November 14, 2025 • 49 mins
Missi Matthews joins Max and Rob to continue the discussion on this weekend's matchup against the Bengals. The guys also chat about the keys to a Steeler victory.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
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Speaker 3 (00:35):
Am, all right, our number two here inside the locker room.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Of course, it's the power hour. And of course when
you hear the base boom and you know it can
only be one person, the one, the only, the great
Smithy Matthews of course, now are trying angle is complete
with the broadcast crew here. How are you doing today, Missy?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
I'm doing good, guys, I'm excited for the game.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
By the way, we're fooling ourselves.
Speaker 6 (01:11):
If we think this is an equilateral triangle, we know
there's nothing equal lateral about it.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Totally that triangle we did. We didn't go with the distribution.
We didn't want to know who's the ninety degree or
who who you know, who's sitting there in a lesser
angle than the other and more obtuse and acute. But
we we are we are we are the trio. We
are the trio that that is so you know, it varies,
it varies. It's a moving triangle.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
So we are going to hit up Missy with our
Steelers injury report presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider
and health plan at the Pittsburgh Steelers. No Isaac cmalo
Isaac cmalo last week against the Chargers, and we haven't
seen cool Hulkum in a while. We haven't seen Jabrill
Peppers in a while. We haven't seen Scotti Miller in
a while.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Missy.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
What are we looking at as far as the steel
His injury update heading into this game against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, Cole Holgum looks
like he's working his way back. He didn't practice on Wednesday,
He's been around the facility. Yesterday he was limited, so
you know, I take that as a good sign. And
then I think, you know, Broderick Jones a growin injury.
Max would know more about playing with you know, an
injury like that as an offensive lineman. But he also
you know, went from not practicing to limited. So hopefully
(02:28):
if he can go full today, they'll feel good about
that and be able to go on Sunday. But I
do think it looks promising for Isaac Sayumalu. I think
maybe he did need that game off with that peck
injury since he reinjured it or kind of you know,
RePOP it pops back up, and he wasn't able to
finish that last game, miss the Chargers game. He did
(02:49):
come to LA with the team. He's been limited the
whole week, but I think for a guy like that,
you don't need him to be full three days in
a row to get him, you know, ready to go.
But I think, you know, the Alex high Smith injury,
that's not one that I love, especially because you know,
I feel like he's been on a roll, and of
course you want everybody you can to be healthy on
(03:10):
that defense.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Yeah, and Missy and you know, obviously this is the
time of year, right. I always say this, and I've
said this since the first day of training camp. It's
not a matter of if, but a matter of when
you'll see attrition, when you'll see Now, granted the Steelers
have seen I felt like they're far more than the
Lion's share of issues. I'm trying to think when we've
(03:36):
actually had a game where we've actually gone in with
all healthy forty six that were planned to be the
forty six. I can't think of one one game this
season that we've actually gone through it. But especially this
late in the season, there's always something, there's always an issue,
and I know, you know what Isaac, I felt like
it was. It was more magnified just because we experienced
(03:59):
really a majority of those injuries on the defensive side
of the ball, and now we start to see the
attrition hit the offensive side of the ball, and you know,
we had we had made so much progress, right with
that sixth offensive lineman Spencer Anderson being the utility guy
you know, and even got to catch this season. He's
in the record books right for for having a catch,
(04:21):
but now asked to play more left guard, uh in
the absence because he is the sixth man off of
the bench from the offensive line, the first guy to
go in and fill in because of his versatility. But
we saw how it kind of hurt a little bit
of the Steelers offensive attack and the way that they
planned and the fact that you had to lose Spencer
(04:44):
for for a play after he's declared and was anything
mentioned a boy Art this just far about the mechanics
about how they're going through this and obviously the decision
you know, to go with Andrews Pete as a guard
position or any think along the lines of how they're
planning on adjusting accordingly if this is an extended injury
(05:05):
for Isaac c Amalo.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Yeah, I think you know, Coach Sellen was asked about
it as well, and I think, you know, the jumbo
package with moving pieces as difficult as you said, because
there's more people moving, there's plays that need to be
taken off, and they all had great things to say
about Andreous Pete. But I do think that, you know,
if you can get Isaac healthy and he can start
(05:30):
and sensor Anderson is just what he has been in
terms of that sixth guy, then there's that continuity that
I think is obviously, of course so important for offensive
line in general. But I think for what they've been
accomplishing and clearly not running the ball enough and being
able to control the ball is something this offense has
to do better to win the time of possession, to
(05:53):
give themselves a better chance and to not have a
repeat performance like they did in LA. So hopefully those
you know, if you can solidify some of those things,
then moving forward into the weekend, hopefully you can kind
of get back on track on that end.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Mister, what's been talked about with the offense, I mean,
you know, Aaron Rodgers after the game said some things
that I think we're true.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He said, look, he didn't play very well.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
He owned that. He also said there didn't appear to
be a lot of receivers open. I think part of
that might be because the Chargers were able to get
home rushing four, we're able to drop seven. He said
he wasn't sure whether maybe he stepped into some sacks
or whether the offensive lines, you know, the pressure he
was feeling was was legitimate and not you know, something
that he created by stepping into the pocket. Regardless of
(06:40):
what the reasons are this offense, you know, going against Cincinnati,
maybe they'll be what cures him. They've been what cures
a lot of teams because their defense has been terrible.
But this offense has to get back on track and
has to be more consistent than it's been to this
point of the season.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, and I think, you know, one of the talking points,
and obviously I think everybody wants to see Jalen Moore
and get more touches and more commitment to the run game,
and that would then help. I think the DK Metcalf thing.
You know, everybody wants to see him clearly get the
ball more. You're paying him to get the ball more
and to do the things that we have seen, you know,
an ady yard touchdown, just the yak yards what he
(07:20):
is able to do. But I do agree in terms of,
you know, it felt like other people weren't able to
get open, which if there's so much attention on DK,
then someone else needs to do something so that Aaron
can go to that side of the field or wherever.
So maybe it's a combination of you know, other guys
doing things better. DK said, hey, look I flattened my
(07:41):
route a little bit on that one that could have
been a touchdown in the end zone earlier in that
Chargers game. Aaron kind of took the flame too. But
you know, DK was like, look that I did that
that was on me. He thought I was staying you know,
on my normal round, staying hi, and unfortunately it didn't work.
You know, that could have changed a lot of things too.
But I think I think other people helping out would
(08:02):
be great as well, and maybe it's even DK moving
around more. So it feels like everybody is really intent
on making this offense more efficient and better this week
against the Bengals, and statistically, you can't deny the fact
that they are one of the worst defenses in the
league the amount of yards that they give up in
(08:23):
different things. So hopefully this is something where they can
kind of write the ship and get back into that
groove that it felt like we were seeing from them
since the defense then got going. But you know, complimentary
football is not an easy thing to do, and unfortunately
for the Steelers I feel like, you know, at this point,
they really need to figure it out. We are in
week eleven now, which is crazy, you know, we're in
(08:45):
double digits. So hopefully something can change on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yes, indeed, Missy, and I can tell you this, I am.
I'm hoping that, you know, these slow starts that have
that have kind of plagued the offense as of late,
you know, whether whether it's been you know, not being
able to get on the same page, like you said,
missing some of those big throws, the plays that are
(09:12):
there that just kind of get a little bit, you know,
out of whack. Like I think about, you know, two
weeks ago, trying to trying to hit a play, you know,
to John U to start the game against the Packers,
and that one kind of missing, and that that DK
play kind of looks similar to it. Obviously a different play,
different personnel group, but just similar feeling right where it's like,
(09:36):
this is the play that's supposed to do it, and
then it's like false start or you know, something kind
of misfires in that early going in the in those
top fifteen that seem like the home run plays as
they're drawing up. I mean, you know, we look at
the fast stars the Steelers had, and I remember we
(09:57):
were kind of remarked about this, you know, at the
beginning of the season, like we were talking about how
long it took for us to have an opening drive touchdown,
and then it felt like the opening drive touchdowns were
just coming every single week, and then it's kind of
dried up. You know. I would say the Bengals game
was the last time we really saw that fast kind
of start. But then something goes wrong and you know,
(10:17):
we're still waiting for that complete game from both teams,
you know, or both sides of the ball, I should say,
not teams, but both sides of the ball. And you know,
is you know when you talk about week eleven, I mean,
is this the emphasis like, hey, can we all just
get on the same page? Because at first it was
an office that was doing their job, and then defense,
(10:38):
you know, was having their struggles early on as they
were figuring out their identity, and then it seems like
there's been a shift where the defense is doing their job,
but you can't leave them on the field for thirty
seven minutes and expect them to just defend everything for
that long and there has to be a fifty to
fifty split there. Do you feel like there's kind of
that type of you know, I'm not gonna call it
(11:01):
like elephant in the room, but do you feel like
they're kind of understanding that aspect of it that they
need to get on the same page both of those units?
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Absolutely? You know, I feel for the defense, it's almost
been a every week thing of like who's playing, who's not?
How are we going to fix that situation? Whether it
was Deshaun Elliott earlier in this season, then he came
back then unfortunately hyper extended is me and he's been out.
You know, I do think having Jalen Ramsey in one
(11:34):
spot taking command of the back end of that defense
has been a really good thing for them. Obviously, Kyle
Dugger came in and probably exceeded people's expectations of jumping
on the quote unquote moving train. Now you might not
have Sleigh this week, so what happens there, So I
feel like they're always sort of dealing with that. And
then for the offense, as you said, like it felt
(11:56):
like things were clicking earlier, but I just think, you know,
you have a season low ten point scored and then
the turnovers, which is something that is not very Aaron
Rodgers esque. So you know, there's a number of things
that I think they can do better. And it does
almost feel like it's more on the offense this week
to write the ship by bringing their A game into
(12:18):
this game, and hopefully the defense can just continue on
the you know trajectory that they are currently on. But
you know, you can't always rely on these you know, takeaways,
which they do and it does make this defense go.
