HR2: Around the AFC

King and Starks continue to talk about the Steelers' big win, but also break down all the results around the conference from the weekend.

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Episode Transcript

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 P fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hey Optimus, how you doing, Bud? This is a short week.
Make sure you're making the Cincinnati Bud Power hours engaged.
Here our number two here optimists still rolling through. I'm
still wondering what he.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
You know, what he's delivering?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know, you always have that question, you ever wonder
when you're like on the highway and you see all
of the like these big semi trucks going by, and
and not all of them have the badging on it, right,
you know, you see like Giant Eagle, you know, you
know it's a Giant Eagle Produce and goods truck. You
know Walmart, you know these bigger brands they have the

(01:03):
fleets and everything. But it's always those just random ones,
you know, when that's not quite what you just like,
what is in there? You just you always want It's
the curiosity of it all. And I think It just
turns me into like a just a big kid all
over again every time, just wondering, you know, especially when
I'm driving on the you know, on like a road trip.
You know, you're just guessing. I wonder what they're carrying,

(01:24):
because you know, you could tell when it's like a
grain truck or fuel truck, and you know, there's certain
certain attachments trailers, so to speak, that you can kind
of figure out what it is, right, if it's a liquid,
if it's a solid, if it's mass grain, or you
know it's a box truck. You can figure out what
those things are. But every once in a while you

(01:44):
get you get you get those unknowns where you're just like,
I wonder what that is? Or the elusive double semi.
You know, those are the ones like oh yeah, okay, yeah,
so good. They had to do it twice. Yeah know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
So and you, by the way, by the way, and
I apologize that he law enforcement officials out there, you
are flooring it when you pass those guys, right, Oh absolutely.
I mean you're getting in the left and it's like
that's speed limits going where you can see who behind you,
because but I mean, I don't trust the man. They're
they're they're walking by those those vehicles. Yeah, everyone can

(02:16):
make their own decision. I'm not I'm not telling you
what you should do by any means. I'm just saying
those things make me nervous. That's one way of course
you could do that. Maybe the right thing would simply
stay behind them in the right lane.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
You could, you could, you very well, that's a very
good option. But but the gauntlet one is the one
that gets me. The one that's in the right lane
and the one that's in the passing lane, so you
can't go in left lane, and you got to take
that middle the narrow gate. Oh yeah, if if we're
three hundred fans, you got to go through the hot gate.
You know what I'm saying. It's like where everything just narrows.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Did we just go to do we go from thermopyl
and one and one in one sentence? Okay, one sentence.
We just got that.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
And you're just like, okay, just don't let anybody swear,
swearve or veer. Please let both these guys be fully
awake and nobody's dozing. Uh as as as I passed through,
and it's one of those it's that unnerving silence, you know,
like I remember was that it was a it was
a James Bond when they're where they're going with the
boats and and the and and the and and they

(03:20):
had the speedboats in like this harbor and and the
and the tug boats are pushing the two boats close
together that I can't remember which one.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
That is and it's just like no.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
And then of course also Indiana Jones had that had
a very similar scene, and that.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, in the in the best of the three movies
or the four movies, or it.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Would have been in the best, my best, the Last Crusade,
the second.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, I mean my my favorite.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
But you know what, what's yeah, because that's the scene, remember,
is going through and and the the guardians are trying
to get him. The guy's a little fez hats on, right, Yeah,
are trying to get him and he goes in between
it and the boat gets chopped up in the propeller, uh
type of deal. So similar thing. And we got sidetracked
there we went.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
We did, but we did. But you know what, you
you you use the word veer in there, I don't
you know if you recall doing that, and the veer
of course was an old running offense. Right, you run
the veer the veer option, which gets us now as
we untangle this and and and go into reverse to
the running games of the respective teams in yesterday's game.
That was not the smoothest segue, perhaps, But we're back

(04:34):
when we're back to Actresser Stadium.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Got I got, I got what you're putting down.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm here to I'm here to agree with you. I
think it was. It was very refreshing to see some
of the formation lineups and some of the movement behind
It started out right right out the gates right. You
run what would look like a run play, and it's
a Darnell Washington lead play where he's on the right side,

