November 24, 2025 • 47 mins
Max and Rob as always share their thoughts and takeaways from a very disappointing loss in Chicago against the Bears.
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Episode Transcript
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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 point 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 (00:27):
Get a snap fakes, looks, pumps, throws back at the
end zone complete. Pat Fryarmouth, Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown at the
six twenty seven march up the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Oh, thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room on this Monday. Unfortunately, not a victory donut
Monday for the Steelers. Felt like that, you know, that
touchdown got the Steelers back in the game.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
They had the opportunity. They got you know.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Two more possessions after that, and so the defense at
that point of the game, you know, rose up and
gave the opportunity for the offense to try to come
back and win the game. Didn't happen after forcing I
think it was a couple of consecutive three and outs
right as the Steelers got the ball back, decided to punt,
then got the ball back again at their own twenty
yard line, plenty of time even with no timeouts to
(01:18):
at least move it into field goal range. They needed
one more first down and they couldn't get that first
down and they wind up losing to the Chicago Bears.
Thank you very much for being with us in the
locker room as we do on Mondays. We're going to
be taking some phone calls a little bit later on
in the program. The phone number for that four one
two nine, one three one six, So we will be
(01:38):
taking your phone calls today. Plenty of analysis from Max
Starks as well, looking forward to now a super important
game against the Buffalo Bills that is coming up on Sunday.
We will get to that a little bit later on
in the week as we progress here in the locker room.
So a couple of things. When you think about what
(01:59):
the studers were trying to accomplish against the Bears, and
what you think about that they're hoping to accomplish in
every game. So I'm just going to read some statistics
and ask you to think about whether you would accept
these statistics and these facts going into a game, and
whether your expectation would have been victory if you'd gotten
(02:20):
those things first. Of all, you got a defensive touchdown,
two defensive touchdowns last week, a defensive touchdown this week.
Of course, last week you get those two defensive touchdowns
and you wind up blowing out the Bengals. Right, so
you get a defensive touchdown. Okay, there's one thing mission accomplished.
You outgain the Bears three forty five to three twenty eight.
(02:44):
You outrush the Bears one eighty six to ninety nine.
And keep in mind, the Bears had the second best
rushing attack in the NFL coming to this game. You
pretty much took that away from them. And then you,
who've had trouble running the football at least consistently piling
up yardage is probably more likely the issue than effective running.
(03:05):
The students have been more effective running the football since
the first couple games of the season, but this is
clearly their best rushing game of the season. One eighty
six to ninety nine. You averaged five point two yards
per carry, which, by the way, is what the Bills
were giving up again, one of the worst in the
league at that but you took advantage of that. Okay,
so now you have scored a defensive touchdown, You've outgained
(03:29):
the Bears. You've outrushed them. You ran for one hundred
and eighty six yards in this game. You won the
time of possession battle handily, thirty three to oh nine
to twenty six point fifty one, and for the first
time all season, you ran more plays in the opposition.
That's something we've been talking about. Control the ball, keep
(03:52):
what can be an explosive Bears offense off the field,
run more plays when the time of es they ran
more plays. First time all season, they've run more plays
in the opposition, sixty nine to sixty one. So if
I bring you that information prior to the game, hey,
here's what's gonna happen. The Steelers are and I'm not
(04:14):
again I'm not a gamber, but I mean, you'd be tempted, right,
wouldn't you if you knew the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Were going to score a defensive touchdown.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
We're gonna have more plays in the Bears sixty nine
to sixty one. We're gonna have the time of possession
battle handily in this game by over six minutes. You
were gonna run for one hundred and eighty six yards
in this game, and you were gonna hold them under
one hundred how does that not add up to a victory.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
It's amazing, it really is.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You know, the Steelers did so many of the things
that they set out to do in a football game,
and set out to do in this game specifically. Unfortunately,
they ultimately didn't do the thing that's most important. They
didn't win the game, the Steelers losing of course by
the final score of thirty one to twenty eight. So
a lot more things, you know, to get to as
(05:05):
we talk about what that means. What that means in
the short term is you're now an eight seed. You're
on the outside of the playoffs, looking in after your
fast start and hanging on to that AFC North Division lead.
While the Ravens were off to a slow start to
the season. One in five, the Ravens have ripped off
(05:27):
their five consecutive victories. You've wound up losing what you've
lost to get to the position where you both have
the same record, and yet because of the tiebreaker, it
is the Ravens right now who are in first place
in the AFC North and the Studers who have slipped
to the number eight seed. So that is where the
Students are right now, and it's a difficult spot to
(05:50):
be in Max with all those elements, you know, with
time and possession, running more plays, running the football, effectively
getting a defensive touchdown, holding the Bears to under one
hundred yards. That's the recipe we were looking for. That's
the formula we were looking for. And yet there were
other ingredients that snuck their way into the pot and
(06:13):
causes to this to lose the game.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Yeah, no, it was you know, it's disappointing, it's frustrating.
You did a lot of good things in the game,
but once again, you know, good doesn't cut it right
in the NFL. It's got to be great and you
have to and it has to be a consistent effort
(06:37):
across the board. And unfortunately, you know, we didn't. Well,
the team did not do what it was supposed to do.
And I, you know, I was like the team we
as a broadcaster, you know, it's only so close, right,
But you know, there was a lot of elements that
(07:01):
you could you could you can be excited about, you know,
you could be excited about the fact that they would
have turned over a team that did not turn the
football over that much. You were able to affect them
in that manner you. You know, we held this game
tight and had a lead going into halftime once again,
(07:24):
and you went on the road to do that when
the football effectively. But at the end of the day,
all of those good things don't matter because if you
don't come away with.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The w.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
What's the point of it, right, you know, we can
talk about all those things. It was not enough. It
was not enough. It was we were three points shy
of being equal and four point shy of being better
than but we weren't. We came up three point short
(08:02):
and a lot of opportunities in the game to take
it over to to do some different things that would
have you know, had this connected, had this worked, we'd
be having a different conversation. But we're not having a
different conversation. We're in this conversation and it's just it's
(08:24):
frustrating because this was a game where you needed to
prove your consistency at this point in the year. This
is the game where you needed to put everything together
and come out on top. All three phases had to
contribute in some type of way to be a full
(08:47):
concerted effort, and we can point to something in every
single phase that was not that was not up up to.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Now.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
We can say some good parts about it in each phase,
but for the most part, yeah, it wasn't consistent enough.
Everybody had in equal parts in this, from playing to coaching,
and that is the elements that you have to you
you have to look at and say, Okay, where are we,
(09:22):
who are we and how are we going to do this? Yes,
we're still above five hundred. Yes we are still in
the race, but the cushion is now gone, the margin
of error is now gone, given that opportunity away. The
only positive I can look at from this is at
(09:44):
least the majority of them were NFC teams, right Rob, Yes, Yeah,
that's that's the silver lining.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I mean I was on dv AS on the morning
show and talked about this and thought about this, you know,
leading up to this game. That felt very important for
me that the Steelers win at least one of these
next two games, meaning the Bears game in the Bills game.
Heading into the game against the Ravens, my full anticipation
(10:13):
was that the Ravens are going to be seven and
five going into that game with a long winning streak
and a lot of momentum, but the Steelers were also
going to be seven and five or needed to be
seven and five, and let's go, Steelers, Ravens. Man, let's
play ball. You know they always say throw the records
out the window. Well, records are pretty important in a
game like that, but it is one of those games
(10:34):
in which it doesn't really matter if you've been streaking
or not streaking going in, or how you've been playing
going in.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
This is Steelers Ravens, Let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And if you gave me a choice, if you said, Okay,
which game would you rather win, Well, I'd rather beat
the Bills because to your point, it's a conference opponent
that's the one you really want to win this game against.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
On Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Having said that, I thought the Bears were an easier opponent,
and I thought that the Steelers were a better team
going in. There's nothing that really happened that makes me
think that the Steelers aren't a better team coming out
except for the score. And the Bears have made a
living doing that, Max, And you know, to me, we
(11:22):
are so used to the Steelers finding ways to win, right,
find ways to win and then grind out of victory.
And that's what the Bears did. The Bears found a
way to win and ground out of victory. They really
remind me of how the Steelers have been winning games
in recent years. Now they've got Caleb Williams at quarterback,
(11:42):
and the Steelers, you know, prior to this season and
getting Aaron Rodgers, haven't had somebody that caliber in quite
some time. Although he has his own warts for sure,
but he's a really talented young player. So they haven't
had that. But what they've done is they've they've run
the football, they've made the stops defensively when they need
they've needed to, they come up with the key turnovers.
