December 11, 2025 • 46 mins
Max and Rob traverse through the massive looming weekend matchups in the AFC, and continue to preview Steelers Dolphins.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
THEEO dot com slash Teachers.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one P 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 1 (00:28):
A oh, there goes the sound. It sounds like there's
a happy trucker trucking down the lane. And of course
he's waving the black and gold. We know this Optimus Prime.
I know he's red and blue in the cartoon, but
we're talking about reality. He's black and gold. Anybody that
good of a person is going to bleed black and gold.
(00:50):
In my opinion, that's just me saying it. But welcome
to the Second Hour, aka the Power Hour here inside
the locker room, and of course we're gonna finish down,
or not finished down, finish our way through kind of
talking through the defensive side of the you know, Miami Dolphins,
but also AFC preview still still on the plate dejure
(01:14):
for today of topics. And so with that, I turn
it back over to our my capable host aka the Driver. Uh,
mister mister Rob.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
King, so thank you for that lovely introduction.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Max.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I was I was asking your your uh we were
having issues with your mic. But Monday night football game,
before we get into the matchups and some other stuff,
Monday night football game, Uh you it's a big game
obviously for this theudis and I'm putting you now in
the player's position. What do you do on a Sunday?
Are you watching games? Does does a game the outcome
(01:48):
of another game, for example Cincinnati Baltimore, which I'm you
know everyone in Pittsburgh's going to be watching, Does that
sharpen your focus? Does it dull your focus? I mean,
does it have any does it have any effect on
your preparation and how you play a game? I mean again,
I just always point out to people football players are
human beings. They are subject to the same ups and
(02:12):
downs emotionally as the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It is, and like you said, I mean the other
thing about this is everybody is a human, right, you know,
everybody's human an individual's process. I know we tend to think, hey,
you know, highly compensated, highly you know, adored and high
attention leads to high performance, but it's human nature at times, right,
(02:42):
and you can't control forty six on game day, forty
six different human beings and getting them all in the
same direction. At times, it's like hurting cat. Every once
in a while you get that kind of that that
that flock mentality, you know, like when you look up
in the sky and you see the birds, right, and
(03:02):
they're all in like this big jumble and like one
makes a left turn in like the entire flock moves
and they kind of wave through the sky like in
one big group. Like you don't get that all the time,
you know. And geese can fly in that flying V
when they're when they're when they're coming down and now
I'm thinking of like mighty Ducks now and Gordon Bombay. Anyways,
the flying V. Right, But every once in a while
(03:23):
you see that stray. You see that stray just trying
to figure out, hey, where's the rest of the group at.
But that stray in a football game can cost you
big plays and everything else. So it's tough to get
everybody on the same page every single time. But when
you do, it's a thing of beauty. And we've seen
those moments where everybody's on the same page, and this
(03:43):
yielded very good results. And so to try and get
that consistently is always the task is always the kind
of unsolvable question or the the eternal Rubik's cube that
every time you get it and you get out of
that last cube and that stubborn one cube just won't
let you get a full face side one color, or
(04:06):
or you get five out of the six right, and
there's one this or four out of the six. Obviously,
if you have a missing one and you're trying to
get it there, it's just that that is what the
struggle is. But you know what I'm happy to say
is a lot of teams have had those games where
they figured out the Rubik's cube. Ours have it, And
I think, in my mind that's still a good sign
because it means it shows that there's still room for growth,
(04:26):
there's still room for improvement along the way. You're still
winning games along the process.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
For sure, and the Steers hopefully can can find that
that way to get more consistent wins down the stretch.
Get to ten, get to eleven wins, Hey, listen, eleven
might if you could run the table, that might affect
who you're playing in the first round. As far as
where you're seating is because nobody else is guaranteed to
(04:52):
get to that total. You know, we'll talk about some
of the big games in the AFC and what could
that could mean for some of the front runners and
their records. Steelers are a little way ways away from
thinking about anything other than just winning this game and
winning the AFC North seating is you know, listen, if
the worst seed you can get if you win the
division is four, so they know the at least had
(05:13):
that in a home playoff game, and if there's anything
larger than that, fantastic. But that's Those are discussions for
week seventeen and maybe even week eighteen if to Steelers
get to those positions in good stead. So Max, I
think I'm fascinated by this front, you know seven, but
(05:35):
in particular kind of the middle five of this Dolphins
defense and the improvement you know, we've talked about Kenneth Grant.
Jordan Phillips has been sort of steady even though he
was taken later. Grant is showing reasons why he was
picked where he was picked. Zach Steeler, who's the other
(05:57):
tackle in their three man front, He's coming off a
two and a half sack performance against the Jets and
then the guys behind them. The Dodson is more a
more recent entry into the starting lineup. Jordan Brooks has
been there all year long, but Jordan Brooks and fans
remember him from Seattle first of all, a capable blitzer.
Those two between them have six and a half sacks.
(06:19):
We can talk about the different varied pressures they bring
and the stress it puts on an offensive line and
a little bit. But I did want to ask you
when you have a tackling machine like Jordan Brooks, who
leads the NFL in tackles and has always been a
great tackler led the league and solo attackles back in
his time with Seattle, is there a certain way as
(06:39):
an offensive line and as an offense you have to
address and attack a player like that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Well, yeah, there's a way that you that you can
do it. I mean, it's a lot of the double
team recognition. So when you're running let's see, it was
the easiest way to explain this. Oh, so when you're
running like an inside zone play, right, it's a play
that can hit anywhere from the front side b gap
to backside A gat type of play, So it's like
a flow in a zone. So you know, let's just
(07:09):
say front side, you have a tight end next to
the tackle. They're working that defensive end slash outside linebacker
position together. Whether he's on the line, then it's kind
of more of a man and then the guard gets
involved to go up to that front side backer, or
it's a four to three structure defensive end and you're
working out with the tight end and the tackles now
(07:31):
going up to that front side backer in those moments.
Just but it depends on the front. It's about being
in concert, knowing what that assignment is, whether the guard's
coming with you, where the guard's working with the center,
or whether the tackle is working up to that Like
you have to be in communications offensive line to kind
of limit that type of player. And then also what's
his propensity? Right? What is his what is his favorite
(07:52):
thing to do? Is he a guy that wants to
come backside right, he wants to cut through the backside
a gap to avoid that trash that he's coming front
side and try and play behind it and speed up
and make the play. Or is a guy that's gonna
we through the traffic and sift through the traffic and
come over the top and play it front side because
he's expecting to bounce the other way. But it also
(08:15):
your running back dictates a lot of what he can
and can't do, because if you're if your running back
is disciplined and holds, holds holes and waits for that
lineman to disengage and then makes his back, that makes
his cut, whether it's front side or backside. To ensure
that guy's been covered is one thing, but that also
takes the rest of the line doing it right. You
can't have any leakage off the backside. You can't have
(08:36):
the front side guy getting edged or setting the edge.
When we talk about like alex Heismith right, Alex Heiswood
likes to set the edge. We say that he creates
a wall to where it forces a cutback sooner than
it wants to a lot of those variables come into it,
and Jordan Brooks is just good at reading those things.
So you have so in order to take him out
or to minimize the damage, because you're not going to
eliminate him, You're just only gonna hope to hope to
(08:57):
contain it is by having discipline and patience and also
everyone on that line getting to their positions so that
everything flows and all the pieces move together.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, he's an interesting guy. A lot of tackles that
he seems to funnel his way. And you know, we
saw kJ Britt playing for the Dolphins earlier. But these
two linebackers, they appear to be riding these guys. And again,
you know, much like last year with the Ravens, the
Ravens kind of turned their defense around. They made a
couple of personnel moves. They moved where they played Kyle Hamilton,
(09:31):
they moved Malik Harrison, who so the Steelers into the
starting lineup. You know, the little personnel moves and decisions
with how to deploy guys was part of the reason
at least that the Ravens turned things around last year.
And you wonder if just riding both these guys because
Dodson has four sacks, and by the way, that is
another thing that will stress the offensive line, max is
(09:54):
they will bring pressure from everywhere. Minka had a sack
last week or the week before, they'll bring their owners.
They'll bring their inside linebackers quite a bit on blitzing.
You know, when you think about Queen and Peyton Wilson,
guys who are probably very capable blitzers. The students don't
bring them a ton, They don't have a ton of sacks.
(10:15):
These guys have six and a half sacks between them.
It kind of reminds me of the way the Steers
used to utilize Ferrier and foot when you look up
at the end of the year and everyone would be
talking about those outside linebackers, and rightly so, and you
look up those guys that have ten sacks between them,
you know, so they're bringing that and what sort of
what sort of stress does that bring, whether it's safety
(10:37):
your corner blitzeres or knowing those inside linebackers are gonna
blitz quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, it's it's a stress, but it's something that's rehearsed, right,
I mean, you plan for those moments and you try
and predict how are these guys going to attack us?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
The one thing that we've seen a lot of this
season has been what it's called a four to two
open defense or a double barrel double mug. There's a
lot of different names for it, but essentially it's two
three techniques over the outside edges of the guards. Two
defensive ends, you know, fives so to speak, off of
the tackles, and then you walk up your Sam and
(11:14):
your Mike Becker up over on either side of the
center or the double a gaps, so to speak, and
then one drops one blitzes and the responsibility of confusion
that it brings, and then you can usually run a
twist game off of that as well. There's a lot
of different permutations of that four to two open defense
(11:34):
that you can run, and we've seen a lot of that.
