October 30, 2025 • 47 mins
Max and Rob further discuss the gameplan going into this Sunday's matchup against the Colts, as well as the upcoming AFC slate.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In the locker room with Kenyon 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 (00:24):
All right, our number two here inside the locker room.
That's right, power hour is engaged, and of course optimists
joining us back in this as he's affectionately called uh
as we kind of start to dig in here, Kinger,
(00:47):
you know, I think one of the biggest things then
we kind of look at like you said, structure, you know,
what does what does Indy do good? And what do
the Steelers do good? And how how can the Steelers
do good er while going against the good of the
Indianapolis Coults. That is that a good They use enough
(01:09):
explanation on that one, I mean, especially with the good er,
you know, because that's so grammatically correct. Yeah, yeah, it's
good er er or good st you know, I mean,
that's that's really what you're battling. I Mean, there's levels
that's within this. But you know, we kind of kind
of left off at the end of our number one.
They're talking about lou Anarumo, Colts defensive coordinator, and and
(01:34):
what what what has made this team a seven and
one juggernaut? Right? And the complimentary football that has to
be played by them, because obviously this defense is not perfection, right,
it's not. It's not gonna sit there and say it's
it's is the best defense in all of the NFL. Right,
(01:55):
it's not that. But what they do great or gooder
is that they play complimentary football. Is that when their
team gets the lead, guess what, they're not going to
give it up. I mean, I think that's the biggest
that's the biggest compliment to this defense, right, is that
they don't allow opposing offenses to really catch suit or
(02:19):
put the put their offense in a position where they
have to score. It's only they want to score. And
so that's a good place to be for a defense.
That you know, if you're a defensive coordinator, you're you're
you're super excited when your offense can score at will,
which is what this Indianapolis Colts offense has done. It
(02:39):
allows you to be a lot more free and a
lot more you know, risk advantageous, you know, take advantage
of those risks that you're making and realize that you know,
your offense has your back, so you're not gonna you know,
you can really play loose and free. And that's and
that's what I really see when I watch the tape
is that this defense is trying everything.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, I think that when you you know, there there's
a couple of sort of statistical anomalies and with the Colts,
one is that they do not control time of possession.
So you know, there's there's a lot of there are
a lot of teams that you know, we're talking about
(03:21):
this to this need to control the time of possession day.
But you know what they just they're so explosive that
you know that they they they don't have to possess
the ball for long periods of time. And when you
look at the rush defense for them, right, teams basically
(03:43):
give up against them. They're eighth in the league in
rushing yards against, they're eighth in the league and rushing
attempts against. But they're a little closer to the middle
of the pack as far as yards per carry allowed.
In fact, they're right next to this others by the way,
And you know, so we're we're talking about a defense.
(04:04):
At at first glance, maybe you say, wow, that's a
that's a really good defense. Well, teams are in and
maybe a really good rush defense because they're eighth in
the league and yards against, but teams aren't running the
ball against them because they're falling behind or perhaps they've
played again. You know, you're getting to that point of
the season in which statistics seem to hold more validity.
(04:29):
You know, early on, hey, you gave up a lot
of rushing yards. Well you're playing the Chargers. That's what
they do. They run the ball, you know, for example.
So you know, I think that at some point in
the season you start to say, well, though, the numbers
are more real because there's enough variety of opponent that
you can say, okay, these are these numbers are valid.
These numbers aren't skewed by who you've played. There's always
(04:51):
going to be outliers. We understand that. But I think
when you're looking at the cult, you're looking at it
at a team who whose defense, whose rush defense hasn't
been overly tested because they've gotten ahead, and so I
think the Steelers are going to be able to run
the ball against his defense and excuse me, I would
(05:13):
also love to see them do that successfully. And by
the way, when you think about approach by a team,
so there are very few teams in the NFL, only
actually a couple the Colts, and I think it's the
Falcons who when they win the toss they pretty much
elect to receive. Almost every other team defers. They've done
(05:35):
some kind of study that shows that you're better off
receiving the opening kickoff. So think about this from the
Colts perspective. Get the opening kickoff, score some points. Especially lately,
they had a couple of field goals early. I think
the last three games they've got two touchdowns in a
field goal in the opening possession and they get the
ball first. Only one time have they kicked off first.
(05:56):
So max they get the ball first, go down the field.
Last couple weeks, score a touchdown, kick a field goal,
have the lead. Maybe you get another stop. Now all
of a sudden, you get another lead again, and that
offense starts to roll and it's and it's coming at
you quickly, and they're scoring. They're scoring fast, and now
maybe you're getting out of what you do offensively. I
don't know whether you take the ball to begin the game,
(06:17):
because if you in the past, the Steelers win the toss,
are going to defer, and which means the Colts get
the ball first. Colts win the toss, they're going to
take the ball, which means they're going to get the
ball first. So I don't know whether you change. Let's
start there before you go into your breakdown of the
defense of the Colts. Do you if you win the
toss and you're the Steelers, do you go against your
(06:39):
grain and say, you know what, I think we'll take
the ball to begin the game.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
No, okay, I mean that's interesting. Listen, listen, I don't
I don't care whatever mind games they think that they
want to do. Oh, we want to start fast, we
want to be hot, so that's why we want the
ball pish posh bs okay, yes, and exactly in that
order too. You know, don't put the post before the pitch,
(07:05):
and you don't put the s before the b because
everybody wants control, and you effectively give away your opportunity
at a double score opportunity chance right when you take
the ball first. So I'm always on the side of
(07:26):
I want to play chess. That seems like a very
Checkers esque type of move, and yes, it has worked
out for them thus far. But for me, I'm a
very ritualistic person and I believe in just creating a system,
and that system the biggest yield of success. Like you said, analytics,
(07:48):
you know even says, hey, defer because most of these
games are going to be tight, and I know the
Colts have made that seem like it's not. But when
you play every game, traditional knowledge is you want to
be in possession, and being in possession to start the
second half is more valuable than being in possession to
(08:09):
start the first half. That's just what it is, because
you control how the fates will align when executed, that
deferring or second half kickoff reception is the first real
power play of the second half of the game. Because
remember this game is sixty minutes long. It's not thirty minutes.
(08:32):
If we're playing a one half game. Hey, you know,
winner take all? Yeah, go ahead, take the ball. You
know in overtime, you know you are are are they
going to do the same thing if it ever gets
to overtime, You're gonna take the ball first, and then
you get stalled and then they come down and kick
the field goal, game over. No, you want to see
what the other person's hand looks like, and then you
(08:52):
have there after meet or exceed that. The same principle
in the rest. In regular gameplay or regulation game play,
the same thing, the same rules apply.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well, no hangout of saying because in overtime, if they
score a touchdown it's game over.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well no, yeah, if they score a touchdown, but you're
also banking that they're not going to and that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I think I want the ball. I'm following you, but
I think I want the ball first in overtime.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It depends on how my team is playing, right, But
for me, I'm like, hey, I'm second, and that means
I'm also putting a lot of trust in my defense. Now,
we could argue the semantics about the current state of things.
I could see why you would say that I don't
blame you, But traditional conventional knowledge would say, I want
to see what the other guys got first, you know,
and I want to be able to react to that.
And so that's where Now in the playoffs, each team
(09:42):
gets a possession, so you know that there's a different
strategy when you get to the playoffs. But I I
personally I want to I want to put it out there,
put the defense there, and then let let's meet or
exceed what they're doing. They kick a field goal, guess what,
we get possession. We have the opportunity to go down
and put the touchdown on or you know, we try
and tie it up again or whatever. But I don't
(10:05):
want to take things to chance that I don't want
to also be the first failure. And then it's like,
oh man, you know, all this team has to do
is just you know, get the ball across the fifty
yard line the way these kickers are now and now
I'm done. So it's it's part and parcel. But like
you said, when you have a thought process, stick with it,
don't move off of it, you know, and and and
(10:26):
don't be consistent. It's like when you sit at the
blackjack table. You got that guy sitting at the end
of the table. You want to know that your guy
playing third base knows what he's talking about. You know,
are you a do you have a steadfast rule on sixteen?
You know? What what do you what are you doing
on sixteen with seven or better? Showing you hit or
a stay?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Guy?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I need to know, and you got to be consistent
for the table. That's the type of deal you have
to you have to work with what you're dealing with,
coin tosses and those opportunities.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Okay, so okay, and I agree with you. I think
you don't change what you're doing if you're just stealer.
It's just because the other team does listen. You have
your own reasons for doing everything. So let's go, you know,
let's do it our way now. I do think that
this is a game that strikes me that you might
(11:13):
want to, you know, run the football more so than
other you know, I just think that there's a lot
of reasons to want to do it. One, I think
you can run the football against his team. They're giving
up four point three yards per carry. Again, that's what
the Steelers are giving up. But you want to get
(11:34):
You want to keep the ball away. And we're starting
with the defense, even though it's the Colts offense that's
been so explosive. But I think you want to keep
the ball away from Jonathan Taylor and you know who's
you know, you know, making a bid to be the
m v P boy. That conversation changes week in and
week out. Two to maybe be the MVP this year.
(11:54):
No running back has done that in well over a
decade in the NFL. He finished second when he led
the league in rushing a couple of years ago for Indianapolis.
You know, I think you want to be able to
run the football Max against his team, and I don't
know whether Ciamalo is going to be out there and
whether you can have Anderson in the jumbo package. I
don't know whether you know you get Anderson starting and
(12:15):
then you bring somebody else in for the jumbo package.
