September 15, 2025 • 46 mins
King and Starks continue to review the game between Pittsburgh and Seattle, and dive into the current state of the AFC.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I promise will be better Optimists.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That wasn't our finest moment, Bud, but we're gonna keep
We're gonna keep piling away and keep plugging on. And
as we kind of take this analysis, good, bad and
the ugly, that's just exactly what it was, you know,
it was. It was good, There was some good, there's
some bad, and boy, oh boy, was there some ugly
(00:52):
on Sunday. But that's not gonna stop us because the
pursuit is not perfection. The pursuit is to win and
finish the race. And this is just a stumble along
that along that path. So we're gonna keep breaking it down,
Rob and the Power hour of the show, that's right,
(01:12):
hour number two here inside the locker room.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So Max, let's get to the good. What did you
see as the good in this game? After the game,
Aaron Rodgers said, Hey, evidently I did not see the quote,
but we may want to get you and Warren more
involved in the passing game. Seems like every time he
touches of all something good happens. He had the longest
reception of his career sixty five yarder yesterday.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
So that was a positive. What are the positives did
you take from this game?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You know the other positives I take from this game?
I mean, I look at it, and we did actually
have explosives in this game. Fire Move had a beautiful
twenty yarder as well. In the contest. I thought he
had a nice little, nice little steam route there. He
caught and got for got north and south really really easily.
(02:01):
Calvin Austen had a nice twenty two yard are in there,
So you're looking at those explosives. Can Gamewell I had
a thirteen yard run And those are the things that
I kind of gleaned from it, right, It's there are
some good things in there. And of course the touchdown
in DK metcalf just just muscling bully ball.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
On on on that TD.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So I think when I kind of look at that,
that's what that's what gives me, you know, a little
bit of solace a little bit of excitement.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Chris Boswell, the Boz.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
You know, does what Boz does, Jolly does is split
the uprights, right, He's like a lumberjack splitting logs. You
know what I'm saying. Just boom right down the middle,
Boom right down the middle. Boom right down the middle.
And so I look at those as the good crazy
that Brandon Aubrey kicked a sixty four yarder yesterday for
(03:03):
the Cowboys. He actually kicked it from the opposite side
of the Star, you know, one of the points on
the other side of the Star, going in the opposite
direction from midfield.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
It was impressive, but I was Boz did it first.
Boz gave you the courage confidence to go out there
kick like shoot, Chris Boswell kick sixty yard are okay,
I know I could do this, all right, let's do it.
And Brandon Aubrey, of course, former notre name soccer player
(03:35):
that just popped into mind randomly. That was a squirrel.
That was a squirrel. But those are the things I
looked at as positives, you know, DK getting his first
touchdown as a stealer. Jalen Warren had a beautifully long
run Kenneth Gangwell had a nice rush fire move, had
a nice one up the middle and the two point
conversion by Darnel Washington. Hello, mister Washington, once again Mount Washington.
(04:02):
You know it's amazing and that one, oh my god,
there was there was there was a slant that he
had and Aaron kind of just put it a little
bit outside. He was trying to lead him away from
the defender. I know what Aaron's trying to do. And
for whatever reason, like Darnel kind of hesitated, kind of
stuttered as he got to the hash as he was
coming across on that slant and was just I mean
(04:24):
just about a foot and.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
A half behind that ball.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And had he have gotten that ball, that could have
been that would have been another.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Explosive play easily easily because whose tape?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What one human being is taking down Darnel Washington, Right, Yokozuna,
I don't know, I mean the su bow wrestler, but
the subow wrestl would actually have to run with him
to then catch him, to then take him down. I
felt like if you ran into him, maybe that's a
better shot. But uh, but man oh Man, talk about
(04:58):
a missed opportunity on that play, I think on there
was there was an outside toss zone and Jaron Reid.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Got to.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Got to Kenneth before he could stick his foot and
go north to south because everything else was blocked up
on the front side and it was the backside leakage
and Jared Reid, as as Kenneth went to cut, he
caught him right there. That play looked like it had
all the makings of just going going for a good
distance fifteen seventeen twenty ish yards and it got stopped
(05:36):
right before it got started. So, I mean, you know,
when I look at that like there was there was
on the verge of good right it was about to
switch from from bad, and it was about to hit.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It was about to hit in the plus territory really big.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's like when you get that power ball and you're
getting you're getting all the numbers and then at the
last second, the last two numbers just absolutely do not
go your wing.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I was there. Oh there, I had the first the
first three. It was good. I was there, and then it's.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Like, Okay, well gotta go to work tomorrow. But that
but that's how I kind of felt about it. I mean,
you looked at it and it was like you're holding
your breath because you see what's opening up and the
player seasons opening up, and then boom, whoosh, it just
ended before it could even get started.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And so that was some of the things I saw.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I saw more intent, but we still need more from
the offensive line, and they're getting there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They got a lot that. I felt like the tackles
got a lot better yesterday.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But then the interior started giving stuff up, so it
was like, yeah, we got two guys to get better,
but then three guys had a tougher day. So you know,
you take the positive with the negative and you land
somewhere in the middle, right, you get that, you get
the average of all that, and that's exactly what it
happened to be. It was just average, and you know,
I would probably argue at certain points it looked a
(07:02):
little bit below average. But it's a work in progress.
I mean I kind of expected this. You know, said
first five weeks is just going to be growing pains,
and we're seeing that this is week two of five,
that the growing pains are there. But you saw improvement
from week one by the tackles, which was well below
the line, and you know, you saw them kind of
(07:24):
step up their game. But then when they stepped up,
then you know, you had a little bit of a
regression with your younger guys. So you know, in Isaac Isaac,
Isaac had Isaac has some issues and then Isaac has
some beautiful plays. So there there was up and down
sliding scale progress from the offensive line unit.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I will say this, the tackles it was, it was.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It was a lot better considering the pedige of the
guys that were going against especially I felt like they
had they had a better performance.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And still you know, run game blocks.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Just hold on for one more second, hold on for
one more second or now you know what second is.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
A lot to ask, hold on for another half second because.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jalen doesn't need that much, Kenneth doesn't need that much,
you know, and Caleb is powerful. If you can get
Caleb's legs going, then he's he's tough.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
He's a tough force. But you gotta get him going,
you gotta give him a lane.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So that's kind of offensive side. I think defensively, turnovers,
turnovers was was, it was a big thing. Jalen Ramsey, Hello,
mister Ramsey, you deserve that interception almost had a second one.
He just wasn't expecting it because ball was thrown behind
Cooper Cup and Jalen was right there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
But Jalen's watching the.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Cross and trying to look at the quarterback's eyes, and
as he switched from the receiver to the quarterback, that
ball was like right on him. So beautiful interception. Nick Herbert.
Welcome back, Nick Herbert, We've missed you.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
Great job.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
The penetration ball get tipped in the air and Nick
looks it in and returns it all the way back
to the red zone. Look I mean he looked. He
looked like he looked like a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Deer running through the woods during hunting season. Like he was.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
He was out there, he was, he was moving through,
weaving through like can't touch me, can't touch me. Originally
gets taken down at twenty yard line. So that that
was a beautiful thing. The Peyton Wilson sack on Sam
Darnold just absolutely up the gut nowhere he could go
and just seek hit boom on On that play, Jalen
(09:31):
Ramsey had big blow up on a royo on the sidelines,
just reminiscent of what we saw against Garrett Wilson in
a key moment last week. You thought that was gonna
be a catalytic moment as well, but it ended up
just being a moment when it was all said and done,
And like I said, Bozz is Boz, you know for specialties.
That's oh sorry, I apologize, Yeah, Corla's had listen. I
(09:56):
almost wish they would have taken the delay of game
to go back five yards because that.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Sixty four yarder.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And I will say this, all of his punch yesterday
looked absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I mean they looked.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Like like like Aaron Rodgers throwing the ball downfield, you know,
on a long bomb, Like it was a perfect, tight
spiral beautiful and it just landed.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean the distance and the boom in it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But that one, you know, hit at the one and
just absolutely rolled into the ends and there was no
way but he had he had a couple inside inside
the twenties that was really nice and giving and flipping
the field and giving you know, Seattle the long field
challenge of marching down the field. So absolutely, you're right.
I apologize, Yeah, Corlus weightman. Both of our kickers did
(10:43):
a great job yesterday.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So uh, first career sack for Jack Sawyer first career
reception for Roman, Wilson and other couple of positives.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I thought, yes, Jack Sawyer sack, Yes, I you know it,
I completely forgot about that when you're thinking about it,
Jack Sawyer, Yes, Roman, welcome to the NFL officially. That
is that is always a good moment, we know for
him because he has such a phenomenal preseason.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So yes, absolutely, thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So, uh, Max, is you know several things that I
wanted to look at in this game. I think if we,
you know, look at the snap counts for example, in
this game, not maybe what we expected to see on
the defensive side, but because of the injuries, right, so
you're kind of hoping that maybe even though this isn't
what you wanted, maybe this will help these guys a
(11:35):
little bit later on. So Jan Thornhill, Darius Slay, Jalen
Ramsey no surprise, one hundred percent of the snaps, Patrick
Queen ninety two percent.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Chuck Clark.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Remember again, Chuck was a later sign right came to
this Steelers toward the end of the preseason. You know,
I think the idea was he's going to be kind
of a rotational guy at that safety position. Well, because
of the injury to Deshaun Elliott. Chuck plays eighty eight
percent of the snaps. Peyton Wilson at eighty six. I'm
(12:06):
not sure he and he and Queen wouldn't have been
more if they hadn't both been dinged up a little bit.
