November 13, 2025 • 47 mins
Rob goes through the matchups in the AFC for this weekend. Rob also opens the phonelines and is joined by a few listeners to discuss various topics around the Steelers.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The F one fifty is the official.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
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 (00:24):
All right, we are kicking into I've tried to you know,
I should probably try to channel my Intermax. Oh right, Optimus.
Kicking us into hour number two, the Power Hour here
in the locker Room, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store
(00:45):
and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, part
of the Steelers Audio Network. Soldiering on with Max. A
little under the weather today, so hoping to get the
old broadcast partner, get some soup in the system, drink
plenty of fluids, and get ready for the game on Saturday.
So we are taking your phone calls at four one
(01:06):
two nine, one nine, one three one six with the
question what concerns you most about the Steelers heading into
this game? And is there something that concerns you most
about the Steelers heading down the stretch of the season.
So let's begin our phone calls with one in South Carolina. One,
thanks very much for being with us in the locker.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Room, egging morning, buddy, are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What's happening? One? I want I remember you the postgame
show with Charlie Batch.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, it's been a long time, first time calling in
this year. Work schedules kind of hicta right now, but
I got a chance to squeeze in when I heard
you one, I said, oh, let me get my call
and before I get too busy. So yeah, there's been
a long time buddy.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Good deal. Well, glad to have you on one. So
what's on your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Oh, so what's some of my What's be honest with you.
I don't like the quarterback player right now. I mean,
don't get me around. Rogers as doing better than what
we had, but you can tell that he is old.
So that's my main concern right now. And I see
that we activated on Will Howard, so hey, I'm looking
(02:12):
to see if Will Howard can try to do something
to shake it up for us, since he's a little
younger and he can move a little bitter than Brogers.
And I like to pick up. I like to pick
up with Samuel's That was a good pickup for the
cornerback because he can keep jeeling that safety because he's
balling that safety. So I like that pickup. So hopefully
he can get called up at the practice ball. I
wanted one game and we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So I agree with you about Sante Samuel. I think
that's a great signing. There's there's really no risk. They
talk about low risk. Frankly, there's no risk in that pickup.
You know, if Samuel can be healthy and join you
and be anything like he'd been in the first you know,
three plus years of his career prior to suffering the injury.
You've got yourself in a really good cover corner and
(02:58):
you picked him up in the middle of the seat,
and it's you know, it's not affecting your salary cap space,
it's not costing you a draft pick to pick him up.
He's a young guy, just turned twenty six years old.
I think that's a good sign and a good signing
for this Steers and we'll see if he gets himself
ready to play. As far as the quarterback play goes,
I really think one are you still there by the way, Yeah, okay, yeah,
(03:23):
I think that I understand what you're saying. And I
think that if that had been Game one of the season,
I think people would have said, oh, my goodness, gracious,
look at Aaron Rodgers. There's nothing left in the tank.
But I think he's been really good for this Steelers
and I think it's the best quarterback play they've had
since Leyden in Ben Roethlisberger's stint with his Steelers his career.
(03:47):
So I understand what you're saying, but I don't know
is I would have the same take on my concern.
Now we're gonna find out, aren't we. Right, you still
got to go out and play the games. If this
is the first sign toward toward that, towards some sort
of red, I understand that. I prefer to think of
this game as a as a one off. That it
wasn't a good game for whatever reason, he didn't have
(04:07):
a strong game. I also it didn't appear to me
that and they mentioned this that there were a lot
of receivers open that might be a concern some people have,
but I don't know one. I don't know if I'm
ready to quite go there yet with the Aaron Rodgers
fear thing. And by the way, I don't expect to
see Will Howard unless things spiraled completely out of control
(04:27):
for the Steelers. I wouldn't expect to see Will Howard
because I think Mason Rudolph would be the next guy up.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, I agree with on that part with Mason. And
then I mean we had ash ups and downs in
the season, Like nobody expected us to beat the coach,
so that was a good one. And we would have
beat the Charge that would have been a really good
win because he already beat the Patriots and we beat
the coach, so that would have helped us down lone
in the road. Coming down to these games, mast couple
(04:57):
of division game with the Ravens and Cincinnati. So hopefully
the guys can get it get it together because everybody
know me, I'm riding. I'm riding to the reals fall.
I'm still hanging in in with the team. So hopefully
we can get it together. Because Baltimore have the easier
scheduled on that us, so that's kind of empty right there.
So if we can try to take one game at
(05:19):
a time, name when we played those guys, that can
determine the division right there, because they schedule is way
easier than us.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Jan, Thank you very much,
appreciate it. No doubt those games coming against the Ravens,
they are going to be huge, and it would be
very very nice if the Steelers took care of business.
You know, one of the things that's happened by the
Steelers losing three out of four is not only has
their lead shortened over Baltimore to just one game, but
they've sort of eliminated their own margin for error. Right,
(05:49):
they don't have the margin for I mean, you have
to at least split with the Ravens. At the very least,
you have to win this game against the Bengals, you
have to beat the Browns. But they've also allowed the
Ravens the possibility to have a slip up and still
be able to win both games against the Steers and
win the division. So not only have you kind of
(06:11):
whittled away your own margin for air, but you've created,
if you want to look at it in those terms,
a little bit of margin for air for the Ravens
as well. By the way, in case you want to
jump in, our phone numbers four one two nine nine
one three one six asking you the question what concerns
you most if anything about the Steelers heading into this
game against Cincinnati and heading down the stretch of the
(06:32):
season as well. We are joined by Jerry and Johnstown. Jerry,
thanks very much for being with us. Hi, Rob, how
are you good? How you doing today?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Not too bad.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
I'm just kind of concerned about Aaron Rodgers. I go
back to last year where we had Russell Wilson and
it seemed like he we ran out of gas lit
at the end of the year and we lost five
in a row and it kind of like blew up
almost Brewer playoff chances. And I'm kind of concerned that
this is what's happening with Aaron because I've seen during
(07:06):
the course of the last well i'll say four games,
you know, we lost, you know how many games in
that four games, fan and his numbers have been dropping.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Now.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
I don't know whether it's him, or it's the O line,
or it's the receivers or what, but it concerns me.
You know that he's hit like the brick wall, so
to speak, you know, as far as his career is concerned.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Well, I think, you know, that's an interesting way of
framing it. And I hadn't you know, I hadn't really
thought about it in those terms. But when you're framing
it in in terms of what happened at the end
of last year, no other people might say, Okay, well,
you know, last year you lost pickings, you kind of
changed the way you were trying to do things. But
you're right, the play at the quarterback position wasn't as good.
(07:52):
And if you want to frame that in terms of
you know, Aaron Rodgers being you know, an older quarterback,
that's I really hadn't thought about it in those terms. Jerry.
You bring up an interesting point. Now I have not
seen you know. In fact, I thought going into this game,
Aaron Rodgers had been playing some of his best football,
even with these losses, you know. So he had come
(08:15):
in in the last four games in which the Steelers,
you know, had had They've gone two and two in
the last four games. They beat Cleveland, they lost to Cincinnati,
they lost to Green Bay, and they beat Indianapolis. And
in those games, Aaron Rodgers had nine touchdown passes and
only two interceptions. So I thought he was trending in
(08:37):
the right direction, if there was any trend at all,
because uncharacteristically he'd thrown three interceptions in the first four games.
That's not very much like him. Now, I will say this,
if so, I think he was trending Jerry in the
right direction. However, you bring up a good point, and
it's going to be something to keep an eye on.
(08:57):
You know, he is. He's not a spring chicken, and
so is there going to be.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
He started off the season with you know, we played
the Jets. Now I meant, I mean the Jets are
the Jets. He scored four touchdowns in that game. And
it seems like every game since then it's been dropping off.
Now I know, you know these receivers, aren't you know?
I had I had my doubts about him when they
(09:25):
when my son told me that the Steelers sign Aaron
Rodgers and I'm thinking, oh god, it's another Russell Wilson thing,
you know. But then after the Jets game, I was
kind of upbeat. I went to training camp and I
seen him at training camp because I told him and
my brother I said, well, I'm going to wait to
pass judgment. So I see him at training camp in
the first couple of games of the season. Well I
(09:47):
should have waited a little bit because I'm kind of
I'm kind of worried about the rest of the season.
And I know that this DK Metcalf. You know, I
don't know what's with him. I know there being he's
been sometimes double covered and triple covered, but Aaron still
has a compendency to throw to him even though he's
(10:09):
triple covered and double covered and whatever. And that's that's
what scares me, because he that's his buddy, you know,
he wants to you know, throw to him. And then
we got this scaling guy, and I know that's one
of Aaron's buddies too. Now I don't know whether or
not he's gonna play, but you know, we really did
need to get another receiver, you know. I mean, I
(10:31):
don't know why they didn't, you know, and I don't
know why they traded Pickens, but you know, deal with them,
you know, he has a contract deal with them, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, I think that that's an interesting point. Another interesting point.
And jo Jerry, we're gonna we're gonna take some other
phone calls, but I'm gonna answer your questions here, and
thank you very much for calling. Really appreciate it great
to talk to you. I think that was a that
was a question. So when you had when you had Pickings,
and DK Metcalf for a short period of time before
(11:02):
this year has traded Pickens to the Cowboys for a
third round pick, and he is having a tremendous season.
You know, the feeling was, I think a couple of things.
