, you know. Andy Russell was
not only a football player, but he was a pretty
good author too. He wrote some books that I read
or they were pretty good. But anyway, it was about
the issue of Chuck Nole's belief or disdain for, you know,
(08:33):
motivational speeches. You know, get the guys fired up before
the before the game, you know, the all you hear
a lot of fans say, you know, they look so
the coach looks so dead on the sideline. Why isn't
he you know, more emotional? Well when when when that
subject came up with regards to Chuck Noll, Andy Russell's
(08:53):
quote was he would tell you, my job is to
teach you how to play this game correctly. I will
never give you a motivational speech. If I have to
motivate you, I will fire you.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And in a weird way, that's kind of the motivation
that you need, right, I don't want to lose my job.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Well, yeah, Catherin Nole's philosophy was you know all that
raw ross stuff that ended after the opening kickoff, you know,
in the first contact was made. You know, then you
have to like fall back on your technique, you know
how you what you have learned, you know, studied over
the week about the opponent, your own play, that kind
(09:32):
of stuff. That's what wins games in professional football. You know,
that raw ross stuff might work, you know, remember the
Titans and that stuff on TV movies high school maybe,
but in the NFL, that's not what wins for you
on a consistent basis.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Matt Ryan, I don't think it's that. Matt Ryan from Sarasota,
Florida asks what the Steelers run defense always getting gashed?
Why do they not run out of the three four
base defense more often?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Matt? That's because those opponents are notorious for not always
being cooperative. Is yes, uh, you know it's and it's
really that simple. I mean, you put your because what
happens is, you know, the defense puts their whatever personnel
on the field, and the offense not that you know,
(10:23):
it's it's not a situation. You know, in the NFL,
when you change personnel, then the other team gets time
to answer your change. So what I mean, I'm not
saying that the offense can change personnel, but what they
do is they just deploy what's already on the field
in a different way and then just not do you
(10:44):
know what your personnel is best out there to stop?
You know, and this has been going on for decades now.
You know, for example, I'm sure that the San Francisco
forty nine ers can adjust whatever they have have out
on the field to either run or pass quickly, right,
(11:05):
you know, with the sideline the quarterback communication doesn't take
very long. You just call the place or you have
a formation that you know puts guys in bad situations.
You end up with an inside linebacker covering a wide
receiver or something, and you're host. So that's why I mean,
(11:25):
you cannot count on the other team cooperating with your
plan when you're the defense. And really it's that simple.
And then that's another reason why you know offense will
use pace because, as Mike Tomlin always says, the game
is dictated by the offense how fast it's played, whichever team.
(11:47):
It is because if the offense goes no huddle and
doesn't change any personnel, you got to keep yours out
there whatever it is, and so you can go fast
or slow or whatever. And that's why you know, you
kind of have to try and you know, split the baby,
(12:07):
as King Solomon would say, and figure out something some
kind of personnel that can work for either. And then
it's up to your own people, you know, not to
get pushed around.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I love it when you get biblical on this podcast, Labs.
It's the best. Jeffrey Brush here from Miami Beach, Florida.
Robert Splane has looked really good in the first two
games with the Raiders. Do you happen to know why
he and the Steelers didn't come to an agreement this
past offseason.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Through three games now, Robert Splane has started and played
every snap for the Raiders as a linebacker in a
fourth lee base alignment. Okay, so yes, he is a
significant part of their defense. He's among the leading tacklers
in each game, and when you're an accumulative way for
(12:56):
the team overall. But you know, when Roberts Blane was
in Pittsburgh, he was a tough, smart dependable in terms
of being available all the time player, but he was
a liability and coverage. He was a guy that the
(13:18):
opponent would take advantage of in terms of the kinds
of matchups I was just talking about, and if he
was isolated on a you know, a tight end or
a good running back or you know, sometimes based on
where they align people, you know, you can put a
wide receiver in the backfield and make them look like
a running back and maybe the defense's assignments based on
(13:43):
their call would have a linebacker on somebody coming out
of the backfield and it's a wide receiver. He just
couldn't handle the past coverage responsibilities that were required with
being an inside linebacker in the Steam scheme. So a
lot of guys, you know, you saw, or at least
(14:05):
on the telecast of the game against the Raiders, there
was a lot of there was some footage of you know,
Steelers players are still you know, very friendly with him,
and he was a good teammate and you know, all
that good stuff. I mean, there's nothing wrong with him,
but he just didn't fit. He wasn't a good fit,
and so it was probably best that the two sides moved.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
On Michael Paulini from Schwanksville, Pennsylvania. When TJ. Watt scored
the touchdown on the fumble recovery against Cleveland during the
Monday night game, the announcers and other outlets said that
that was Watt's first career touchdown. What about his touchdown
against Kansas City in the wildcard round, a game that
was played on January twenty sixth, twenty twenty two. Wouldn't
this be his first career touchdown?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Uh? Yeah, From a chronological standpoint, Michael is correct, But often,
and you know, I don't particularly like this, The NFL
distinguishes regular season stats from postseason stats. And that's likely
where you know that discrepancy came from, because you know,
the announcers are getting fed information, you know, from the
(15:12):
truck or their stats people on site or whatever. And
there are ways to look that up where it would
say t J. Watt has never scored a touchdown before,
But that's because you know what, what you're looking up
only includes regular season stats and it doesn't always necessarily
(15:34):
specify that, So it's you know, I my personal opinion
is that it shouldn't be like that. You know, for example,
Chuck Noll's career coaching record. You don't just give his
regular season record, right, and God won four Super Bowls,
so that counts. But you know, some some outlets, some
(15:58):
places don't do it that way. That's not mine. I
wouldn't do it that way, but that's you know, I'm
not in charge of that. So you know, I can
yell at the moon or whatever and maybe you know
Michael will join me. But you know that's that's the
reason behind the discrepancy. But yes, Michael, you are correct.