But at the same time, you know, there was not
really much more you could ask from the Steelers defense
in LA. You could tell that those guys were they
(12:41):
were huffing and puffin' because of just how much they
were on the field. And it wasn't even just like
the time. It was the lack of rest in between
the times they were out there, the three and outs
and whatnot, just really not going their way. So hopefully
they can work in unison and sing a lovely and
hopefully come out with a victory.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Oh very nice, Missy.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
By the way, Missy's down there on the field, so
Missy can feel those you know, you can kind of
feel where the defense sits and whether they're huffing and
puffing out there. And I mean it looks pretty clear
from us like they're just they're just defending too much.
We were talking to Matt Williamson yesterday for the Matchup show,
and he said, if this disparity continues in time of possession,
(13:27):
the students defense will you know, by time have played
three more games then the Steelers offense by minutes playing.
That's crazy, that's.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Nuts, that's nuts. Yeah, you can't have that. And it's
crazy too just in terms of when you're looking at
some of the numbers, you know, the average yards per
game by the Steelers is under three hundred and they
are one of only two teams that have five or
more wins with that average. So it's clearly not sustainable.
(13:59):
It's only working currently for two teams. And to MAT's point,
it's not something that you can continue and say it's fine,
like it will just keep working at some point. It's not.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, no, it definitely isn't, Missy, And I think that's
kind of one of the crazy things to think about
this as we kind of get into this, you know
game coming in the Sunday. Obviously the biggest storyline this
is you know, we had Ikey on here earlier from
from Germany and he called he dubbed this the unk Bowl.
(14:37):
Yeah we we We've also called it the Icy Hot Bowl. Uh,
you know, it's to get off my get off my
yard game type of deal. But you know, there's just
so many adages because, like you said, when you have
two quarterbacks obviously Super Bowl champions and playing this late
in their career. You know, I looked at the game
and and I don't know if this is in your
(14:59):
notes not, but the only other game where head to
head forty year old quarterbacks played against each other was
Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Obviously, when Tom Brady went
down to the Buccaneers and Drew Brees was still with
the Saints and they had some head to heads there,
But this, the matchup that we had with Joe and
(15:22):
Aaron actually was the most touchdowns scored by a pair
of forty year old quarterbacks in a game. That's wild
to me. And they blew out the record too, because
the record was four with Brady and breeed that on
his own, yeah exactly. I was like, man, I was like,
this is this is wild that they just you know,
(15:44):
what can we expect? Do you think this is going
to be one of those shootouts again? Are you anticipating that?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
I feel like the defense, the Steelers defense, I should say,
is going to do a better job than they did
that Thursday night game. But you cannot just count that.
You now have a larger sample size of Joe Flacco
and a Bengals uniform with the eligibles that they clearly
have that are just so impressive. So maybe it might
(16:11):
have to come down to that, which is not something
I think you want for the Steelers offense when you
just scored your season low and you feel like you're
not on track but clearly the Bengals are very capable
of doing that. And it's insane because the last game
they won was against the Steelers in Week seven, and
they've been putting up all these points and it just
(16:31):
hasn't been good enough because the defense on their end
hasn't been able to help them out. And I don't think,
you know, for the Bengals, it was very clear that,
especially after that Chicago game, some of the offensive guys
were kind of like, yeah, like where was the defense?
And you could feel that just watching postgame interviews. I
(16:51):
don't think that's happening with the Steelers at all, but
it is still. You don't want to get to that
point basically, is what I'm saying. And they're certainly not
there because I think the whole season it has been
you know, Joe Burrow got hurt, Jake Browning maybe did
not handle the responsibility as well as he could have,
hence why they traded for Joe Flacco. But their defense
(17:14):
has never really brought their a game. So hopefully the
Steelers can kind of change that that for them and
the Bengals come Sunday.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
You know, one other thing in this game, you never
know if it's going to be another close game that
could be a factor. And one of the things that
I think we've come to expect is that the special
teams unit under Danny Smith units are going to give
the Steelers an edge. And it really wasn't an edge.
And we had two great kickers, each of them missed
a kick. There was a fumbled punt by muffed punt
(17:47):
by Keishawn Williams later in the game. Hopefully a little
bounce back from that unit. And look, Chris Boswell is
entitled to miss one. He's only missed one that wasn't
either blocked or remember he slipped in the wet field,
so he's allowed to miss one. But overall, you know,
the Chargers return units and their coverage units had not
been great to see us didn't make a play there.
(18:08):
It would have been nice to, you know, maybe make
a play when the team is struggling. We talk about
offense and defense, but you know, maybe Calvin Austin back
returning punts. Will have to see this week, but you know,
maybe the special teams can can contribute to a Steelers
victory on Sunday as well.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Yeah, definitely, and it will be interesting to see if
Calvin Austin kind of comes back, or if they stick
with Keishawn Williams, who I mean obviously was very electrifying
the second he got called up and was able to
do stuff a penalty. Unfortunately, that one long return that
he had kind of you know, ruined that moment for him.
But it is something that has to be clearly, you know,
(18:48):
on high alert in terms of not letting special teams
in terms of Cincinnati beat the Steelers in that category,
that's something that if you can control that, then you're
not worrying about much. And Max I was telling Rob
yesterday that Boz has fifty three field goal attempts against
the Bengals in his career. He's made fifty of them,
(19:11):
and I remember a lot of those games where that
won the game or tied the game, or you know,
probably came into fourth quarter, overtime or something. So hopefully
that streak for Boz also continues. Is he heads back
to the comforts of Afrosher Stadium where it does not
matter which way the wind is blowing, if it's raining, bleeding, snowing,
(19:32):
Boz just thrives in that environment, which is not likely
for most other kickers.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
No, absolutely missy. Now, I completely agree. I mean, Boz
I didn't even know he's made that many geese. I mean,
I know he's kicked a ton of field goals, and
you know, we know how accurate he's been, But man,
that is that. I mean, I would love to do
the researcher figure out who has the record for most
field goals made. It's one opponent, you know, as a kicker,
(20:02):
that would be one, because I have to feel like
he's somewhere up there in that top five list easily
with that. No, because that's that's that's yeah, it has
to be right. We're gonna have to do some super
sleuthing on that one to figure that out, because yeah,
we we have to celebrate that the Wizard of Boss
needs to walk down the black and gold lane brick lane,
(20:26):
because that's that's that's that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
So by the way, absolutely, yeah, go ahead, miss I'm sorry, no,
go ahead, please, No.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
I'm just gonna say he has attempted three and twenty
nine field goals since he joined the team, and fifty
three are against one team. I don't know. I'm not
great at math. I have Pro Football Reference pulled up
to try to figure out his different attempts, first teams
and whatnot, and maybe this is you know, I put
a little call into Michael Birch of the PR team
(20:56):
to see if he can help, because he's better at
finding out those things that require iro man.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
So yeah, when you you know, you mentioned all the elements,
excuse me, and they could be a factor.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
So, first of all, my heart will be with you.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
As I'm riching for an extra warm cup of coffee
in the heated press box while you're down there, and
it's in the low forties with the wins up to
fifteen twenty miles an hour, missy. That aside, it could
be a factor for the passing game, It could be
a factor for the field goal kicking units. Both you
(21:32):
guys have spent a lot of times on the sideline.
Have you seen the conditions at Akrascher Stadium previously Hind Stadium.
Of course affect the team either in the kicking game
or throwing the football, and I think both of those things,
by the way, would be a favor. It would favor
the Steelers if the win does actually affect that, not
(21:54):
because Aaron Rodgers isn't as good as Joe Flacco, but
because to see this running game is better than the
Bengals running game. And so have you seen the conditions
down there, Missy affect the team's ability to throw and
kick it after?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Oh yeah, I mean it's you know why if you
win the toss and you know, when teams are deciding
which way to go to. You know, we joke about it,
but Danny Smith when he comes out for pregame warmups
has it's not even a towel. It's like thinner than
a towel, but it looks like one of the you know,
ones the quarterbacks use, and he just kind of like
(22:28):
flails it around the field tries to see where wind is,
you know, which way it's going over here, and then
he walks around and it is like a real science
in terms of trying to figure that out. And I
do think sometimes you know, obviously, I think an AFC
norths team that plays out in the elements, it's not
as much of a plus one for the Steelers. They're
used to it, but it's the way that the wind
(22:50):
can sometimes just be in the lower bowl of the
stadium that obviously Boz is very in tune too, you know,
he doesn't it's not like Boz never kicks an actressure
sometimes during the week, Go go do it. You know,
it's not just on the south side because he wants
to be where they're going to be as well. And
I think that it's weird when you guys are like, hey,
(23:11):
is it windy down there, and I'm like, yeah, look
at my hair, and then you're looking at the field
goal post and you're like, but those flags aren't moving,
And that is just something that can play into it.