A lot of teams have been diving into. You know,
the Mike Zimmer was the one that made this prevalent
longtime defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals that kind of
came up with this, just like Dick Lebow kind of
came up with the three four three four defense, was
really the kind of the progenitor of that same thing
here in the four to two nickel. The four to
(11:56):
two open so to speak, defense is a Mike Zimmer product,
and a lot of teams have been using that. A
lot of teams realize they have some versatility with that.
If you have a linebackers a little bit bigger, so
think Malik Harrison's size, that could come and actually like
pick a guard and then loop that defensive tackle to
the inside because the center is going the opposite direction
on the other linebacker that's there. You know, you create
(12:18):
some confusion and try and create these mismatches in the
twist game. That's some of the challenges that this defense
that this office is going to have to run into
because a lot of defenses deployed and we've we've been
okay with picking it up if we haven't been excellent
with it, and it muddies the middle of the field
because of all those different bodies moving so guys can
get a hand up. That's where that kind of the
(12:39):
question has been and the toughness. And so for a
Miami team, they're gonna be looking at that film. They're
gonna watch the last four games kind of like you're
about to do Kinger right and figure out what is
what is the ethos of this team? Right? What what
is their bread and butter? I always say that what's
the bread and butter? What what do they hang their
hat on? And how can we just run the things
(13:00):
that they hang their hat at? And how can we
utilize it in multiple you know looks get to the
same outcome like that. That's what that's what practice is,
that's what the week is. It's literally prepping for the
chess match and trying to handle all these odds with
a limited finite amount of time before you actually take
the field. Now, the good thing is you get an
(13:21):
extra day because it's a Monday night game, so you
could work on a couple more wrinkles, a couple more
things you can kind of uncover, but still a very
small amount of time to kind of do that, and
you don't know what in justice they're making off of
what you do. You're planning off of what you do well,
and they're combating that to give you something that you
haven't seen as well. So it's a fun process. I
(13:42):
mean as a player, when I was playing, I enjoyed
this part of it because it was literally, like I
said earlier, figuring out the Rubik's cube. And you know,
it's something you could spend all your time and you
can go through it every way. Okay, you know, double
spin here, side spinning here, Okay, back around the middle.
You can think of all these different techniques. But at
(14:04):
the end of the day, unlike a chessboard that has
sixty four squares and they don't move and the same
exact pieces. You know, this is this is like Wizards chess,
you know what I'm saying, Like, there's a couple of
different moves, and this is more, you know, there's more
grave consequences when you make a bad move on a
Wizards chess board versus a regular chess board. So that's
(14:24):
how you have to think of it as and it's
a fun, thrilling, exciting thing, but also as a nerve
wracking thing at the same time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You know, I think it's really wonderful when you can
get you know, Mike Zimmer and ak Ralling or jk
Rowling in the same conversation. Max, well done.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, you know, I just I try and just make
sure I show the wide breadth of knowledge that the
show possesses between you and I.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It's all inspiring, it really is. And we're going to
talk a little bit more checkers and chests because I
have one more question than I think it's gonna be
for Max, as far as you know what Miami does,
that could be something to certainly something to keep an
eye on. You'll notice it right away. But we're gonna
(15:12):
get to that Wizard's chess piece and a little bit.
We also have our AFC preview coming up. Big games
coming up this weekend again after a great weekend this
past weekend, all when we continue in the Locker Room
presented by our neighborhood Ford Store and the Steers Pro
Shop on Citizenation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And we thank you very much for being with us
in the locker room as we get you ready for
the Steelers and the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Football.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Gonna go around the AFC in just a moment that
segment with the big games, and there's so many of
them coming up with just a little bit, but before
we get there, I wanted to ask you one thing.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Max.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
You know, it is inescapable when you are watching Miami
to not notice all of the different formations and movement
and different things that they do. They have a formation
in which Tua is in the shotgun, there is a
running back to his right, maybe an offensive lineman in
(16:42):
front of that running back. Maybe it's another running back,
and maybe it's the full back in gold, and then
another running back split to his right. It almost looks
like the oldest formation in all the football, the single wing.
You know, it's not quite like that, but they'll have
they'll have I've never I don't see I haven't seen
(17:03):
another team do that all year long, in which they'll
have four guys between the quarterback and the tackle box
on offense, crammed into one spot. And that might be
you know, the the that you know, maybe it's an
extra offensive linement. He might run left and kick out
the backside pursuit while the ball is going to the right.
You know, a lot of misdirection and things. The reason
(17:25):
I bring this up is because earlier this year and
it points it's cropped up communication on defense. Are we
getting the communication down right? It would seem to me
that all of these different formations, all of these different
pre snap movements, the orbit motion and the and the
(17:47):
most you know, under understanding, they might hand one to
Maleak Washington on a jet sweep or a little pop pass,
all designed. I think one to play fast and two
to play to put confusion into the mind of the defense.
Is that or could that be a factor on Monday Night?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I think it's always you have to you have to
keep it in the back of your mind. Right And
and for Mike McDaniels and this Dolphins offense, the reason
why they've been running the ball so well is strictly
because of that. It's the confusion of it. This offensive
line is, you know, it is a work in progress,
so to speak, right, You know Savena, they took in
(18:32):
the in the draft this year to kind of try
and shore up the middle of this offensive line. And he,
you know, he's still a rookie. So look for that
Beefeeder matchup Cam Hayward versus Jordan Savnaa to be one
of those I'm gonna be watching because we know what
Cam Hayward does to rookie guards and it's it's not pretty.
If you're just a fan of watching carnage, it is amazing,
(18:55):
but especially as a Steeler fan, it's fun to watch.
But I think, you know, you have to utilize this
because they realize they can't block you head up. They
can't take on assignments straight head to head. So you
need to use the misdirection, you need to use the
smoke and mirrors. You have to use all these different
motions because other things that the Steelers have struggled with
(19:18):
I disciplined on the backside, right, you know, looking for that.
I mean James Cook took advantage of that just two
weeks ago, and we talked about the last two weeks,
you know, Jerry brought it up again and we talked
about it post game. Two straight weeks in a row,
we've given up two hundred yards rushing and this team
average is about a one ninety two. So we're gonna
be playing right into their wheelhouse. But what can we
do to curb against that? Because we know that they
(19:39):
also haven't been passing the ball especially well in this game,
So force them to do things that they don't want
to do while still making sure you minimize what they
do well. But that's gonna be the big crux is
what is your backside I discipline When they do have
that tight bunch and you're running the guy to wham
the backside to create that backside hole, think of what
(20:00):
James Cook was looking for two weeks ago is how
is how I put that reference? Because they can either
dive inside of that way M block or take it
on the outside if he's able to hook the backside defender.
And how does that support guy play the Joey Porter
type that's off the ball and kind of on a
diagonal where he's supposed to be the guy that spills
it either way, once the running back makes the decision,
(20:20):
he has to meet him in the hole or wherever
he's at. That's what this key is for, is to
try and find the cracks and the weaknesses and the
and and the lack of discipline on the defensive side
of the ball. Who's the guy that's going to be
the mark right, who's going to be the fresh fish,
who's gonna who's gonna be the dope on the other
side of the ball that they can that they could
take advantage of.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Well, I think one other thing that that that that
bears repeating with that because we saw Cook bouncing it right.
We saw him a lot of things that were you know,
the zone block and you start to the left to
cut back to the right. It seemed like we saw
that again and again and again. I have no idea
how much of that was was you know, front was
supposed to go with whether those were design Max or
(21:02):
whether those were those were you know cutbacks that uh
that cook didn't see the hole there. But then you
know they'll they'll run the ball the Dolphins and you know,
you see the Rams. I don't know if the Rams
are the first to do this a lot, but that
it seems like the Rams. And you watch the Rams
over the last X amount of years, they've had two
running plays. We're gonna we're gonna double team and run
(21:23):
straight up the middle, or we're gonna get to the edge.
And the reason I say that is because Washington on
the on the Jets suite, he can get to the
edge quickly. But a chain a chan sorry. You know
there's some running backs that will kind of you know,
move maneuver. They're looking for the blocks, they're looking for patients.
This dude gets to the outside in a hurry. He's fast,
(21:44):
and he runs with a purpose. He's not I mean,
I'm not trying to say he's an impatient runner, but
I'm just saying that he will stress you to the
outside because he's got great speed, and when he gets
the ball, he is looking to get to the top
speed as soon as he possibly.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Ken He's an intentional runner, right, He's not like you said,
he's not impatient, but he's intentional. When he makes a decision,
you're gonna know it quick fastened, in a hurry, and
more often than not, you're going to be wrong even
when you're right. Like that's that's how good of a
runner he is, and that's why he's been I mean
(22:20):
he's number three behind James Cook and Jonathan Taylor and.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Number one in yards for Kerry we should point that out.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. His YPC is right there at
the tops. I mean he's what at five point eight
or something like that, Like it's a ridiculously high number
for a running back, and especially with the amount of
touches he's had this year. That's what that's what makes
this like you're like, oh god, okay, really that that's
what happened. I mean he's had he has touched the ball,
(22:46):
in case anybody was wondering, one hundred and ninety three
times on handoffs or ground game and fifty five additional
in the air. He's had well over two or and
he's averaging five point eight yard or to per carry.
Just let that sink in. He is he is a
first down waiting to happen if he touches the ball twice.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yep, he is.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
He really is. So is what we would call him basketball.