(16:19):
That was DJ Watt's second touchdown of his career professional career.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Linda Woods from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina asks, I hated
seeing Nick Chubb's injury in the game against the Browns.
I've seen former players in Browns fans saying Miga Fitzpatrick's
hit was dirty, while others saying it wasn't. What do
you think?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
What I think is, I don't think there's anything dirty
about the way Mina Fitzpatrick plays football. And you know,
let me just you know, put a little history, historical
context into this. You know, in twenty ten, when the
player's safety initiative really took root, what a lot of
players were saying was you're going to penalize defensive players
(17:04):
for hitting high. So what they're going to start doing
is hitting low because they got to hit somewhere, and
there's you know, it's not practical or realistic to say
the defensive players, Okay, you know, you can only hit
from you know, the breastbone to the waist. You can't
hit high. You can't hit the legs, you know, the
(17:25):
the low stuff. You know, you can't go low on
a quarterback. Now. You know they were trying to make
illegal that hip drop tackle, but that didn't happen over
the past offseason. So okay, so there's that. The other
thing that has happened is with this push push stuff
(17:46):
that the Eagles popularized last year. All through the Super Bowl.
They don't blow the whistle. Officials don't blow the whistle
when is forward progress stopped. You know, you'll see a
guy kind of get stood up and they don't blow
the whistle. Then the offensive lineman come running down the
field and start pushing, and everybody starts pushing and they're
(18:07):
allowed to, you know, just keep going, Well, how do
you get how do you what do you do if
you're on defense and what guys have started doing is
you've got to kind of try and get the ball
carrier's knees on the ground, so you got to cut
them into legs. Yep. I mean, if if the if
the league really cares about this, they gotta figure this out.
Because you know that that Eagles play, he's scored Jalen
(18:31):
Hurt scoring three touchdowns in the Super Bowl with that,
if you're gonna let that happen, Okay, what are we
just supposed to do on defense? Just you know, surrender
the touchdown, start blowing the whistle. Then that that'll stop.
Once the officials blow the whistle, you'll see defensive players
let up, but no whistle. You know, they stand around
(18:54):
and look at each other. The line to gain and
all that stuff's happened. And that was down at the
goal line. You know. I just believe the league has
created a lot of this stuff on its own by
either enforcing the way they're enforcing some rules or not
enforcing what used to be some others. So no, there's
(19:15):
nothing dirty about that. Very unfortunate. I'm happy to see
subsequent reports that they're much more optimistic about Nick Chubb's
knee injury, and that's what was done to it than
they were right after the game. Good. I'm glad, but
either change it or you know, deal with those kinds
of things on a much more regular basis, I think
(19:37):
is going to be what we're looking at moving forward.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, the Eagles and Jalen Hurts to use the tush
push last night Monday Night Football to score a touchdown again.
It works every time.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, And you know, I just I just don't know,
because if you go high on him, that's a penalty
and a fine because he's a quarter.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, exactly. Well ask Minca about that going quote unquote
high on Garoppolo this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
But I mean, it's it's it's a it's a situation
where you're rendering them the defense almost powerless, and I
just don't think that. You know, there are a lot
of defensive coaches and defensive players in the league, and
there's a lot of jobs on the line on that
side of the ball, and so those guys are using
(20:21):
the offseason to try and think of Connor measures as well. So,
you know, let's see what the Let's see how much
the league cares about this.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Richard Yost from Taylors, South Carolina, over the first two
games of the season, the defense allowed three third down
conversions of third and eight or longer. And so why
is Desmond King, formerly an All Pro cornerback, sitting on
the bench and not getting some playing time.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Desmond King did get a helmet for the game against
the Raiders. He played seven or eight snaps or something,
but it was all on special teams. So this isn't
what Richard is referring to. But I just wanted to
throw that out just it was a little fun fact.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
First time he got home with this year, right.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yes, but you know this this and this was one
of the things that the coaching staff was talking about.