So hopefully, I'm all for elements if it helps the Steelers,
you know, like if it's going to rain and be miserable,
I want it to be a plus one on our side,
not even things out or give a plus one to
(23:33):
the other team. So I will suffer through as long
as it helps us.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yes, stay were Missy, Yes exactly. We will be looking
forward to your.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Contributions, of course, valuable contributions. Nobody's a team player like
Missy Matthews and we know she can always brings a
lot to the table and we'll continue to do that
and does it on the show as well.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Missy, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
We have our keys to the Game presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store. Coming up next with Max Stars when
we continue in the Locker Room presented by our neighborhood
Fords Store and the Steer This Pro Shop on See
This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Man, if we got a big game for you coming
up on Sunday at Afresher Stadium, your first place Pittsburgh Students,
kind of just hanging out of that a little bit
by the fingernails, having lost for you the last four,
the Baltimore Ravens closing fast, they won their last three games,
and the Cincinnati Bengals unbeaten in the division, with an
opportunity to pull within a game of the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They'd be two to zero against the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
In the head to head, which would be finished for
the season if they win this game, So that would
put them right back.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
In the race.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
A loss drops them to three and seven and makes
it very very difficult to imagine them, you know, winning
out if you figure it's probably gonna take ten wins
to take the division. Man, if you're three and seven
and you're the Bengals, you got to win out and
that would be a very very tough road for them.
So important game for both teams, clearly, Max. So let's
(25:36):
get to our Keys to the Game presented by your
neighborhood Fords Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So give me a key
for this team on offense for the Steelers to be
able to win this game against the Bengals on Sunday.
(25:59):
I don't believe that we have Max. It sounds like
we've lost Max. We're going to try to find Max
because we need them. We need his keys to the game.
We're looking for Max to give us the keys to
a Steelers victory. So, by the way, while we're doing this,
you know, talked about where the Bengals sit and three
(26:21):
and six, and they're you know, sure kicking themselves as
we mentioned, for scoring eighty points and losing. You know,
when you think about three and seven, you also have
to Okay, so could they win seven in a row.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Of course, they could win seven in a row.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
But the matchups are the Patriots at home, at the Ravens,
at the Bills, Ravens at home.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
That's their next four games.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Even if they win this game, it's going to be difficult,
but still it gives them a puncher's chance. It gives
them the capability of just being one game behind. Now
you can lose a couple of games. They finish up
at the Dolphins, against the Cardinals, against the Browns. So
if you want to play the schedule game, you know,
if they win this game, it's not hard for them
(27:04):
at It's not hard to imagine them now as a
four and six team beating the Browns, beating the Cardinals,
beating the Dolphins. Okay, now you're a seven and sixteen
and so to you know, to win the division, you've
got to find a way to win your share of
games against the Patriots, the Ravens, the Bills, and the Ravens. Again,
you're gonna have to split with the Ravens and then
(27:26):
you're gonna have to beat you know, the Bills and
or the Patriots to have you to give yourself a chance,
and who knows, maybe nine to eight takes this division.
But it's just very, very difficult to imagine a Bengals
team dropping to three and seven. And Dan Horde, who
joined us earlier, set as much that at three and seven,
it's gonna be really, really difficult for this Bengals team
(27:49):
to try to make the playoffs. So not a must
win game because it doesn't eliminate them from the playoffs,
but about as close as you can come to a
must win games. Steelers are taking on the Bengals today
for Cincinnati now obviously an important game for the Steelers too,
because the Steelers find themselves in reverse mode, having lost
(28:09):
through their last four, still in first place in the division.
But you want to get this thing rectified. If you're
the Steelers, you want to get yourself back in the
win colm, You want to get yourself feeling good because
the stretch of difficult games continues for them as well.
Now when we talk about the Ravens right on a
roll right now, they defeated the Bears, they defeated the Dolphins,
(28:31):
they defeated the Vikings. They improved to four and five,
they're at the Browns on Sunday. I know it's a
division matchup, I know it's not an easy game, but
again you kind of think, Okay, they're probably going to
be five and five. Then they take on the Jets
at home and the Bengals at home. Is it hard
not to imagine them being seven and five before they
(28:54):
host the Steelers. They have three consecutive home games coming up.
Hard not to imagine them being seven and five against
the Steelers on December seventh, when they play their first
of two matchups over the last five games of the season.
So if you're playing the schedule game and we all
kind of peek ahead to the schedule and see what's
(29:14):
coming up, it is hard not to imagine the Ravens
being seven and five and having won, by the way,
six consecutive games going to that game against the Steelers.
So for the Steelers, you know, holding serve, keeping pace,
maintaining that distance ahead of you when it comes to
the Ravens and certainly when it comes to the Bengals,
(29:36):
and if you figure this game, if they can win
this game, that makes it a two team race. It
puts you at six and four, then you're at Chicago,
really really important game. And then you take on the
Bills at home, so it doesn't get easy before you
take on the Ravens. Now you do have the Lions,
you do have Cleveland, but it's at Cleveland. You have
(29:56):
the Ravens at home to end up the regular season.
You still haven't the Lions yet. The raven seltam played
the Packers yet, so they've got some difficult games too.
So clearly an important game here for both these teams.
And I Max, are you do? We have Max back?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Now? Yeah, I'm here, Okay you are.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
So just played the schedule game Max to underscore the
importance of this game and this weekend for everybody involved.
The Steelers cannot afford to slip up. They just can't
to fall the five and five. Their schedule. The remaining
schedule appears to be more difficult than the Ravens schedule.
It brings the Bengals back into the race. If you
(30:38):
beat the Bengals, even as Dan Hortz said earlier, you're
pretty much finished. So now we wanted to get to
the keys to the game, Max for you, presented by
your neighborhood. Forts to the f one fifty is the
official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers, And what is the
key to the game or keys to the game offensively
for the Steelers to defeat the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Well, key number one has to be fast start. You've
got to start fast, you know, and you know we've
had these slow, sluggish starts. I'm not gonna sit there
and say opening drive touchdown, but opening drive score. You
have to be able to overcome kind of some of
(31:22):
the shortfalls you've had in the last couple of weeks,
and you need to make sure that you are staying
on pace and that it shows everybody's on the same page.
You can't be derailed by penalties, you know. I think,
which would be my second one, is eliminate the pre
snap penalties, the false starts, the illegal formations, the off sides.
(31:46):
Yet the limit though, as a team going into the
first part of this season and being one of the
least penalized teams in the league, to just all of
these ultimate drive killers or drive sustainers that that have
just kind of kind of, you know, besmirched this team
as of late. That's another thing I'm looking at. You've
(32:08):
got to eliminate those presnap penalties. And the third key,
the third key offensively, get Jalen Warren the football. Figure
it out, whatever you have to do, figure out how
to get Jalen Warren in the football, because when he
touches the ball, good things happen. And so I want
(32:29):
to make sure that those are my three offensive keys.
As I'm looking at this game.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
I think the usage of Jalen Warren has been something
that's caught a lot of people's attention, and it's I
think it's partly because we saw him be the spell
back for Naji Harris. Okay, fine, we understand that we
also saw him and and you know, I Kenneth Gamewell
is a Spellbackerkal Johnson's spell back. But I think clearly
(32:58):
right now you would think it's Kenneth came and Well.
But to third down duties that used to be Jalen
Warren's have fallen out to largely to Kenneth Gainwell. And
when you're behind and you're in pass mode, it's why
you see Kenneth Gamewell out snap Jail and Warm against
the Chargers, not because they don't want to get Jail
(33:18):
and Warren in the football, but because they found themselves
one dimensional. You can argue whether Jalen Warren should be
taking more third down duties. We know he's a great blocker,
and we know he's been an effective third down back
for the Steelers in the past.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
You know, we can up and down say this is
what they should do, or maybe you know they really
feel strongly about Kenneth Gamewell has ability on third down. Whatever,
whatever evaluation you want to make, max continuing drives, getting
more first and second downs. If you fail on third down,
you don't get another first down, you don't get another
(33:58):
second down. And I think that that sustaining those drives
and picking up more first downs will allow more of
Jalen Warren. And I think we all agree more of
Jalen Warren's a good thing. But if you don't have
the ball, he ain't getting it. The other team's gonna
get it.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Well, and I think I think one of the bright
sides that we can look to rob Now, granted, this
number is not going to be a fun one to quote,
but on the year, we're averaging only eighty five point
seven rush yards a game. Where does that rank you?
Ass Oh, thank you for asking that rob thirtieth in
(34:35):
the NFL thirtieth, only two teams are worse than us
at rushing the football. But I will say this, the
last time we played Cincinnati, Jalen Warren had one hundred
and twenty seven rushing yards. So when you're kind of
balancing and juxtaposing, well, the Steelers team is, you know,
(34:57):
is not even averaging you know, ninety yards rushing a game.
But we had our season high rushing against the very
team that we're playing. That bodes well you're at home
as well, so and a Bengals team that's giving up
do you want to know what? The Bengals are giving
up one hundred and sixty six point four rushing yards,
the worst in the league. That's how much they're giving up.
(35:20):
So when you couple those things, you think it's a
perfect storm for Jalen Warren to be able to break out,
to have this opportunity. And and you know, I hope
you know, and I imagine Arkle Smith sees those numbers
and it's like, we've got to do this. And you
watched the game last time. Outside of the bos Flee
Fisher play, which is probably the only blemish on Jalen's
(35:42):
season so far right just happened to be in that
Cincinnati game where he called it off and Jalen thought
it was still on, and you know that led to
kind of, you know, the crumbling of the wall there.
But what he did that game, what he continues to do,
is just proved that he's deserving of that opportunity. And
(36:02):
I think you have to kind of say, Okay, if
there is a game for us to be bullies, this
is the game to be bullies. Is to go bully
a decimated defense that cannot hold water and make them
be the people that we thought they were. They are
a bad defense, so let's make them look worse. That's
(36:25):
what the intent has to be in this game. And
I think Jalen's going to be a real big key
to this offensive game plan this week because of that.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
You know, when you look to at rushing yards per
tent and again you know, the statistics are the statistics.