And even though the Steelers came up with that key
(12:04):
turnover that was a touchdown and the Bears that's the
way they're making a living. And our buddy Matt Williamson
always talks about fourth downs, you know, failed fourth downs
really being tannam out to a turnover because you're losing
the ball right at that spot. You're not kicking it
away or kicking a field goal or what have you.
So if you look at it in that light, and
(12:25):
I think it's an interesting argument.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
For sure, the Steelers lost a turnover.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Battle, you know, because I forget the last fourth down
that's you gotta go forth there, and that would if
you turned it over there, I wouldn't even consider that
really a turnover. But the Bears, they're having a Cinderella
type of season in which you know they're they're winding
up at the bell of the ball no matter what
happens throughout the course of the game. They'd had five
(12:49):
games in the in this season in which they'd won
in the last two minutes, and that yesterday's game doesn't
count that way because it wasn't the offense winning it,
but the defense reserved it for him in the final
two minutes of the game. They have just been I mean,
at some point they're going to reach down into the
bottom of that hat and there's not going to be
a rabbit there. And I thought yesterday was going to
(13:10):
be that day, but it wasn't. And so now you
face an extremely important game against the Bills, who, by
the way, you're also battling for a playoff spot at large.
If it comes down to a potential you know, wildcard birth,
you hope it doesn't. You hope to see this win
the division. But if it comes down to a potential
wildcard birth, this a win against the Bills would be
(13:32):
big is as far as head to head with them,
as far as record in the conference, and you know,
so how you would stack up against other teams if
you need to go to the wildcard route and also
you know, being tied for first with the Ravens going
potentially if the Ravens went on Thursday night, going into
that game in Baltimore two weeks from now.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Yeah, it's it's it's a lot. It's a lot on
the lines. And you know, I think you kind of
aid it out perfectly, is that you must have one
of the two. And if I'm getting you know, if
it's me, if I if I'm picking which one of
the two I want more? I want Buffalo more y. Yep, Chicago,
(14:14):
let's just let's let's just be let's just be blunt,
let's be frank. We suck in Chicago. That's just what
we are, right. I never won in Chicago. When I
played teams before me and after, we never won in Chicago.
We're one in thirteen all time in Chicago. Okay, So
(14:35):
we were already going to be going into this with
you know, a very kind of underdog story with us
and playing in the city of Chicago's great food. You know,
great time there sucks inside a soldier field. Okay, that's
(14:55):
just let's just call it what it is. And you know,
so if I wanted one of these two, I want
Buffalo and Buffalo's at home. Buffalo is a team we've
played the last four years and we've lost to them
minus one. And I think that's and we've always had
(15:16):
to go to Buffalo to play this game. Now they
actually get to come to us.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I know, how about that.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
I'm like, thank you. And like you said, if it
comes down to wildcard common opponents head to head, who
gets the slot, you need this victory because you don't
want them bumping you for your slot if you end
up going into the wildcard. Now, like you said, all's fine,
(15:43):
and well, if we win the division, we don't have
to worry about it. But it's always good to know
that you can beat Buffalo. And Buffalo has struggled this year.
They are not the Buffalo of old. They're not this
invincible you know, juggernaut on offense, They sputter, they backfire.
(16:04):
We are two similar teams, and I would argue we
have a little bit more talent this year and we
should give this that this should have a this should
be a really good game. But once again, if you
don't show up, then all is for not. You have
(16:24):
to show up, just like they showed up for Indianapolis,
just like they showed up against you know, the New
England Patriots, right, I mean the way they played in
Ireland against Minnesota. Like you you've shown you can do this.
(16:49):
You can be that squad Cincinnati two weeks ago. But
there's the there's the creeping in of a Seattle type performance,
a Los Angeles Chargers type of performance, and the Chicago
Bears performance. Like that's where it's like it's a tale
(17:11):
of two coins, like which offense, which defense? Are we getting? Specialties?
Was surprising yesterday that they didn't have a better answer
or knowledge about how Cairo Santos kicks off because it
is weird, unorthodox, and it works for the Bears because
it definitely confused Stymy Dust a couple of times bobbling
(17:33):
the snap. But you can't be an inconsistent team and
expect to show up in the stadium and somebody's just
gonna hand you a victory. Doesn't work that way, and
everybody has to be on the same page for that. Now,
the other thing that you know, when you're going into
this tilt, you want to be a full streak, But
(17:54):
I don't know if that's going to be the case,
So that we're gonna wait to hear the diagnoses of
several players. But I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that in front
of the home crowd, in front and knowing what is
required and what is needed, that the Steelers will respond
(18:17):
in kind for it. And hopefully nobody has to give
a speech.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
To do that.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Hopefully you know what it means. But at some point,
we got to string together some victories, gotta string together,
gotta go streaking, you know, through the quad. Whatever it takes,
you gotta get multiple wins in a row, because that
is what's going to be required if you want to
a get into the get into the dance, and get
(18:43):
the Willie Wonk a golden ticket of the playoffs, but
b to make a deep run in said playoffs. And
it has to come all together, and it has to
come on a consistent basis. It can't be up and down.
It can't be every other week. It can't be every
other series. It has to be every series. It has
to be every quarter. It has to be every half.
It has to be every game and then go into
(19:06):
the next and again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So true, and so many things to get to, including
one thing that is I think concerning and well, you know,
it's been a reason that Steelers have lost some games,
and I think it was a big reason that they
lost the game yesterday. We're gonna get to that much
more to get to a little bit later on. We're
(19:33):
gonna take your phone calls four one two, nine one
six when we continue in the Locker Room presented by
Your Neighborhood Forwards, joining the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
This is in the Locker Room with Kenyon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your Neighborhood Forward Store. The
F one 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 3 (20:15):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room alongside Max Starks. I'm Rob King Justin Miller
back at the Patrols in our iHeart Studio and Max,
you know you mentioned the Seattle game and the losses
that the Steelers have had, and it really got me
to you know, something that is has you know, really
(20:36):
affected the Steelers adversely and is unlike the Steelers, and
I'm not sure why it's happened, but it gives me
hope that it can be fixed and that the Steelers
can find a way to have a strong finish down
the stretch and be the kind of team that I
thought they are all along, which is a team that
(20:57):
can get into the playoffs and win games, not just
sneak into the playoffs. And right now, I'm sure Steelers
fans are pulling your hair out and wondering whether they
can sneak into the playoffs much less you make some
damage or do some damage when they get there.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
So Seattle, second game of the season.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You're at home, and Seattle's turned out, of course to
be one of the powerhouses in the NFL, and the
Steelers were up fourteen to seven at the half. People
may forget that the Steelers were leading that game at halftime.
I don't know, And again that wasn't the only time
that that was the case. Now they were trailing at
(21:40):
halftime against Cincinnati. But again there were moments in that
game early on where I thought the Steelers had a
chance to take that game over Green Bay leading it
to half, at home, leading it to half. So again,
what happens there that causes that Now you were trailing
(22:00):
against La La was the game that was the worst
game of the season. I think to me, there's not
much doubt that was the worst game of the season.
But Chicago yesterday, you're leading at the half. So in
three of your five losses you were leading at the half.
And even against Cincinnati, I thought there were some again,
some plays early that you know you let get away
(22:22):
from you. Still, you know you had plenty of opportunities.
You led that game with a couple of minutes left,
and so when you think about leading at halftime and
forget let's push the Bengals aside, right, because you took
a lead in that game late, needed to stop didn't
get it. But I don't know what has caused these
(22:43):
third quarter woes offensively and defensively for the Steelers. I
don't know how to pinpoint it. I just know that
it's not what we've come to expect from the Steelers.
When the Steelers get a lead, they have been outstanding
and holding that lead and putting teams away. And you
know the teams that I'm talking about here, Seattle first
(23:05):
place team, Bears, first place team, green Bay right now,
playoff team. And you had a Max, you had him,
you had him at the half, and in the third
quarter you come out and Missy had the statistic about
yesterday during the broadcast about the third quarter woes for
the team offensively, but you also have to say third
quarter woes for the team defensively. CBS put up a
(23:27):
stat yesterday during the game. Happened to glance over to
monitor and see it in which is two thres had
been out gained. I think it was one hundred and
twelve to thirteen late in the third quarter against the Bears.