First of all, I think a lot of people felt
like they were similar type of receivers down the field,
type of receivers, and you'll only need one of those
kind of guys that if you're going to look for
(11:22):
something else, look for somebody who has a different skill
set than DK Metcalf. However, having said that, you know,
those two guys, two weapons, you got a third round
pick back. There were some people who questioned the trade
at the time, people who figured that once that trade
was made, the Steelers would go out and maybe get
somebody else, and that has not happened. They have not
(11:44):
picked up somebody else. I've said all along that I
thought that the style that the Steelers played meant that
they didn't necessarily have to go out and get that number,
you know, prototypical number two receiver because they were going
to use a lot of tight end sets, and they
have used heavy tight end sets more than pretty much
anybody in the league as far as two, three, even
(12:05):
four tight ends. I saw that once. I don't know
if I've seen that again, but it's an offense that's
going to use a lot of that. I thought John
new Smith whatever really big year, he's at it. He's
at it. You know, he's got a number of receptions,
but he hasn't had as big a year as I
thought he was going to have. And that circles you
back to that trade that the Steelers made when they
sent Pickens to the Cowboys, and would the offense be
(12:28):
much more explosive if you had a guy like that
on the outside. It's it's hard to make the argument
that wouldn't be the case. We'll see if Roman Wilson
continues his progression as well. Going back to Jury's initial
comment about Aaron Rodgers hitting the wall, I haven't seen
it yet. And when you think back to last year,
if you know, and a lot of people, one of
(12:49):
the reasons that I was excited about the Aaron Rodgers
signing was if you look at his overall numbers, twenty
eight touchdowns, eleven interceptions. Those are good numbers, right, that's
those are solid numbers. We haven't seen that kind of
quarterback play out of the Steelers in years. Yeah, a
little higher in the interception rate than you would like,
especially when you think about Aaron Rodgers, who's the best
(13:11):
ever at interception rate. But through the first seven games
of last season, Aaron Rodgers had thrown ten touchdowns and
seven interceptions. That included the thirty seven to fifteen loss
to the Steelers. And I think we obviously we all
saw that game and Aaron did not look like the
Aaron Rodgers of his prime. He didn't. He didn't look
(13:35):
like that same type of quarterback. And that was coming
off performances in which, for example, against Minnesota he threw
two interceptions or two touchdowns and had three interceptions, not
the kind of numbers you expect to see from Aaron Rodgers. However,
after those first seven games and after the loss to
New England. Now the Jets only won two games from
(13:57):
that point on the rest of the season, but Aaron
Rodgers through eighteen touchdown passes and had only four interceptions
down the stretch eighteen to four touchdown interception ratio. So
if you think about is Aaron Rodgers hitting the wall,
is he you know, is he going to fall off
(14:19):
because he's an older quarterback and we're getting later in
the season. I don't know, maybe maybe we'll see that.
You can't discount the possibility because he is an older quarterback. However,
recent numbers going back to last year suggests to me
that that's not going to happen. That what we saw
Sunday night in LA and it's not all about Aaron Rodgers. However,
(14:43):
you know the old adage in football, as a quarterback
takes too much credit in victory and too much blame
and a loss. He admitted after the game that he
did not play a very good game. I would like
to think, and I do think at this stage, that
it was a one game blip. However, I Understandry's number
one concern. I asked, what are your number one concerns
(15:03):
for this week? And moving down the line, and Jerry said,
you know, Aaron Rodgers, the secondary on the receivers. I
think one also said the secondary on the receivers. So
that's the question we're asking you at four point two
nine one three, one six, And with out of mind,
let's go to Ricky and Georgia. How you doing? Ricky?
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Hey, hey, miss rob how are you doing today.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Sir, good, I'm doing well, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Hey man. So yeah, so I've been listening and I
got your question, and my my concern is going forth
for the season is canon guys, can they stay on
schedule and can they fan to what the coach is
actually presented to them? And when I say that, I
do mean by I go back to what mister Jerry
do that had you said for? He can't what he
(15:49):
got for y'all show he made a better point. Coach
is a very conservative coach. Now in the years when
we had to kill a Bee era, yeah, in a
little high flowing off and then but most on that,
everybody on the offense were really proven that they can
live up to the hype or what the NFL brain.
And that's why he trusted the offense more to go
out and brought him the score life like like like
(16:11):
they did. The defense was still working putting together their pieces.
Now we're kind of on the flip side of that,
and now it's like the defense had proven the offense
still got to prove themselves. So in hindsight, you know,
I get everybody concerned about the quarterback, but hey, even
somebody's ave one game being off. But and I kind
of watched that Sunday night game and it was like, yeah,
(16:33):
I knew he was off by something was going on.
So I don't know what it was, but maybe he'll
get it bouced back everybody right, But obviously that didn't happen.
And so and what I do mean came we stay
on schedule is like that game we played Cincinnative I
think Thursday and night or was it Green Bay? But
by but by half, okay, by halftime, we was we
(16:56):
had like sixty yards in penalties and not George over
at the end of the game. Now, if you really
think about that, mister Robb, that's if you break that
downe and spending in the middle, that's like too that's
like almost football field. That's too half football field and
and really really is speaking that's too drive that you
to have points out for it? How you got you
(17:16):
commit the penalists and a lot of though penllings will
kind of to me, will stiff and flit their wounds.
And so I know coach t I know the coaches
they go over who the referee crew is gonna be
in their games, and they make the players very valid
to where they hey that's how they call their penny lists.
You play to this game, you you do what you
have to do to prevent this call. So you you
wanna be behind the sticks and all a sudden not
(17:38):
something you bring up the Pendle lists. But as in
the players that go backwards, what can can the players,
especially the offensive line, you know, make the right blocks
at the time so that your man's gonna get tackled
in the back field, or or the guys locked down
on the preaching that plays that Aaron Rodger calls off,
or they locked in their head, or they understand what
you're saying so they won't get confused when they play changed.
(18:00):
And so that's what my big concern is. Can the
guys stay on schedule throughout the season because their talent
is there. I understand. I'm not scared of anybody that's
on the rest of their schedule that we play. It
just can't we stay ahead of the stitch? And that's
how the game go. You get a twenty yard player,
but you're a gas with a ten year opinion where
they just throw your whole game all. Now you lost
time and you lost yardist. So what can you do
(18:22):
as a team to bounce back, and that's why I
feel like the offense still trying to prove theirself and
people realize we still in that phase of rebuilding, but
it's building. It ain't like the guys have been playing
together for the last three or four years ago and
everybody instinct what they're doing. No, we still put pieces
together and it's still and it's working in progress. But
(18:44):
can they still on schedule? Can they finance what the
coast philosophy is and make it through the end of seasons?
I think they will, but can they do it?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah? Those are Those are all really good points, and
I especially want to pick up on the point that
Rick He's making about staying on schedule and not having
those early penalties. The studers have had a very very
difficult time picking up first downs and sustaining drives. That
has been an issue for them. And you know, as
(19:14):
far as penalties per game, they've been very good. They're
fifth in the league in penalties per game. They're committing
six penalties per game. It is it's something that Mike,
you know, we talk about the turnovers a lot with
Mike Tomlin and how they preach not only getting turnovers
but not turning the ball over well, penalties is something
(19:35):
that you know they want to avoid as well. Last
year they were eleventh in the league in penalties, so
again upper half in the league and not committing penalties.
They want to play and it's not just about creating
the turnovers, as we talked about with Jerry, it's not
turning the ball over. When you turn the ball over,
and that is that is joined in conjunction by the
(19:56):
inability to keep drives alive, which is then in and
hampered by offensive penalties. I mean, it just feels like,
you know, first and twenty and we'll you know, probably
see one or two scenarios like that with the Bengals.
That's not a big issue for a team like the Bengals.
It is a bigger issue for the team like the Steelers,
who are having enough difficulty turning ten yards into a
(20:21):
fresh set of downs, much less fifteen or twenty. So
I think that's a good point, Ricky. I think that
the Steelers need to make sure that they're playing as
much as possible mistake free football because let's face it,
the offense, you know, converting into first downs, that's difficult
enough for this.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Team exactly that's and that's my big opinion. And when
you watch the games, I watched the game from a
different spect I don't care if you get twenty yards
on one player. You don't get no webs, but I
could buy it. Can't you keep the tame moving and
keep a deeper fresh because you got play makes on
the defense side there and put you in the ball
back and just the fact the is, can you else
(21:00):
stay you? Can you make another team respect you in
a way where you did None of them did take
to you what you got doing it? And that's my
big concern and I think we'll be fine going for that.
Can of play the attitude translating to the translated to
asking for them.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yep, good stuff. Hey, thank you very much. Appreciate the
phone call as always. Uh, we've had some we've had
some really really interesting points.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
It's fun to open it up and get get your
perspectives on what ails this toelers and what you think
is going to continue to ail this yelers, if you
do or what are your concerns? I shouldn't say that,
So what ails us dealers, what concerns do you have
moving forward? That's kind of what we're we're honing in
on here in the locker room. We also need to
get around the a f C some interesting games beginning
(21:46):
with tonight. Hey don't look now, but the Jets have
won a couple of straight games, so maybe at least
want to keep an eyeball in that game against the Patriots.
We'll go around the a FC coming up in a
little bit. I want to remind you that if you
want to get into the commentation, what is your biggest
concern for the Steelers? And they lost three out of
four games, so Sunday night or Sunday afternoon, what's your
(22:07):
biggest concern against the Bengals? And then larger picture, with
eight games still remaining on the schedule, what is your
biggest concern for the Steelers moving forward? The phone number
four one two nine one nine one three one six.