You know, there were a lot of new players added
to the defense over the offseason. Cole Holcombe and Alan
and Roberts and Patrick Peterson and you know, just go
(21:27):
through all the names, Kwant Alexander and and guys not
only being new but maybe new to the positions that
they were going to be playing, how they were going
to be deployed. Kean O'Neill, and one of the concerns was,
you know, all of the there's a lot of checks
that go on and called audibles and stuff that are
(21:47):
called by the defense once the offense breaks the huddle,
because sometimes what's called in from the sideline might be
a you know, a general defensive call, you know, maybe
more specific whatever it is. But you know, once the
offense breaks the huddle and lines up, okay, now, the
(22:08):
defense oftentimes will adjust to that. And the communication is huge,
you know. That's why you see a lot of a
lot of times passes will be completed and you'll see
defensive backs looking at each other and talking about it
or you know, and that's and then you hear after
the game miscommunication, miscommunication okay, so you know, and that
(22:30):
was happening. The miscommunication was happening with guys who had
been with the team from the start of the off
season program. So you had OTA's training camp, the preseason,
all of those practices you know, associated with all of that,
and there was miscommunication. So when you add Desmond King
(22:51):
after the rosters are cut to fifty three, you can't
just throw him out on the field because you don't
say to him, okay, just cover that guy. Well, it
doesn't work like that. I mean, defense is a you know,
it's a team sport that the unit has to work
you know, in concert. So that's why. I mean, it's
(23:12):
it's gonna take time. I mean, I'd like to see
him on the field too, but sometimes throwing a guy
out there before the before he's ready, it hurts more
than it helps.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And our final question today comes from Jug Moser from Vienna,
West Virginia. Last year, you offered few criticisms of Matt
Canada after the first two games and numerous questionable play calls.
I would like to know your criteria for judging the
offensive coordinator. What's your curve that you grate on.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Labs, Jug is making the gigantic mistake that you know,
my opinion matters and in this uh and issues like this,
it does not. You know, my criteria for judging the
offensive coordinator, I would say falls directly in line with
(24:03):
what the team president said back in January when he
was asked about his hopes or expectations for the offense
during the upcoming season and what are ruining? The second
set at the time was score more points. So that's
my criteria. I mean, I don't think it nothing else
matters anyway. You know, you can have the best third
(24:25):
done conversion rate in the league, but if you're not
scoring points, it doesn't mean anything. So, you know, it's
a scoreboard business. If we're going to look at the
offensive coordinator as someone who is intimately involved in the
success of the unit that is responsible for doing most
of that scoring, then I would say, score more points
(24:49):
is the criteria for judging the offensive coordinator. And you know,
let me just say this too, and this is I mean,
this has been going on for long time. Generations fans
(25:09):
have the misconception that whether a play works or not
is totally related to what the play call was at
the time. You know, if it's you know the fact
that and here's let me just throw out this real
quick story. Okay. One of the things that I mentioned
(25:30):
after the loss of the forty nine Ers was that
on the third play of the game the Steelers. Remember
in that game, they won the toss and elected to receive,
so they got the ball first. The first third down
play of the game. I said, I saw game video
(25:50):
coaches video that showed George Pickens wide open, and if
Kenny Pickett had made that throw, it would have been
a touchdown. It would have been seven to nothing. After
the Raiders game, Kenny Pickett said, remember the George Pickens
touchdown pass when he was out there running by himself
and just threw it to him. He caught it and
went the ends up. He said, we had that against
(26:12):
San Francisco too and didn't hit it or however he
explained it. So there you go. Play call, same play call.
One's a seventy one yard touchdown. One was whatever. Well,
he got sacked. He held the ball too long. I
think was ended up being a sack against the forty.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
On Canada should have told him not to do that, Labs.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
So you know, again, I'm not saying that Matt Canada
is blameless because you know, nobody's blameless or but nobody's
also not deserving of any credit either, so you know
there's nuance there. But what I'm trying to say is
there was the same play call. One went for a
touchdown that you know, maybe set a tone for the game.
(26:56):
The other time it had an opportunity to set it
for a game and didn't and set a tone for
the other team. So it was going in the other way.
So you know, I'm just saying to fans, relax on
the play calls. It's not a video game where you
no I mean, you know, I don't play video games,
(27:17):
but I'm sure when you're playing Madden or whatever it is,
you know your play call is very significant because the
characters on the screen pretty much do what their programmed
to do once you put it in.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The play calls, slants over the middle open all the time.
