November 21, 2025 • 49 mins
Max and Rob continue the week's discussion about this Sunday's matchup against the Chicago Bears. The guys go down the Bears roster and break it down.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And thank you very much for being with us in
the locker room with you, getting ready for a patch
up of division leading teams. The AFC North leading Pittsburgh
Steelers the NFC North leading Chicago Bears. This is the
battle for the North. This is the Starks versus the Boltons.
We have Max Starks. I think a Game of Thrones
(00:52):
fan with us, Max, your game of throws?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Wow? Wow, we we went with the Boltons. I'm giving
the Bear. We know who the Starks are. It's the Steelers, right,
I mean absolutely. I mean you know I'm not going
to go against that.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I mean, being being a fellow Starks, I'm not true.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, no, no, I was. I was like, okay, I
like where Rob's going with this already.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I was like, yeah, oh, Max, uh, I can't wait
for this one before we get too far going.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
First of all, I hope you're doing well today on
this Friday. Yeah, yeah, no rain, no rain.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Happy to support that out here, so that makes me
a happy camper, of course it is. It's still a
little chilly, a little chillier for my liking. But but no,
I'm doing great. I mean, you know, Friday is always
that that fun day of the week in the work
week where it's like, all right, all the work is,
you know, is being done. It's the end. Now we
(01:55):
get to go have fun on the weekends. And of
course our definition of fun is lot different than everybody else's.
Ours is ours is actually going to work on Sunday
for us. So but going to see you know, anytime
you get a chance to see the Steelers play, it's
a delight. And you know, heading heading to the Windy
City and you know, still still not sure about the
(02:18):
weather conditions there for Missy Matthews, but we will chime
in with her later in the show that yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's supposed to be beautiful, by the way, so we'll see
supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
But it's Chicago.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I've never put anything I don't trust, and I don't
trust weather people that often.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I get you, by the way, our thanks to Noah
Hiles from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, who did a feature
on the broadcast team that's in today's Post Gazette. So
if you want to check that out, you can. We
are getting ready for our game coming up before we
move ahead. Really important, really intriguing game last night between
(02:57):
the Bills and the Texans, with the Texas hanging on
at the end to defeat the Bills twenty three to nineteen.
I mean Josh Allen. So Josh Allen, by the way,
two hundred and fifty three yards. If you looked at
the numbers, two interceptions, sixty seven point four rating, you
know what's going on with Josh Allen. He he was
(03:20):
sacked eight times and hit another dozen times. I mean,
he took a beating. He early on in the game,
he fell awkwardly on a hit from behind by Will Anderson,
laid in the ground for a little while, got up.
You don't see that very often from Josh Allen. Stayed
in the game, but he was under siege the entire
(03:41):
game from Houston's top ranked defense. And now, you know,
we always talk about these power rankings and different things.
Suddenly now the Texans seem much more of a contender,
and the Bills now that just they by the way they'
won three in a row, has had the Texans and
now the Bills gain, they're gonna be extra desperate heading
(04:03):
into Akrascher Stadium next Sunday.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, no, I mean and and but this is who
the Bills have been, right. I haven't been able to
peg them yet as what they are as a team
because they are so up and down and it it's
I'm not gonna say it's frustrating.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That's been this season like trying to figure out who
is who is for real who isn't. Like I said,
the parody, this season has been one of the best
because you know, everybody wants to crown somebody from week
to week.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And that's why I talked about the with the power rankings.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You know, it's it's almost one of those things where
you hate putting teams up there in that top three
because it's like the bulls eyes on their back and
I feel like they're gonna let you down the second
you start to get a beat.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
On on who they are.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And for the Buffalo Bills, this has been the tail
of the season for them. They are They're They're a
team that's I know, I know. It's like you look
at the record, they're seven and four, which obviously you say, hey,
you're in a good position. But they're the second best
team in the AFC East, which isn't saying much. But
you know, New England is just the pace car for
(05:17):
that AFC East right now. And they still got to
deal with them one more time, and this time they
have to come to New England because the New England
beat them earlier this season in Buffalo, and you know,
you at Miami, you thought you were going down there
for a game against a team that was just seemed
to be in shambles, and they boat raced you in Miami.
(05:40):
So it's it's looking it's looking tough for the Bills,
and you know, defensively, they've had a lot of injuries
and they've tried to overcome them. But at the same time,
you sit there and you're just like, man, what what
do we expect? Because Josh Allen's so up and down.
Normally you see his you see you know, him trying
(06:01):
and put the cape on and try and do too much.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
But he does this every season.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
There's always those games where your head scratched, like he
gets frustrated, he's trying to do too much, and then
the the issues happened. But like you said, I mean
that Texans defense. I had to give them all the
credit in the world. This defense has been this the
entire season. It's just the offense has not been able
to score. And we now say this again, with your
front line, franchise quarterback out, the backup comes in and
(06:27):
like saves the day to make it look better.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I mean we've seen a lot of times doing that. Yeah,
thank you for putting that out. Max.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I didn't mean interrupt, because I should have if people
didn't watch the game. Now I know you watched the game.
If people didn't watch the game, Yeah, Davis Mills is quarterback, right,
Yes he's CJ Stroud has hurt.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
C J.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Stroud is expected back for their next game. So yes,
they're winning, or they won with Davis Mills a quarterback.
They've now won three in a row. And Max, they're
not dead. I mean, look, you you just laid out
the for Buffalo. So last night, as I was watching
the game, I started to think, Okay, can Houston, who
(07:07):
was the number one favorite to win their division among
all the divisions? I was listening to a pregame show
and they're talking about prognostications and they were putting in
the odds and that sort of stuff. As everyone knows
that listens to the show. I personally don't look at
lines and that kind of thing. It doesn't interest me.
But they were the heaviest favorite to win, right, And
(07:27):
that's what makes it interesting to me. What do people
think about this? So now, okay, they're six and five
and Indianapolis is eight and two, and Indianapolis is on
their by or just finished their bye. I beg your pardon.
So now they're coming off their by, and here is
their schedule. Here's Indianapolis's schedule. You ready, at Kansas City, Okay,
(07:54):
that's a desperate Chiefs team. Houston at home. Okay, that's
a massive game at Jacksonville at Seattle home against San
Francisco home against Jacksonville at Houston without looking, without you know,
seeing strength as scheduled. That has got to be the
(08:15):
toughest schedule any team is facing down the stretch has
to be.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I mean, think about that.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I mean it's not going to be easy. And
like you said, you got the Texans twice in that
and it's it's not gonna be a cakewalk at all.
And like you said, you know, the Texas now get
to sit and watch what everybody else does. And and
they've got they've got the w tucked away neatly in
their pocket. And they're six and five football team, they're
(08:45):
above five hundred. I know we talked about how bad
it's been at times, but you know, you look at
this team and it doesn't matter how how they win,
the defense will always keep them in games.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Right. And when we.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Think about just how close these losses have been this
season for the Texans, you had to think. They lost
to the Broncos eighteen to fifteen, and that was a
game where you were just begging for somebody to kick
a field goal to win that game.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Right. It was a very tightly contested game. That Seahawks
game was painful to watch.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
It was like the longest Monday night football game that
started late that I'd ever watched. I mean I was
up till past one am trying to watch this game.
And then of course you know do the post game
four and that was a twenty seven to nineteen game,
and really, you know, they had they had two bad
stretches where they lost to the Titans twenty six to zip.
(09:41):
Don't know how that happened that, but that was also
like week four of the season and then the Ravens
like boat raced you, but seventeen to ten, twenty to nineteen,
fourteen to nine. So this is a team that's hung
in with just about everybody minus two games that were
really bad and like you said, a three game win
streak with David Mills, Like who would have anticipated that?
(10:02):
But this defense is so Will Anderson is on a
defensive Player of the Year path right now. He is
playing out of his mind. He had two and a
half sacks Thursday night. Him and Daniel Hunter just seemed
to have a meeting at Josh Allen multiple times. And
then there was a worry for Bills fans because it
looked like Joshatt like he got injured really bad in
the game, but he came back. But this was one
(10:25):
where they just provided constant pressure on the Bills and
the Bills had no answer for the defensive group for
the Houston text. So that makes him a very dangerous team,
especially as we get later into the season.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, Will Anderson, by the way, seven sacks is a
rookie and you're thinking, okay, well, you know, such a
high pick and then eleven sacks last year. He has
ten and a half sacks right now in eleven games.
He has forced three fumbles, he's recovered two fumbles. He
has fourteen tackles for loss I mean he has just
been in Daniel Hunter. As you mentioned Hunter, He's got
(11:00):
eleven sacks, he's got eleven tackles for losses. I mean,
I don't know which one of those guys is is
Defensive Player of the Year. They might be splitting votes
in Houston. But you know, it's fun to watch these seasons.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Sort of.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know, sort of you know, watched as another team's
journey goes up, it goes down, it goes left, it
goes right, and you know, we are we see what's
happening with the Steelers and we see them up front
and they're up and down and what's going on with them?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And you know this.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But I'll tell you, you know, Houston, I said this
before when they were ranked twentieth in the Power rankings
or whatever. If you told me at that point that
and I can't remember who number one was, maybe it
was the Eagles, And if you told me the first
ranked team in the NFL, the Eagles, We're going to
face the twentieth ranked team in the NFL, the Texans,
(11:54):
in the super Bowl. I'd have said, Okay, that doesn't
shock me. And it still wouldn't shock me that any
number of teams could make the super Bowl. Jerry Dulac
said yesterday, and this, I think this is heartening if
you're a Steelers fan. He said, Look, I think the
AFC is wide open. He said, you know, we've gone
through the power rankings and you know, every week, although
(12:17):
recently that's changed every week, it's you know, of the
top six teams, five of them have been in the NFC.
You have the Eagles, you have the Rams, you have
the Lions. Now you have the Seahawks, and on and on.