It feels to me certainly like to see this has
been running the ball better, not every game. A couple
of games ago they really got stymied. Although Jalen Warren
got into the end zone twice rushing the football against Indianapolis.
(36:58):
But you know, there's no should have sort of sticking
with the run. So the Steelers are averaging the same
yards per carry as the Seattle Seahawks, and yet the
Steelers are thirtieth in total rushing yards and the Seahawks
are let's see you five four, three, two one twenty nine,
(37:20):
they're eighteenth in yardage, so the same yards per carry,
but the Steelers are thirtieth and the Seahawks are eighteenth
because the Seahawks are running the ball more often, and
so you know, three point eight yards per carrey is
not where you want to be. Again, that's skewed a
little bit by early season numbers, so that's something that
(37:40):
needs to be Hopefully we'll see more of Jail and more,
and hopefully you'll see more of this running game. And
I agree with you they were able to run it
right at the Bengals. The Bengals have been a very
very poor rush defense, and hopefully the Steelers can continue
that this week against the Cincinnati Bengals. We want to
get to the defensive keys to slowing down this very
(38:01):
very explosive Bengals offense that has not been slowed down
since Joe Burrow gave way to Browning. Under Browning, it
was slow, explosive under Burrow, not good under Browning, explosive
again into three games under Joe Flacco. As the Steelers
found out on that Thursday night in Cincinnati, Max is
going to give you his defensive keys in a moment. First,
(38:23):
we want to remind you can gear up with the
latest gadeny necessities at the official Studers Pro Shops. Get
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(38:44):
Get it direct from the team at the Steers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com. Max's keys to
the Steelers defense slowing down the explosive Bengals offense up
next when we continue in the Locker Room presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store in the Students Pro Shop on
Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
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 4 (39:30):
All right, it is time for the bellline. Oh, one
of the sweetest bells that can be ever heard. I mean,
I would imagine the Liberty Bell in its glory before
the crack that put it into history. Sounded something like that,
(39:53):
but I don't think it was signaling grub time. But
it was a very liberating experience in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Anytime you get to.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You, you know ingest a artisanal feast, which I hope
everybody will do at some point today, whether it's your
traditional lunch, whether it's the working lunch, or however, yeah,
else you describe lunch. I hope that it comes to
you very well. Back to you, Rob.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Max, thank you very much, and I'm hoping that the
Steelers will feast on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. It
is once again as we've kind of laid out, and
we talked about it on the sixteenth, going into that
Thursday Night game in October at Cincinnati desperation level for Cincinnati,
the students were four and one at that point. I
(40:40):
felt like if there was a desperation level, and if
that even matters, that it probably fell in favor of
the Bengals because they really needed to win that game. Well,
I don't know who has a desperation level right now,
because the students have got to find a way to
write the ship. They've lost three the last four, still
in first place. The Bengals know that if they lose,
(41:00):
their playoff hopes are pretty much finished for the season.
So that leads us to the Keys to the Game,
presented by our neighborhood Ford Store, the F one fifty,
the official truck of the Pitchsburgh Steelers. Max laid out
the offensive keys last segment, the keys on defense against
a Bengals team averaging almost just under thirty eight points
(41:21):
per game in the three starts for Joe Flacco and
the best defensive effort to Steelers holding them quote unquote
holding them to thirty three points in a loss of
The Bengals have lost the last two while averaging forty
points per game. No team has done that since the
nineteen sixty six New York Giants. So, Max, it is
an explosive offense. What are the keys to slowing this
(41:44):
offense up a little bit?
Speaker 4 (41:48):
You must stop a guy by the name of Jamar Chase.
You have to figure out how to stop him. He
had a season or career high I'm sorry, I apologize
season and career high twenty three targets against us on
Thursday Night Football, and he hauled in sixteen of those targets.
(42:09):
He was a one man wrecking crew in that Thursday
Night about You've got to figure out a way to
slow him down. That's gonna be the biggest thing. The
Bengals receiver since Joe Flacco has taken over has averaged
two hundred and thirty one point six yards per game.
That's ridiculous when you think about it. Now, the Steelers
(42:30):
are also here's the issue. We had the cure. We
are giving up on average one hundred and ninety four
yards to receivers on the year. Now, granted, we could
go and we could talk about all the different injury
shuffling of secondary guys. Deshaun Elliott being injured, Jalen Ramsey
now playing safety, trading for Kyle Duggar, Joey Porter junior
(42:55):
in and out of the lineup, starting Darius Slay, injuries
as well, Brandon Echels as well, releasing one thorn Hill.
We've had a lot of things happen in the secondary season.
I mean just just going through that laundry list of
different scenarios, but at the end of the day, it's
stopping this passing attack. This is one where you want
(43:17):
to make them one dimensional on the ground because they're
not a great rushing team. They're an okay rushing team,
but I would rather see the ground game have a
little bit more success than the passing game because the
passing game is way more deadly. And that's also what
aids to that. You know, forty yards free of passing,
of points is because of the passing game. So the
(43:39):
first thing is eliminate number one. Eliminate make number one
number two at best, and that's that's really the first goal.
Second is pressure. You've got to figure out how to
apply pressure. They could not get Joe Flacco off his point,
(43:59):
and he was releasing the football under two and a
half seconds every single time. It looked like prime Tom
Brady with Julian Edelman how fast he was getting the
ball out. You've got to figure out a way to
apply pressure to Joe Flacco. And then the third thing
is when the money downs win third down, you cannot
(44:19):
allow them to convert and keep drives alive by getting
just enough, that is what's going to hurt time of possession.
That's what's going to hurt the recovery time. And you need,
you know, you got to get that ball back in
the offense's hands. So I think those are my three
keys defensively as I look at this game. Stop Jamar Chase.
(44:41):
That's number one. Apply pressure. Number two, You've got to
affect Joe Flacco. When he is affected, that's when he
starts making mistakes. And that's when the forty years old
of age starts coming in. And he started looking for
the icy hot and the little warm packs from the
hydrog later pack as we called it back in the day.
Those are those little heated coils. You know, you put
(45:04):
it in the hot water, then you wrap it in
like this blanket taco thing, and then you put it
underneath your legs. That's that's when you start cooking with
with Chris go so to speak. And then the third
thing is win money downs. Those are my three keys,
and I think if we can apply those, we can
have a successful day on Sunday and after sure.
Speaker 6 (45:23):
Max rife with danger to do this, but rife with
danger to sit back too, as we saw. But when
I say do this, I mean get up and you know,
get in the face of Chase and Higgins. And you
know you also have to do that with Fan. You
have to do that with Chase Brown to make sure
he's not just an easy outlet. If you bring some pressure,
he's the release valve. So you know, this year there's
(45:46):
the students played off coverage a little bitter. So it
seemed to be in that first meeting against Cincinnati with
Jalen Ramsey now manning the back end and able to
maybe get over the top on one receiver or another,
you roll that coverage up a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
I know they'll mix things up. Do we need to
see a little bit more.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
Aggressive play for the Steelers as far as you know,
trying to contain those receivers and throw off the timing
of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
Yeah, Press press coverage was something we didn't really apply
in that game. So I would love to see a
little bit more of on coverage for for Jamar Chase
because we know that those issues can't can't, you know,
can creep in there, and you've got to make sure
that you're doing your job and eliminating just that visibility
(46:36):
of it, because you know, Joe Flacco, when given time,
can find these receivers, and these receivers know how to
get open and make themselves available for Joe Flacco. And
you know, I don't want to see it because it's
just it's a dink and dunk and it just seems
like a constant. And that's the frustration in it is
(46:58):
that you don't you can't apply pressure when you play
off coverage because he's just gonna throw an now route
or he's gonna take it, or he's gonna take a
quick slant and allow Jamar Chase to do Jamar Chase things.
So you've got to play a little bit more bump
and run on him, a little more press him and
T Higgins. I mean, obviously I think T Higgins will
be a focal point as well. If Jamar Chase is
getting double that's that's that's the tough part about it, right,
(47:21):
But really, when you take those two away, they become
very pedestrian because Yoshabash, you know, has a ton of
drops this season and you don't really have much behind him.
Jermaine Burton Junior has not been able to get in
the good graces of the team, which is one of
your other receivers that you drafted just a year ago
to kind of be a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
And you know you're you're.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Dealing with Jasecki, who you know went healthy, is a
good tight end. But I would rather trust putting it
in his hands trying to beat you than than anybody else.
He's no Tucker Craft by any stretch that we saw
we could do to eliminate a Tyler Warren and the Colts.
So it has been done. It can be done. But
first thing, you have to stop those guys because they
(48:06):
are they are the straw that stirs the drink and
those money downs, those are where they thrive, and you
have to keep them out of those situations. And I think, yeah,
you risk, you risk the challenge of getting burnt deep,
but you got to utilize your safeties. And I think
Jalen Ramsey's one of those guys. He's going to be
very adept being off the ball and having the field
vision that he has to help with that and be
able to assist. But you gotta you gotta slow those
(48:30):
guys down so that your pass rush can hit home.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Max, Thank you very much, my friend for that and
look forward to seeing you on Sunday along with Missy
Matthews who joined us earlier. Are thanks also to Dan
Horde for joining us early in Ikuad Doomish from Germany
for joining us earlier on this edition of.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
The Locker Room.
Speaker 6 (48:50):
And I want to thank Justin Miller as well with
the controls for Max starts for Justin Miller, I'm Rob King.