(05:02):
short motion between the garden tackle and a lead and
a and a play action fake with to Jalen Warren
behind Darnell Washington, and then Darnell Washington goes by untouched, unscathed.
It looked like they parted the red sea and a
dump over the top for an explosive play to start
the game. And then you had another line up the

(05:25):
second time where you have Connor Hayward and the wing
to the left. Then DK Metcalf in the backfield lined
up as a full back, and honestly, if Connor doesn't
trip because Darnell takes a drop step on on that
on that run play, and that and and that trips
Connor and Connor can't lead on Jalen and that's why

(05:47):
that play doesn't work out as well. And DK got
hit on that play as well. But I love the
play design and the fact that Arthur Smith set multiple
things up off of some of the fronts. Yesterday was
textbook just marvelous execution by Arthur Smith. The creativity was

(06:08):
on full display, and I get some things you want
to save for division play. I was glad that was
saved because it was really nice to see it refreshing
and fun because you didn't know what was going to
happen because we hadn't seen some of those formations since
training camp. And the way they utilized thirteen personnel yesterday
in a variety of different ways and didn't know you

(06:29):
could have a jumbo thirteen but we got it now. Yeah,
And I think that was what was cool. All four
tight ends got involved in the game, and that made
for a more effective run game. I mean, all three
running backs had explosive ten yard plus runs, which was
really nice to see. And they did that in the
same drive.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Actually, like that's how.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Frequently they got rotated in this game and boom. So
you saw a team this was the number one rush
defense in the league. They didn't allow more than seventy
five total yards of rushing. And what did the Steelers do?
Steelers went over went over the century mark on him.
And I think that was something that was like, okay,
all right, I like, I like where we're at. Where

(07:11):
we literally broke the hundred, you know, century mark. By
the end of the game, we were over it. Then
we took a loss on a.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Play and then end on it. Yeah, right on the nose.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
And Jalen Warren led the way eleven rushes fifty two yards,
four point seven yards per rush. A lot of people
are like, oh, well, why don't you put Kenneth Gainwell
in because of how he did against Minnesota and and
he was a lead back. Jalen Warren was up. That's
why once again I will reiterate Jalen Warren eleven fifty
two average four point seven and you know, Caleb Johnson,

(07:45):
I know they say nine, but it was like nine
and three quarters. So you know, for that magical reason,
we will we will, we will give the nod of
the quarter and call it a ten yard explosive play.
John new Smith even had a nice little jet sweep
where he came around on and got ten yards. So
you saw, you saw four big pop plays in the
run game off of a very efficient twenty eight rushes.

(08:11):
And we saw more running than we did passing in
this game. So when I look at it, the Steelers
didn't didn't wasn't on the field that much, rob and
they controlled the line of scrims Andy controlled the time
of possession because when you add it all up, the
Steelers were only on the field for forty nine total
plays that were that were scripted. Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, I will say this too. You mentioned nine and
three quarters, and we should say that's the platform from
which Caleb Johnson will continue to get more more carries. Yeah,
little Harry, little Harry Potter reference if you went to
the movies the kids. Yeah, so I know you're there.

(08:54):
I know you're there because of the girls. Yeah, so
always oh yeah for the kids. Yeah. So but I
love the way, you know, and there's a lot of
questions you're right. Do you go right back to Kenneth Gainwell,
who had the single best regular season game of his
career the week before in Minnesota ninety nine yards rushing.
You know you signed Jalen Warren to a contract extension.

(09:16):
He's your guy. He was singled out for praise yesterday
after the game. Aaron Rodgers, you know, went out of
his way to praise a couple of guys, and one
of those guys was Jalen Warren. As you mentioned, eleven
for fifty two, four point seven yards per carry, just
the two receptions for eleven yards. But Aaron Rodgers used slippery.