And Jerry says the AFC is wide open. And you
know what, Max, I can't disagree with him. And if
I'm a Steelers fan, I'm happy about that. You've got
(12:39):
just as good a chance as anybody else to get
into the playoffs and and and maybe you know, advance
for a few rounds and let's see what happens. But
you gotta win games like this one against Chicago. You
have to you have to go up and be able
to show you can beat quality teams like the Bears
on their home turf.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, you have to be to take the show on
the road.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
You have to be able to go and play in
tough environments and overcome them and tough outdoor environments, right,
I mean, I think Chicago, you could argue, gives you
a very similar field of Buffalo. You know, and if
you go to Buffalo, you deal with similar extremes. Right
(13:21):
on the Great Lakes. You're a little bit further north,
and you know, the wind. The weather comes into play,
especially this time of year, anytime you get into November,
December and January football in those places, open air stadiums.
You know, there's a reason why Minnesota has a dome,
and it's not a fun place. But this is the
(13:43):
type of team, a team that's that's catching their stride offensively,
they have a good defensive structure.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So to go in there with all.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Things equal and being able to pull out a victory
and tucket in your chest, but also more importantly get
on a run. You know the street we you know,
we thought we were starting it with the Colts took
a step back with the Chargers. Now we're back on
pace again after the victory against the Bengals. Let's see
if we can string together some wins. That's where do
(14:11):
you know the true character of your team when you
can do it back to back. And that's what the
Steelers are searching, where they're searching for a two game
win streak. Right now they just have a victory, but
you know, you go streaking after two and this is
one where you want to try and keep those streaks
alive and gather momentum going into December football, because you
got a tough slate, you know, after that. And you know,
(14:33):
just as we talked about the Colts, you know, Steelers
have a tough slate coming up.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, and I listen, I can't wait. One of the
things when we look at the Bears and the Steelers,
and we mentioned this yesterday, is the turnovers. Right, the
Bears have forced twenty two, the Steelers have forced eighteen.
The Bears are number one in turnover margin in the NFL.
(14:58):
The Steelers are number three in turnover margin in the NFL.
But the Bears are leaders by a long shot. This
is what they do. And then you look at Caleb Williams.
Caleb Williams has five fumbles and he's lost none of them.
The Bears have fumbled. Now, the Steelers are the best
team in the NFL at recovering fumbles the Bears have lost.
(15:19):
The Bears have fumbled the ball eight times and lost
only one. And I wonder, Max, you know, as we
look and we're gonna dive into some of the specific
matchups again, we did some yesterday which will recap for
you a little bit. But I wonder if that's you know,
possibly an area the Steelers can exploit. Its something the
Bears have gotten away with this year, but maybe it's
(15:39):
something that the Steelers can pounce on a few of
those loose balls.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, well, that's that's what I'm hoping for.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
And that's that's when the Steelers are at their best,
is when you're turning this team over. Now, they've been
a lot more judicious with the football than they have been,
you know, than the previous year. But that's where that's
where you gonna have the differentially. You have to get
the ball out of Caleb Williams in the offense's hands.
You got to steal some possessions for this game and
(16:07):
that's where we're looking at. You know some of those
things that you know, the reason why they have such
a great turnover margin is because they don't turn it
over and they and they seem to find a way
and a knack to turn the other team over. You're
talking about number one and number two and turnover margins
and both of these defenses that are going to be
taking the field and Soldier Field on Sunday. So you're
gonna have to try and gain the advantage on a
(16:29):
team that's that's relished in that advantage. That's what's helped
them be successful is being able to turn the ball
over and steal possessions from them. So we're gonna have
to try and steal possessions from the thiefs of possessions.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Sounds wonderful, sounds good. So many intriguing matchups in this
game is two division leaders are going to be going
at it on Sunday at Soldier Field. We're going to
get to some of those matchups. Missy Matthews joins us
at eleven o'clock as well. When we continue in the
locker room, presented by our neighborhood Forgeturing the Studis Pro
Shop on Steer's Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And thanks very much for being back with us as
we get you ready in the locker room for the
Steelers and the Bears can't wait in Wrigley Field. As
of right now, the weather conditions don't look too bad.
High forties, maybe low fifties. You know, five six mile
an hour wins. That's relatively low, I think for the
windy City Max, as you know, the weather can change
(17:50):
up in Chicago, and you know, I think as you
think about this Bears offense, and yesterday we talked about
Darnell Wright and whether they will leave the really rising
young right tackle. He's becoming one of the best right
tackles in the league thirty year in first round pick
back in twenty twenty three, whether they will leave him
(18:10):
alone with TJ. Watt, And then I think the Toney
matchup inside against Cam Hayward. You know, the other right guard,
Jonah Jackson, is a very fine player as well, and
so you know, either Benton or Harmon will likely for
the majority of the time be over him. So it's
a really interesting match up. The Bears went out this
offseason and they traded for Jonah Jackson. They traded for
(18:33):
Joe Tooney, three straight Pro Bowls for Tony, two time
All Pro in that stretch. They picked up Drew Dolman
at center. They solidified the middle of that line. They
let Darnell Write continue to mature as a player. If
had some injuries at left tackle, this might be an
opportunity for Nick Herberg or Alonzo high Smith Alex Highsmith bigger.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Alonzo Highsmith, Alex.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Ho Maco going into the wayback machine there.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Sheeshah.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Maybe one of those guys could provide some pressure from
that side. And then you know, with all that, you've
still got to find a way, Max to keep Caleb
Williams in the pocket, because you know, we're talking to
Matt Williamson yesterday, and Matt watches a lot of football
around the league, and we all know how hard it
can be to get Lamar Jackson on the ground, the
(19:22):
students have been better than anybody at that But he said, hey,
I think Caleb Williams is the new guy, the new
king at escaping back there. And for the games I've watched,
and I've watched eight of their ten games at this point,
I can't disagree. He is a tough guy to get down.
And if you play too much, man, he'll identify that,
he'll tuck it and he'll pick up a lot of
(19:43):
yards on the ground. He's their third leading rusher.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, no, this is one that's gonna be a good challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
I mean, the run game for the Bears has really
been the engine that keeps things on track for Caleb
Williams when he's in the air trying to pass the ball.
But you know, Caleb is one of those guys that
he is very tough to get down. He's very athletic
in the pocket. He has great escapability, which makes him
a slippery guy to try and take down. So, you know,
(20:14):
if you're the Steelers, you know you're picking your poison
on Okay, how do we want to attack this team?
You know, because we saw a week ago where they
shut down that what seemed to be the top rye
receiving duo in the league between t Higgins and Jamar
Chase and held them to a very quiet six total
catches between the two of them. But in the previous weeks,
(20:35):
it's been stopping the run, you know, going after the
run game of teams and forcing the ball into the
quarterback's hands. Now, it didn't work out as well against
the Chargers with that approach, but you think about the
weeks before that, right, Jonathan Taylor, who's leading the league
and rushing and touchdowns, and there he's mister Everything, Josh
Jacobs before that, holding them very pedestrian. So you know,
(20:58):
the Steelers have shown they could do it both ways.
And I think with the defense and how the injuries
have settled that group up, they've found a way. The
secondary knows if we could hold up against these receivers,
the pass rush is going to get after the quarterback,
and just like we saw last night and Thursday night game,
if you let that, if you let a pass rush
like the Texans get after you, they're going to make
(21:20):
it miserable. I think you say the same thing for
the Steelers, right if you can, if the pass rush
is allowed to hit home because the secondary is doing
their job and locking up the receivers. This makes this
a very, very tough day. But you've got to hold
the run. The run is that glue. When you think
about the Steelers losses, the run games have been the
thing that have helped them. You think about, you know,
(21:40):
against the Chargers, right, Kamani Vidal although he had he
had a rash, he was he was nearing one hundred
yards and then at the end of the game they're
trying to run the ball out kind of lost some
yardage in the process. Chase Brown with his over one
hundred yards rushing against I think it was one hundred
and nine against US. That was on display the Seahawks loss.
Run game was there and they were just super balanced
(22:03):
across the way in that game. Uh so, you know,
and with the Packers, right, even though you held Josh
Jacobs intact, Jordan Love for whatever, Well.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Tucker Craft, let me just the other thing. Emanuel started
did it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Emmanuel Wilson started running in the second half. Yeah, he
got the run and it was valuable. It was valuable runs.
He didn't get to the century mark, but like you said,
the key gotta have it. Third and shorts, and second
in mediums he was able to turn those into first downs.
So I feel like, still the run game is key,
especially against Chicago. You've got to stop the run game
(22:38):
and then everything else will start to make sense for you.
And if you make them one dimensional.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Caleb and still a young guy in the second year,
and he's still going to be prone to mistakes, but
you have you can't give him the security blanket of
a run game.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Right, totally agree.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And by the way, one out of every three of
his runs results in a first down. So he's run
the ball fifty two times and seventeen to those have
been a first down. He's averaging, you know, twenty seven
yards per game, five point two yards per carry. You know,
you think about Lamar ripping off usually longer runs than that,
but he he seems to have that knack to be
(23:14):
able to get it, and he's just he extends plays,
he keeps him alive. It's it's got to be wearying.
We talk about, you know, time of possession and how
important it is. You know, not only are you out
there for a while if you're a defensive alignment, but
you are chasing down a guy who's moving sideline to sideline.
You know, he steps up in the pocket. He you know,
(23:37):
maybe somebody would critique him and say he gets out
of the pocket too soon.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's for others to judge, but I do know this.
He gets out of the pocket a lot and scrambles
around and makes things happen. And he had that, you
know what, he had, like a thirty yard sack or
something last year trying to make plays happen. But he's
gotten way better at that. He's gotten better at throwing
the ball away in avoiding sacks. But I think that
you know, again, Lamar Jackson gives you the opportunity to
(24:05):
see a guy like Caleb Williams who can escape the
pocket and needs to be hemmed in two ways. You
can't let him get out around you and get to
the edge, and you can't let him slither through rush
lanes and get out because now let's say you're playing
man de man defense and he slithers through a rush lane, Well,
(24:27):
every defender has got their back to the quarterback because
they're not worried about the quarterback. They're worried about defending
their man, guarding their man downfield, and so then Caleb
Williams has huge ground in front of him in which
to run, So you got to be able to keep
them contained in the pocket in both ways. Don't let
them leak out, don't let them move forward.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
No, no, you can't. And that's the thing. You have
to compress him. And so that leads to pushing the
interior coming up the field. That's going to be harming
Kate cam and also Ya Black providing that interior push.