We thank you for being with us in the Locker
Room presented by our neighborhood Ford Store and to see
this pro shop. US Nation Radio a part of the
Steelers Audio Network
If you may have pre diabetes, visit Do I have pre.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
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 3 (00:35):
Am, all right, our number two here inside the locker room.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Of course, it's the power hour. And of course when
you hear the base boom and you know it can
only be one person, the one, the only, the great
Smithy Matthews of course, now are trying angle is complete
with the broadcast crew here. How are you doing today, Missy?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
I'm doing good, guys, I'm excited for the game.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
By the way, we're fooling ourselves.
Speaker 6 (01:11):
If we think this is an equilateral triangle, we know
there's nothing equal lateral about it.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Totally that triangle we did. We didn't go with the distribution.
We didn't want to know who's the ninety degree or
who who you know, who's sitting there in a lesser
angle than the other and more obtuse and acute. But
we we are we are we are the trio. We
are the trio that that is so you know, it varies,
it varies. It's a moving triangle.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
So we are going to hit up Missy with our
Steelers injury report presented by UPMC, the official healthcare provider
and health plan at the Pittsburgh Steelers. No Isaac cmalo
Isaac cmalo last week against the Chargers, and we haven't
seen cool Hulkum in a while. We haven't seen Jabrill
Peppers in a while. We haven't seen Scotti Miller in
a while.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Missy.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
What are we looking at as far as the steel
His injury update heading into this game against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, Cole Holgum looks
like he's working his way back. He didn't practice on Wednesday,
He's been around the facility. Yesterday he was limited, so
you know, I take that as a good sign. And
then I think, you know, Broderick Jones a growin injury.
Max would know more about playing with you know, an
injury like that as an offensive lineman. But he also
you know, went from not practicing to limited. So hopefully
(02:28):
if he can go full today, they'll feel good about
that and be able to go on Sunday. But I
do think it looks promising for Isaac Sayumalu. I think
maybe he did need that game off with that peck
injury since he reinjured it or kind of you know,
RePOP it pops back up, and he wasn't able to
finish that last game, miss the Chargers game. He did
(02:49):
come to LA with the team. He's been limited the
whole week, but I think for a guy like that,
you don't need him to be full three days in
a row to get him, you know, ready to go.
But I think, you know, the Alex high Smith injury,
that's not one that I love, especially because you know,
I feel like he's been on a roll, and of
course you want everybody you can to be healthy on
(03:10):
that defense.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Yeah, and Missy and you know, obviously this is the
time of year, right. I always say this, and I've
said this since the first day of training camp. It's
not a matter of if, but a matter of when
you'll see attrition, when you'll see Now, granted the Steelers
have seen I felt like they're far more than the
Lion's share of issues. I'm trying to think when we've
(03:36):
actually had a game where we've actually gone in with
all healthy forty six that were planned to be the
forty six. I can't think of one one game this
season that we've actually gone through it. But especially this
late in the season, there's always something, there's always an issue,
and I know, you know what Isaac, I felt like
it was. It was more magnified just because we experienced
(03:59):
really a majority of those injuries on the defensive side
of the ball, and now we start to see the
attrition hit the offensive side of the ball, and you know,
we had we had made so much progress, right with
that sixth offensive lineman Spencer Anderson being the utility guy
you know, and even got to catch this season. He's
in the record books right for for having a catch,
(04:21):
but now asked to play more left guard, uh in
the absence because he is the sixth man off of
the bench from the offensive line, the first guy to
go in and fill in because of his versatility. But
we saw how it kind of hurt a little bit
of the Steelers offensive attack and the way that they
planned and the fact that you had to lose Spencer
(04:44):
for for a play after he's declared and was anything
mentioned a boy Art this just far about the mechanics
about how they're going through this and obviously the decision
you know, to go with Andrews Pete as a guard
position or any think along the lines of how they're
planning on adjusting accordingly if this is an extended injury
(05:05):
for Isaac c Amalo.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Yeah, I think you know, Coach Sellen was asked about
it as well, and I think, you know, the jumbo
package with moving pieces as difficult as you said, because
there's more people moving, there's plays that need to be
taken off, and they all had great things to say
about Andreous Pete. But I do think that, you know,
if you can get Isaac healthy and he can start
(05:30):
and sensor Anderson is just what he has been in
terms of that sixth guy, then there's that continuity that
I think is obviously, of course so important for offensive
line in general. But I think for what they've been
accomplishing and clearly not running the ball enough and being
able to control the ball is something this offense has
to do better to win the time of possession, to
(05:53):
give themselves a better chance and to not have a
repeat performance like they did in LA. So hopefully those
you know, if you can solidify some of those things,
then moving forward into the weekend, hopefully you can kind
of get back on track on that end.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Mister, what's been talked about with the offense, I mean,
you know, Aaron Rodgers after the game said some things
that I think we're true.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He said, look, he didn't play very well.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
He owned that. He also said there didn't appear to
be a lot of receivers open. I think part of
that might be because the Chargers were able to get
home rushing four, we're able to drop seven. He said
he wasn't sure whether maybe he stepped into some sacks
or whether the offensive lines, you know, the pressure he
was feeling was was legitimate and not you know, something
that he created by stepping into the pocket. Regardless of
(06:40):
what the reasons are this offense, you know, going against Cincinnati,
maybe they'll be what cures him. They've been what cures
a lot of teams because their defense has been terrible.
But this offense has to get back on track and
has to be more consistent than it's been to this
point of the season.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, and I think, you know, one of the talking points,
and obviously I think everybody wants to see Jalen Moore
and get more touches and more commitment to the run game,
and that would then help. I think the DK Metcalf thing.
You know, everybody wants to see him clearly get the
ball more. You're paying him to get the ball more
and to do the things that we have seen, you know,
an ady yard touchdown, just the yak yards what he
(07:20):
is able to do. But I do agree in terms of,
you know, it felt like other people weren't able to
get open, which if there's so much attention on DK,
then someone else needs to do something so that Aaron
can go to that side of the field or wherever.
So maybe it's a combination of you know, other guys
doing things better. DK said, hey, look I flattened my
(07:41):
route a little bit on that one that could have
been a touchdown in the end zone earlier in that
Chargers game. Aaron kind of took the flame too. But
you know, DK was like, look that I did that
that was on me. He thought I was staying you know,
on my normal round, staying hi, and unfortunately it didn't work.
You know, that could have changed a lot of things too.
But I think I think other people helping out would
(08:02):
be great as well, and maybe it's even DK moving
around more. So it feels like everybody is really intent
on making this offense more efficient and better this week
against the Bengals, and statistically, you can't deny the fact
that they are one of the worst defenses in the
league the amount of yards that they give up in
(08:23):
different things. So hopefully this is something where they can
kind of write the ship and get back into that
groove that it felt like we were seeing from them
since the defense then got going. But you know, complimentary
football is not an easy thing to do, and unfortunately
for the Steelers I feel like, you know, at this point,
they really need to figure it out. We are in
week eleven now, which is crazy, you know, we're in
(08:45):
double digits. So hopefully something can change on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yes, indeed, Missy, and I can tell you this, I am.
I'm hoping that, you know, these slow starts that have
that have kind of plagued the offense as of late,
you know, whether whether it's been you know, not being
able to get on the same page, like you said,
missing some of those big throws, the plays that are
(09:12):
there that just kind of get a little bit, you know,
out of whack. Like I think about, you know, two
weeks ago, trying to trying to hit a play, you know,
to John U to start the game against the Packers,
and that one kind of missing, and that that DK
play kind of looks similar to it. Obviously a different play,
different personnel group, but just similar feeling right where it's like,
(09:36):
this is the play that's supposed to do it, and
then it's like false start or you know, something kind
of misfires in that early going in the in those
top fifteen that seem like the home run plays as
they're drawing up. I mean, you know, we look at
the fast stars the Steelers had, and I remember we
(09:57):
were kind of remarked about this, you know, at the
beginning of the season, like we were talking about how
long it took for us to have an opening drive touchdown,
and then it felt like the opening drive touchdowns were
just coming every single week, and then it's kind of
dried up. You know. I would say the Bengals game
was the last time we really saw that fast kind
of start. But then something goes wrong and you know,
(10:17):
we're still waiting for that complete game from both teams,
you know, or both sides of the ball, I should say,
not teams, but both sides of the ball. And you know,
is you know when you talk about week eleven, I mean,
is this the emphasis like, hey, can we all just
get on the same page? Because at first it was
an office that was doing their job, and then defense,
(10:38):
you know, was having their struggles early on as they
were figuring out their identity, and then it seems like
there's been a shift where the defense is doing their job,
but you can't leave them on the field for thirty
seven minutes and expect them to just defend everything for
that long and there has to be a fifty to
fifty split there. Do you feel like there's kind of
that type of you know, I'm not gonna call it
(11:01):
like elephant in the room, but do you feel like
they're kind of understanding that aspect of it that they
need to get on the same page both of those units?
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Absolutely? You know, I feel for the defense, it's almost
been a every week thing of like who's playing, who's not?
How are we going to fix that situation? Whether it
was Deshaun Elliott earlier in this season, then he came
back then unfortunately hyper extended is me and he's been out.
You know, I do think having Jalen Ramsey in one
(11:34):
spot taking command of the back end of that defense
has been a really good thing for them. Obviously, Kyle
Dugger came in and probably exceeded people's expectations of jumping
on the quote unquote moving train. Now you might not
have Sleigh this week, so what happens there, So I
feel like they're always sort of dealing with that. And
then for the offense, as you said, like it felt
(11:56):
like things were clicking earlier, but I just think, you know,
you have a season low ten point scored and then
the turnovers, which is something that is not very Aaron
Rodgers esque. So you know, there's a number of things
that I think they can do better. And it does
almost feel like it's more on the offense this week
to write the ship by bringing their A game into
(12:18):
this game, and hopefully the defense can just continue on
the you know trajectory that they are currently on. But
you know, you can't always rely on these you know, takeaways,
which they do and it does make this defense go.