So that's not good defensively. You can't give up one
hundred and twelve yards per quarter, and it's not good offensively.
Got the ball first, you had the ball, and he
had thirteen yards of offense. And that was an issue
(23:50):
against Seattle, it was an issue against Green Bay, and
it was an issue in this game against Chicago. And
I don't know how you fix it, but I do
know that if you fix that, that goes a long
way toward winning more ballgames and being a much more
dangerous team.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
It does, but you know, once again, consistency, it's what
team is showing up from week to week and what
team is going to be there, Like what is the
differentiator you know for this squad, And you can't feel like,
oh man, we missed this guy. This guy is out.
So we are struggling in some of the play calling.
(24:33):
You can't run you know, cover three when they're running
four vertical routes, you know in the red zone, and
some of the disguises and decisions that players make to
jump out of the gap, and you know, not being
ready all the way for a guy who who pretty
(24:56):
much looks like my sand wedge game, like when he
kicks off Cairo Santos, right, you know, it goes wherever,
just sprays that you don't know, you're just trying to
get it out of the bunker, and that's what that
looked like. And we weren't quite ready for that version
of kickoff.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
And then of course offensively, right, I mean some of
the stagnancy of the second half, like what is the
adjustments and where is I feel like at times that
we get too creative and we kind of forget about
what the bread and butter is, right, and and in
(25:40):
that game that was purely bread and butter, and no,
you know, and listen, listen, I'm not in that locker
room and I am not in those meetings in the week.
So let me not try and act like that. But
there is a certain expectation, based off informed opinion experience
(26:03):
that I possess that this game was a game that
dictated that it needed to be ran and ran down
their throats. And we did. We ran the ball and
we got to the top of the esophagus. Did not
(26:24):
go all the way down the throat, right, that was
that was the problem. We got to the tonsils, but
we we did not get all the way there, you know.
And so and so that's the frustration of it, because
this should have been by far and away our best
rushing game. It should have been well it was, but
(26:47):
I mean, this should have been two hundred plus two
hundred and twenty five, two hundred and thirty five rushing
yards should have been what we what we hung on them.
And I can guarantee you Detroit is going to try
and do that when they see them again Green Bay.
If they get Josh Jacobs back is going to try
and do that against them because they could not stop
the run effectively. They cannot stop the perimeter tack They're
(27:09):
not a great perimeter tackling team. Yes, de Marco Jackson
and your buddy, your buddy Amen, you know, did a
decent job, but they weren't good. And we hung one
hundred and eighty six rushing yards on that crew. But
like I said, it should have been easily two hundred
and thirty, two hundred and four like Jalen Warren. I'm
(27:31):
not saying he should have had Jamir Gibbs numbers for yesterday,
but Jalen Warren should have been one hundred and fifty
plus rushing. He should he should he should have easily
been there. It was. It was something that would have dictated,
would have changed the fortunes of the game. You think
if you run on the second down, second play of
the game, not a turnover, not a touchdown drive, right,
(27:55):
that's just you know, you know that that and then
what would have been after that, and then of course
you know, losing the fumble on the strip, sack of Mason.
Very funny that we literally did the same things that
they did but like you said, Rob, I think the
biggest thing was that turnover and downs and I count
(28:17):
I count that as a turnover as well because you
lost possession. They got the ball spotted. You didn't attempt
to kick of any kind, and they got it right
there wherever they stopped you. That's where they got it.
And then then you think about the other I mean,
I mean the other elements that you know, some of
(28:41):
some of the other short intermediate passed defense wasn't great. Uh,
some of our route choices for DK weren't great because DK,
you need to run him, you know, going into the field.
Not saying you need to throw in the middle of
the field, but throwing him into the field. So sideline
going to the numbers numbers, going to the hashes numbers,
(29:04):
going to the opposite hashes numbers, two numbers, right, that's
where DK metcalf makes his hay. It's not the sideline
go ball. It's not those type of situations. And we
didn't really play a lot to history. We did some
Now obviously I know he was dinged up in a
lot of those situations, but or situations later in the game,
(29:28):
but still a reliable option. He was still your option
at the end of the game when it was that moment.
If Jakwan Brisker does not tip that pass, that pass
still doesn't get completed to DK Metcalf. That's the other
thing that people, I hope realize that he still wasn't
in it right, had cut the route off and was
(29:50):
sitting right in front of him, so technically it could
have been another turnover potentially if Risker does not tip
that ball. So it's like pick your poison, you know it.
Did you did you want the bad pass or did
you want the interception? That game was ending on that play.
So it just kind of sucks with the operation in
(30:15):
that moment because you know, you couldn't. You weren't close
enough for Boz and if you did want Boz to
kick it, you didn't have the time out to get
the ball swapped out. So he would have been kicking
with a regular football in that moment if it was
a hurry up moment. And I think people don't really
give much credit to that. And if you ask any
kicker in America, do you you know how hard is
(30:37):
it to kick a regular NFL ball versus the k ball?
And it's and if they tell you it's no difference.
They have not kicked, they have not rid right. I mean,
we can go into the science of it, but I know,
I know we're running you know where we're running at it,
and I've been talking a whole lot. But yeah, so
(30:57):
that was not an option. So it was just that
option that was the best play for that option kind
of sucks.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You know, a lot of meat on that bone, Max,
And there's a lot of things that I want to
get to concerning that. I suppose we should probably get to.
Let's get to it after the break, because there's a
lot of things you said that I think are worth
exploring and I don't want to cut them off and
not have the conversation that I think your comments are due.
(31:27):
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(31:49):
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Speaker 4 (31:56):
We will be.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Back with more in the Locker Room presented by your
neighborhood Word Store in the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
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
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Speaker 3 (32:34):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. I'm gonna be taking your phone calls. Get
to a couple in a moment four one two nine
one six. I did want to say this, Max. I
had no problem with the Steelers going forward on fourth down,
even though they didn't get it. And you know you
kicked the field goal and think, wow, the game could
have been tied. Then you don't know how the game's
gonna finish. The other thing, when you're talking about game
(32:57):
planning and listen, I'm all for running. Jalen Mooren down
a team's throat and Kenny gain will until they could
be stopped. I like that kind of football, But you
also don't know how much the you know, the misdirection.
We saw a couple of jet sweeps to John new Smith.
How you know a lot of passes out in the flat.
How that affects a defense? Even the shots down the field?
(33:22):
How does that affect the defense if they know you're
gonna take that shot and they know you can hit
a big play to DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson. And
again I thought there was room on those throws. I thought,
you know, there was an opportunity. Maybe I thought those
guys had had half a step, would have had to
be perfectly throwing footballs. But I thought there were opportunities there.
(33:42):
But if you don't do those things, does a team
simply just say, Okay, well you're not going to do them,
then we are going to put extra men down low,
and we're gonna stop your running game. So do you
need to do some of those things in order to
be able to run the ball effectively?
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I think you have to do some of those things.
But there's a time and a place for it, right,
you know, And I think when we talk about coming
out of the second half, like you need to go
with the bread and butter to start it out, just
to make sure they're like, oh, they have it it is,
and then you kind of hit that wrinkle once you've
gained your stride. You gotta get its first down or
(34:20):
two to do that. And I think that just kind
of disruption of that and the lack thereof because the
other team has adjusted as well. They figured out what
you've been doing, and you have to know that they
know that, you know that they know right what's coming. Right.
(34:42):
There's that whole aspect, right, And like you said, everybody
has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.
So what if I know I've been punching you in
the mouth and you haven't guarded my jab, right, I'm
going to keep jabbing you. I'm going to keep technically
boxing you until you adjust, and then once you adjust,
(35:03):
I have my counter. I've been waiting for it. I'm
left handed, so on southpaw, so you know, left jab left, jab,
left jab right, and then I'm waiting for the hook
the second you over compensate and bring and bring that
arm across to cover that jawbone. Is exposed, and guess
what I am going to I'm going to try and
(35:25):
crack that jaw. Just how you how you crack a
wishbone on Thanksgiving? Right? You know? I mean you're like, hey, boom,
I want to snap that wishbone on the tur on
the turkey or the chicken. And so I think that's
where you have to be a team that, yes you
don't you want to be creative, and yes you want
(35:46):
to keep them guessing. But there's a certain point where
I'm pointing and I'm lining up a front of you,
say I'm going there, and you're not gonna stop me.