And then like you said, feed the action to the sharks, right,
you want to feed the action to TJ. Watt, and
(25:10):
you want to feed the action to Herbig high Smith and.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Sawyer as well.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Allow them to take off the edges of this and
create a net around Caleb Williams. And you cannot give
this guy anything up into the outsides because he loves that.
So you're talking about rushing at depth and then coming
inward for the edge guys. Then like you said, a
constant forward pressure taking away those windows up the middle,
(25:38):
you know, and forcing him to go back and out.
That's where you talked about that thirty yard stack, is
that he tried to go back and out and then
he got forced back in and he went further back
and went to the opposite out and that's what leads
to a thirty yard sack. He just kept zigzagging backwards.
But that's the approach that you have to take with
Caleb Williams. You can't, you know, go overload rush and
(26:01):
then there opens up a pocket and the b gap
on the opposite side. Right now, he can squirt through
that and like you said, he can make you pay
a five point two per average on a rush.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
That's huge.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
You think about that in second down passing situations, third
in mediums Now you're talking about a guy, like you said,
every third touch gets a touch, It gets you a
first down and gets you a new set of downs.
That that is tiring for a defense because you're gonna
have to run to catch him. But if you can
compress that and create that net, now it forces him
to throw an aerrant ball, forces a ball to go
(26:33):
up in the fifty to fifty zone, which can turn
to a sixty forty either way. And so that's what
you're trying to get. That's the golden piece that you're
trying to get to and create that havoc like we
saw on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And when you talk about Caleb Williams. You have to
talk about I think the accuracy now it's gotten better.
He's got three straight games now in which he's completed
at least sixty percent of his passes. His completion percentage
of fifty nine point seven is is thirty first out
of thirty four qualifying quarterbacks. So obviously that's not great.
(27:07):
Now he does bring the run element, right, we talked
about that, so that does increase his value. He takes
care of the football thirteen touchdowns, only four interceptions. But
having said all that, actually I beg your pardon. It
was he started the season with three straight sixty percent
completion games. Over his last three games here we are
(27:27):
here fifty eight point eight percent, fifty five point six
percent and fifty percent sixteen for thirty two in then
win over Minnesota. So he can be inaccurate. Max, I mean,
he makes some throws that you're like, whoa man? I
mean when you see what he does, and look, he's
(27:47):
clearly made a step forward this year, no doubt. But
when you see some of the throws he can make
and does make its jaw dropping. Then when you see
some of the throws he also makes, it's head scratching,
like you know you're gonna throw it out in the
left flat and okay, you're under a little bit of pressure,
(28:08):
but you skip it to the guy and you know
you can't even get it there in the air, and
then the next row you drive one sixty yards down
the field on a line. He's I guess I would
say he's a maturing quarterback. But that's one of the
things that they talked about this with Josh Allen when
he came into the league. Others, you know, where's the accuracy?
(28:30):
Can you develop that at the NFL level, Josh Allen
has I don't know if that was a big knock
on Killer Williams in college, but I do know that
it's been an issue this year for him, just simply
being accurate with the football, getting guys in stride on
crossing patterns. You know, They've got a lot of very
talented receivers that they've spent a lot of high picks
on and spent money on in free agency to bring
(28:51):
in and support him. First round pick in Colston Lovelin
at tight end just this year, second round pick on
Luther Burden just this year. Short up the offensive line,
they have built this team around Caleb Williams, and I think, uh,
and we'll get to the running backs in a minute.
But the one thing that it looks like he still
needs to improve upon is his accuracy in the pocket.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
An accuracy in the pocket comes from being able to
read read coverages. That's where he That's where he struggles, right,
So the disguise is going to be key on him
pre snap. That's why Ben Johnson does a lot of
pre snap motion to help him out in that process.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
We've kind of talked about that earlier in the.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Week about why they motion and what that's doing to
help Caleb Williams. But another thing is, like I said
that timing, and that's something I'm going to continue to
harp on is the fact that you know, he is
way better when he's under center than when he is
in shotgun. His internal clock moves a lot cleaner when
(29:50):
he's taking those steps in progressions because he's figuring out
what he needs to do and when he needs to
get there. Because when he's at shotgun, you know the
move is there and you're trying to count in.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Your head on thousand and one thousand and two thousand.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Okay, now I look it disrupts the timing and the
rhythm of the passing game. So that's something that normally
quarterbacks love the fact that they can be in shotgun
right because you can see the field a lot better,
you can count things ahead of time, like an Aaron
Rodgers in the shotgun is a lot different than Caleb
Williams at the shotgun because Aaron has seen everything, he
(30:25):
knows everything. Caleb Williams still gathering information. We always talk
about this with young players versus old players. Right, you know,
a young player is gathering information every snap is valuable
because it adds to their rolodecks or their mental encyclopedia.
Whereas a veteran player can now pull on that information
from his mental encyclopedia that he's already gathered over numerous
years and a lot of various playing experiences. Gets you
(30:48):
more prepared to see those type of things and the
game slows down for you. Right now is still at
a sped up pace. And for Caleb, when you can't
read the two high versus single higher, the disguise off
of it, that makes it really tough when talking about
some of your inbreaking routes. Why he doesn't like to
throw it to the middle of the field because he
can't read it, and so everything that's spectacular of his
throws are usually those sideline passes. All we have to
(31:10):
do is think on our history. You know, anytime George
Pickens was on the sidelines, it made any quarterback that
was in you know, experience or not, whether it's mister bisky,
can he pick it? Those plays were even more spectacular,
right because you could throw it down the sidelines. You
got an athletic receiver that can go make a tremendous play.
But yet you go and throw the shallow crosser and
(31:30):
you know, you still throw it the same anticipation because
you can't tell whether it's the linebacker or the nickel
or the safety that's going to be on.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
The front end of that.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
So you get a little gun shy, start to pump fake,
and that's where you have to be. You have to
change up the coverages. You have to confuse him because
if not, he will hold.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Onto the football and that usually leads to a bad
thing when it gets off the timing.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, he is definitely. I mean, there's a reason he
was taken first overall by Chicago last year, and there's
a reason that they're building their team around him. And
you know, when you look at the team defensively, yeah,
they went out and they traded for Montes Sweat. Last year.
They were already trying to put the pieces in place
around Caleb Williams. You know a lot of people said,
(32:13):
what are you doing, You're not a very good team. Well, listen,
you got it when you see a good player and
you have a chance to grab him and you have
a chance to try to build something. But right now,
it feels like most of that building is happening on
the offensive side. And by the way, Max just you know,
and we're gonna head to a break here in a moment.
But just from a philosophical point of view, I'm all
(32:35):
for it. You get a young quarterback, protect him, surround
him with talent. It is the most important position, in
my opinion, in any sport. A quarterback. You got a
young one, you spend a first round pick on him.
And this isn't Buffalo trading up, this isn't Kansas City
trading up. This is a bad struggling team needing a
(32:56):
franchise quarterback not getting one. With Mitch Trubisky out. Think
you know, right, we saw Mit Trubisky here, but you didn't.
You didn't put pieces around him, And now they've put
pieces around Caleb Williams to aid with that development. From
a philosophical standpoint, I get what they're doing and I
think they're doing it the right way.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Well yeah, and then also Justin Fields right after him, right,
I mean we saw both right score, Yeah about Justin Yeah, yep,
that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Yeah, So I think so, I think that's where you
kind of look at it, and they didn't really allocate
the resources to either one of those quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
They also went through multiple head.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Coaches in that time, and you know with it, you know,
you felt with Caleb, Okay, we're taking the number two
overall pick and the number one quarterback in this draft. No,
I'm sorry, number one overall pick and number one quarterback
in this draft, because it right, because Washington went second
and took Jadan Daniels. You know, you want to try
(33:52):
and give him every opportunity to be successful. So you
go and you trade for a bunch of receivers and
now Keenan Allen, who was there a year ago, is
now back with the Chargers. But you know, you went
and you got Roma dooms a Luther Burden, you know,
Coleston Lovelin, and you trade it for But you're trying
to put the right guys in there. You know, you
had DeAndre Swift from the Lions already in there. In
(34:16):
the backfield, you get a Kalman Nung guy like you
start to create these pieces. You're trying to insulate him
and give him every resource to be successful so that
he can be a confident guy and he can also.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Grow with a lot of these guys, right.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Because that's the other thing is developing that chemistry with
the guys. You're throwing the ball to the guys who
are protecting you as well as your running backs who
are your essentially your extra protector and also your pressure
relieve valve for a lot of these things. So you know,
they're trying to do everything in their power something they
didn't do with their previous first round quarterbacks because of
the uncertainty of general manager and head coach. Now you're
(34:51):
trying to develop that stability with a new coach and
Ben Johnson. And Ben Johnson you read rover him over
from Detroit, great offensive mind.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
You know you see what he's done with Jarret Goff
and Company.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
You're like, hey, well, can you unlock the Rubik's Cube
that is Caleb Williams for us and see if we
can get the most out of them. And right now
is paying instant dividends. Right now is sitting at first
at first place in the NFC North as we stand
here in week twelve.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
So the Students is getting ready to take on that
first place Bears team. We want to remind you is
we head to break that you can gear up at
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(35:36):
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Back with more in the locker room presented by your
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Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Networks in.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
The Locker Room with King Stars on Steelers Nation Radio,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one P
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and
by Steelers Pro Shot. Get it direct from the team
at the Steelers Pro Shot at shop dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Com and thanks very much for being with us. Getting
excited now looking forward to this matchup at Soldier Field,
Historic Soldier Field. You know, the Bears date back to
nineteen twenty. That's when the NFL is kind of officially
saying the league began play. Nineteen thirty three is another
(36:36):
year that's important. That's when the Steelers started playing. And
you have the sort of original teams going at it,
you know, don't forget in the in the twenties, you
had all kinds of teams, you know, starting up and
folding and starting up and folding. And the Bears survived
all that, the Steelers in nineteen thirty the New York
Titans didn't make it New York Titans, and they came
(36:58):
back and then they didn't make it again. You know,
I mean they had like you know, I mean they
had it. Listen, you go back in the league, the
Decatur Spiders. They played like one game and they're gone.