Nick Herbig gets seventy eight percent, excuse me, seventy percent
because of the injury to Alex Highsmith, who was at
only fifteen percent of the snaps. And that's probably a
good one to stop and examine, because whereas I think,
(12:28):
you know, Deshaun Elliott's gonna come in and he and
thorn Hill are going to take the majority of snaps
and Chuck Clark will work his way in. I do
think Nick Herbig is a guy we can expect to
see in the interim while Alex Highsmith is out dealing
with whatever the injury is, He's gonna get a lot
of snaps and that's going to be interesting how they,
you know, parse up the time. Among those outside linebackers, TJ.
(12:51):
Watt played seventy seven percent of the snaps. Jack Sawyer
played forty percent of the snaps. Again, the injuries had
had a factor in that. Malik Harrison, who's a guy
that we saw in week one filling in and you know,
can we know we can play a little bit outside.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
It's he's hurt.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
So it's gonna be those three guys, I would guess
at least for this week, maybe the next couple weeks,
depending on pending the release of What is Wrong with
Alex Heisman.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, Dick. Herbig uptick.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I mean imagine going from zero snaps to seventy eight
percent of the snaps, Like that's that's a high number
to go from from zero persons that like, hey, I
mean yeah, he's been out for a while.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
Yeah, no, I.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Mean yeah, he was one of the known guys. Mike
Tom was like, hey, I know what he can do.
It pays me to do it. But you know, he's
a guy. He's a guy now, and so this is
his first real action, gets an interception, you know, but
getting back into the rhythm and flow of things is huge.
And he was coming off on an injury from week
(13:58):
one that the sideline him. So that was that was
a significant uptick, and you have to imagine what that
heat out there. Yeah, you're not expecting that, you know,
it's like, yeah, I'm hydrated. I'm hydrated. For my you know, forty,
I feel like he probably would have been more of
what Jack Sawy was, like a forty type of dude.
And obviously there's some package stuff that they do with
him where they get multiple outside linebackers and on the front.
(14:22):
But that was an uptick of production, like you mentioned earlier,
Chuck Clark, Chuck's not thinking he needs to be in
there for eighty plus percent of the snaps when he
when he signed, he was like, nah, I'm gonna be
a guy that maybe twenty is a high number for me.
Twenty percent, Well, you have quadrupled that participation already, almost
(14:47):
hitting ninety percent, right, he said he was an eighty
eight percent correct, Yes, Yeah, it's a hell of a
lot of snaps. Just just to put that in perspective
with your guy, thoseos, it probably con tribut twenty or
less percentage points. And yeah, there's gonna there's gonna be
a conditioning issue, there's a recognition issue, there's gonna be
(15:09):
a talking issue.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
At some point.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's gonna snaff foo in because, like I said, you
were the support guy in that moment and now you're
becoming the main resource. So you know that that that
that that's an adjustment as well for Chuck Clark, you know,
and like you said, Peyton and Peyton and Uh and
Pat going out with injuries and then coming back afterwards.
(15:37):
You know, there there's a here's a human element to that.
When you get injured and you come back in the game.
You know, it's not like you just erase it. It's
not like boom, it's gonna races now. It's gonna be
in the back of your mind. You're gonna feel it,
especially with Pat and the ribs. Every time you hit something,
you feel it. Every time you breathe, you feel it. Right,
(15:59):
those are the things that you kind of have to,
you know, also take into account and just be mindful
of not going to say I'm using an excuse, but
you have to be mindful of those things. There's a
human protection valve. That's the reason why a person can't
just bite their hand and draw blood, right, you know
they always talking about you know, the crazy test is
if you if you can bite your head and draw
(16:20):
your own blood and you don't mind it, you're not
gonna be able to do that. But that that human
element is to protect yourself and you're going to think
about it.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Your brain's either going to wire you to think.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That that puts in that stop mechanism that keeps you
from biting and drawing that own blood. But it is
something that you're going to be conscious of. So no,
just looking at that, I mean that, Yeah, there's two
big glaring upticks in participation that otherwise was not intended, right.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
And that's a factor, you know, and you know you
want Look, there's a reason you gave to Sean Ellie
at a contray extension and felt like you could trade
Mika Fitzpatrick. You know, of course, you know, it's always
a matter of what you're getting back. He got Jack back,
Jalen Ramsey got back John Smith, so you got back
great players. But you know, you're never gonna feel completely
(17:15):
comfortable if you don't feel like you've got a position
covered and you know, you get a It's just it's
so interesting how injuries find you and find a team.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
You know, you're you're the safety position. Okay, that's one
where you're you know, you trade in Minkas, so we
should be okay there, Bang, Deshaun Ellie gets hurt defensive line,
you know, hey, listen, we signed some new guys, but
you know, the big thing we did was we went
out and drafted Derek Harmon in the first round to
shore up that run defense. Give you a little pocket
(17:47):
push in the middle. Bang, he gets hurt. H It
is amazing how how injuries find you in the NFL
and find what your team is is you know, can
be weak at I mean, you know, we all remember
a couple of years ago when you're calling up Miles
Jack Ky, Miles, what are you doing? Uh, you know
it's weak whatever ten or eleven and we've lost all
(18:08):
four of our inside linebackers injury. Can you come out
of retirement and come join us?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You know, it's just uh, it's it feels like it's
almost like an epidemic that, you know, you get the
injuries in one spot. Now, hopefully the Steelers are getting
these injuries early enough and they you know, they will
run through their their their string of bad luck earlier
in the season. That's that's one thing I'm certainly hoping
he's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Now I'm hoping that as well, hoping that all this
bad stuff happens at the beginning and.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
As we get into mid season.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
As we get to a little bit later, that things
will start to normalize and you'll have your full compliment
of guys. You know, injuries, there's never a perfect time
for an injury, right, and so that war of attrition
you just kind of have to deal with because you
realize a lot of other people are going through the
same exact thing, and they're happy that you have it.
(19:04):
So nobody's gonna give you a woe is Me pity
party in it. But if you can get these things
out of the way and bring guys back in them healthy.
That's why I always say I don't wish for a
quick recovery, never have, never will I wish for a
full recovery. Yes, because it's a long season. I need
a full recovery before you step back on that field
so that I know that I can depend on you
(19:25):
as a season progresses. I don't want you rushing back
and then you end up compounding the issue. Get it
in the first time, and come back fully healed and
ready to go one hundred miles an hour hair on
fire in this approach, So you know, that's kind of
where I operate from.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
And again you talk about injuries, and you know teams
aren't going to feel too sorry for this Dealers, especially
a team in Cincinnati. We're gonna get a look around
the AFC key injury key matchups from across the weekend
when we continue in side the Locker Room with King
and Starks presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Com and welcome back inside the locker room. It is
time for AFC Recap presented by UPMC, the official healthcare
provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And let's
start max right in the AFC North And you gotta
give Cincinnati credit. They won a game against the Jacksonville
(20:52):
team that was one of the teams that I thought
could could make a sizeable step forward this year. They
were one to zero coming into this game without Joe Burrows,
who is going to be out for three months. Three
months after needing turf toe surgery on turf toe, and
without Burrow, I said, Burrows without Burrow. Jake Browning came in,
(21:16):
you know, two touchdowns, three interceptions, so it wasn't like
he was phenomenal. But they found a way to gut
out of victory and win a game they probably had
no business winning. And now they improved the two and oh.
But the big story for them obviously is a loss
of Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah, that's another huge loss for them. But they've seen
this story before, right, We have faced Jake Browning before
with the lack of Joe Burrow, and you know, injuries happen,
talk about it all the time. It's not a matter
(21:54):
of if, it's only a matter of when those things
are going to happen. And for the Cincinnati Bengals it
has been is bitten them again with Joe.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Now, you know, turf toe.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Is not something to scoff at.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
You know, I urge everybody out there, you know, if
you want to know what turf toe feels like, go
take like a tongue depressor, put it underneath your big toe,
and then wrap that tongue depressor and try walking normal
with a tongue depressor is attached to the bottom of
your foot. That's what turf toe feels like. It's I mean,
(22:26):
it's jamming, and the toe doesn't bend, it doesn't flex,
It looks awkward. You keep playing on it, it makes
it worse. You puts you know, stress underneath all all
those many tiny bones in your ankle. You know there's
I mean, I'm trying to think. I think there's as
many bones on your foot as there is like you know,
the rest like other parts of your body, Like we
(22:47):
could go from like your legs all the way up
through your tor so like there's about as many bones there.
So you know, it's it's a lot of little bones,
a lot of moving bones. And when something messes up
and changes that gate and everything else, that's why you
gotta start worrying, because it's a it's a chain type
of reaction goes goes from the toe to the ankle,
(23:08):
to the knee to the hip, and it leads to
all kinds of problems. It sucks to have it, but
once again, nobody's crying over our injuries, so you know
it's you got you make the best out of it.