(09:38):
He had a run where he slipped past the defensive tackle,
kind of slipped off of a tackle attempt, and then
one step later just barreled over a defensive back who
came up to tackle him, him right in the chest,
and then dragged three or four more yard guys forward.
I think that might have been It might have been
the eleven yard run or a ten yard run for Jayalen.
It was the eleven yard yeah, the eleven yard runs

(10:00):
and he.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Stepped out of Alex right tackle.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Right, that's a big man ran over Ronnie Hickman. Yeah, random,
that's exactly right, ranover Hickman, that's exactly right. Good memory.
And also Carson Swesssinger on a blitz. We found out
why Jalen Warre is effective in that role too. Swessinger
is a terrific young player. And he came on a

(10:23):
blitz and I mean Jalen Warren stopped him in his
tracks a kind of jolting hit. Not just like a
not just like a Hey, I got in front of
you and stopped you. He jolted him. Jalen Warren appears
to very much enjoy kind of dishing it out, you know.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Oh he he, He has a thirst for contact and collisions,
and he loves showing off the ballard busting capabilities that
he has. He is going to stand in there and
he's going to shorten a couple of knicks by the
opposing guy. You know, when you think you've got it
and then it's like all of a sudden, you know,

(11:04):
it's almost like if you're doing yard work and like
you know, you you're you're trimming the grass and everything
and you hit a big tree stump and it just
thwarts your progress.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Or you're in the riding lawnmower and you just got.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
To stop it like, oh crap, okay, did I break
a blade? Like that's what that that that's the feeling
of that. And Jalen Warren is so good at it, man.
That's what makes him a three down back.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
That's why.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
That's how he initially got a job and a and
a second look with his team as an undrafted free agent,
was because of what he did in backs on backers.
He was absolutely stonewalling guys and that was his calling card.
And that's something that's still to this day. He's a
great runner, has great vision and great power upon impact.
That's why I always call him always falling forward. But

(11:51):
it's also because let's pick up that that is his jam,
that is his jem. He you know, like an artist
with a paintbrush, right, you know he he he has
he has a Jackson Pollock mentality when he comes to it.
He wants to splatter you when you break the line
of scrimmage and he just phenomenal play. And I think

(12:12):
also another key moment was when when Aaron scrambled out
to the left in that second half and he's got
a guy barreling down on him. Jalen Warren is blocking.
He was, he was blocking the blitz and when he
saw Aaron's scramble out, he then ran got beyond the
line of scrimmage and ran parallel with Aaron. That's why
Aaron was able to shovel it off to him because

(12:35):
he made himself available. He was not a route option
when that play started, and then became an option because
of situational awareness. So that's what you can't underscore enough
for the effect that Jalen Warren has, you know.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
And it was just a little six yard pass.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
It wasn't anything crazy, but it got us positive yardage
on something that could have easily have been a sack
a year or two ago.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
So and again I kind of made reference to the
way the running backs were utilized. And you know, Caleb
Johnson got some action in last week, really frankly because
he had to. Jalen Warren wasn't available in the game.
He did have Trey Sermon, But Caleb Johnson a guy
he took him the third round, you know who probably

(13:19):
took a step back after the kickoff thing, and you know,
they wanted to give him a breath, wanted to give
him a pause. He comes back in last week and
then I think it was eight carries for twenty two
last week. This week six carries for fifteen yards, you know,
not a huge yard per carry. But he was also in,
you know, towards the end of the game. He was
in a situation where the Browns knew the Steelers are

(13:40):
going to run the ball. They were just trying to
bleed the clock and so they loaded the line of scrimmage.
But you know, I would like to see Jalen getting
more carries. I'd like to see more runs in the game.
Longer drive for the Steelers kept alive a little bit.
They were, They were pretty good on third down yesterday,
but as far as the utiles, Jalen Warnger lead back

(14:02):
Kenneth Gainwell is a third down back, but also a
guy that can come in certainly as we saw in Dublin,
and carry the load as need be. He had six carries,
but he also had six receptions, so twelve touches for him,
only one fewer than Jalen Warren had. And then Caleb
Johnson with his six carries as you begin to work
him into the mix. I loved the distribution of those

(14:25):
three running backs, their touches distribution, to the touches for
those three running backs in the game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well yeah, I mean think about this. Kenny Gainwell was
your leading.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Receiver right right, in terms of receptions, yes.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, not targets, but actual catches in the game. And
it wasn't for a lot, you know, six catches for
fourteen yards, but the fact that he was six of
six targets for receptions.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Perfect day.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Obviously, DK having the best day off four catches and
of course none bigger than the Tuddy. But that's what
you're looking at between the US. See, Kenneth Gamewell had six,
Jalen Warren had two. Caleb Johnson was the only one
that did not. So that's eight eight. Eight of the
twenty one passes that Aaron completed were to running backs.