But at the same time, you know, there was not
really much more you could ask from the Steelers defense
in LA. You could tell that those guys were they
(12:41):
were huffing and puffin' because of just how much they
were on the field. And it wasn't even just like
the time. It was the lack of rest in between
the times they were out there, the three and outs
and whatnot, just really not going their way. So hopefully
they can work in unison and sing a lovely and
hopefully come out with a victory.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Oh very nice, Missy.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
By the way, Missy's down there on the field, so
Missy can feel those you know, you can kind of
feel where the defense sits and whether they're huffing and
puffing out there. And I mean it looks pretty clear
from us like they're just they're just defending too much.
We were talking to Matt Williamson yesterday for the Matchup show,
and he said, if this disparity continues in time of possession,
(13:27):
the students defense will you know, by time have played
three more games then the Steelers offense by minutes playing.
That's crazy, that's.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Nuts, that's nuts. Yeah, you can't have that. And it's
crazy too just in terms of when you're looking at
some of the numbers, you know, the average yards per
game by the Steelers is under three hundred and they
are one of only two teams that have five or
more wins with that average. So it's clearly not sustainable.
(13:59):
It's only working currently for two teams. And to MAT's point,
it's not something that you can continue and say it's fine,
like it will just keep working at some point. It's not.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, no, it definitely isn't, Missy, And I think that's
kind of one of the crazy things to think about
this as we kind of get into this, you know
game coming in the Sunday. Obviously the biggest storyline this
is you know, we had Ikey on here earlier from
from Germany and he called he dubbed this the unk Bowl.
(14:37):
Yeah we we We've also called it the Icy Hot Bowl. Uh,
you know, it's to get off my get off my
yard game type of deal. But you know, there's just
so many adages because, like you said, when you have
two quarterbacks obviously Super Bowl champions and playing this late
in their career. You know, I looked at the game
and and I don't know if this is in your
(14:59):
notes not, but the only other game where head to
head forty year old quarterbacks played against each other was
Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Obviously, when Tom Brady went
down to the Buccaneers and Drew Brees was still with
the Saints and they had some head to heads there,
But this, the matchup that we had with Joe and
(15:22):
Aaron actually was the most touchdowns scored by a pair
of forty year old quarterbacks in a game. That's wild
to me. And they blew out the record too, because
the record was four with Brady and breeed that on
his own, yeah exactly. I was like, man, I was like,
this is this is wild that they just you know,
(15:44):
what can we expect? Do you think this is going
to be one of those shootouts again? Are you anticipating that?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
I feel like the defense, the Steelers defense, I should say,
is going to do a better job than they did
that Thursday night game. But you cannot just count that.
You now have a larger sample size of Joe Flacco
and a Bengals uniform with the eligibles that they clearly
have that are just so impressive. So maybe it might
(16:11):
have to come down to that, which is not something
I think you want for the Steelers offense when you
just scored your season low and you feel like you're
not on track but clearly the Bengals are very capable
of doing that. And it's insane because the last game
they won was against the Steelers in Week seven, and
they've been putting up all these points and it just
(16:31):
hasn't been good enough because the defense on their end
hasn't been able to help them out. And I don't think,
you know, for the Bengals, it was very clear that,
especially after that Chicago game, some of the offensive guys
were kind of like, yeah, like where was the defense?
And you could feel that just watching postgame interviews. I
(16:51):
don't think that's happening with the Steelers at all, but
it is still. You don't want to get to that
point basically, is what I'm saying. And they're certainly not
there because I think the whole season it has been
you know, Joe Burrow got hurt, Jake Browning maybe did
not handle the responsibility as well as he could have,
hence why they traded for Joe Flacco. But their defense
(17:14):
has never really brought their a game. So hopefully the
Steelers can kind of change that that for them and
the Bengals come Sunday.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
You know, one other thing in this game, you never
know if it's going to be another close game that
could be a factor. And one of the things that
I think we've come to expect is that the special
teams unit under Danny Smith units are going to give
the Steelers an edge. And it really wasn't an edge.
And we had two great kickers, each of them missed
a kick. There was a fumbled punt by muffed punt
(17:47):
by Keishawn Williams later in the game. Hopefully a little
bounce back from that unit. And look, Chris Boswell is
entitled to miss one. He's only missed one that wasn't
either blocked or remember he slipped in the wet field,
so he's allowed to miss one. But overall, you know,
the Chargers return units and their coverage units had not
been great to see us didn't make a play there.
(18:08):
It would have been nice to, you know, maybe make
a play when the team is struggling. We talk about
offense and defense, but you know, maybe Calvin Austin back
returning punts. Will have to see this week, but you know,
maybe the special teams can can contribute to a Steelers
victory on Sunday as well.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Yeah, definitely, and it will be interesting to see if
Calvin Austin kind of comes back, or if they stick
with Keishawn Williams, who I mean obviously was very electrifying
the second he got called up and was able to
do stuff a penalty. Unfortunately, that one long return that
he had kind of you know, ruined that moment for him.
But it is something that has to be clearly, you know,
(18:48):
on high alert in terms of not letting special teams
in terms of Cincinnati beat the Steelers in that category,
that's something that if you can control that, then you're
not worrying about much. And Max I was telling Rob
yesterday that Boz has fifty three field goal attempts against
the Bengals in his career. He's made fifty of them,
(19:11):
and I remember a lot of those games where that
won the game or tied the game, or you know,
probably came into fourth quarter, overtime or something. So hopefully
that streak for Boz also continues. Is he heads back
to the comforts of Afrosher Stadium where it does not
matter which way the wind is blowing, if it's raining, bleeding, snowing,
(19:32):
Boz just thrives in that environment, which is not likely
for most other kickers.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
No, absolutely missy. Now, I completely agree. I mean, Boz
I didn't even know he's made that many geese. I mean,
I know he's kicked a ton of field goals, and
you know, we know how accurate he's been, But man,
that is that. I mean, I would love to do
the researcher figure out who has the record for most
field goals made. It's one opponent, you know, as a kicker,
(20:02):
that would be one, because I have to feel like
he's somewhere up there in that top five list easily
with that. No, because that's that's that's yeah, it has
to be right. We're gonna have to do some super
sleuthing on that one to figure that out, because yeah,
we we have to celebrate that the Wizard of Boss
needs to walk down the black and gold lane brick lane,
(20:26):
because that's that's that's that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
So by the way, absolutely, yeah, go ahead, miss I'm sorry, no,
go ahead, please, No.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
I'm just gonna say he has attempted three and twenty
nine field goals since he joined the team, and fifty
three are against one team. I don't know. I'm not
great at math. I have Pro Football Reference pulled up
to try to figure out his different attempts, first teams
and whatnot, and maybe this is you know, I put
a little call into Michael Birch of the PR team
(20:56):
to see if he can help, because he's better at
finding out those things that require iro man.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
So yeah, when you you know, you mentioned all the elements,
excuse me, and they could be a factor.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
So, first of all, my heart will be with you.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
As I'm riching for an extra warm cup of coffee
in the heated press box while you're down there, and
it's in the low forties with the wins up to
fifteen twenty miles an hour, missy. That aside, it could
be a factor for the passing game, It could be
a factor for the field goal kicking units. Both you
(21:32):
guys have spent a lot of times on the sideline.
Have you seen the conditions at Akrascher Stadium previously Hind Stadium.
Of course affect the team either in the kicking game
or throwing the football, and I think both of those things,
by the way, would be a favor. It would favor
the Steelers if the win does actually affect that, not
(21:54):
because Aaron Rodgers isn't as good as Joe Flacco, but
because to see this running game is better than the
Bengals running game. And so have you seen the conditions
down there, Missy affect the team's ability to throw and
kick it after?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Oh yeah, I mean it's you know why if you
win the toss and you know, when teams are deciding
which way to go to. You know, we joke about it,
but Danny Smith when he comes out for pregame warmups
has it's not even a towel. It's like thinner than
a towel, but it looks like one of the you know,
ones the quarterbacks use, and he just kind of like
(22:28):
flails it around the field tries to see where wind is,
you know, which way it's going over here, and then
he walks around and it is like a real science
in terms of trying to figure that out. And I
do think sometimes you know, obviously, I think an AFC
norths team that plays out in the elements, it's not
as much of a plus one for the Steelers. They're
used to it, but it's the way that the wind
(22:50):
can sometimes just be in the lower bowl of the
stadium that obviously Boz is very in tune too, you know,
he doesn't it's not like Boz never kicks an actressure
sometimes during the week, Go go do it. You know,
it's not just on the south side because he wants
to be where they're going to be as well. And
I think that it's weird when you guys are like, hey,
(23:11):
is it windy down there, and I'm like, yeah, look
at my hair, and then you're looking at the field
goal post and you're like, but those flags aren't moving,
And that is just something that can play into it.
