October 17, 2025 • 49 mins
The guys continue their game evaluation and how last night's outcome changes the current trajectory for the Steelers' season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is in the locker Room with Kingyon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store. The
F one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh
Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot
Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh that's right, good all Optimist still on time regardless
during the week on the show. And sorry, Optimust lets
you down, but this time, but keep on trucking. We
still have three more games left and we are now
inside the Power Hour hour number two, that's right inside
(00:49):
the locker room, and we're coming off of you know,
a Steelers loss on Thursday night football. This is the
therapy session today, right, This is the kind of frustration
that we let out. You get twenty four hours to
kind of deal with this, and we are still well
within that. I mean, we're and as we kind of
(01:15):
look at just taking stock at what it was was
that you know, the Steelers had a grand opportunity now
short week granted coming off of boat, you know, a
victory in the division. You go one to zero in
division play with Cleveland on Sunday, short turnaround, get to
Cincinnati an opportunity to really go and take it and
(01:36):
take a choke hold on the division, and it just
it falls short of the mark woefully, and you're you're
struggling with what you thought was a strength was not
a strength. Defensively, you look at the tear over the
last three games that the defense has just been dominant.
(01:57):
You know, starting back in New England, who was a
good team. We find out is a good team. They
went into Buffalo and beat Buffalo and you thought, okay,
we we we we bested them, and then we take
the take the show on the road internationally to Dublin
and have a fantastic game in Dublin that started to
(02:18):
slip away a little bit at the end, you know,
from really the domination that that the defense had had
turned the ball over, getting sacks and really just being
an absolute bear. And then you play Cleveland, number one
defense in the league, and you put twenty three hard
(02:39):
earned points on them, but the game never felt out
of out of reach. They were squarely in control of
that game. And you hold a young Dylan Gabriel to
to you know, to the brink, and then you hear
about this trade that's made last week and you're just like, wow,
(02:59):
you know what, my Kina had strong words about why
the Browns would do what they did and knowing that
it could potentially help the Cincinnati Bengals, and you know,
he goes in, you know, gets to start right out
the week, struggles in the first half, but then starts
to find a rhythm in the second half, and you know,
(03:20):
the Green Bay Packers are able to hold on and
you think, okay, well, only four days later. This is
a short turnaround for an older quarterback and he was
ready for the challenge and they had a game plan
that you know, succeeded, and whatever they put out there
was going to be successful. You had to stop something,
stop the run or the pass. The run was the worst.
(03:40):
It was the easiest, low hanging fruit to go after.
You don't you think that, Okay, this run game isn't
going to be good and we're just gonna put them
in situations where they're in third longs and we're just
gonna pin her ears back and the defense is going
to be that defense again. Then maybe something's going to turn.
Because so many missed opportunities last week against even for turnovers,
(04:01):
and the opportunity to really put the ball back in
a capable Offensei's hands, and you don't get a turnover,
you only get two sacks. And you really didn't pressure
Joe flaccol all night. He was getting the ball out quick,
helping that offensive line a lot of alignments that that
really boded well off the edge with handling Nick Herbig,
(04:23):
who'd had such a phenomenal tear to the season since
he'd been back. You know, he was just on this
street where he was getting least a half a sack,
he was making meaningful plays at at key moments, and
you know, he got kind of stuffed a little bit.
And then TJ Watt TJ did not have as good
(04:43):
a game, and they just they made every outside linebacker
and a lot of the exterior pass rush go through
a gauntlet of guys. Every single play. There was somebody,
multiple guys that were chipping, that were body presents, narrow
the funnel for their struggling tackles on the edges of
Marius MEM's and Orlando Brown. And it was just a
(05:07):
very very you know, frustrating event that you didn't see
trademark signature defensive things like pass rush pressure and so
rob you know, I was just simply going over kind
of kind of the what went wrong tail of the
tape type of results from this game. And I called
it a therapy session to start out this this the
(05:30):
power hour here and hour number two. And you know,
it was just frustrating because it was so uncharacteristical what
we've seen over the last couple of weeks with the
defense had been so dominant, and they literally got pushed
around like it was the beginning of the season all
over again.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, it wasn't what we expected to see by any means.
And you know the fact that you couldn't stop either,
that's the one that got to me. We saw, you know,
the students. It felt like we're talking about, you know,
with Missy during one of the breaks, about all the
substitutions that were happening defensively, in part because once the
(06:06):
Bengals started to get on a roll, they started to
dominate time and possession. When that happens, your guys start
to get tired. But I also saw a lot of
you know, subbing in for different packages, a defensive lineman
coming out of a defensive back coming in. They were
trying to find the right personnel mix, and you just
(06:29):
have to look at the final numbers to realize that
that didn't happen. They didn't find the right mix when
when you give up one hundred and forty two yards
rushing at six point two yards to carry and by
the way, Black ride that twelve yard run, but they
had him, you know, they had them with some negative
runs in the game as well that hurt their rushing totals.
(06:52):
But one hundred and forty two yards rushing three hundred
and forty two yards passing, you didn't stop the run.
You didn't stop the pass. We talked about this early.
You couldn't make them one dimensional. I don't know if
you know it would have made a difference if you
could have, you know, used more three three down defensive linemen.
They got them into a couple of third and lungs
(07:13):
early and the Bengals were able to convert. And then
it just felt like you couldn't get them into a
position in which you dictated. You know, to put it
in simple terms, you want to be able to dictate
to the other team, and defensively, you dictate by getting
them into either you know, a big deficit. You're down
(07:37):
seventeen nothing in the third quarter, now you've become a
one dimensional team late in the third quarter, or you
do that by getting a team into uncomfortable down in
distances where you can begin to unveil what you want
to do. You can bring your pressure, you can make
them one dimensional. Even within the throwing game, they were
(07:57):
only going to allow you to do certain things because
we're not going to allow you the time to throw.
But early on when they brought pressure, the Bengals offensive
line held up, and then later in the game they
just couldn't get into those favorable situations in which they
could dictate to the Bangles.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, no, I mean, and that was really the frustration.
And I think, you know, and here's what I heard Rob,
You know, it wasn't apparent. I actually had to answer
this question to a couple of my friends that had asked.
They were like, hey, man, did it look as obvious
to use it did on TV that there was confusion
and communication by the defense and busted assignments on the
(08:38):
back half and coverages. And I was like, well, I
mean I would say no that I did not tell that.
I could not tell live about what the frustrations were
looking like. And some of the blown assignments defensively, because
it just once again looked schematically like they just put
the Steelers in a bad situation and they were scheming
(09:03):
Jamar Chase free, open and free, and even when he
wasn't open, he was still making plays in tight coverage.
And the pass interference calls, I mean, we had four
of those and that was really frustrating. And then you know,
a couple of holes offensively and false stars that really
killed key moments. You know, you think about the hold
(09:26):
on Zach Frazier that knocked out a Jalen Warren touchdown.
That's the difference in the game. You think about the
fourth down tush push type of play that we tried
to go and we get a false start at a
key moment in the red zone that ended up being
a field goal instead of instead of continuing a drive
towards a touchdown. It was just it was frustrating those
(09:48):
key moments that you really needed it to happen and
it didn't happen. You know, PI in the end zone
on Jamar Chase and he converse a touchdown. You know,
we we dodged a bullet on the first one with
the slant in the middle where he kind of bobbled
it before dropping the football that they originally thought was
a touchdown. They got called back. He's like, okay, we
(10:10):
learned our lesson. But then they come back and they
still get the score. So the moments where the offense
did not you know, did not come up in the
key pressure moment and where they're the defense gave up
the key pressure moments, and you just think about those
turns of events in those type of things. Steelers just
(10:34):
kind of shot themselves in the foot and it was
just it was frustrating to watch that and to see
a guy have like a career high night, a record
you know, completion quarterback to receiver combo type of game
that Jamar Chase had. And then, like you said, you
couple that with Chase Brown, you know, coming up with
(10:56):
being one hundred yard rusher when he couldn't find a
rhythm all season essentially, and he found that rhythm against us.
And that's the frustration. When the defense had done so
much goodwill and good work towards stopping that, you know,
they found a scheme that really frustrated and confused, and
like you said, a lot of sub package running that
(11:20):
was effective that should not have been and you think
about it, it was just it was it was just like
slight misses, you know that. I think that's what the
other thing that hurt was that it was slight misses,
like you hit Chase Brown in the backfield, you STYMI him,
keeps the legs running, and all of a sudden he
breaks off a twelve yard run when he was hit
(11:40):
a yard deep in the backfield for a negative game.
So you're talking about a net difference of thirteen yards
on that play. What could have been Deshaun Elliott who
was who was timing up the blitz and getting back
there but narrowly misses hitting the guy in the backfield,
and then because he's gone, they displayed and you know
(12:02):
it's either the run got through because he wasn't there
on the backside defending he was up the field and
narrowly missed, or when he blitzed and there was a
pass and then the receiver went right to the spot
where Deshaun Elliott vacated and they get a completion there.
So it was like you felt the instincts, but it
(12:23):
was it was it was a get near all night
game and never a geit here type of moment like
it had been over the last three games, and that
was the and that's the narrow margin that you work with,
and that's how you end up losing a game thirty
three thirty one, because you gamble and you lose on
those on those guesses that had always been so explosive
(12:44):
and so dynamic, they weren't dynamic in that moment. I
think that's what was really frustrating.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Rob agreed. And there were a couple things too, so
you pointed out. I was also asked about the miscommunication
on the back end, and like you, I didn't see it.
I was asked about it on the DV Morning show.
I never saw it. Again, Guys, we're not trying excuse things.