And then it's you know the Duluth you know, iron
Man or something, you know. I mean, just on and
on and on. I just made up those names. By
the way, teams coming and going around the NFL. So
two of the original.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Met I mean, you got me going, you have me going.
I was I was like, wait a second, Lou iron Man,
I'm totally making it up. Not crazy, not crazier than
the ACME Packers. Yes, that's right. Yeah, the Acme.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Packers very very nice. So Max, I think when you
talk about the when you talk about the Bears, you
have to talk about the running attack. Kaleb Williams is
part of that. But Deanre Swift and Kyle Manungui, who
by the way, five eight two o five they listen
him at he's a seventh round pick this year. He
(37:54):
runs hard, he's a low ball of center of gravity
and me just a tough little run. And DeAndre Swift
has long been, you know, just a fine NFL running back.
And they give the ball to those guys a lot. Yeah, no,
they do.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
And we kind of talked about, you know, where this
team really needs to lock in. I think the biggest
thing is going to be is how do you deal
with the run game and how do you slow this.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Run game down?
Speaker 4 (38:27):
And I'm one of those guys that I believe you
just have to commit to taking away one side of
the ball or one of the options on that side
of the ball, and the run game would be the
easiest thing. Well, I say easy, but let me put
that in context. I say easy, but if I'm picking,
it's an easy choice to make on what to do.
(38:47):
And I think the Steelers have finally found that formula
on how they go about that. In certain mister fifty
wreck it Ralph Malik Harrison, Okay, is that that that
has been the one guy that that's really helped you
talk about easing this process and being able to go
(39:07):
after running backs in the running game. Malie Harrison has
been one of those fixtures the last number of weeks
that has been an aid in that because guess what,
He's the hammer that's going to go between the A
and B gaps and he's going to fire downhill and
when he hits you, you feel it. And and when
he when, when he when he's going to fill the gap.
(39:28):
The running backs have to make a decision to go
elsewhere when they when they see his number, and that
forces flow to Patrick Queen, to Peyton Wilson and the
rest of the defense. Jalen Ramsey is able to get
to the perimeter a lot more sound because he knows
that flow is going that way because Malie Harrison stuffed
the middle.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
And however you deploy it.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Right, I know, you know, Patrick Queen's your green dot,
and so he technically sits at the mic position, but
the way that they play it, they kind of switch
off on that and Malik will then move post snap
into the middle position, and that's when you will allow
for Patrick Queen to either shadow the back out of
the backfield or he's playing he's playing in that tight
on the line coverage for the tight end and passing
(40:09):
him off into his zone. That's how That's how they've
been working at it, and it's been a beautiful thing
to see, you know, because I don't if I have
Malik Harrison in there, I'm not spot dropping him, right,
I'm not running Tampa two and have the mike backer
back up to fifteen yards at depth and play everything
in front. That's more Patrick Queen, that's more Peyton Wilson,
not Malik Harrison. So Malik is gonna be the one.
He's gonna be the thunder around the edges. He's the
(40:32):
guy that's gonna play in the box and he's gonna
he's gonna try and cover whatever interior gaps to force
it out to his outside guys. Right, think a Lah
Nick Herbig TJ Watt, Jack Sawyer. You know, all of
those guys are gonna be on the edges waiting for him.
And then you have a Jalen Ramsey as your secondary support,
you know, a very sure tackler indeed in Jalen Ramsey,
(40:54):
and then Kyle Duggar another guy if you're forcing. That's
why the perimeter tackling has been so much better in
these last couple of weeks because both of those guys
playing at safety, you know, free and strong, are literally
Jalen Ramsey is playing loose and free, and Kyle Duger
is then in there playing very strong. From that from
(41:14):
that box to exterior scene area, hashes up the middle.
He's playing in that and that no man's land zone
and he's he's creating a name for himself. And that's
also what has given quarterbacks issues that's why you got
to pick you know, a week ago, because playing in
that position, you think you're safe for a second. Well
here comes the here comes the ballhawk. And Kyle Duggar
(41:36):
has been a guy that's been really nice compliment because
he understands the sophistication of the defense and also the nuances.
He knows how to move around in it. So this
defensive unit is looking very solid and it's going to
be a good challenge for them, because, like you said,
you have a team that's intent on running the football
and setting up their play action. And I think that
plays of the strength of this defense.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
You know, last year when the Ravens, it's interesting you
to bring up Malie Harrison because when the Ravens were
struggling defensively, they made a number of moves. One of
the moves they made was getting Malie Harrison in there
more often and starting more. I think he became a
starter actually, and he you know, was a part of
(42:19):
the turnaround, right So I'm not gonna I don't know
if anyone's gonna say, Malik Harrison that's the reason the
Steelers are better defensively right now. But it shouldn't be discounted,
you know what you're talking about. They've been much better
against the run, they've been much better in total yards allowed.
I know that other things come with that. You know,
Ramsey back at free safety now. I think it's probably
(42:39):
a big item for that as well. There are reasons
that this is happening, but you know this, this bears offense.
They run the ball straight ahead and they're not afraid.
We talked about this yesterday. Third and eight, they'll run
the ball because at fourth and two they're liable to
go for it. So you have to be prepared for
them running in any situation. But they also try to
(43:02):
stress the edges. You know, it's yes, they will run
between the tackles, and both Swift and Manungui are very
physical runner. Swift as their leading guy, averaging over seventy
yards per game on the ground. But they will also
try to get the ball to the edges with those guys,
but also jet motion Caleb Williams faking one way, tucking
and running around the edge using his speed to get
(43:24):
to the edge. So it's a very rushing attack. You know,
if people think about Detroit minus of course the great
game breaking speed that the Lions that we all know
that they have at their running back position.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
It is.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
It's not dissimilar because that was Ben Johnson who's the
offensive cordator there and is now the head coach of
the Bear. So they will try to stress you out
in a number of different areas in the in the
running attack.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
No, they're very good at creating opportunities in space. Like
you know, they're not a traditional we're gonna run up
the middle on you, every type of we're running man
counter wham stuff. No, they're running zone. They're allowing they're
allowing their running backs to pick and choose their holes. Right, So,
when you're thinking about an outside zone or a stretch
play as we call it, it can usually be run
(44:16):
to the open side or the closed side. What we
say closed side is a tight end on the end
of the line of script. Open side is just a
tackle because there's less guys on the front line. So
let's work from that concept. We're gonna talk open side first.
Open side, what you're going to see, you're going to
see a lot of a lot of the stretch zone,
which means it's gonna hit c gap and then work
(44:37):
its way back in down the alphabet B to A
and then back to the backside ABC, and those are
the gaps between.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
You know, outside the tackle is the C.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Outside the guard between the tackle is a B center
guard A, and either side is an A, and then
vice versa just goes, you know, goes and descending to
ascending order. From that, there's six gaps. So therefore C
is usually your widest and D is anything in the
unknown ether outside of a tight end. But when you
don't have a tight end, the C is the ether
(45:08):
and the unknown. So now that we got the base
comatics down right still with me there there we go.
Just want to make sure, thank you for journalistic integrity,
that we explain it it and detail.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Now we get to the fun stuff.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
So outside zone anything outside the tackle's left cheek on
the left side, anything outside the tackles right cheek on
the right side if he's open. When you have a
tight end, that outside zone stretches just one gap wider.
So therefore the track think of what we normally see
now is more of a toss action that usually helps
(45:45):
the running back get out there because it allows him
to step laterally to then go forward. So it's more
of a tight stretch zone versus when a quarterback's under
center and he takes that diagonal release in the direction
puts the ball in the belly of the running back,
So that one is a little bit slower, more slower developing.
(46:05):
But if you have support guys coming in your receivers,
or you have an h back coming from the backside
to wrap or to create force at the edge, those
are the reasons why you go between a toss versus
a toss a pitch instead of the handoff, you're trying
to get to the to the outside a lot quicker
and slower when you're trying to bring more guys in
(46:27):
from different directions to help seal and create a funnel
along the edge. That's something they really like to do.
So that's one of their main tendencies they have.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
They're a handful. Their offense is a handful. They've got.
They are difficult to deal with. They do a lot
of stuff under Ben Johnson, and it's not just stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
They've got good players. They have good players.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
They have a former number one pick two years ago
at quarterback and Caleb Williams, you know, two running backs
that they feel good about. Receivers that they've spent high
picks on tight ends it's a first round or olkam
that's a second rounder. Additions on the offensive line including
a pro bowler at left guard, an emerging force at
right tackle, and former first round picked Darnell right So
(47:10):
this will be a challenge for the Steelers defense for sure.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
How about what left tackle is the key? With tackle?
Is the key? Left tackle is the key? A great? Uh?
You mean tackle? Tackle?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Guys don't let him have more yards after the run
or catch after contact.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Tackle, But but but the guy they have, THEO Benedette
right now along the left.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Tack Why that's the banged up I thought I didn't
know if you meant tackling or the left tackle.
Speaker 4 (47:39):
No, the the left to I'm talking about specific person.
If you're going to create havoc, it has to be
against mister THEO Benedette or Benedett.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
I'm not sure how you pronounced that. Benedette is what
I'm going with. Yep.
Speaker 4 (47:53):
Yeah, he is a twenty four year old rookie and
he is from British Columbia. That's right, British Columbia. He's
he's he's he's from the North A. So that is
a guy that has not seen a lot of americanized
football to my degree, because he has played his football
(48:17):
in Canada.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
Oh, Canada. So that's the guy I'm going after.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
I'm sorry, sorry, Well listen, Caribou. You know they benched
for starting with tackle. He had some injuries and now
it's Bennett's job. And you know, whether whether it's going
to be her Big or high Smith or both remains
to be seen and figured out on game day.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Is going to be a quarterback. I would even put
tj over there and let him just take him through
the spin cycle a little bit too. We have I'm
not going to be opposed to movement.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
We have a lot of things to get to, including
some you know what's going on with the injury report.
Missy Matthews is going to fill us in on the
latest when she joined us. Also head your Keys to
the Game when we continue in the Locker Room presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store in this student's pro shop
on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And thank you very much for being with us in
the locker room with you, getting ready for a patch
up of division leading teams. The AFC North leading Pittsburgh
Steelers the NFC North leading Chicago Bears. This is the
battle for the North. This is the Starks versus the Boltons.