And guess what, I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna
go right there. Hey, hey, hey, listen, listen, I'm telling
you something. I'm going right there, and I dare you
to stop me, to beat me to that point. And
(36:08):
I'm always saying that because I remember being on teams
that did that. I remember being on teams that we
literally ran the same play out of the same formation
back to back to back to back to back, and
we dared people to stop us. And that's why I
(36:30):
get frustrated, right because I know what it can.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Be and.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
I'm looking at it, and I'm like, man, it's just
it's right there. It's on the tip, like you could
see where the man if you just enforced your will
a little bit more and just got out of your
head a little bit, you know, or get a little
bit off script. And I think that's one of the
things that you know, I love how prepared Mason is.
(37:00):
I love that Mason can come in the game and
he's unflappable, he can deliver the football, he's gonna he
is going to get the job done. But sometimes you
need a little variation and sometimes you gotta go a
little off script with things. And sometimes the progression is
the progression until it's not. And if I've ran the
(37:22):
same play, I know that if I'm looking off one
to get to my two, or you know, I'm looking
off three to get back to one because I need
the safety to go over here. Well, I mean the
one time he did go off script and he did
run the football, it was an amazing run and it
got called back. Imagine if we don't have that illegal formation,
(37:47):
rob imagine if we don't have that legal formation.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
I know, Oh, that was a.
Speaker 5 (37:52):
Beautiful twenty two yard run. It was a beautiful one
and that was the game changing type of play you
needed in that moment to just up the matrix, right
and if that would have counted oh man.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
The the things that the Steelers, uh, you know, they
they've been good about not committing penalties, they've been good
about taking care of the football and winning the turnover battle,
and the they didn't have more penalties in the Bears,
but it's uncharacteristic of them to have, although it's been
creeping up lately this amount of penalties, but the costly penalties.
(38:27):
The costly penalties again, I think you know, special teams.
There are some things that didn't that that were uncharacteristic
of the Steelers while they were performing other things that
had also been uncharacteristic in the positive way. Okay, so
we have plenty to get to, but let's get to
some of your phone calls. Our phone numbers are four one, two, nine, one.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Six.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Let's welcome Jennings from Ohio into the locker room. Hello, Jennings,
how are you today?
Speaker 7 (38:53):
Good?
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Are you there? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I lost you go ahead, we got we got we
got you down. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Okay, hob you guys do listen to you faithfully as
the job. You guys have been stealing a lot of
my thunder while I've been here on the phone. One
of the issues is we try to I think, you know,
we want to utilize all this talent every game too much.
(39:26):
This game, screamed Warren gain with to pound the ball
at them because that was their weakness. Caleb Johnson, Yes,
the other point I wanted to make I'm the high
exploit the week the game a little differently, and I
saw the misalignment. I watched, Uh, Calvin Austin wasn't on
(39:50):
the run the guy over there so even at this game,
well doesn't when he was young, And I'm just wondering,
you know how you can the formation?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Okay, so yeah, Jenny, I'm sorry Jennings is breaking up,
but I would get the gist. Sorry, Jennings said, and
thanks for the call. We had to Unfortunately, you know
the sort of intermittent nature of that phone call, cutting
in and out. So let's tackle that last thing he
was talking about first, the illegal alignment. That the penalty
(40:24):
that wiped out the Mason Rudolph run, a key key
penalty in which you would hope that would be football
one oh one and would not happen. It did happen,
and you know, it looked like they were Mason was
kind of gesturing to get the team lined up properly.
They weren't lined up, And I understand you're in kind
(40:45):
of a hurry up situation, and you know there's not
a lot of time. You can't use the time out
there because you lost the time out, So Max, you know,
the question, how does that happen? How do we get
to this point of the season, and you know, there's
still talking in the postgame about lack of communication into
communication issues on defense. It would seem to me that
(41:06):
at this point of the season those sort of issues
should be rectified and that sort of thing shouldn't happen.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
Now, you're right, it shouldn't. It shouldn't, But there was
a breakdown in communication. There's a breakdown, and what the
expectation was for guys in that moment, I'm not sure
how that transpired, you know, to be honest, because I
feel like those things are communicated during the week and
(41:36):
you usually have that situation where guys are guys are
locked in during the week, it's in your keys, and
for whatever reason, got overlooked in that moment and the
heat of the moment, and yeah, I wish I had
a viable answer, but you know, we're only proving to
so much, rob right, We're not in the meetings every day.
(41:59):
We only get to see he kind of the board call,
and you know, we get to watch the habits as
we see them in the tendencies as they appear. And
I'm not sure how that happened. You know, you know,
you go through adjustments and there's usually guys you know,
talking to each other, Hey, up the ball, up on
(42:21):
the ball, But no, that got lost in the moment.
They got lost in the sauce, and guys either not
hearing it clearly out of the huddle and you know,
Mason having to make that last second adjustment. Guys just
like I'm just trying to get on the side of
the ball and not realizing, oh shoot, I need to
be the guy up on the ball. And running backs
normally aren't up on the ball a majority of the time.
(42:43):
So I get why Ken the gamewell wasn't up. Calvin
is a receiver, he's an ISO guy. He's usually the
guy that then is on an outside by himself. So
normally you would think winning doubt just step forward us.
Something doesn't look right. If I could see Troy and
I'm not equal with Troy, probably probably need to bump up.
Or I'm on the outside and there's another guy inside
(43:04):
of me and neither one of us and we're both
equal and there's nobody outside of us. Somebody needs to
bump up. Like that's just high football. I Q in
those moments that you have to just make the adjustment,
and it just it wasn't done. Even though it might
have been talked about, it might have been repped, it
might have been drawn up as such, it get lost
in translation when it came to practical application.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Okay, let's get back to the phone lines and go
to Moe in Maryland.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
MO. How you doing today?
Speaker 6 (43:34):
I'm doing well. I guess I love your guy's work.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity kind of vent.
Just don't understand DK Metcalf's player. Really. I know, I
know he's supposed to be wide out one, but performance
(43:56):
hasn't been there. Rep somewhere online yesterday that they're still
showing some interest in AYUK. Can you see that happening
this season or would this be a off season type
of thing? Also so many interceptions being dropped. Would love
(44:17):
to get your take on that. And lastly, there was
a punt that was like thirty some yards that was
not nice. So I just want to get your take.
And like I said, I love your program, love your work.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
Max. Yeah, you know, I the Brandon Ayuk situation, I
think that would be a next season thing. I don't
think that's something necessarily the Steelers are interested in right now.
If they were, they would have they probably would have
(44:59):
pulled that trigger a lot sooner. And you know, I
think that's where, you know, you have to figure out
what is the situation with that because obviously that's something
that's been floated in the last two days about San
Francisco forty nine is kind of parting ways with him
(45:19):
now he would be a street free agent. But I
think that's something that you have to analyze. What exactly
is going on, right Why do you cut somebody in
the middle of the season that you gave a contract
extension to and what does that look like from that
(45:39):
perspective if he is waived or let go. There's some
deeper issues there, especially at this point you think San
Francisco's is still very much alive in the playoff race
and their team is trying to make a push. I
don't know how that looks. And there's a deeper there's
(46:00):
a deeper issue there. And you know, we did try
after him a year ago. It didn't work out. San
Francisco resigned him. So there's a lot of things to explore,
and I think that would be something more readily available
for the off season. Now, mind you, I'm not a
front office guy. I'm not Omar Khan or Andy Whitel
(46:21):
or Sheldon White. That's going to be their expertise area.
But I could just say if there was a chance
to have traded for him, they probably would have explored it.
They did not. I think that probably the most viable
trade option would have been that Jacobe Myers availability with
the Raiders, and he obviously he went to Jacksonville and
(46:42):
then we did not make a move after that. If
there was any rumblings back then, which I'd imagine this
type of situation, you know, if it was something that
was brewing, that would have been the time. But now
afterwards and now him being released for whatever reason, that's
something I just I it smells a little fishy. And
where there's smoke, there's usually fire. So I would have
(47:05):
to completely vet that out before I would be comfortable
with someone who got cut in the middle of a
team's playoff run and as a viable player for them.