He's a walking bucket, you know what I'm saying. He's
a guarantee. So that's a guy you have to have
eyes on him. I don't know if you can necessarily
spy him, but you have to make sure as a
defensive front that you're funneling him and you don't let
(23:29):
him jail break. And the jail break is the outsides, right.
You let him get to the perimeter, you let him
become the adept blocker. I mean, this is where you say, Okay, Jalen,
you've got the book on this guy. You've practiced against him.
What do we need to do? What have you seen
in practice that has given him issues? What from your
(23:49):
extensive experience playing against this guy, can you say is
an achilles heel for him? And can we force him
into that Achilles heel moment more often than that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And they've got guys like u Hn in particular and
Jail and Waddle who've got great speed. You know, they
can stress you in certain ways, and so you know,
you you, you know that speed is something you always
have to you know, be wary of. And if Chan
(24:22):
gets to the to the outside, if you get wattle
free and a simple crossing pattern, these guys can take
it to distance. So know that they've got as you
get yourself mentally prepared for this game. No, they've got
a couple of home run hitters in Hhan and Waddle.
So just and again we'll break down more of that tomorrow,
(24:42):
but again looking at some of the big picture stuff.
Communication on defense, you know, staying home, you know, minding
your discipline and your gaps and all that other stuff
going to be extremely important, as Max just laid out
this week against the Dolphins. Okay, so let us dive
into our AFC preview present by you UPMC, the official
healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Browns Bears.
(25:08):
Only interesting to me Max in that the Browns are
a future opponent for the Steelers and the Bears, you know,
a big picture for them, they're trying to, you know,
to maintain where they are in the AFC North and
make sure they finish off what has been NFC North.
I beg your pardon.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
They are not in our division, no division.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
We played him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
By the way, I think as we look at Coach
of the Year candidates, I think Ben Johnson's got to
be on the short list, doesn't he for the Bear?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah? He does, he does. He's He's in a masterful
job this year, especially as first time head coach. And
like you said, walking into a wasp's nest, I'm not
eve gonna call it a dumpster fires the wasp's nest.
They just keep stinging you for no reason. Uh the
Chicago media. So now, just a great job of Ben
Johnson so far this year. I'll actually be on the
call for that game on ESPN Radio on Sunday, so
(25:58):
I'll be in I'll be in chicag I go calling
that and getting my my my preview preview of the
of the Cleveland Browns as well.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, you're on a scouting mission. I like it, man.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, I like recon And I'll recon with Deep Dish
pizza since they didn't get to do that last time.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, uh yeah, I had some anyway. Uh
just thought i'd passed that along so I'm skipping the
NFC games and let's they have AFC punted. So the
Falcons Buccaneers tonight. Man, the Bucks are reeling. Uh, they
need that. They need that game very badly tonight. And
just just for the sheer joy of watching Bijon Robinson run,
(26:39):
if you have no interest in the game, you might
want to check that one out. He is just so
much fun to watch. So Browns Bears. And then the
next matchup that we get to is particularly big here
in Pittsburgh and it's important obviously around the AFC and
around the NFL. I'm not sure if people are gonna
(26:59):
circle this as the game of the weekend, but I
think we can circle what is the game of Sunday,
and that is the Ravens at the Bengals coming up
Yarrow or Sunday at one o'clock.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Let's go Joe's. Let's go Joe's. I don't even care
which one play. Let's go Joe's. And my father is
happy now, you know, in his grave he is cheering
that he is he is delighted that I'm cheering for
the Bengals. This is probably one of the few times
I'll ever cheer for the let's go Bengals since anatty
(27:31):
instead of the cincin nasty like I always call it.
So yes, Yes, this is the game of the weekend.
We need this one. This this blow could be one
that is felt very hard. If the if, if the
Ravens go down in this matchup a lot of pride
on the line for the Bengals. You know, they had
(27:52):
their hopes dashed and you know, quote unquote categorically removed
from the playoff contention, but there's still an outside chance
they can just be a just a borderline team that
is a spoiler for everybody else.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Hey, listen, you never know if they get to eight
and nine. If they get to eight and nine, they
could make the playoffs. They're not officially eliminated.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, but it is. It is getting slimmer and slimmer.
If they won't win this game, we can we can
call it so one.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yes, and I agree. One of the things I've talked
about this week a lot, and because it just occurred
to me, you know, as I was looking at this
game and all these other teams that the Steelers have played,
and we've talked about this is teams having something to
play for maybe having a bit of an edge, like
the Chargers, for example. You know, they had two games
going into a buye. They were banged up, they knew
(28:46):
they had to win one of those two games, knew it,
and they played their best game against the Steelers. And
I think the next week that was the week to
catch them, and they had a letdown.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Sure is shooting.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
They had let down, and they got smoked the next week.
You know, you know, so if this was if the
if the roles were reversed, if the Steelers were playing
the Dolphins on Sunday and the Steers beat the Dolphins
and now the Bengals are eliminated, maybe that takes a
little edge away from the Bengals. I like the fact
that they're playing first, and they they've got to go
(29:17):
in thinking, hey, we you know, we got a puncher's chance,
let's keep going, Let's find a way to win this game.
The Ravens have a tough schedule after us, let's let's
win this game and let's keep ourselves alive. So you know,
I still think in their minds they have to approach
this like this is an important game, have.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
To well and you know what, and you know what,
I think here's the only flaw in my logic. And
this is how warped I am. If I'm the Bengals,
I'm like, the schedule is hard because we're in it,
you know, right at Bengals like that, you want to
take that like, yeah, it's hard after us, but it's
hard because of us, right right, that's the mindset. You
want to walk into this game and you want to
walk with a little bit with you. Jess poked out,
(29:57):
like have some pride about yourself, trying finished this season strong,
and you know, hey, listen, Joe wasn't here. You know,
Joe Burrow wasn't here. That was still a Joe present,
but Joe Burrow wasn't here. Oh captain, our captain was
not here for a majority of this. But now that
he's back, let's show them what we've got and we
can be a force if if they led us in
(30:18):
the playoffs, you know, and we we could keep it going.
So that's what I'm hoping. They kind of prey on
that type of bravado and you know, that personal gumption
to say, you know what, hey, the season didn't go
the way that that it was that we wanted it to.
We had a lot of issues, a lot of injuries,
but you know what, I'm not going to be the
(30:38):
weak link. I'm going to finish this thing just as
strong as I as I started it. And like you said,
they're not completely ruled out of it. It is a
tough road, but we got to win just to keep
the option alive at least for another week.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So one more game to get to before we get
to I think the biggest game, but again the Raven's
Bengals definitely play off implications. Chargers Chiefs one PM game.
You know, the Chargers are listen. They don't want to
slip up. They still have an opportunity to win the
AFC West. I wouldn't say that they have a great
(31:15):
opportunity to win the AFC West, but they still got
an opportunity to win the AFC question the yeah, especially
if you know, look, they have got a tough schedule.
They're at Kansas City, They're at Dallas, if Houston home,
they're at Denver. All the more reason for them not
to be the team that drops to nine and five.
And then you start thinking, okay, at Dallas or we
(31:35):
would have win that one. Houston's red hot. You know
you don't want to be nine and seven going into
a final game at Denver if you're the Chargers. Meanwhile,
if you're the Chiefs, if you lose, you're pretty much done.
I don't know if they'd officially be eliminated, but they
and they might be officially eliminated depending on what other
stuff happened. I don't know if they couldn't. I think
(31:56):
they can be officially eliminated if they lose. It's hard
to agin. It's been like ages, you know, a long
long time ago. You know, once upon a time the
Chiefs didn't make the playoffs. But man, they're they're fighting
for their playoff lives in this game against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
They are, they are and you know, for this Chief squad,
like you said, a lot of pride and a long
run for them, and you know they're they're fighting. They're
fighting their own mortality as well, you know, their playoff mortality.
But everybody has an expiration date on that. And for
this Chief squad, like you know, they they've played with
(32:36):
fire for a long time, you know, and I think
a lot of that offensive line and lack of running
game really came back to haunt them because you know,
for a good majority of this season. Patrick Mahonmes was
your leading rusher, and you know, I love Patrick, He's mobile,
but he's not a dual threat guy. And it just
goes to show some of the shortcomings Isaiah Pacheco being
injured this season, you know, for good swaths of it,
(32:58):
and not really finding that Kareem is an older player.
He's not the cream Hunter four years ago or even
three years ago. He's got a lot more wear and tear.
You know, they finally have hit their their breaking point
of trying to create you know, offense through through disguised
deception and of course another elder statesman and Travis Kelsey
b one of those long time receiving threats. But you know,
(33:21):
for the Chiefs, this is this is this is a
put up or shutup moment for them where I could
really determine their fate in the future moving forward, especially
in that very tight AFC West yep.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
And that is going to lead us to our I
think widely considered the game of the week. We'll get
Max's opinion on that, and we'll get your opinion listening
right on that, But first run on round, you can
gear up with the latest game they necessities at the
official Students Pro shops. No better time to get it now.
Holliday's coming up, and if you go to the game,
(33:54):
you might want to bundle up with some Official Students
game day necessities. Get the latest side that apparel, Jury's
these terrible towels, authentic memorabilia and custom effclusives you can
only find directly from the team. Visit one of the
Official Students Pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City
Premium Outlets or Tanger Outlets, or gear up online at
shop dot Steers dot com. Get it direct from the
(34:15):
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop dot Steelers
dot com. We will be back in the Locker Room
presented by o Neighborhood Ford Store and the Steerers Pro
Shop on Steudars Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by Your Neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
The all right in is time. You've all been waiting
for this moment since the show started. This a bell lap. Oh,
that's right, that's right. I mean listen, if you got
to go go to fisticuffs with A with a pastrami sandwich,
(35:12):
I don't mind it. Whether you want to go and
body slam a baloney or Primanny's. You know, whatever you
need to do today to get some of that aggression out.