Once again, four one two nine, one nine one three
one six. We want to remind you you can gear
up with the latest game day necessities at the official
(22:28):
Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible towels,
authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can only find directly
from the team. Visit one of the official Steelers Pro
shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets or
Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot Steelers
dot com. Get it direct from the team at Stealers
(22:50):
Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back when
we're in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Forward
Store and the Studers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
a part of this Steam Audio network.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
This is in the locker room with Kingyon 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 3 (23:26):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. Have Max Starks a little under the weather today,
so Max is kind of relaxing a little bit. We
haven't had to go to Max. It's early on in
the program. Taking your phone calls at four one. We're
gonna get Max rested and ready to go, certainly hopefully
(23:48):
for tomorrow's show, but certainly for Sunday's game against the
Cincinnati Bengals, a big one for the Steelers, so we're
gonna go over It is our AFC Preview presented by UPC,
the official healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
as we take a look at this weekend's action and
prior to getting to that interesting article in the Athletic,
(24:12):
and the Athletic has broken down the AFC into contenders
versus pretenders. So again, one man's opinion or one one
you know, reporter driven newspaper's opinion. I don't know a
(24:32):
newspaper online. I don't know what you'd call it. Anyway,
let's run down for you the pretenders, contenders and pretenders
in the AFC. They have the Indianapolis Colts as a pretender. Interesting,
so when you look at the power rankings, and again
(24:54):
I'm just going to use ESPN here we go back
and forth with a variety of of different publications. ESPN
has the Colts ranked as the number three team in
the NFL right now. They are according to The Athletic.
A pretender said, hey, they needed, you know, overtime to
beat Atlanta. By the way, Atlanta's you know, not bad,
(25:18):
so they're you know, look, they they say they have
a you know, a week by and week eleven bye,
and then the final seven games will serve as the
truth teller for Daniel Jones and the Colts. They have
a road game against the Chiefs. They've got the Texans
a couple of times, they have Jacksonville, they have Seattle,
they have San Francisco. So they are saying, you know,
(25:40):
good chance to win the division, but unlikely that they're
going to advance into the playoffs. You know, the great
beauty about the NFL, about any sport really is that
you go play the games and that tells you. But
it's interesting to see where people how people view the
respective teams in the NFL, and again in particular the AFC,
(26:02):
since is our AFC preview, and of course, as this
Steeler station, we're a little more AFC centric than the NFC,
so they have them as a pretender. I guess I
could see that. You know, I would want to see,
let's see what happens against Kansas City. I think even
if they play Kansas City close, it will tell you
(26:22):
that it's a pretty good football team. The Denver Broncos pretender,
and they say the first half opponents for the Broncos
have an average record of twenty three forty eight and
one that's an interesting statistic. That is an interesting statistic,
(26:44):
and that their average margin to victory in those games
is just six point two points. I think that similar
to Mike Tomlin in Denver, the coaching philosophy is win
the game in front of you. Who cares about style points?
Nobody cares about style points. Just find a way to
win the game. So I'm not sure I buy that one.
(27:06):
I think that I wasn't as bullish on the Broncos
at the beginning of the season as I was on
a couple of other teams. I thought that they had
a chance to be solid, you know, maybe get through
a round of the playoffs. But I actually think they're
better than that. I think they're a contender. I think
I would disagree with that. I have MI as pretender,
our contender, not pretender. Athletic has a as pretender Patriots contender.
(27:34):
I am agreeing with that. I think I think the
Patriots are contender. I think the Patriots and Broncos are contenders.
I feel stronger about both those teams, and I think
I do about the Colts right now. So I've got
them as a contender. I'm agreeing with that assertion the
Chargers seven and three pretender la is Field that all
(27:58):
wildly inconceit distant rushing attack based on the injuries between
the offensive line and the running back position. Well, the
offensive line is not getting healthier. You're not getting Slater back,
you're not getting Joe Alt back. So I understand that
that assertion that that is hurting your running game. I
get that. But they're gonna get Hampton back and probably
(28:21):
after they're bye. Pretender contender. Can they win the AFC?
I don't know if I would. I don't know if
I would throw them in the in the pretender category.
I think they're I think they're kind of like Indianapolis Like,
I don't I'm not I'm not ready to say that
they don't have a chance to win. I'm not ready
(28:41):
to say that they're my favorite to win. But I'm
not ready to say that they're that they don't have
a chance to win either. You know, I just think
it's so wide open that I'm not sure anybody's necessarily
a pretender. As they have the Bills ranked pretender rush defense,
they're not a great rush defense, then in the past
rushing department too dependent upon Josh Allen. They have the
(29:05):
Bills as a pretender. That's interesting to me because after
the Bills really handed it to the Chiefs, they look
like they might have re emerged as the class of
the AFC. But then they get demolished by Miami. What
does that tell you, to tell you they can't win?
So that tell you it's just a bizarre year in
the NFL. I think it's more category number two. That's
(29:28):
why I think every team that's been listed so far,
including the Bills, is a contender. You know, look, I
understand you're trying to make a stand and say somebody's
got to be a pretender. They can't all win. We're
trying to make a throw a line in the dirt here,
not even in the sand, and say, these teams fall
on the pretender side. These teams fall on the contender side.
(29:48):
But right now we only have one contender according to
the Athletic and that contender is the New England Patriots.
Everybody else the AFC is a pretender. Pittsburgh Steelers five
and four. Well, you know what they're gonna say about them, pretender.
Here's what they say, about the defense. Two inconsistent. They
(30:11):
need another receiver. They tried to get one of the
trade deadline, came up empty. Aaron Rodgers passer rating and
completion percentage have declined over the last five games. That
was Jerry's concern at the quarterback position. I don't think
I share that concern, but understood, and they do have
statistics to back it up. The defense is giving up
(30:32):
three hundred and seventy six yards per game and nearly
twenty five points. Two inconsistent. They've turned in dominant performances,
but those numbers work against them. And then they talk
about the tough second half schedule featuring games against the
Cincinnati Bengals, who have already beaten them once. Of course,
that game's coming up on Sunday, the Bears, the Bills,
the Ravens twice, the Dolphins, the Lions in Cleveland. Makes
(30:54):
this feel like mission impossible. So they have them as
a pretender. Well, then who and then were all though
the contenders? You might be asking, Well, they have the
Kansas City Chiefs at five and four as a contender. Now,
didn't they just get beaten by the Bills by seven points?
And by the way, it was if you watched the game,
(31:18):
it didn't ever really feel like it was that close.
Although the Chiefs had the chance at the end of
the game to come down and tie it, it never
it didn't feel like it was that close a game.
It felt like the Bills were clearly the better team.
So here's what they say. The second half schedule plays
out favorably for Kansas City road games at Denver, Dallas Tennessee,
(31:39):
and Las Vegas home games against Indianapolis, Houston, the Chargers,
and Denver. Is that really that favorable? Two games against Denver? Okay? So,
Dallas Tennessee and Vegas road games okay, But you still
have Indianapolis, Houston, the Chargers at home and Denver home
(32:01):
and the road. And again the beauty is, we'll see,
we'll see how good they are. We're going to find
out they're five and four right now. I'm you know,
I was again in Autopsy Turvy season. I was kind
of backing in the Chiefs. I'm not sure them all
the way there, and the Chiefs they had the Jaguars
(32:22):
five and four pretender. You know. Again, my feeling was
that there were a team that would improve. But I
agree with that. I don't think that they're quite ready yet.
I think that they've they've improved and hey, listen there,
if they make the playoffs, Liam Cohen could be a
Coach of the Year candidate. I think that that that
could happen. Now they have the four and five Ravens
(32:43):
as contender. That's interesting too. Again, I think if they
get everybody back, they are they're contender. So anyway, for
what that's worth that to look at the pretender contender thing.
So we also want to take a look quickly. And
again we want to remind you that during the last
(33:05):
break if you want to get a phone call and
you can at four one two nine, one nine, one
three one six. So we will get to that. Uh,
but we do you know, let's take a call now
before we continue with the weekends games. We have Jerry
and san Antonio still on the line.
Speaker 7 (33:22):
Yes, I'm still on the line.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Hi, Jerry, how you doing.
Speaker 7 (33:25):
I'm doing good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Sure, you're welcome, Thanks for being here.
Speaker 7 (33:30):
Yes, I did. Like I'm listening to you guys, and
you know, I'm very very optimistic about the rest of
the season, right, you know, Uh, but the changes, like
I would like to have for the last remaining games.
You know, what I would like to see is, you know,
well my golflin thanks, you know, putting bench Aaron Rodgers.
You know, but I don't know if that's the option
(33:52):
that would I would go.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You know, I'm sorry, Jerry, you broke up? What did
you What did you say you'd like to see.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
To my girlfriend would like to bench Aaron Rodgers, who
you know, for a couple of games, just to just
to you know, get him going. I guess I don't know,
but I don't.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
I don't see that as an option I would like to.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
What I would like to see.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Is more throws them over the middle.
Speaker 7 (34:16):
I mean, I think the play calling is too conservative,
you know, like we're we're back, We're back at Canada offense.
You know, they're they're not opening it up. Uh you know,
you know take chances, you know, uh, not for Tomlin
not to keep living in the steers, you know, if
they you know, open up the offense. And of course
we need to get an offensive line the block for
(34:36):
him because you know, he's just gonna throw it away,
you know, or you know, overthrow if he's getting attacked
when from a defensive line. You know. Uh, Ken broder
Jones is one of my main concerns is you know,
he don't finish off on his plage, but uh, you know,
and then of course run Jalen Jalen as much as
they can because he's been getting five guards per rush.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (34:59):
And and you know, one of the things I was
I was thinking, like, why don't they let Pickings go?
And if you know that, you know, I understand he
had a bad behavior, bad attitude, you know, but you know,
they taking a chance from Broderie Jones on his fourth year,
you know, as much as a uh you know, they
could have got him, you know, for the deep ball.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
You know.
Speaker 7 (35:19):
And and then had Metcalf go over the middle, you know,
because Metcalf and he's not a he's not a moster,
you know, he doesn't go up for the ball and
take the ball away like Pickens was doing. Uh. But
it would be have been nice to have them both right,
and then have Calvin Austin as a third receiver, you know,
and and and and on defense. You know, I would
love to see them. Man, let's let t j. Want
(35:41):
wander around and let him just be that that that
guy that just runs, you know, rooms, the rooms, the
defensive line because he they're avoiding him. You know, they
could just play middle linebacker he which you know, I
know they wouldn't want to do. You know, he would
he would make all the tackles at least, you know,
they would be, you know, be thinking about it right
before they run because they run away from him. Of course,
(36:02):
they need the best tackle of the team. And you know,
when I watched Cam Hayward, he doesn't quit on the play.