We're seeing different things that you're seeing on TV, and
(13:10):
we're we're sometimes not seeing the same things you're seeing
on TV. So I didn't see that. We also didn't
know what was going on with the flea flicker. So
evidently Aaron Rodgers changed the play and Dale and Warren
didn't catch it, and that's why the consternation, and that's
why being completion and and so you know, when you
(13:34):
talk about the things, you know we just said, you know, earlier. Look,
three or four plays a game, every almost every single
game in the NFL, even games that appeared lopsided, there
are three or four plays had they gone the other way.
You know, I was talking about the Minnesota game earlier
in which Minnescota Minnesota scores touchdowns. Well, those turnovers and
(13:58):
Isaiah Rodgers players are happening when the Bengals are going
into score. So if you score a touchdown instead of
them scoring a touchdown, that's a fourteen point swing. And
when that happens twice, that's a twenty eight point swing
on two plates. You know, it's those sort of things happen.
And so you know when you look at the fleet flicker,
(14:20):
you know the miscommunication there and you know that drive,
you know, you wind up kind of shooting yourself in
the foot when you had an opportunity there to put
up points. And then the next drive on the holding
call that wipes out the touchdown. I mean, it easily
could have been conservatively seventeen to nothing. And now the
(14:41):
Bengals maybe they do get into one dimensional mode and
maybe you do have them there, but you're looking at
a couple of plays at swing it I thought another
really big play. You talk about the moments, you know,
third and four and Flacco shoes the shortfall and goes
up top the josef ash and hits them for a
big game for thirty seven yards. And you know, Sleigh
(15:04):
had decent coverage, but it was a really well thrown ball,
reminiscent of the play in Seattle when Darnold goes to
Jackson Smith and Jigba on single coverage and throws that
was even tighter coverage, a perfect ball to Jackson Smith
and Jigba. That changes the complexion of that game, you know.
So the few plays that you need to make in
a game, you know, and again, so our apologies for
(15:29):
you know, during the broadcast last night, I didn't see
this miscommunication everybody's talking about, but it felt max like
the Steelers were on the cusp of maybe running Cincinnati
out of the building and maybe being in complete control
of that game, and they didn't make a couple of
plays that they needed to make and then now all
of a sudden, you're the one playing catchup.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Not then.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well and it comes back to dictating terms, right, Rob,
I mean, I think that's what it is, exactly, Like
they dictated the terms and never gave us those opportunities,
or I should say we never took those opportunities. I
think is what it is. We never took And in
this league, you've got to go take what you want.
But like you said, it comes down to three or
(16:16):
four key plays that turn the tide. And you try
and you choke out, because like you said, this is
a very different game. If the Steelers go up seventeen zip,
what are we talking about, right, We're talking about a
team that's reeling. They're going to start pressing and doing
uncharacteristic things on the offensive side of the ball to
(16:38):
make up for the lack of defense because your defense
is not holding up and the offense was scoring at will.
But like I said, the self inflicted wounds in that moment,
like the miscommunicated flea flicker and the frustration on Aaron's
face when he changes the play and somebody didn't get it,
somebody wasn't paying attention, and then all of a sudden,
(17:01):
you get this kind of narrative, Oh my god, Aaron
Rodgers yelling at guys and being everything, and you know,
but you know, the good thing that we saw that
wasn't you know, present and Missy brought it to us,
was that, hey, Jalen Warren went over to the quarterbacks,
apologized to Art Smith and apologized to Aaron, and everybody
shook their hands and apologized, and yeah, you know you're
(17:22):
happy for that. And then, like you said, you think
we hey, we can still overcome this, right, But then
there's another play that stops it. You know, it's it's
the false start on on on the tush push. It's
it's the holding call that would not have mattered in
the grand scheme of things, but it happened right because
(17:43):
Jalen Warren was already past TJ. Slayton when Zach Frazier
quote unquote held him. And you know that's a tough
thing when a guy does a swim move and you're
taking and you know you're about to take him to
the ground. Broderick Jones the holding penalty right when Byron
Murphy he looks like he's slipping and loses the play
(18:03):
and Proger puts his hands up, and the referee season
and thinks, oh, he must have done something if his
hands are up. But and then you look, you at
the super slow moe down and there might have been
the start of what a hold was, But it's really
because the guy's losing his footing in that moment, and
then you go to pancake him and you get penalized
for it. Like you know, that's four things right there
(18:25):
offensively that changed the complexion of the game. And then
that's not to include all the stuff that happened defensively. Right,
How wide open can Jamar Chase be running a shallow
cross or a key moment at the end of the
game and a moment where it's third down and you
gotta stop him here and they move the chains, which
then ensues to a next one, which is a big
(18:47):
play down the sidelines to T Higgins is Jalen Ramsey's
in coverage and kind of stumbles a little bit. Another
chance where it didn't happen, and t if T Higgins
doesn't slide on this seven yard line and give himself
up and runs in for the easy score, maybe this
is still a different game. Right, There were just so
many different moments we could point to, But you're right,
(19:09):
if I just take away three of those, and I
just listed about six or seven, take away three of those,
we're talking about a different game, talking about a completely
different game. But that's why you played this game, because
that's what you're fighting for. You're fighting to be better
in those key pivotal moments that shift and stem the tide.
(19:33):
And at the end of the day, you still can't
wash away the fact that the Cincinnati Bengals were able
to go on and score on seven out of eight
drives after the first drive of the game.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
And yeah, he can't get around that. And you know,
when you think about the key stops, they make key
stops late against the Jets, they make key stops late
against England, they make key stops late against Minnesota. Didn't
make key stop latestlast night defensively against the Bengals. That
could have sealed the victory for the Steelers. Instead they
lose thirty three to thirty one. We were going to
(20:07):
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(20:28):
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Speaker 1 (20:46):
Is in the Locker Room with kingon 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 wreck from the
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop dog Steelers
dot com.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, we welcome you back inside the locker room. Following
a disappointing loss last night. No Trey Hendrickson for the Bengals,
some uncertainty as to what was gonna happen with Joe
Flacco at the quarterback position, plenty of energy on the
on the Bengal side of things at pay Course Statium
in a white out go and the crowd was totally
(21:28):
into it. The Bengals wind up defeating the Steelers thirty
three to thirty one. That puts the Bengals at three
and four and two and zero within the division drops
the Steelers to four and two. Now, if you're in Baltimore,
you think of, wait a minute, we're not dead yet,
even if they ever thought they were as they try
to get them themselves healthy, particularly with Lamar Jackson, but
(21:49):
plenty of other injuries on that Baltimore team, Max, I
did want to get to a few positives for the Steelers,
and because we've we've pretty much pointed out the negatives,
some positives for me, I think I would begin despite
the miscommunication on the flea flicker, Jalen Warren really really
(22:13):
outstanding game for him as he goes sixteen carries for
one hundred and twenty seven yards.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, that was that.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
The enthusiasm is overwhelming, Max.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, because it was like, man, it could have
it could have been even worse like as far as
like better for us and worse for the Bengals if
he gets that additional touchdown rush, right, I mean, this
could have been a Jalen Warren coming out party. Yep.
And it gets it gets thwarted because, like you said,
(22:50):
the holding brings it back. But his effectiveness, Jalen Warren
was absolutely a nice catalyst to the balance of Aaron
Rodgers past right, and you know, Aaron finished with two
forty seven. But Jalen was just playing so good. I
mean the toss zones and the crack action that was
(23:13):
going on and his ability to cut back, his vision,
to ride against the grain, to push it to the
outside when necessary, to stay within the line and then
wiggle a little hole and just burst through. You know,
the Bengals defense did not handle his rush game very well,
and that was the thing. You know, coming into this,
(23:34):
we didn't really see any Caleb Johnson and this this
was mainly a Jalen Warren and Kenn's Gainwell type of night.
And both of them had explosives, and you know, Jalen
had the longest rush of the season, that twenty seven
yarder late in the game. That was just a thing
(23:55):
of beauty and fast where it's like, man, you had
this good thing happening. Pat Fryermouth as well, and all
for not right, all for not in that moment on
a night that Aaron passed Ben Roethlisberger for you know,
fifth all time in passing yards in the NFL, and
(24:17):
it was just there were those moments where you're just like, man,
what could have been what could have been these headlines
the next day and pick your pick your MVP of
the game type of deal turned into yeah, this was
this was this, These were the good parts on on
a performance that was just limited and you didn't come
(24:41):
away with the victory because of those efforts, and those
efforts led to keeping this game tighten my, the score
went back and forth and why you jumped out to
a ten oer lead, but then you were able to stop,
you know, the twenty point unanswered scoring streak of the Bengals.
(25:03):
But in the end, it just the key moments, it
just never quite got there. And you know, for Jalen Warren,
I'm excited, I'm happy for him. I hope this now
becomes a trend now that you finally figured out how
to eclipse that century mark as the as the lead
back on this team and battling through injuries to get
(25:26):
back into this position. You hope that this is not
a one off for Jalen Warren. I mean, he's only
his third one hundred yard rushing game in his career,
but this is the first time as kind of the
lead back in that in that backfield and to come
away with that and just not be able to utilize it.
Like you said another game, don't hold hold court on
(25:49):
the on the time of possession when we have been
building towards that just got a little bit too too
creative for our own good at moments. But Jalen Moore,
it wasn't for a lack of effort on Jalen Warren's part.