Why he's available this late in the year if he
does get released.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Yes, I think those are all excellent points, excellent excellent
points that have to be considered.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
And uh, we are kind of getting through.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
The Steelers' loss disappointing loss to the Bears yesterday. We're
going to continue taking your phone calls at four one
two nine, nine, one three one six. More analysis as
well when we continue in the Locker Room, presented by
our neighborhood Forward Stowing the Steelers Pro Shop on Stuars
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 point 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 (00:27):
Get a snap fakes, looks, pumps, throws back at the
end zone complete. Pat Fryarmouth, Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown at the
six twenty seven march up the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Oh, thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room on this Monday. Unfortunately, not a victory donut
Monday for the Steelers. Felt like that, you know, that
touchdown got the Steelers back in the game.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
They had the opportunity. They got you know.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Two more possessions after that, and so the defense at
that point of the game, you know, rose up and
gave the opportunity for the offense to try to come
back and win the game. Didn't happen after forcing I
think it was a couple of consecutive three and outs
right as the Steelers got the ball back, decided to punt,
then got the ball back again at their own twenty
yard line, plenty of time even with no timeouts to
(01:18):
at least move it into field goal range. They needed
one more first down and they couldn't get that first
down and they wind up losing to the Chicago Bears.
Thank you very much for being with us in the
locker room as we do on Mondays. We're going to
be taking some phone calls a little bit later on
in the program. The phone number for that four one
two nine, one three one six, So we will be
(01:38):
taking your phone calls today. Plenty of analysis from Max
Starks as well, looking forward to now a super important
game against the Buffalo Bills that is coming up on Sunday.
We will get to that a little bit later on
in the week as we progress here in the locker room.
So a couple of things. When you think about what
(01:59):
the studers were trying to accomplish against the Bears, and
what you think about that they're hoping to accomplish in
every game. So I'm just going to read some statistics
and ask you to think about whether you would accept
these statistics and these facts going into a game, and
whether your expectation would have been victory if you'd gotten
(02:20):
those things first. Of all, you got a defensive touchdown,
two defensive touchdowns last week, a defensive touchdown this week.
Of course, last week you get those two defensive touchdowns
and you wind up blowing out the Bengals. Right, so
you get a defensive touchdown. Okay, there's one thing mission accomplished.
You outgain the Bears three forty five to three twenty eight.
(02:44):
You outrush the Bears one eighty six to ninety nine.
And keep in mind, the Bears had the second best
rushing attack in the NFL coming to this game. You
pretty much took that away from them. And then you,
who've had trouble running the football at least consistently piling
up yardage is probably more likely the issue than effective running.
(03:05):
The students have been more effective running the football since
the first couple games of the season, but this is
clearly their best rushing game of the season. One eighty
six to ninety nine. You averaged five point two yards
per carry, which, by the way, is what the Bills
were giving up again, one of the worst in the
league at that but you took advantage of that. Okay,
so now you have scored a defensive touchdown, You've outgained
(03:29):
the Bears. You've outrushed them. You ran for one hundred
and eighty six yards in this game. You won the
time of possession battle handily, thirty three to oh nine
to twenty six point fifty one, and for the first
time all season, you ran more plays in the opposition.
That's something we've been talking about. Control the ball, keep
(03:52):
what can be an explosive Bears offense off the field,
run more plays when the time of es they ran
more plays. First time all season, they've run more plays
in the opposition, sixty nine to sixty one. So if
I bring you that information prior to the game, hey,
here's what's gonna happen. The Steelers are and I'm not
(04:14):
again I'm not a gamber, but I mean, you'd be tempted, right,
wouldn't you if you knew the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Were going to score a defensive touchdown.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
We're gonna have more plays in the Bears sixty nine
to sixty one. We're gonna have the time of possession
battle handily in this game by over six minutes. You
were gonna run for one hundred and eighty six yards
in this game, and you were gonna hold them under
one hundred how does that not add up to a victory.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
It's amazing, it really is.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You know, the Steelers did so many of the things
that they set out to do in a football game,
and set out to do in this game specifically. Unfortunately,
they ultimately didn't do the thing that's most important. They
didn't win the game, the Steelers losing of course by
the final score of thirty one to twenty eight. So
a lot more things, you know, to get to as
(05:05):
we talk about what that means. What that means in
the short term is you're now an eight seed. You're
on the outside of the playoffs, looking in after your
fast start and hanging on to that AFC North Division lead.
While the Ravens were off to a slow start to
the season. One in five, the Ravens have ripped off
(05:27):
their five consecutive victories. You've wound up losing what you've
lost to get to the position where you both have
the same record, and yet because of the tiebreaker, it
is the Ravens right now who are in first place
in the AFC North and the Studers who have slipped
to the number eight seed. So that is where the
Students are right now, and it's a difficult spot to
(05:50):
be in Max with all those elements, you know, with
time and possession, running more plays, running the football, effectively
getting a defensive touchdown, holding the Bears to under one
hundred yards. That's the recipe we were looking for. That's
the formula we were looking for. And yet there were
other ingredients that snuck their way into the pot and
(06:13):
causes to this to lose the game.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Yeah, no, it was you know, it's disappointing, it's frustrating.
You did a lot of good things in the game,
but once again, you know, good doesn't cut it right
in the NFL. It's got to be great and you
have to and it has to be a consistent effort
(06:37):
across the board. And unfortunately, you know, we didn't. Well,
the team did not do what it was supposed to do.
And I, you know, I was like the team we
as a broadcaster, you know, it's only so close, right,
But you know, there was a lot of elements that
(07:01):
you could you could you can be excited about, you know,
you could be excited about the fact that they would
have turned over a team that did not turn the
football over that much. You were able to affect them
in that manner you. You know, we held this game
tight and had a lead going into halftime once again,
(07:24):
and you went on the road to do that when
the football effectively. But at the end of the day,
all of those good things don't matter because if you
don't come away with.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The w.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
What's the point of it, right, you know, we can
talk about all those things. It was not enough. It
was not enough. It was we were three points shy
of being equal and four point shy of being better
than but we weren't. We came up three point short
(08:02):
and a lot of opportunities in the game to take
it over to to do some different things that would
have you know, had this connected, had this worked, we'd
be having a different conversation. But we're not having a
different conversation. We're in this conversation and it's just it's
(08:24):
frustrating because this was a game where you needed to
prove your consistency at this point in the year. This
is the game where you needed to put everything together
and come out on top. All three phases had to
contribute in some type of way to be a full
(08:47):
concerted effort, and we can point to something in every
single phase that was not that was not up up to.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Now.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
We can say some good parts about it in each phase,
but for the most part, yeah, it wasn't consistent enough.
Everybody had in equal parts in this, from playing to coaching,
and that is the elements that you have to you
you have to look at and say, Okay, where are we,
(09:22):
who are we and how are we going to do this? Yes,
we're still above five hundred. Yes we are still in
the race, but the cushion is now gone, the margin
of error is now gone, given that opportunity away. The
only positive I can look at from this is at
(09:44):
least the majority of them were NFC teams, right Rob, Yes, Yeah,
that's that's the silver lining.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I mean I was on dv AS on the morning
show and talked about this and thought about this, you know,
leading up to this game. That felt very important for
me that the Steelers win at least one of these
next two games, meaning the Bears game in the Bills game.
Heading into the game against the Ravens, my full anticipation
(10:13):
was that the Ravens are going to be seven and
five going into that game with a long winning streak
and a lot of momentum, but the Steelers were also
going to be seven and five or needed to be
seven and five, and let's go, Steelers, Ravens. Man, let's
play ball. You know they always say throw the records
out the window. Well, records are pretty important in a
game like that, but it is one of those games
(10:34):
in which it doesn't really matter if you've been streaking
or not streaking going in, or how you've been playing
going in.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
This is Steelers Ravens, Let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And if you gave me a choice, if you said, Okay,
which game would you rather win, Well, I'd rather beat
the Bills because to your point, it's a conference opponent
that's the one you really want to win this game against.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
On Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Having said that, I thought the Bears were an easier opponent,
and I thought that the Steelers were a better team
going in. There's nothing that really happened that makes me
think that the Steelers aren't a better team coming out
except for the score. And the Bears have made a
living doing that, Max, And you know, to me, we
(11:22):
are so used to the Steelers finding ways to win, right,
find ways to win and then grind out of victory.
And that's what the Bears did. The Bears found a
way to win and ground out of victory. They really
remind me of how the Steelers have been winning games
in recent years. Now they've got Caleb Williams at quarterback,
(11:42):
and the Steelers, you know, prior to this season and
getting Aaron Rodgers, haven't had somebody that caliber in quite
some time. Although he has his own warts for sure,
but he's a really talented young player. So they haven't
had that. But what they've done is they've they've run
the football, they've made the stops defensively when they need
they've needed to, they come up with the key turnovers.