I don't know why they don't do it in the
NFL one.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
So anyway, that's that's my take on that.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
You know, it's funny, labs. I don't hear many people
offering praise to Matt Canada this week after what I
thought was a pretty solid game planned against the Raiders.
It seems to only go one way when it comes
to Matt Candell.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Well, yeah, you know, let me and again my experience
is and hey, in my younger days, I felt victim.
I was guilty of this too. I don't think that
there's any any job on a National Football League team,
uh where people think they can do it better than
whoever is doing it and calling the offensive plays. I mean,
(28:11):
every person in the stands, every person sitting on their couch,
every every every every thinks what a stupid call that
was or I knew that call was coming, or you know,
whatever it is, and you know it's it's the game
doesn't really work that way. I mean, I remember Toncho
can tell me a lot of times when they would
break the huddle, the other team would say, they're they're
(28:35):
running it here. You know they're doing this because Chuck
Noll was very consistent and basic in a lot of
things that they wanted to do. But you know, when uh,
you got a Hall of Fame quarterback and a Hall
of Fame running back and a couple of Hall of
Fame receivers, you know, guess what. You can know what's
coming and you're not going to be able to stop it.
(28:57):
So it's not always about being tricky or clever, you know,
or you know, sometimes my guy's better than your guy,
or your guys better than my guy, and that's going
to be the determining factor.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
The Steelers head to Houston on Sunday one o'clock kickoff
against the Texans, try to improve to three and one
and try to remain a top of the AFC North.
Thanks as always for giving us a listen. Get your
questions into labs maybe we'll hear them read on a
future edition of Asked and Answered For Bob Labriola, I'm
Tom Offerman and we'll talk to you guys next week.
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Steelers get to win over the Raiders on Sunday Night Football.
Two and one is their record now on the season,
first road win under their belt as well, although Labs,
it's hard for me to call it a road win.
It didn't really feel like a road game out there
in Vegas. Knew a lot of people that went out there.
The Morning Show, some friends that work there, one Jacob
Wreck to name drop saying it was like a sixty
(00:32):
split in favor of the Black and Gold out in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, you know, and I remember this back, you know,
when the schedule came out in May that I knew
people who were on you know, whatever secondary ticket market,
and you know, all the airline websites they were booking
their trips that night, you know. And and you know,
(00:59):
the schedule releases something like seven o'clock, I think on
NFL network or something, and I mean typical airlines. The
prices went up like after from you know, I if
for some reason you would have been able to book
your flight at six o'clock, say then it was X price.
(01:23):
If you both booked it at seven point fifteen. So
the schedule came out, it was like two hundred bucks more.
So there's that, you know, plus rooms. You know, Vegas
is it's not exactly like nobody goes there, whether there's
an NFL game or not. And then ticket prices, you know,
(01:43):
I heard some ridiculous numbers on those you know, secondary
market ticket prices. So yeah, you know, And so it
was it was a destination, first ever game for the
Steelers in Las Vegas. You know, Steelers fans to travel
and you know a lot of West Coast Steelers fans.
(02:04):
That's you know, a good if you you know, live
around there, you know you'd rather go to Vegas maybe
than you know, Seattle or you know whatever, just in
terms of if you want to put a little week
long weekend together, someone have some fun. And from what
I understand too, you know, I'm part of the pregame
(02:25):
show and I was listening to you know, Missy Matthews
do her view from the sideline with my PURSUITA and
you know she's talking about all the celebrities there and
the halftime show and Lil Wayne, and I mean, you know,
I'm too, I'm too old for all that stuff. But
you know they put on a show too, So it's Vegas, baby,
(02:47):
So yeah, it doesn't really surprise me that it would
be an attractive road trip. And you know, I remember
back from you know, back in the old days when
I never missed a road game. Steelers fans, I mean,
they're they travel I mean, or not so much. It's
(03:10):
not so And when I say that, I don't mean
people from Pittsburgh. All those people there aren't from Pittsburgh.
But you know, they're Steelers fans all over the country,
all over the world. And not coincidentally, just so we're
talking about craziness with terrible tiles. Over the weekend, there
was a watch party in Mexico which was very very
(03:34):
well attended. So yeah, it was. It was. It was
a very representative weekend for Steelers fans, and not just
in Vegas, but also you know, in other countries too well.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I liked what T. J. Watt said after the game.
Anytime that you can get the home team to use
a silent count in their own stadium, that's pretty cool.