I don't know whether you just try to run behind
a more traditional look. But I do think this is
a game that says, let's run the football.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I would agree with you. I would agree with you
on that slants movement as blitz pressure leads to big
plays at the middle, you know. And I think for
the Steelers we do run a good amount of toss,
a lot of pinn and pull exterior run game. This
(12:49):
is a game depending on whether Isaac is available not available.
You want to run north and south on them, you
want to keep everything tight, you want to run the
inside zones, you want to have the cut back lanes
available to the back side. Because of flow or just
guessing wrong, defensively on your blitz package. That's how I
(13:12):
would handle it. Give me gap, give me zone, give
me anything that's tight interior, and then once they constrict,
that's now when you can go to the outside and
make sure that you can create that wall to get
the lane on the outside, the funnel as we call
it for your running back. And but that requires you know,
(13:32):
nine guys blocking. I always take out the quarterback because
he's a bonus if he decides to insert himself into that,
into that part of the business. Yeah, Aaron, you're a
little bit you're a little bit older, Bud. Just just
you know, like you said, you didn't hey, listen, when
Broderick jumped on you, you got mad. I don't need
you trying to throw a block out to the outside,
especially if you're not going to be to the playside
(13:54):
of it anyways, with a reverse rollout trying to hold
the defensive end off the edge. That's that's how I
would approach it. That's how I would I would go
into it. I I want to develop my interior game.
I want to develop the wham concepts. We saw a
tackle trap with Roderick Jones. Uh. I want to see
those concepts. That's what I want to see. I want
(14:15):
to see you know, good good, a good old GT.
You're not gonna get a GT counter, but some type
of guard, fullback, pull lead type of play.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Those are the things that I would be really excited about,
and I would. And obviously, if you can get a
Spencer Anderson, that just adds a new an additional wrinkle
and dimension that you can exploit on on the Colts.
But obviously we'll see as the week progresses with Isaac,
because remember Mike Tomlin also said that, hey, he's a
guy that could need a lot of reps. So that's
going to be a game time type of decision. As
(14:46):
he rests up and takes treatment and gets ready for
the week ahead. How his body responds to that will
remain to be seen. But that is the hope and expression.
And you know, Mike Thomins seemed encourage so guess what,
I I feel encouraged as well, because he would know
better than us about the state of a spate of
those guys. And you know, whether he's doing it for
(15:08):
gainsmanship to make them plan for it or not. You know,
he still has to disclose, still has to discuss and
we have to plan accordingly. You know, if Isaac doesn't go. Now, hey,
it's a more traditional run game, right, you're using true,
true tight ends. You're not using you're not using the
tackle plus set and the tackle plus set. If anybody's
(15:31):
wondering is Spencer Anderson and Darneld Washington, you know that's
that's when where it literally looks like seven offensive linement
out there, get outside of the number eighty Darneld Washington
wears the number closest to alignment without physically being alignment.
If you notice that problem, Rightah, yeah, yeah, he's not
got like eighty seven. You know what I'm saying, Like
(15:52):
he's eight zero, like if that's seventy nine, you know
or seventy like like you're like, okay, not surprised there,
know there's no surprise there, but yes, he he does
have an eligible and Spencer Anderson technically has a catch too.
So now we've had five different tight ends catch a
ball for US. I don't know if any other team
in the league can tout that.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Uh yeah, I guess that's right. Uh were I forgot
that we were considering it. I guess for this for
considering him a demo.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Jumbo tight end. He's jumpbo tight end. Just saying, uh, interesting,
he has to he has to report as eligible his numbers.
It becomes eligible. That's with a little bit of the
chest swipe, you know, up and down, he now becomes
a fifth tight end. I'm just saying, yeah, five different
tight ends have caught a ball from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
No, you bring you bring it, it's undeniable. You bring
up a good point, and yes, he's uh, you know
we talked about the soft hands or Aaron Rodgers did
saying that he has soft hands. I did want to
point out one thing Max, and as regards to running
the football and when people second guess a play call
(17:00):
or you know, a decision to do something. So for example,
you know, and I again, I'm just bringing this up
for fans to think about. So I'm going to use
a specific example without knowing what the answer is to it.
But you know, Steelers on their first play there, they're
(17:21):
trying to you know, fight their way back in with
the momentum slipping away from them Sunday night against Green
Bay and instead of you know, saying, hey we're going
to pound the ball, let's get back to the running game.
It's been successful for us. Let's eat up some clock.
They decide, hey, maybe we can take a shot here,
and then Aaron Rodgers winds up getting sacked for a
ten yard loss. Now, I don't know whether this would
(17:44):
be less common on the first play of a series,
But I was just having this discussion yesterday, like I
with somebody else off off microphone, not during the show.
I don't know what was called. I don't know if
Aaron Rodgers is checking out of things. I don't know.
I don't know the I don't know whether two plays
(18:04):
are called in the huddle and they get a look
and they decide to go with one play and a
and a block gets blown and it was a really
good call, or of course it's never a really good
call that fails in the fan's mind, I understand that,
And frankly, from a football team's perspective, it's it's never
a success when it's a fail when it's a failure.
But is that a Is that a it's never a
(18:26):
success when it's a failure. Someone write that down. That's
that's an unbelievable quote.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So anyway, so for success when it's a failure, guys,
no you know what, walk into a locker room. Could
you imagine walk into a locker room and say give
me that as part of your halftime speech.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But I'll tell you this. You you but the counter
that is, you learn from adversity, So maybe you need
you need to fail to succeed anyway, the point being,
I don't know any more than I can tell you
know that somebody will you'll see a blown coverage in
somebody else. It was clearly a bone coverage. Well, the
corner needed to be back on that. I don't know
what defense was called, and either there's a person criticizing
(19:07):
it probably know what defense was called. So I just
think that that should be pointed out offensively and defensively.
We don't know what was called. We don't know if
things were changed to the line of scrimmage. We don't
know any more than we know if the Steelers, you know,
there's a long pass play. We don't know if Aaron
(19:28):
Rodgers checked out of a run to complete that long
pass play or vice versa. So it's just, you know,
when fans start to second guess about what a team
should do, sometimes it's a little more involved. That's all
I just wanted to just for some reason that stuck
out because I was saying, let's run the football. Yeah,
let's run the football, but let's give Aaron Rodgers the
(19:48):
freedom at the line of scrimmage the best going at
the line of scrimmage to say, hey, let's move to
this because I've got something that can work here.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Well, No, I mean I think I think you have
to give a certain level of credence to the experience
and the actual real time assessment judgment of Aaron Rodgers
in the moment. And there are there are a lot
of times where you do send in two, you know,
(20:20):
because you want to have switch kill. However you want
to describe the adjustment right, you know, we have a
bunch of different ways you can deploy the double the
double play call. Yeah, And it comes down to trust
between Arthur and Aaron and the time they spent together
to understand how each other thinks, to understand what the
(20:40):
goal is from play to play, like what are you
trying to accomplish in this play? And you have to
trust that combination. And I think we've seen that combination throughout.
You know, this season does far If Aaron SE's somebody
doesn't like he's got to check out. He's going to
adjust his receip if it's run to pass, if it's
(21:02):
passed to a known run, he's going to make the
appropriate call. And you kind of trust him with that.
You know, you don't sit there and just give him
a Cheesecake Factory menu every play and say, hey, pick
pick out your favorite dish. It's all right, We've been
talking about this all week. Here are the two things
I'm thinking. Let me send them in. You tell me,
make me right, make me look good in that moment,
(21:26):
but also while making yourself look good and sharpening your mind.
Like there's so many ways you approach it. But I
think you know, for Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers, they're
the one that truly know how it goes. And you
got to be willing and open to the flexibility of
that because Aaron may come back to the sign like, hey,
we got to scrap that play. It might be bread
and butter right now, you know, for the rest of
(21:48):
the season, but for today, this is what I'm seeing
it as. This is an over team. This is what
they like to do. That when that bat gets parallel
with the defensive end, guess defensive incomes inside back scrapes
over the top to the backside of that play or
the front side, depending on what your strength is like.
(22:11):
You have to trust that unequivocally. That's the role of
a quarterback is to execute and make the best decision
possible every play that has a ball in his hands.
That's just how it should.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Go, agreed. So just again wanted to point that out.
If you see a play call and you say, why
are they doing this and who's the second guest, I
just you know, it doesn't really have to do with
this game plan other than the fact that we're talking
about let's run the football, but also let's give our
quarterback the freedom to, especially this quarterback, the freedom to
(22:44):
change things to the line of scrimmage and get into
a play that he thinks is most successful or can
be most successful for the team. We want to remind
you to gear up with the latest game day necessities
at the official Students Pro shops. Get the latest sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible towles, authentic memorabilia and custom inclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the Officials
Steers Pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium
(23:07):
outlets or Tanger outlets or gear up online at shop
dot Steelers dot com. Get it direct from the team
at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Back with more in the Locker Room presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store and the Steers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
This is in the Locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The
F one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh
Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot
Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
And thanks very much for being with us on this Thursday.
And you know, we are starting to sort of, you know,
into some of these key matchups in the game coming
up against the seven and one football team, the Indianapolis Colts.
Nobody saw this one coming. They're a very very interesting team.