So hopefully, I'm all for elements if it helps the Steelers,
you know, like if it's going to rain and be miserable,
I want it to be a plus one on our side,
not even things out or give a plus one to
(23:33):
the other team. So I will suffer through as long
as it helps us.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yes, stay were Missy, Yes exactly. We will be looking
forward to your.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Contributions, of course, valuable contributions. Nobody's a team player like
Missy Matthews and we know she can always brings a
lot to the table and we'll continue to do that
and does it on the show as well.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Missy, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
We have our keys to the Game presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store. Coming up next with Max Stars when
we continue in the Locker Room presented by our neighborhood
Fords Store and the Steer This Pro Shop on See
This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Man, if we got a big game for you coming
up on Sunday at Afresher Stadium, your first place Pittsburgh Students,
kind of just hanging out of that a little bit
by the fingernails, having lost for you the last four,
the Baltimore Ravens closing fast, they won their last three games,
and the Cincinnati Bengals unbeaten in the division, with an
opportunity to pull within a game of the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They'd be two to zero against the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
In the head to head, which would be finished for
the season if they win this game, So that would
put them right back.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
In the race.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
A loss drops them to three and seven and makes
it very very difficult to imagine them, you know, winning
out if you figure it's probably gonna take ten wins
to take the division. Man, if you're three and seven
and you're the Bengals, you got to win out and
that would be a very very tough road for them.
So important game for both teams, clearly, Max. So let's
(25:36):
get to our Keys to the Game presented by your
neighborhood Fords Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So give me a key
for this team on offense for the Steelers to be
able to win this game against the Bengals on Sunday.
(25:59):
I don't believe that we have Max. It sounds like
we've lost Max. We're going to try to find Max
because we need them. We need his keys to the game.
We're looking for Max to give us the keys to
a Steelers victory. So, by the way, while we're doing this,
you know, talked about where the Bengals sit and three
(26:21):
and six, and they're you know, sure kicking themselves as
we mentioned, for scoring eighty points and losing. You know,
when you think about three and seven, you also have
to Okay, so could they win seven in a row.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Of course, they could win seven in a row.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
But the matchups are the Patriots at home, at the Ravens,
at the Bills, Ravens at home.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
That's their next four games.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
Even if they win this game, it's going to be difficult,
but still it gives them a puncher's chance. It gives
them the capability of just being one game behind. Now
you can lose a couple of games. They finish up
at the Dolphins, against the Cardinals, against the Browns. So
if you want to play the schedule game, you know,
if they win this game, it's not hard for them
(27:04):
at It's not hard to imagine them now as a
four and six team beating the Browns, beating the Cardinals,
beating the Dolphins. Okay, now you're a seven and sixteen
and so to you know, to win the division, you've
got to find a way to win your share of
games against the Patriots, the Ravens, the Bills, and the Ravens. Again,
you're gonna have to split with the Ravens and then
(27:26):
you're gonna have to beat you know, the Bills and
or the Patriots to have you to give yourself a chance,
and who knows, maybe nine to eight takes this division.
But it's just very, very difficult to imagine a Bengals
team dropping to three and seven. And Dan Horde, who
joined us earlier, set as much that at three and seven,
it's gonna be really, really difficult for this Bengals team
(27:49):
to try to make the playoffs. So not a must
win game because it doesn't eliminate them from the playoffs,
but about as close as you can come to a
must win games. Steelers are taking on the Bengals today
for Cincinnati now obviously an important game for the Steelers too,
because the Steelers find themselves in reverse mode, having lost
(28:09):
through their last four, still in first place in the division.
But you want to get this thing rectified. If you're
the Steelers, you want to get yourself back in the
win colm, You want to get yourself feeling good because
the stretch of difficult games continues for them as well.
Now when we talk about the Ravens right on a
roll right now, they defeated the Bears, they defeated the Dolphins,
(28:31):
they defeated the Vikings. They improved to four and five,
they're at the Browns on Sunday. I know it's a
division matchup, I know it's not an easy game, but
again you kind of think, Okay, they're probably going to
be five and five. Then they take on the Jets
at home and the Bengals at home. Is it hard
not to imagine them being seven and five before they
(28:54):
host the Steelers. They have three consecutive home games coming up.
Hard not to imagine them being seven and five against
the Steelers on December seventh, when they play their first
of two matchups over the last five games of the season.
So if you're playing the schedule game and we all
kind of peek ahead to the schedule and see what's
(29:14):
coming up, it is hard not to imagine the Ravens
being seven and five and having won, by the way,
six consecutive games going to that game against the Steelers.
So for the Steelers, you know, holding serve, keeping pace,
maintaining that distance ahead of you when it comes to
the Ravens and certainly when it comes to the Bengals,
(29:36):
and if you figure this game, if they can win
this game, that makes it a two team race. It
puts you at six and four, then you're at Chicago,
really really important game. And then you take on the
Bills at home, so it doesn't get easy before you
take on the Ravens. Now you do have the Lions,
you do have Cleveland, but it's at Cleveland. You have
(29:56):
the Ravens at home to end up the regular season.
You still haven't the Lions yet. The raven seltam played
the Packers yet, so they've got some difficult games too.
So clearly an important game here for both these teams.
And I Max, are you do? We have Max back?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Now? Yeah, I'm here, Okay you are.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
So just played the schedule game Max to underscore the
importance of this game and this weekend for everybody involved.
The Steelers cannot afford to slip up. They just can't
to fall the five and five. Their schedule. The remaining
schedule appears to be more difficult than the Ravens schedule.
It brings the Bengals back into the race. If you
(30:38):
beat the Bengals, even as Dan Hortz said earlier, you're
pretty much finished. So now we wanted to get to
the keys to the game, Max for you, presented by
your neighborhood. Forts to the f one fifty is the
official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers, And what is the
key to the game or keys to the game offensively
for the Steelers to defeat the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Well, key number one has to be fast start. You've
got to start fast, you know, and you know we've
had these slow, sluggish starts. I'm not gonna sit there
and say opening drive touchdown, but opening drive score. You
have to be able to overcome kind of some of
(31:22):
the shortfalls you've had in the last couple of weeks,
and you need to make sure that you are staying
on pace and that it shows everybody's on the same page.
You can't be derailed by penalties, you know. I think,
which would be my second one, is eliminate the pre
snap penalties, the false starts, the illegal formations, the off sides.
(31:46):
Yet the limit though, as a team going into the
first part of this season and being one of the
least penalized teams in the league, to just all of
these ultimate drive killers or drive sustainers that that have
just kind of kind of, you know, besmirched this team
as of late. That's another thing I'm looking at. You've
(32:08):
got to eliminate those presnap penalties. And the third key,
the third key offensively, get Jalen Warren the football. Figure
it out, whatever you have to do, figure out how
to get Jalen Warren in the football, because when he
touches the ball, good things happen. And so I want
(32:29):
to make sure that those are my three offensive keys.
As I'm looking at this game.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
I think the usage of Jalen Warren has been something
that's caught a lot of people's attention, and it's I
think it's partly because we saw him be the spell
back for Naji Harris. Okay, fine, we understand that we
also saw him and and you know, I Kenneth Gamewell
is a Spellbackerkal Johnson's spell back. But I think clearly
(32:58):
right now you would think it's Kenneth came and Well.
But to third down duties that used to be Jalen
Warren's have fallen out to largely to Kenneth Gainwell. And
when you're behind and you're in pass mode, it's why
you see Kenneth Gamewell out snap Jail and Warm against
the Chargers, not because they don't want to get Jail
(33:18):
and Warren in the football, but because they found themselves
one dimensional. You can argue whether Jalen Warren should be
taking more third down duties. We know he's a great blocker,
and we know he's been an effective third down back
for the Steelers in the past.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
You know, we can up and down say this is
what they should do, or maybe you know they really
feel strongly about Kenneth Gamewell has ability on third down. Whatever,
whatever evaluation you want to make, max continuing drives, getting
more first and second downs. If you fail on third down,
you don't get another first down, you don't get another
(33:58):
second down. And I think that that sustaining those drives
and picking up more first downs will allow more of
Jalen Warren. And I think we all agree more of
Jalen Warren's a good thing. But if you don't have
the ball, he ain't getting it. The other team's gonna
get it.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Well, and I think I think one of the bright
sides that we can look to rob Now, granted, this
number is not going to be a fun one to quote,
but on the year, we're averaging only eighty five point
seven rush yards a game. Where does that rank you?
Ass Oh, thank you for asking that rob thirtieth in
(34:35):
the NFL thirtieth, only two teams are worse than us
at rushing the football. But I will say this, the
last time we played Cincinnati, Jalen Warren had one hundred
and twenty seven rushing yards. So when you're kind of
balancing and juxtaposing, well, the Steelers team is, you know,
(34:57):
is not even averaging you know, ninety yards rushing a game.
But we had our season high rushing against the very
team that we're playing. That bodes well you're at home
as well, so and a Bengals team that's giving up
do you want to know what? The Bengals are giving
up one hundred and sixty six point four rushing yards,
the worst in the league. That's how much they're giving up.
(35:20):
So when you couple those things, you think it's a
perfect storm for Jalen Warren to be able to break out,
to have this opportunity. And and you know, I hope
you know, and I imagine Arkle Smith sees those numbers
and it's like, we've got to do this. And you
watched the game last time. Outside of the bos Flee
Fisher play, which is probably the only blemish on Jalen's
(35:42):
season so far right just happened to be in that
Cincinnati game where he called it off and Jalen thought
it was still on, and you know that led to
kind of, you know, the crumbling of the wall there.
But what he did that game, what he continues to do,
is just proved that he's deserving of that opportunity. And
(36:02):
I think you have to kind of say, Okay, if
there is a game for us to be bullies, this
is the game to be bullies. Is to go bully
a decimated defense that cannot hold water and make them
be the people that we thought they were. They are
a bad defense, so let's make them look worse. That's
(36:25):
what the intent has to be in this game. And
I think Jalen's going to be a real big key
to this offensive game plan this week because of that.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
You know, when you look to at rushing yards per
tent and again you know, the statistics are the statistics.