Jalen Warren did everything you could ask of him and Moore,
and he kept the tempo, kept the cadence drum for
(26:10):
the run game, which kept us balanced because it was
behind his sure running, his ability to see and to
get through holes and get through traffic and really show
us that hey man, you know I deserve to be
this lead back. I think we were kind of questioning,
you know when Kenned Gamewell went for those ninety nine
yards against Minnesota. Oh well, shir Kenneth Jane will be
(26:32):
the starting back over Jalen Warren. Jalen Warren I think
silenced all of that criticism of him being the lead
back in this offense, and he did it to perfection
last night. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
I love the way he runs and look credit the
offensive line for opening up some big holes, but also
credit Jalen Warren and to some degree, Kenneth Gamebwill only
had three carries for fourteen yards. These guys run hard,
I mean Jil and Warren runs hard. We've talked about
this a lot. He is a difficult guy to tackle
(27:07):
and that was on display last night, kind of ripping
through arm tackle attempts and other things. And so look,
I thought he was a real positive in this game.
And again, you know, we've spent an hour and twenty
minutes talking about the non positives, so there were Look,
when you score thirty one points, you're going to be
some positives for me. I'm not even going to focus
(27:27):
on the defense because they give up thirty three points.
Oh there's probably a player or two in there that
had a good game, but it wasn't readily apparent to
my eye. But we talked about Aaron Rodgers. You know,
if you were a national person out there thinking, well,
we're picking this Steelers to not be very good this
year because it's the same old story at quarterback last
night should have if you hadn't seen the first few games.
(27:51):
It is a nationally televised game, it's the only game
going on. There are no other games you're not flipping
around the channel. You're watching that game. If you're a fan,
If you didn't come away from that thinking, uh, this
is this is a really good quarterback still at age
forty one, then I don't know. I don't know what
you're watching. So we talked about him. You know, I
(28:11):
was asked earlier today on the DV Morning Show about,
you know, are we gonna see more of Pat Fryermuth
big game, five receptions, one hundred and eleven yards, had
a sixty eight yard or two touchdowns for Pat. By
the way, all four receiving touchdowns by tight ends. But
you know, I was asked about that, Max. I think
it's I think what we're going to see is we're
(28:33):
going to see matchup football that I think we've seen
it already. I didn't see anything in last night's game
that makes me think, ah, this is this is gonna
be a different You know, we're gonna we're gonna go
back to Pat Fryarmouth. And I think Pat is a
very capable player. He showed it last night. I just
think that, you know, one game it's going to be
(28:56):
and we saw a lot of jumbo packets last night.
One game it's going to be a ton of umbo package.
There might be another game in which they spread things
out and throw the ball. I think DK metcalf excuse me,
is always going to get his targets. He got five,
a lot of them were downfield. Three catches for fifty
yards for DK, He's always going to figure into the
offense if you get single high. I think Aaron Rodgers
(29:18):
has shown he's always going to try to go to DK.
But I think that the next guy up is going
to be something of a revolving door. It might be
Darnell Washington one week, by the way, Darnell three receptions
for two yards yesterday, you know, after the big you know,
after his career game last week. I just think all
this points to the Steelers have a lot of capable targets,
(29:41):
but only DK is going to week in and week out,
get a high number of targets and going to be
the guy they pushed the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Too. Yeah, I mean he dictated that he's wide receiver one.
So you know those tight moments are going to go
to DK. And for DK, I mean as good as
he was. You know, two of those interceptions happened on
plays being trying to force the ball to him. The
one was you know, obvious and an easy one to call.
(30:11):
In that one, he was not open. Aaron was trying
to throw him open and he did not get that accomplished.
And then the second time he delivered the ball right
to him and the ball gets snatched out on a
bobble at the end and then he gets down. I
still don't know how DJ Turner got that knee down.
I know that it was a slow, cautious replay to
(30:33):
figure it out at everything. But that was also frustrating
because you have this talent and you can't get to it.
And a great job of Roman Wilson last night of
being able to alleviate some of that that two man
pressure and go to the backside. John who you know,
miss missed a big play here. Don't know Washington had
(30:57):
the had the deflection, that missed the big gain right
there because Logan Wilson would GEO got enough of a
hand on the ball to distort it that was going
directly for Darnell. That was great play by Losels.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, by the way, on the broadcast, yeah, we couldn't
see it. And it was one of those things where
because of the perspective. I wasn't sure if it went
through Darnell's hands, but we saw the replay and it
was clearly knocked it. No chance of catching that ball
for Darnell Wilson was deflected wide of them. But you know, again,
even with thirty one points Max and even with the
(31:32):
very targets, it just again we talked about this, I'm
trying to accentuate the positive and I keep shaking my
head thinking that even with thirty one points scored, it
just felt like there was an opportunity for more out there.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, no, I think there was. And like I said,
it wouldn't be as big a frustration if the Bengals
didn't also have a tip pass. That was myth. They
had a tip pass and they actually caught it with
tacks right, yeah, right where It's like it was. There
was the parallels. It was like, oh, it's okay, you know,
it's a deplect plass. It happens to everybody. But you
(32:09):
see a deflect pass and that it actually ends up
getting completed and the keybod in the game, You're just like, ah,
the ball just it never quite rolled in the defense's
way all night. Like I said, it was it was
a git near night. It wasn't a get here night,
and that's what was frustrating.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
One final thing, and we're going to talk about some
of the weekend games coming up in a little bit
and where the Steelers fit into things and how this
weekend might affect the Steelers. But it's a really intriguing weekend. Uh,
it's actually kind of a fun weekend to be to
be uh sitting around. There's there's a little bit of
a forecast for raink I kind of secretly hope it
(32:47):
does rain, So anything I might have been able to
do outside will be just I have to look at
I can't do it. Gotta stay and watch football all
day long because there's a lot of good football games.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
All day long.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
But I wanted to ask you about the offensive line.
So you know, there's a couple of things when I
think about the offensive line that I can go either
way on this unit. One is that Aaron Rodgers, who
had not gone through a game in several seasons in
which he hadn't been sacked, has now not been sacked
in three out of the last four games, three out
(33:19):
of the last four games. Some of that's him, right,
Some of that is quick releases he's got. You know,
I think it was the second fastest release time as
far as the time to throw the time he throws
in the NFL. So is part of that trying to
you know, mitigate and help out an offensive line that's
trying to find its way a little bit. You have
(33:40):
the jumbo packages. How much is that helping to run?
How much is that helping pass protection? When Spencer Anderson
is out there as a sixth offensive lineman. So it's
hard to kind of, you know, to isolate, for me
to isolate the offensive line and say, okay, it's it's
you know, if you look at the statistics, just the statistics,
you know, no sacks in three out of the last
(34:02):
four games, third straight game where you've rushed for over
one hundred yards with a season high one and forty
seven against the Bengals defense, it's you know, I want
to say the offensive line has definitely taken the steps
forward we were hoping they would with two first round
picks a tackle. Do you think they are max or
do you think some of what's happening is being masked
(34:25):
by schematics and by Aaron Rodgers quick release?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So I think I think, I think it could be
a bit of both. I mean both can be true.
At the same time. The offensive line is getting better,
they are creating, like you said, that run game, and
those run games are all effort and assignment, and like
I said, Jayleen Warren at a fantastic rushing night, and
(34:54):
that kind of gets the worded. I mean, the things
you talked about they needed to be good at. They
got to most of them. But you needed all of
them last night, as it proved, right, you needed some
luck to fall your way on the defense side of
the ball, and that luck just never quite fell in
their direction. I mean, they had the unlucky, you know,
(35:14):
horseshoes of issues that couldn't get the ball back in
the offense's hand for them to capitalize and steal a
possession like the Bengals did to us two different occasions, right,
And that was the difference in the game, was being
able to create those opportunities where you take a possession
away sooner than you'd like. And they did not capitalize
(35:36):
on those third, medium, third and long situations when they
did have them. And you know, that's the frustration of it, because,
like you said, the offense was doing exactly what they needed.
An offensive line had been creating the time for Aaron.
They made the body even when they got pressure on
Aaron and forced him off of his spot. You know,
(35:56):
the blocking was so good on the redirection for the
most part that he was still able to make those plays.
And this offensive line is really growing on man, really
growing up. And I think that was what was good
to see. And like you said, well you don't have
you know, you have a third game now out of
last four where you don't give up a sack. That's
(36:19):
a sign of that. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, regardless of
the release, has enough time that he needs to get
the ball out and to have a clear picture of
where he wants to go with that ball and then
holding up enough to make sure that goes that that
that has the best possible outcome. So it's frustrating, but
(36:40):
I still don't want to minimize it. But this offensive
line is really starting to starting to come together as
a unit. You can see the communications a lot cleaner.
The double teams look that much beefier with the late
delays on coming up to the second level. You don't
have to be quick to that level. You've got to
whip the first level defenders and then get the honor
(37:03):
of taking on of safety. You know, I'm sorry, take
it all go head to head in those moments. So
I'm just I'm just frustrated about the loss. But you're
right seeing the positives in that Jalen Warren, you know,
in the run game, really opening up and doing what
they wanted at will, seeing the offensive line give Aaron
(37:25):
sometimes I know he was flushed out a couple of times,
but sometimes quarterbacks also want to dictate the terms to
the defense. And when you break out of the pocket,
you break out of the container, you break out of
the known place. That leads to that uncertainty where guys
have to scramble and try and get to the open
guys that are now in these gap zones and hit
(37:48):
them in stride. And like you said, Pat Fryble was
the prime example of having that kind of breakout game
where Aaron saw something. He floated out a couple of
them on the underneath screens like a lot of lateral
game on Now's because of off coverage or because of
the personnel alignments, and he played into all of that.