He finished the play. You know, everybody you know stops
playing after a while. But I would love to see that.
And I'm curious to see how Sante Samuels, how they
put him into the defense, because we definitely need some
help on the on the you know, on the corners
(36:23):
as well. I would like your feedback on that.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
So okay, yeah, Jerry, thank you very much. I think
those you brought up a number of interesting points. I think,
you know, we had an earlier caller also talk about
pickings in that trade. I believe this YEARUS thought they
were going to get another receiver again. I wasn't sure
that they absolutely had had to have one. I've sort
of been stubbornly clinging onto that. And now as we've
(36:49):
gotten to this point, I think sometimes you have to
admit that you're wrong, and I think that right now
it looks like I was wrong. It looks like, you know,
I thought that this offense would find ways to, you know,
to get the ball a bunch to John Smith. I
thought he was going to be the number the clear
number two receiver on the team. The deep ball. The
DK Metcalf has calmed down. We have not seen that
(37:12):
be effective. It was effective earlier in the season. That's
I don't know whether teams have taken that away by
putting another safety over the top of of Metcalf. You know,
we we saw that, you know, Aaron Rodgers said as
a you know, the pass on fourth down that was
incomplete that they you know, roll the safety over there.
(37:33):
It wasn't really double coverage. But again, you know, teams
know that the Steelers want to be able to do that.
They're trying to take that away from the Steelers. That's
where a number two threat would really come in handy.
Somebody that could that could give you great concerns. For example,
you look at the team that Steelers are facing this
weekend with Chase and with t Higgins mentioned that since
(37:55):
since Joe Flacco has been in there, T Higgins are
Jamar Chase is averaging a hund than twenty one yards
receiving in a game. That is that is huge. But
then on the other side, t Higgins has four touchdowns
in those three games, so you're finding yourself in a
difficult position trying to pick and then Chase Brown two
(38:15):
out of the last three games, has had explosive games
for them as well. I think that when you're talking
about throwing the ball more over the middle of the
field and getting Jalen Warren going, that goes back to
my biggest fear or my biggest concern, Jerry, not a fear,
but a concern is they've got to find a way
to keep drives alive. You know, Mike Tomlin was asked
about why aren't you running Jalen more and more after
the games because we don't have the ball. You know,
(38:39):
he only had fourteen carries, he had seventy yards. He
was extremely effective against the Chargers, but if you keep
going three and out, there's only so many plays to
go around. So I agree, and maybe maybe you know
this notion of being more aggressive early in the game
throwing the ball to set up the run. Maybe that's
something that they'll be looking at. But they've got to
(39:00):
find a way, Jerry to your point, you know, for
these guys to get the ball more, for Jeralen Warren
to get the ball, more, for you to attack over
the middle of the field and down the field more,
you've got to possess the ball longer. And I think
that's to me, that's the one thing that I think
is not only going to help, you know, just read
that thing about the athletic the defensive inconsistency from the Steelers, Well,
(39:22):
they're out there too much in my opinion. You know,
the offense needs to start finding ways to pick up
more first downs. Easier said than done. I understand that
to keep the defense off the field and to and
to exploit the offensive weapons that you have.
Speaker 7 (39:37):
All right, So do you think that Aaron Lodgers is
at audibly audibly and changing the play calls too much
and we're going to pass them when they're probably calling,
you know, to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
That's a great question. I don't know the answer to that.
I don't And then and believe me, I think that's
an excellent question. Jerry, because I've thought about that as well.
So I don't know what he is checking into and
out of it the line of scrimmage. I do know this.
For example, in the last game they it looked clearly
(40:07):
like on that second the sequence that kind of turned
the game for him when they were going in again,
a chance to get back in the game and make
it close, not take the lead, not win the game,
but at least get back in it. When they went
forward on fourth down on second and six, it looked
clearly like they had a pitch play to to Jalen
(40:28):
Warren called to the right. Because everybody moved in that direction,
including Jon Jalen Warren, including the offensive lineman. Rogers wanted
to go with a slant to DK Metcalf. Well, Bud
Dupree did something inexplicable. He just kind of stood there
and waved his arms in the air and got in
the passing lane. So Aaron Rodgers, you know, you say, Okay,
I'm gonna you have that as your backside play that
(40:50):
you can go to. I'm not gonna do the pitch
in what was four down territory. I'm gonna go to
DK Metcalf on the slant. If that's a younger quarterback,
I'm not letting him make that that play. Change of
the line of scrimmage. I'm saying, look, we got four
plays to get ten yards. We picked up four and
first down. Now we got three to get six. Pitch
the ball that Gerald Warren. But if I have Aaron Rodgers,
(41:13):
who's one of the best of all time at changing
plays as a line of scrimmage, I'm going to allow
him to change plays as a line of scrimmage. So
I understand your question, Jerry, but I don't want to
take that away from from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 7 (41:25):
I trusted judgment. I very much trust your judgment, hit decisions,
you know. But I just don't think his offensive line
is getting enough time to make those you know, plays
that he wants. You know, he's you can sayhim he's
he's skinnerish back then, because you know he don't Alwa's
gonna get blindsided through brought Jones up the middle or
the other tackle where they're just you know, the defensive
(41:45):
lineman is getting through.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (41:48):
I wish they had like a Mike Munchak offensive line coaching.
I don't think man Myers is doing a very good
job at coaching them up because they're just not it's
just not you know, uh, you know block and they're
just pushing them one time and then we'll go by
like come on, I mean, you know, always something in
front of them that make them jump over you.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Hey, Jerry, thank you very much, appreciate the call from
San Antonio and ghost Steelers on Sunday is a face
a very very important game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks
everybody you called in today weighing in with your opinions
on you know what kind of worries you right now
about the Steelers, if anything at all, And we do
have some worries and I understand those concerns because the
(42:30):
Steelers have lost three or four and head into a
very important game coming up against the Bengals on Sunday.
Stick around. We still have more to come as we
wrap things up here in the Locker Room presented by
our neighborhood Ford Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on
Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Now this is in the locker Room with King and
Starks on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford Still.
The 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
(43:10):
dot com.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
And thanks very much for hanging with us today in
the locker room as Max arks Bundy Max Stars is
under the weather. However, beaten with Max under the weather,
we know that people have got to have their lunch. Therefore,
it is time for Justin Miller the bell lapp. Get
(43:37):
yourself geared up, have yourselves a nice lunch. Remember a
repast is very important for you. Enjoy that meal. Try
not to eat it at your desk. Try to take
a couple of moments, relax, enjoy digest your meal. Remember
life is short. Enjoy those meals if you can. So
one last thing to go over is we continue with
our upmc AFC preview. That just going to quickly run
(44:03):
the games for you. Because the Jets and the Patriots
at first glance, you know, do I really want to
watch this game on Thursday night? Keep in mind the
Jets have won two straight games, so we'll see if
they can give the Patriots a test. I think that
could be an interesting game tonight. Certainly, have it on
and we'll see whether that what what that means now
(44:24):
the Bills tough test facing the Buccaneers. Bucks just lost
last week. They faced their own tough test and lost
to the Patriots, a game that you would think would
have convinced people that that that that team is for real, right,
but didn't convince the athletic that they actually uh no,
(44:45):
it did convince that the Athletics Patriots are for real.
That's right. They had them as a as a contender,
not a pretender. So Bucks and Bills, that is a
huge game just for for where do we stand now
as we as we get start to get real close
to December football, who's good who isn't? I think this
is when we start to make those decisions where is
(45:06):
this team trending. I know that you got to get
into December, I think to really decide where are these
teams trending. That's a really interesting game for both of
those teams. Also in the AFC, the Texans at the Titans,
the Bengals and Steelers. We've talked about this obviously and
laid out the importance of the game. Another very intriguing
(45:26):
one o'clock matchup seven and three Chargers at the five
and four Jaguars the Chargers. You have to feel like
if there's a desperation factor, it belongs to the Jaguars
in this game. They're five and four. They don't want
they don't want to let their their good start to
the season kind of slip away the Chargers. I gotta
(45:48):
feel like the Chargers if you told the Chargers going
into the game against the Steelers, hey, you got the
Steelers and you have the Jaguars two games before your by.
You are limping in to that buy with injuries. You're
gonna get Hampton back at the running back position after
the buye, maybe get a little bit healthier. I think
they would have taken a split. Well, they've already won one,
(46:10):
So does that affect them going into this game against
the Jaguars. Does that give the desperation factor to the Jaguars?
Gonna find out one o'clock. That's another big game for
twenty five. Ravens at the Browns. Boy got a root
for Cleveland in that one, don't you? Also at four
to twenty five? Another big game in the AFC, the
(46:31):
Chiefs at the Broncos. H You know, look, man, you're
if you lose, if you're the Chiefs and you lose
this game. The Broncos are nine and two and you're
five and five, and you've still got the Chargers between you.
Big big game for the Chiefs coming at four to
twenty five on Sunday Monday Night Football. One final AFC
(46:55):
team involved the Cowboys at the Raiders. Really kind of
a nothing game on Monday Night Football, with neither one
of those teams apparently heading anywhere. Hey, we want to
thank you for calling in and joining in here in
the locker room with Max under the weather today. Thanks
for being part of the show. Love having you be
a part of the show. Of course, you guys are
the show frankly, and having you call in and take part,
(47:18):
very grateful for you for that and grateful to have
you listening to the show and taking part as well.
Jerry dulac Our thanks to him for joining us. Justin
Miller at the controls, Max starts resting up, getting that soup, hidrating,
getting himself ready for tomorrow's show and of course for
the broadcast coming up on Sunday when the Steelers host
(47:38):
the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm Rob King once more. We thank
you for being with us. In the Locker Room, presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store and this Jus Pro Shop
on Steves 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.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The F one fifty is the official.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
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 (00:24):
All right, we are kicking into I've tried to you know,
I should probably try to channel my Intermax. Oh right, Optimus.