They do a lot of unique stuff defensively that we've
(24:15):
been talking about, different blitz packages, you know, a lot too,
their big defensive end pass rush guy, you know, number
ninety seven. If you are watching the game, on Sunday
and hopefully listening to it on the radio. He's dropped
into coverage and not just dropped into coverage like I
think we saw even Casey Hampton sometimes drop into a
(24:37):
short zone, like over the middle of the field to
confuse the team. And I was a Casey somebody did
that defensively for the Steelers in the middle of their
defense and drop back to like linebacker depth. This guy,
I mean he's dropped like ten twelve yards off the
line of scrimmage, I mean into deeper coverage and has
(24:57):
two interceptions. So they are they use some things defensively,
Max that are extremely interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
No, absolutely, I mean and and I think when you
kind of look at you know where the lead dogs are,
where the teeth of this defense is that that that's
usually one of the first places that you turn. You
turn to, well what are they doing up the middle? Right?
What are they doing interior wise to affect opposing teams?
(25:30):
And so you know, we kind of we know who
deforce Buckner is, right, we know you know who he is.
You know, Grover Stewart another one, long time, been there,
done it type of guy. But really it's like you said,
have having a lot to and have. Having quitty pay
(25:50):
off the edges gives you a little bit more, you know, wiggle,
I think, I think is that the best way to
say it. Wiggle? Sure, you know? And and and you
have to remember like to let let let the country
in sacks a year ago before being drafted. He is
(26:11):
a guy that I I called I called a couple
of U C l A games, So I had to
watch him up close and personal. And when you're thinking
about the pastor, he has a full he has a
full arsenal available to him. But a lot of it
is speed and persistence. Right, it's the effort. It's the
second third try type of situations where he really you know, flourishes.
(26:33):
So for Project Jones, get on him early, often and frequently,
and that's gonna be who is going to kind of
quote unquote pay set for this unit like that's what
they do. He wants to force flow up and end.
So now you get you get Buckner involved, you get
Grover Stewart involved. If he's trying to flush you up
(26:55):
in the pocket, then if you flush him away, that's
where quicky pay has to make you pay, so to speak.
And that's gonna be Troy. That's gonna be Troy's job
and the majority of it. Project will have mostly allowed
to a lot too. They don't flip as much, right,
it's more situational. Like you said, you're trying to get
some of those overload situations where you really see them flip.
(27:15):
But for the most part they stay stationary from that
respects and you get you've gotta be you gotta be
ready for them. Got to be ready for what they're
going to bring, what they're going to present, because if
you don't, it will be a long day. And ask
the seven fallen teams to them thus far this season.
That's just that's that's where the strength is. The run
(27:36):
defense not as strong you know, you could you can
get to off tackle stuff, but really it's getting in
the passing situations. That's where that's where they're really flourishing.
That's what they're really trying to push you to.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah, it is an interesting team defensively because again we
mentioned that you know, teams are are largely having to
abandon the run against them, so throwing the football more
and again you know we're trying to you're trying to
find the value in statistics. We're also watching games clearly
(28:08):
to get you ready. But when you look at the Colts,
they're way down the list on yards per game allowed,
but points per game allowed, which, by the way, is
the most important one, right the name of the game
doesn't matter about yards, it matters about you know, what
you're giving up. So they are at nineteen point three
(28:30):
points per game. They're the sixth ranked defense in points
per game. But I can't help but think, Max, that
what we're seeing a lot of in some games. Now.
The Rams game was a dog fight throughout. What a
terrific game that was. You know, other games have not
been a dog fight throughout. So what happens teams have
to abandon the run. So what is that going to
do to your passing yards per game? Well, it's going
(28:51):
to inflate the passing yards per game. So I don't
know if the Steelers have an advantage there, But I
also think, you know, we mentioned at one point, you know,
the Steelers cautioning, you know, fans, that you just can't
make excuses for injuries. Injuries happen to every team. And
from the beginning of the season to now, the Colts
(29:12):
are out three their top three corners from the beginning
of the season. They're all gone. They don't have them. Well, okay,
so I'm talking about outside corners. I'm not talking about
Kenny Moore, who is a Pro Bowl caliber slot corner,
but their outside corners are gone. And you even brought
in Mike Hilton to give you to give you, you know,
(29:32):
a little nudge in the slot position. He's gone too.
So I do think there's an opportunity when you get
away from the slot against young cornerbacks. For the Colts
their starters right now, are you know you have a
young guy and Jonathan Edwards. You also have Makai Blackman.
(29:54):
You know. I think there's an opportunity there for the Steelers.
So you know it's talking about running the football. Yeah,
I want to see them the football, control the clock,
play keep away. I think it's an important part of
what they do, play action and other things. Continue that
running game. You didn't get over one hundred, but it
was still an effective running game against Green Bay until
you decided that you couldn't run the football anymore, much
(30:15):
like opponents have done against the Colts. Steelers had to
do that at some point against Green Bay. But you
can't abandon the idea that there might be some there
might be some vulnerability in those outside corners of the Colts,
and that spells DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin to me
down the field a little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I I'd love to see a vertical game for them,
But it all starts with the run. Run sets up
the play action because if you notice one thing in
the Green Bay game, green Bay State a lot of
too high because they were hitting home with their defensive
line and they could do four man rush, which then
allows your safeties flexibility to stay on the back half.
(30:57):
And that's what you kind of have to that's you know,
when you're talking about it. Once you run effectively and
already belieguered kind of secondary middle of the field, he
every wont to look at the safety position, forces that
guy into the box, forces them to have to play
down and they don't want that. That's why they need
(31:18):
their offense, uh, you know, to score and score in bunches,
because I mean you think about it, then that Rams game,
it was a dogfight all the way to the end,
twenty seven to twenty and that loss. But you know
they've also that that that Broncos game, and we've seen
how good the Broncos are. Great, We've talked about how
(31:38):
well they played that was that was a shootout as well.
So you have to be able to match that energy
when you're dueling offense, and then the one that's gonna
win is the one that's going to possess the ball less,
the one that's going to run the ball more effectively
in those situations that prevent Jonathan Taylor from taking over.
Because that's also the other part of it. When we're
(31:58):
talking about how well Danial Jones is playing, just like
Jalen Hurts a year ago with Saquon Right, you know,
we loved what Jalen Hurts did. Now this season, you
know you kind of loathe it because they think that,
you know, it's more quarterback than it is running back.
The running back makes your quarterback look better. The better
you can run the ball, the more you can possess
(32:20):
and take possessions out of the quarterback's decision making process,
the better your team is going to be. No matter
how good your quarterback is, if you can run, you
are you are going to be in a good position.
Ask Lamar Jackson a year ago, having Derrek Henry run
the way that he did if that didn't free up
options for him, right, just like we talked about j
(32:41):
Jalen Hurts. Similar thing. You know, the one outlier or
type of exception to that rule will probably be like
the Kansas City Chiefs, who don't really have great players
outside of Patrick Mahomes and maybe Travis Kelsey. And you
can argue with she Rice since he's been back, but
Pat Mahomes leading the team in rushing, and he's not
(33:03):
and he is not a dual threat quarterback. He's a
mobile quarterback. He is not a dual threat quarterback. We're
not talking Josh Allen here. We're not talking Lamar Jackson.
We're we're not talking insert this type of guy to
Jayden Daniels, a Jalen Hurst. We're not talking those type
of guys. Those type of guys are certified bona fide,
you know, dual threat guys. We're talking about mobile guys.
(33:26):
And and when you don't have that mobile guy, that's
when you need the Matt Staffords of the world. Right,
you need that Kyen Williams type of type of rushing attack.
Even for Justin Herbert, like the intention to run makes
him a better decision maker all these things. I mean,
I can continue to give you analysis, but I think
you get the point is that you have to be
(33:50):
able to be two dimensional very few teams and you
have to be truly the exception, the outlier, you know,
the asterix, whatever you want to call it. You have
to be the asterix type of player. And for majority
of Eusley is not asterisks. It's a lot of exclamation points,
a couple of periods, and let's face it, more than
(34:10):
our fair share of question marks. If we're going, if
we're going, you know, in that direction. But that's what
is required, and that's why the cults are so good
because of the balance. Because you have a Jonathan Taylor
who is running the ball effectively into a very high clip.
They don't have to get outside of themselves. And when
they want to slow this game down and grind it
(34:32):
down to a halt, they can. They can go four
yards in a cloud of dust, but they're going to
get four yards and that's what you have to be
accepting of. But you have to put pressure with your
opposing offense to make them less two dimensional, which is
something that has only happened twice this season out of
eight contests. Twenty five percent of the time it has happened.
(34:53):
Can you continue to move that percentage marker in your favor.
That's what the Steelers are banking on. That's what steel
are gonna have to approach it as yep.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
So it's there are some great matchups, and I want
to remind you tomorrow we're gonna be talking to Adam Taylor,
the outstanding play by playman of the Colt's the third
member of our broadcast team, Missy Matthews, will also be
with us. We're going to take a sneak peek ahead
here at the AFC's Weekend, which begins tonight with a
very interesting game from the perspective of Steelers fans for sure.
(35:23):
When we continue in the Locker Room presented by our
neighborhood Ford Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steeers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot Com.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
All right, back the Oh oh my god, I did
it again, Max, I did it again. I did it again.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I knew I got so just it. Yeah, I know
you do? You do? You know what we need? We
need we need double bells, double bells. Just go ahead,
Let's just play it back to back to back.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You know what, Max, we do.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
And one more time, please, one more time, one more time,
one more time. There we go, there we go. Okay,
I just want to make sure we got the point
schools and session now, Rob, there we go, thank you? Yes, yeah,
there it is there. It is Hey. That is your
triple warning system to let you know it is lunchtime
on the precipice. We have thirteen minutes till the top
of the hour. Back to you, Rob. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
I was so good there for like months, and then
last week I just lost it.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
You guys stepped on you once till last week, and
then I just lost it last week.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
But you know what I mean, Hey, listen, first of all,
give yourself grace, Rob. Right, Okay, this is this is
our first season working together, and we're not only doing
in the booth, we also have a radio show as well.