We have Max Starks. I think a Game of Thrones
(00:52):
fan with us, Max, your game of throws?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Wow? Wow, we we went with the Boltons. I'm giving
the Bear. We know who the Starks are. It's the Steelers, right,
I mean absolutely. I mean you know I'm not going
to go against that.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I mean, being being a fellow Starks, I'm not true.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, no, no, I was. I was like, okay, I
like where Rob's going with this already.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I was like, yeah, oh, Max, uh, I can't wait
for this one before we get too far going.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
First of all, I hope you're doing well today on
this Friday. Yeah, yeah, no rain, no rain.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Happy to support that out here, so that makes me
a happy camper, of course it is. It's still a
little chilly, a little chillier for my liking. But but no,
I'm doing great. I mean, you know, Friday is always
that that fun day of the week in the work
week where it's like, all right, all the work is,
you know, is being done. It's the end. Now we
(01:55):
get to go have fun on the weekends. And of
course our definition of fun is lot different than everybody else's.
Ours is ours is actually going to work on Sunday
for us. So but going to see you know, anytime
you get a chance to see the Steelers play, it's
a delight. And you know, heading heading to the Windy
City and you know, still still not sure about the
(02:18):
weather conditions there for Missy Matthews, but we will chime
in with her later in the show that yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's supposed to be beautiful, by the way, so we'll see
supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
But it's Chicago.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I've never put anything I don't trust, and I don't
trust weather people that often.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I get you, by the way, our thanks to Noah
Hiles from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, who did a feature
on the broadcast team that's in today's Post Gazette. So
if you want to check that out, you can. We
are getting ready for our game coming up before we
move ahead. Really important, really intriguing game last night between
(02:57):
the Bills and the Texans, with the Texas hanging on
at the end to defeat the Bills twenty three to nineteen.
I mean Josh Allen. So Josh Allen, by the way,
two hundred and fifty three yards. If you looked at
the numbers, two interceptions, sixty seven point four rating, you
know what's going on with Josh Allen. He he was
(03:20):
sacked eight times and hit another dozen times. I mean,
he took a beating. He early on in the game,
he fell awkwardly on a hit from behind by Will Anderson,
laid in the ground for a little while, got up.
You don't see that very often from Josh Allen. Stayed
in the game, but he was under siege the entire
(03:41):
game from Houston's top ranked defense. And now, you know,
we always talk about these power rankings and different things.
Suddenly now the Texans seem much more of a contender,
and the Bills now that just they by the way they'
won three in a row, has had the Texans and
now the Bills gain, they're gonna be extra desperate heading
(04:03):
into Akrascher Stadium next Sunday.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, no, I mean and and but this is who
the Bills have been, right. I haven't been able to
peg them yet as what they are as a team
because they are so up and down and it it's
I'm not gonna say it's frustrating.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That's been this season like trying to figure out who
is who is for real who isn't. Like I said,
the parody, this season has been one of the best
because you know, everybody wants to crown somebody from week
to week.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And that's why I talked about the with the power rankings.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You know, it's it's almost one of those things where
you hate putting teams up there in that top three
because it's like the bulls eyes on their back and
I feel like they're gonna let you down the second
you start to get a beat.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
On on who they are.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And for the Buffalo Bills, this has been the tail
of the season for them. They are They're They're a
team that's I know, I know. It's like you look
at the record, they're seven and four, which obviously you say, hey,
you're in a good position. But they're the second best
team in the AFC East, which isn't saying much. But
you know, New England is just the pace car for
(05:17):
that AFC East right now. And they still got to
deal with them one more time, and this time they
have to come to New England because the New England
beat them earlier this season in Buffalo, and you know,
you at Miami, you thought you were going down there
for a game against a team that was just seemed
to be in shambles, and they boat raced you in Miami.
(05:40):
So it's it's looking it's looking tough for the Bills,
and you know, defensively, they've had a lot of injuries
and they've tried to overcome them. But at the same time,
you sit there and you're just like, man, what what
do we expect? Because Josh Allen's so up and down.
Normally you see his you see you know, him trying
(06:01):
and put the cape on and try and do too much.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
But he does this every season.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
There's always those games where your head scratched, like he
gets frustrated, he's trying to do too much, and then
the the issues happened. But like you said, I mean
that Texans defense. I had to give them all the
credit in the world. This defense has been this the
entire season. It's just the offense has not been able
to score. And we now say this again, with your
front line, franchise quarterback out, the backup comes in and
(06:27):
like saves the day to make it look better.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I mean we've seen a lot of times doing that. Yeah,
thank you for putting that out. Max.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I didn't mean interrupt, because I should have if people
didn't watch the game. Now I know you watched the game.
If people didn't watch the game, Yeah, Davis Mills is quarterback, right,
Yes he's CJ Stroud has hurt.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
C J.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Stroud is expected back for their next game. So yes,
they're winning, or they won with Davis Mills a quarterback.
They've now won three in a row. And Max, they're
not dead. I mean, look, you you just laid out
the for Buffalo. So last night, as I was watching
the game, I started to think, Okay, can Houston, who
(07:07):
was the number one favorite to win their division among
all the divisions? I was listening to a pregame show
and they're talking about prognostications and they were putting in
the odds and that sort of stuff. As everyone knows
that listens to the show. I personally don't look at
lines and that kind of thing. It doesn't interest me.
But they were the heaviest favorite to win, right, And
(07:27):
that's what makes it interesting to me. What do people
think about this? So now, okay, they're six and five
and Indianapolis is eight and two, and Indianapolis is on
their by or just finished their bye. I beg your pardon.
So now they're coming off their by, and here is
their schedule. Here's Indianapolis's schedule. You ready, at Kansas City, Okay,
(07:54):
that's a desperate Chiefs team. Houston at home. Okay, that's
a massive game at Jacksonville at Seattle home against San
Francisco home against Jacksonville at Houston without looking, without you know,
seeing strength as scheduled. That has got to be the
(08:15):
toughest schedule any team is facing down the stretch has
to be.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I mean, think about that.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I mean it's not going to be easy. And
like you said, you got the Texans twice in that
and it's it's not gonna be a cakewalk at all.
And like you said, you know, the Texas now get
to sit and watch what everybody else does. And and
they've got they've got the w tucked away neatly in
their pocket. And they're six and five football team, they're
(08:45):
above five hundred. I know we talked about how bad
it's been at times, but you know, you look at
this team and it doesn't matter how how they win,
the defense will always keep them in games.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Right. And when we.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Think about just how close these losses have been this
season for the Texans, you had to think. They lost
to the Broncos eighteen to fifteen, and that was a
game where you were just begging for somebody to kick
a field goal to win that game.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Right. It was a very tightly contested game. That Seahawks
game was painful to watch.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
It was like the longest Monday night football game that
started late that I'd ever watched. I mean I was
up till past one am trying to watch this game.
And then of course you know do the post game
four and that was a twenty seven to nineteen game,
and really, you know, they had they had two bad
stretches where they lost to the Titans twenty six to zip.
(09:41):
Don't know how that happened that, but that was also
like week four of the season and then the Ravens
like boat raced you, but seventeen to ten, twenty to nineteen,
fourteen to nine. So this is a team that's hung
in with just about everybody minus two games that were
really bad and like you said, a three game win
streak with David Mills, Like who would have anticipated that?
(10:02):
But this defense is so Will Anderson is on a
defensive Player of the Year path right now. He is
playing out of his mind. He had two and a
half sacks Thursday night. Him and Daniel Hunter just seemed
to have a meeting at Josh Allen multiple times. And
then there was a worry for Bills fans because it
looked like Joshatt like he got injured really bad in
the game, but he came back. But this was one
(10:25):
where they just provided constant pressure on the Bills and
the Bills had no answer for the defensive group for
the Houston text. So that makes him a very dangerous team,
especially as we get later into the season.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, Will Anderson, by the way, seven sacks is a
rookie and you're thinking, okay, well, you know, such a
high pick and then eleven sacks last year. He has
ten and a half sacks right now in eleven games.
He has forced three fumbles, he's recovered two fumbles. He
has fourteen tackles for loss I mean he has just
been in Daniel Hunter. As you mentioned Hunter, He's got
(11:00):
eleven sacks, he's got eleven tackles for losses. I mean,
I don't know which one of those guys is is
Defensive Player of the Year. They might be splitting votes
in Houston. But you know, it's fun to watch these seasons.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Sort of.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know, sort of you know, watched as another team's
journey goes up, it goes down, it goes left, it
goes right, and you know, we are we see what's
happening with the Steelers and we see them up front
and they're up and down and what's going on with them?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And you know this.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But I'll tell you, you know, Houston, I said this
before when they were ranked twentieth in the Power rankings
or whatever. If you told me at that point that
and I can't remember who number one was, maybe it
was the Eagles, And if you told me the first
ranked team in the NFL, the Eagles, We're going to
face the twentieth ranked team in the NFL, the Texans,
(11:54):
in the super Bowl. I'd have said, Okay, that doesn't
shock me. And it still wouldn't shock me that any
number of teams could make the super Bowl. Jerry Dulac
said yesterday, and this, I think this is heartening if
you're a Steelers fan. He said, Look, I think the
AFC is wide open. He said, you know, we've gone
through the power rankings and you know, every week, although
(12:17):
recently that's changed every week, it's you know, of the
top six teams, five of them have been in the NFC.
You have the Eagles, you have the Rams, you have
the Lions. Now you have the Seahawks, and on and on.
And Jerry says the AFC is wide open. And you
know what, Max, I can't disagree with him. And if
I'm a Steelers fan, I'm happy about that. You've got
(12:39):
just as good a chance as anybody else to get
into the playoffs and and and maybe you know, advance
for a few rounds and let's see what happens. But
you gotta win games like this one against Chicago. You
have to you have to go up and be able
to show you can beat quality teams like the Bears
on their home turf.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, you have to be to take the show on
the road.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
You have to be able to go and play in
tough environments and overcome them and tough outdoor environments, right,
I mean, I think Chicago, you could argue, gives you
a very similar field of Buffalo. You know, and if
you go to Buffalo, you deal with similar extremes. Right
(13:21):
on the Great Lakes. You're a little bit further north,
and you know, the wind. The weather comes into play,
especially this time of year, anytime you get into November,
December and January football in those places, open air stadiums.