That feels pretty good as Steelers players on the sideline
to feel that support from the visiting crowd, I you know, and.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I remember that happening in places where you would never
think that that would ever happen, you know, Dallas once, yeah,
uh and Washington, you know, back before Daniel Snyder took
a torpedo to that franchise. But yeah, And I just
(04:29):
wonder if those teams ever prepare.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
For that, like in practice leading up.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, yeah, Like I mean are they Because you go
to Steelers practice before they're going to Kansas City as
an example, and you'll you know, you can hear them
doing the the tomahawk chop chant. I mean, they had
been blair that over the speakers all through practice. But
I just wonder if you know other teams, you know,
(04:54):
and it's not like you play the Raiders all the time.
It's not like going to Baltimore or anything where you know,
you always play home and home. But I just wonder
if Josh McDaniels had, you know, it was blaring music
for his offense. Hey, who knows, maybe the music was
(05:15):
blaring in his ear when you decided to kick that.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Feld just stole the joke out of my mouth. I mean,
what the heck?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Sorry, I know that you ever see.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Something like that though, before get into the questions. I mean,
that was just some weird math that he was doing there.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I was, I was, I was really relieved that they
did that. You know. Well, well not only that, but
I mean I'm thinking, you know what was it fourth
and not very long and.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
They were really moving the ball down the field a
lot of momentum.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, and a lot of help from the zebras. I'll
tell you that at that point too. I don't want,
I don't want to get into any conspiracy theories about that,
but yeah, it just seemed to me that it was
more difficult for the Raiders to complete the comeback after
a kickoff and then needing to score another touchdown. You know.
(06:10):
So again, as I said, I was happy when they
did that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I think we all were, and the Steelers improved to
two and one on the season. Let's get to this
week's batch of questions.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Our first one comes, Wait a minute before before we
do that. Yeah, yeah, we do these. We do this
every week. The one we did after the forty nine
Ers game. If I would have said to you, hey,
calm down, because two weeks from now the Steelers will
be in first place in their division, what would you
have said to.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
That I wouldn't have believed you. I would have called
you crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, well, and you would have been been justified. Well,
this it's a weird league.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's a weird let's just say, well, it's a.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It's a weird league. I mean, you know, Arizona just
beat Doubts, so that's a weird leg.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That was hilarious too.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Okay, Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Go back to doing
your job.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Gabe Kennedy from DeForest, Wisconsin has our first question. He asks,
I seem to recall on a previous asked and answered
that there's a story about Chuck Nole that when a
rookie asked him to give a pregame speech, Noel said
something along the lines of quote, if you're a professional,
you shouldn't need me to motivate you. Is this even
remotely correct?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well kind of, but let me just clear up some
of the particulars in the details. The teller of the
story was Andy Russell, an outside linebacker who's still His
career spanned from nineteen sixty three through seventy six, and
he was one of only five players who was there
(07:47):
in nineteen sixty nine. At that's when Chuck Nole had
his first team meeting with his new group of players,
and he told them in that meeting, we're going to
win a Super Bowl, but most of you guys in
the room aren't good enough to be here when we do. Welcome,
Welcome to Pittsburgh. But Andy Russell was one of those guys. Okay,
(08:09):
And but he was talking, you know. Andy Russell was
not only a football player, but he was a pretty
good author too. He wrote some books that I read
or they were pretty good. But anyway, it was about
the issue of Chuck Nole's belief or disdain for, you know,
(08:33):
motivational speeches. You know, get the guys fired up before
the before the game, you know, the all you hear
a lot of fans say, you know, they look so
the coach looks so dead on the sideline. Why isn't
he you know, more emotional? Well when when when that
subject came up with regards to Chuck Noll, Andy Russell's
(08:53):
quote was he would tell you, my job is to
teach you how to play this game correctly. I will
never give you a motivational speech. If I have to
motivate you, I will fire you.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And in a weird way, that's kind of the motivation
that you need, right, I don't want to lose my job.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Well, yeah, Catherin Nole's philosophy was you know all that
raw ross stuff that ended after the opening kickoff, you know,
in the first contact was made. You know, then you
have to like fall back on your technique, you know
how you what you have learned, you know, studied over
the week about the opponent, your own play, that kind
(09:32):
of stuff. That's what wins games in professional football. You know,
that raw ross stuff might work, you know, remember the
Titans and that stuff on TV movies high school maybe,
but in the NFL, that's not what wins for you
on a consistent basis.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Matt Ryan, I don't think it's that. Matt Ryan from Sarasota,
Florida asks what the Steelers run defense always getting gashed?
Why do they not run out of the three four
base defense more often?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Matt? That's because those opponents are notorious for not always
being cooperative. Is yes, uh, you know it's and it's
really that simple. I mean, you put your because what
happens is, you know, the defense puts their whatever personnel
on the field, and the offense not that you know,
(10:23):
it's it's not a situation. You know, in the NFL,
when you change personnel, then the other team gets time
to answer your change. So what I mean, I'm not
saying that the offense can change personnel, but what they
do is they just deploy what's already on the field
in a different way and then just not do you
(10:44):
know what your personnel is best out there to stop?