(15:13):
Then you throw on the twenty eight rushing rushing attempts
and actually really it was twenty five. Let's be honest,
it was twenty five because three of those were Neil
downs by Mason Rudolph.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Right.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
But to add that twenty five along with the eight,
this thirty three touches in the backfield, that's a pretty
good number to be in. And then, like I said,
and then you throw on four catches or four targets
being to tight ends and of course Darneld Washington having
three out of those five catches. John new Smith had

(15:46):
three catches as well, Pat Fryarmouth had a catch, and
Connor Hayward had to catch. You just see the distribution
in this team. It's very balanced, and the bingo card
is full. You know, when you're talking about guys who
could potentially catch a touchdown, every body is available except
for maybe Spencer Anderson, but who knows, maybe later in
the year he'll Aarons.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
Hands.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So maybe maybe we'll see, Maybe we'll see if we
get into a goal line situation where we get to
see Spencer Anderson go out and put his name in
the hat, because I mean, this guy was playing off
the ball. He ran a couple, he ran a couple
of good lead blocks on screens, one of those to
Kenny Gainwell around the edge. He locked up Devin Bush
and so you just see the versatil and it's a

(16:30):
fun offense to watch. Finally, when's the last time we
would say that a fun offense, a fun balanced offense
to watch. That is what's really cool about this and
watching this team play and they won the time of
possession game today, which was aided yesterday, which was aided
by the fact that they were able to run the
ball effectively for sure.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
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(17:10):
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You're in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford
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a part of the Steelers Audio Network. This is in the.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Locker Room with King and Starks on Steelers Nation Radio,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by
Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at
the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop dot Steelers.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Rodgers gets a snap back to pass looking Pump pitched
that right now wants to.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Go to Metcap hans him in the zone, touch down
to killin Metcap.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
All right, welcome back to the locker room, where I've
created my own conundrum. You know what that conundrum is?

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Max.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
I went up to uh de Kalen DK Metcalf in
the locker room. I don't know what possessed me to
ask this question, but I asked the question. I said,
is there any instance in which you would prefer to
be called de Kalen which is his name, to Kalen Metcalf?
And he said, well, actually I prefer it. And I
said what because usually when a guy goes by that

(18:28):
he prefers you know, I'm I'm guessing. And now now
now I'm afraid to ask the question of t J.
Watt Hey would you would you is there anything any
instance you'd like to be called Trent Jordan right, you know,
or Trent. I'm afraid what the answer might be. So
I asked that, and so now I'm going.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
To answer, you'd more get a scowl and a stare
and a walk off.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
Uh yeah, maya wouldn't get a word. So now my now,
my question is what do I do? And I'm looking
at you, Max, I'm like, what do we do here?
He would he his his preference is to Kalon, but
he says everybody mispronounces it, so everybody calls him DK.
So now I'm like, well, the world calls him DK,

(19:09):
but he prefers to Kalen. What do we do here? So?
I got some advice, uh, in the in the iHeart
studios today from various people, and I think the thing
to do is call him DK and occasionally roll it
to Kalen out there, because otherwise people are gonna be like,
this guy doesn't know his name, or as I was told,
you'll sound like a pedantic you know what? Uh so

(19:32):
uh and you can use whatever word you want there.
So I think we've got to go. I think we've
got to go with DK. But we got it to
Kalen call in there though we.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Did get it to Kalen calls we just heard and
so we we do know that you could say it
and and pronounce his name properly, which is what do
you know? It was just half the battle, the fact
that we could say, Okay, we know how to say
his name properly. But yeah, obviously for for purposes of
continuity of his entire career being called DK. You know,

(20:02):
we could throw a Declin in there every once in
a while, but everybody knows him as DK metcalf.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
May we will say, should we save it for touchdowns? Now?
And here's the other thing too, And we we had
a name discussion with Missy Melissa Matthews last week in
which we all confessed when we are called certain things,
uh I'm talking about not are in reference to our names,
not certain things like you know, so anyway you you

(20:32):
might get a Maximilian if you've misbehaved, right, oh yeah, right,
so proper government when you mess up, right, But we
don't want to do that here. We don't want to
say cala when you got to drag that back foot, right,
you can't do that.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, it's not scolding thing.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
It should be a praise because because usually but usually
that's when your full name gets used, if you're one
of those people that So Justin there is no Justin
Miller's at our control here in the studio. There is
no to the best of my knowledge, there's no shorthand
for Justin. Right, there's a shorthand for Maximilian, It's Max
j Right, there's J's there could be Jay, there's it.