Kicking us into hour number two, the Power Hour here
in the locker Room, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store
(00:45):
and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, part
of the Steelers Audio Network. Soldiering on with Max. A
little under the weather today, so hoping to get the
old broadcast partner, get some soup in the system, drink
plenty of fluids, and get ready for the game on Saturday.
So we are taking your phone calls at four one
(01:06):
two nine, one nine, one three one six with the
question what concerns you most about the Steelers heading into
this game? And is there something that concerns you most
about the Steelers heading down the stretch of the season.
So let's begin our phone calls with one in South Carolina. One,
thanks very much for being with us in the locker.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Room, egging morning, buddy, are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What's happening? One? I want I remember you the postgame
show with Charlie Batch.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, it's been a long time, first time calling in
this year. Work schedules kind of hicta right now, but
I got a chance to squeeze in when I heard
you one, I said, oh, let me get my call
and before I get too busy. So yeah, there's been
a long time buddy.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Good deal. Well, glad to have you on one. So
what's on your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Oh, so what's some of my What's be honest with you.
I don't like the quarterback player right now. I mean,
don't get me around. Rogers as doing better than what
we had, but you can tell that he is old.
So that's my main concern right now. And I see
that we activated on Will Howard, so hey, I'm looking
(02:12):
to see if Will Howard can try to do something
to shake it up for us, since he's a little
younger and he can move a little bitter than Brogers.
And I like to pick up. I like to pick
up with Samuel's That was a good pickup for the
cornerback because he can keep jeeling that safety because he's
balling that safety. So I like that pickup. So hopefully
he can get called up at the practice ball. I
wanted one game and we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
So I agree with you about Sante Samuel. I think
that's a great signing. There's there's really no risk. They
talk about low risk. Frankly, there's no risk in that pickup.
You know, if Samuel can be healthy and join you
and be anything like he'd been in the first you know,
three plus years of his career prior to suffering the injury.
You've got yourself in a really good cover corner and
(02:58):
you picked him up in the middle of the seat,
and it's you know, it's not affecting your salary cap space,
it's not costing you a draft pick to pick him up.
He's a young guy, just turned twenty six years old.
I think that's a good sign and a good signing
for this Steers and we'll see if he gets himself
ready to play. As far as the quarterback play goes,
I really think one are you still there by the way, Yeah, okay, yeah,
(03:23):
I think that I understand what you're saying. And I
think that if that had been Game one of the season,
I think people would have said, oh, my goodness, gracious,
look at Aaron Rodgers. There's nothing left in the tank.
But I think he's been really good for this Steelers
and I think it's the best quarterback play they've had
since Leyden in Ben Roethlisberger's stint with his Steelers his career.
(03:47):
So I understand what you're saying, but I don't know
is I would have the same take on my concern.
Now we're gonna find out, aren't we. Right, you still
got to go out and play the games. If this
is the first sign toward toward that, towards some sort
of red, I understand that. I prefer to think of
this game as a as a one off. That it
wasn't a good game for whatever reason, he didn't have
(04:07):
a strong game. I also it didn't appear to me
that and they mentioned this that there were a lot
of receivers open that might be a concern some people have,
but I don't know one. I don't know if I'm
ready to quite go there yet with the Aaron Rodgers
fear thing. And by the way, I don't expect to
see Will Howard unless things spiraled completely out of control
(04:27):
for the Steelers. I wouldn't expect to see Will Howard
because I think Mason Rudolph would be the next guy up.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, I agree with on that part with Mason. And
then I mean we had ash ups and downs in
the season, Like nobody expected us to beat the coach,
so that was a good one. And we would have
beat the Charge that would have been a really good
win because he already beat the Patriots and we beat
the coach, so that would have helped us down lone
in the road. Coming down to these games, mast couple
(04:57):
of division game with the Ravens and Cincinnati. So hopefully
the guys can get it get it together because everybody
know me, I'm riding. I'm riding to the reals fall.
I'm still hanging in in with the team. So hopefully
we can get it together. Because Baltimore have the easier
scheduled on that us, so that's kind of empty right there.
So if we can try to take one game at
(05:19):
a time, name when we played those guys, that can
determine the division right there, because they schedule is way
easier than us.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Jan, Thank you very much,
appreciate it. No doubt those games coming against the Ravens,
they are going to be huge, and it would be
very very nice if the Steelers took care of business.
You know, one of the things that's happened by the
Steelers losing three out of four is not only has
their lead shortened over Baltimore to just one game, but
they've sort of eliminated their own margin for error. Right,
(05:49):
they don't have the margin for I mean, you have
to at least split with the Ravens. At the very least,
you have to win this game against the Bengals, you
have to beat the Browns. But they've also allowed the
Ravens the possibility to have a slip up and still
be able to win both games against the Steers and
win the division. So not only have you kind of
(06:11):
whittled away your own margin for air, but you've created,
if you want to look at it in those terms,
a little bit of margin for air for the Ravens
as well. By the way, in case you want to
jump in, our phone numbers four one two nine nine
one three one six asking you the question what concerns
you most if anything about the Steelers heading into this
game against Cincinnati and heading down the stretch of the
(06:32):
season as well. We are joined by Jerry and Johnstown. Jerry,
thanks very much for being with us. Hi, Rob, how
are you good? How you doing today?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Not too bad.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
I'm just kind of concerned about Aaron Rodgers. I go
back to last year where we had Russell Wilson and
it seemed like he we ran out of gas lit
at the end of the year and we lost five
in a row and it kind of like blew up
almost Brewer playoff chances. And I'm kind of concerned that
this is what's happening with Aaron because I've seen during
(07:06):
the course of the last well i'll say four games,
you know, we lost, you know how many games in
that four games, fan and his numbers have been dropping.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Now.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
I don't know whether it's him, or it's the O line,
or it's the receivers or what, but it concerns me.
You know that he's hit like the brick wall, so
to speak, you know, as far as his career is concerned.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Well, I think, you know, that's an interesting way of
framing it. And I hadn't you know, I hadn't really
thought about it in those terms. But when you're framing
it in in terms of what happened at the end
of last year, no other people might say, Okay, well,
you know, last year you lost pickings, you kind of
changed the way you were trying to do things. But
you're right, the play at the quarterback position wasn't as good.
(07:52):
And if you want to frame that in terms of
you know, Aaron Rodgers being you know, an older quarterback,
that's I really hadn't thought about it in those terms. Jerry.
You bring up an interesting point. Now I have not
seen you know. In fact, I thought going into this game,
Aaron Rodgers had been playing some of his best football,
even with these losses, you know. So he had come
(08:15):
in in the last four games in which the Steelers,
you know, had had They've gone two and two in
the last four games. They beat Cleveland, they lost to Cincinnati,
they lost to Green Bay, and they beat Indianapolis. And
in those games, Aaron Rodgers had nine touchdown passes and
only two interceptions. So I thought he was trending in
(08:37):
the right direction, if there was any trend at all,
because uncharacteristically he'd thrown three interceptions in the first four games.
That's not very much like him. Now, I will say this,
if so, I think he was trending Jerry in the
right direction. However, you bring up a good point, and
it's going to be something to keep an eye on.
(08:57):
You know, he is. He's not a spring chicken, and
so is there going to be.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
He started off the season with you know, we played
the Jets. Now I meant, I mean the Jets are
the Jets. He scored four touchdowns in that game. And
it seems like every game since then it's been dropping off.
Now I know, you know these receivers, aren't you know?
I had I had my doubts about him when they
(09:25):
when my son told me that the Steelers sign Aaron
Rodgers and I'm thinking, oh god, it's another Russell Wilson thing,
you know. But then after the Jets game, I was
kind of upbeat. I went to training camp and I
seen him at training camp because I told him and
my brother I said, well, I'm going to wait to
pass judgment. So I see him at training camp in
the first couple of games of the season. Well I
(09:47):
should have waited a little bit because I'm kind of
I'm kind of worried about the rest of the season.
And I know that this DK Metcalf. You know, I
don't know what's with him. I know there being he's
been sometimes double covered and triple covered, but Aaron still
has a compendency to throw to him even though he's
(10:09):
triple covered and double covered and whatever. And that's that's
what scares me, because he that's his buddy, you know,
he wants to you know, throw to him. And then
we got this scaling guy, and I know that's one
of Aaron's buddies too. Now I don't know whether or
not he's gonna play, but you know, we really did
need to get another receiver, you know. I mean, I
(10:31):
don't know why they didn't, you know, and I don't
know why they traded Pickens, but you know, deal with them,
you know, he has a contract deal with them, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, I think that that's an interesting point. Another interesting point.
And jo Jerry, we're gonna we're gonna take some other
phone calls, but I'm gonna answer your questions here, and
thank you very much for calling. Really appreciate it great
to talk to you. I think that was a that
was a question. So when you had when you had Pickings,
and DK Metcalf for a short period of time before
(11:02):
this year has traded Pickens to the Cowboys for a
third round pick, and he is having a tremendous season.
You know, the feeling was, I think a couple of things.