You know, there's a reason why Minnesota has a dome,
and it's not a fun place. But this is the
(13:43):
type of team, a team that's that's catching their stride offensively,
they have a good defensive structure.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So to go in there with all.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Things equal and being able to pull out a victory
and tucket in your chest, but also more importantly get
on a run. You know the street we you know,
we thought we were starting it with the Colts took
a step back with the Chargers. Now we're back on
pace again after the victory against the Bengals. Let's see
if we can string together some wins. That's where do
(14:11):
you know the true character of your team when you
can do it back to back. And that's what the
Steelers are searching, where they're searching for a two game
win streak. Right now they just have a victory, but
you know, you go streaking after two and this is
one where you want to try and keep those streaks
alive and gather momentum going into December football, because you
got a tough slate, you know, after that. And you know,
(14:33):
just as we talked about the Colts, you know, Steelers
have a tough slate coming up.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, and I listen, I can't wait. One of the
things when we look at the Bears and the Steelers,
and we mentioned this yesterday, is the turnovers. Right, the
Bears have forced twenty two, the Steelers have forced eighteen.
The Bears are number one in turnover margin in the NFL.
(14:58):
The Steelers are number three in turnover margin in the NFL.
But the Bears are leaders by a long shot. This
is what they do. And then you look at Caleb Williams.
Caleb Williams has five fumbles and he's lost none of them.
The Bears have fumbled. Now, the Steelers are the best
team in the NFL at recovering fumbles the Bears have lost.
(15:19):
The Bears have fumbled the ball eight times and lost
only one. And I wonder, Max, you know, as we
look and we're gonna dive into some of the specific
matchups again, we did some yesterday which will recap for
you a little bit. But I wonder if that's you know,
possibly an area the Steelers can exploit. Its something the
Bears have gotten away with this year, but maybe it's
(15:39):
something that the Steelers can pounce on a few of
those loose balls.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, well, that's that's what I'm hoping for.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
And that's that's when the Steelers are at their best,
is when you're turning this team over. Now, they've been
a lot more judicious with the football than they have been,
you know, than the previous year. But that's where that's
where you gonna have the differentially. You have to get
the ball out of Caleb Williams in the offense's hands.
You got to steal some possessions for this game and
(16:07):
that's where we're looking at. You know some of those
things that you know, the reason why they have such
a great turnover margin is because they don't turn it
over and they and they seem to find a way
and a knack to turn the other team over. You're
talking about number one and number two and turnover margins
and both of these defenses that are going to be
taking the field and Soldier Field on Sunday. So you're
gonna have to try and gain the advantage on a
(16:29):
team that's that's relished in that advantage. That's what's helped
them be successful is being able to turn the ball
over and steal possessions from them. So we're gonna have
to try and steal possessions from the thiefs of possessions.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Sounds wonderful, sounds good. So many intriguing matchups in this
game is two division leaders are going to be going
at it on Sunday at Soldier Field. We're going to
get to some of those matchups. Missy Matthews joins us
at eleven o'clock as well. When we continue in the
locker room, presented by our neighborhood Forgeturing the Studis Pro
Shop on Steer's Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And thanks very much for being back with us as
we get you ready in the locker room for the
Steelers and the Bears can't wait in Wrigley Field. As
of right now, the weather conditions don't look too bad.
High forties, maybe low fifties. You know, five six mile
an hour wins. That's relatively low, I think for the
windy City Max, as you know, the weather can change
(17:50):
up in Chicago, and you know, I think as you
think about this Bears offense, and yesterday we talked about
Darnell Wright and whether they will leave the really rising
young right tackle. He's becoming one of the best right
tackles in the league thirty year in first round pick
back in twenty twenty three, whether they will leave him
(18:10):
alone with TJ. Watt, And then I think the Toney
matchup inside against Cam Hayward. You know, the other right guard,
Jonah Jackson, is a very fine player as well, and
so you know, either Benton or Harmon will likely for
the majority of the time be over him. So it's
a really interesting match up. The Bears went out this
offseason and they traded for Jonah Jackson. They traded for
(18:33):
Joe Tooney, three straight Pro Bowls for Tony, two time
All Pro in that stretch. They picked up Drew Dolman
at center. They solidified the middle of that line. They
let Darnell Write continue to mature as a player. If
had some injuries at left tackle, this might be an
opportunity for Nick Herberg or Alonzo high Smith Alex Highsmith bigger.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Alonzo Highsmith, Alex.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Ho Maco going into the wayback machine there.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Sheeshah.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Maybe one of those guys could provide some pressure from
that side. And then you know, with all that, you've
still got to find a way, Max to keep Caleb
Williams in the pocket, because you know, we're talking to
Matt Williamson yesterday, and Matt watches a lot of football
around the league, and we all know how hard it
can be to get Lamar Jackson on the ground, the
(19:22):
students have been better than anybody at that But he said, hey,
I think Caleb Williams is the new guy, the new
king at escaping back there. And for the games I've watched,
and I've watched eight of their ten games at this point,
I can't disagree. He is a tough guy to get down.
And if you play too much, man, he'll identify that,
he'll tuck it and he'll pick up a lot of
(19:43):
yards on the ground. He's their third leading rusher.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, no, this is one that's gonna be a good challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
I mean, the run game for the Bears has really
been the engine that keeps things on track for Caleb
Williams when he's in the air trying to pass the ball.
But you know, Caleb is one of those guys that
he is very tough to get down. He's very athletic
in the pocket. He has great escapability, which makes him
a slippery guy to try and take down. So, you know,
(20:14):
if you're the Steelers, you know you're picking your poison
on Okay, how do we want to attack this team?
You know, because we saw a week ago where they
shut down that what seemed to be the top rye
receiving duo in the league between t Higgins and Jamar
Chase and held them to a very quiet six total
catches between the two of them. But in the previous weeks,
(20:35):
it's been stopping the run, you know, going after the
run game of teams and forcing the ball into the
quarterback's hands. Now, it didn't work out as well against
the Chargers with that approach, but you think about the
weeks before that, right, Jonathan Taylor, who's leading the league
and rushing and touchdowns, and there he's mister Everything, Josh
Jacobs before that, holding them very pedestrian. So you know,
(20:58):
the Steelers have shown they could do it both ways.
And I think with the defense and how the injuries
have settled that group up, they've found a way. The
secondary knows if we could hold up against these receivers,
the pass rush is going to get after the quarterback,
and just like we saw last night and Thursday night game,
if you let that, if you let a pass rush
like the Texans get after you, they're going to make
(21:20):
it miserable. I think you say the same thing for
the Steelers, right if you can, if the pass rush
is allowed to hit home because the secondary is doing
their job and locking up the receivers. This makes this
a very, very tough day. But you've got to hold
the run. The run is that glue. When you think
about the Steelers losses, the run games have been the
thing that have helped them. You think about, you know,
(21:40):
against the Chargers, right, Kamani Vidal although he had he
had a rash, he was he was nearing one hundred
yards and then at the end of the game they're
trying to run the ball out kind of lost some
yardage in the process. Chase Brown with his over one
hundred yards rushing against I think it was one hundred
and nine against US. That was on display the Seahawks loss.
Run game was there and they were just super balanced
(22:03):
across the way in that game. Uh so, you know,
and with the Packers, right, even though you held Josh
Jacobs intact, Jordan Love for whatever, Well.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Tucker Craft, let me just the other thing. Emanuel started
did it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Emmanuel Wilson started running in the second half. Yeah, he
got the run and it was valuable. It was valuable runs.
He didn't get to the century mark, but like you said,
the key gotta have it. Third and shorts, and second
in mediums he was able to turn those into first downs.
So I feel like, still the run game is key,
especially against Chicago. You've got to stop the run game
(22:38):
and then everything else will start to make sense for you.
And if you make them one dimensional.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Caleb and still a young guy in the second year,
and he's still going to be prone to mistakes, but
you have you can't give him the security blanket of
a run game.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Right, totally agree.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And by the way, one out of every three of
his runs results in a first down. So he's run
the ball fifty two times and seventeen to those have
been a first down. He's averaging, you know, twenty seven
yards per game, five point two yards per carry. You know,
you think about Lamar ripping off usually longer runs than that,
but he he seems to have that knack to be
(23:14):
able to get it, and he's just he extends plays,
he keeps him alive. It's it's got to be wearying.
We talk about, you know, time of possession and how
important it is. You know, not only are you out
there for a while if you're a defensive alignment, but
you are chasing down a guy who's moving sideline to sideline.
You know, he steps up in the pocket. He you know,
(23:37):
maybe somebody would critique him and say he gets out
of the pocket too soon.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's for others to judge, but I do know this.
He gets out of the pocket a lot and scrambles
around and makes things happen. And he had that, you
know what, he had, like a thirty yard sack or
something last year trying to make plays happen. But he's
gotten way better at that. He's gotten better at throwing
the ball away in avoiding sacks. But I think that
you know, again, Lamar Jackson gives you the opportunity to
(24:05):
see a guy like Caleb Williams who can escape the
pocket and needs to be hemmed in two ways. You
can't let him get out around you and get to
the edge, and you can't let him slither through rush
lanes and get out because now let's say you're playing
man de man defense and he slithers through a rush lane, Well,
(24:27):
every defender has got their back to the quarterback because
they're not worried about the quarterback. They're worried about defending
their man, guarding their man downfield, and so then Caleb
Williams has huge ground in front of him in which
to run, So you got to be able to keep
them contained in the pocket in both ways. Don't let
them leak out, don't let them move forward.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
No, no, you can't. And that's the thing. You have
to compress him. And so that leads to pushing the
interior coming up the field. That's going to be harming
Kate cam and also Ya Black providing that interior push.
And then like you said, feed the action to the sharks, right,
you want to feed the action to TJ. Watt, and
(25:10):
you want to feed the action to Herbig high Smith and.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Sawyer as well.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Allow them to take off the edges of this and
create a net around Caleb Williams. And you cannot give
this guy anything up into the outsides because he loves that.