(21:13):
You know, James is Jim, Robert is Rob or Robbie
or whatever. Bob Richard Richard, Yes, Richard, it is. We
know that. So, uh, you know what. Having said that
now on the air, I think we have to go
back to DK and roll out the occasional decalen Are

(21:34):
we agreed on that? Have we solved it in the locker.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Room and and joyous moments? That's what we do. Okay,
I believe we have a compromise.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Okay, for four catches ninety five yards twenty three point eight.
The touchdown that you just heard was a twenty five yarder.
It is the fourth consecutive game in which DK metcalf
has scored a touchdown. So he is. You know, I
don't think you're gonna get a fifteen hundred yard receiver

(22:05):
in this offense. I don't. But I do think that
he is giving the team exactly what they needed, you know,
the maturity at that position, the two time All Pro,
the ability to get physical in the blocking game, the
ability to get physical and set a tone in the
passing game. I just think he's been everything that the

(22:25):
Steelers envisioned.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
No, he has been and I think for not only him,
but I mean just when we look at the free
agents that were brought in by Omar Khan and Andy
Widel and Sheldon White, this was a consortium to find
the right type of guys, not just get a guy,
not just get the guy, but a right type of

(22:50):
guy for the Steelers organization. And DK the commitment to
not only go and trade for him, but then to
sign him to the contract saw a long term vision
for him with this team, and it just it's just
everything else kind of cascaded and fell into place, right.
You know, you had the Darius Slay signing, the Brandon Eckles,
the wan thorn Hill's, the re signing of Deshaun Elliott,

(23:13):
and that was just the immediacy of the defense. But
then you back it up and say, we're going to
continue to bolster these type of things offensively. When you
go and you and you make the late trade to
get John news Smith in here, you go and you
get Kenneth Gainwill earlier in free agency to compliment Jalen

(23:33):
Warren in the backfield, and just looking at kind of
some of those decision making processes.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Was was was pretty cool to see it.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
It's the most aggressive we've seen the Steelers in free
agency and acquiring veterans. And then of course Aaron Rodgers. Yes,
that last big piece to fall. But you you got
everything else around before you added Aaron, right. I think
that was the key to this. You went and you
fixed all these other issues, and then Aaron was dropped
in at the last moment to make sure that everything

(24:05):
blended and binded together. Because I don't think you get
the success, you get the play calling and this free
agency contribution if you don't have an Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
You know, I have to say this real quick because
we have to get around the AFC here in a moment.
But you know, when I was doing Penguin's hockey post game,
which was the majority of Sidney Crosby's career, you know,
doing the post game every night, his greatness was so
expected that after a game you might say, okay, well

(24:39):
he had a goal in and assists, But who do
we want to talk about? You know what I mean, Like,
he's the obvious guy, but he's so obvious that we
have to talk about something else. I'm almost starting to
feel that way about Aaron Rodgers. I mean, he he
is just and you know last year what happened to
Jets and you know, we call people or inform people

(25:01):
at the beginning of the year. His numbers were way
better down the stretch than his season numbers, which are
solid enough, but he was way better down the stretch,
you know, coming off in Achilles injury. And he has
just been so good that my expectations for him are
super high. And he's just he's just there and and

(25:23):
and and on occasion exceeding what are super I mean,
my expectations for him are through the roof. It's like,
I'm not even I'm not I don't know. Let me
put this a different, better way, maybe a different way.
I'm not worried in any game that Aaron Rodgers is
going to do the job. It doesn't doesn't even occur
to me. You know, of course he's going to do
the job.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, and that's that, And that's a
reasonable you know, it's crazy, it's a reasonable expectation for him.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
This isn't one where you kind of guess and you
hope and you pray that things go well for him.
You expect things to go well for him because of
the nature of the position that he plays and also
the experience that that he has. You just you just
you just know that now it's gonna happen. I was like,