Jake Browning obviously did that he didn't have to be
Joe Burrow. He he just had to make sure he
scored points and that it was more than more than
(23:28):
the other team was scoring.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
And he did that.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Like you said, two touchdowns, three interception, it's not a
great outing. But now you look at it, you're like, well,
I mean, our quarterback had one and two, so if
he threw an extra touchdown pass, is it worth it
they throw one more interception.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Possibly, we'll never know because we didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Do that, but yeah, it's gonna be for a team
that had a lot of hopes, that paid a lot
of guys in the offseason, that catched the football from
said quarterback position, change the nature of your of your
skill set knowing the person out on the backfield.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
So Max just to kind of pick up there, because
as always, lots and lots of stuff to talk about.
There are fifty two bones in the foot, two hundred
and six in the human body, just in case you're wondering,
so roughly if the quarter of all bones are in
the foot, the feet, both feet.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, feet, well, and think about hands too. So when
you think about that, I mean you're talking about it
even larger swath.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
True, but we're talking about that. Yeah, yeah, I know the.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Foot, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly right, yeah, turf thumb. But yeah,
when you get to those areas where there's a large concentration, right,
you know, femur, fibula, tibia, make it the three bones
that make up your entire leg until you get to
that point, right, I mean, so yeah, there's there's a
lot of a lot of little things that can go
wrong there that can derail the rest of the body.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It's gonna be interesting to see how they handle this.
I mean they handled it pretty well before. But man,
oh man, I mean, you know, Joe Burrow is in
that same category of player to me, just his ability
and what he means to his team as a Patrick Mahomes,
as a Lamar Jackson, as a Josh Allen, I mean,
he is vital to what they're trying to do. They
(25:14):
paid him that way, they paid his weapons that way.
It's all built around Joe Burrow, and now you don't
have him. It's going to be interesting to see how
this team reacts to this.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I mean, we saw what happened before that they could
not make the playoffs, and you know, and they had
they had their ups and downs throughout the season with
Jake Browning, because Jake Browning's what you got there yesterday.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
That's what Jake Browning is.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
You know, he'll have some masterful moments, but they don't
have some boneheaded moments just because he doesn't play that
much and he's not your starter. He's not your number one,
he's not the number one overall draft pick. You know,
he's a guy, it's a later round and has carved
out a nice backup role for himself. So he'll he'll
he'll do do some nice things for you, but he's
(26:01):
not Joe.
Speaker 6 (26:02):
He's not. He's not.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
He's not gonna help Jmr Chase win the Triple Crown
a second year in a row. Right, So it'll be
very interesting, especially with the defense. It's already teetering, because
it wasn't like that game was just they when Joe
went out, they just went ahead and man handled you know,
Jacksonville like it was a.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
War of attrition.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
There was a big p I in that game on
Travis Hunter who had an uptick and and his and
his defensive responsibilities in that game, and you know, so
you know they're they got some help along the way
to get to that victory.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, I think when you look at, just for comparison's sake,
a team like Baltimore, right, you know, if you don't
have Lamar Jackson, that's a huge, huge He easily could
have won MVP again, right, we know how important.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
He is to that team.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
But I think that at least for a few weeks,
you could probably say, Okay, well, we're gonna we're gonna
run the football because we.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Still have Derrick Henry.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
And if we have enough threats in the outside to
keep a team off of us, so we think that
we still think that we can do that, and we're
gonna play We're gonna play good defense, you know, after
they kind of fix things towards the middle of the
last season. We're gonna play good defense. We're gonna run
the football. But everything for me in Cincinnati revolves around
(27:25):
Joe Burrow, the whole thing, from the receivers to Chase Brown.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
I like Chase Brown as a player.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
I don't know, as you say, Okay, well, our fallback
is to put.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
It in Chase Brown's ball league twenty five times a game.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Maybe it is, I don't know, but it seems to
me that much like Kansas City. You know, Kansas City,
they have that great defense, but offensively they're completely built
around Patrick Mahomes and I don't know, you know, I
don't think anybody would call Cincinnati's defense a great defense.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
So this would be interesting.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Yeah, no, it interesting, absolutely indeed.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
So you know, we shall see as it unfolds, especially
see how long it is, because obviously the longer term
view or the worst case scenario is he's out for
three months, right is effectively the you know, almost the
entire season, if not, and it's not the worst case
scenario that you land somewhere a little bit sooner, maybe
(28:21):
get six weeks.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Out of it. But whatever it is, it will be.
It will be a miss.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
And you know, now, now there's a log jam at
the top of our you know division right now.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
With with sins He being in.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
There and and having a similar, you know, similar division
record as the Baltimore Ravens. Ravens are one and one,
you know, sin that is only two and oh squad
and they have two AFC victories, one in division, so
they're they're leading the division right now. If you take
a snapshot, Steelers sitting in in like third right now,
(28:58):
because we don't have We don't have a division victory
like the other two teams.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
But one game separates us. That's that's all it is.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
So you say you're a half game back or whatever
just because you haven't faced division fos like they have.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So, by the way, the schedule for the two and
zero Bengals at Minnesota team kind of later in that
last night at Denver versus Detroit at green Bay versus
the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
So that is going to be a rough five game
stress for them.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Rough.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I think we'll see though, We'll see how they will
see how they come out of it. Other scores from
around the AFC that we wanted to get to, you know,
obviously have the Chargers Raiders tonight. That's going to be
a very intriguing ball game. The Patriots are up next
for the Steelers. They defeat the Dolphins thirty three to
twenty seven. The Dolphins are in some trouble. The Patriots
(29:53):
are a team that made some improvements in the offseason.
They've turned their offense over to a young quarterback. They've
got some believe not gonna be an easy matchup for
this year. That's going up and playing the Patriots in
New England after they went on the road at Miami.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah, no, no, not not an easy trek at all.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And you're gonna see, you're gonna have some challenges and
you know, the one good thing, you know, Miami kind
of woke up from their Week one blunder, but it
wasn't enough to take on the Pats and we're gonna
see those that And now you know, a now one
to one Patriots team going into Foxboro comes Sunday with
a new renewed interest and a new renude.
Speaker 6 (30:33):
Hope that you know, hey, coach.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Raves has his first victory as a Patriots coach. Now,
you know, let's go defend the house after that, because
we didn't do a good job the first outing. So
they're gonna look to improve and their defense is good
and we'll break obviously break them down a little bit
later in the week. But yeah, this is going to
be a challenge that their team is not going to
(30:57):
be pushed over.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Right, not this simple, man. But you know, you go
to New York, you'll win a dog fight against the Jets.
And I do think the Jets are a team that
can be problematic for teams. They're gonna play hard, they're
gonna have a certain style of football, but they really
got worked over by the Bills.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Thirty to ten was the final in that game.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
And so again I'm not saying it's it's apples to apples,
but if you're comparing yourself, that's where you want to
get to. Buffalo might be the team to beat in
the AFC. And you know they you know, you won
in New York, but you won close. They man handle them.
So again, I think we all agree that the Steelers,
hopefully their best days are head of them. This is
(31:39):
a team that, with a lot of new personnel, hopefully
will begin peaking. But just thought i'd point out that
score because and by the way, Buffalo looks really really good,
really good.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
Sort of the Colt flashlash, but.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
That oh yeah, yeah, it wasn't breaking any news there, Yeah, yeah, exactly.
How about maybe the most intriguing team, certainly one of
the most intriguing teams in the NFL is the Colts.
Dramatic win for them yesterday against the Broncos twenty nine
to twenty eight, a Broncos team that you know was
solid a year ago. Another one of those you know
(32:15):
teams like the Steelers and like the Seahawks and that
sort of ten and seven, nine and eight club. Yeah,
good enough to make the playoffs, and but are you
good enough to make the next step and take the
next step. And the Colts now with Daniel Jones are
two to zero. I don't know as many people saw
that when coming Max.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, Indiana Jones, you know, and you know he say
this is not his last crusade in the process. So yeah, yeah,
I mean they are definitely cooking right now. When you
said Daniel Jones is doing a great job distributing the football,
Jonathan Taylor is running with his hair on fire and
being physical, keeping it balanced so that it doesn't go
all into Daniel's lap for you know, a better frame.
(33:00):
But that's how that's how this team is going to
be operating. They and they must play tied or with
the lead. I don't think they have the personnel to
play from behind, and Damian Joe is not gonna not
gonna throw you into a victory in those type of situations.
But if you if they can stay balanced what they've
done under stain Stichen through these first two weeks, it
(33:22):
could be very effective. And they can they could make
a lot of Hay, especially a wide open AFC South.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
So when you are a top team, and this is
something that that you know, newer fans should consider when
they talk about whether a team is going to progress
or regress from season to season.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
You get a tougher schedule.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
You take on in you know, the couple of games
that you play, so you know, obviously you play games
against a certain division. Steelers are playing the AFC East
for an example, They're playing the NFC North this year.
Nothing you can do about those opponents. But then you
will be given other opponents that are going to be
(34:08):
similar to where you finished last year. If your second
place team, you get second place opponents in these sort
of random not random, but these kind of wild card
games that are outside. Again I don't like using that
phrase because I don't want to confuse anybody with the postseason.