I don't know a lot of teams across the league
that have that unique dynamic that we have right to
be able to do both of these things. And so
(37:11):
you know, hey, every once in a while, you know,
we're gonna walk into a wall, you know, even though
even though you've lived in the house, sometimes you walk
in the walls. Or am I just am I just
trying to kind of am I kind of project on
everybody else out there.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I've been doing some wallwalking, so it is it is time.
And I got all excited because I was doing I
was looking at these games during the commercial break and
getting fired up. And that's what it was. It was
a mistake of coal mission, not O mission Max, as
they always say. So. AFC Preview is presented by UPMC,
(37:45):
the official healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Ravens Dolphins. Tonight surprised.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I, as I think I've said many times, You're I'm
not a gambler. People can do what they want with
their time, their money, whatever they want to do.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I don't do it.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
And I very frequently don't look at the line like
I don't even know. And then sometimes I got curious
like last week, I was curious who's favorite, the Packers
of the Steelers. Packers are favored. So the Ravens are
favored tonight by seven and a half points over Miami.
That should be no real surprise, except that Miami suddenly
looked like Miami last week and explosive, and they've at
(38:24):
least got that chance of their offense tonight, and two
and six would be a tough place for the Ravens
to be. And so I think it's time to if
you're a Steelers fan, get out there. What is it
the teal and the and the green and the whatever
their colors are, teal and orange and orange, get out
the teal and orange and root for the Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
As a as a as a born and raised Flurridian,
I can tell you the color combination.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you for thank you
for that. Hey, listen, man, big game on Thursday night.
I know you'll be watching. I'll be watching too, and
I'm hoping that the Dolphins can pull off an upset.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I am too, because you know what that does. That
just continues to add a really nice layer to what
you know the Steelers are hoping to have You want
a cushion here. You have a one and a half
game lead on Cincinnati. The reason why it's not two
games is because you lost to him, had to head,
so you get a half game point for record. So
(39:24):
you got one and a half point lead over over
the next closest team. But that other team in Baltimore
is going to try and make a charge. So it
would be nice that a rusty Lamar Jackson's put that
other rusty Lamar Jackson stays a little rusty for another week,
(39:45):
you know, or that team you know, k can be
in that position because you know, when you when you
get to the sixth loss, right, boy, it is tough
to dig out of that hole. It's saying you almost
have to virtually go perfect as a team that we
have to see twice as well. So you know, if
if Miami can give us something that it's like they
(40:05):
did on Sunday, I am I am exatic. You know,
you look at the home teams in these in these
Thursday night games, you know usually farewell. So I'm hoping
that odds are in favor, analytics are in their favor,
and you know it's a little bit of a further
flight then you know, coming to Pittsburgh or Pittsburgh going
(40:27):
to Cincinnati or Cleveland, Mike, you know that that's that's
that trip down south. And you also have to worry
about all the things that down South has to offer
or distract you with. And I hope it distracts them
enough and Miami is able to pull.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
A victory for me. Yep, And let's and like, that's
a great point in the Thursday night football. Let's hope
that that Ravens haven't been good in Thursday n football
road games either. Let's let's hope that continues. The Bengals, man,
did they blow a golden opportunity in addition to throwing
a big lead against the Jets last week? They're three
and five. You beat the Jet, You're four and four.
You're home against Chicago, you win that game, You're five
(41:04):
and four. The end of your schedule is very weak. Miami, Arizona, Cleveland. Okay,
you're thinking, hey, maybe that gets us to eight. Can
we find a win or two after our bye which
is following this week? But now instead, this is a
you know, listen, I don't know what must win means
or whatever, but it's an important game for the Bears
(41:25):
as well. The Bears visiting the Bengals. Bear saw their
four game winning streak snap. They were really kind of
pretty easily handled by Baltimore for the most part in
that game. They had a chance at the end to
get back in it, and then a late interception by
Caleb Williams. So Chicago visiting Cincinnati. By the way, here's
Cincinnati's games out of the break. Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, New
(41:49):
England at Baltimore at Buffalo Baltimore. Again, they are in
a world of hurt. I think it's safe to say.
Moving along here for some other games. There's not a
lot of intrigue interesting in the Chargers and Titans because
the Chargers are coming up for the for the Steelers,
but the Chargers look like they're rolling. They're visiting the
one and seven Titans. Falcons at the Patriots, Uh, you
(42:13):
know the Falcons really tumbled last week. Uh the Patriots
or home on that one. You know, you're looking maybe
for teams that are that are seeking perhaps playoff positions
if it's wild card. You want to see some of
these teams with say four and three records losing. The
Broncos at the Texans that might be the most intriguing
(42:34):
game to me outside of the Colts and Steelers this week.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Regarding a FC teams, Yeah, no, I think that one is,
uh is pretty pretty intriguing, you know, Chief, Chiefs, Bills.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
That's oh yeah, well I haven't got there yet.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
That's what that would be my other that would be
my other one that just look at it. Yeah, that's
the Monday Night yea, yeah, yah, yeah, there's no way.
I'm there. Looked at that and said, this has to
be the primetime game.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
No, because we're gonna have a chance to look at
that on Monday as well. But yes, that is clear,
that's the game.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
But the but but but I was, I was because
I was just going through the entire list, That's why
I was looking. I was like, that is an intriguing one,
right you know.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Oh no, no, no, that's I'm sorry, that's not Monday Night.
That's that's my bad. That's for twenty five.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I was saying, that's Cardinals, Cardinals Cowboys is Monday.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Absolutely sorry, that's the game of the week, the five
and three Chiefs, the five and two Bills, no doubt
about it.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, that's that's number one.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
And if I was going to be favored, by the
way by two and a half.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Once again, it's happening again until you proved otherwise. Right,
you got, you got it there, they're starting to get
they're starting to get that mojo back on their side again,
and hopefully that does not lead to the stripe variety
of mojo.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
If you know what I mean, I do Jaguars and Raiders. Yeah,
and listen, you know you're looking at what's that?
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Sorry?
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh yeah, no, does the game interest me as a
football fan, not particularly, but as you're looking at okay,
so you know, I know it's awfully early to be
looking at these things, but I see these these teams
that are four and three and five and three, like
(44:26):
the Chargers, you know, the Bills right now are trying
to reel in the Patriots. You have to figure both
those teams are in pretty good shape. But again, common opponent.
If the Bills can overtake the Patriots, you have an
opportunity to have beaten both those teams if you're the Steelers,
giving you a leg up. If you start thinking in
terms of wild card, which hopefully we're not. Hopefully we're
(44:47):
still thinking in terms of division. But you know, these
teams that are that are three and four, like the Texans,
four and three, like the Jaguars, five and three, like
the Chargers, do you have an opportunity to also beat them,
but you also mind a little help along the way.
It's okay with me if some of those teams lose.
I'm not going to have any issue with that. Max,
(45:08):
I'm not gonna be upset either.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Like you said, you want to kind of create some separation,
and you know, that's what That's what October, that's what
November is for. Obviously, December is where you want to
be on the upswing as a team, knowing who you
fully are, what your identity is, what you can hang
your hat on, and and being on the ascending scale.
(45:30):
So you know, no, I don't mind any opportunity to
separate yourself. Then the herd out a little bit with that,
and but but you're also asking a huge task of
a team that is not very talented, right, No, they're not,
they are not. I had that I had that Casey
game where they got where they got shut out, and
did you know that was Andy Reech's first regular season shutout.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
Game, no, In his entire career. Yeah, wow, I did
not know that. Holy crap. I was like, how many
games in a long time?
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Man?
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yeah, Now he's had him in the playoffs, he's just
never had him in the regular season. So I was like,
holy crap. Okay, So that just lets you know that
that was historically bad for the Raiders and Pete Carroll
and company, and especially when you think about their combined
age as well. It's one hundred and forty one years
of life there between those two head coaches.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
He's fourth all thousand, two hundred and seventy eight wins
and that's his first shutout. Amazing. So that'll do it
for today. Why of regular season, regular season, regular season?
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Make sure we preface regular season regular journalistic integrity.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
That's right, Matt Taylor.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
The fine.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
They have a great broadcast, the Cults, outstanding play by
play guy. Uh but by the way, when I say that,
I want you to listen to us.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, don't listen to theirs. I mean, but there's a
very we're not we're not we're not the Cult Corral
or whatever what the hell they call themselves, And.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
In fact, they're we're gonna do We're gonna throw a
little counterbalance out there to Matt Taylor. By having Missy Matthews,
the third member of our broadcast team, coming up.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Exactly, don't let him intrigue you. The trifector of cool
is uh is where you want to stay. So well, listen, listen.
You know I'm gonna keep trying out nicknames and I'm
throw them out there and just see what the response is. Yeah,
well that's this week's number. You call in or send
(47:22):
your votes in oh Man.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Fair enough, Max, have a great rest of your day,
my friend, and our thanks to of course, uh Justin
Miller at the controls in our iHeart Studio for Max Stark,
John rob King, we thank you also for being with
us in the Locker Room presented by our neighborhood Ford
Store and the Studis Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
part of the Steelers Audio
In the locker room with Kenyon 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 (00:24):
All right, our number two here inside the locker room.