(26:13):
I was like, no worries here, guys, I don't know
why we're paying a keg. Aaron's got it, you know,
It's just that that's just that's just what he's commanded
over his entirety of his career. And so we get
to these moments where we don't even bat an eye
when it becomes a tough situation because you're like, Aaron's
gonna figure it out.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
We'll be fine, Okay. So, uh, it is time for
our AFC recap, presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider
and health plan at the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't think
we're going to get to the Steelers defense today, and
and we'll talk about them tomorrow as we kind of
round the corner. We'll give a show and a half
to this in the State of the Steelers, and then
we'll do a half a show with you and then

(26:55):
a full show on Wednesday in the locker room with
West to get people ready for the Bengals. So let's
go around the AFC. Uh, there's a the Bills are
playing tonight. They're the only AFC team playing four and one,
visiting the two and two Falcons. You know, I'll be
interested to see what happens with Buffalo in that game
against the Falcons. But again, they still look like, uh,

(27:17):
they're they're cream of the crop or near cream of
the crop. Sunday morning, the Broncos defeat the Jets thirteen
to eleven. Not the prettiest game, but for the Broncos,
another victory as they continue to look like one of
those teams that's climbing with a four and two record
and the Jets still looking for their first win under
Aaron Glenn.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
It is it is really rough watching this. You know
what this team really is. And I think that's the
toughest part of this is that you know, you saw
how good they played it and narrowly lose and in
the in the opener against US, which we played, we
had we had to play above and beyond to get

(27:59):
that victory. You thought this team is probably primed for
some success justin fields, the balance of the run game,
with the passing game, explosive plays, and they have just
completely regressed and it has not looked pretty and it
has not turned out the way that they expected it
to be. And I just hope Aaron Glenn gets time,

(28:21):
you know, to figure it out to be a contender
in the AFC East. But man, it is it is
pretty bad when you finish with negative eleven passing yards
after it's all said and done.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah, that's not good. That's I think we can below
the mark. So I think we can safely say that
the Indianapolis Colts are five and one. They defeat Arizona
come from behind thirty one to twenty seven. Same thing
we're hearing about this year. There's people saying about the Colts. Yeah,
but who have they played? Well, they played six NFL

(28:56):
teams and they've beaten five of them.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Exactly. It's not it's not hard math. It's not hard
math at all. Like this is this is what the
game is. You can only play the schedule you're dealt.
The second you start going outside of that traid, oh
well it doesn't look as good at Oh who is it?
And all these other It doesn't matter. Did they beat
who was on the schedule?

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yep?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Did they beat who was on the schedule?

Speaker 3 (29:21):
They did five out of six times, and.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Daniel Jones is just playing at a at a very
high level. Yes, obviously where everybody's waiting for the shoe
to drop at some point. But guess what shoe has
a drop yet? So you're gonna keep on dancing.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Right, I think you're gonna keep on dancing. That's right.
Chargers defeat the Dolphins twenty nine, twenty seven. Things just
not looking good in Miami at all. The Chargers improved
a four and two again, you know where the style points.
Where's the blowout victory? What's going on here? Well, you know,
you only you only have to win. And by the way,
I said this on DV this morning for people that

(29:57):
you know, kind of wring their hands about the one
score games to you get into it. Look, man, I'd
like to see him. We talked about this. I thought
they were on the cusp of really widening a lead
up in New England. Didn't happen. New England came back
in that game. You know, There's been other instances where
I thought this year, I thought that the Steelers are
on the brink of blowing out Minnesota. But just even

(30:18):
if you're not a gamboer, and I'm not a gamber.
Just go look at the lines one week, right, they're
all one score lines, almost all of them are you
know they're they're because games are close in the NFL.
It's just the way it goes. So the Chargers win,
they don't even style points. The Patriots didn't need style points.
They defeat the Saints twenty five to nineteen. So the

(30:38):
Patriots have now improved to four and two. Let's look
at a couple more games here, the Browns. Of course,
the Steelers beat the Browns. You know, the Jaguars. Look,
I still think they're a solid team. They get defeated
by Jacksonville or by Seattle. Both teams are now four
and two, and Seattle's looking like that defense is real,

(31:00):
and you know the potential to be a top ten defense,
Well they're they're cashing in in that potential. And the Jaguars,
I think at four and two, that's not a horrible
loss to them at home against Seattle. I still think
they're one of those teams that's in the mix.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
No, they absolutely are, and until proven otherwise, you have
to take Sam Donald and this team and this team
for real. You can't you can't sit there and say, oh,
but it's like, no, no, this this team. If you
are not if you are not preparing, you are not
on your p's and q's, they will they will kno,
knock your you know what in the dirt. And they're