So you're talking about rushing at depth and then coming
inward for the edge guys. Then like you said, a
constant forward pressure taking away those windows up the middle,
(25:38):
you know, and forcing him to go back and out.
That's where you talked about that thirty yard stack, is
that he tried to go back and out and then
he got forced back in and he went further back
and went to the opposite out and that's what leads
to a thirty yard sack. He just kept zigzagging backwards.
But that's the approach that you have to take with
Caleb Williams. You can't, you know, go overload rush and
(26:01):
then there opens up a pocket and the b gap
on the opposite side. Right now, he can squirt through
that and like you said, he can make you pay
a five point two per average on a rush.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
That's huge.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
You think about that in second down passing situations, third
in mediums Now you're talking about a guy, like you said,
every third touch gets a touch, It gets you a
first down and gets you a new set of downs.
That that is tiring for a defense because you're gonna
have to run to catch him. But if you can
compress that and create that net, now it forces him
to throw an aerrant ball, forces a ball to go
(26:33):
up in the fifty to fifty zone, which can turn
to a sixty forty either way. And so that's what
you're trying to get. That's the golden piece that you're
trying to get to and create that havoc like we
saw on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And when you talk about Caleb Williams. You have to
talk about I think the accuracy now it's gotten better.
He's got three straight games now in which he's completed
at least sixty percent of his passes. His completion percentage
of fifty nine point seven is is thirty first out
of thirty four qualifying quarterbacks. So obviously that's not great.
(27:07):
Now he does bring the run element, right, we talked
about that, so that does increase his value. He takes
care of the football thirteen touchdowns, only four interceptions. But
having said all that, actually I beg your pardon. It
was he started the season with three straight sixty percent
completion games. Over his last three games here we are
(27:27):
here fifty eight point eight percent, fifty five point six
percent and fifty percent sixteen for thirty two in then
win over Minnesota. So he can be inaccurate. Max, I mean,
he makes some throws that you're like, whoa man? I
mean when you see what he does, and look, he's
(27:47):
clearly made a step forward this year, no doubt. But
when you see some of the throws he can make
and does make its jaw dropping. Then when you see
some of the throws he also makes, it's head scratching,
like you know you're gonna throw it out in the
left flat and okay, you're under a little bit of pressure,
(28:08):
but you skip it to the guy and you know
you can't even get it there in the air, and
then the next row you drive one sixty yards down
the field on a line. He's I guess I would
say he's a maturing quarterback. But that's one of the
things that they talked about this with Josh Allen when
he came into the league. Others, you know, where's the accuracy?
(28:30):
Can you develop that at the NFL level, Josh Allen
has I don't know if that was a big knock
on Killer Williams in college, but I do know that
it's been an issue this year for him, just simply
being accurate with the football, getting guys in stride on
crossing patterns. You know, They've got a lot of very
talented receivers that they've spent a lot of high picks
on and spent money on in free agency to bring
(28:51):
in and support him. First round pick in Colston Lovelin
at tight end just this year, second round pick on
Luther Burden just this year. Short up the offensive line,
they have built this team around Caleb Williams, and I think, uh,
and we'll get to the running backs in a minute.
But the one thing that it looks like he still
needs to improve upon is his accuracy in the pocket.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
An accuracy in the pocket comes from being able to
read read coverages. That's where he That's where he struggles, right,
So the disguise is going to be key on him
pre snap. That's why Ben Johnson does a lot of
pre snap motion to help him out in that process.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
We've kind of talked about that earlier in the.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Week about why they motion and what that's doing to
help Caleb Williams. But another thing is, like I said
that timing, and that's something I'm going to continue to
harp on is the fact that you know, he is
way better when he's under center than when he is
in shotgun. His internal clock moves a lot cleaner when
(29:50):
he's taking those steps in progressions because he's figuring out
what he needs to do and when he needs to
get there. Because when he's at shotgun, you know the
move is there and you're trying to count in.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Your head on thousand and one thousand and two thousand.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Okay, now I look it disrupts the timing and the
rhythm of the passing game. So that's something that normally
quarterbacks love the fact that they can be in shotgun
right because you can see the field a lot better,
you can count things ahead of time, like an Aaron
Rodgers in the shotgun is a lot different than Caleb
Williams at the shotgun because Aaron has seen everything, he
(30:25):
knows everything. Caleb Williams still gathering information. We always talk
about this with young players versus old players. Right, you know,
a young player is gathering information every snap is valuable
because it adds to their rolodecks or their mental encyclopedia.
Whereas a veteran player can now pull on that information
from his mental encyclopedia that he's already gathered over numerous
years and a lot of various playing experiences. Gets you
(30:48):
more prepared to see those type of things and the
game slows down for you. Right now is still at
a sped up pace. And for Caleb, when you can't
read the two high versus single higher, the disguise off
of it, that makes it really tough when talking about
some of your inbreaking routes. Why he doesn't like to
throw it to the middle of the field because he
can't read it, and so everything that's spectacular of his
throws are usually those sideline passes. All we have to
(31:10):
do is think on our history. You know, anytime George
Pickens was on the sidelines, it made any quarterback that
was in you know, experience or not, whether it's mister bisky,
can he pick it? Those plays were even more spectacular,
right because you could throw it down the sidelines. You
got an athletic receiver that can go make a tremendous play.
But yet you go and throw the shallow crosser and
(31:30):
you know, you still throw it the same anticipation because
you can't tell whether it's the linebacker or the nickel
or the safety that's going to be on.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
The front end of that.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
So you get a little gun shy, start to pump fake,
and that's where you have to be. You have to
change up the coverages. You have to confuse him because
if not, he will hold.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Onto the football and that usually leads to a bad
thing when it gets off the timing.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, he is definitely. I mean, there's a reason he
was taken first overall by Chicago last year, and there's
a reason that they're building their team around him. And
you know, when you look at the team defensively, yeah,
they went out and they traded for Montes Sweat. Last year.
They were already trying to put the pieces in place
around Caleb Williams. You know a lot of people said,
(32:13):
what are you doing, You're not a very good team. Well, listen,
you got it when you see a good player and
you have a chance to grab him and you have
a chance to try to build something. But right now,
it feels like most of that building is happening on
the offensive side. And by the way, Max just you know,
and we're gonna head to a break here in a moment.
But just from a philosophical point of view, I'm all
(32:35):
for it. You get a young quarterback, protect him, surround
him with talent. It is the most important position, in
my opinion, in any sport. A quarterback. You got a
young one, you spend a first round pick on him.
And this isn't Buffalo trading up, this isn't Kansas City
trading up. This is a bad struggling team needing a
(32:56):
franchise quarterback not getting one. With Mitch Trubisky out. Think
you know, right, we saw Mit Trubisky here, but you didn't.
You didn't put pieces around him, And now they've put
pieces around Caleb Williams to aid with that development. From
a philosophical standpoint, I get what they're doing and I
think they're doing it the right way.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Well yeah, and then also Justin Fields right after him, right,
I mean we saw both right score, Yeah about Justin Yeah, yep,
that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Yeah, So I think so, I think that's where you
kind of look at it, and they didn't really allocate
the resources to either one of those quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
They also went through multiple head.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
Coaches in that time, and you know with it, you know,
you felt with Caleb, Okay, we're taking the number two
overall pick and the number one quarterback in this draft. No,
I'm sorry, number one overall pick and number one quarterback
in this draft, because it right, because Washington went second
and took Jadan Daniels. You know, you want to try
(33:52):
and give him every opportunity to be successful. So you
go and you trade for a bunch of receivers and
now Keenan Allen, who was there a year ago, is
now back with the Chargers. But you know, you went
and you got Roma dooms a Luther Burden, you know,
Coleston Lovelin, and you trade it for But you're trying
to put the right guys in there. You know, you
had DeAndre Swift from the Lions already in there. In
(34:16):
the backfield, you get a Kalman Nung guy like you
start to create these pieces. You're trying to insulate him
and give him every resource to be successful so that
he can be a confident guy and he can also.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Grow with a lot of these guys, right.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Because that's the other thing is developing that chemistry with
the guys. You're throwing the ball to the guys who
are protecting you as well as your running backs who
are your essentially your extra protector and also your pressure
relieve valve for a lot of these things. So you know,
they're trying to do everything in their power something they
didn't do with their previous first round quarterbacks because of
the uncertainty of general manager and head coach. Now you're
(34:51):
trying to develop that stability with a new coach and
Ben Johnson. And Ben Johnson you read rover him over
from Detroit, great offensive mind.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
You know you see what he's done with Jarret Goff
and Company.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
You're like, hey, well, can you unlock the Rubik's Cube
that is Caleb Williams for us and see if we
can get the most out of them. And right now
is paying instant dividends. Right now is sitting at first
at first place in the NFC North as we stand
here in week twelve.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
So the Students is getting ready to take on that
first place Bears team. We want to remind you is
we head to break that you can gear up at
the latest game the necessities at the Officials Students Pro Shops.
Get the latest sideline apparel of Jerseys, Terrible towels, authentic
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from the team. Visit one of the Officials to this
pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets
(35:36):
or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Get it direct from the team at
the Steers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Back with more in the locker room presented by your
neighborhood Fords to doing the Studis Pro Shop on Stitarz
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Networks in.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
The Locker Room with King Stars on Steelers Nation Radio,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one P
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and
by Steelers Pro Shot. Get it direct from the team
at the Steelers Pro Shot at shop dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Com and thanks very much for being with us. Getting
excited now looking forward to this matchup at Soldier Field,
Historic Soldier Field. You know, the Bears date back to
nineteen twenty. That's when the NFL is kind of officially
saying the league began play. Nineteen thirty three is another
(36:36):
year that's important. That's when the Steelers started playing. And
you have the sort of original teams going at it,
you know, don't forget in the in the twenties, you
had all kinds of teams, you know, starting up and
folding and starting up and folding. And the Bears survived
all that, the Steelers in nineteen thirty the New York
Titans didn't make it New York Titans, and they came
(36:58):
back and then they didn't make it again. You know,
I mean they had like you know, I mean they
had it. Listen, you go back in the league, the
Decatur Spiders. They played like one game and they're gone.