And even though the Steelers came up with that key
(12:04):
turnover that was a touchdown and the Bears that's the
way they're making a living. And our buddy Matt Williamson
always talks about fourth downs, you know, failed fourth downs
really being tannam out to a turnover because you're losing
the ball right at that spot. You're not kicking it
away or kicking a field goal or what have you.
So if you look at it in that light, and
(12:25):
I think it's an interesting argument.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
For sure, the Steelers lost a turnover.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Battle, you know, because I forget the last fourth down
that's you gotta go forth there, and that would if
you turned it over there, I wouldn't even consider that
really a turnover. But the Bears, they're having a Cinderella
type of season in which you know they're they're winding
up at the bell of the ball no matter what
happens throughout the course of the game. They'd had five
(12:49):
games in the in this season in which they'd won
in the last two minutes, and that yesterday's game doesn't
count that way because it wasn't the offense winning it,
but the defense reserved it for him in the final
two minutes of the game. They have just been I mean,
at some point they're going to reach down into the
bottom of that hat and there's not going to be
a rabbit there. And I thought yesterday was going to
(13:10):
be that day, but it wasn't. And so now you
face an extremely important game against the Bills, who, by
the way, you're also battling for a playoff spot at large.
If it comes down to a potential you know, wildcard birth,
you hope it doesn't. You hope to see this win
the division. But if it comes down to a potential
wildcard birth, this a win against the Bills would be
(13:32):
big is as far as head to head with them,
as far as record in the conference, and you know,
so how you would stack up against other teams if
you need to go to the wildcard route and also
you know, being tied for first with the Ravens going
potentially if the Ravens went on Thursday night, going into
that game in Baltimore two weeks from now.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Yeah, it's it's it's a lot. It's a lot on
the lines. And you know, I think you kind of
aid it out perfectly, is that you must have one
of the two. And if I'm getting you know, if
it's me, if I if I'm picking which one of
the two I want more? I want Buffalo more y. Yep, Chicago,
(14:14):
let's just let's let's just be let's just be blunt,
let's be frank. We suck in Chicago. That's just what
we are, right. I never won in Chicago. When I
played teams before me and after, we never won in Chicago.
We're one in thirteen all time in Chicago. Okay, So
(14:35):
we were already going to be going into this with
you know, a very kind of underdog story with us
and playing in the city of Chicago's great food. You know,
great time there sucks inside a soldier field. Okay, that's
(14:55):
just let's just call it what it is. And you know,
so if I wanted one of these two, I want
Buffalo and Buffalo's at home. Buffalo is a team we've
played the last four years and we've lost to them
minus one. And I think that's and we've always had
(15:16):
to go to Buffalo to play this game. Now they
actually get to come to us.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I know, how about that.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
I'm like, thank you. And like you said, if it
comes down to wildcard common opponents head to head, who
gets the slot, you need this victory because you don't
want them bumping you for your slot if you end
up going into the wildcard. Now, like you said, all's fine,
(15:43):
and well, if we win the division, we don't have
to worry about it. But it's always good to know
that you can beat Buffalo. And Buffalo has struggled this year.
They are not the Buffalo of old. They're not this
invincible you know, juggernaut on offense, They sputter, they backfire.
(16:04):
We are two similar teams, and I would argue we
have a little bit more talent this year and we
should give this that this should have a this should
be a really good game. But once again, if you
don't show up, then all is for not. You have
(16:24):
to show up, just like they showed up for Indianapolis,
just like they showed up against you know, the New
England Patriots, right, I mean the way they played in
Ireland against Minnesota. Like you you've shown you can do this.
(16:49):
You can be that squad Cincinnati two weeks ago. But
there's the there's the creeping in of a Seattle type performance,
a Los Angeles Chargers type of performance, and the Chicago
Bears performance. Like that's where it's like it's a tale
(17:11):
of two coins, like which offense, which defense? Are we getting? Specialties?
Was surprising yesterday that they didn't have a better answer
or knowledge about how Cairo Santos kicks off because it
is weird, unorthodox, and it works for the Bears because
it definitely confused Stymy Dust a couple of times bobbling
(17:33):
the snap. But you can't be an inconsistent team and
expect to show up in the stadium and somebody's just
gonna hand you a victory. Doesn't work that way, and
everybody has to be on the same page for that. Now,
the other thing that you know, when you're going into
this tilt, you want to be a full streak, But
(17:54):
I don't know if that's going to be the case,
So that we're gonna wait to hear the diagnoses of
several players. But I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that in front
of the home crowd, in front and knowing what is
required and what is needed, that the Steelers will respond
(18:17):
in kind for it. And hopefully nobody has to give
a speech.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
To do that.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Hopefully you know what it means. But at some point,
we got to string together some victories, gotta string together,
gotta go streaking, you know, through the quad. Whatever it takes,
you gotta get multiple wins in a row, because that
is what's going to be required if you want to
a get into the get into the dance, and get
(18:43):
the Willie Wonk a golden ticket of the playoffs, but
b to make a deep run in said playoffs. And
it has to come all together, and it has to
come on a consistent basis. It can't be up and down.
It can't be every other week. It can't be every
other series. It has to be every series. It has
to be every quarter. It has to be every half.
It has to be every game and then go into
(19:06):
the next and again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So true, and so many things to get to, including
one thing that is I think concerning and well, you know,
it's been a reason that Steelers have lost some games,
and I think it was a big reason that they
lost the game yesterday. We're gonna get to that much
more to get to a little bit later on. We're
(19:33):
gonna take your phone calls four one two, nine one
six when we continue in the Locker Room presented by
Your Neighborhood Forwards, joining the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
This is in the Locker Room with Kenyon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your Neighborhood Forward Store. The
F one 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 3 (20:15):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room alongside Max Starks. I'm Rob King Justin Miller
back at the Patrols in our iHeart Studio and Max,
you know you mentioned the Seattle game and the losses
that the Steelers have had, and it really got me
to you know, something that is has you know, really
(20:36):
affected the Steelers adversely and is unlike the Steelers, and
I'm not sure why it's happened, but it gives me
hope that it can be fixed and that the Steelers
can find a way to have a strong finish down
the stretch and be the kind of team that I
thought they are all along, which is a team that
(20:57):
can get into the playoffs and win games, not just
sneak into the playoffs. And right now, I'm sure Steelers
fans are pulling your hair out and wondering whether they
can sneak into the playoffs much less you make some
damage or do some damage when they get there.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
So Seattle, second game of the season.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You're at home, and Seattle's turned out, of course to
be one of the powerhouses in the NFL, and the
Steelers were up fourteen to seven at the half. People
may forget that the Steelers were leading that game at halftime.
I don't know, And again that wasn't the only time
that that was the case. Now they were trailing at
(21:40):
halftime against Cincinnati. But again there were moments in that
game early on where I thought the Steelers had a
chance to take that game over Green Bay leading it
to half, at home, leading it to half. So again,
what happens there that causes that Now you were trailing
(22:00):
against La La was the game that was the worst
game of the season. I think to me, there's not
much doubt that was the worst game of the season.
But Chicago yesterday, you're leading at the half. So in
three of your five losses you were leading at the half.
And even against Cincinnati, I thought there were some again,
some plays early that you know you let get away
(22:22):
from you. Still, you know you had plenty of opportunities.
You led that game with a couple of minutes left,
and so when you think about leading at halftime and
forget let's push the Bengals aside, right, because you took
a lead in that game late, needed to stop didn't
get it. But I don't know what has caused these
(22:43):
third quarter woes offensively and defensively for the Steelers. I
don't know how to pinpoint it. I just know that
it's not what we've come to expect from the Steelers.
When the Steelers get a lead, they have been outstanding
and holding that lead and putting teams away. And you
know the teams that I'm talking about here, Seattle first
(23:05):
place team, Bears, first place team, green Bay right now,
playoff team. And you had a Max, you had him,
you had him at the half, and in the third
quarter you come out and Missy had the statistic about
yesterday during the broadcast about the third quarter woes for
the team offensively, but you also have to say third
quarter woes for the team defensively. CBS put up a
(23:27):
stat yesterday during the game. Happened to glance over to
monitor and see it in which is two thres had
been out gained. I think it was one hundred and
twelve to thirteen late in the third quarter against the Bears.
So that's not good defensively. You can't give up one
hundred and twelve yards per quarter, and it's not good offensively.