You know, and this has been going on for decades now.
You know, for example, I'm sure that the San Francisco
forty nine ers can adjust whatever they have have out
on the field to either run or pass quickly, right,
(11:05):
you know, with the sideline the quarterback communication doesn't take
very long. You just call the place or you have
a formation that you know puts guys in bad situations.
You end up with an inside linebacker covering a wide
receiver or something, and you're host. So that's why I mean,
(11:25):
you cannot count on the other team cooperating with your
plan when you're the defense. And really it's that simple.
And then that's another reason why you know offense will
use pace because, as Mike Tomlin always says, the game
is dictated by the offense how fast it's played, whichever team.
(11:47):
It is because if the offense goes no huddle and
doesn't change any personnel, you got to keep yours out
there whatever it is, and so you can go fast
or slow or whatever. And that's why you know, you
kind of have to try and you know, split the baby,
(12:07):
as King Solomon would say, and figure out something some
kind of personnel that can work for either. And then
it's up to your own people, you know, not to
get pushed around.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I love it when you get biblical on this podcast, Labs.
It's the best. Jeffrey Brush here from Miami Beach, Florida.
Robert Splane has looked really good in the first two
games with the Raiders. Do you happen to know why
he and the Steelers didn't come to an agreement this
past offseason.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Through three games now, Robert Splane has started and played
every snap for the Raiders as a linebacker in a
fourth lee base alignment. Okay, so yes, he is a
significant part of their defense. He's among the leading tacklers
in each game, and when you're an accumulative way for
(12:56):
the team overall. But you know, when Roberts Blane was
in Pittsburgh, he was a tough, smart dependable in terms
of being available all the time player, but he was
a liability and coverage. He was a guy that the
(13:18):
opponent would take advantage of in terms of the kinds
of matchups I was just talking about, and if he
was isolated on a you know, a tight end or
a good running back or you know, sometimes based on
where they align people, you know, you can put a
wide receiver in the backfield and make them look like
a running back and maybe the defense's assignments based on
(13:43):
their call would have a linebacker on somebody coming out
of the backfield and it's a wide receiver. He just
couldn't handle the past coverage responsibilities that were required with
being an inside linebacker in the Steam scheme. So a
lot of guys, you know, you saw, or at least
(14:05):
on the telecast of the game against the Raiders, there
was a lot of there was some footage of you know,
Steelers players are still you know, very friendly with him,
and he was a good teammate and you know, all
that good stuff. I mean, there's nothing wrong with him,
but he just didn't fit. He wasn't a good fit,
and so it was probably best that the two sides moved.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
On Michael Paulini from Schwanksville, Pennsylvania. When TJ. Watt scored
the touchdown on the fumble recovery against Cleveland during the
Monday night game, the announcers and other outlets said that
that was Watt's first career touchdown. What about his touchdown
against Kansas City in the wildcard round, a game that
was played on January twenty sixth, twenty twenty two. Wouldn't
this be his first career touchdown?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Uh? Yeah, From a chronological standpoint, Michael is correct, But often,
and you know, I don't particularly like this, The NFL
distinguishes regular season stats from postseason stats. And that's likely
where you know that discrepancy came from, because you know,
the announcers are getting fed information, you know, from the
(15:12):
truck or their stats people on site or whatever. And
there are ways to look that up where it would
say t J. Watt has never scored a touchdown before,
But that's because you know what, what you're looking up
only includes regular season stats and it doesn't always necessarily
(15:34):
specify that, So it's you know, I my personal opinion
is that it shouldn't be like that. You know, for example,
Chuck Noll's career coaching record. You don't just give his
regular season record, right, and God won four Super Bowls,
so that counts. But you know, some some outlets, some
(15:58):
places don't do it that way. That's not mine. I
wouldn't do it that way, but that's you know, I'm
not in charge of that. So you know, I can
yell at the moon or whatever and maybe you know
Michael will join me. But you know that's that's the
reason behind the discrepancy. But yes, Michael, you are correct.
(16:19):
That was DJ Watt's second touchdown of his career professional career.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Linda Woods from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina asks, I hated
seeing Nick Chubb's injury in the game against the Browns.