(31:39):
They're a very tenacious team, a very physical team, and
that's the brand of football that they've decided to play
with Mike McDonald. So you know, you have to take
them at face value right now until otherwise.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Proven Ravens are one and five. After they fall to
the Rams seventeen to three, they've got to buy coming
up their home and to get a lot of their
guys healthy. I still think even at one five, I
would not count them out yet. You know, let's see
what happens to them after the bye. But we can
talk about them after the bye. The game in which, well,

(32:13):
you say, somebody had to win it, but a tie
was still possible. The Raiders defeat the Titans by the
score of twenty to ten. The Packers defeat the Bengals
twenty seven to eighteen. First game for Joe Flacco, so
he'll have you know, we'll talk more about him coming up.
He'll have a game under his belt in Cincinnati system.

(32:33):
And the upshot now is the Bengals are two and four,
the Steelers are four and one. So that is a
big game for the Steelers with Baltimore and Cleveland both
at one and five in the division, for the Steelers
to continue to plow their way forward in the division.
And the one that I kind of wanted to ask
you a little bit about. You know, the Chiefs long

(32:55):
lived the King. The king is dead, long lived the King.
Right they're you know, they've played an absolutely brutal schedule
and you know, talking to friends of mine that really
followed the NFL, and the question was, you know, who
is the best team in the NFL right now? Who's

(33:16):
really good? Because the Eagles have faltered, the Chiefs had faltered.
We've seen the Bills lose a game. Oh you know,
my goodness, why would they lose a game? And you
know the Chiefs chargers Philadelphia, Okay, they played the Giants.
Then they get Baltimore, who was I think still healthy
at the time. You get Jacksonville, you get Detroit. That's

(33:37):
a pretty tough schedule. They're three and three now, but
they you know, I think if you, if you well,
Detroit was number one. We do those power rankings right
just to check in on how people feel like feel
about teams in the league. Detroit was number one in
the league and Kansas City kind of took it to
them last night.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, after that first drive, it was all casey and
you know, and it finished off with a with a
good old scrum Brian Branch refusing to shake Patrick mahomes
hand and then got into a dust up with Juju
Swift Schuster and then it led to a bench clearing
melee at the end of the game. You know, you know,

(34:16):
you never count out the Chiefs, no matter how bad
it is, you never count them out because Patrick Mahomes
will come up with some magic and he will figure
out a way. And that team, because they're so used
to playing so late in the year, it takes them
a while to get ramped up. But when they do,
that's when you've got issues. Luckily, the Chargers jumped out

(34:37):
to a three to zero division lead, so keep it
a lot tighter than what it's been in years past
with the AFC West.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
But it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Interesting to see the Chiefs down the line because they
are a very good squad.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yep. And how the Chargers handle the pressure of being
the team. Now everybody's chasing, right, That's a little bit
different deal when everybody's gunning for you at the top
of a division. So interesting stuff off our AFC recap
once again presented by the official healthcare provider and health
plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that is UPMC. You
are in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford

(35:11):
Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
part of the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
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Speaker 3 (35:48):
I'm waiting for something, justin I'm waiting Max. Are you ready?
Are you ready? Max? Max? Are you ready?

Speaker 2 (36:00):
And if you're ready, then we're ready for the bell lap.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Three months and I'm still laughing at that man.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Sometimes, I mean, you gotta you gotta be elusive with it,
you gotta be a ninja with it. You can't just
can't just throw it out there all willy nilly, you
gotta you gotta have some build up. You got a
little little little intrigue there. But that is your early
lunch warning system. Remember, stay tuned with us while you're
gnaching during the lunch o'clock hour because Mike Townlin is
coming out with a press conference right after this, so