As you could tell, I'm a little fired up right now.
I am thinking about all that I have to do
before I I egress again, uh to a and descend
(35:33):
upon another town here in the lovely United States of America,
and get ready to do battle for three straight days
of NonStop football action. I am going to warm my soul.
I already told you King Her kind of at the
beginning of this show. There there's there's a clam chowder
with my name on it, and uh, I'm excited. I am. Yeah,
(35:56):
I'm gonna add a little extra IM gonna tweak it
a little bit. You know, I love bacon in my
clam chowder. Just don't ask me why. It's just this magic.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Oh no, no, no, no, You've never done that. Absolutely, Nope,
I'm totally for it bacon and the clam chowder.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Absolutely. Oh oh, it's such a game changer. I mean
people are like, oh, what's just potatoes clams and creep? No, no,
you bacon is a game changer. A little bit of that,
just that bacon fat just folded into that creamy goodness
of it just makes the potatoes pop.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
AnyWho, I'm yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Matt, you could wrap you could wrap bacon around a
Snicker's barn. It would taste better.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Absolutely. I mean, listen, bacon makes everything better.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Baacon make anything better.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Man.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Oh the smell, oh you gotta lot, but you know what, man,
I can I could smell your soup warming up right
now from twenty five hundred miles away. Have yourself won,
And I'm going to be going down as my usual
Thursday tradition of going down and meeting Matt Williamson, Missy Matthews,
everybody from the Jewish production crew getting ready to tape
(37:00):
the matchup in preparation of Sunday's game, and having some
of the phenomenal soup, which I didn't know till a
week or two ago, traces itself back to Max Starks.
All roads lead to Max Starks.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Listen, listen. If not, you know what, I got a guy.
I got a guy. I know a guy. Just remember
that very true.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Okay, so let's get back to our our AFC recap. Man.
You know I got to tell you I am fired up.
Uh Now, I'm going to be at the Steelers alumni
dinner the Hall doing radio with West Eguiler. So I
will not see the four o'clock games, but I am
(37:45):
going to be able to watch the one o'clock games.
Ravens Bengals, of course is Numero uno. Chargers Chiefs is
a big game. We talked about that. I think if
you were looking at this from a fans perspective, you
would have to say, Bill's Patriots is the number one
game of the weekend. The Bills Suddenly now everyone's saying, hey,
(38:06):
the Bills are back, the Bills are a Super Bowl contender.
The Patriots are saying, well, hang on a second. Now,
we're the eleven and two team.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
And we've already whooped you in your place.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yes, and when you look at the remaining schedule, right,
so New England is they have Buffalo and that would
pretty much do it if they win this game. That's
that might even well you might still have to win
against the Jets in Miami. Again, those tie breakers. Man,
let's wait till later on. Give us another week or
(38:37):
two before we look at those. You're Buffalo at Baltimore,
that's gonna be a tough game. Then you're at the
Jets and home against Miami. I've got to believe you
know that that you're gonna win those last two games.
That would mean and you know you don't want to
go to that game against Miami having to win. A
Buffalo meanwhile, is at New England at Cleveland. Then they
(38:58):
have Philadelphia at home, and then they have the Jets
at home. So you could see, man, that there are
two games behind the Bills are two games behind the Patriots.
Just a massive, massive game in the AFC and in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, no, there's a lot of implications. And like you said,
just like we talked about with the Chiefs, right and
how they have to play for their playoff lives, this
is what the Bills are playing for. They are playing for,
you know, just a shot at the division which which
could very easily just escape them if they can't win
(39:33):
this game, and then they are relegated to just being
a wildcard team. If New England, you know, beats them again,
and we always talk about this, it's tough to be
the team the second time around, but if it is
able to be done, you know, you could definitely plant
your flag. And that would be another guy I would say.
In the Coach of the Year runnings, we talked about
Ben Johnson, the job he's done with turnaround in Chicago.
(39:54):
Mike Rabel absolutely second act as a head coach, going
back to you know, the place of comfort and of
his his source of experience. That that might even be
even bigger if they beat the Bills twice and they
sweep them in the regular season, that might just all
but lock up the Coach of the Year honors for him. Yep.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
And you know when we talk about, look, there's gonna
be a lot of teams. Probably I would imagine the Chiefs,
you know, do I trying to take care of that?
They're probably rooting for New England right They're trying to
see these teams ahead of them in the wild card
go down and and again we'll talk a couple of
weeks about wildcard permutations, what what the matchups could potentially be,
(40:37):
but just know that that's a huge game and so
much fun. And certainly if I can get that, and
we're probably going to be getting Ravens Bengals here, but
I'll be eagerly watching the scores or maybe even call
that up an NFL network and double screen it. Although
I'm one of those guys. If I'm watching two games,
I'm not watching any games, so I might I might
not be.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Able to do that. Raiders Eagles kind of get get
the red zone where he shows you, yeah, the best
plays of each of each game.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Something to be said for that for sure. Raiders Eagles, Okay,
we're gonna skip that one. Important for the Eagles, the Raiders,
it's been that kind of season for them. Jets and
Jaguars saying, you know, look, that's two AFC teams. The
Jaguars are they are rolling along, rolling along, and they
have the Jets and they have Tennessee in between. Those
(41:27):
two teams are on the road at Denver, at Indianapolis.
So that's the remaining schedule for the Jaguars, who find
themselves in first in the AFC South, amazing the team
trying to reel them in. The Texans are hosting the
Cardinals again. I think we can move on from that one.
The Jacksonville, by the way, is favored by thirteen and
a half and Houston is favored by nine and a
(41:50):
half in those games. So if we get some upsets,
we'll get some upsets. Another game that is just gonna
be so much fun from a football perspective and of
course important for their respective teams. The Packers going to
Mile High h four twenty five game, the Packers nine
to three and one, the Broncos eleven and two. Love
that matchup, can't wait. And by the way, here is
(42:13):
Denver's final four games. Green Bay at home, Jacksonville at home. Okay,
we just talked about Jacksonville being tough at Kansas City
and the Chargers at home. That is a brutal stretch
down the schedule for Denver.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, that that is one that's gonna test the metal
of your skills. Well, the one good thing is got
a lot of at home, right, That's right. That's your
only solace is that you get to sleep in your
own bed, you know, night before and you don't have
to travel as far like you don't have to fly
to Jacksonville like that. That's that's a tough one. They
(42:49):
have to come to you. That's but division games. Literally,
you you you're gonna see your division and two very
good teams in it in the Chargers who are trying
to make their own playoff push Jacksonville, who's in the
hunt for their division as well. They're firmly planted in
the wildcard spots. So you're talking about two playoff teams
(43:11):
in the hunt team that you're gonna have to see
in those last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Yeah, and three of those and including you.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Know Green Bays already, you know, leading the division for
the NFC North.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
That's right. Three of the four of those games you
mentioned for Denver are at home. And then the last team,
the Colts at the Seahawks of Port Colts. We talked
about this when they were eating two. They've lost three
in a row. Now. The lost to Kansas City just
a killer in which they let a fourth quarter, a
good fourth quarter league slip away. Lost that game. Instead
of nine and four, their eight and five injuries at
(43:41):
the quarterback position. Philip Rivers, I.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Mean Philip Rivers, Old Man Rivers. Old Man Rivers is
back by by my dog, I mean ten kids. The
man's got ten kids. I see why he took. That's like, yep,
I don't have the flip Burgers tonight. Okay, yeah coming,
Sorry babe, they called me to Indianapolis. I'll tell you, you know,
door dash something.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Yeah, and in that, but just a gruesome schedule for
them at Seattle, San franciscoing home Jacksonville and home at
Houston and then the Monday night football game of some
importance the Dolphins and the Steelers. Max, and we're gonna
continue to break that down coming up tomorrow when Missy
Matthews is going to be joining us or we have
(44:22):
the special guest of Faith Wolf. We how fun is
that going to be? Max?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I cannot wait for Faith to come on here. And
like we talked about, I mean to come and talk
about her late husband's book. I mean, he's he's he's
our guy. You know, Wolf is just a tremendous human
being and for him to have given us this tale
of his life. And like you said you talked about earlier,
(44:47):
like you hear his voice and it's like if these
walls could talk, which is what the title of the
book is, it would sound like Wolf. I mean, that's
exactly what it sounds like. These walls are talking to us,
and his spirit is alive and well, not only in
the locker room, but just in all the lives that
he touched and to be able to come and talk
about this book. It's a holiday season. You know, if
(45:10):
you find the avid reader in your family, the avid
Steeler fan, they are going to enjoy this book. I
know I have. I know you've also enjoyed the book.
It's just it's a fantastic read and it just gives
you the mind's eye, like you go into the brain
of Craig Wolfley, which a lot of people to be
scared about that, but it's an amazing place to go
(45:32):
because how he viewed life is like looking through a
kaleidoscope and the beauty and the colors of just a
beautiful human being. And I can't say enough about it.