I mean, a NOW screen that goes five yards is
(38:10):
a win. It's just like running the football. And so
that's where it was kind of you know, frustrateds like
two steps four or three steps back, but you but
you definitely want to keep in mind there's still room
for improvement with this group, but they're only going to
get better. And I thought, you know, after now six
(38:31):
you know, the six games body of work that I've
had to watch them, they have most definitely gotten better
as a unit and it shows, and it shows, and
they had an opportunity to really do that. But ball
force ends a drive and then that's what essentially makes
you lose the time of possession game and the ability
to go over thirty minutes.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, so some positives, but overall lost thirty three to
thirty one. Hoping that we'll look back at this in
same maybe some other pieces fell into place for the
Steelers in the long haul, But what does that long
haul look like after this loss. We're going to talk
about that a little bit. Take a brief glance at
a at a really intriguing slate of games coming up
this weekend when we continue in the Locker Room presented
(39:13):
by your Neighborhood Forard Store and the Students pro shop
on see this Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
This ski is in the locker room with King and
Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The f one point fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
All right, coming in the locker room, and we know
what time it is. It is time for the bell.
That's right, early lunch warning system. Ten minutes to get
to your lunch. And this is a Friday lunch once.
So maybe you're maybe you're already there. Maybe you got
a little maybe you get a little bunchification going on
a Friday. Maybe you took the day off from work today.
(40:09):
I don't know. I'm not I'm not in those, not
in those. Maybe you know you wanted to kind of
celebrate the weekend a little bit early, but you know,
go get you some lunch. This is a comfort this
is a comfort meal Friday. I'm calling for it. You know,
Victory Donuts are on Mondays. Apparently we can't handle can't
handle change in the day of the week for those
victory donuts. Hopefully we can get to a victory donut
(40:30):
Tuesday one of these days in December when we have
the Monday night football game, but no victory donuts. It
is a comfort food. We are seeking comfort for the
next you know, twelve hours, you get twenty four hours
to deal with a win or a loss and celebrate.
So we are going to act accordingly. I'm gonna go
find something good around here that's not skyline chilly as
(40:53):
I'm in Cincinnati. But but yeah, I mean you had
it at halftime there, Rob, you know, what's your what's
your assessment? I refused, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah, I wasn't a good decision Right now the food
I consume last night.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Is seeming a very poor decision.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah, so yeah, not good.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
So hey, Max, I just wanted to touch briefly on
on how the complexion of the AFC North has changed
with one game. One game has changed the complexion. That's
that loss last night. If you're Cincinnati, you were now
three and four, you're feeling a lot better about where
(41:33):
you stand in the season. You're two to zero in
the AFC North. You're feeling better about your quarterback position.
Obviously you're feeling like, hang on a second, now, we
got kind of a puncher's chance.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
They do have a.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Brutal section of schedule coming up, New England, Baltimore, Buffalo,
Baltimore in a four game stretch. But can you position
yourself where if you can get to seven wins three
games last three games of the season at Miami, Arizona
and Cleveland, you get burrow back is ten and seven
(42:06):
good enough to get you in the playoffs. Okay, so
you go from two and four now to three and four.
Your next two opponents are both at home before your
by the Jets in Chicago. You get the students coming
out of that bye. But forget about that. Right now,
you're looking at the very real possibility of being Cincinnati
and being five and four coming out of the break,
(42:29):
and you're thinking, okay, hey, we're right in it. Five
and four is right in it. Man, You're nine games
into the season, you're five and four. You're in playoff contention. Now,
let's look at Baltimore at one in five and no.
Alvi said, Okay, the students are four and two. They're
not five and one. We're not down four games anymore. Well,
you get to the by you get Lamar Jackson back,
presumably be coming out of the by. Maybe you get
(42:50):
some other guys healthy. We talked about this, what seven
Pro Bowlers injured for the Ravens in the last couple
of games. Here's what you got coming out of the
by Chicago at home. Okay, good chance to go two
and five at Miami. Good chance to go three and
five at Minnesota. Tough game, Let's see you win that one.
You're four and five at Cleveland, five and five, you
(43:11):
take on the Jets, you beat them. Now you're six
and five at home with a home game coming up
against Cincinnati on Thursday night. All of a sudden, you
feel pretty good about your chances of getting back in
And so, you know, the complexion in the AFC North
changing considerably with the outcome of last night's game.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
It did. And also, you know, but I think for
the Steelers they still control their own destiny absolutely. Because
of all of these the Steelers are the only ones
that are sitting above five hundred. And it's only your
second loss is the first AFC loss that you've taken.
The other one was an NFC one off loss to
(43:50):
the Seattle Seahawks. And so the Steelers. You know, I know,
we feel like it's doom and gloom as we're talking
about the loss and how the tail of the tape ended.
But at the end of the day, you're still in control,
but you don't have as much control as you had
garnered and gained ground over the field over the last
(44:14):
couple of weeks. That has shrunk by a game. And
now you have a common opponent that now has a
victory over you. And so now the job is you've
got to go in there and you've got you've got
you've got to go silence, silence all of the newly
festered or refestered emotions of can this defense do it?
(44:38):
Can they actually be great? Right?
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Refestered Uncle Fester. Refestered by by the way, in case
you're whattered about the Steelers, and you're right, what they
lost in this game was they lost a bit of luxury,
right they had. If you're five to one, you have
some luxury, that luxury's gone. It's just gone. It's as
simple as that you're four and two. The luxury being
(45:01):
five and one and having some padding is gone, and
your schedule. Green bayed home on Sunday night Indianapolis, who
thought that was gonna be a tough game. It is
coming up the following week and then at LA so
their next three game stretch before the Bengals come back
to town. That's one that will get your attention because
the Bengals have played some of their tougher games, the
(45:24):
Ravens have played some of their tougher games, and a
lot of this to there's tougher games at least according
to the schedule, and the records as they stand now
are still to come. So you know what, man, it's
the NFL. It's the way it goes. We're all disappointed
in macch You're you're off to Kansas City?
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Correct, Yeah, I got Kansas City on Sunday at Kansas
City in Las Vegas. Another team in the AFC that's
starting to make their charge back. They're about to get
Rashid Rice back. So great, here we go again. Kansas
City kind of making the late charge and you know,
trying to get trying to get back to the ones
and all of that stuff. So it's like, you know,
(46:03):
the conspiracy theorist or the play with people like, hey,
what happened to how we expected it? Everybody else that
was in front of them starting to take losses. Right,
Buffalo thought they were going to get finally get the
stranglehold and control home field advantage. They've dropped too in
a row, and Baltimore's where Baltimore is, and the traditional
teams that we talk about, you know, kind of kind
(46:24):
of shifting. And then, like you said, we're going to
see the La Chargers, a team that you know has
been up and down, and they were dominated in the
beginning and went three and zero in the division, so
they technically have a stranglehold over their own division, even
though they're not playing great as of late. And you know,
Kansas City just slowly just chugging along. So I'm gonna
see that game. But this is this is what the
(46:46):
beauty of the NFL is. You can never get comfortable,
you know, at any moment, and we're seeing a lot
of matchups that are that are going that way. I mean,
just when you thought Detroit was going to be this
dominant team in the NFC, boom, there goes a loss
and Green Bay hitting right there in striking distance of
Detroit as well. So you know, we're seeing that everything's
(47:08):
starting to be the competitive balance and if you're a
good team You've got to go out and win those
good games. You can't just win the games that you're
expected to win. What perceives to be easy is not easy.
I mean, this league, a lot of these things have
garnered a lot of a lot of talent, a lot
of reshuffling of rosters and new coaches and new culture
(47:30):
shifts and new quarterback homes. You know, for a lot
of guys. I mean, who would have thought Indiana Jones, right,
Daniel Jones, Indiana Jones.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
And what they're doing with the Colts. I mean, we
have some games on this schedule.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Yeah, they got a fascinating game with the Chargers. What
a weekend Mac. I mean, look, we knew this game
was going to be intriguing. We did, despite what anybody
else saw it. And we saw it last night, the
one we just had Sunday morning. You know, it was
kind of hoping in front of those London games. I
could skip, but I can't. I mean, it's the Rams
four and two with the Jaguars four and two. You
(48:06):
know you've got your game coming up. We just mentioned
the Eagles at the Vikings. There's an intriguing game. A
Man of the Giants, what are the Giants gonna do
in Denver? That's sneakily intriguing. Colts Chargers of Commanders Cowboys
is a big game in the East. And then you
know the Falcons and forty nine Ers on Sunday night,
and then if you thought you could take a break
(48:28):
on Monday, these might be the two best games. Or
you know, the Buccaneers the Lions of Texans at the Seahawks.
Fascinating weekend. Unfortunately, Max, it didn't get off to the
start we wanted in Cincinnati. I wish you safe travels
and lots of barbecue in Kansas City, my friend.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
Hey, no, I appreciate it, Rob, and I'm gonna be
looking forward to it. And then you know, we'll be
back on the airwaves on Monday to start getting ready
for this Green Bay game. And then I'll have the
post game after the Monday night football. So a lot
of football to be had, a lot of conversations left
and hopefully, you know, when the fallout kind of shakes
the dust, hoping the Steelers haven't lost too much ground,
(49:08):
you know, in the AFS, in the bigger AFC picture
by the end of this weekend, because there's a lot
of things that can happen, a lot of shifts that
could happen. You know, what happened to the Steelers could
happen to a lot of those good teams that are
also in that mix with the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
Looks like it's that kind of year. He's Max Stark's
justin milod Our Controls. In the iHeart Studio, I'm Rob King.