It feels to me certainly like to see this has
been running the ball better, not every game. A couple
of games ago they really got stymied. Although Jalen Warren
got into the end zone twice rushing the football against Indianapolis.
(36:58):
But you know, there's no should have sort of sticking
with the run. So the Steelers are averaging the same
yards per carry as the Seattle Seahawks, and yet the
Steelers are thirtieth in total rushing yards and the Seahawks
are let's see you five four, three, two one twenty nine,
(37:20):
they're eighteenth in yardage, so the same yards per carry,
but the Steelers are thirtieth and the Seahawks are eighteenth
because the Seahawks are running the ball more often, and
so you know, three point eight yards per carrey is
not where you want to be. Again, that's skewed a
little bit by early season numbers, so that's something that
(37:40):
needs to be Hopefully we'll see more of Jail and more,
and hopefully you'll see more of this running game. And
I agree with you they were able to run it
right at the Bengals. The Bengals have been a very
very poor rush defense, and hopefully the Steelers can continue
that this week against the Cincinnati Bengals. We want to
get to the defensive keys to slowing down this very
(38:01):
very explosive Bengals offense that has not been slowed down
since Joe Burrow gave way to Browning. Under Browning, it
was slow, explosive under Burrow, not good under Browning, explosive
again into three games under Joe Flacco. As the Steelers
found out on that Thursday night in Cincinnati, Max is
going to give you his defensive keys in a moment. First,
(38:23):
we want to remind you can gear up with the
latest gadeny necessities at the official Studers Pro Shops. Get
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Visit one of the official Studis Pro shops located at
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(38:44):
Get it direct from the team at the Steers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com. Max's keys to
the Steelers defense slowing down the explosive Bengals offense up
next when we continue in the Locker Room presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store in the Students Pro Shop on
Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
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 4 (39:30):
All right, it is time for the bellline. Oh, one
of the sweetest bells that can be ever heard. I mean,
I would imagine the Liberty Bell in its glory before
the crack that put it into history. Sounded something like that,
(39:53):
but I don't think it was signaling grub time. But
it was a very liberating experience in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Anytime you get to.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You, you know ingest a artisanal feast, which I hope
everybody will do at some point today, whether it's your
traditional lunch, whether it's the working lunch, or however, yeah,
else you describe lunch. I hope that it comes to
you very well. Back to you, Rob.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Max, thank you very much, and I'm hoping that the
Steelers will feast on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. It
is once again as we've kind of laid out, and
we talked about it on the sixteenth, going into that
Thursday Night game in October at Cincinnati desperation level for Cincinnati,
the students were four and one at that point. I
(40:40):
felt like if there was a desperation level, and if
that even matters, that it probably fell in favor of
the Bengals because they really needed to win that game. Well,
I don't know who has a desperation level right now,
because the students have got to find a way to
write the ship. They've lost three the last four, still
in first place. The Bengals know that if they lose,
(41:00):
their playoff hopes are pretty much finished for the season.
So that leads us to the Keys to the Game,
presented by our neighborhood Ford Store, the F one fifty,
the official truck of the Pitchsburgh Steelers. Max laid out
the offensive keys last segment, the keys on defense against
a Bengals team averaging almost just under thirty eight points
(41:21):
per game in the three starts for Joe Flacco and
the best defensive effort to Steelers holding them quote unquote
holding them to thirty three points in a loss of
The Bengals have lost the last two while averaging forty
points per game. No team has done that since the
nineteen sixty six New York Giants. So, Max, it is
an explosive offense. What are the keys to slowing this
(41:44):
offense up a little bit?
Speaker 4 (41:48):
You must stop a guy by the name of Jamar Chase.
You have to figure out how to stop him. He
had a season or career high I'm sorry, I apologize
season and career high twenty three targets against us on
Thursday Night Football, and he hauled in sixteen of those targets.
(42:09):
He was a one man wrecking crew in that Thursday
Night about You've got to figure out a way to
slow him down. That's gonna be the biggest thing. The
Bengals receiver since Joe Flacco has taken over has averaged
two hundred and thirty one point six yards per game.
That's ridiculous when you think about it. Now, the Steelers
(42:30):
are also here's the issue. We had the cure. We
are giving up on average one hundred and ninety four
yards to receivers on the year. Now, granted, we could
go and we could talk about all the different injury
shuffling of secondary guys. Deshaun Elliott being injured, Jalen Ramsey
now playing safety, trading for Kyle Duggar, Joey Porter junior
(42:55):
in and out of the lineup, starting Darius Slay, injuries
as well, Brandon Echels as well, releasing one thorn Hill.
We've had a lot of things happen in the secondary season.
I mean just just going through that laundry list of
different scenarios, but at the end of the day, it's
stopping this passing attack. This is one where you want
(43:17):
to make them one dimensional on the ground because they're
not a great rushing team. They're an okay rushing team,
but I would rather see the ground game have a
little bit more success than the passing game because the
passing game is way more deadly. And that's also what
aids to that. You know, forty yards free of passing,
of points is because of the passing game. So the
(43:39):
first thing is eliminate number one. Eliminate make number one
number two at best, and that's that's really the first goal.
Second is pressure. You've got to figure out how to
apply pressure. They could not get Joe Flacco off his point,
(43:59):
and he was releasing the football under two and a
half seconds every single time. It looked like prime Tom
Brady with Julian Edelman how fast he was getting the
ball out. You've got to figure out a way to
apply pressure to Joe Flacco. And then the third thing
is when the money downs win third down, you cannot
(44:19):
allow them to convert and keep drives alive by getting
just enough, that is what's going to hurt time of possession.
That's what's going to hurt the recovery time. And you need,
you know, you got to get that ball back in
the offense's hands. So I think those are my three
keys defensively as I look at this game. Stop Jamar Chase.
(44:41):
That's number one. Apply pressure. Number two, You've got to
affect Joe Flacco. When he is affected, that's when he
starts making mistakes. And that's when the forty years old
of age starts coming in. And he started looking for
the icy hot and the little warm packs from the
hydrog later pack as we called it back in the day.
Those are those little heated coils. You know, you put
(45:04):
it in the hot water, then you wrap it in
like this blanket taco thing, and then you put it
underneath your legs. That's that's when you start cooking with
with Chris go so to speak. And then the third
thing is win money downs. Those are my three keys,
and I think if we can apply those, we can
have a successful day on Sunday and after sure.
Speaker 6 (45:23):
Max rife with danger to do this, but rife with
danger to sit back too, as we saw. But when
I say do this, I mean get up and you know,
get in the face of Chase and Higgins. And you
know you also have to do that with Fan. You
have to do that with Chase Brown to make sure
he's not just an easy outlet. If you bring some pressure,
he's the release valve. So you know, this year there's
(45:46):
the students played off coverage a little bitter. So it
seemed to be in that first meeting against Cincinnati with
Jalen Ramsey now manning the back end and able to
maybe get over the top on one receiver or another,
you roll that coverage up a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
I know they'll mix things up. Do we need to
see a little bit more.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
Aggressive play for the Steelers as far as you know,
trying to contain those receivers and throw off the timing
of Joe Flacco.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
Yeah, Press press coverage was something we didn't really apply
in that game. So I would love to see a
little bit more of on coverage for for Jamar Chase
because we know that those issues can't can't, you know,
can creep in there, and you've got to make sure
that you're doing your job and eliminating just that visibility
(46:36):
of it, because you know, Joe Flacco, when given time,
can find these receivers, and these receivers know how to
get open and make themselves available for Joe Flacco. And
you know, I don't want to see it because it's
just it's a dink and dunk and it just seems
like a constant. And that's the frustration in it is
(46:58):
that you don't you can't apply pressure when you play
off coverage because he's just gonna throw an now route
or he's gonna take it, or he's gonna take a
quick slant and allow Jamar Chase to do Jamar Chase things.
So you've got to play a little bit more bump
and run on him, a little more press him and
T Higgins. I mean, obviously I think T Higgins will
be a focal point as well. If Jamar Chase is
getting double that's that's that's the tough part about it, right,
(47:21):
But really, when you take those two away, they become
very pedestrian because Yoshabash, you know, has a ton of
drops this season and you don't really have much behind him.
Jermaine Burton Junior has not been able to get in
the good graces of the team, which is one of
your other receivers that you drafted just a year ago
to kind of be a difference maker.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
And you know you're you're.
Speaker 4 (47:44):
Dealing with Jasecki, who you know went healthy, is a
good tight end. But I would rather trust putting it
in his hands trying to beat you than than anybody else.
He's no Tucker Craft by any stretch that we saw
we could do to eliminate a Tyler Warren and the Colts.
So it has been done. It can be done. But
first thing, you have to stop those guys because they
(48:06):
are they are the straw that stirs the drink and
those money downs, those are where they thrive, and you
have to keep them out of those situations. And I think, yeah,
you risk, you risk the challenge of getting burnt deep,
but you got to utilize your safeties. And I think
Jalen Ramsey's one of those guys. He's going to be
very adept being off the ball and having the field
vision that he has to help with that and be
able to assist. But you gotta you gotta slow those
(48:30):
guys down so that your pass rush can hit home.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Max, Thank you very much, my friend for that and
look forward to seeing you on Sunday along with Missy
Matthews who joined us earlier. Are thanks also to Dan
Horde for joining us early in Ikuad Doomish from Germany
for joining us earlier on this edition of.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
The Locker Room.
Speaker 6 (48:50):
And I want to thank Justin Miller as well with
the controls for Max starts for Justin Miller, I'm Rob King.
We thank you for being with us in the Locker
Room presented by our neighborhood Ford Store and to see
this pro shop. US Nation Radio a part of the
Steelers Audio Network
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