That's right, power hour is engaged, and of course optimists
joining us back in this as he's affectionately called uh
as we kind of start to dig in here, Kinger,
(00:47):
you know, I think one of the biggest things then
we kind of look at like you said, structure, you know,
what does what does Indy do good? And what do
the Steelers do good? And how how can the Steelers
do good er while going against the good of the
Indianapolis Coults. That is that a good They use enough
(01:09):
explanation on that one, I mean, especially with the good er,
you know, because that's so grammatically correct. Yeah, yeah, it's
good er er or good st you know, I mean,
that's that's really what you're battling. I Mean, there's levels
that's within this. But you know, we kind of kind
of left off at the end of our number one.
They're talking about lou Anarumo, Colts defensive coordinator, and and
(01:34):
what what what has made this team a seven and
one juggernaut? Right? And the complimentary football that has to
be played by them, because obviously this defense is not perfection, right,
it's not. It's not gonna sit there and say it's
it's is the best defense in all of the NFL. Right,
(01:55):
it's not that. But what they do great or gooder
is that they play complimentary football. Is that when their
team gets the lead, guess what, they're not going to
give it up. I mean, I think that's the biggest
that's the biggest compliment to this defense, right, is that
they don't allow opposing offenses to really catch suit or
(02:19):
put the put their offense in a position where they
have to score. It's only they want to score. And
so that's a good place to be for a defense.
That you know, if you're a defensive coordinator, you're you're
you're super excited when your offense can score at will,
which is what this Indianapolis Colts offense has done. It
(02:39):
allows you to be a lot more free and a
lot more you know, risk advantageous, you know, take advantage
of those risks that you're making and realize that you know,
your offense has your back, so you're not gonna you know,
you can really play loose and free. And that's and
that's what I really see when I watch the tape
is that this defense is trying everything.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, I think that when you you know, there there's
a couple of sort of statistical anomalies and with the Colts,
one is that they do not control time of possession.
So you know, there's there's a lot of there are
a lot of teams that you know, we're talking about
(03:21):
this to this need to control the time of possession day.
But you know what they just they're so explosive that
you know that they they they don't have to possess
the ball for long periods of time. And when you
look at the rush defense for them, right, teams basically
(03:43):
give up against them. They're eighth in the league in
rushing yards against, they're eighth in the league and rushing
attempts against. But they're a little closer to the middle
of the pack as far as yards per carry allowed.
In fact, they're right next to this others by the way,
And you know, so we're we're talking about a defense.
(04:04):
At at first glance, maybe you say, wow, that's a
that's a really good defense. Well, teams are in and
maybe a really good rush defense because they're eighth in
the league and yards against, but teams aren't running the
ball against them because they're falling behind or perhaps they've
played again. You know, you're getting to that point of
the season in which statistics seem to hold more validity.
(04:29):
You know, early on, hey, you gave up a lot
of rushing yards. Well you're playing the Chargers. That's what
they do. They run the ball, you know, for example.
So you know, I think that at some point in
the season you start to say, well, though, the numbers
are more real because there's enough variety of opponent that
you can say, okay, these are these numbers are valid.
These numbers aren't skewed by who you've played. There's always
(04:51):
going to be outliers. We understand that. But I think
when you're looking at the cult, you're looking at it
at a team who whose defense, whose rush defense hasn't
been overly tested because they've gotten ahead, and so I
think the Steelers are going to be able to run
the ball against his defense and excuse me, I would
(05:13):
also love to see them do that successfully. And by
the way, when you think about approach by a team,
so there are very few teams in the NFL, only
actually a couple the Colts, and I think it's the
Falcons who when they win the toss they pretty much
elect to receive. Almost every other team defers. They've done
(05:35):
some kind of study that shows that you're better off
receiving the opening kickoff. So think about this from the
Colts perspective. Get the opening kickoff, score some points. Especially lately,
they had a couple of field goals early. I think
the last three games they've got two touchdowns in a
field goal in the opening possession and they get the
ball first. Only one time have they kicked off first.
(05:56):
So max they get the ball first, go down the field.
Last couple weeks, score a touchdown, kick a field goal,
have the lead. Maybe you get another stop. Now all
of a sudden, you get another lead again, and that
offense starts to roll and it's and it's coming at
you quickly, and they're scoring. They're scoring fast, and now
maybe you're getting out of what you do offensively. I
don't know whether you take the ball to begin the game,
(06:17):
because if you in the past, the Steelers win the toss,
are going to defer, and which means the Colts get
the ball first. Colts win the toss, they're going to
take the ball, which means they're going to get the
ball first. So I don't know whether you change. Let's
start there before you go into your breakdown of the
defense of the Colts. Do you if you win the
toss and you're the Steelers, do you go against your
(06:39):
grain and say, you know what, I think we'll take
the ball to begin the game.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
No, okay, I mean that's interesting. Listen, listen, I don't
I don't care whatever mind games they think that they
want to do. Oh, we want to start fast, we
want to be hot, so that's why we want the
ball pish posh bs okay, yes, and exactly in that
order too. You know, don't put the post before the pitch,
(07:05):
and you don't put the s before the b because
everybody wants control, and you effectively give away your opportunity
at a double score opportunity chance right when you take
the ball first. So I'm always on the side of
(07:26):
I want to play chess. That seems like a very
Checkers esque type of move, and yes, it has worked
out for them thus far. But for me, I'm a
very ritualistic person and I believe in just creating a system,
and that system the biggest yield of success. Like you said, analytics,
(07:48):
you know even says, hey, defer because most of these
games are going to be tight, and I know the
Colts have made that seem like it's not. But when
you play every game, traditional knowledge is you want to
be in possession, and being in possession to start the
second half is more valuable than being in possession to
(08:09):
start the first half. That's just what it is, because
you control how the fates will align when executed, that
deferring or second half kickoff reception is the first real
power play of the second half of the game. Because
remember this game is sixty minutes long. It's not thirty minutes.
(08:32):
If we're playing a one half game. Hey, you know,
winner take all? Yeah, go ahead, take the ball. You
know in overtime, you know you are are are they
going to do the same thing if it ever gets
to overtime, You're gonna take the ball first, and then
you get stalled and then they come down and kick
the field goal, game over. No, you want to see
what the other person's hand looks like, and then you
(08:52):
have there after meet or exceed that. The same principle
in the rest. In regular gameplay or regulation game play,
the same thing, the same rules apply.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well, no hangout of saying because in overtime, if they
score a touchdown it's game over.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well no, yeah, if they score a touchdown, but you're
also banking that they're not going to and that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I think I want the ball. I'm following you, but
I think I want the ball first in overtime.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It depends on how my team is playing, right, But
for me, I'm like, hey, I'm second, and that means
I'm also putting a lot of trust in my defense. Now,
we could argue the semantics about the current state of things.
I could see why you would say that I don't
blame you, But traditional conventional knowledge would say, I want
to see what the other guys got first, you know,
and I want to be able to react to that.
And so that's where Now in the playoffs, each team
(09:42):
gets a possession, so you know that there's a different
strategy when you get to the playoffs. But I I
personally I want to I want to put it out there,
put the defense there, and then let let's meet or
exceed what they're doing. They kick a field goal, guess what,
we get possession. We have the opportunity to go down
and put the touchdown on or you know, we try
and tie it up again or whatever. But I don't
(10:05):
want to take things to chance that I don't want
to also be the first failure. And then it's like,
oh man, you know, all this team has to do
is just you know, get the ball across the fifty
yard line the way these kickers are now and now
I'm done. So it's it's part and parcel. But like
you said, when you have a thought process, stick with it,
don't move off of it, you know, and and and
(10:26):
don't be consistent. It's like when you sit at the
blackjack table. You got that guy sitting at the end
of the table. You want to know that your guy
playing third base knows what he's talking about. You know,
are you a do you have a steadfast rule on sixteen?
You know? What what do you what are you doing
on sixteen with seven or better? Showing you hit or
a stay?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Guy?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I need to know, and you got to be consistent
for the table. That's the type of deal you have
to you have to work with what you're dealing with,
coin tosses and those opportunities.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Okay, so okay, and I agree with you. I think
you don't change what you're doing if you're just stealer.
It's just because the other team does listen. You have
your own reasons for doing everything. So let's go, you know,
let's do it our way now. I do think that
this is a game that strikes me that you might
(11:13):
want to, you know, run the football more so than
other you know, I just think that there's a lot
of reasons to want to do it. One, I think
you can run the football against his team. They're giving
up four point three yards per carry. Again, that's what
the Steelers are giving up. But you want to get
(11:34):
You want to keep the ball away. And we're starting
with the defense, even though it's the Colts offense that's
been so explosive. But I think you want to keep
the ball away from Jonathan Taylor and you know who's
you know, you know, making a bid to be the
m v P boy. That conversation changes week in and
week out. Two to maybe be the MVP this year.
(11:54):
No running back has done that in well over a
decade in the NFL. He finished second when he led
the league in rushing a couple of years ago for Indianapolis.
You know, I think you want to be able to
run the football Max against his team, and I don't
know whether Ciamalo is going to be out there and
whether you can have Anderson in the jumbo package. I
don't know whether you know you get Anderson starting and
(12:15):
then you bring somebody else in for the jumbo package.