So to get faith on the show and we kind
of talk about it, it's going to be great tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
It is going to be great. And Missy Matthews as well,
he's Max Stark's, I'm Rob King, Justin Miller, our producer
in the iHeart Studios. We all thank you for being
with us today in the Locker Room, presented by your
neighborhood Ford story and to see this pro shop on
This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
THEEO dot com slash Teachers.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one P 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 1 (00:28):
A oh, there goes the sound. It sounds like there's
a happy trucker trucking down the lane. And of course
he's waving the black and gold. We know this Optimus Prime.
I know he's red and blue in the cartoon, but
we're talking about reality. He's black and gold. Anybody that
good of a person is going to bleed black and gold.
(00:50):
In my opinion, that's just me saying it. But welcome
to the Second Hour, aka the Power Hour here inside
the locker room, and of course we're gonna finish down,
or not finished down, finish our way through kind of
talking through the defensive side of the you know, Miami Dolphins,
but also AFC preview still still on the plate dejure
(01:14):
for today of topics. And so with that, I turn
it back over to our my capable host aka the Driver. Uh,
mister mister Rob.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
King, so thank you for that lovely introduction.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Max.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I was I was asking your your uh we were
having issues with your mic. But Monday night football game,
before we get into the matchups and some other stuff,
Monday night football game, Uh you it's a big game
obviously for this theudis and I'm putting you now in
the player's position. What do you do on a Sunday?
Are you watching games? Does does a game the outcome
(01:48):
of another game, for example Cincinnati Baltimore, which I'm you
know everyone in Pittsburgh's going to be watching, Does that
sharpen your focus? Does it dull your focus? I mean,
does it have any does it have any effect on
your preparation and how you play a game? I mean again,
I just always point out to people football players are
human beings. They are subject to the same ups and
(02:12):
downs emotionally as the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It is, and like you said, I mean the other
thing about this is everybody is a human, right, you know,
everybody's human an individual's process. I know we tend to think, hey,
you know, highly compensated, highly you know, adored and high
attention leads to high performance, but it's human nature at times, right,
(02:42):
and you can't control forty six on game day, forty
six different human beings and getting them all in the
same direction. At times, it's like hurting cat. Every once
in a while you get that kind of that that
that flock mentality, you know, like when you look up
in the sky and you see the birds, right, and
(03:02):
they're all in like this big jumble and like one
makes a left turn in like the entire flock moves
and they kind of wave through the sky like in
one big group. Like you don't get that all the time,
you know. And geese can fly in that flying V
when they're when they're when they're coming down and now
I'm thinking of like mighty Ducks now and Gordon Bombay. Anyways,
the flying V. Right, But every once in a while
(03:23):
you see that stray. You see that stray just trying
to figure out, hey, where's the rest of the group at.
But that stray in a football game can cost you
big plays and everything else. So it's tough to get
everybody on the same page every single time. But when
you do, it's a thing of beauty. And we've seen
those moments where everybody's on the same page, and this
(03:43):
yielded very good results. And so to try and get
that consistently is always the task is always the kind
of unsolvable question or the the eternal Rubik's cube that
every time you get it and you get out of
that last cube and that stubborn one cube just won't
let you get a full face side one color, or
(04:06):
or you get five out of the six right, and
there's one this or four out of the six. Obviously,
if you have a missing one and you're trying to
get it there, it's just that that is what the
struggle is. But you know what I'm happy to say
is a lot of teams have had those games where
they figured out the Rubik's cube. Ours have it, And
I think, in my mind that's still a good sign
because it means it shows that there's still room for growth,
(04:26):
there's still room for improvement along the way. You're still
winning games along the process.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
For sure, and the Steers hopefully can can find that
that way to get more consistent wins down the stretch.
Get to ten, get to eleven wins, Hey, listen, eleven
might if you could run the table, that might affect
who you're playing in the first round. As far as
where you're seating is because nobody else is guaranteed to
(04:52):
get to that total. You know, we'll talk about some
of the big games in the AFC and what could
that could mean for some of the front runners and
their records. Steelers are a little way ways away from
thinking about anything other than just winning this game and
winning the AFC North seating is you know, listen, if
the worst seed you can get if you win the
division is four, so they know the at least had
(05:13):
that in a home playoff game, and if there's anything
larger than that, fantastic. But that's Those are discussions for
week seventeen and maybe even week eighteen if to Steelers
get to those positions in good stead. So Max, I
think I'm fascinated by this front, you know seven, but
(05:35):
in particular kind of the middle five of this Dolphins
defense and the improvement you know, we've talked about Kenneth Grant.
Jordan Phillips has been sort of steady even though he
was taken later. Grant is showing reasons why he was
picked where he was picked. Zach Steeler, who's the other
(05:57):
tackle in their three man front, He's coming off a
two and a half sack performance against the Jets and
then the guys behind them. The Dodson is more a
more recent entry into the starting lineup. Jordan Brooks has
been there all year long, but Jordan Brooks and fans
remember him from Seattle first of all, a capable blitzer.
Those two between them have six and a half sacks.
(06:19):
We can talk about the different varied pressures they bring
and the stress it puts on an offensive line and
a little bit. But I did want to ask you
when you have a tackling machine like Jordan Brooks, who
leads the NFL in tackles and has always been a
great tackler led the league and solo attackles back in
his time with Seattle, is there a certain way as
(06:39):
an offensive line and as an offense you have to
address and attack a player like that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Well, yeah, there's a way that you that you can
do it. I mean, it's a lot of the double
team recognition. So when you're running let's see, it was
the easiest way to explain this. Oh, so when you're
running like an inside zone play, right, it's a play
that can hit anywhere from the front side b gap
to backside A gat type of play, So it's like
a flow in a zone. So you know, let's just
(07:09):
say front side, you have a tight end next to
the tackle. They're working that defensive end slash outside linebacker
position together. Whether he's on the line, then it's kind
of more of a man and then the guard gets
involved to go up to that front side backer, or
it's a four to three structure defensive end and you're
working out with the tight end and the tackles now
(07:31):
going up to that front side backer in those moments.
Just but it depends on the front. It's about being
in concert, knowing what that assignment is, whether the guard's
coming with you, where the guard's working with the center,
or whether the tackle is working up to that Like
you have to be in communications offensive line to kind
of limit that type of player. And then also what's
his propensity? Right? What is his what is his favorite
(07:52):
thing to do? Is he a guy that wants to
come backside right, he wants to cut through the backside
a gap to avoid that trash that he's coming front
side and try and play behind it and speed up
and make the play. Or is a guy that's gonna
we through the traffic and sift through the traffic and
come over the top and play it front side because
he's expecting to bounce the other way. But it also
(08:15):
your running back dictates a lot of what he can
and can't do, because if you're if your running back
is disciplined and holds, holds holes and waits for that
lineman to disengage and then makes his back, that makes
his cut, whether it's front side or backside. To ensure
that guy's been covered is one thing, but that also
takes the rest of the line doing it right. You
can't have any leakage off the backside. You can't have
(08:36):
the front side guy getting edged or setting the edge.
When we talk about like alex Heismith right, Alex Heiswood
likes to set the edge. We say that he creates
a wall to where it forces a cutback sooner than
it wants to a lot of those variables come into it,
and Jordan Brooks is just good at reading those things.
So you have so in order to take him out
or to minimize the damage, because you're not going to
eliminate him, You're just only gonna hope to hope to
(08:57):
contain it is by having discipline and patience and also
everyone on that line getting to their positions so that
everything flows and all the pieces move together.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, he's an interesting guy. A lot of tackles that
he seems to funnel his way. And you know, we
saw kJ Britt playing for the Dolphins earlier. But these
two linebackers, they appear to be riding these guys. And again,
you know, much like last year with the Ravens, the
Ravens kind of turned their defense around. They made a
couple of personnel moves. They moved where they played Kyle Hamilton,
(09:31):
they moved Malik Harrison, who so the Steelers into the
starting lineup. You know, the little personnel moves and decisions
with how to deploy guys was part of the reason
at least that the Ravens turned things around last year.
And you wonder if just riding both these guys because
Dodson has four sacks, and by the way, that is
another thing that will stress the offensive line, max is
(09:54):
they will bring pressure from everywhere. Minka had a sack
last week or the week before, they'll bring their owners.
They'll bring their inside linebackers quite a bit on blitzing.
You know, when you think about Queen and Peyton Wilson,
guys who are probably very capable blitzers. The students don't
bring them a ton, They don't have a ton of sacks.
(10:15):
These guys have six and a half sacks between them.
It kind of reminds me of the way the Steers
used to utilize Ferrier and foot when you look up
at the end of the year and everyone would be
talking about those outside linebackers, and rightly so, and you
look up those guys that have ten sacks between them,
you know, so they're bringing that and what sort of
what sort of stress does that bring, whether it's safety
(10:37):
your corner blitzeres or knowing those inside linebackers are gonna
blitz quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, it's it's a stress, but it's something that's rehearsed, right,
I mean, you plan for those moments and you try
and predict how are these guys going to attack us?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
The one thing that we've seen a lot of this
season has been what it's called a four to two
open defense or a double barrel double mug. There's a
lot of different names for it, but essentially it's two
three techniques over the outside edges of the guards. Two
defensive ends, you know, fives so to speak, off of
the tackles, and then you walk up your Sam and
(11:14):
your Mike Becker up over on either side of the
center or the double a gaps, so to speak, and
then one drops one blitzes and the responsibility of confusion
that it brings, and then you can usually run a
twist game off of that as well. There's a lot
of different permutations of that four to two open defense
(11:34):
that you can run, and we've seen a lot of that.