But these extra games on the schedule. So if you
are the Chiefs and you are a first place team, HI,
(34:33):
you get Baltimore and you get Philadelphia, I beg your pardon,
Not Baltimore, you get the Chargers. Of course that's a
divisional game, but you get the Eagles in Week two.
And now the Chiefs are always so that's one thing
to consider. So when teams say, hey, how is so
and so going to be, Like, for example, Washington makes
(34:53):
a big step forward this year, right or last year? Well,
now they have to play a tougher schedule because of
those those couple of games that are that are outside
of the norm, that are assigned to you, that aren't
you within your division or the other two divisions you're playing.
So you're the Chiefs, you get the Eagles. So now
the Chiefs are ohering too, which is kind of amazing.
(35:18):
It's not surprising if you look at the schedule, but
kind of amazing to think that the Chiefs could be
oh in too.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, no, it is very perplexing because a year ago
they won these type of tighte contests, right, you know,
the season open last year against Baltimore, the Isaiah likely
was he in? Was he out play at the back
line of the end zone and just literally a toenail
across the line for it not to count. So no
(35:48):
stranger to that. Dan Campbell and Detroit went in there
on an opening night and beat them. Of course, they
rebounded in kind both those times. This one will be
a little bit of a of a tougher ask. But
you know this, this, this is what this team has made.
(36:10):
I mean, finally ran into a situation where you don't
have a true number one that Travis Kelcey and macomba
interception on the goal line that would have been the
go ahead score, you know, gets broken up and take
it back of the opposite direction. There's a huge swing
of momentum at the end of the game in critical
down situations where you know, Pat Mahomes didn't necessarily he
(36:32):
didn't cause the interception on that one, but you are
associated with it and you've got to own it.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
So just as much as you take for the victors,
as we always.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Say, you know, high risk, high reward at the quarterback
position because you have to be able to take the
good with the bad.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
In those situations.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
And I think for Pat this is that this is
part of that rough that rough patch. Nobody predic that
they will go oh and two And that's why, I mean,
you know, talk about the set like it would Five
teams have done it in the modern era, So I mean,
could they be six, Yeah, absolutely they could be, but
it is something that they're you know, not lost on that.
(37:15):
You still need wide receiver talent, even after two weeks of.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
The regal season, right well, and then you know, again
we talk about the teams that they are playing. So
they're playing the AFC West obviously because they're in that division.
They're playing the AFC South, which is not considered a
strong division. You know, they're kind of a steady across
(37:39):
the board group of OK teams. They are playing the
NFC East, right, But then their wild card games, if
you want to call them that, they're they're extra games
in the schedule. Are the Eagles, who they just lost
to the Ravens coming up in two weeks and Detroit?
(37:59):
I mean, that's they've got. They've got some tough games
ahead of them on the schedule. Still, I don't think
anybody's crossing them off. And I'm still of the belief
that I would be extremely surprised, barring injury, if they
don't make the playoffs this year.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be man. I kind of
look at it and and it's.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
It's really interesting because the rest of the league, I
feel like, has the league has gotten better in a
lot of respects Now, obviously Carolina is a whole different story,
and that's an NFC problem. But when we look at
the AFC, teams have gotten better. The teams of last
year aren't necessarily the teams that are gonna be this year.
And the power structure has swung. I mean, Kansas City
(38:50):
has owned the AFC. You know, Patrick Mahomes has never
not known an AFC Championship game appearance in his entire
starting career.
Speaker 6 (38:58):
Think about that, Rob, It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
That's that's absurd.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
And you know, those dynasties, when you get them, they're great.
But the one thing about a dynasty is at some
point the dynasty ends because it's not a constant.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
And so look a march into Rome. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
You know, the Byzantine Empire was great for a long time.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
And then you had and and then you had you know,
some uh some guys come over from from from from
the East that didn't like that, and uh, you know,
they went and they took down business te in Egypt.
But uh, but you know, I just I look at
that power structure and somebody has to win.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
And the Chargers, you know, are a team.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
That's always been on the cusp, right, They've always been
a team on the.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
Verge of something.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
All the way back to Drew Brees and Philip Rivers
and now they have adjusted Herbert and and you know
what's going to unlock that. And then for the Raiders
a proud organization. You know that we all know with
the Steelers and the Raiders back in the seventies, uh,
you know, there was just there was a huge rivalry
about who was going to you know, the Super Bowl.
(40:17):
They that's kind of how that went during that era.
And so when you see the Raiders team with the
Pete Carroll, you see Geno Smith coming over and then
trying to really revamp this team as they're in a
new location, a third location in their team's history. Right,
they were La, then they're Oakland. They were back to La,
then back to Oakland. Now they're in Las Vegas.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
And just a lot of these.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Old school AFL rivalries that are that just are deep rooted.
And you know, Kansas City was the butt of those
for a while and they weren't that competitor team now
they were. You know, now the big brother that had
the growth spurt and grew some muscles, you know, he
was working out in the gym.
Speaker 6 (40:57):
And now you're trying to figure out how everybody else
can catch up.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
So that AFC West just in general is going to
be a tough one. You look at Denver and yeah
they had a set back. He saw you know, I
don't know if you saw the little clips on Sports Center.
I did Bo Nixs and Sean Payton getting into it
on the sidelines, you know about there. So, I mean
there's a lot of turmoil and a lot of chaos
and a lot of a lot of good, good quarterback
(41:21):
play that's going on AFC West. So it's going to
be a power struggle to see how how that ends up.
I mean, they will rival us for what division can get.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
You know, more guys in yep.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
He's Max Starks, I'm Rob King. That is our AFC
recap presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider and health
plan at the Pittsburgh Steelers Back more inside the Locker
Room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifth 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 (42:12):
All right, back inside the locker room. And of course
you know what time it is.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
It is the bell lap.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
That's right, early lunch warning system engaged here T minus
seven minutes until lunch forage is initiated here in you know,
wherever you're at, wherever you're listening to this, and if
you're on podcast delay, you know, making lunch time anyways,
even if you listen to it later in the time,
it's okay, Yeah, lunch times anytime.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
The Lord of the rais I got second breakfast. You
can have second that is true.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
Second, bring you have second lunch? Why not? Why not
second breakfast?
Speaker 5 (42:54):
You know?
Speaker 6 (42:57):
Yeah, I mean it's got all right, you know you've
got to have that.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
So Max, we only have a couple of minutes. This
is the bell that that used to sound for the
Mike Tyson fights, right, and it will be over in three minutes.
That's about what we got. Uh So let's let's recap.
You're good, You're bad. I think we can understand it.
There's some things that need to be better for the
Steelers particularly, I think the ugly unfortunately be the kickoff
(43:23):
that wasn't covered, So let's just go ahead.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
And get that out of the way. A huge, huge
momentum swing in the game.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
And it's something that I can pretty much guarantee you
Caleb Johnson will never do again. And you know, not
falling on that ball that lands in the landing area.
So you're good and you're bad from this, uh this
thirty one to seventeen loss to Seattle.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yeah, so we kind of highlighted the good at each level.
Boswell Weightman, special teams, DK metcalf first touchdown, you know,
and of course five I'll wait for Aaron Rodgers uh tying,
Brett Fahr fourth all time, Roman Wilson first first catch,
explosive plays Jalen Warren at sixty five yarder, Pat fryarm
(44:11):
of a nice twenty yarder in the game, Cow had
another one larger one, you know. And defensively, of course,
the two interceptions Jalen Ramsey and Nick Herbig. Then the
sack Peyton Wilson sacked by Jack Sawyer first of his
career were some of the goods Limiting the second running
(44:31):
back to very little yardage. Now we get to the
bat bat ken Walker still made it over the century mark.
As an individual rusher, Sam Darnold passed for almost three
hundred yards two ninety five, and you know, we just
we did not live up to our end of the
bargain in the rush game offensively, which then led to
the inaccuracies and of course Aaron throwing two interceptions, last
(44:55):
of which trying to press it to Calvin Austin and
kind of overthrows it a little bit. You know, special teams.
You know, we talked about it not good enough. On
the kickoff return average on those new dynamic kickoffs, you
got to figure out a way. You know, the opponent
was getting was getting better than was getting north of
thirty of the thirty yard line and thirty five yard line.
Most of the day we were struggling to get to
(45:17):
the twenty. So that's one that you know, how he
you don't love in that moment. You know that coverage
unit has to do better. Punt return group, you know,
do you don't have to cover that much with with
with Corlis the way he kicks, but when he does
(45:38):
OutKick the coverage every once in a while, you got it.
You got to make up for it can't can't allow
them to return the ball to near midfield. On the
coverage units lack of sack production, we're still minus four
to the rest of the field through two games. That
means we need to get after the quarterback. Pass rushes
is inconsistent. The run run defense is inconstant, just as
(46:01):
inconsistent as our run offense. So I think when you
look at the bad, that's kind of the milanane of
the bad that we kind of experienced.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
So that'll wrap it up for today, this Monday inside
the locker Room, or a reminder tomorrow we will have
Alvao Martin and we will have Bob Labriola a Tuesday
with Labs, So we have plenty to come to as
we kind of put a bow on this one, and
then as we get further into the week, look forward
to the game coming up against New England, which you know,
(46:29):
looms is a pretty important game for the Steelers. He's
Max Starks, I'm Rob King. We thank you for listening.
Inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I promise will be better Optimists.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That wasn't our finest moment, Bud, but we're gonna keep
We're gonna keep piling away and keep plugging on. And
as we kind of take this analysis, good, bad and
the ugly, that's just exactly what it was, you know,
it was. It was good, There was some good, there's
some bad, and boy, oh boy, was there some ugly
(00:52):
on Sunday. But that's not gonna stop us because the
pursuit is not perfection. The pursuit is to win and
finish the race. And this is just a stumble along
that along that path. So we're gonna keep breaking it down,
Rob and the Power hour of the show, that's right,
(01:12):
hour number two here inside the locker room.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So Max, let's get to the good. What did you
see as the good in this game? After the game,
Aaron Rodgers said, Hey, evidently I did not see the quote,
but we may want to get you and Warren more
involved in the passing game. Seems like every time he
touches of all something good happens. He had the longest
reception of his career sixty five yarder yesterday.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
So that was a positive. What are the positives did
you take from this game?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You know the other positives I take from this game?
I mean, I look at it, and we did actually
have explosives in this game. Fire Move had a beautiful
twenty yarder as well. In the contest. I thought he
had a nice little, nice little steam route there. He
caught and got for got north and south really really easily.
(02:01):
Calvin Austen had a nice twenty two yard are in there,
So you're looking at those explosives. Can Gamewell I had
a thirteen yard run And those are the things that
I kind of gleaned from it, right, It's there are
some good things in there. And of course the touchdown
in DK metcalf just just muscling bully ball.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
On on on that TD.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So I think when I kind of look at that,
that's what that's what gives me, you know, a little
bit of solace a little bit of excitement.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Chris Boswell, the Boz.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
You know, does what Boz does, Jolly does is split
the uprights, right, He's like a lumberjack splitting logs. You
know what I'm saying. Just boom right down the middle,
Boom right down the middle. Boom right down the middle.
And so I look at those as the good crazy
that Brandon Aubrey kicked a sixty four yarder yesterday for
(03:03):
the Cowboys. He actually kicked it from the opposite side
of the Star, you know, one of the points on
the other side of the Star, going in the opposite
direction from midfield.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
It was impressive, but I was Boz did it first.
Boz gave you the courage confidence to go out there
kick like shoot, Chris Boswell kick sixty yard are okay,
I know I could do this, all right, let's do it.
And Brandon Aubrey, of course, former notre name soccer player
(03:35):
that just popped into mind randomly. That was a squirrel.
That was a squirrel. But those are the things I
looked at as positives, you know, DK getting his first
touchdown as a stealer. Jalen Warren had a beautifully long
run Kenneth Gangwell had a nice rush fire move, had
a nice one up the middle and the two point
conversion by Darnel Washington. Hello, mister Washington, once again Mount Washington.
(04:02):
You know it's amazing and that one, oh my god,
there was there was there was a slant that he
had and Aaron kind of just put it a little
bit outside. He was trying to lead him away from
the defender. I know what Aaron's trying to do. And
for whatever reason, like Darnel kind of hesitated, kind of
stuttered as he got to the hash as he was
coming across on that slant and was just I mean
(04:24):
just about a foot and.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
A half behind that ball.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And had he have gotten that ball, that could have
been that would have been another.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Explosive play easily easily because whose tape?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What one human being is taking down Darnel Washington, Right, Yokozuna,
I don't know, I mean the su bow wrestler, but
the subow wrestl would actually have to run with him
to then catch him, to then take him down. I
felt like if you ran into him, maybe that's a
better shot. But uh, but man oh Man, talk about
(04:58):
a missed opportunity on that play, I think on there
was there was an outside toss zone and Jaron Reid.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Got to.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Got to Kenneth before he could stick his foot and
go north to south because everything else was blocked up
on the front side and it was the backside leakage
and Jared Reid, as as Kenneth went to cut, he
caught him right there. That play looked like it had
all the makings of just going going for a good
distance fifteen seventeen twenty ish yards and it got stopped
(05:36):
right before it got started. So, I mean, you know,
when I look at that like there was there was
on the verge of good right it was about to
switch from from bad, and it was about to hit.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It was about to hit in the plus territory really big.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's like when you get that power ball and you're
getting you're getting all the numbers and then at the
last second, the last two numbers just absolutely do not
go your wing.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I was there. Oh there, I had the first the
first three. It was good. I was there, and then it's.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Like, Okay, well gotta go to work tomorrow. But that
but that's how I kind of felt about it. I mean,
you looked at it and it was like you're holding
your breath because you see what's opening up and the
player seasons opening up, and then boom, whoosh, it just
ended before it could even get started.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And so that was some of the things I saw.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I saw more intent, but we still need more from
the offensive line, and they're getting there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They got a lot that. I felt like the tackles
got a lot better yesterday.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But then the interior started giving stuff up, so it
was like, yeah, we got two guys to get better,
but then three guys had a tougher day. So you know,
you take the positive with the negative and you land
somewhere in the middle, right, you get that, you get
the average of all that, and that's exactly what it
happened to be. It was just average, and you know,
I would probably argue at certain points it looked a
(07:02):
little bit below average. But it's a work in progress.
I mean I kind of expected this. You know, said
first five weeks is just going to be growing pains,
and we're seeing that this is week two of five,
that the growing pains are there. But you saw improvement
from week one by the tackles, which was well below
the line, and you know, you saw them kind of
(07:24):
step up their game. But then when they stepped up,
then you know, you had a little bit of a
regression with your younger guys. So you know, in Isaac Isaac,
Isaac had Isaac has some issues and then Isaac has
some beautiful plays. So there there was up and down
sliding scale progress from the offensive line unit.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I will say this, the tackles it was, it was.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It was a lot better considering the pedige of the
guys that were going against especially I felt like they
had they had a better performance.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And still you know, run game blocks.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Just hold on for one more second, hold on for
one more second or now you know what second is.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
A lot to ask, hold on for another half second because.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jalen doesn't need that much, Kenneth doesn't need that much,
you know, and Caleb is powerful. If you can get
Caleb's legs going, then he's he's tough.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
He's a tough force. But you gotta get him going,
you gotta give him a lane.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So that's kind of offensive side. I think defensively, turnovers,
turnovers was was, it was a big thing. Jalen Ramsey, Hello,
mister Ramsey, you deserve that interception almost had a second one.
He just wasn't expecting it because ball was thrown behind
Cooper Cup and Jalen was right there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
But Jalen's watching the.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Cross and trying to look at the quarterback's eyes, and
as he switched from the receiver to the quarterback, that
ball was like right on him. So beautiful interception. Nick Herbert.
Welcome back, Nick Herbert, We've missed you.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
Great job.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
The penetration ball get tipped in the air and Nick
looks it in and returns it all the way back
to the red zone. Look I mean he looked. He
looked like he looked like a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Deer running through the woods during hunting season. Like he was.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
He was out there, he was, he was moving through,
weaving through like can't touch me, can't touch me. Originally
gets taken down at twenty yard line. So that that
was a beautiful thing. The Peyton Wilson sack on Sam
Darnold just absolutely up the gut nowhere he could go
and just seek hit boom on On that play, Jalen
(09:31):
Ramsey had big blow up on a royo on the sidelines,
just reminiscent of what we saw against Garrett Wilson in
a key moment last week. You thought that was gonna
be a catalytic moment as well, but it ended up
just being a moment when it was all said and done,
And like I said, Bozz is Boz, you know for specialties.
That's oh sorry, I apologize, Yeah, Corla's had listen. I
(09:56):
almost wish they would have taken the delay of game
to go back five yards because that.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Sixty four yarder.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And I will say this, all of his punch yesterday
looked absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I mean they looked.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Like like like Aaron Rodgers throwing the ball downfield, you know,
on a long bomb, Like it was a perfect, tight
spiral beautiful and it just landed.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean the distance and the boom in it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But that one, you know, hit at the one and
just absolutely rolled into the ends and there was no
way but he had he had a couple inside inside
the twenties that was really nice and giving and flipping
the field and giving you know, Seattle the long field
challenge of marching down the field. So absolutely, you're right.
I apologize, Yeah, Corlus weightman. Both of our kickers did
(10:43):
a great job yesterday.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So uh, first career sack for Jack Sawyer first career
reception for Roman, Wilson and other couple of positives.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I thought, yes, Jack Sawyer sack, Yes, I you know it,
I completely forgot about that when you're thinking about it,
Jack Sawyer, Yes, Roman, welcome to the NFL officially. That
is that is always a good moment, we know for
him because he has such a phenomenal preseason.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So yes, absolutely, thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So, uh, Max, is you know several things that I
wanted to look at in this game. I think if we,
you know, look at the snap counts for example, in
this game, not maybe what we expected to see on
the defensive side, but because of the injuries, right, so
you're kind of hoping that maybe even though this isn't
what you wanted, maybe this will help these guys a
(11:35):
little bit later on. So Jan Thornhill, Darius Slay, Jalen
Ramsey no surprise, one hundred percent of the snaps, Patrick
Queen ninety two percent.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Chuck Clark.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Remember again, Chuck was a later sign right came to
this Steelers toward the end of the preseason. You know,
I think the idea was he's going to be kind
of a rotational guy at that safety position. Well, because
of the injury to Deshaun Elliott. Chuck plays eighty eight
percent of the snaps. Peyton Wilson at eighty six. I'm
(12:06):
not sure he and he and Queen wouldn't have been
more if they hadn't both been dinged up a little bit.