We thank you for listening in the Locker Room presented
by our neighborhood Ford Store in the Steelers Pro Shop
on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
This is in the locker Room with Kingyon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store. The
F one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh
Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot
Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh that's right, good all Optimist still on time regardless
during the week on the show. And sorry, Optimust lets
you down, but this time, but keep on trucking. We
still have three more games left and we are now
inside the Power Hour hour number two, that's right inside
(00:49):
the locker room, and we're coming off of you know,
a Steelers loss on Thursday night football. This is the
therapy session today, right, This is the kind of frustration
that we let out. You get twenty four hours to
kind of deal with this, and we are still well
within that. I mean, we're and as we kind of
(01:15):
look at just taking stock at what it was was
that you know, the Steelers had a grand opportunity now
short week granted coming off of boat, you know, a
victory in the division. You go one to zero in
division play with Cleveland on Sunday, short turnaround, get to
Cincinnati an opportunity to really go and take it and
(01:36):
take a choke hold on the division, and it just
it falls short of the mark woefully, and you're you're
struggling with what you thought was a strength was not
a strength. Defensively, you look at the tear over the
last three games that the defense has just been dominant.
(01:57):
You know, starting back in New England, who was a
good team. We find out is a good team. They
went into Buffalo and beat Buffalo and you thought, okay,
we we we we bested them, and then we take
the take the show on the road internationally to Dublin
and have a fantastic game in Dublin that started to
(02:18):
slip away a little bit at the end, you know,
from really the domination that that the defense had had
turned the ball over, getting sacks and really just being
an absolute bear. And then you play Cleveland, number one
defense in the league, and you put twenty three hard
(02:39):
earned points on them, but the game never felt out
of out of reach. They were squarely in control of
that game. And you hold a young Dylan Gabriel to
to you know, to the brink, and then you hear
about this trade that's made last week and you're just like, wow,
(02:59):
you know what, my Kina had strong words about why
the Browns would do what they did and knowing that
it could potentially help the Cincinnati Bengals, and you know,
he goes in, you know, gets to start right out
the week, struggles in the first half, but then starts
to find a rhythm in the second half, and you know,
(03:20):
the Green Bay Packers are able to hold on and
you think, okay, well, only four days later. This is
a short turnaround for an older quarterback and he was
ready for the challenge and they had a game plan
that you know, succeeded, and whatever they put out there
was going to be successful. You had to stop something,
stop the run or the pass. The run was the worst.
(03:40):
It was the easiest, low hanging fruit to go after.
You don't you think that, Okay, this run game isn't
going to be good and we're just gonna put them
in situations where they're in third longs and we're just
gonna pin her ears back and the defense is going
to be that defense again. Then maybe something's going to turn.
Because so many missed opportunities last week against even for turnovers,
(04:01):
and the opportunity to really put the ball back in
a capable Offensei's hands, and you don't get a turnover,
you only get two sacks. And you really didn't pressure
Joe flaccol all night. He was getting the ball out quick,
helping that offensive line a lot of alignments that that
really boded well off the edge with handling Nick Herbig,
(04:23):
who'd had such a phenomenal tear to the season since
he'd been back. You know, he was just on this
street where he was getting least a half a sack,
he was making meaningful plays at at key moments, and
you know, he got kind of stuffed a little bit.
And then TJ Watt TJ did not have as good
(04:43):
a game, and they just they made every outside linebacker
and a lot of the exterior pass rush go through
a gauntlet of guys. Every single play. There was somebody,
multiple guys that were chipping, that were body presents, narrow
the funnel for their struggling tackles on the edges of
Marius MEM's and Orlando Brown. And it was just a
(05:07):
very very you know, frustrating event that you didn't see
trademark signature defensive things like pass rush pressure and so
rob you know, I was just simply going over kind
of kind of the what went wrong tail of the
tape type of results from this game. And I called
it a therapy session to start out this this the
(05:30):
power hour here and hour number two. And you know,
it was just frustrating because it was so uncharacteristical what
we've seen over the last couple of weeks with the
defense had been so dominant, and they literally got pushed
around like it was the beginning of the season all
over again.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, it wasn't what we expected to see by any means.
And you know the fact that you couldn't stop either,
that's the one that got to me. We saw, you know,
the students. It felt like we're talking about, you know,
with Missy during one of the breaks, about all the
substitutions that were happening defensively, in part because once the
(06:06):
Bengals started to get on a roll, they started to
dominate time and possession. When that happens, your guys start
to get tired. But I also saw a lot of
you know, subbing in for different packages, a defensive lineman
coming out of a defensive back coming in. They were
trying to find the right personnel mix, and you just
(06:29):
have to look at the final numbers to realize that
that didn't happen. They didn't find the right mix when
when you give up one hundred and forty two yards
rushing at six point two yards to carry and by
the way, Black ride that twelve yard run, but they
had him, you know, they had them with some negative
runs in the game as well that hurt their rushing totals.
(06:52):
But one hundred and forty two yards rushing three hundred
and forty two yards passing, you didn't stop the run.
You didn't stop the pass. We talked about this early.
You couldn't make them one dimensional. I don't know if
you know it would have made a difference if you
could have, you know, used more three three down defensive linemen.
They got them into a couple of third and lungs
(07:13):
early and the Bengals were able to convert. And then
it just felt like you couldn't get them into a
position in which you dictated. You know, to put it
in simple terms, you want to be able to dictate
to the other team, and defensively, you dictate by getting
them into either you know, a big deficit. You're down
(07:37):
seventeen nothing in the third quarter, now you've become a
one dimensional team late in the third quarter, or you
do that by getting a team into uncomfortable down in
distances where you can begin to unveil what you want
to do. You can bring your pressure, you can make
them one dimensional. Even within the throwing game, they were
(07:57):
only going to allow you to do certain things because
we're not going to allow you the time to throw.
But early on when they brought pressure, the Bengals offensive
line held up, and then later in the game they
just couldn't get into those favorable situations in which they
could dictate to the Bangles.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, no, I mean, and that was really the frustration.
And I think, you know, and here's what I heard Rob,
You know, it wasn't apparent. I actually had to answer
this question to a couple of my friends that had asked.
They were like, hey, man, did it look as obvious
to use it did on TV that there was confusion
and communication by the defense and busted assignments on the
(08:38):
back half and coverages. And I was like, well, I
mean I would say no that I did not tell that.
I could not tell live about what the frustrations were
looking like. And some of the blown assignments defensively, because
it just once again looked schematically like they just put
the Steelers in a bad situation and they were scheming
(09:03):
Jamar Chase free, open and free, and even when he
wasn't open, he was still making plays in tight coverage.
And the pass interference calls, I mean, we had four
of those and that was really frustrating. And then you know,
a couple of holes offensively and false stars that really
killed key moments. You know, you think about the hold
(09:26):
on Zach Frazier that knocked out a Jalen Warren touchdown.
That's the difference in the game. You think about the
fourth down tush push type of play that we tried
to go and we get a false start at a
key moment in the red zone that ended up being
a field goal instead of instead of continuing a drive
towards a touchdown. It was just it was frustrating those
(09:48):
key moments that you really needed it to happen and
it didn't happen. You know, PI in the end zone
on Jamar Chase and he converse a touchdown. You know,
we we dodged a bullet on the first one with
the slant in the middle where he kind of bobbled
it before dropping the football that they originally thought was
a touchdown. They got called back. He's like, okay, we
(10:10):
learned our lesson. But then they come back and they
still get the score. So the moments where the offense
did not you know, did not come up in the
key pressure moment and where they're the defense gave up
the key pressure moments, and you just think about those
turns of events in those type of things. Steelers just
(10:34):
kind of shot themselves in the foot and it was
just it was frustrating to watch that and to see
a guy have like a career high night, a record
you know, completion quarterback to receiver combo type of game
that Jamar Chase had. And then, like you said, you
couple that with Chase Brown, you know, coming up with
(10:56):
being one hundred yard rusher when he couldn't find a
rhythm all season essentially, and he found that rhythm against us.
And that's the frustration. When the defense had done so
much goodwill and good work towards stopping that, you know,
they found a scheme that really frustrated and confused, and
like you said, a lot of sub package running that
(11:20):
was effective that should not have been and you think
about it, it was just it was it was just like
slight misses, you know that. I think that's what the
other thing that hurt was that it was slight misses,
like you hit Chase Brown in the backfield, you STYMI him,
keeps the legs running, and all of a sudden he
breaks off a twelve yard run when he was hit
(11:40):
a yard deep in the backfield for a negative game.
So you're talking about a net difference of thirteen yards
on that play. What could have been Deshaun Elliott who
was who was timing up the blitz and getting back
there but narrowly misses hitting the guy in the backfield,
and then because he's gone, they displayed and you know
(12:02):
it's either the run got through because he wasn't there
on the backside defending he was up the field and
narrowly missed, or when he blitzed and there was a
pass and then the receiver went right to the spot
where Deshaun Elliott vacated and they get a completion there.
So it was like you felt the instincts, but it
(12:23):
was it was it was a get near all night
game and never a geit here type of moment like
it had been over the last three games, and that
was the and that's the narrow margin that you work with,
and that's how you end up losing a game thirty
three thirty one, because you gamble and you lose on
those on those guesses that had always been so explosive
(12:44):
and so dynamic, they weren't dynamic in that moment. I
think that's what was really frustrating.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Rob agreed. And there were a couple things too, so
you pointed out. I was also asked about the miscommunication
on the back end, and like you, I didn't see it.
I was asked about it on the DV Morning show.
I never saw it. Again, Guys, we're not trying excuse things.