I've seen former players in Browns fans saying Miga Fitzpatrick's
hit was dirty, while others saying it wasn't. What do
you think?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
What I think is, I don't think there's anything dirty
about the way Mina Fitzpatrick plays football. And you know,
let me just you know, put a little history, historical
context into this. You know, in twenty ten, when the
player's safety initiative really took root, what a lot of
players were saying was you're going to penalize defensive players
(17:04):
for hitting high. So what they're going to start doing
is hitting low because they got to hit somewhere, and
there's you know, it's not practical or realistic to say
the defensive players, Okay, you know, you can only hit
from you know, the breastbone to the waist. You can't
hit high. You can't hit the legs, you know, the
(17:25):
the low stuff. You know, you can't go low on
a quarterback. Now. You know they were trying to make
illegal that hip drop tackle, but that didn't happen over
the past offseason. So okay, so there's that. The other
thing that has happened is with this push push stuff
(17:46):
that the Eagles popularized last year. All through the Super Bowl.
They don't blow the whistle. Officials don't blow the whistle
when is forward progress stopped. You know, you'll see a
guy kind of get stood up and they don't blow
the whistle. Then the offensive lineman come running down the
field and start pushing, and everybody starts pushing and they're
(18:07):
allowed to, you know, just keep going, Well, how do
you get how do you what do you do if
you're on defense and what guys have started doing is
you've got to kind of try and get the ball
carrier's knees on the ground, so you got to cut
them into legs. Yep. I mean, if if the if
the league really cares about this, they gotta figure this out.
Because you know that that Eagles play, he's scored Jalen
(18:31):
Hurt scoring three touchdowns in the Super Bowl with that,
if you're gonna let that happen, Okay, what are we
just supposed to do on defense? Just you know, surrender
the touchdown, start blowing the whistle. Then that that'll stop.
Once the officials blow the whistle, you'll see defensive players
let up, but no whistle. You know, they stand around
(18:54):
and look at each other. The line to gain and
all that stuff's happened. And that was down at the
goal line. You know. I just believe the league has
created a lot of this stuff on its own by
either enforcing the way they're enforcing some rules or not
enforcing what used to be some others. So no, there's
(19:15):
nothing dirty about that. Very unfortunate. I'm happy to see
subsequent reports that they're much more optimistic about Nick Chubb's
knee injury, and that's what was done to it than
they were right after the game. Good. I'm glad, but
either change it or you know, deal with those kinds
of things on a much more regular basis, I think
(19:37):
is going to be what we're looking at moving forward.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, the Eagles and Jalen Hurts to use the tush
push last night Monday Night Football to score a touchdown again.
It works every time.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, And you know, I just I just don't know,
because if you go high on him, that's a penalty
and a fine because he's a quarter.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, exactly. Well ask Minca about that going quote unquote
high on Garoppolo this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
But I mean, it's it's it's a it's a situation
where you're rendering them the defense almost powerless, and I
just don't think that. You know, there are a lot
of defensive coaches and defensive players in the league, and
there's a lot of jobs on the line on that
side of the ball, and so those guys are using
(20:21):
the offseason to try and think of Connor measures as well. So,
you know, let's see what the Let's see how much
the league cares about this.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Richard Yost from Taylors, South Carolina, over the first two
games of the season, the defense allowed three third down
conversions of third and eight or longer. And so why
is Desmond King, formerly an All Pro cornerback, sitting on
the bench and not getting some playing time.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Desmond King did get a helmet for the game against
the Raiders. He played seven or eight snaps or something,
but it was all on special teams. So this isn't
what Richard is referring to. But I just wanted to
throw that out just it was a little fun fact.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
First time he got home with this year, right.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yes, but you know this this and this was one
of the things that the coaching staff was talking about.
You know, there were a lot of new players added
to the defense over the offseason. Cole Holcombe and Alan
and Roberts and Patrick Peterson and you know, just go
(21:27):
through all the names, Kwant Alexander and and guys not
only being new but maybe new to the positions that
they were going to be playing, how they were going
to be deployed. Kean O'Neill, and one of the concerns was,
you know, all of the there's a lot of checks
that go on and called audibles and stuff that are
(21:47):
called by the defense once the offense breaks the huddle,
because sometimes what's called in from the sideline might be
a you know, a general defensive call, you know, maybe
more specific whatever it is. But you know, once the
offense breaks the huddle and lines up, okay, now, the
(22:08):
defense oftentimes will adjust to that. And the communication is huge,
you know. That's why you see a lot of a
lot of times passes will be completed and you'll see
defensive backs looking at each other and talking about it
or you know, and that's and then you hear after
the game miscommunication, miscommunication okay, so you know, and that
(22:30):
was happening. The miscommunication was happening with guys who had
been with the team from the start of the off
season program. So you had OTA's training camp, the preseason,
all of those practices you know, associated with all of that,
and there was miscommunication. So when you add Desmond King
(22:51):
after the rosters are cut to fifty three, you can't
just throw him out on the field because you don't
say to him, okay, just cover that guy. Well, it
doesn't work like that. I mean, defense is a you know,
it's a team sport that the unit has to work
you know, in concert. So that's why. I mean, it's
(23:12):
it's gonna take time. I mean, I'd like to see
him on the field too, but sometimes throwing a guy
out there before the before he's ready, it hurts more
than it helps.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And our final question today comes from Jug Moser from Vienna,
West Virginia. Last year, you offered few criticisms of Matt
Canada after the first two games and numerous questionable play calls.