A lot of teams have been diving into. You know,
the Mike Zimmer was the one that made this prevalent
longtime defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals that kind of
came up with this, just like Dick Lebow kind of
came up with the three four three four defense, was
really the kind of the progenitor of that same thing
here in the four to two nickel. The four to
(11:56):
two open so to speak, defense is a Mike Zimmer product,
and a lot of teams have been using that. A
lot of teams realize they have some versatility with that.
If you have a linebackers a little bit bigger, so
think Malik Harrison's size, that could come and actually like
pick a guard and then loop that defensive tackle to
the inside because the center is going the opposite direction
on the other linebacker that's there. You know, you create
(12:18):
some confusion and try and create these mismatches in the
twist game. That's some of the challenges that this defense
that this office is going to have to run into
because a lot of defenses deployed and we've we've been
okay with picking it up if we haven't been excellent
with it, and it muddies the middle of the field
because of all those different bodies moving so guys can
get a hand up. That's where that kind of the
(12:39):
question has been and the toughness. And so for a
Miami team, they're gonna be looking at that film. They're
gonna watch the last four games kind of like you're
about to do Kinger right and figure out what is
what is the ethos of this team? Right? What what
is their bread and butter? I always say that what's
the bread and butter? What what do they hang their
hat on? And how can we just run the things
(13:00):
that they hang their hat at? And how can we
utilize it in multiple you know looks get to the
same outcome like that. That's what that's what practice is,
that's what the week is. It's literally prepping for the
chess match and trying to handle all these odds with
a limited finite amount of time before you actually take
the field. Now, the good thing is you get an
(13:21):
extra day because it's a Monday night game, so you
could work on a couple more wrinkles, a couple more
things you can kind of uncover, but still a very
small amount of time to kind of do that, and
you don't know what in justice they're making off of
what you do. You're planning off of what you do well,
and they're combating that to give you something that you
haven't seen as well. So it's a fun process. I
(13:42):
mean as a player, when I was playing, I enjoyed
this part of it because it was literally, like I
said earlier, figuring out the Rubik's cube. And you know,
it's something you could spend all your time and you
can go through it every way. Okay, you know, double
spin here, side spinning here, Okay, back around the middle.
You can think of all these different techniques. But at
(14:04):
the end of the day, unlike a chessboard that has
sixty four squares and they don't move and the same
exact pieces. You know, this is this is like Wizards chess,
you know what I'm saying, Like, there's a couple of
different moves, and this is more, you know, there's more
grave consequences when you make a bad move on a
Wizards chess board versus a regular chess board. So that's
(14:24):
how you have to think of it as and it's
a fun, thrilling, exciting thing, but also as a nerve
wracking thing at the same time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You know, I think it's really wonderful when you can
get you know, Mike Zimmer and ak Ralling or jk
Rowling in the same conversation. Max, well done.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, you know, I just I try and just make
sure I show the wide breadth of knowledge that the
show possesses between you and I.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It's all inspiring, it really is. And we're going to
talk a little bit more checkers and chests because I
have one more question than I think it's gonna be
for Max, as far as you know what Miami does,
that could be something to certainly something to keep an
eye on. You'll notice it right away. But we're gonna
(15:12):
get to that Wizard's chess piece and a little bit.
We also have our AFC preview coming up. Big games
coming up this weekend again after a great weekend this
past weekend, all when we continue in the Locker Room
presented by our neighborhood Ford Store and the Steers Pro
Shop on Citizenation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And we thank you very much for being with us
in the locker room as we get you ready for
the Steelers and the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Football.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Gonna go around the AFC in just a moment that
segment with the big games, and there's so many of
them coming up with just a little bit, but before
we get there, I wanted to ask you one thing.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Max.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
You know, it is inescapable when you are watching Miami
to not notice all of the different formations and movement
and different things that they do. They have a formation
in which Tua is in the shotgun, there is a
running back to his right, maybe an offensive lineman in
(16:42):
front of that running back. Maybe it's another running back,
and maybe it's the full back in gold, and then
another running back split to his right. It almost looks
like the oldest formation in all the football, the single wing.
You know, it's not quite like that, but they'll have
they'll have I've never I don't see I haven't seen
(17:03):
another team do that all year long, in which they'll
have four guys between the quarterback and the tackle box
on offense, crammed into one spot. And that might be
you know, the the that you know, maybe it's an
extra offensive linement. He might run left and kick out
the backside pursuit while the ball is going to the right.
You know, a lot of misdirection and things. The reason
(17:25):
I bring this up is because earlier this year and
it points it's cropped up communication on defense. Are we
getting the communication down right? It would seem to me
that all of these different formations, all of these different
pre snap movements, the orbit motion and the and the
(17:47):
most you know, under understanding, they might hand one to
Maleak Washington on a jet sweep or a little pop pass,
all designed. I think one to play fast and two
to play to put confusion into the mind of the defense.
Is that or could that be a factor on Monday Night?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I think it's always you have to you have to
keep it in the back of your mind. Right And
and for Mike McDaniels and this Dolphins offense, the reason
why they've been running the ball so well is strictly
because of that. It's the confusion of it. This offensive
line is, you know, it is a work in progress,
so to speak, right, You know Savena, they took in
(18:32):
the in the draft this year to kind of try
and shore up the middle of this offensive line. And he,
you know, he's still a rookie. So look for that
Beefeeder matchup Cam Hayward versus Jordan Savnaa to be one
of those I'm gonna be watching because we know what
Cam Hayward does to rookie guards and it's it's not pretty.
If you're just a fan of watching carnage, it is amazing,
(18:55):
but especially as a Steeler fan, it's fun to watch.
But I think, you know, you have to utilize this
because they realize they can't block you head up. They
can't take on assignments straight head to head. So you
need to use the misdirection, you need to use the
smoke and mirrors. You have to use all these different
motions because other things that the Steelers have struggled with
(19:18):
I disciplined on the backside, right, you know, looking for that.
I mean James Cook took advantage of that just two
weeks ago, and we talked about the last two weeks,
you know, Jerry brought it up again and we talked
about it post game. Two straight weeks in a row,
we've given up two hundred yards rushing and this team
average is about a one ninety two. So we're gonna
be playing right into their wheelhouse. But what can we
do to curb against that? Because we know that they
(19:39):
also haven't been passing the ball especially well in this game,
So force them to do things that they don't want
to do while still making sure you minimize what they
do well. But that's gonna be the big crux is
what is your backside I discipline When they do have
that tight bunch and you're running the guy to wham
the backside to create that backside hole, think of what
(20:00):
James Cook was looking for two weeks ago is how
is how I put that reference? Because they can either
dive inside of that way M block or take it
on the outside if he's able to hook the backside defender.
And how does that support guy play the Joey Porter
type that's off the ball and kind of on a
diagonal where he's supposed to be the guy that spills
it either way, once the running back makes the decision,
(20:20):
he has to meet him in the hole or wherever
he's at. That's what this key is for, is to
try and find the cracks and the weaknesses and the
and and the lack of discipline on the defensive side
of the ball. Who's the guy that's going to be
the mark right, who's going to be the fresh fish,
who's gonna who's gonna be the dope on the other
side of the ball that they can that they could
take advantage of.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Well, I think one other thing that that that that
bears repeating with that because we saw Cook bouncing it right.
We saw him a lot of things that were you know,
the zone block and you start to the left to
cut back to the right. It seemed like we saw
that again and again and again. I have no idea
how much of that was was you know, front was
supposed to go with whether those were design Max or
(21:02):
whether those were those were you know cutbacks that uh
that cook didn't see the hole there. But then you
know they'll they'll run the ball the Dolphins and you know,
you see the Rams. I don't know if the Rams
are the first to do this a lot, but that
it seems like the Rams. And you watch the Rams
over the last X amount of years, they've had two
running plays. We're gonna we're gonna double team and run
(21:23):
straight up the middle, or we're gonna get to the edge.
And the reason I say that is because Washington on
the on the Jets suite, he can get to the
edge quickly. But a chain a chan sorry. You know
there's some running backs that will kind of you know,
move maneuver. They're looking for the blocks, they're looking for patients.
This dude gets to the outside in a hurry. He's fast,
(21:44):
and he runs with a purpose. He's not I mean,
I'm not trying to say he's an impatient runner, but
I'm just saying that he will stress you to the
outside because he's got great speed, and when he gets
the ball, he is looking to get to the top
speed as soon as he possibly.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Ken He's an intentional runner, right, He's not like you said,
he's not impatient, but he's intentional. When he makes a decision,
you're gonna know it quick fastened, in a hurry, and
more often than not, you're going to be wrong even
when you're right. Like that's that's how good of a
runner he is, and that's why he's been I mean
(22:20):
he's number three behind James Cook and Jonathan Taylor and.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Number one in yards for Kerry we should point that out.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. His YPC is right there at
the tops. I mean he's what at five point eight
or something like that, Like it's a ridiculously high number
for a running back, and especially with the amount of
touches he's had this year. That's what that's what makes
this like you're like, oh god, okay, really that that's
what happened. I mean he's had he has touched the ball,
(22:46):
in case anybody was wondering, one hundred and ninety three
times on handoffs or ground game and fifty five additional
in the air. He's had well over two or and
he's averaging five point eight yard or to per carry.
Just let that sink in. He is he is a
first down waiting to happen if he touches the ball twice.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yep, he is.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
He really is. So is what we would call him basketball.