We're seeing different things that you're seeing on TV, and
(13:10):
we're we're sometimes not seeing the same things you're seeing
on TV. So I didn't see that. We also didn't
know what was going on with the flea flicker. So
evidently Aaron Rodgers changed the play and Dale and Warren
didn't catch it, and that's why the consternation, and that's
why being completion and and so you know, when you
(13:34):
talk about the things, you know we just said, you know, earlier. Look,
three or four plays a game, every almost every single
game in the NFL, even games that appeared lopsided, there
are three or four plays had they gone the other way.
You know, I was talking about the Minnesota game earlier
in which Minnescota Minnesota scores touchdowns. Well, those turnovers and
(13:58):
Isaiah Rodgers players are happening when the Bengals are going
into score. So if you score a touchdown instead of
them scoring a touchdown, that's a fourteen point swing. And
when that happens twice, that's a twenty eight point swing
on two plates. You know, it's those sort of things happen.
And so you know when you look at the fleet flicker,
(14:20):
you know the miscommunication there and you know that drive,
you know, you wind up kind of shooting yourself in
the foot when you had an opportunity there to put
up points. And then the next drive on the holding
call that wipes out the touchdown. I mean, it easily
could have been conservatively seventeen to nothing. And now the
(14:41):
Bengals maybe they do get into one dimensional mode and
maybe you do have them there, but you're looking at
a couple of plays at swing it I thought another
really big play. You talk about the moments, you know,
third and four and Flacco shoes the shortfall and goes
up top the josef ash and hits them for a
big game for thirty seven yards. And you know, Sleigh
(15:04):
had decent coverage, but it was a really well thrown ball,
reminiscent of the play in Seattle when Darnold goes to
Jackson Smith and Jigba on single coverage and throws that
was even tighter coverage, a perfect ball to Jackson Smith
and Jigba. That changes the complexion of that game, you know.
So the few plays that you need to make in
a game, you know, and again, so our apologies for
(15:29):
you know, during the broadcast last night, I didn't see
this miscommunication everybody's talking about, but it felt max like
the Steelers were on the cusp of maybe running Cincinnati
out of the building and maybe being in complete control
of that game, and they didn't make a couple of
plays that they needed to make and then now all
of a sudden, you're the one playing catchup.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Not then.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well and it comes back to dictating terms, right, Rob,
I mean, I think that's what it is, exactly, Like
they dictated the terms and never gave us those opportunities,
or I should say we never took those opportunities. I
think is what it is. We never took And in
this league, you've got to go take what you want.
But like you said, it comes down to three or
(16:16):
four key plays that turn the tide. And you try
and you choke out, because like you said, this is
a very different game. If the Steelers go up seventeen zip,
what are we talking about, right, We're talking about a
team that's reeling. They're going to start pressing and doing
uncharacteristic things on the offensive side of the ball to
(16:38):
make up for the lack of defense because your defense
is not holding up and the offense was scoring at will.
But like I said, the self inflicted wounds in that moment,
like the miscommunicated flea flicker and the frustration on Aaron's
face when he changes the play and somebody didn't get it,
somebody wasn't paying attention, and then all of a sudden,
(17:01):
you get this kind of narrative, Oh my god, Aaron
Rodgers yelling at guys and being everything, and you know,
but you know, the good thing that we saw that
wasn't you know, present and Missy brought it to us,
was that, hey, Jalen Warren went over to the quarterbacks,
apologized to Art Smith and apologized to Aaron, and everybody
shook their hands and apologized, and yeah, you know you're
(17:22):
happy for that. And then, like you said, you think
we hey, we can still overcome this, right, But then
there's another play that stops it. You know, it's it's
the false start on on on the tush push. It's
it's the holding call that would not have mattered in
the grand scheme of things, but it happened right because
(17:43):
Jalen Warren was already past TJ. Slayton when Zach Frazier
quote unquote held him. And you know that's a tough
thing when a guy does a swim move and you're
taking and you know you're about to take him to
the ground. Broderick Jones the holding penalty right when Byron
Murphy he looks like he's slipping and loses the play
(18:03):
and Proger puts his hands up, and the referee season
and thinks, oh, he must have done something if his
hands are up. But and then you look, you at
the super slow moe down and there might have been
the start of what a hold was, But it's really
because the guy's losing his footing in that moment, and
then you go to pancake him and you get penalized
for it. Like you know, that's four things right there
(18:25):
offensively that changed the complexion of the game. And then
that's not to include all the stuff that happened defensively. Right,
How wide open can Jamar Chase be running a shallow
cross or a key moment at the end of the
game and a moment where it's third down and you
gotta stop him here and they move the chains, which
then ensues to a next one, which is a big
(18:47):
play down the sidelines to T Higgins is Jalen Ramsey's
in coverage and kind of stumbles a little bit. Another
chance where it didn't happen, and t if T Higgins
doesn't slide on this seven yard line and give himself
up and runs in for the easy score, maybe this
is still a different game. Right, There were just so
many different moments we could point to, But you're right,
(19:09):
if I just take away three of those, and I
just listed about six or seven, take away three of those,
we're talking about a different game, talking about a completely
different game. But that's why you played this game, because
that's what you're fighting for. You're fighting to be better
in those key pivotal moments that shift and stem the tide.
(19:33):
And at the end of the day, you still can't
wash away the fact that the Cincinnati Bengals were able
to go on and score on seven out of eight
drives after the first drive of the game.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
And yeah, he can't get around that. And you know,
when you think about the key stops, they make key
stops late against the Jets, they make key stops late
against England, they make key stops late against Minnesota. Didn't
make key stop latestlast night defensively against the Bengals. That
could have sealed the victory for the Steelers. Instead they
lose thirty three to thirty one. We were going to
(20:07):
remind you you can gear up at the latest game
the necessities at the official Steaders pro shops. Get the
latest Sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible tows, authentic memorabilia and customer
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Visit one of the official Steelers pro shops located at
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(20:28):
Get it direct from the team at this Seers Pro
shop at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back with more
into locker Room presented by our neighborhood Ford Store and
the Seis Pro Shop on Seliz Nation Radio. A part
of the Steelers audio networking.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Is in the Locker Room with kingon 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 wreck from the
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop dog Steelers
dot com.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, we welcome you back inside the locker room. Following
a disappointing loss last night. No Trey Hendrickson for the Bengals,
some uncertainty as to what was gonna happen with Joe
Flacco at the quarterback position, plenty of energy on the
on the Bengal side of things at pay Course Statium
in a white out go and the crowd was totally
(21:28):
into it. The Bengals wind up defeating the Steelers thirty
three to thirty one. That puts the Bengals at three
and four and two and zero within the division drops
the Steelers to four and two. Now, if you're in Baltimore,
you think of, wait a minute, we're not dead yet,
even if they ever thought they were as they try
to get them themselves healthy, particularly with Lamar Jackson, but
(21:49):
plenty of other injuries on that Baltimore team, Max, I
did want to get to a few positives for the Steelers,
and because we've we've pretty much pointed out the negatives,
some positives for me, I think I would begin despite
the miscommunication on the flea flicker, Jalen Warren really really
(22:13):
outstanding game for him as he goes sixteen carries for
one hundred and twenty seven yards.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, that was that.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
The enthusiasm is overwhelming, Max.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, because it was like, man, it could have
it could have been even worse like as far as
like better for us and worse for the Bengals if
he gets that additional touchdown rush, right, I mean, this
could have been a Jalen Warren coming out party. Yep.
And it gets it gets thwarted because, like you said,
(22:50):
the holding brings it back. But his effectiveness, Jalen Warren
was absolutely a nice catalyst to the balance of Aaron
Rodgers past right, and you know, Aaron finished with two
forty seven. But Jalen was just playing so good. I
mean the toss zones and the crack action that was
(23:13):
going on and his ability to cut back, his vision,
to ride against the grain, to push it to the
outside when necessary, to stay within the line and then
wiggle a little hole and just burst through. You know,
the Bengals defense did not handle his rush game very well,
and that was the thing. You know, coming into this,
(23:34):
we didn't really see any Caleb Johnson and this this
was mainly a Jalen Warren and Kenn's Gainwell type of night.
And both of them had explosives, and you know, Jalen
had the longest rush of the season, that twenty seven
yarder late in the game. That was just a thing
(23:55):
of beauty and fast where it's like, man, you had
this good thing happening. Pat Fryermouth as well, and all
for not right, all for not in that moment on
a night that Aaron passed Ben Roethlisberger for you know,
fifth all time in passing yards in the NFL, and
(24:17):
it was just there were those moments where you're just like, man,
what could have been what could have been these headlines
the next day and pick your pick your MVP of
the game type of deal turned into yeah, this was
this was this, These were the good parts on on
a performance that was just limited and you didn't come
(24:41):
away with the victory because of those efforts, and those
efforts led to keeping this game tighten my, the score
went back and forth and why you jumped out to
a ten oer lead, but then you were able to stop,
you know, the twenty point unanswered scoring streak of the Bengals.
(25:03):
But in the end, it just the key moments, it
just never quite got there. And you know, for Jalen Warren,
I'm excited, I'm happy for him. I hope this now
becomes a trend now that you finally figured out how
to eclipse that century mark as the as the lead
back on this team and battling through injuries to get
(25:26):
back into this position. You hope that this is not
a one off for Jalen Warren. I mean, he's only
his third one hundred yard rushing game in his career,
but this is the first time as kind of the
lead back in that in that backfield and to come
away with that and just not be able to utilize it.
Like you said another game, don't hold hold court on
(25:49):
the on the time of possession when we have been
building towards that just got a little bit too too
creative for our own good at moments. But Jalen Moore,
it wasn't for a lack of effort on Jalen Warren's part.