Nick Herbig gets seventy eight percent, excuse me, seventy percent
because of the injury to Alex Highsmith, who was at
only fifteen percent of the snaps. And that's probably a
good one to stop and examine, because whereas I think,
(12:28):
you know, Deshaun Elliott's gonna come in and he and
thorn Hill are going to take the majority of snaps
and Chuck Clark will work his way in. I do
think Nick Herbig is a guy we can expect to
see in the interim while Alex Highsmith is out dealing
with whatever the injury is, He's gonna get a lot
of snaps and that's going to be interesting how they,
you know, parse up the time. Among those outside linebackers, TJ.
(12:51):
Watt played seventy seven percent of the snaps. Jack Sawyer
played forty percent of the snaps. Again, the injuries had
had a factor in that. Malik Harrison, who's a guy
that we saw in week one filling in and you know,
can we know we can play a little bit outside.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
It's he's hurt.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
So it's gonna be those three guys, I would guess
at least for this week, maybe the next couple weeks,
depending on pending the release of What is Wrong with
Alex Heisman.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, Dick. Herbig uptick.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I mean imagine going from zero snaps to seventy eight
percent of the snaps, Like that's that's a high number
to go from from zero persons that like, hey, I
mean yeah, he's been out for a while.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
Yeah, no, I.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Mean yeah, he was one of the known guys. Mike
Tom was like, hey, I know what he can do.
It pays me to do it. But you know, he's
a guy. He's a guy now, and so this is
his first real action, gets an interception, you know, but
getting back into the rhythm and flow of things is huge.
And he was coming off on an injury from week
(13:58):
one that the sideline him. So that was that was
a significant uptick, and you have to imagine what that
heat out there. Yeah, you're not expecting that, you know,
it's like, yeah, I'm hydrated. I'm hydrated. For my you know, forty,
I feel like he probably would have been more of
what Jack Sawy was, like a forty type of dude.
And obviously there's some package stuff that they do with
him where they get multiple outside linebackers and on the front.
(14:22):
But that was an uptick of production, like you mentioned earlier,
Chuck Clark, Chuck's not thinking he needs to be in
there for eighty plus percent of the snaps when he
when he signed, he was like, nah, I'm gonna be
a guy that maybe twenty is a high number for me.
Twenty percent, Well, you have quadrupled that participation already, almost
(14:47):
hitting ninety percent, right, he said he was an eighty
eight percent correct, Yes, Yeah, it's a hell of a
lot of snaps. Just just to put that in perspective
with your guy, thoseos, it probably con tribut twenty or
less percentage points. And yeah, there's gonna there's gonna be
a conditioning issue, there's a recognition issue, there's gonna be
(15:09):
a talking issue.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
At some point.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's gonna snaff foo in because, like I said, you
were the support guy in that moment and now you're
becoming the main resource. So you know that that that
that that's an adjustment as well for Chuck Clark, you know,
and like you said, Peyton and Peyton and Uh and
Pat going out with injuries and then coming back afterwards.
(15:37):
You know, there there's a here's a human element to that.
When you get injured and you come back in the game.
You know, it's not like you just erase it. It's
not like boom, it's gonna races now. It's gonna be
in the back of your mind. You're gonna feel it,
especially with Pat and the ribs. Every time you hit something,
you feel it. Every time you breathe, you feel it. Right,
(15:59):
those are the things that you kind of have to,
you know, also take into account and just be mindful
of not going to say I'm using an excuse, but
you have to be mindful of those things. There's a
human protection valve. That's the reason why a person can't
just bite their hand and draw blood, right, you know
they always talking about you know, the crazy test is
if you if you can bite your head and draw
(16:20):
your own blood and you don't mind it, you're not
gonna be able to do that. But that that human
element is to protect yourself and you're going to think
about it.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Your brain's either going to wire you to think.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That that puts in that stop mechanism that keeps you
from biting and drawing that own blood. But it is
something that you're going to be conscious of. So no,
just looking at that, I mean that, Yeah, there's two
big glaring upticks in participation that otherwise was not intended, right.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
And that's a factor, you know, and you know you
want Look, there's a reason you gave to Sean Ellie
at a contray extension and felt like you could trade
Mika Fitzpatrick. You know, of course, you know, it's always
a matter of what you're getting back. He got Jack back,
Jalen Ramsey got back John Smith, so you got back
great players. But you know, you're never gonna feel completely
(17:15):
comfortable if you don't feel like you've got a position
covered and you know, you get a It's just it's
so interesting how injuries find you and find a team.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
You know, you're you're the safety position. Okay, that's one
where you're you know, you trade in Minkas, so we
should be okay there, Bang, Deshaun Ellie gets hurt defensive line,
you know, hey, listen, we signed some new guys, but
you know, the big thing we did was we went
out and drafted Derek Harmon in the first round to
shore up that run defense. Give you a little pocket
(17:47):
push in the middle. Bang, he gets hurt. H It
is amazing how how injuries find you in the NFL
and find what your team is is you know, can
be weak at I mean, you know, we all remember
a couple of years ago when you're calling up Miles
Jack Ky, Miles, what are you doing? Uh, you know
it's weak whatever ten or eleven and we've lost all
(18:08):
four of our inside linebackers injury. Can you come out
of retirement and come join us?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You know, it's just uh, it's it feels like it's
almost like an epidemic that, you know, you get the
injuries in one spot. Now, hopefully the Steelers are getting
these injuries early enough and they you know, they will
run through their their their string of bad luck earlier
in the season. That's that's one thing I'm certainly hoping
he's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Now I'm hoping that as well, hoping that all this
bad stuff happens at the beginning and.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
As we get into mid season.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
As we get to a little bit later, that things
will start to normalize and you'll have your full compliment
of guys. You know, injuries, there's never a perfect time
for an injury, right, and so that war of attrition
you just kind of have to deal with because you
realize a lot of other people are going through the
same exact thing, and they're happy that you have it.
(19:04):
So nobody's gonna give you a woe is Me pity
party in it. But if you can get these things
out of the way and bring guys back in them healthy.
That's why I always say I don't wish for a
quick recovery, never have, never will I wish for a
full recovery. Yes, because it's a long season. I need
a full recovery before you step back on that field
so that I know that I can depend on you
(19:25):
as a season progresses. I don't want you rushing back
and then you end up compounding the issue. Get it
in the first time, and come back fully healed and
ready to go one hundred miles an hour hair on
fire in this approach, So you know, that's kind of
where I operate from.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
And again you talk about injuries, and you know teams
aren't going to feel too sorry for this Dealers, especially
a team in Cincinnati. We're gonna get a look around
the AFC key injury key matchups from across the weekend
when we continue in side the Locker Room with King
and Starks presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Com and welcome back inside the locker room. It is
time for AFC Recap presented by UPMC, the official healthcare
provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And let's
start max right in the AFC North And you gotta
give Cincinnati credit. They won a game against the Jacksonville
(20:52):
team that was one of the teams that I thought
could could make a sizeable step forward this year. They
were one to zero coming into this game without Joe Burrows,
who is going to be out for three months. Three
months after needing turf toe surgery on turf toe, and
without Burrow, I said, Burrows without Burrow. Jake Browning came in,
(21:16):
you know, two touchdowns, three interceptions, so it wasn't like
he was phenomenal. But they found a way to gut
out of victory and win a game they probably had
no business winning. And now they improved the two and oh.
But the big story for them obviously is a loss
of Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah, that's another huge loss for them. But they've seen
this story before, right, We have faced Jake Browning before
with the lack of Joe Burrow, and you know, injuries happen,
talk about it all the time. It's not a matter
(21:54):
of if, it's only a matter of when those things
are going to happen. And for the Cincinnati Bengals it
has been is bitten them again with Joe.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Now, you know, turf toe.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Is not something to scoff at.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
You know, I urge everybody out there, you know, if
you want to know what turf toe feels like, go
take like a tongue depressor, put it underneath your big toe,
and then wrap that tongue depressor and try walking normal
with a tongue depressor is attached to the bottom of
your foot. That's what turf toe feels like. It's I mean,
(22:26):
it's jamming, and the toe doesn't bend, it doesn't flex,
It looks awkward. You keep playing on it, it makes
it worse. You puts you know, stress underneath all all
those many tiny bones in your ankle. You know there's
I mean, I'm trying to think. I think there's as
many bones on your foot as there is like you know,
the rest like other parts of your body, Like we
(22:47):
could go from like your legs all the way up
through your tor so like there's about as many bones there.
So you know, it's it's a lot of little bones,
a lot of moving bones. And when something messes up
and changes that gate and everything else, that's why you
gotta start worrying, because it's a it's a chain type
of reaction goes goes from the toe to the ankle,
(23:08):
to the knee to the hip, and it leads to
all kinds of problems. It sucks to have it, but
once again, nobody's crying over our injuries, so you know
it's you got you make the best out of it.