He's a walking bucket, you know what I'm saying. He's
a guarantee. So that's a guy you have to have
eyes on him. I don't know if you can necessarily
spy him, but you have to make sure as a
defensive front that you're funneling him and you don't let
(23:29):
him jail break. And the jail break is the outsides, right.
You let him get to the perimeter, you let him
become the adept blocker. I mean, this is where you say, Okay, Jalen,
you've got the book on this guy. You've practiced against him.
What do we need to do? What have you seen
in practice that has given him issues? What from your
(23:49):
extensive experience playing against this guy, can you say is
an achilles heel for him? And can we force him
into that Achilles heel moment more often than that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And they've got guys like u Hn in particular and
Jail and Waddle who've got great speed. You know, they
can stress you in certain ways, and so you know,
you you, you know that speed is something you always
have to you know, be wary of. And if Chan
(24:22):
gets to the to the outside, if you get wattle
free and a simple crossing pattern, these guys can take
it to distance. So know that they've got as you
get yourself mentally prepared for this game. No, they've got
a couple of home run hitters in Hhan and Waddle.
So just and again we'll break down more of that tomorrow,
(24:42):
but again looking at some of the big picture stuff.
Communication on defense, you know, staying home, you know, minding
your discipline and your gaps and all that other stuff
going to be extremely important, as Max just laid out
this week against the Dolphins. Okay, so let us dive
into our AFC preview present by you UPMC, the official
healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Browns Bears.
(25:08):
Only interesting to me Max in that the Browns are
a future opponent for the Steelers and the Bears, you know,
a big picture for them, they're trying to, you know,
to maintain where they are in the AFC North and
make sure they finish off what has been NFC North.
I beg your pardon.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
They are not in our division, no division.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
We played him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
By the way, I think as we look at Coach
of the Year candidates, I think Ben Johnson's got to
be on the short list, doesn't he for the Bear?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah? He does, he does. He's He's in a masterful
job this year, especially as first time head coach. And
like you said, walking into a wasp's nest, I'm not
eve gonna call it a dumpster fires the wasp's nest.
They just keep stinging you for no reason. Uh the
Chicago media. So now, just a great job of Ben
Johnson so far this year. I'll actually be on the
call for that game on ESPN Radio on Sunday, so
(25:58):
I'll be in I'll be in chicag I go calling
that and getting my my my preview preview of the
of the Cleveland Browns as well.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, you're on a scouting mission. I like it, man.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, I like recon And I'll recon with Deep Dish
pizza since they didn't get to do that last time.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, uh yeah, I had some anyway. Uh
just thought i'd passed that along so I'm skipping the
NFC games and let's they have AFC punted. So the
Falcons Buccaneers tonight. Man, the Bucks are reeling. Uh, they
need that. They need that game very badly tonight. And
just just for the sheer joy of watching Bijon Robinson run,
(26:39):
if you have no interest in the game, you might
want to check that one out. He is just so
much fun to watch. So Browns Bears. And then the
next matchup that we get to is particularly big here
in Pittsburgh and it's important obviously around the AFC and
around the NFL. I'm not sure if people are gonna
(26:59):
circle this as the game of the weekend, but I
think we can circle what is the game of Sunday,
and that is the Ravens at the Bengals coming up
Yarrow or Sunday at one o'clock.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Let's go Joe's. Let's go Joe's. I don't even care
which one play. Let's go Joe's. And my father is
happy now, you know, in his grave he is cheering
that he is he is delighted that I'm cheering for
the Bengals. This is probably one of the few times
I'll ever cheer for the let's go Bengals since anatty
(27:31):
instead of the cincin nasty like I always call it.
So yes, Yes, this is the game of the weekend.
We need this one. This this blow could be one
that is felt very hard. If the if, if the
Ravens go down in this matchup a lot of pride
on the line for the Bengals. You know, they had
(27:52):
their hopes dashed and you know, quote unquote categorically removed
from the playoff contention, but there's still an outside chance
they can just be a just a borderline team that
is a spoiler for everybody else.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Hey, listen, you never know if they get to eight
and nine. If they get to eight and nine, they
could make the playoffs. They're not officially eliminated.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, but it is. It is getting slimmer and slimmer.
If they won't win this game, we can we can
call it so one.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yes, and I agree. One of the things I've talked
about this week a lot, and because it just occurred
to me, you know, as I was looking at this
game and all these other teams that the Steelers have played,
and we've talked about this is teams having something to
play for maybe having a bit of an edge, like
the Chargers, for example. You know, they had two games
going into a buye. They were banged up, they knew
(28:46):
they had to win one of those two games, knew it,
and they played their best game against the Steelers. And
I think the next week that was the week to
catch them, and they had a letdown.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Sure is shooting.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
They had let down, and they got smoked the next week.
You know, you know, so if this was if the
if the roles were reversed, if the Steelers were playing
the Dolphins on Sunday and the Steers beat the Dolphins
and now the Bengals are eliminated, maybe that takes a
little edge away from the Bengals. I like the fact
that they're playing first, and they they've got to go
(29:17):
in thinking, hey, we you know, we got a puncher's chance,
let's keep going, Let's find a way to win this game.
The Ravens have a tough schedule after us, let's let's
win this game and let's keep ourselves alive. So you know,
I still think in their minds they have to approach
this like this is an important game, have.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
To well and you know what, and you know what,
I think here's the only flaw in my logic. And
this is how warped I am. If I'm the Bengals,
I'm like, the schedule is hard because we're in it,
you know, right at Bengals like that, you want to
take that like, yeah, it's hard after us, but it's
hard because of us, right right, that's the mindset. You
want to walk into this game and you want to
walk with a little bit with you. Jess poked out,
(29:57):
like have some pride about yourself, trying finished this season strong,
and you know, hey, listen, Joe wasn't here. You know,
Joe Burrow wasn't here. That was still a Joe present,
but Joe Burrow wasn't here. Oh captain, our captain was
not here for a majority of this. But now that
he's back, let's show them what we've got and we
can be a force if if they led us in
(30:18):
the playoffs, you know, and we we could keep it going.
So that's what I'm hoping. They kind of prey on
that type of bravado and you know, that personal gumption
to say, you know what, hey, the season didn't go
the way that that it was that we wanted it to.
We had a lot of issues, a lot of injuries,
but you know what, I'm not going to be the
(30:38):
weak link. I'm going to finish this thing just as
strong as I as I started it. And like you said,
they're not completely ruled out of it. It is a
tough road, but we got to win just to keep
the option alive at least for another week.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So one more game to get to before we get
to I think the biggest game, but again the Raven's
Bengals definitely play off implications. Chargers Chiefs one PM game.
You know, the Chargers are listen. They don't want to
slip up. They still have an opportunity to win the
AFC West. I wouldn't say that they have a great
(31:15):
opportunity to win the AFC West, but they still got
an opportunity to win the AFC question the yeah, especially
if you know, look, they have got a tough schedule.
They're at Kansas City, They're at Dallas, if Houston home,
they're at Denver. All the more reason for them not
to be the team that drops to nine and five.
And then you start thinking, okay, at Dallas or we
(31:35):
would have win that one. Houston's red hot. You know
you don't want to be nine and seven going into
a final game at Denver if you're the Chargers. Meanwhile,
if you're the Chiefs, if you lose, you're pretty much done.
I don't know if they'd officially be eliminated, but they
and they might be officially eliminated depending on what other
stuff happened. I don't know if they couldn't. I think
(31:56):
they can be officially eliminated if they lose. It's hard
to agin. It's been like ages, you know, a long
long time ago. You know, once upon a time the
Chiefs didn't make the playoffs. But man, they're they're fighting
for their playoff lives in this game against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
They are, they are and you know, for this Chief squad,
like you said, a lot of pride and a long
run for them, and you know they're they're fighting. They're
fighting their own mortality as well, you know, their playoff mortality.
But everybody has an expiration date on that. And for
this Chief squad, like you know, they they've played with
(32:36):
fire for a long time, you know, and I think
a lot of that offensive line and lack of running
game really came back to haunt them because you know,
for a good majority of this season. Patrick Mahonmes was
your leading rusher, and you know, I love Patrick, He's mobile,
but he's not a dual threat guy. And it just
goes to show some of the shortcomings Isaiah Pacheco being
injured this season, you know, for good swaths of it,
(32:58):
and not really finding that Kareem is an older player.
He's not the cream Hunter four years ago or even
three years ago. He's got a lot more wear and tear.
You know, they finally have hit their their breaking point
of trying to create you know, offense through through disguised
deception and of course another elder statesman and Travis Kelsey
b one of those long time receiving threats. But you know,
(33:21):
for the Chiefs, this is this is this is a
put up or shutup moment for them where I could
really determine their fate in the future moving forward, especially
in that very tight AFC West yep.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
And that is going to lead us to our I
think widely considered the game of the week. We'll get
Max's opinion on that, and we'll get your opinion listening
right on that, But first run on round, you can
gear up with the latest game they necessities at the
official Students Pro shops. No better time to get it now.
Holliday's coming up, and if you go to the game,
(33:54):
you might want to bundle up with some Official Students
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shop dot Steers dot com. Get it direct from the
(34:15):
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop dot Steelers
dot com. We will be back in the Locker Room
presented by o Neighborhood Ford Store and the Steerers Pro
Shop on Steudars Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by Your Neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
The all right in is time. You've all been waiting
for this moment since the show started. This a bell lap. Oh,
that's right, that's right. I mean listen, if you got
to go go to fisticuffs with A with a pastrami sandwich,
(35:12):
I don't mind it. Whether you want to go and
body slam a baloney or Primanny's. You know, whatever you
need to do today to get some of that aggression out.