Jalen Warren did everything you could ask of him and Moore,
and he kept the tempo, kept the cadence drum for
(26:10):
the run game, which kept us balanced because it was
behind his sure running, his ability to see and to
get through holes and get through traffic and really show
us that hey man, you know I deserve to be
this lead back. I think we were kind of questioning,
you know when Kenned Gamewell went for those ninety nine
yards against Minnesota. Oh well, shir Kenneth Jane will be
(26:32):
the starting back over Jalen Warren. Jalen Warren I think
silenced all of that criticism of him being the lead
back in this offense, and he did it to perfection
last night. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
I love the way he runs and look credit the
offensive line for opening up some big holes, but also
credit Jalen Warren and to some degree, Kenneth Gamebwill only
had three carries for fourteen yards. These guys run hard,
I mean Jil and Warren runs hard. We've talked about
this a lot. He is a difficult guy to tackle
(27:07):
and that was on display last night, kind of ripping
through arm tackle attempts and other things. And so look,
I thought he was a real positive in this game.
And again, you know, we've spent an hour and twenty
minutes talking about the non positives, so there were Look,
when you score thirty one points, you're going to be
some positives for me. I'm not even going to focus
(27:27):
on the defense because they give up thirty three points.
Oh there's probably a player or two in there that
had a good game, but it wasn't readily apparent to
my eye. But we talked about Aaron Rodgers. You know,
if you were a national person out there thinking, well,
we're picking this Steelers to not be very good this
year because it's the same old story at quarterback last
night should have if you hadn't seen the first few games.
(27:51):
It is a nationally televised game, it's the only game
going on. There are no other games you're not flipping
around the channel. You're watching that game. If you're a fan,
If you didn't come away from that thinking, uh, this
is this is a really good quarterback still at age
forty one, then I don't know. I don't know what
you're watching. So we talked about him. You know, I
(28:11):
was asked earlier today on the DV Morning Show about,
you know, are we gonna see more of Pat Fryermuth
big game, five receptions, one hundred and eleven yards, had
a sixty eight yard or two touchdowns for Pat. By
the way, all four receiving touchdowns by tight ends. But
you know, I was asked about that, Max. I think
it's I think what we're going to see is we're
(28:33):
going to see matchup football that I think we've seen
it already. I didn't see anything in last night's game
that makes me think, ah, this is this is gonna
be a different You know, we're gonna we're gonna go
back to Pat Fryarmouth. And I think Pat is a
very capable player. He showed it last night. I just
think that, you know, one game it's going to be
(28:56):
and we saw a lot of jumbo packets last night.
One game it's going to be a ton of umbo package.
There might be another game in which they spread things
out and throw the ball. I think DK metcalf excuse me,
is always going to get his targets. He got five,
a lot of them were downfield. Three catches for fifty
yards for DK, He's always going to figure into the
offense if you get single high. I think Aaron Rodgers
(29:18):
has shown he's always going to try to go to DK.
But I think that the next guy up is going
to be something of a revolving door. It might be
Darnell Washington one week, by the way, Darnell three receptions
for two yards yesterday, you know, after the big you know,
after his career game last week. I just think all
this points to the Steelers have a lot of capable targets,
(29:41):
but only DK is going to week in and week out,
get a high number of targets and going to be
the guy they pushed the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Too. Yeah, I mean he dictated that he's wide receiver one.
So you know those tight moments are going to go
to DK. And for DK, I mean as good as
he was. You know, two of those interceptions happened on
plays being trying to force the ball to him. The
one was you know, obvious and an easy one to call.
(30:11):
In that one, he was not open. Aaron was trying
to throw him open and he did not get that accomplished.
And then the second time he delivered the ball right
to him and the ball gets snatched out on a
bobble at the end and then he gets down. I
still don't know how DJ Turner got that knee down.
I know that it was a slow, cautious replay to
(30:33):
figure it out at everything. But that was also frustrating
because you have this talent and you can't get to it.
And a great job of Roman Wilson last night of
being able to alleviate some of that that two man
pressure and go to the backside. John who you know,
miss missed a big play here. Don't know Washington had
(30:57):
the had the deflection, that missed the big gain right
there because Logan Wilson would GEO got enough of a
hand on the ball to distort it that was going
directly for Darnell. That was great play by Losels.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, by the way, on the broadcast, yeah, we couldn't
see it. And it was one of those things where
because of the perspective. I wasn't sure if it went
through Darnell's hands, but we saw the replay and it
was clearly knocked it. No chance of catching that ball
for Darnell Wilson was deflected wide of them. But you know, again,
even with thirty one points Max and even with the
(31:32):
very targets, it just again we talked about this, I'm
trying to accentuate the positive and I keep shaking my
head thinking that even with thirty one points scored, it
just felt like there was an opportunity for more out there.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, no, I think there was. And like I said,
it wouldn't be as big a frustration if the Bengals
didn't also have a tip pass. That was myth. They
had a tip pass and they actually caught it with
tacks right, yeah, right where It's like it was. There
was the parallels. It was like, oh, it's okay, you know,
it's a deplect plass. It happens to everybody. But you
(32:09):
see a deflect pass and that it actually ends up
getting completed and the keybod in the game, You're just like, ah,
the ball just it never quite rolled in the defense's
way all night. Like I said, it was it was
a git near night. It wasn't a get here night,
and that's what was frustrating.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
One final thing, and we're going to talk about some
of the weekend games coming up in a little bit
and where the Steelers fit into things and how this
weekend might affect the Steelers. But it's a really intriguing weekend. Uh,
it's actually kind of a fun weekend to be to
be uh sitting around. There's there's a little bit of
a forecast for raink I kind of secretly hope it
(32:47):
does rain, So anything I might have been able to
do outside will be just I have to look at
I can't do it. Gotta stay and watch football all
day long because there's a lot of good football games.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
All day long.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
But I wanted to ask you about the offensive line.
So you know, there's a couple of things when I
think about the offensive line that I can go either
way on this unit. One is that Aaron Rodgers, who
had not gone through a game in several seasons in
which he hadn't been sacked, has now not been sacked
in three out of the last four games, three out
(33:19):
of the last four games. Some of that's him, right,
Some of that is quick releases he's got. You know,
I think it was the second fastest release time as
far as the time to throw the time he throws
in the NFL. So is part of that trying to
you know, mitigate and help out an offensive line that's
trying to find its way a little bit. You have
(33:40):
the jumbo packages. How much is that helping to run?
How much is that helping pass protection? When Spencer Anderson
is out there as a sixth offensive lineman. So it's
hard to kind of, you know, to isolate, for me
to isolate the offensive line and say, okay, it's it's
you know, if you look at the statistics, just the statistics,
you know, no sacks in three out of the last
(34:02):
four games, third straight game where you've rushed for over
one hundred yards with a season high one and forty
seven against the Bengals defense, it's you know, I want
to say the offensive line has definitely taken the steps
forward we were hoping they would with two first round
picks a tackle. Do you think they are max or
do you think some of what's happening is being masked
(34:25):
by schematics and by Aaron Rodgers quick release?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So I think I think, I think it could be
a bit of both. I mean both can be true.
At the same time. The offensive line is getting better,
they are creating, like you said, that run game, and
those run games are all effort and assignment, and like
I said, Jayleen Warren at a fantastic rushing night, and
(34:54):
that kind of gets the worded. I mean, the things
you talked about they needed to be good at. They
got to most of them. But you needed all of
them last night, as it proved, right, you needed some
luck to fall your way on the defense side of
the ball, and that luck just never quite fell in
their direction. I mean, they had the unlucky, you know,
(35:14):
horseshoes of issues that couldn't get the ball back in
the offense's hand for them to capitalize and steal a
possession like the Bengals did to us two different occasions, right,
And that was the difference in the game, was being
able to create those opportunities where you take a possession
away sooner than you'd like. And they did not capitalize
(35:36):
on those third, medium, third and long situations when they
did have them. And you know, that's the frustration of it, because,
like you said, the offense was doing exactly what they needed.
An offensive line had been creating the time for Aaron.
They made the body even when they got pressure on
Aaron and forced him off of his spot. You know,
(35:56):
the blocking was so good on the redirection for the
most part that he was still able to make those plays.
And this offensive line is really growing on man, really
growing up. And I think that was what was good
to see. And like you said, well you don't have
you know, you have a third game now out of
last four where you don't give up a sack. That's
(36:19):
a sign of that. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, regardless of
the release, has enough time that he needs to get
the ball out and to have a clear picture of
where he wants to go with that ball and then
holding up enough to make sure that goes that that
that has the best possible outcome. So it's frustrating, but
(36:40):
I still don't want to minimize it. But this offensive
line is really starting to starting to come together as
a unit. You can see the communications a lot cleaner.
The double teams look that much beefier with the late
delays on coming up to the second level. You don't
have to be quick to that level. You've got to
whip the first level defenders and then get the honor
(37:03):
of taking on of safety. You know, I'm sorry, take
it all go head to head in those moments. So
I'm just I'm just frustrated about the loss. But you're
right seeing the positives in that Jalen Warren, you know,
in the run game, really opening up and doing what
they wanted at will, seeing the offensive line give Aaron
(37:25):
sometimes I know he was flushed out a couple of times,
but sometimes quarterbacks also want to dictate the terms to
the defense. And when you break out of the pocket,
you break out of the container, you break out of
the known place. That leads to that uncertainty where guys
have to scramble and try and get to the open
guys that are now in these gap zones and hit
(37:48):
them in stride. And like you said, Pat Fryble was
the prime example of having that kind of breakout game
where Aaron saw something. He floated out a couple of
them on the underneath screens like a lot of lateral
game on Now's because of off coverage or because of
the personnel alignments, and he played into all of that.