(36:35):
you don't want to turn the station. You want to
make sure that you're still listening actively.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
A lot of good things.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
You want to hear the recap of the game, but
more importantly preview for the Cincinnatians of course, injury updates.
Understand where everybody's at.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
You know, a lot of guys held out.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
At the end of the game because of precautionary reasons,
but some guys might be nicked up, thinking like Miles
killer Brew.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Yeah, when you hear significant you know, I don't like
the sound of that.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yeah, you don't like the sound of that. But you know,
obviously we will figure out what that is. No need
to parse through the tea leaves, because Mike town will
give you that answer. So that'll be right up after
this at the top of the hour.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
We also want to remind folks to gear up with
the latest game the necessities at the official Steaders Pro shops.
Get the latest sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible towels, authentic memorabilia
and custom exclusives you can only find directly from the team.
Visit one of the officials Steelers Pro shops located at
Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets or Tanger out Let's

(37:33):
or gear Up Online atshop dot Steelers dot com. Get
it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop
at shop dot Steelers dot com. So Max mentioned a
little while ago that that Aaron Rodgers, you know, in
in his postgame press conference yesterday, singled out for praise

(37:54):
Jalen warn I also an he singled out for praise
Darnell Washington. And as long as we're talking about the offense,
and I think we're going to save the defense and
his singling out Jalen Ramsey for praise for tomorrow's show,
Darnell Washington eighty percent of the snaps. And it's clear

(38:16):
that Aaron Rodgers likes what Darnell Washington brings to the table,
is intrigued by Darnell Washington, you know, had that big
play right out of the shoot. We also know that
he can mash people in the running game, and so
you know, you've got a weapon that is being utilized
a little bit differently in Darnell Washington than we've seen

(38:38):
him utilize to this point of his career.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
This was what we expected when we drafted him to
be utilized as, and obviously personnel at the quarterback position
didn't quite figure out a way to really weaponize him
and utilize him properly. You know, they thought of him
as just, you know, a big blocking tight end. That
will you be sorely mistaken if you really thought of

(39:02):
Darnel Washington's only a run blocking tight end. The guy
has hands, the guy has and it takes multiple human
beings to attempt to take him down. So when you
have that type of guy and got to have it moment,
you have to believe the more time spent with Aaron,

(39:25):
the more valuable he becomes. And we saw that yesterday,
you know, being able to catch a team off guard
that was not planning on it because he hadn't had
a lot of receptions, right, He'd only been oft used
and like you said, most of the time he was
used as like an extra tackle essentially, and he is
the size of a normal NFL tackle, but he happens
to run very effortlessly and he has super soft hands,

(39:47):
I believe, softer hands than Spencer Anderson. That's why he
has the seventies number. But that's that that that's that's
a heck of a place to be in. And I
think for Aaron who has a history of loving his
tight ends because they get you out of a lot
of problems. There're those hybrids. They're the guys you can't
account for, and you often overlook them because you've got

(40:09):
guys like DK metcalf that that that looked like they
were chiseled from marble out there on the edges that
you got to worry about, or you have speechters like
a Calvin Austen that you have to account for, and
then you forget about the part time guys, right, you
forget about the part timers. That's why I like call
it tight ends. Tight Ends are part timers, are part
time blockers, part time pass catchers. And when you have
a part timer of that elusive skill set, now teams

(40:32):
have to notice and guess what, when you chew up
the middle of the field, it gives you one on
ones on the outside.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Yep, that's exactly the right guys available to you.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
So it just creates the conundrum. And in single high situations, right,
you can't you can't sit there and double the slot
You've got to you gotta worry about that tight end
that you that might blow past you and then run
an endbreaking route and you've got guys in man coverage.
So there's a lot of utility to the way that
Aaron spreads the ball out in the psychology of it
that puts d defenses in a bind. When you see

(41:02):
that two running backs and four and four different tight
ends touched the.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Ball on game day.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
When you're watching film, you're like, holy crap. I was like,
there's eight different guys and four of them are all
you know, quote unquote part timers. You know, and running
backs are part times because they part time rush the ball,
date part time block, and they part time catch.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
And by the way, why this is what I call
it part timer. The sixty two yards for Darnell the
most that he's ever had in a game in his career,
So congratulations to Darnell. Washington continues to be simpatico with
Aaron Rodgers and a big part of the students offense
eighty percent snapshare for him tops among all tight ends.
We're going to get to the defense tomorrow. You're gonna
get to Mike Tomlin coming up next. You can hear

(41:43):
from the head coach as we conclude our thanks to
Justin Miller in our studios and Max Starks as we
conclude this edition of In the Locker Room, presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store and the Students Pro Shop on
Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.