First of all, I think a lot of people felt
like they were similar type of receivers down the field,
type of receivers, and you'll only need one of those
kind of guys that if you're going to look for
(11:22):
something else, look for somebody who has a different skill
set than DK Metcalf. However, having said that, you know,
those two guys, two weapons, you got a third round
pick back. There were some people who questioned the trade
at the time, people who figured that once that trade
was made, the Steelers would go out and maybe get
somebody else, and that has not happened. They have not
(11:44):
picked up somebody else. I've said all along that I
thought that the style that the Steelers played meant that
they didn't necessarily have to go out and get that number,
you know, prototypical number two receiver because they were going
to use a lot of tight end sets, and they
have used heavy tight end sets more than pretty much
anybody in the league as far as two, three, even
(12:05):
four tight ends. I saw that once. I don't know
if I've seen that again, but it's an offense that's
going to use a lot of that. I thought John
new Smith whatever really big year, he's at it. He's
at it. You know, he's got a number of receptions,
but he hasn't had as big a year as I
thought he was going to have. And that circles you
back to that trade that the Steelers made when they
sent Pickens to the Cowboys, and would the offense be
(12:28):
much more explosive if you had a guy like that
on the outside. It's it's hard to make the argument
that wouldn't be the case. We'll see if Roman Wilson
continues his progression as well. Going back to Jury's initial
comment about Aaron Rodgers hitting the wall, I haven't seen
it yet. And when you think back to last year,
if you know, and a lot of people, one of
(12:49):
the reasons that I was excited about the Aaron Rodgers
signing was if you look at his overall numbers, twenty
eight touchdowns, eleven interceptions. Those are good numbers, right, that's
those are solid numbers. We haven't seen that kind of
quarterback play out of the Steelers in years. Yeah, a
little higher in the interception rate than you would like,
especially when you think about Aaron Rodgers, who's the best
(13:11):
ever at interception rate. But through the first seven games
of last season, Aaron Rodgers had thrown ten touchdowns and
seven interceptions. That included the thirty seven to fifteen loss
to the Steelers. And I think we obviously we all
saw that game and Aaron did not look like the
Aaron Rodgers of his prime. He didn't. He didn't look
(13:35):
like that same type of quarterback. And that was coming
off performances in which, for example, against Minnesota he threw
two interceptions or two touchdowns and had three interceptions, not
the kind of numbers you expect to see from Aaron Rodgers. However,
after those first seven games and after the loss to
New England. Now the Jets only won two games from
(13:57):
that point on the rest of the season, but Aaron
Rodgers through eighteen touchdown passes and had only four interceptions
down the stretch eighteen to four touchdown interception ratio. So
if you think about is Aaron Rodgers hitting the wall,
is he you know, is he going to fall off
(14:19):
because he's an older quarterback and we're getting later in
the season. I don't know, maybe maybe we'll see that.
You can't discount the possibility because he is an older quarterback. However,
recent numbers going back to last year suggests to me
that that's not going to happen. That what we saw
Sunday night in LA and it's not all about Aaron Rodgers. However,
(14:43):
you know the old adage in football, as a quarterback
takes too much credit in victory and too much blame
and a loss. He admitted after the game that he
did not play a very good game. I would like
to think, and I do think at this stage, that
it was a one game blip. However, I Understandry's number
one concern. I asked, what are your number one concerns
(15:03):
for this week? And moving down the line, and Jerry said,
you know, Aaron Rodgers, the secondary on the receivers. I
think one also said the secondary on the receivers. So
that's the question we're asking you at four point two
nine one three, one six, And with out of mind,
let's go to Ricky and Georgia. How you doing? Ricky?
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Hey, hey, miss rob how are you doing today.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Sir, good, I'm doing well, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Hey man. So yeah, so I've been listening and I
got your question, and my my concern is going forth
for the season is canon guys, can they stay on
schedule and can they fan to what the coach is
actually presented to them? And when I say that, I
do mean by I go back to what mister Jerry
do that had you said for? He can't what he
(15:49):
got for y'all show he made a better point. Coach
is a very conservative coach. Now in the years when
we had to kill a Bee era, yeah, in a
little high flowing off and then but most on that,
everybody on the offense were really proven that they can
live up to the hype or what the NFL brain.
And that's why he trusted the offense more to go
out and brought him the score life like like like
(16:11):
they did. The defense was still working putting together their pieces.
Now we're kind of on the flip side of that,
and now it's like the defense had proven the offense
still got to prove themselves. So in hindsight, you know,
I get everybody concerned about the quarterback, but hey, even
somebody's ave one game being off. But and I kind
of watched that Sunday night game and it was like, yeah,
(16:33):
I knew he was off by something was going on.
So I don't know what it was, but maybe he'll
get it bouced back everybody right, But obviously that didn't happen.
And so and what I do mean came we stay
on schedule is like that game we played Cincinnative I
think Thursday and night or was it Green Bay? But
by but by half, okay, by halftime, we was we
(16:56):
had like sixty yards in penalties and not George over
at the end of the game. Now, if you really
think about that, mister Robb, that's if you break that
downe and spending in the middle, that's like too that's
like almost football field. That's too half football field and
and really really is speaking that's too drive that you
to have points out for it? How you got you
(17:16):
commit the penalists and a lot of though penllings will
kind of to me, will stiff and flit their wounds.
And so I know coach t I know the coaches
they go over who the referee crew is gonna be
in their games, and they make the players very valid
to where they hey that's how they call their penny lists.
You play to this game, you you do what you
have to do to prevent this call. So you you
wanna be behind the sticks and all a sudden not
(17:38):
something you bring up the Pendle lists. But as in
the players that go backwards, what can can the players,
especially the offensive line, you know, make the right blocks
at the time so that your man's gonna get tackled
in the back field, or or the guys locked down
on the preaching that plays that Aaron Rodger calls off,
or they locked in their head, or they understand what
you're saying so they won't get confused when they play changed.
(18:00):
And so that's what my big concern is. Can the
guys stay on schedule throughout the season because their talent
is there. I understand. I'm not scared of anybody that's
on the rest of their schedule that we play. It
just can't we stay ahead of the stitch? And that's
how the game go. You get a twenty yard player,
but you're a gas with a ten year opinion where
they just throw your whole game all. Now you lost
time and you lost yardist. So what can you do
(18:22):
as a team to bounce back, and that's why I
feel like the offense still trying to prove theirself and
people realize we still in that phase of rebuilding, but
it's building. It ain't like the guys have been playing
together for the last three or four years ago and
everybody instinct what they're doing. No, we still put pieces
together and it's still and it's working in progress. But
(18:44):
can they still on schedule? Can they finance what the
coast philosophy is and make it through the end of seasons?
I think they will, but can they do it?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah? Those are Those are all really good points, and
I especially want to pick up on the point that
Rick He's making about staying on schedule and not having
those early penalties. The studers have had a very very
difficult time picking up first downs and sustaining drives. That
has been an issue for them. And you know, as
(19:14):
far as penalties per game, they've been very good. They're
fifth in the league in penalties per game. They're committing
six penalties per game. It is it's something that Mike,
you know, we talk about the turnovers a lot with
Mike Tomlin and how they preach not only getting turnovers
but not turning the ball over well, penalties is something
(19:35):
that you know they want to avoid as well. Last
year they were eleventh in the league in penalties, so
again upper half in the league and not committing penalties.
They want to play and it's not just about creating
the turnovers, as we talked about with Jerry, it's not
turning the ball over. When you turn the ball over,
and that is that is joined in conjunction by the
(19:56):
inability to keep drives alive, which is then in and
hampered by offensive penalties. I mean, it just feels like,
you know, first and twenty and we'll you know, probably
see one or two scenarios like that with the Bengals.
That's not a big issue for a team like the Bengals.
It is a bigger issue for the team like the Steelers,
who are having enough difficulty turning ten yards into a
(20:21):
fresh set of downs, much less fifteen or twenty. So
I think that's a good point, Ricky. I think that
the Steelers need to make sure that they're playing as
much as possible mistake free football because let's face it,
the offense, you know, converting into first downs, that's difficult
enough for this.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Team exactly that's and that's my big opinion. And when
you watch the games, I watched the game from a
different spect I don't care if you get twenty yards
on one player. You don't get no webs, but I
could buy it. Can't you keep the tame moving and
keep a deeper fresh because you got play makes on
the defense side there and put you in the ball
back and just the fact the is, can you else
(21:00):
stay you? Can you make another team respect you in
a way where you did None of them did take
to you what you got doing it? And that's my
big concern and I think we'll be fine going for that.
Can of play the attitude translating to the translated to
asking for them.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yep, good stuff. Hey, thank you very much. Appreciate the
phone call as always. Uh, we've had some we've had
some really really interesting points.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
It's fun to open it up and get get your
perspectives on what ails this toelers and what you think
is going to continue to ail this yelers, if you
do or what are your concerns? I shouldn't say that,
So what ails us dealers, what concerns do you have
moving forward? That's kind of what we're we're honing in
on here in the locker room. We also need to
get around the a f C some interesting games beginning
(21:46):
with tonight. Hey don't look now, but the Jets have
won a couple of straight games, so maybe at least
want to keep an eyeball in that game against the Patriots.
We'll go around the a FC coming up in a
little bit. I want to remind you that if you
want to get into the commentation, what is your biggest
concern for the Steelers? And they lost three out of
four games, so Sunday night or Sunday afternoon, what's your
(22:07):
biggest concern against the Bengals? And then larger picture, with
eight games still remaining on the schedule, what is your
biggest concern for the Steelers moving forward? The phone number
four one two nine one nine one three one six.
Once again, four one two nine, one nine one three
one six. We want to remind you you can gear
up with the latest game day necessities at the official
(22:28):
Steelers pro shops. Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible towels,
authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can only find directly
from the team. Visit one of the official Steelers Pro
shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets or
Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at shop dot Steelers
dot com. Get it direct from the team at Stealers
(22:50):
Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back when
we're in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Forward
Store and the Studers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
a part of this Steam Audio network.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
This is in the locker room with Kingyon 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 3 (23:26):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. Have Max Starks a little under the weather today,
so Max is kind of relaxing a little bit. We
haven't had to go to Max. It's early on in
the program. Taking your phone calls at four one. We're
gonna get Max rested and ready to go, certainly hopefully
(23:48):
for tomorrow's show, but certainly for Sunday's game against the
Cincinnati Bengals, a big one for the Steelers, so we're
gonna go over It is our AFC Preview presented by UPC,
the official healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
as we take a look at this weekend's action and
prior to getting to that interesting article in the Athletic,
(24:12):
and the Athletic has broken down the AFC into contenders
versus pretenders. So again, one man's opinion or one one
you know, reporter driven newspaper's opinion. I don't know a
(24:32):
newspaper online. I don't know what you'd call it. Anyway,
let's run down for you the pretenders, contenders and pretenders
in the AFC. They have the Indianapolis Colts as a pretender. Interesting,
so when you look at the power rankings, and again
(24:54):
I'm just going to use ESPN here we go back
and forth with a variety of of different publications. ESPN
has the Colts ranked as the number three team in
the NFL right now. They are according to The Athletic.