And then it's you know the Duluth you know, iron
Man or something, you know. I mean, just on and
on and on. I just made up those names. By
the way, teams coming and going around the NFL. So
two of the original.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Met I mean, you got me going, you have me going.
I was I was like, wait a second, Lou iron Man,
I'm totally making it up. Not crazy, not crazier than
the ACME Packers. Yes, that's right. Yeah, the Acme.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Packers very very nice. So Max, I think when you
talk about the when you talk about the Bears, you
have to talk about the running attack. Kaleb Williams is
part of that. But Deanre Swift and Kyle Manungui, who
by the way, five eight two o five they listen
him at he's a seventh round pick this year. He
(37:54):
runs hard, he's a low ball of center of gravity
and me just a tough little run. And DeAndre Swift
has long been, you know, just a fine NFL running back.
And they give the ball to those guys a lot. Yeah, no,
they do.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
And we kind of talked about, you know, where this
team really needs to lock in. I think the biggest
thing is going to be is how do you deal
with the run game and how do you slow this.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Run game down?
Speaker 4 (38:27):
And I'm one of those guys that I believe you
just have to commit to taking away one side of
the ball or one of the options on that side
of the ball, and the run game would be the
easiest thing. Well, I say easy, but let me put
that in context. I say easy, but if I'm picking,
it's an easy choice to make on what to do.
(38:47):
And I think the Steelers have finally found that formula
on how they go about that. In certain mister fifty
wreck it Ralph Malik Harrison, Okay, is that that that
has been the one guy that that's really helped you
talk about easing this process and being able to go
(39:07):
after running backs in the running game. Malie Harrison has
been one of those fixtures the last number of weeks
that has been an aid in that because guess what,
He's the hammer that's going to go between the A
and B gaps and he's going to fire downhill and
when he hits you, you feel it. And and when
he when, when he when he's going to fill the gap.
(39:28):
The running backs have to make a decision to go
elsewhere when they when they see his number, and that
forces flow to Patrick Queen, to Peyton Wilson and the
rest of the defense. Jalen Ramsey is able to get
to the perimeter a lot more sound because he knows
that flow is going that way because Malie Harrison stuffed
the middle.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
And however you deploy it.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Right, I know, you know, Patrick Queen's your green dot,
and so he technically sits at the mic position, but
the way that they play it, they kind of switch
off on that and Malik will then move post snap
into the middle position, and that's when you will allow
for Patrick Queen to either shadow the back out of
the backfield or he's playing he's playing in that tight
on the line coverage for the tight end and passing
(40:09):
him off into his zone. That's how That's how they've
been working at it, and it's been a beautiful thing
to see, you know, because I don't if I have
Malik Harrison in there, I'm not spot dropping him, right,
I'm not running Tampa two and have the mike backer
back up to fifteen yards at depth and play everything
in front. That's more Patrick Queen, that's more Peyton Wilson,
not Malik Harrison. So Malik is gonna be the one.
He's gonna be the thunder around the edges. He's the
(40:32):
guy that's gonna play in the box and he's gonna
he's gonna try and cover whatever interior gaps to force
it out to his outside guys. Right, think a Lah
Nick Herbig TJ Watt, Jack Sawyer. You know, all of
those guys are gonna be on the edges waiting for him.
And then you have a Jalen Ramsey as your secondary support,
you know, a very sure tackler indeed in Jalen Ramsey,
(40:54):
and then Kyle Duggar another guy if you're forcing. That's
why the perimeter tackling has been so much better in
these last couple of weeks because both of those guys
playing at safety, you know, free and strong, are literally
Jalen Ramsey is playing loose and free, and Kyle Duger
is then in there playing very strong. From that from
(41:14):
that box to exterior scene area, hashes up the middle.
He's playing in that and that no man's land zone
and he's he's creating a name for himself. And that's
also what has given quarterbacks issues that's why you got
to pick you know, a week ago, because playing in
that position, you think you're safe for a second. Well
here comes the here comes the ballhawk. And Kyle Duggar
(41:36):
has been a guy that's been really nice compliment because
he understands the sophistication of the defense and also the nuances.
He knows how to move around in it. So this
defensive unit is looking very solid and it's going to
be a good challenge for them, because, like you said,
you have a team that's intent on running the football
and setting up their play action. And I think that
plays of the strength of this defense.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
You know, last year when the Ravens, it's interesting you
to bring up Malie Harrison because when the Ravens were
struggling defensively, they made a number of moves. One of
the moves they made was getting Malie Harrison in there
more often and starting more. I think he became a
starter actually, and he you know, was a part of
(42:19):
the turnaround, right So I'm not gonna I don't know
if anyone's gonna say, Malik Harrison that's the reason the
Steelers are better defensively right now. But it shouldn't be discounted,
you know what you're talking about. They've been much better
against the run, they've been much better in total yards allowed.
I know that other things come with that. You know,
Ramsey back at free safety now. I think it's probably
(42:39):
a big item for that as well. There are reasons
that this is happening, but you know this, this bears offense.
They run the ball straight ahead and they're not afraid.
We talked about this yesterday. Third and eight, they'll run
the ball because at fourth and two they're liable to
go for it. So you have to be prepared for
them running in any situation. But they also try to
(43:02):
stress the edges. You know, it's yes, they will run
between the tackles, and both Swift and Manungui are very
physical runner. Swift as their leading guy, averaging over seventy
yards per game on the ground. But they will also
try to get the ball to the edges with those guys,
but also jet motion Caleb Williams faking one way, tucking
and running around the edge using his speed to get
(43:24):
to the edge. So it's a very rushing attack. You know,
if people think about Detroit minus of course the great
game breaking speed that the Lions that we all know
that they have at their running back position.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
It is.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
It's not dissimilar because that was Ben Johnson who's the
offensive cordator there and is now the head coach of
the Bear. So they will try to stress you out
in a number of different areas in the in the
running attack.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
No, they're very good at creating opportunities in space. Like
you know, they're not a traditional we're gonna run up
the middle on you, every type of we're running man
counter wham stuff. No, they're running zone. They're allowing they're
allowing their running backs to pick and choose their holes. Right, So,
when you're thinking about an outside zone or a stretch
play as we call it, it can usually be run
(44:16):
to the open side or the closed side. What we
say closed side is a tight end on the end
of the line of script. Open side is just a
tackle because there's less guys on the front line. So
let's work from that concept. We're gonna talk open side first.
Open side, what you're going to see, you're going to
see a lot of a lot of the stretch zone,
which means it's gonna hit c gap and then work
(44:37):
its way back in down the alphabet B to A
and then back to the backside ABC, and those are
the gaps between.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
You know, outside the tackle is the C.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Outside the guard between the tackle is a B center
guard A, and either side is an A, and then
vice versa just goes, you know, goes and descending to
ascending order. From that, there's six gaps. So therefore C
is usually your widest and D is anything in the
unknown ether outside of a tight end. But when you
don't have a tight end, the C is the ether
(45:08):
and the unknown. So now that we got the base
comatics down right still with me there there we go.
Just want to make sure, thank you for journalistic integrity,
that we explain it it and detail.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Now we get to the fun stuff.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
So outside zone anything outside the tackle's left cheek on
the left side, anything outside the tackles right cheek on
the right side if he's open. When you have a
tight end, that outside zone stretches just one gap wider.
So therefore the track think of what we normally see
now is more of a toss action that usually helps
(45:45):
the running back get out there because it allows him
to step laterally to then go forward. So it's more
of a tight stretch zone versus when a quarterback's under
center and he takes that diagonal release in the direction
puts the ball in the belly of the running back,
So that one is a little bit slower, more slower developing.
(46:05):
But if you have support guys coming in your receivers,
or you have an h back coming from the backside
to wrap or to create force at the edge, those
are the reasons why you go between a toss versus
a toss a pitch instead of the handoff, you're trying
to get to the to the outside a lot quicker
and slower when you're trying to bring more guys in
(46:27):
from different directions to help seal and create a funnel
along the edge. That's something they really like to do.
So that's one of their main tendencies they have.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
They're a handful. Their offense is a handful. They've got.
They are difficult to deal with. They do a lot
of stuff under Ben Johnson, and it's not just stuff.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
They've got good players. They have good players.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
They have a former number one pick two years ago
at quarterback and Caleb Williams, you know, two running backs
that they feel good about. Receivers that they've spent high
picks on tight ends it's a first round or olkam
that's a second rounder. Additions on the offensive line including
a pro bowler at left guard, an emerging force at
right tackle, and former first round picked Darnell right So
(47:10):
this will be a challenge for the Steelers defense for sure.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
How about what left tackle is the key? With tackle?
Is the key? Left tackle is the key? A great? Uh?
You mean tackle? Tackle?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Guys don't let him have more yards after the run
or catch after contact.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Tackle, But but but the guy they have, THEO Benedette
right now along the left.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Tack Why that's the banged up I thought I didn't
know if you meant tackling or the left tackle.
Speaker 4 (47:39):
No, the the left to I'm talking about specific person.
If you're going to create havoc, it has to be
against mister THEO Benedette or Benedett.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
I'm not sure how you pronounced that. Benedette is what
I'm going with. Yep.
Speaker 4 (47:53):
Yeah, he is a twenty four year old rookie and
he is from British Columbia. That's right, British Columbia. He's
he's he's he's from the North A. So that is
a guy that has not seen a lot of americanized
football to my degree, because he has played his football
(48:17):
in Canada.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
Oh, Canada. So that's the guy I'm going after.
Speaker 2 (48:21):
I'm sorry, sorry, Well listen, Caribou. You know they benched
for starting with tackle. He had some injuries and now
it's Bennett's job. And you know, whether whether it's going
to be her Big or high Smith or both remains
to be seen and figured out on game day.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Is going to be a quarterback. I would even put
tj over there and let him just take him through
the spin cycle a little bit too. We have I'm
not going to be opposed to movement.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
We have a lot of things to get to, including
some you know what's going on with the injury report.
Missy Matthews is going to fill us in on the
latest when she joined us. Also head your Keys to
the Game when we continue in the Locker Room presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store in this student's pro shop
on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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