I mean, a NOW screen that goes five yards is
(38:10):
a win. It's just like running the football. And so
that's where it was kind of you know, frustrateds like
two steps four or three steps back, but you but
you definitely want to keep in mind there's still room
for improvement with this group, but they're only going to
get better. And I thought, you know, after now six
(38:31):
you know, the six games body of work that I've
had to watch them, they have most definitely gotten better
as a unit and it shows, and it shows, and
they had an opportunity to really do that. But ball
force ends a drive and then that's what essentially makes
you lose the time of possession game and the ability
to go over thirty minutes.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, so some positives, but overall lost thirty three to
thirty one. Hoping that we'll look back at this in
same maybe some other pieces fell into place for the
Steelers in the long haul, But what does that long
haul look like after this loss. We're going to talk
about that a little bit. Take a brief glance at
a at a really intriguing slate of games coming up
this weekend when we continue in the Locker Room presented
(39:13):
by your Neighborhood Forard Store and the Students pro shop
on see this Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
This ski is in the locker room with King and
Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The f one point fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
All right, coming in the locker room, and we know
what time it is. It is time for the bell.
That's right, early lunch warning system. Ten minutes to get
to your lunch. And this is a Friday lunch once.
So maybe you're maybe you're already there. Maybe you got
a little maybe you get a little bunchification going on
a Friday. Maybe you took the day off from work today.
(40:09):
I don't know. I'm not I'm not in those, not
in those. Maybe you know you wanted to kind of
celebrate the weekend a little bit early, but you know,
go get you some lunch. This is a comfort this
is a comfort meal Friday. I'm calling for it. You know,
Victory Donuts are on Mondays. Apparently we can't handle can't
handle change in the day of the week for those
victory donuts. Hopefully we can get to a victory donut
(40:30):
Tuesday one of these days in December when we have
the Monday night football game, but no victory donuts. It
is a comfort food. We are seeking comfort for the
next you know, twelve hours, you get twenty four hours
to deal with a win or a loss and celebrate.
So we are going to act accordingly. I'm gonna go
find something good around here that's not skyline chilly as
(40:53):
I'm in Cincinnati. But but yeah, I mean you had
it at halftime there, Rob, you know, what's your what's
your assessment? I refused, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah, I wasn't a good decision Right now the food
I consume last night.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Is seeming a very poor decision.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah, so yeah, not good.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
So hey, Max, I just wanted to touch briefly on
on how the complexion of the AFC North has changed
with one game. One game has changed the complexion. That's
that loss last night. If you're Cincinnati, you were now
three and four, you're feeling a lot better about where
(41:33):
you stand in the season. You're two to zero in
the AFC North. You're feeling better about your quarterback position.
Obviously you're feeling like, hang on a second, now, we
got kind of a puncher's chance.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
They do have a.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Brutal section of schedule coming up, New England, Baltimore, Buffalo,
Baltimore in a four game stretch. But can you position
yourself where if you can get to seven wins three
games last three games of the season at Miami, Arizona
and Cleveland, you get burrow back is ten and seven
(42:06):
good enough to get you in the playoffs. Okay, so
you go from two and four now to three and four.
Your next two opponents are both at home before your
by the Jets in Chicago. You get the students coming
out of that bye. But forget about that. Right now,
you're looking at the very real possibility of being Cincinnati
and being five and four coming out of the break,
(42:29):
and you're thinking, okay, hey, we're right in it. Five
and four is right in it. Man, You're nine games
into the season, you're five and four. You're in playoff contention. Now,
let's look at Baltimore at one in five and no.
Alvi said, Okay, the students are four and two. They're
not five and one. We're not down four games anymore. Well,
you get to the by you get Lamar Jackson back,
presumably be coming out of the by. Maybe you get
(42:50):
some other guys healthy. We talked about this, what seven
Pro Bowlers injured for the Ravens in the last couple
of games. Here's what you got coming out of the
by Chicago at home. Okay, good chance to go two
and five at Miami. Good chance to go three and
five at Minnesota. Tough game, Let's see you win that one.
You're four and five at Cleveland, five and five, you
(43:11):
take on the Jets, you beat them. Now you're six
and five at home with a home game coming up
against Cincinnati on Thursday night. All of a sudden, you
feel pretty good about your chances of getting back in
And so, you know, the complexion in the AFC North
changing considerably with the outcome of last night's game.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
It did. And also, you know, but I think for
the Steelers they still control their own destiny absolutely. Because
of all of these the Steelers are the only ones
that are sitting above five hundred. And it's only your
second loss is the first AFC loss that you've taken.
The other one was an NFC one off loss to
(43:50):
the Seattle Seahawks. And so the Steelers. You know, I know,
we feel like it's doom and gloom as we're talking
about the loss and how the tail of the tape ended.
But at the end of the day, you're still in control,
but you don't have as much control as you had
garnered and gained ground over the field over the last
(44:14):
couple of weeks. That has shrunk by a game. And
now you have a common opponent that now has a
victory over you. And so now the job is you've
got to go in there and you've got you've got
you've got to go silence, silence all of the newly
festered or refestered emotions of can this defense do it?
(44:38):
Can they actually be great? Right?
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Refestered Uncle Fester. Refestered by by the way, in case
you're whattered about the Steelers, and you're right, what they
lost in this game was they lost a bit of luxury,
right they had. If you're five to one, you have
some luxury, that luxury's gone. It's just gone. It's as
simple as that you're four and two. The luxury being
(45:01):
five and one and having some padding is gone, and
your schedule. Green bayed home on Sunday night Indianapolis, who
thought that was gonna be a tough game. It is
coming up the following week and then at LA so
their next three game stretch before the Bengals come back
to town. That's one that will get your attention because
the Bengals have played some of their tougher games, the
(45:24):
Ravens have played some of their tougher games, and a
lot of this to there's tougher games at least according
to the schedule, and the records as they stand now
are still to come. So you know what, man, it's
the NFL. It's the way it goes. We're all disappointed
in macch You're you're off to Kansas City?
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Correct, Yeah, I got Kansas City on Sunday at Kansas
City in Las Vegas. Another team in the AFC that's
starting to make their charge back. They're about to get
Rashid Rice back. So great, here we go again. Kansas
City kind of making the late charge and you know,
trying to get trying to get back to the ones
and all of that stuff. So it's like, you know,
(46:03):
the conspiracy theorist or the play with people like, hey,
what happened to how we expected it? Everybody else that
was in front of them starting to take losses. Right,
Buffalo thought they were going to get finally get the
stranglehold and control home field advantage. They've dropped too in
a row, and Baltimore's where Baltimore is, and the traditional
teams that we talk about, you know, kind of kind
(46:24):
of shifting. And then, like you said, we're going to
see the La Chargers, a team that you know has
been up and down, and they were dominated in the
beginning and went three and zero in the division, so
they technically have a stranglehold over their own division, even
though they're not playing great as of late. And you know,
Kansas City just slowly just chugging along. So I'm gonna
see that game. But this is this is what the
(46:46):
beauty of the NFL is. You can never get comfortable,
you know, at any moment, and we're seeing a lot
of matchups that are that are going that way. I mean,
just when you thought Detroit was going to be this
dominant team in the NFC, boom, there goes a loss
and Green Bay hitting right there in striking distance of
Detroit as well. So you know, we're seeing that everything's
(47:08):
starting to be the competitive balance and if you're a
good team You've got to go out and win those
good games. You can't just win the games that you're
expected to win. What perceives to be easy is not easy.
I mean, this league, a lot of these things have
garnered a lot of a lot of talent, a lot
of reshuffling of rosters and new coaches and new culture
(47:30):
shifts and new quarterback homes. You know, for a lot
of guys. I mean, who would have thought Indiana Jones, right,
Daniel Jones, Indiana Jones.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
And what they're doing with the Colts. I mean, we
have some games on this schedule.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Yeah, they got a fascinating game with the Chargers. What
a weekend Mac. I mean, look, we knew this game
was going to be intriguing. We did, despite what anybody
else saw it. And we saw it last night, the
one we just had Sunday morning. You know, it was
kind of hoping in front of those London games. I
could skip, but I can't. I mean, it's the Rams
four and two with the Jaguars four and two. You
(48:06):
know you've got your game coming up. We just mentioned
the Eagles at the Vikings. There's an intriguing game. A
Man of the Giants, what are the Giants gonna do
in Denver? That's sneakily intriguing. Colts Chargers of Commanders Cowboys
is a big game in the East. And then you
know the Falcons and forty nine Ers on Sunday night,
and then if you thought you could take a break
(48:28):
on Monday, these might be the two best games. Or
you know, the Buccaneers the Lions of Texans at the Seahawks.
Fascinating weekend. Unfortunately, Max, it didn't get off to the
start we wanted in Cincinnati. I wish you safe travels
and lots of barbecue in Kansas City, my friend.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
Hey, no, I appreciate it, Rob, and I'm gonna be
looking forward to it. And then you know, we'll be
back on the airwaves on Monday to start getting ready
for this Green Bay game. And then I'll have the
post game after the Monday night football. So a lot
of football to be had, a lot of conversations left
and hopefully, you know, when the fallout kind of shakes
the dust, hoping the Steelers haven't lost too much ground,
(49:08):
you know, in the AFS, in the bigger AFC picture
by the end of this weekend, because there's a lot
of things that can happen, a lot of shifts that
could happen. You know, what happened to the Steelers could
happen to a lot of those good teams that are
also in that mix with the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
Looks like it's that kind of year. He's Max Stark's
justin milod Our Controls. In the iHeart Studio, I'm Rob King.
We thank you for listening in the Locker Room presented
by our neighborhood Ford Store in the Steelers Pro Shop
on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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