Got the ball first, you had the ball, and he
had thirteen yards of offense. And that was an issue
(23:50):
against Seattle, it was an issue against Green Bay, and
it was an issue in this game against Chicago. And
I don't know how you fix it, but I do
know that if you fix that, that goes a long
way toward winning more ballgames and being a much more
dangerous team.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
It does, but you know, once again, consistency, it's what
team is showing up from week to week and what
team is going to be there, Like what is the
differentiator you know for this squad, And you can't feel like,
oh man, we missed this guy. This guy is out.
So we are struggling in some of the play calling.
(24:33):
You can't run you know, cover three when they're running
four vertical routes, you know in the red zone, and
some of the disguises and decisions that players make to
jump out of the gap, and you know, not being
ready all the way for a guy who who pretty
(24:56):
much looks like my sand wedge game, like when he
kicks off Cairo Santos, right, you know, it goes wherever,
just sprays that you don't know, you're just trying to
get it out of the bunker, and that's what that
looked like. And we weren't quite ready for that version
of kickoff.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
And then of course offensively, right, I mean some of
the stagnancy of the second half, like what is the
adjustments and where is I feel like at times that
we get too creative and we kind of forget about
what the bread and butter is, right, and and in
(25:40):
that game that was purely bread and butter, and no,
you know, and listen, listen, I'm not in that locker
room and I am not in those meetings in the week.
So let me not try and act like that. But
there is a certain expectation, based off informed opinion experience
(26:03):
that I possess that this game was a game that
dictated that it needed to be ran and ran down
their throats. And we did. We ran the ball and
we got to the top of the esophagus. Did not
(26:24):
go all the way down the throat, right, that was
that was the problem. We got to the tonsils, but
we we did not get all the way there, you know.
And so and so that's the frustration of it, because
this should have been by far and away our best
rushing game. It should have been well it was, but
(26:47):
I mean, this should have been two hundred plus two
hundred and twenty five, two hundred and thirty five rushing
yards should have been what we what we hung on them.
And I can guarantee you Detroit is going to try
and do that when they see them again Green Bay.
If they get Josh Jacobs back is going to try
and do that against them because they could not stop
the run effectively. They cannot stop the perimeter tack They're
(27:09):
not a great perimeter tackling team. Yes, de Marco Jackson
and your buddy, your buddy Amen, you know, did a
decent job, but they weren't good. And we hung one
hundred and eighty six rushing yards on that crew. But
like I said, it should have been easily two hundred
and thirty, two hundred and four like Jalen Warren. I'm
(27:31):
not saying he should have had Jamir Gibbs numbers for yesterday,
but Jalen Warren should have been one hundred and fifty
plus rushing. He should he should he should have easily
been there. It was. It was something that would have dictated,
would have changed the fortunes of the game. You think
if you run on the second down, second play of
the game, not a turnover, not a touchdown drive, right,
(27:55):
that's just you know, you know that that and then
what would have been after that, and then of course
you know, losing the fumble on the strip, sack of Mason.
Very funny that we literally did the same things that
they did but like you said, Rob, I think the
biggest thing was that turnover and downs and I count
(28:17):
I count that as a turnover as well because you
lost possession. They got the ball spotted. You didn't attempt
to kick of any kind, and they got it right
there wherever they stopped you. That's where they got it.
And then then you think about the other I mean,
I mean the other elements that you know, some of
(28:41):
some of the other short intermediate passed defense wasn't great. Uh,
some of our route choices for DK weren't great because DK,
you need to run him, you know, going into the field.
Not saying you need to throw in the middle of
the field, but throwing him into the field. So sideline
going to the numbers numbers, going to the hashes numbers,
(29:04):
going to the opposite hashes numbers, two numbers, right, that's
where DK metcalf makes his hay. It's not the sideline
go ball. It's not those type of situations. And we
didn't really play a lot to history. We did some
Now obviously I know he was dinged up in a
lot of those situations, but or situations later in the game,
(29:28):
but still a reliable option. He was still your option
at the end of the game when it was that moment.
If Jakwan Brisker does not tip that pass, that pass
still doesn't get completed to DK Metcalf. That's the other
thing that people, I hope realize that he still wasn't
in it right, had cut the route off and was
(29:50):
sitting right in front of him, so technically it could
have been another turnover potentially if Risker does not tip
that ball. So it's like pick your poison, you know it.
Did you did you want the bad pass or did
you want the interception? That game was ending on that play.
So it just kind of sucks with the operation in
(30:15):
that moment because you know, you couldn't. You weren't close
enough for Boz and if you did want Boz to
kick it, you didn't have the time out to get
the ball swapped out. So he would have been kicking
with a regular football in that moment if it was
a hurry up moment. And I think people don't really
give much credit to that. And if you ask any
kicker in America, do you you know how hard is
(30:37):
it to kick a regular NFL ball versus the k ball?
And it's and if they tell you it's no difference.
They have not kicked, they have not rid right. I mean,
we can go into the science of it, but I know,
I know we're running you know where we're running at it,
and I've been talking a whole lot. But yeah, so
(30:57):
that was not an option. So it was just that
option that was the best play for that option kind
of sucks.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You know, a lot of meat on that bone, Max,
And there's a lot of things that I want to
get to concerning that. I suppose we should probably get to.
Let's get to it after the break, because there's a
lot of things you said that I think are worth
exploring and I don't want to cut them off and
not have the conversation that I think your comments are due.
(31:27):
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Speaker 4 (31:56):
We will be.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Back with more in the Locker Room presented by your
neighborhood Word Store in the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
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 3 (32:34):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. I'm gonna be taking your phone calls. Get
to a couple in a moment four one two nine
one six. I did want to say this, Max. I
had no problem with the Steelers going forward on fourth down,
even though they didn't get it. And you know you
kicked the field goal and think, wow, the game could
have been tied. Then you don't know how the game's
gonna finish. The other thing, when you're talking about game
(32:57):
planning and listen, I'm all for running. Jalen Mooren down
a team's throat and Kenny gain will until they could
be stopped. I like that kind of football, But you
also don't know how much the you know, the misdirection.
We saw a couple of jet sweeps to John new Smith.
How you know a lot of passes out in the flat.
How that affects a defense? Even the shots down the field?
(33:22):
How does that affect the defense if they know you're
gonna take that shot and they know you can hit
a big play to DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson. And
again I thought there was room on those throws. I thought,
you know, there was an opportunity. Maybe I thought those
guys had had half a step, would have had to
be perfectly throwing footballs. But I thought there were opportunities there.
(33:42):
But if you don't do those things, does a team
simply just say, Okay, well you're not going to do them,
then we are going to put extra men down low,
and we're gonna stop your running game. So do you
need to do some of those things in order to
be able to run the ball effectively?
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I think you have to do some of those things.
But there's a time and a place for it, right,
you know, And I think when we talk about coming
out of the second half, like you need to go
with the bread and butter to start it out, just
to make sure they're like, oh, they have it it is,
and then you kind of hit that wrinkle once you've
gained your stride. You gotta get its first down or
(34:20):
two to do that. And I think that just kind
of disruption of that and the lack thereof because the
other team has adjusted as well. They figured out what
you've been doing, and you have to know that they
know that, you know that they know right what's coming. Right.
(34:42):
There's that whole aspect, right, And like you said, everybody
has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.
So what if I know I've been punching you in
the mouth and you haven't guarded my jab, right, I'm
going to keep jabbing you. I'm going to keep technically
boxing you until you adjust, and then once you adjust,
(35:03):
I have my counter. I've been waiting for it. I'm
left handed, so on southpaw, so you know, left jab left, jab,
left jab right, and then I'm waiting for the hook
the second you over compensate and bring and bring that
arm across to cover that jawbone. Is exposed, and guess
what I am going to I'm going to try and
(35:25):
crack that jaw. Just how you how you crack a
wishbone on Thanksgiving? Right? You know? I mean you're like, hey, boom,
I want to snap that wishbone on the tur on
the turkey or the chicken. And so I think that's
where you have to be a team that, yes you
don't you want to be creative, and yes you want
(35:46):
to keep them guessing. But there's a certain point where
I'm pointing and I'm lining up a front of you,
say I'm going there, and you're not gonna stop me.