I don't know whether you just try to run behind
a more traditional look. But I do think this is
a game that says, let's run the football.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I would agree with you. I would agree with you
on that slants movement as blitz pressure leads to big
plays at the middle, you know. And I think for
the Steelers we do run a good amount of toss,
a lot of pinn and pull exterior run game. This
(12:49):
is a game depending on whether Isaac is available not available.
You want to run north and south on them, you
want to keep everything tight, you want to run the
inside zones, you want to have the cut back lanes
available to the back side. Because of flow or just
guessing wrong, defensively on your blitz package. That's how I
(13:12):
would handle it. Give me gap, give me zone, give
me anything that's tight interior, and then once they constrict,
that's now when you can go to the outside and
make sure that you can create that wall to get
the lane on the outside, the funnel as we call
it for your running back. And but that requires you know,
(13:32):
nine guys blocking. I always take out the quarterback because
he's a bonus if he decides to insert himself into that,
into that part of the business. Yeah, Aaron, you're a
little bit you're a little bit older, Bud. Just just
you know, like you said, you didn't hey, listen, when
Broderick jumped on you, you got mad. I don't need
you trying to throw a block out to the outside,
especially if you're not going to be to the playside
(13:54):
of it anyways, with a reverse rollout trying to hold
the defensive end off the edge. That's that's how I
would approach it. That's how I would I would go
into it. I I want to develop my interior game.
I want to develop the wham concepts. We saw a
tackle trap with Roderick Jones. Uh. I want to see
those concepts. That's what I want to see. I want
(14:15):
to see you know, good good, a good old GT.
You're not gonna get a GT counter, but some type
of guard, fullback, pull lead type of play.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Those are the things that I would be really excited about,
and I would. And obviously, if you can get a
Spencer Anderson, that just adds a new an additional wrinkle
and dimension that you can exploit on on the Colts.
But obviously we'll see as the week progresses with Isaac,
because remember Mike Tomlin also said that, hey, he's a
guy that could need a lot of reps. So that's
going to be a game time type of decision. As
(14:46):
he rests up and takes treatment and gets ready for
the week ahead. How his body responds to that will
remain to be seen. But that is the hope and expression.
And you know, Mike Thomins seemed encourage so guess what,
I I feel encouraged as well, because he would know
better than us about the state of a spate of
those guys. And you know, whether he's doing it for
(15:08):
gainsmanship to make them plan for it or not. You know,
he still has to disclose, still has to discuss and
we have to plan accordingly. You know, if Isaac doesn't go. Now, hey,
it's a more traditional run game, right, you're using true,
true tight ends. You're not using you're not using the
tackle plus set and the tackle plus set. If anybody's
(15:31):
wondering is Spencer Anderson and Darneld Washington, you know that's
that's when where it literally looks like seven offensive linement
out there, get outside of the number eighty Darneld Washington
wears the number closest to alignment without physically being alignment.
If you notice that problem, Rightah, yeah, yeah, he's not
got like eighty seven. You know what I'm saying, Like
(15:52):
he's eight zero, like if that's seventy nine, you know
or seventy like like you're like, okay, not surprised there,
know there's no surprise there, but yes, he he does
have an eligible and Spencer Anderson technically has a catch too.
So now we've had five different tight ends catch a
ball for US. I don't know if any other team
in the league can tout that.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Uh yeah, I guess that's right. Uh were I forgot
that we were considering it. I guess for this for
considering him a demo.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Jumbo tight end. He's jumpbo tight end. Just saying, uh, interesting,
he has to he has to report as eligible his numbers.
It becomes eligible. That's with a little bit of the
chest swipe, you know, up and down, he now becomes
a fifth tight end. I'm just saying, yeah, five different
tight ends have caught a ball from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
No, you bring you bring it, it's undeniable. You bring
up a good point, and yes, he's uh, you know
we talked about the soft hands or Aaron Rodgers did
saying that he has soft hands. I did want to
point out one thing Max, and as regards to running
the football and when people second guess a play call
(17:00):
or you know, a decision to do something. So for example,
you know, and I again, I'm just bringing this up
for fans to think about. So I'm going to use
a specific example without knowing what the answer is to it.
But you know, Steelers on their first play there, they're
(17:21):
trying to you know, fight their way back in with
the momentum slipping away from them Sunday night against Green
Bay and instead of you know, saying, hey we're going
to pound the ball, let's get back to the running game.
It's been successful for us. Let's eat up some clock.
They decide, hey, maybe we can take a shot here,
and then Aaron Rodgers winds up getting sacked for a
ten yard loss. Now, I don't know whether this would
(17:44):
be less common on the first play of a series,
But I was just having this discussion yesterday, like I
with somebody else off off microphone, not during the show.
I don't know what was called. I don't know if
Aaron Rodgers is checking out of things. I don't know.
I don't know the I don't know whether two plays
(18:04):
are called in the huddle and they get a look
and they decide to go with one play and a
and a block gets blown and it was a really
good call, or of course it's never a really good
call that fails in the fan's mind, I understand that,
And frankly, from a football team's perspective, it's it's never
a success when it's a fail when it's a failure.
But is that a Is that a it's never a
(18:26):
success when it's a failure. Someone write that down. That's
that's an unbelievable quote.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So anyway, so for success when it's a failure, guys,
no you know what, walk into a locker room. Could
you imagine walk into a locker room and say give
me that as part of your halftime speech.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But I'll tell you this. You you but the counter
that is, you learn from adversity, So maybe you need
you need to fail to succeed anyway, the point being,
I don't know any more than I can tell you
know that somebody will you'll see a blown coverage in
somebody else. It was clearly a bone coverage. Well, the
corner needed to be back on that. I don't know
what defense was called, and either there's a person criticizing
(19:07):
it probably know what defense was called. So I just
think that that should be pointed out offensively and defensively.
We don't know what was called. We don't know if
things were changed to the line of scrimmage. We don't
know any more than we know if the Steelers, you know,
there's a long pass play. We don't know if Aaron
(19:28):
Rodgers checked out of a run to complete that long
pass play or vice versa. So it's just, you know,
when fans start to second guess about what a team
should do, sometimes it's a little more involved. That's all
I just wanted to just for some reason that stuck
out because I was saying, let's run the football. Yeah,
let's run the football, but let's give Aaron Rodgers the
(19:48):
freedom at the line of scrimmage the best going at
the line of scrimmage to say, hey, let's move to
this because I've got something that can work here.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Well, No, I mean I think I think you have
to give a certain level of credence to the experience
and the actual real time assessment judgment of Aaron Rodgers
in the moment. And there are there are a lot
of times where you do send in two, you know,
(20:20):
because you want to have switch kill. However you want
to describe the adjustment right, you know, we have a
bunch of different ways you can deploy the double the
double play call. Yeah, And it comes down to trust
between Arthur and Aaron and the time they spent together
to understand how each other thinks, to understand what the
(20:40):
goal is from play to play, like what are you
trying to accomplish in this play? And you have to
trust that combination. And I think we've seen that combination throughout.
You know, this season does far If Aaron SE's somebody
doesn't like he's got to check out. He's going to
adjust his receip if it's run to pass, if it's
(21:02):
passed to a known run, he's going to make the
appropriate call. And you kind of trust him with that.
You know, you don't sit there and just give him
a Cheesecake Factory menu every play and say, hey, pick
pick out your favorite dish. It's all right, We've been
talking about this all week. Here are the two things
I'm thinking. Let me send them in. You tell me,
make me right, make me look good in that moment,
(21:26):
but also while making yourself look good and sharpening your mind.
Like there's so many ways you approach it. But I
think you know, for Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers, they're
the one that truly know how it goes. And you
got to be willing and open to the flexibility of
that because Aaron may come back to the sign like, hey,
we got to scrap that play. It might be bread
and butter right now, you know, for the rest of
(21:48):
the season, but for today, this is what I'm seeing
it as. This is an over team. This is what
they like to do. That when that bat gets parallel
with the defensive end, guess defensive incomes inside back scrapes
over the top to the backside of that play or
the front side, depending on what your strength is like.
(22:11):
You have to trust that unequivocally. That's the role of
a quarterback is to execute and make the best decision
possible every play that has a ball in his hands.
That's just how it should.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Go, agreed. So just again wanted to point that out.
If you see a play call and you say, why
are they doing this and who's the second guest, I
just you know, it doesn't really have to do with
this game plan other than the fact that we're talking
about let's run the football, but also let's give our
quarterback the freedom to, especially this quarterback, the freedom to
(22:44):
change things to the line of scrimmage and get into
a play that he thinks is most successful or can
be most successful for the team. We want to remind
you to gear up with the latest game day necessities
at the official Students Pro shops. Get the latest sideline apparel, jerseys,
terrible towles, authentic memorabilia and custom inclusives you can only
find directly from the team. Visit one of the Officials
Steers Pro shops located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium
(23:07):
outlets or Tanger outlets or gear up online at shop
dot Steelers dot com. Get it direct from the team
at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Back with more in the Locker Room presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store and the Steers Pro Shop on Steelers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
This is in the Locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The
F one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh
Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot
Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
And thanks very much for being with us on this Thursday.
And you know, we are starting to sort of, you know,
into some of these key matchups in the game coming
up against the seven and one football team, the Indianapolis Colts.
Nobody saw this one coming. They're a very very interesting team.