Jake Browning obviously did that he didn't have to be
Joe Burrow. He he just had to make sure he
scored points and that it was more than more than
(23:28):
the other team was scoring.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
And he did that.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Like you said, two touchdowns, three interception, it's not a
great outing. But now you look at it, you're like, well,
I mean, our quarterback had one and two, so if
he threw an extra touchdown pass, is it worth it
they throw one more interception.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Possibly, we'll never know because we didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Do that, but yeah, it's gonna be for a team
that had a lot of hopes, that paid a lot
of guys in the offseason, that catched the football from
said quarterback position, change the nature of your of your
skill set knowing the person out on the backfield.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
So Max just to kind of pick up there, because
as always, lots and lots of stuff to talk about.
There are fifty two bones in the foot, two hundred
and six in the human body, just in case you're wondering,
so roughly if the quarter of all bones are in
the foot, the feet, both feet.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, feet, well, and think about hands too. So when
you think about that, I mean you're talking about it
even larger swath.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
True, but we're talking about that. Yeah, yeah, I know the.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Foot, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly right, yeah, turf thumb. But yeah,
when you get to those areas where there's a large concentration, right,
you know, femur, fibula, tibia, make it the three bones
that make up your entire leg until you get to
that point, right, I mean, so yeah, there's there's a
lot of a lot of little things that can go
wrong there that can derail the rest of the body.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It's gonna be interesting to see how they handle this.
I mean they handled it pretty well before. But man,
oh man, I mean, you know, Joe Burrow is in
that same category of player to me, just his ability
and what he means to his team as a Patrick Mahomes,
as a Lamar Jackson, as a Josh Allen, I mean,
he is vital to what they're trying to do. They
(25:14):
paid him that way, they paid his weapons that way.
It's all built around Joe Burrow, and now you don't
have him. It's going to be interesting to see how
this team reacts to this.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I mean, we saw what happened before that they could
not make the playoffs, and you know, and they had
they had their ups and downs throughout the season with
Jake Browning, because Jake Browning's what you got there yesterday.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
That's what Jake Browning is.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
You know, he'll have some masterful moments, but they don't
have some boneheaded moments just because he doesn't play that
much and he's not your starter. He's not your number one,
he's not the number one overall draft pick. You know,
he's a guy, it's a later round and has carved
out a nice backup role for himself. So he'll he'll
he'll do do some nice things for you, but he's
(26:01):
not Joe.
Speaker 6 (26:02):
He's not. He's not.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
He's not gonna help Jmr Chase win the Triple Crown
a second year in a row. Right, So it'll be
very interesting, especially with the defense. It's already teetering, because
it wasn't like that game was just they when Joe
went out, they just went ahead and man handled you know,
Jacksonville like it was a.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
War of attrition.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
There was a big p I in that game on
Travis Hunter who had an uptick and and his and
his defensive responsibilities in that game, and you know, so
you know they're they got some help along the way
to get to that victory.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, I think when you look at, just for comparison's sake,
a team like Baltimore, right, you know, if you don't
have Lamar Jackson, that's a huge, huge He easily could
have won MVP again, right, we know how important.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
He is to that team.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
But I think that at least for a few weeks,
you could probably say, Okay, well, we're gonna we're gonna
run the football because we.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Still have Derrick Henry.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
And if we have enough threats in the outside to
keep a team off of us, so we think that
we still think that we can do that, and we're
gonna play We're gonna play good defense, you know, after
they kind of fix things towards the middle of the
last season. We're gonna play good defense. We're gonna run
the football. But everything for me in Cincinnati revolves around
(27:25):
Joe Burrow, the whole thing, from the receivers to Chase Brown.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
I like Chase Brown as a player.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
I don't know, as you say, Okay, well, our fallback
is to put.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
It in Chase Brown's ball league twenty five times a game.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Maybe it is, I don't know, but it seems to
me that much like Kansas City. You know, Kansas City,
they have that great defense, but offensively they're completely built
around Patrick Mahomes and I don't know, you know, I
don't think anybody would call Cincinnati's defense a great defense.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
So this would be interesting.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Yeah, no, it interesting, absolutely indeed.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
So you know, we shall see as it unfolds, especially
see how long it is, because obviously the longer term
view or the worst case scenario is he's out for
three months, right is effectively the you know, almost the
entire season, if not, and it's not the worst case
scenario that you land somewhere a little bit sooner, maybe
(28:21):
get six weeks.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Out of it. But whatever it is, it will be.
It will be a miss.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
And you know, now, now there's a log jam at
the top of our you know division right now.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
With with sins He being in.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
There and and having a similar, you know, similar division
record as the Baltimore Ravens. Ravens are one and one,
you know, sin that is only two and oh squad
and they have two AFC victories, one in division, so
they're they're leading the division right now. If you take
a snapshot, Steelers sitting in in like third right now,
(28:58):
because we don't have We don't have a division victory
like the other two teams.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
But one game separates us. That's that's all it is.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
So you say you're a half game back or whatever
just because you haven't faced division fos like they have.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So, by the way, the schedule for the two and
zero Bengals at Minnesota team kind of later in that
last night at Denver versus Detroit at green Bay versus
the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
So that is going to be a rough five game
stress for them.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Rough.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I think we'll see though, We'll see how they will
see how they come out of it. Other scores from
around the AFC that we wanted to get to, you know,
obviously have the Chargers Raiders tonight. That's going to be
a very intriguing ball game. The Patriots are up next
for the Steelers. They defeat the Dolphins thirty three to
twenty seven. The Dolphins are in some trouble. The Patriots
(29:53):
are a team that made some improvements in the offseason.
They've turned their offense over to a young quarterback. They've
got some believe not gonna be an easy matchup for
this year. That's going up and playing the Patriots in
New England after they went on the road at Miami.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah, no, no, not not an easy trek at all.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And you're gonna see, you're gonna have some challenges and
you know, the one good thing, you know, Miami kind
of woke up from their Week one blunder, but it
wasn't enough to take on the Pats and we're gonna
see those that And now you know, a now one
to one Patriots team going into Foxboro comes Sunday with
a new renewed interest and a new renude.
Speaker 6 (30:33):
Hope that you know, hey, coach.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Raves has his first victory as a Patriots coach. Now,
you know, let's go defend the house after that, because
we didn't do a good job the first outing. So
they're gonna look to improve and their defense is good
and we'll break obviously break them down a little bit
later in the week. But yeah, this is going to
be a challenge that their team is not going to
(30:57):
be pushed over.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Right, not this simple, man. But you know, you go
to New York, you'll win a dog fight against the Jets.
And I do think the Jets are a team that
can be problematic for teams. They're gonna play hard, they're
gonna have a certain style of football, but they really
got worked over by the Bills.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Thirty to ten was the final in that game.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
And so again I'm not saying it's it's apples to apples,
but if you're comparing yourself, that's where you want to
get to. Buffalo might be the team to beat in
the AFC. And you know they you know, you won
in New York, but you won close. They man handle them.
So again, I think we all agree that the Steelers,
hopefully their best days are head of them. This is
(31:39):
a team that, with a lot of new personnel, hopefully
will begin peaking. But just thought i'd point out that
score because and by the way, Buffalo looks really really good,
really good.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
Sort of the Colt flashlash, but.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
That oh yeah, yeah, it wasn't breaking any news there, Yeah, yeah, exactly.
How about maybe the most intriguing team, certainly one of
the most intriguing teams in the NFL is the Colts.
Dramatic win for them yesterday against the Broncos twenty nine
to twenty eight, a Broncos team that you know was
solid a year ago. Another one of those you know
(32:15):
teams like the Steelers and like the Seahawks and that
sort of ten and seven, nine and eight club. Yeah,
good enough to make the playoffs, and but are you
good enough to make the next step and take the
next step. And the Colts now with Daniel Jones are
two to zero. I don't know as many people saw
that when coming Max.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, Indiana Jones, you know, and you know he say
this is not his last crusade in the process. So yeah, yeah,
I mean they are definitely cooking right now. When you
said Daniel Jones is doing a great job distributing the football,
Jonathan Taylor is running with his hair on fire and
being physical, keeping it balanced so that it doesn't go
all into Daniel's lap for you know, a better frame.
(33:00):
But that's how that's how this team is going to
be operating. They and they must play tied or with
the lead. I don't think they have the personnel to
play from behind, and Damian Joe is not gonna not
gonna throw you into a victory in those type of situations.
But if you if they can stay balanced what they've
done under stain Stichen through these first two weeks, it
(33:22):
could be very effective. And they can they could make
a lot of Hay, especially a wide open AFC South.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
So when you are a top team, and this is
something that that you know, newer fans should consider when
they talk about whether a team is going to progress
or regress from season to season.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
You get a tougher schedule.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
You take on in you know, the couple of games
that you play, so you know, obviously you play games
against a certain division. Steelers are playing the AFC East
for an example, They're playing the NFC North this year.
Nothing you can do about those opponents. But then you
will be given other opponents that are going to be
(34:08):
similar to where you finished last year. If your second
place team, you get second place opponents in these sort
of random not random, but these kind of wild card
games that are outside. Again I don't like using that
phrase because I don't want to confuse anybody with the postseason.