I would like to know your criteria for judging the
offensive coordinator. What's your curve that you grate on.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Labs, Jug is making the gigantic mistake that you know,
my opinion matters and in this uh and issues like this,
it does not. You know, my criteria for judging the
offensive coordinator, I would say falls directly in line with
(24:03):
what the team president said back in January when he
was asked about his hopes or expectations for the offense
during the upcoming season and what are ruining? The second
set at the time was score more points. So that's
my criteria. I mean, I don't think it nothing else
matters anyway. You know, you can have the best third
(24:25):
done conversion rate in the league, but if you're not
scoring points, it doesn't mean anything. So, you know, it's
a scoreboard business. If we're going to look at the
offensive coordinator as someone who is intimately involved in the
success of the unit that is responsible for doing most
of that scoring, then I would say, score more points
(24:49):
is the criteria for judging the offensive coordinator. And you know,
let me just say this too, and this is I mean,
this has been going on for long time. Generations fans
(25:09):
have the misconception that whether a play works or not
is totally related to what the play call was at
the time. You know, if it's you know the fact
that and here's let me just throw out this real
quick story. Okay. One of the things that I mentioned
(25:30):
after the loss of the forty nine Ers was that
on the third play of the game the Steelers. Remember
in that game, they won the toss and elected to receive,
so they got the ball first. The first third down
play of the game. I said, I saw game video
(25:50):
coaches video that showed George Pickens wide open, and if
Kenny Pickett had made that throw, it would have been
a touchdown. It would have been seven to nothing. After
the Raiders game, Kenny Pickett said, remember the George Pickens
touchdown pass when he was out there running by himself
and just threw it to him. He caught it and
went the ends up. He said, we had that against
(26:12):
San Francisco too and didn't hit it or however he
explained it. So there you go. Play call, same play call.
One's a seventy one yard touchdown. One was whatever. Well,
he got sacked. He held the ball too long. I
think was ended up being a sack against the forty.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
On Canada should have told him not to do that, Labs.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
So you know, again, I'm not saying that Matt Canada
is blameless because you know, nobody's blameless or but nobody's
also not deserving of any credit either, so you know
there's nuance there. But what I'm trying to say is
there was the same play call. One went for a
touchdown that you know, maybe set a tone for the game.
(26:56):
The other time it had an opportunity to set it
for a game and didn't and set a tone for
the other team. So it was going in the other way.
So you know, I'm just saying to fans, relax on
the play calls. It's not a video game where you
no I mean, you know, I don't play video games,
(27:17):
but I'm sure when you're playing Madden or whatever it is,
you know your play call is very significant because the
characters on the screen pretty much do what their programmed
to do once you put it in.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The play calls, slants over the middle open all the time.
I don't know why they don't do it in the
NFL one.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
So anyway, that's that's my take on that.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
You know, it's funny, labs. I don't hear many people
offering praise to Matt Canada this week after what I
thought was a pretty solid game planned against the Raiders.
It seems to only go one way when it comes
to Matt Candell.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Well, yeah, you know, let me and again my experience
is and hey, in my younger days, I felt victim.
I was guilty of this too. I don't think that
there's any any job on a National Football League team,
uh where people think they can do it better than
whoever is doing it and calling the offensive plays. I mean,
(28:11):
every person in the stands, every person sitting on their couch,
every every every every thinks what a stupid call that
was or I knew that call was coming, or you know,
whatever it is, and you know it's it's the game
doesn't really work that way. I mean, I remember Toncho
can tell me a lot of times when they would
break the huddle, the other team would say, they're they're
(28:35):
running it here. You know they're doing this because Chuck
Noll was very consistent and basic in a lot of
things that they wanted to do. But you know, when uh,
you got a Hall of Fame quarterback and a Hall
of Fame running back and a couple of Hall of
Fame receivers, you know, guess what. You can know what's
coming and you're not going to be able to stop it.
(28:57):
So it's not always about being tricky or clever, you know,
or you know, sometimes my guy's better than your guy,
or your guys better than my guy, and that's going
to be the determining factor.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
The Steelers head to Houston on Sunday one o'clock kickoff
against the Texans, try to improve to three and one
and try to remain a top of the AFC North.
Thanks as always for giving us a listen. Get your
questions into labs maybe we'll hear them read on a
future edition of Asked and Answered For Bob Labriola, I'm
Tom Offerman and we'll talk to you guys next week.
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