And guess what, I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna
go right there. Hey, hey, hey, listen, listen, I'm telling
you something. I'm going right there, and I dare you
to stop me, to beat me to that point. And
(36:08):
I'm always saying that because I remember being on teams
that did that. I remember being on teams that we
literally ran the same play out of the same formation
back to back to back to back to back, and
we dared people to stop us. And that's why I
(36:30):
get frustrated, right because I know what it can.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Be and.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
I'm looking at it, and I'm like, man, it's just
it's right there. It's on the tip, like you could
see where the man if you just enforced your will
a little bit more and just got out of your
head a little bit, you know, or get a little
bit off script. And I think that's one of the
things that you know, I love how prepared Mason is.
(37:00):
I love that Mason can come in the game and
he's unflappable, he can deliver the football, he's gonna he
is going to get the job done. But sometimes you
need a little variation and sometimes you gotta go a
little off script with things. And sometimes the progression is
the progression until it's not. And if I've ran the
(37:22):
same play, I know that if I'm looking off one
to get to my two, or you know, I'm looking
off three to get back to one because I need
the safety to go over here. Well, I mean the
one time he did go off script and he did
run the football, it was an amazing run and it
got called back. Imagine if we don't have that illegal formation,
(37:47):
rob imagine if we don't have that legal formation.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
I know, Oh, that was a.
Speaker 5 (37:52):
Beautiful twenty two yard run. It was a beautiful one
and that was the game changing type of play you
needed in that moment to just up the matrix, right
and if that would have counted oh man.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
The the things that the Steelers, uh, you know, they
they've been good about not committing penalties, they've been good
about taking care of the football and winning the turnover battle,
and the they didn't have more penalties in the Bears,
but it's uncharacteristic of them to have, although it's been
creeping up lately this amount of penalties, but the costly penalties.
(38:27):
The costly penalties again, I think you know, special teams.
There are some things that didn't that that were uncharacteristic
of the Steelers while they were performing other things that
had also been uncharacteristic in the positive way. Okay, so
we have plenty to get to, but let's get to
some of your phone calls. Our phone numbers are four one, two, nine, one.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Six.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Let's welcome Jennings from Ohio into the locker room. Hello, Jennings,
how are you today?
Speaker 7 (38:53):
Good?
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (38:59):
Are you there? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I lost you go ahead, we got we got we
got you down. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Okay, hob you guys do listen to you faithfully as
the job. You guys have been stealing a lot of
my thunder while I've been here on the phone. One
of the issues is we try to I think, you know,
we want to utilize all this talent every game too much.
(39:26):
This game, screamed Warren gain with to pound the ball
at them because that was their weakness. Caleb Johnson, Yes,
the other point I wanted to make I'm the high
exploit the week the game a little differently, and I
saw the misalignment. I watched, Uh, Calvin Austin wasn't on
(39:50):
the run the guy over there so even at this game,
well doesn't when he was young, And I'm just wondering,
you know how you can the formation?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Okay, so yeah, Jenny, I'm sorry Jennings is breaking up,
but I would get the gist. Sorry, Jennings said, and
thanks for the call. We had to Unfortunately, you know
the sort of intermittent nature of that phone call, cutting
in and out. So let's tackle that last thing he
was talking about first, the illegal alignment. That the penalty
(40:24):
that wiped out the Mason Rudolph run, a key key
penalty in which you would hope that would be football
one oh one and would not happen. It did happen,
and you know, it looked like they were Mason was
kind of gesturing to get the team lined up properly.
They weren't lined up, And I understand you're in kind
(40:45):
of a hurry up situation, and you know there's not
a lot of time. You can't use the time out
there because you lost the time out, So Max, you know,
the question, how does that happen? How do we get
to this point of the season, and you know, there's
still talking in the postgame about lack of communication into
communication issues on defense. It would seem to me that
(41:06):
at this point of the season those sort of issues
should be rectified and that sort of thing shouldn't happen.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
Now, you're right, it shouldn't. It shouldn't, But there was
a breakdown in communication. There's a breakdown, and what the
expectation was for guys in that moment, I'm not sure
how that transpired, you know, to be honest, because I
feel like those things are communicated during the week and
(41:36):
you usually have that situation where guys are guys are
locked in during the week, it's in your keys, and
for whatever reason, got overlooked in that moment and the
heat of the moment, and yeah, I wish I had
a viable answer, but you know, we're only proving to
so much, rob right, We're not in the meetings every day.
(41:59):
We only get to see he kind of the board call,
and you know, we get to watch the habits as
we see them in the tendencies as they appear. And
I'm not sure how that happened. You know, you know,
you go through adjustments and there's usually guys you know,
talking to each other, Hey, up the ball, up on
(42:21):
the ball, But no, that got lost in the moment.
They got lost in the sauce, and guys either not
hearing it clearly out of the huddle and you know,
Mason having to make that last second adjustment. Guys just
like I'm just trying to get on the side of
the ball and not realizing, oh shoot, I need to
be the guy up on the ball. And running backs
normally aren't up on the ball a majority of the time.
(42:43):
So I get why Ken the gamewell wasn't up. Calvin
is a receiver, he's an ISO guy. He's usually the
guy that then is on an outside by himself. So
normally you would think winning doubt just step forward us.
Something doesn't look right. If I could see Troy and
I'm not equal with Troy, probably probably need to bump up.
Or I'm on the outside and there's another guy inside
(43:04):
of me and neither one of us and we're both
equal and there's nobody outside of us. Somebody needs to
bump up. Like that's just high football. I Q in
those moments that you have to just make the adjustment,
and it just it wasn't done. Even though it might
have been talked about, it might have been repped, it
might have been drawn up as such, it get lost
in translation when it came to practical application.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Okay, let's get back to the phone lines and go
to Moe in Maryland.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
MO. How you doing today?
Speaker 6 (43:34):
I'm doing well. I guess I love your guy's work.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity kind of vent.
Just don't understand DK Metcalf's player. Really. I know, I
know he's supposed to be wide out one, but performance
(43:56):
hasn't been there. Rep somewhere online yesterday that they're still
showing some interest in AYUK. Can you see that happening
this season or would this be a off season type
of thing? Also so many interceptions being dropped. Would love
(44:17):
to get your take on that. And lastly, there was
a punt that was like thirty some yards that was
not nice. So I just want to get your take.
And like I said, I love your program, love your work.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
Max. Yeah, you know, I the Brandon Ayuk situation, I
think that would be a next season thing. I don't
think that's something necessarily the Steelers are interested in right now.
If they were, they would have they probably would have
(44:59):
pulled that trigger a lot sooner. And you know, I
think that's where, you know, you have to figure out
what is the situation with that because obviously that's something
that's been floated in the last two days about San
Francisco forty nine is kind of parting ways with him
(45:19):
now he would be a street free agent. But I
think that's something that you have to analyze. What exactly
is going on, right Why do you cut somebody in
the middle of the season that you gave a contract
extension to and what does that look like from that
(45:39):
perspective if he is waived or let go. There's some
deeper issues there, especially at this point you think San
Francisco's is still very much alive in the playoff race
and their team is trying to make a push. I
don't know how that looks. And there's a deeper there's
(46:00):
a deeper issue there. And you know, we did try
after him a year ago. It didn't work out. San
Francisco resigned him. So there's a lot of things to explore,
and I think that would be something more readily available
for the off season. Now, mind you, I'm not a
front office guy. I'm not Omar Khan or Andy Whitel
(46:21):
or Sheldon White. That's going to be their expertise area.
But I could just say if there was a chance
to have traded for him, they probably would have explored it.
They did not. I think that probably the most viable
trade option would have been that Jacobe Myers availability with
the Raiders, and he obviously he went to Jacksonville and
(46:42):
then we did not make a move after that. If
there was any rumblings back then, which I'd imagine this
type of situation, you know, if it was something that
was brewing, that would have been the time. But now
afterwards and now him being released for whatever reason, that's
something I just I it smells a little fishy. And
where there's smoke, there's usually fire. So I would have
(47:05):
to completely vet that out before I would be comfortable
with someone who got cut in the middle of a
team's playoff run and as a viable player for them.
Why he's available this late in the year if he
does get released.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Yes, I think those are all excellent points, excellent excellent
points that have to be considered.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
And uh, we are kind of getting through.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
The Steelers' loss disappointing loss to the Bears yesterday. We're
going to continue taking your phone calls at four one
two nine, nine, one three one six. More analysis as
well when we continue in the Locker Room, presented by
our neighborhood Forward Stowing the Steelers Pro Shop on Stuars
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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