They do a lot of unique stuff defensively that we've
(24:15):
been talking about, different blitz packages, you know, a lot too,
their big defensive end pass rush guy, you know, number
ninety seven. If you are watching the game, on Sunday
and hopefully listening to it on the radio. He's dropped
into coverage and not just dropped into coverage like I
think we saw even Casey Hampton sometimes drop into a
(24:37):
short zone, like over the middle of the field to
confuse the team. And I was a Casey somebody did
that defensively for the Steelers in the middle of their
defense and drop back to like linebacker depth. This guy,
I mean he's dropped like ten twelve yards off the
line of scrimmage, I mean into deeper coverage and has
(24:57):
two interceptions. So they are they use some things defensively,
Max that are extremely interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
No, absolutely, I mean and and I think when you
kind of look at you know where the lead dogs are,
where the teeth of this defense is that that that's
usually one of the first places that you turn. You
turn to, well what are they doing up the middle? Right?
What are they doing interior wise to affect opposing teams?
(25:30):
And so you know, we kind of we know who
deforce Buckner is, right, we know you know who he is.
You know, Grover Stewart another one, long time, been there,
done it type of guy. But really it's like you said,
have having a lot to and have. Having quitty pay
(25:50):
off the edges gives you a little bit more, you know, wiggle,
I think, I think is that the best way to
say it. Wiggle? Sure, you know? And and and you
have to remember like to let let let the country
in sacks a year ago before being drafted. He is
(26:11):
a guy that I I called I called a couple
of U C l A games, So I had to
watch him up close and personal. And when you're thinking
about the pastor, he has a full he has a
full arsenal available to him. But a lot of it
is speed and persistence. Right, it's the effort. It's the
second third try type of situations where he really you know, flourishes.
(26:33):
So for Project Jones, get on him early, often and frequently,
and that's gonna be who is going to kind of
quote unquote pay set for this unit like that's what
they do. He wants to force flow up and end.
So now you get you get Buckner involved, you get
Grover Stewart involved. If he's trying to flush you up
(26:55):
in the pocket, then if you flush him away, that's
where quicky pay has to make you pay, so to speak.
And that's gonna be Troy. That's gonna be Troy's job
and the majority of it. Project will have mostly allowed
to a lot too. They don't flip as much, right,
it's more situational. Like you said, you're trying to get
some of those overload situations where you really see them flip.
(27:15):
But for the most part they stay stationary from that
respects and you get you've gotta be you gotta be
ready for them. Got to be ready for what they're
going to bring, what they're going to present, because if
you don't, it will be a long day. And ask
the seven fallen teams to them thus far this season.
That's just that's that's where the strength is. The run
(27:36):
defense not as strong you know, you could you can
get to off tackle stuff, but really it's getting in
the passing situations. That's where that's where they're really flourishing.
That's what they're really trying to push you to.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah, it is an interesting team defensively because again we
mentioned that you know, teams are are largely having to
abandon the run against them, so throwing the football more
and again you know we're trying to you're trying to
find the value in statistics. We're also watching games clearly
(28:08):
to get you ready. But when you look at the Colts,
they're way down the list on yards per game allowed,
but points per game allowed, which, by the way, is
the most important one, right the name of the game
doesn't matter about yards, it matters about you know, what
you're giving up. So they are at nineteen point three
(28:30):
points per game. They're the sixth ranked defense in points
per game. But I can't help but think, Max, that
what we're seeing a lot of in some games. Now.
The Rams game was a dog fight throughout. What a
terrific game that was. You know, other games have not
been a dog fight throughout. So what happens teams have
to abandon the run. So what is that going to
do to your passing yards per game? Well, it's going
(28:51):
to inflate the passing yards per game. So I don't
know if the Steelers have an advantage there, But I
also think, you know, we mentioned at one point, you know,
the Steelers cautioning, you know, fans, that you just can't
make excuses for injuries. Injuries happen to every team. And
from the beginning of the season to now, the Colts
(29:12):
are out three their top three corners from the beginning
of the season. They're all gone. They don't have them. Well, okay,
so I'm talking about outside corners. I'm not talking about
Kenny Moore, who is a Pro Bowl caliber slot corner,
but their outside corners are gone. And you even brought
in Mike Hilton to give you to give you, you know,
(29:32):
a little nudge in the slot position. He's gone too.
So I do think there's an opportunity when you get
away from the slot against young cornerbacks. For the Colts
their starters right now, are you know you have a
young guy and Jonathan Edwards. You also have Makai Blackman.
(29:54):
You know. I think there's an opportunity there for the Steelers.
So you know it's talking about running the football. Yeah,
I want to see them the football, control the clock,
play keep away. I think it's an important part of
what they do, play action and other things. Continue that
running game. You didn't get over one hundred, but it
was still an effective running game against Green Bay until
you decided that you couldn't run the football anymore, much
(30:15):
like opponents have done against the Colts. Steelers had to
do that at some point against Green Bay. But you
can't abandon the idea that there might be some there
might be some vulnerability in those outside corners of the Colts,
and that spells DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin to me
down the field a little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I I'd love to see a vertical game for them,
But it all starts with the run. Run sets up
the play action because if you notice one thing in
the Green Bay game, green Bay State a lot of
too high because they were hitting home with their defensive
line and they could do four man rush, which then
allows your safeties flexibility to stay on the back half.
(30:57):
And that's what you kind of have to that's you know,
when you're talking about it. Once you run effectively and
already belieguered kind of secondary middle of the field, he
every wont to look at the safety position, forces that
guy into the box, forces them to have to play
down and they don't want that. That's why they need
(31:18):
their offense, uh, you know, to score and score in bunches,
because I mean you think about it, then that Rams game,
it was a dogfight all the way to the end,
twenty seven to twenty and that loss. But you know
they've also that that that Broncos game, and we've seen
how good the Broncos are. Great, We've talked about how
(31:38):
well they played that was that was a shootout as well.
So you have to be able to match that energy
when you're dueling offense, and then the one that's gonna
win is the one that's going to possess the ball less,
the one that's going to run the ball more effectively
in those situations that prevent Jonathan Taylor from taking over.
Because that's also the other part of it. When we're
(31:58):
talking about how well Danial Jones is playing, just like
Jalen Hurts a year ago with Saquon Right, you know,
we loved what Jalen Hurts did. Now this season, you
know you kind of loathe it because they think that,
you know, it's more quarterback than it is running back.
The running back makes your quarterback look better. The better
you can run the ball, the more you can possess
(32:20):
and take possessions out of the quarterback's decision making process,
the better your team is going to be. No matter
how good your quarterback is, if you can run, you
are you are going to be in a good position.
Ask Lamar Jackson a year ago, having Derrek Henry run
the way that he did if that didn't free up
options for him, right, just like we talked about j
(32:41):
Jalen Hurts. Similar thing. You know, the one outlier or
type of exception to that rule will probably be like
the Kansas City Chiefs, who don't really have great players
outside of Patrick Mahomes and maybe Travis Kelsey. And you
can argue with she Rice since he's been back, but
Pat Mahomes leading the team in rushing, and he's not
(33:03):
and he is not a dual threat quarterback. He's a
mobile quarterback. He is not a dual threat quarterback. We're
not talking Josh Allen here. We're not talking Lamar Jackson.
We're we're not talking insert this type of guy to
Jayden Daniels, a Jalen Hurst. We're not talking those type
of guys. Those type of guys are certified bona fide,
you know, dual threat guys. We're talking about mobile guys.
(33:26):
And and when you don't have that mobile guy, that's
when you need the Matt Staffords of the world. Right,
you need that Kyen Williams type of type of rushing attack.
Even for Justin Herbert, like the intention to run makes
him a better decision maker all these things. I mean,
I can continue to give you analysis, but I think
you get the point is that you have to be
(33:50):
able to be two dimensional very few teams and you
have to be truly the exception, the outlier, you know,
the asterix, whatever you want to call it. You have
to be the asterix type of player. And for majority
of Eusley is not asterisks. It's a lot of exclamation points,
a couple of periods, and let's face it, more than
(34:10):
our fair share of question marks. If we're going, if
we're going, you know, in that direction. But that's what
is required, and that's why the cults are so good
because of the balance. Because you have a Jonathan Taylor
who is running the ball effectively into a very high clip.
They don't have to get outside of themselves. And when
they want to slow this game down and grind it
(34:32):
down to a halt, they can. They can go four
yards in a cloud of dust, but they're going to
get four yards and that's what you have to be
accepting of. But you have to put pressure with your
opposing offense to make them less two dimensional, which is
something that has only happened twice this season out of
eight contests. Twenty five percent of the time it has happened.
(34:53):
Can you continue to move that percentage marker in your favor.
That's what the Steelers are banking on. That's what steel
are gonna have to approach it as yep.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
So it's there are some great matchups, and I want
to remind you tomorrow we're gonna be talking to Adam Taylor,
the outstanding play by playman of the Colt's the third
member of our broadcast team, Missy Matthews, will also be
with us. We're going to take a sneak peek ahead
here at the AFC's Weekend, which begins tonight with a
very interesting game from the perspective of Steelers fans for sure.
(35:23):
When we continue in the Locker Room presented by our
neighborhood Ford Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steeers
Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot Com.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
All right, back the Oh oh my god, I did
it again, Max, I did it again. I did it again.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I knew I got so just it. Yeah, I know
you do? You do? You know what we need? We
need we need double bells, double bells. Just go ahead,
Let's just play it back to back to back.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You know what, Max, we do.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
And one more time, please, one more time, one more time,
one more time. There we go, there we go. Okay,
I just want to make sure we got the point
schools and session now, Rob, there we go, thank you? Yes, yeah,
there it is there. It is Hey. That is your
triple warning system to let you know it is lunchtime
on the precipice. We have thirteen minutes till the top
of the hour. Back to you, Rob. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
I was so good there for like months, and then
last week I just lost it.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
You guys stepped on you once till last week, and
then I just lost it last week.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
But you know what I mean, Hey, listen, first of all,
give yourself grace, Rob. Right, Okay, this is this is
our first season working together, and we're not only doing
in the booth, we also have a radio show as well.