But these extra games on the schedule. So if you
are the Chiefs and you are a first place team, HI,
(34:33):
you get Baltimore and you get Philadelphia, I beg your pardon,
Not Baltimore, you get the Chargers. Of course that's a
divisional game, but you get the Eagles in Week two.
And now the Chiefs are always so that's one thing
to consider. So when teams say, hey, how is so
and so going to be, Like, for example, Washington makes
(34:53):
a big step forward this year, right or last year? Well,
now they have to play a tougher schedule because of
those those couple of games that are that are outside
of the norm, that are assigned to you, that aren't
you within your division or the other two divisions you're playing.
So you're the Chiefs, you get the Eagles. So now
the Chiefs are ohering too, which is kind of amazing.
(35:18):
It's not surprising if you look at the schedule, but
kind of amazing to think that the Chiefs could be
oh in too.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, no, it is very perplexing because a year ago
they won these type of tighte contests, right, you know,
the season open last year against Baltimore, the Isaiah likely
was he in? Was he out play at the back
line of the end zone and just literally a toenail
across the line for it not to count. So no
(35:48):
stranger to that. Dan Campbell and Detroit went in there
on an opening night and beat them. Of course, they
rebounded in kind both those times. This one will be
a little bit of a of a tougher ask. But
you know this, this, this is what this team has made.
(36:10):
I mean, finally ran into a situation where you don't
have a true number one that Travis Kelcey and macomba
interception on the goal line that would have been the
go ahead score, you know, gets broken up and take
it back of the opposite direction. There's a huge swing
of momentum at the end of the game in critical
down situations where you know, Pat Mahomes didn't necessarily he
(36:32):
didn't cause the interception on that one, but you are
associated with it and you've got to own it.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
So just as much as you take for the victors,
as we always.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Say, you know, high risk, high reward at the quarterback
position because you have to be able to take the
good with the bad.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
In those situations.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
And I think for Pat this is that this is
part of that rough that rough patch. Nobody predic that
they will go oh and two And that's why, I mean,
you know, talk about the set like it would Five
teams have done it in the modern era, So I mean,
could they be six, Yeah, absolutely they could be, but
it is something that they're you know, not lost on that.
(37:15):
You still need wide receiver talent, even after two weeks of.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
The regal season, right well, and then you know, again
we talk about the teams that they are playing. So
they're playing the AFC West obviously because they're in that division.
They're playing the AFC South, which is not considered a
strong division. You know, they're kind of a steady across
(37:39):
the board group of OK teams. They are playing the
NFC East, right, But then their wild card games, if
you want to call them that, they're they're extra games
in the schedule. Are the Eagles, who they just lost
to the Ravens coming up in two weeks and Detroit?
(37:59):
I mean, that's they've got. They've got some tough games
ahead of them on the schedule. Still, I don't think
anybody's crossing them off. And I'm still of the belief
that I would be extremely surprised, barring injury, if they
don't make the playoffs this year.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be man. I kind of
look at it and and it's.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
It's really interesting because the rest of the league, I
feel like, has the league has gotten better in a
lot of respects Now, obviously Carolina is a whole different story,
and that's an NFC problem. But when we look at
the AFC, teams have gotten better. The teams of last
year aren't necessarily the teams that are gonna be this year.
And the power structure has swung. I mean, Kansas City
(38:50):
has owned the AFC. You know, Patrick Mahomes has never
not known an AFC Championship game appearance in his entire
starting career.
Speaker 6 (38:58):
Think about that, Rob, It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
That's that's absurd.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
And you know, those dynasties, when you get them, they're great.
But the one thing about a dynasty is at some
point the dynasty ends because it's not a constant.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
And so look a march into Rome. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
You know, the Byzantine Empire was great for a long time.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
And then you had and and then you had you know,
some uh some guys come over from from from from
the East that didn't like that, and uh, you know,
they went and they took down business te in Egypt.
But uh, but you know, I just I look at
that power structure and somebody has to win.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
And the Chargers, you know, are a team.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
That's always been on the cusp, right, They've always been
a team on the.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
Verge of something.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
All the way back to Drew Brees and Philip Rivers
and now they have adjusted Herbert and and you know
what's going to unlock that. And then for the Raiders
a proud organization. You know that we all know with
the Steelers and the Raiders back in the seventies, uh,
you know, there was just there was a huge rivalry
about who was going to you know, the Super Bowl.
(40:17):
They that's kind of how that went during that era.
And so when you see the Raiders team with the
Pete Carroll, you see Geno Smith coming over and then
trying to really revamp this team as they're in a
new location, a third location in their team's history. Right,
they were La, then they're Oakland. They were back to La,
then back to Oakland. Now they're in Las Vegas.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
And just a lot of these.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Old school AFL rivalries that are that just are deep rooted.
And you know, Kansas City was the butt of those
for a while and they weren't that competitor team now
they were. You know, now the big brother that had
the growth spurt and grew some muscles, you know, he
was working out in the gym.
Speaker 6 (40:57):
And now you're trying to figure out how everybody else
can catch up.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
So that AFC West just in general is going to
be a tough one. You look at Denver and yeah
they had a set back. He saw you know, I
don't know if you saw the little clips on Sports Center.
I did Bo Nixs and Sean Payton getting into it
on the sidelines, you know about there. So, I mean
there's a lot of turmoil and a lot of chaos
and a lot of a lot of good, good quarterback
(41:21):
play that's going on AFC West. So it's going to
be a power struggle to see how how that ends up.
I mean, they will rival us for what division can get.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
You know, more guys in yep.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
He's Max Starks, I'm Rob King. That is our AFC
recap presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider and health
plan at the Pittsburgh Steelers Back more inside the Locker
Room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifth 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 (42:12):
All right, back inside the locker room. And of course
you know what time it is.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
It is the bell lap.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
That's right, early lunch warning system engaged here T minus
seven minutes until lunch forage is initiated here in you know,
wherever you're at, wherever you're listening to this, and if
you're on podcast delay, you know, making lunch time anyways,
even if you listen to it later in the time,
it's okay, Yeah, lunch times anytime.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
The Lord of the rais I got second breakfast. You
can have second that is true.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
Second, bring you have second lunch? Why not? Why not
second breakfast?
Speaker 5 (42:54):
You know?
Speaker 6 (42:57):
Yeah, I mean it's got all right, you know you've
got to have that.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
So Max, we only have a couple of minutes. This
is the bell that that used to sound for the
Mike Tyson fights, right, and it will be over in three minutes.
That's about what we got. Uh So let's let's recap.
You're good, You're bad. I think we can understand it.
There's some things that need to be better for the
Steelers particularly, I think the ugly unfortunately be the kickoff
(43:23):
that wasn't covered, So let's just go ahead.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
And get that out of the way. A huge, huge
momentum swing in the game.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
And it's something that I can pretty much guarantee you
Caleb Johnson will never do again. And you know, not
falling on that ball that lands in the landing area.
So you're good and you're bad from this, uh this
thirty one to seventeen loss to Seattle.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yeah, so we kind of highlighted the good at each level.
Boswell Weightman, special teams, DK metcalf first touchdown, you know,
and of course five I'll wait for Aaron Rodgers uh tying,
Brett Fahr fourth all time, Roman Wilson first first catch,
explosive plays Jalen Warren at sixty five yarder, Pat fryarm
(44:11):
of a nice twenty yarder in the game, Cow had
another one larger one, you know. And defensively, of course,
the two interceptions Jalen Ramsey and Nick Herbig. Then the
sack Peyton Wilson sacked by Jack Sawyer first of his
career were some of the goods Limiting the second running
(44:31):
back to very little yardage. Now we get to the
bat bat ken Walker still made it over the century mark.
As an individual rusher, Sam Darnold passed for almost three
hundred yards two ninety five, and you know, we just
we did not live up to our end of the
bargain in the rush game offensively, which then led to
the inaccuracies and of course Aaron throwing two interceptions, last
(44:55):
of which trying to press it to Calvin Austin and
kind of overthrows it a little bit. You know, special teams.
You know, we talked about it not good enough. On
the kickoff return average on those new dynamic kickoffs, you
got to figure out a way. You know, the opponent
was getting was getting better than was getting north of
thirty of the thirty yard line and thirty five yard line.
Most of the day we were struggling to get to
(45:17):
the twenty. So that's one that you know, how he
you don't love in that moment. You know that coverage
unit has to do better. Punt return group, you know,
do you don't have to cover that much with with
with Corlis the way he kicks, but when he does
(45:38):
OutKick the coverage every once in a while, you got it.
You got to make up for it can't can't allow
them to return the ball to near midfield. On the
coverage units lack of sack production, we're still minus four
to the rest of the field through two games. That
means we need to get after the quarterback. Pass rushes
is inconsistent. The run run defense is inconstant, just as
(46:01):
inconsistent as our run offense. So I think when you
look at the bad, that's kind of the milanane of
the bad that we kind of experienced.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
So that'll wrap it up for today, this Monday inside
the locker Room, or a reminder tomorrow we will have
Alvao Martin and we will have Bob Labriola a Tuesday
with Labs, So we have plenty to come to as
we kind of put a bow on this one, and
then as we get further into the week, look forward
to the game coming up against New England, which you know,
(46:29):
looms is a pretty important game for the Steelers. He's
Max Starks, I'm Rob King. We thank you for listening.
Inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store
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