A pretender said, hey, they needed, you know, overtime to
beat Atlanta. By the way, Atlanta's you know, not bad,
(25:18):
so they're you know, look, they they say they have
a you know, a week by and week eleven bye,
and then the final seven games will serve as the
truth teller for Daniel Jones and the Colts. They have
a road game against the Chiefs. They've got the Texans
a couple of times, they have Jacksonville, they have Seattle,
they have San Francisco. So they are saying, you know,
(25:40):
good chance to win the division, but unlikely that they're
going to advance into the playoffs. You know, the great
beauty about the NFL, about any sport really is that
you go play the games and that tells you. But
it's interesting to see where people how people view the
respective teams in the NFL, and again in particular the AFC,
(26:02):
since is our AFC preview, and of course, as this
Steeler station, we're a little more AFC centric than the NFC,
so they have them as a pretender. I guess I
could see that. You know, I would want to see,
let's see what happens against Kansas City. I think even
if they play Kansas City close, it will tell you
(26:22):
that it's a pretty good football team. The Denver Broncos pretender,
and they say the first half opponents for the Broncos
have an average record of twenty three forty eight and
one that's an interesting statistic. That is an interesting statistic,
(26:44):
and that their average margin to victory in those games
is just six point two points. I think that similar
to Mike Tomlin in Denver, the coaching philosophy is win
the game in front of you. Who cares about style points?
Nobody cares about style points. Just find a way to
win the game. So I'm not sure I buy that one.
(27:06):
I think that I wasn't as bullish on the Broncos
at the beginning of the season as I was on
a couple of other teams. I thought that they had
a chance to be solid, you know, maybe get through
a round of the playoffs. But I actually think they're
better than that. I think they're a contender. I think
I would disagree with that. I have MI as pretender,
our contender, not pretender. Athletic has a as pretender Patriots contender.
(27:34):
I am agreeing with that. I think I think the
Patriots are contender. I think the Patriots and Broncos are contenders.
I feel stronger about both those teams, and I think
I do about the Colts right now. So I've got
them as a contender. I'm agreeing with that assertion the
Chargers seven and three pretender la is Field that all
(27:58):
wildly inconceit distant rushing attack based on the injuries between
the offensive line and the running back position. Well, the
offensive line is not getting healthier. You're not getting Slater back,
you're not getting Joe Alt back. So I understand that
that assertion that that is hurting your running game. I
get that. But they're gonna get Hampton back and probably
(28:21):
after they're bye. Pretender contender. Can they win the AFC?
I don't know if I would. I don't know if
I would throw them in the in the pretender category.
I think they're I think they're kind of like Indianapolis Like,
I don't I'm not I'm not ready to say that
they don't have a chance to win. I'm not ready
(28:41):
to say that they're my favorite to win. But I'm
not ready to say that they're that they don't have
a chance to win either. You know, I just think
it's so wide open that I'm not sure anybody's necessarily
a pretender. As they have the Bills ranked pretender rush defense,
they're not a great rush defense, then in the past
rushing department too dependent upon Josh Allen. They have the
(29:05):
Bills as a pretender. That's interesting to me because after
the Bills really handed it to the Chiefs, they look
like they might have re emerged as the class of
the AFC. But then they get demolished by Miami. What
does that tell you, to tell you they can't win?
So that tell you it's just a bizarre year in
the NFL. I think it's more category number two. That's
(29:28):
why I think every team that's been listed so far,
including the Bills, is a contender. You know, look, I
understand you're trying to make a stand and say somebody's
got to be a pretender. They can't all win. We're
trying to make a throw a line in the dirt here,
not even in the sand, and say, these teams fall
on the pretender side. These teams fall on the contender side.
(29:48):
But right now we only have one contender according to
the Athletic and that contender is the New England Patriots.
Everybody else the AFC is a pretender. Pittsburgh Steelers five
and four. Well, you know what they're gonna say about them, pretender.
Here's what they say, about the defense. Two inconsistent. They
(30:11):
need another receiver. They tried to get one of the
trade deadline, came up empty. Aaron Rodgers passer rating and
completion percentage have declined over the last five games. That
was Jerry's concern at the quarterback position. I don't think
I share that concern, but understood, and they do have
statistics to back it up. The defense is giving up
(30:32):
three hundred and seventy six yards per game and nearly
twenty five points. Two inconsistent. They've turned in dominant performances,
but those numbers work against them. And then they talk
about the tough second half schedule featuring games against the
Cincinnati Bengals, who have already beaten them once. Of course,
that game's coming up on Sunday, the Bears, the Bills,
the Ravens twice, the Dolphins, the Lions in Cleveland. Makes
(30:54):
this feel like mission impossible. So they have them as
a pretender. Well, then who and then were all though
the contenders? You might be asking, Well, they have the
Kansas City Chiefs at five and four as a contender. Now,
didn't they just get beaten by the Bills by seven points?
And by the way, it was if you watched the game,
(31:18):
it didn't ever really feel like it was that close.
Although the Chiefs had the chance at the end of
the game to come down and tie it, it never
it didn't feel like it was that close a game.
It felt like the Bills were clearly the better team.
So here's what they say. The second half schedule plays
out favorably for Kansas City road games at Denver, Dallas Tennessee,
(31:39):
and Las Vegas home games against Indianapolis, Houston, the Chargers,
and Denver. Is that really that favorable? Two games against Denver? Okay? So,
Dallas Tennessee and Vegas road games okay, But you still
have Indianapolis, Houston, the Chargers at home and Denver home
(32:01):
and the road. And again the beauty is, we'll see,
we'll see how good they are. We're going to find
out they're five and four right now. I'm you know,
I was again in Autopsy Turvy season. I was kind
of backing in the Chiefs. I'm not sure them all
the way there, and the Chiefs they had the Jaguars
(32:22):
five and four pretender. You know. Again, my feeling was
that there were a team that would improve. But I
agree with that. I don't think that they're quite ready yet.
I think that they've they've improved and hey, listen there,
if they make the playoffs, Liam Cohen could be a
Coach of the Year candidate. I think that that that
could happen. Now they have the four and five Ravens
(32:43):
as contender. That's interesting too. Again, I think if they
get everybody back, they are they're contender. So anyway, for
what that's worth that to look at the pretender contender thing.
So we also want to take a look quickly. And
again we want to remind you that during the last
(33:05):
break if you want to get a phone call and
you can at four one two nine, one nine, one
three one six. So we will get to that. Uh,
but we do you know, let's take a call now
before we continue with the weekends games. We have Jerry
and san Antonio still on the line.
Speaker 7 (33:22):
Yes, I'm still on the line.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Hi, Jerry, how you doing.
Speaker 7 (33:25):
I'm doing good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Sure, you're welcome, Thanks for being here.
Speaker 7 (33:30):
Yes, I did. Like I'm listening to you guys, and
you know, I'm very very optimistic about the rest of
the season, right, you know, Uh, but the changes, like
I would like to have for the last remaining games.
You know, what I would like to see is, you know,
well my golflin thanks, you know, putting bench Aaron Rodgers.
You know, but I don't know if that's the option
(33:52):
that would I would go.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You know, I'm sorry, Jerry, you broke up? What did
you What did you say you'd like to see.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
To my girlfriend would like to bench Aaron Rodgers, who
you know, for a couple of games, just to just
to you know, get him going. I guess I don't know,
but I don't.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
I don't see that as an option I would like to.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
What I would like to see.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Is more throws them over the middle.
Speaker 7 (34:16):
I mean, I think the play calling is too conservative,
you know, like we're we're back, We're back at Canada offense.
You know, they're they're not opening it up. Uh you know,
you know take chances, you know, uh, not for Tomlin
not to keep living in the steers, you know, if
they you know, open up the offense. And of course
we need to get an offensive line the block for
(34:36):
him because you know, he's just gonna throw it away,
you know, or you know, overthrow if he's getting attacked
when from a defensive line. You know. Uh, Ken broder
Jones is one of my main concerns is you know,
he don't finish off on his plage, but uh, you know,
and then of course run Jalen Jalen as much as
they can because he's been getting five guards per rush.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (34:59):
And and you know, one of the things I was
I was thinking, like, why don't they let Pickings go?
And if you know that, you know, I understand he
had a bad behavior, bad attitude, you know, but you know,
they taking a chance from Broderie Jones on his fourth year,
you know, as much as a uh you know, they
could have got him, you know, for the deep ball.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
You know.
Speaker 7 (35:19):
And and then had Metcalf go over the middle, you know,
because Metcalf and he's not a he's not a moster,
you know, he doesn't go up for the ball and
take the ball away like Pickens was doing. Uh. But
it would be have been nice to have them both right,
and then have Calvin Austin as a third receiver, you know,
and and and and on defense. You know, I would
love to see them. Man, let's let t j. Want
(35:41):
wander around and let him just be that that that
guy that just runs, you know, rooms, the rooms, the
defensive line because he they're avoiding him. You know, they
could just play middle linebacker he which you know, I
know they wouldn't want to do. You know, he would
he would make all the tackles at least, you know,
they would be, you know, be thinking about it right
before they run because they run away from him. Of course,
(36:02):
they need the best tackle of the team. And you know,
when I watched Cam Hayward, he doesn't quit on the play.