I don't know a lot of teams across the league
that have that unique dynamic that we have right to
be able to do both of these things. And so
(37:11):
you know, hey, every once in a while, you know,
we're gonna walk into a wall, you know, even though
even though you've lived in the house, sometimes you walk
in the walls. Or am I just am I just
trying to kind of am I kind of project on
everybody else out there.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I've been doing some wallwalking, so it is it is time.
And I got all excited because I was doing I
was looking at these games during the commercial break and
getting fired up. And that's what it was. It was
a mistake of coal mission, not O mission Max, as
they always say. So. AFC Preview is presented by UPMC,
(37:45):
the official healthcare provider and health plan of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Ravens Dolphins. Tonight surprised.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I, as I think I've said many times, You're I'm
not a gambler. People can do what they want with
their time, their money, whatever they want to do.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I don't do it.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
And I very frequently don't look at the line like
I don't even know. And then sometimes I got curious
like last week, I was curious who's favorite, the Packers
of the Steelers. Packers are favored. So the Ravens are
favored tonight by seven and a half points over Miami.
That should be no real surprise, except that Miami suddenly
looked like Miami last week and explosive, and they've at
(38:24):
least got that chance of their offense tonight, and two
and six would be a tough place for the Ravens
to be. And so I think it's time to if
you're a Steelers fan, get out there. What is it
the teal and the and the green and the whatever
their colors are, teal and orange and orange, get out
the teal and orange and root for the Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
As a as a as a born and raised Flurridian,
I can tell you the color combination.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you for thank you
for that. Hey, listen, man, big game on Thursday night.
I know you'll be watching. I'll be watching too, and
I'm hoping that the Dolphins can pull off an upset.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I am too, because you know what that does. That
just continues to add a really nice layer to what
you know the Steelers are hoping to have You want
a cushion here. You have a one and a half
game lead on Cincinnati. The reason why it's not two
games is because you lost to him, had to head,
so you get a half game point for record. So
(39:24):
you got one and a half point lead over over
the next closest team. But that other team in Baltimore
is going to try and make a charge. So it
would be nice that a rusty Lamar Jackson's put that
other rusty Lamar Jackson stays a little rusty for another week,
(39:45):
you know, or that team you know, k can be
in that position because you know, when you when you
get to the sixth loss, right, boy, it is tough
to dig out of that hole. It's saying you almost
have to virtually go perfect as a team that we
have to see twice as well. So you know, if
if Miami can give us something that it's like they
(40:05):
did on Sunday, I am I am exatic. You know,
you look at the home teams in these in these
Thursday night games, you know usually farewell. So I'm hoping
that odds are in favor, analytics are in their favor,
and you know it's a little bit of a further
flight then you know, coming to Pittsburgh or Pittsburgh going
(40:27):
to Cincinnati or Cleveland, Mike, you know that that's that's
that trip down south. And you also have to worry
about all the things that down South has to offer
or distract you with. And I hope it distracts them
enough and Miami is able to pull.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
A victory for me. Yep, And let's and like, that's
a great point in the Thursday night football. Let's hope
that that Ravens haven't been good in Thursday n football
road games either. Let's let's hope that continues. The Bengals, man,
did they blow a golden opportunity in addition to throwing
a big lead against the Jets last week? They're three
and five. You beat the Jet, You're four and four.
You're home against Chicago, you win that game, You're five
(41:04):
and four. The end of your schedule is very weak. Miami, Arizona, Cleveland. Okay,
you're thinking, hey, maybe that gets us to eight. Can
we find a win or two after our bye which
is following this week? But now instead, this is a
you know, listen, I don't know what must win means
or whatever, but it's an important game for the Bears
(41:25):
as well. The Bears visiting the Bengals. Bear saw their
four game winning streak snap. They were really kind of
pretty easily handled by Baltimore for the most part in
that game. They had a chance at the end to
get back in it, and then a late interception by
Caleb Williams. So Chicago visiting Cincinnati. By the way, here's
Cincinnati's games out of the break. Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, New
(41:49):
England at Baltimore at Buffalo Baltimore. Again, they are in
a world of hurt. I think it's safe to say.
Moving along here for some other games. There's not a
lot of intrigue interesting in the Chargers and Titans because
the Chargers are coming up for the for the Steelers,
but the Chargers look like they're rolling. They're visiting the
one and seven Titans. Falcons at the Patriots, Uh, you
(42:13):
know the Falcons really tumbled last week. Uh the Patriots
or home on that one. You know, you're looking maybe
for teams that are that are seeking perhaps playoff positions
if it's wild card. You want to see some of
these teams with say four and three records losing. The
Broncos at the Texans that might be the most intriguing
(42:34):
game to me outside of the Colts and Steelers this week.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Regarding a FC teams, Yeah, no, I think that one is,
uh is pretty pretty intriguing, you know, Chief, Chiefs, Bills.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
That's oh yeah, well I haven't got there yet.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
That's what that would be my other that would be
my other one that just look at it. Yeah, that's
the Monday Night yea, yeah, yah, yeah, there's no way.
I'm there. Looked at that and said, this has to
be the primetime game.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
No, because we're gonna have a chance to look at
that on Monday as well. But yes, that is clear,
that's the game.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
But the but but but I was, I was because
I was just going through the entire list, That's why
I was looking. I was like, that is an intriguing one,
right you know.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Oh no, no, no, that's I'm sorry, that's not Monday Night.
That's that's my bad. That's for twenty five.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I was saying, that's Cardinals, Cardinals Cowboys is Monday.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Absolutely sorry, that's the game of the week, the five
and three Chiefs, the five and two Bills, no doubt
about it.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, that's that's number one.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
And if I was going to be favored, by the
way by two and a half.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Once again, it's happening again until you proved otherwise. Right,
you got, you got it there, they're starting to get
they're starting to get that mojo back on their side again,
and hopefully that does not lead to the stripe variety
of mojo.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
If you know what I mean, I do Jaguars and Raiders. Yeah,
and listen, you know you're looking at what's that?
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Sorry?
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh yeah, no, does the game interest me as a
football fan, not particularly, but as you're looking at okay,
so you know, I know it's awfully early to be
looking at these things, but I see these these teams
that are four and three and five and three, like
(44:26):
the Chargers, you know, the Bills right now are trying
to reel in the Patriots. You have to figure both
those teams are in pretty good shape. But again, common opponent.
If the Bills can overtake the Patriots, you have an
opportunity to have beaten both those teams if you're the Steelers,
giving you a leg up. If you start thinking in
terms of wild card, which hopefully we're not. Hopefully we're
(44:47):
still thinking in terms of division. But you know, these
teams that are that are three and four, like the Texans,
four and three, like the Jaguars, five and three, like
the Chargers, do you have an opportunity to also beat them,
but you also mind a little help along the way.
It's okay with me if some of those teams lose.
I'm not going to have any issue with that. Max,
(45:08):
I'm not gonna be upset either.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Like you said, you want to kind of create some separation,
and you know, that's what That's what October, that's what
November is for. Obviously, December is where you want to
be on the upswing as a team, knowing who you
fully are, what your identity is, what you can hang
your hat on, and and being on the ascending scale.
(45:30):
So you know, no, I don't mind any opportunity to
separate yourself. Then the herd out a little bit with that,
and but but you're also asking a huge task of
a team that is not very talented, right, No, they're not,
they are not. I had that I had that Casey
game where they got where they got shut out, and
did you know that was Andy Reech's first regular season shutout.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
Game, no, In his entire career. Yeah, wow, I did
not know that. Holy crap. I was like, how many
games in a long time?
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Man?
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yeah, Now he's had him in the playoffs, he's just
never had him in the regular season. So I was like,
holy crap. Okay, So that just lets you know that
that was historically bad for the Raiders and Pete Carroll
and company, and especially when you think about their combined
age as well. It's one hundred and forty one years
of life there between those two head coaches.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
He's fourth all thousand, two hundred and seventy eight wins
and that's his first shutout. Amazing. So that'll do it
for today. Why of regular season, regular season, regular season?
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Make sure we preface regular season regular journalistic integrity.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
That's right, Matt Taylor.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
The fine.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
They have a great broadcast, the Cults, outstanding play by
play guy. Uh but by the way, when I say that,
I want you to listen to us.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, don't listen to theirs. I mean, but there's a
very we're not we're not we're not the Cult Corral
or whatever what the hell they call themselves, And.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
In fact, they're we're gonna do We're gonna throw a
little counterbalance out there to Matt Taylor. By having Missy Matthews,
the third member of our broadcast team, coming up.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Exactly, don't let him intrigue you. The trifector of cool
is uh is where you want to stay. So well, listen, listen.
You know I'm gonna keep trying out nicknames and I'm
throw them out there and just see what the response is. Yeah,
well that's this week's number. You call in or send
(47:22):
your votes in oh Man.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Fair enough, Max, have a great rest of your day,
my friend, and our thanks to of course, uh Justin
Miller at the controls in our iHeart Studio for Max Stark,
John rob King, we thank you also for being with
us in the Locker Room presented by our neighborhood Ford
Store and the Studis Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
part of the Steelers Audio
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com