As you could tell, I'm a little fired up right now.
I am thinking about all that I have to do
before I I egress again, uh to a and descend
(35:33):
upon another town here in the lovely United States of America,
and get ready to do battle for three straight days
of NonStop football action. I am going to warm my soul.
I already told you King Her kind of at the
beginning of this show. There there's there's a clam chowder
with my name on it, and uh, I'm excited. I am. Yeah,
(35:56):
I'm gonna add a little extra IM gonna tweak it
a little bit. You know, I love bacon in my
clam chowder. Just don't ask me why. It's just this magic.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Oh no, no, no, no, You've never done that. Absolutely, Nope,
I'm totally for it bacon and the clam chowder.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Absolutely. Oh oh, it's such a game changer. I mean
people are like, oh, what's just potatoes clams and creep? No, no,
you bacon is a game changer. A little bit of that,
just that bacon fat just folded into that creamy goodness
of it just makes the potatoes pop.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
AnyWho, I'm yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Matt, you could wrap you could wrap bacon around a
Snicker's barn. It would taste better.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Absolutely. I mean, listen, bacon makes everything better.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Baacon make anything better.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Man.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Oh the smell, oh you gotta lot, but you know what, man,
I can I could smell your soup warming up right
now from twenty five hundred miles away. Have yourself won,
And I'm going to be going down as my usual
Thursday tradition of going down and meeting Matt Williamson, Missy Matthews,
everybody from the Jewish production crew getting ready to tape
(37:00):
the matchup in preparation of Sunday's game, and having some
of the phenomenal soup, which I didn't know till a
week or two ago, traces itself back to Max Starks.
All roads lead to Max Starks.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Listen, listen. If not, you know what, I got a guy.
I got a guy. I know a guy. Just remember
that very true.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Okay, so let's get back to our our AFC recap. Man.
You know I got to tell you I am fired up.
Uh Now, I'm going to be at the Steelers alumni
dinner the Hall doing radio with West Eguiler. So I
will not see the four o'clock games, but I am
(37:45):
going to be able to watch the one o'clock games.
Ravens Bengals, of course is Numero uno. Chargers Chiefs is
a big game. We talked about that. I think if
you were looking at this from a fans perspective, you
would have to say, Bill's Patriots is the number one
game of the weekend. The Bills Suddenly now everyone's saying, hey,
(38:06):
the Bills are back, the Bills are a Super Bowl contender.
The Patriots are saying, well, hang on a second. Now,
we're the eleven and two team.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
And we've already whooped you in your place.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yes, and when you look at the remaining schedule, right,
so New England is they have Buffalo and that would
pretty much do it if they win this game. That's
that might even well you might still have to win
against the Jets in Miami. Again, those tie breakers. Man,
let's wait till later on. Give us another week or
(38:37):
two before we look at those. You're Buffalo at Baltimore,
that's gonna be a tough game. Then you're at the
Jets and home against Miami. I've got to believe you
know that that you're gonna win those last two games.
That would mean and you know you don't want to
go to that game against Miami having to win. A
Buffalo meanwhile, is at New England at Cleveland. Then they
(38:58):
have Philadelphia at home, and then they have the Jets
at home. So you could see, man, that there are
two games behind the Bills are two games behind the Patriots.
Just a massive, massive game in the AFC and in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, no, there's a lot of implications. And like you said,
just like we talked about with the Chiefs, right and
how they have to play for their playoff lives, this
is what the Bills are playing for. They are playing for,
you know, just a shot at the division which which
could very easily just escape them if they can't win
(39:33):
this game, and then they are relegated to just being
a wildcard team. If New England, you know, beats them again,
and we always talk about this, it's tough to be
the team the second time around, but if it is
able to be done, you know, you could definitely plant
your flag. And that would be another guy I would say.
In the Coach of the Year runnings, we talked about
Ben Johnson, the job he's done with turnaround in Chicago.
(39:54):
Mike Rabel absolutely second act as a head coach, going
back to you know, the place of comfort and of
his his source of experience. That that might even be
even bigger if they beat the Bills twice and they
sweep them in the regular season, that might just all
but lock up the Coach of the Year honors for him. Yep.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
And you know when we talk about, look, there's gonna
be a lot of teams. Probably I would imagine the Chiefs,
you know, do I trying to take care of that?
They're probably rooting for New England right They're trying to
see these teams ahead of them in the wild card
go down and and again we'll talk a couple of
weeks about wildcard permutations, what what the matchups could potentially be,
(40:37):
but just know that that's a huge game and so
much fun. And certainly if I can get that, and
we're probably going to be getting Ravens Bengals here, but
I'll be eagerly watching the scores or maybe even call
that up an NFL network and double screen it. Although
I'm one of those guys. If I'm watching two games,
I'm not watching any games, so I might I might
not be.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Able to do that. Raiders Eagles kind of get get
the red zone where he shows you, yeah, the best
plays of each of each game.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Something to be said for that for sure. Raiders Eagles, Okay,
we're gonna skip that one. Important for the Eagles, the Raiders,
it's been that kind of season for them. Jets and
Jaguars saying, you know, look, that's two AFC teams. The
Jaguars are they are rolling along, rolling along, and they
have the Jets and they have Tennessee in between. Those
(41:27):
two teams are on the road at Denver, at Indianapolis.
So that's the remaining schedule for the Jaguars, who find
themselves in first in the AFC South, amazing the team
trying to reel them in. The Texans are hosting the
Cardinals again. I think we can move on from that one.
The Jacksonville, by the way, is favored by thirteen and
a half and Houston is favored by nine and a
(41:50):
half in those games. So if we get some upsets,
we'll get some upsets. Another game that is just gonna
be so much fun from a football perspective and of
course important for their respective teams. The Packers going to
Mile High h four twenty five game, the Packers nine
to three and one, the Broncos eleven and two. Love
that matchup, can't wait. And by the way, here is
(42:13):
Denver's final four games. Green Bay at home, Jacksonville at home. Okay,
we just talked about Jacksonville being tough at Kansas City
and the Chargers at home. That is a brutal stretch
down the schedule for Denver.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, that that is one that's gonna test the metal
of your skills. Well, the one good thing is got
a lot of at home, right, That's right. That's your
only solace is that you get to sleep in your
own bed, you know, night before and you don't have
to travel as far like you don't have to fly
to Jacksonville like that. That's that's a tough one. They
(42:49):
have to come to you. That's but division games. Literally,
you you you're gonna see your division and two very
good teams in it in the Chargers who are trying
to make their own playoff push Jacksonville, who's in the
hunt for their division as well. They're firmly planted in
the wildcard spots. So you're talking about two playoff teams
(43:11):
in the hunt team that you're gonna have to see
in those last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Yeah, and three of those and including you.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Know Green Bays already, you know, leading the division for
the NFC North.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
That's right. Three of the four of those games you
mentioned for Denver are at home. And then the last team,
the Colts at the Seahawks of Port Colts. We talked
about this when they were eating two. They've lost three
in a row. Now. The lost to Kansas City just
a killer in which they let a fourth quarter, a
good fourth quarter league slip away. Lost that game. Instead
of nine and four, their eight and five injuries at
(43:41):
the quarterback position. Philip Rivers, I.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Mean Philip Rivers, Old Man Rivers. Old Man Rivers is
back by by my dog, I mean ten kids. The
man's got ten kids. I see why he took. That's like, yep,
I don't have the flip Burgers tonight. Okay, yeah coming,
Sorry babe, they called me to Indianapolis. I'll tell you, you know,
door dash something.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Yeah, and in that, but just a gruesome schedule for
them at Seattle, San franciscoing home Jacksonville and home at
Houston and then the Monday night football game of some
importance the Dolphins and the Steelers. Max, and we're gonna
continue to break that down coming up tomorrow when Missy
Matthews is going to be joining us or we have
(44:22):
the special guest of Faith Wolf. We how fun is
that going to be? Max?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I cannot wait for Faith to come on here. And
like we talked about, I mean to come and talk
about her late husband's book. I mean, he's he's he's
our guy. You know, Wolf is just a tremendous human
being and for him to have given us this tale
of his life. And like you said you talked about earlier,
(44:47):
like you hear his voice and it's like if these
walls could talk, which is what the title of the
book is, it would sound like Wolf. I mean, that's
exactly what it sounds like. These walls are talking to us,
and his spirit is alive and well, not only in
the locker room, but just in all the lives that
he touched and to be able to come and talk
about this book. It's a holiday season. You know, if
(45:10):
you find the avid reader in your family, the avid
Steeler fan, they are going to enjoy this book. I
know I have. I know you've also enjoyed the book.
It's just it's a fantastic read and it just gives
you the mind's eye, like you go into the brain
of Craig Wolfley, which a lot of people to be
scared about that, but it's an amazing place to go
(45:32):
because how he viewed life is like looking through a
kaleidoscope and the beauty and the colors of just a
beautiful human being. And I can't say enough about it.
So to get faith on the show and we kind
of talk about it, it's going to be great tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
It is going to be great. And Missy Matthews as well,
he's Max Stark's, I'm Rob King, Justin Miller, our producer
in the iHeart Studios. We all thank you for being
with us today in the Locker Room, presented by your
neighborhood Ford story and to see this pro shop on
This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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