He finished the play. You know, everybody you know stops
playing after a while. But I would love to see that.
And I'm curious to see how Sante Samuels, how they
put him into the defense, because we definitely need some
help on the on the you know, on the corners
(36:23):
as well. I would like your feedback on that.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
So okay, yeah, Jerry, thank you very much. I think
those you brought up a number of interesting points. I think,
you know, we had an earlier caller also talk about
pickings in that trade. I believe this YEARUS thought they
were going to get another receiver again. I wasn't sure
that they absolutely had had to have one. I've sort
of been stubbornly clinging onto that. And now as we've
(36:49):
gotten to this point, I think sometimes you have to
admit that you're wrong, and I think that right now
it looks like I was wrong. It looks like, you know,
I thought that this offense would find ways to, you know,
to get the ball a bunch to John Smith. I
thought he was going to be the number the clear
number two receiver on the team. The deep ball. The
DK Metcalf has calmed down. We have not seen that
(37:12):
be effective. It was effective earlier in the season. That's
I don't know whether teams have taken that away by
putting another safety over the top of of Metcalf. You know,
we we saw that, you know, Aaron Rodgers said as
a you know, the pass on fourth down that was
incomplete that they you know, roll the safety over there.
(37:33):
It wasn't really double coverage. But again, you know, teams
know that the Steelers want to be able to do that.
They're trying to take that away from the Steelers. That's
where a number two threat would really come in handy.
Somebody that could that could give you great concerns. For example,
you look at the team that Steelers are facing this
weekend with Chase and with t Higgins mentioned that since
(37:55):
since Joe Flacco has been in there, T Higgins are
Jamar Chase is averaging a hund than twenty one yards
receiving in a game. That is that is huge. But
then on the other side, t Higgins has four touchdowns
in those three games, so you're finding yourself in a
difficult position trying to pick and then Chase Brown two
(38:15):
out of the last three games, has had explosive games
for them as well. I think that when you're talking
about throwing the ball more over the middle of the
field and getting Jalen Warren going, that goes back to
my biggest fear or my biggest concern, Jerry, not a fear,
but a concern is they've got to find a way
to keep drives alive. You know, Mike Tomlin was asked
about why aren't you running Jalen more and more after
the games because we don't have the ball. You know,
(38:39):
he only had fourteen carries, he had seventy yards. He
was extremely effective against the Chargers, but if you keep
going three and out, there's only so many plays to
go around. So I agree, and maybe maybe you know
this notion of being more aggressive early in the game
throwing the ball to set up the run. Maybe that's
something that they'll be looking at. But they've got to
(39:00):
find a way, Jerry to your point, you know, for
these guys to get the ball more, for Jeralen Warren
to get the ball, more, for you to attack over
the middle of the field and down the field more,
you've got to possess the ball longer. And I think
that's to me, that's the one thing that I think
is not only going to help, you know, just read
that thing about the athletic the defensive inconsistency from the Steelers, Well,
(39:22):
they're out there too much in my opinion. You know,
the offense needs to start finding ways to pick up
more first downs. Easier said than done. I understand that
to keep the defense off the field and to and
to exploit the offensive weapons that you have.
Speaker 7 (39:37):
All right, So do you think that Aaron Lodgers is
at audibly audibly and changing the play calls too much
and we're going to pass them when they're probably calling,
you know, to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
That's a great question. I don't know the answer to that.
I don't And then and believe me, I think that's
an excellent question. Jerry, because I've thought about that as well.
So I don't know what he is checking into and
out of it the line of scrimmage. I do know this.
For example, in the last game they it looked clearly
(40:07):
like on that second the sequence that kind of turned
the game for him when they were going in again,
a chance to get back in the game and make
it close, not take the lead, not win the game,
but at least get back in it. When they went
forward on fourth down on second and six, it looked
clearly like they had a pitch play to to Jalen
(40:28):
Warren called to the right. Because everybody moved in that direction,
including Jon Jalen Warren, including the offensive lineman. Rogers wanted
to go with a slant to DK Metcalf. Well, Bud
Dupree did something inexplicable. He just kind of stood there
and waved his arms in the air and got in
the passing lane. So Aaron Rodgers, you know, you say, Okay,
I'm gonna you have that as your backside play that
(40:50):
you can go to. I'm not gonna do the pitch
in what was four down territory. I'm gonna go to
DK Metcalf on the slant. If that's a younger quarterback,
I'm not letting him make that that play. Change of
the line of scrimmage. I'm saying, look, we got four
plays to get ten yards. We picked up four and
first down. Now we got three to get six. Pitch
the ball that Gerald Warren. But if I have Aaron Rodgers,
(41:13):
who's one of the best of all time at changing
plays as a line of scrimmage, I'm going to allow
him to change plays as a line of scrimmage. So
I understand your question, Jerry, but I don't want to
take that away from from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 7 (41:25):
I trusted judgment. I very much trust your judgment, hit decisions,
you know. But I just don't think his offensive line
is getting enough time to make those you know, plays
that he wants. You know, he's you can sayhim he's
he's skinnerish back then, because you know he don't Alwa's
gonna get blindsided through brought Jones up the middle or
the other tackle where they're just you know, the defensive
(41:45):
lineman is getting through.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (41:48):
I wish they had like a Mike Munchak offensive line coaching.
I don't think man Myers is doing a very good
job at coaching them up because they're just not it's
just not you know, uh, you know block and they're
just pushing them one time and then we'll go by
like come on, I mean, you know, always something in
front of them that make them jump over you.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Hey, Jerry, thank you very much, appreciate the call from
San Antonio and ghost Steelers on Sunday is a face
a very very important game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks
everybody you called in today weighing in with your opinions
on you know what kind of worries you right now
about the Steelers, if anything at all, And we do
have some worries and I understand those concerns because the
(42:30):
Steelers have lost three or four and head into a
very important game coming up against the Bengals on Sunday.
Stick around. We still have more to come as we
wrap things up here in the Locker Room presented by
our neighborhood Ford Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on
Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Now this is in the locker Room with King and
Starks on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford Still.
The 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
(43:10):
dot com.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
And thanks very much for hanging with us today in
the locker room as Max arks Bundy Max Stars is
under the weather. However, beaten with Max under the weather,
we know that people have got to have their lunch. Therefore,
it is time for Justin Miller the bell lapp. Get
(43:37):
yourself geared up, have yourselves a nice lunch. Remember a
repast is very important for you. Enjoy that meal. Try
not to eat it at your desk. Try to take
a couple of moments, relax, enjoy digest your meal. Remember
life is short. Enjoy those meals if you can. So
one last thing to go over is we continue with
our upmc AFC preview. That just going to quickly run
(44:03):
the games for you. Because the Jets and the Patriots
at first glance, you know, do I really want to
watch this game on Thursday night? Keep in mind the
Jets have won two straight games, so we'll see if
they can give the Patriots a test. I think that
could be an interesting game tonight. Certainly, have it on
and we'll see whether that what what that means now
(44:24):
the Bills tough test facing the Buccaneers. Bucks just lost
last week. They faced their own tough test and lost
to the Patriots, a game that you would think would
have convinced people that that that that team is for real, right,
but didn't convince the athletic that they actually uh no,
(44:45):
it did convince that the Athletics Patriots are for real.
That's right. They had them as a as a contender,
not a pretender. So Bucks and Bills, that is a
huge game just for for where do we stand now
as we as we get start to get real close
to December football, who's good who isn't? I think this
is when we start to make those decisions where is
(45:06):
this team trending. I know that you got to get
into December, I think to really decide where are these
teams trending. That's a really interesting game for both of
those teams. Also in the AFC, the Texans at the Titans,
the Bengals and Steelers. We've talked about this obviously and
laid out the importance of the game. Another very intriguing
(45:26):
one o'clock matchup seven and three Chargers at the five
and four Jaguars the Chargers. You have to feel like
if there's a desperation factor, it belongs to the Jaguars
in this game. They're five and four. They don't want
they don't want to let their their good start to
the season kind of slip away the Chargers. I gotta
(45:48):
feel like the Chargers if you told the Chargers going
into the game against the Steelers, hey, you got the
Steelers and you have the Jaguars two games before your by.
You are limping in to that buy with injuries. You're
gonna get Hampton back at the running back position after
the buye, maybe get a little bit healthier. I think
they would have taken a split. Well, they've already won one,
(46:10):
So does that affect them going into this game against
the Jaguars. Does that give the desperation factor to the Jaguars?
Gonna find out one o'clock. That's another big game for
twenty five. Ravens at the Browns. Boy got a root
for Cleveland in that one, don't you? Also at four
to twenty five? Another big game in the AFC, the
(46:31):
Chiefs at the Broncos. H You know, look, man, you're
if you lose, if you're the Chiefs and you lose
this game. The Broncos are nine and two and you're
five and five, and you've still got the Chargers between you.
Big big game for the Chiefs coming at four to
twenty five on Sunday Monday Night Football. One final AFC
(46:55):
team involved the Cowboys at the Raiders. Really kind of
a nothing game on Monday Night Football, with neither one
of those teams apparently heading anywhere. Hey, we want to
thank you for calling in and joining in here in
the locker room with Max under the weather today. Thanks
for being part of the show. Love having you be
a part of the show. Of course, you guys are
the show frankly, and having you call in and take part,
(47:18):
very grateful for you for that and grateful to have
you listening to the show and taking part as well.
Jerry dulac Our thanks to him for joining us. Justin
Miller at the controls, Max starts resting up, getting that soup, hidrating,
getting himself ready for tomorrow's show and of course for
the broadcast coming up on Sunday when the Steelers host
(47:38):
the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm Rob King once more. We thank
you for being with us. In the Locker Room, presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store and this Jus Pro Shop
on Steves Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio
Network
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.